Ah, it’s 8 o’clock and time to write to you. Walking at 9 so we have an hour short of the time it takes me to gear up. Just went outside to grab a few pieces of firewood; the bin was empty. Heard some woodpeckers out there drumming. Either that or hearing chainsaws these days. Plenty of woodpeckers and chainsaws, we must live in the woods!

A gray misty morning out there but glad to be back at the ranch. I was off to Seattle yesterday, wore myself out there. Had my blood work done and checked in with My doc and the research nurse on my case. I successfully made it through the first three weeks of my trial. Now off on the second three weeks.

Oh, I did get to see a bevy of my nurses yesterday to say hello and exchange pleasantries. It looked like they were all having a relaxed time which is good, sometimes they are incredibly busy. What a crew!

Jim a friend went along with me yesterday. I wasn’t going to waste a trip to the big city and not pick up materials for my next two cabinet jobs. Jim went to help me load and unload. Now I have some hours to put in at the shop to cut and assemble things.

My Rebecca has a reading from her novel tomorrow evening at the Snapdragon here on Vashon. Well, actually there are two, one at 4PM and one at 5PM. I’ll be at one of those. Then Jessika has a new book of her poetry that just came out. She is dropping one by this morning. Just heard that Catalina Barush wrote an endorsement for it. Wow, OK, stuff happening.

Well, this, that and the other thing. Oh, we got a copy of The Mousehole Cat for our grandson’s birthday. Aho’i, a good friend and reader of this blog turned us on to it because it is a great children’s book with great illustrations but also it makes mention of Stargazy Pie. Remember that from tapas a few days ago. Thanks Aho’i, good to have you here with us.

Day 31 of Annie’s book:

If there is going to be a
resurrection,
somebody’s got to die. Rev Michael Beckwith

Yea, I/we must keep our eye on the biggest picture which goes from birth to death to rebirth. Our celebration of Christ’s resurrection coming up in a few days!

Good to be here loves, Felipé.

Wednesday and here for my first check-in since starting my new clinical trial. Again, they are keeping a close eye on me. Everyone knows that Felipé’s need lots of supervision.

Just found out that there is a ukulele club that meets here on Wednesday afternoon at 2 to 3. How cool is that, like I planned it? I need all the learning and encouragement that I can round up. Won’t make it today but next time.

Back home and tired out. Enough for one day. Watching Mariner’s Baseball and a fire is crackling in the stove, late Spring.

Day 30 today:

The ordinary arts that we practice at every day at
home are of more importance to the soul
than their simplicity might suggest. Thomas More

Alperfect there, even though we may not have a handle on who Thomas was. But there is something to be said for us doing our daily chores in a good light hearted way. Doing the ordinary things for the joy of doing them. All very Thoreau, and we know who that is.

WEDNESDAY CONVENTION NEWS

We are working on it. Right now all we have for sure are the dates, August 23 – 26th.

Wednesday loves, Felipé.

Hey good morning! The sun is breaking through here. We are living in the land of rainbows here these days. Most of the FB posts of local pics are all about that, beautiful.

I had a phone talk with Rho yesterday and some things gelled for the beginning of planning for the Caminoheads Convention in August. There are things we need to know and things that you need to know if you are coming. So, on the blog on Wednesdays we will be posting the latest news. So, that is the place for the offical news. If you just can tune in every Wednesday you will get what you need.

All we have as of now are the dates. And those are August 23-26th. And that is good as I wanted to get it on your calendar.

Day 29 of Lent today. Palm Sunday is this Sunday. We are moving along. And Annie’s quote:

Wouldn’t it be nice…
Everyone

He he, that’s good right? I’ve never seen a quote like that before that isn’t attributed to a single person. Yes, we all are guilty of saying that maybe too often. Or as Annie says in her comments it could the beginning of a prayer and that would be a good thing. I see that.

Time to go, off to Vashon town this morning. This afternoon resurrecting our riding mower, hopefully. The grass everywhere is growing in leaps and bounds. Wouldn’t it be nice if I could get it cut and under control. Wouldn’t it be nice…

Wouldn’t it be nice loves, Felipé,

Gearing up for today. We have a walk in a few minutes. Cloudy and damp out there. A good morning to see a UFO or something else out of the ordinary.

I see that I am going with this stream of consciousness idea here this morning. Nothing is right or wrong, it just is. Temporarily at the moment thoughts exist and then fly away.

Ah, there is my Annie book. I see on FB where she had some film project that she was trying to complete in one weekend. Seems like it didn’t happen the way she envisioned. We send encouragement to her this morning on this Monday.

Lenten Day 28:

There is a magnet in your heart that
will attract true friends. The magnet is
unselfishness, thinking of others first;
when you learn to live for others,
they will live for you. Paramahansa Yogananda

This is very Camino. It screams of your walking partner at his or her best. Yea, sometimes we are just tired and cranky but we still tend to rally even at our worst time. We try to be there for you.

Have to go and start the walk on time. Who will show up?
Stream of consciousness loves, Felipé.

I guess I’m feeling a little silly this morning. Catherine asked me what the blog was going to be about today and I said glibly my transition from eating donuts to bagels at our tailgate party. Yea, why not.

Catherine is such a good influence on me. I think over the couple years of our doing this little ritual after Mass on Sunday she has always had a bagel and cream cheese with her Monastery coffee. Me, I always had a gooey donut til gradually switching over. Seems probably a healthier choice.

But donuts or bagels the tailgating continues and Sunday just wouldn’t be the same without it. No one stopped by today to say hi to us as usual they normally do. So we had the time to ourselves. We both had Confession lately so we talked of that. The Notre Dame Women Basketball Team is playing in the Championship game this afternoon so we were planning a viewing party. And have the walk too and tapas. A lot to consider.

And Catherine the esteemed writer that she is won an award, it was announced on Monday. It was the 2018 Sarton Literary Award for Memior. Yea, our Catherine for her book Finding Mercy in This World. So check that out, buy a dozen for all your friends.

Sunday today so no Lenten quote. Father David had laryngitis today and struggled to get through Mass. This is the hardest work of the year for Father, Easter time with all it’s moving parts.

Well, that’s the way it is here on a Vashon Sunday morning. Well, lunch time now. Come by for the walk and tapas later.
With cream cheese loves, Felipé.

It is typical springtime weather with sun and showers alternating. The trail is relatively dry. The cherry and pear trees are starting to bloom.

Monday 0900-1000
Tuesday 1600-1700 (tapas after)
Thursday 0900-1000
Sunday 1600-1700 (tapas after)

Remember to bring something interesting to talk about. Felipé.

I wish I had more time to read but I seem to have other things to do too. Henriette Klauser came on Tuesday to talk to me again. She is working on a book about Cancer and the Camino. We talked about that. And she left another of her books for me to read. She had co-authored it with Richard F. Groves. It is entitled The American Book of Dying – Lessons in Healing Spiritual Pain. And I am working away at it and getting a lot from it. Thank you Henriette.

The basic idea of the book is that we have made vast strides in health care and that is our strong suit these days but we generally pass away with all sorts of unresolved spiritual pain that causes us and our families all kinds of problems. We have badly neglected this whole realm. And this spiritual pain and the reasons for it is what this book addresses.

Can we do some homework, some early learning and make our own death transition smoother. That is what I am seeing here in the pages of this book. How can I work on myself and those around me to lessen the spiritual pain that seems to just be around. There are some very practical methods and suggestions for this.

And Lent 2019 marches on with Day 27 today. Annie has this quote for us, “Heaven on Earth is a choice we must make, not a place we must find.” Dr. Wayne Dyer.

We do pass up so much as we hurriedly live our lives. Just no time or inclination to do otherwise. Somewhere along the line I remember a quote from one of the saints which was something like, “It’s heaven all the way to heaven.”

Time to go for this pilgrim. TGIF loves, Felipé.

Last evening we had to watch Ladies in Lavender where the pie does appear. That film came out in something like 2005. And then an old friend Aho’i sent this comment in yesterday with more pie news:

Phil, I used to read a book to my kids when they were little. It is called “The Mousehole Cat” by Antonia Barber and Nicola Bayley. I read it to them many times and later to many of my close friends. It makes me cry every single time. Reading this book I learned about Stargazy pie. I highly recommend it to you. Ahoi

Yea, who knew. In 2008 our family toured in Cornwall, England and we passed through Mousehole but we were clueless on the pie. There is some history on the web about the town and the origin of the pie.

Beautiful mornin here. Walking at 9 then archery for the rest of the morning. Yea, fun in the sun.

Let’s see what Annie has for us from Day 26 from Everyday Camino with Annie:

Everything has it’s wonders, even darkness
and silence, and I learn, whatever state
I may be in, therein to be content. Helen Keller

Yea, that has some weight to it just because it is something from Helen Keller. When she talks of darkness and silence we better believe that she knows what she is talking about. But this is for us who are lightweights in comparison. We need to find this contentment in our lives, on our Camino in our empty times, looking for the wonder in it.

OK, boot time for Felipé. The outside temp is 44 F. Dogs are barking. I’ll be here loves, Felipé.

Just when you think that you have seen everything up comes this pie that Jessika brought to tapas yesterday. Check the pic out and Google it for more info. It is a Christmas tradition in Mousehole, England. I know, you are beginning to think that I am pulling your leg. This is for real.

We have been having way too much fun lately at tapas. Maybe it is all this excess of energy that we have from being locked up all winter. It sort of started with the ukuleles. Speaking of which ours may show up today. Somehow I think we got two day shipping.

And yesterday Henriette Klauser showed up to do some more interview with me. She has a book cooking about Cancer and the Camino. Yup, that’s what we do around here.

Let’s see what Annie has for us with Day 25:

I was inside your soul the day
that you appeared. My love
contains your heart but will
you remember me?

fromWhen the River’s Rising by Rickie Byars Beckwith & Michael Bernard Beckwith.

This makes me feel so connected. This is God speaking or what God would say if he felt like it. But either way it is God’s sensibly. Us humans are the weak link in this connection with the question, “will you remember me?”.

Time to move on for now. A little light rain for most of the day today watering all those little seeds out there. Nice to see you again.

Stargazy loves, Felipé.

Half of life at the ranch is fixin stuff. Trying to get one more season out of a mower or a tool. Or finding a broken something that I think I can get back into shape to be useful. Or figuring a piece of gear is close to breaking and getting it fixed while you have time. They are all different variations on the same theme.

Right now I have two wheelbarrows that need repair. Things don’t usually gang up on me like that but it is happening today. But then again it’s all not rocket surgery.

I used to work for a local construction company run by a farm genius named Robert. The construction business was just part of the whole scene. There was a landscape and a cider effort going on too. I take a lot of my cues from him as to how to make an operation happen. I often thought that his whole thing was held together by will power or hypnosis. It is all about intention really.

And yes the business is gone and the land sold but the skills and the knowhow lives on. Thank you Robert and Betsy for the education. And that’s where the name of our road comes from, Wax Orchard Road. Wax was Betsy’s maiden name.

And today Day 24 of Lent today. We are further down that road. Annie’s quote: “If you love it enough, anything will talk with you.” George Washington Carver.

There is a good one. Well, they are all good but some strike you in ways that others don’t. And that really did happen on the Camino. I thought that I had made love to the whole thing by the time things were over. Isn’t it funny how we develop this personal relationship even though we are just one in a million or millions. Marvelous really.

Well, my time is up for today. Have to run to town to get some parts for my project. This afternoon I am meeting with Henriette who is working on a book about Cancer and the Camino. A little bit of this and a little bit of that.

Fixin it loves, Felipé.