Well, we are up in the air and half way to Dallas. My Rebecca and I on our way to the snowy icy Northeast to see the rest of the family and the star, our new grandson. He is just nine months and about ready to figure out crawling, so we have to go and check that out.

It would be nice if the airline provided some WeeFee for us serious blogger types. But I can do without. You would think if a tiny cafe in the middle of outback Spain could figure out how to get some free service to you, American Airlines could. Of course, no more free peanuts either. Enough of my whining though.

Lent starts in two days on Ash Wednesday. Time for personal reflection and work on getting any mojo back that we might have lost. I don’t know what I am giving up yet although it is possible to add something, I have heard. I need to settle down and get in this groove pretty quick.

I got a nice email from Anamaria, the a Princess of Viana, who is studying hard in Madrid in a master’s program. Marketing, I think. So, if you go to visit don’t expect too much partying out of her. Mostly business these days.

And so sad news, that Susan that was in hospice here has passed away. So prayers for the soul of our Caminohead friend who has pushed further on down the trail and into the fog and out of sight.

Well, I don’ t want to leave you with that, something upbeat would be preferable. Maybe some farm news. I have figured out my seed order which is a good sign. I am going to grow two varieties of corn this summer. They are both sweet corn, corn on the cob eating corn. One early so it will be the first to hit the local neighborhood market and the other one sweeter that takes more time to mature. That one is a little of a gamble but it looks like an early spring for us and this is the year to gamble on it.

Oh, also, we are planning a camp out at the ranch here for Caminoheads and Pacific Coast Trail guys. Combined energy is the idea. Maybe June, maybe July or August, don’t know yet. Will let you know.

Time for a little airplane nap. No free peanuts love, Felipe.

Sent from my iPad

Sunday morning and a little chilly but sunny outside. It may get up to fifty degrees on a day like this with the help of the sun. But, but we are scheduled to fly to Massachusetts tomorrow to see our nine month old grandson. That sounds sort of easy except for the weather there at that end. Snow, snow and more snow with airports closed and all that goes with that. So we shall see.

So, this week I turned over my hiking poles to a friend, Art, who will be walking the Camino in May. I couldn’t resist the idea of having him use them and of them traveling across again. They have a lot of kilometers left in them. Also, two neighbors that came over to walk with me on Friday will be Caminoing in April.

Of course we are jealous of all that. Going again to finish places that we missed or covering the same ground is tempting to think about. There is something a little dicey about going back I think. Going back requires a real suspension of expectations. It will be different but of course that doesn’t mean lesser. Could be way better I suppose but that is hard to imagine. Needless to saw that I thought that I had thre perfect Camino with all of you being perfect partners in that.

One of my local Caminoheads is in hospice. Please pray for Susan. I wish that I could have got to know her better but I got to know her some.

Well, not too much going on today, just need to pack for the trip east. I will blog from there to continue the flow of things. Yup, alperfect, love, Felipe.

There was a Saint Valentine right? If there wasn’t there should be. Maybe someone could do some research on this one, my saintly knowledge could be better. Well, I just want to say that this post is going to be super short so that you can get out there and give your sweetie a kiss or so you can get out there and do something you love instead of reading this blog. We have lots of tomorrow’s. Big red heart loves, Felipe.

Cherry is going to be surprised but I am going to put together a TGIF for her from material from a group email that she sent out recently. This is the kind of stuff that I can do because we are friends. Also, what makes this exceptional is that it is Friday the 13th which has a Camino connection on it’s own. It is the date that the Pope’s forces came down on the Knights Templar. Don’t ask me the details or the year but these protectors of pilgrims met their demise on a Friday the 13th and this is the reason it has a bad feel.

So here is Cherry’s quote that I am sharing with you: “Camino was the best thing I’ve ever done and thank you for making it so wonderful.

I’m in Indonesia winding down my twelve glorious months away.

Please stay in touch and thank you.

Mucho amor y buen camino,

Cherry”

Here she is wrapping up a year long trip to all sorts of wonderful places and she says, “Camino was the best thing I have ever done…” We can all relate to that Cherry. also we can think back to the Knights and thank them for the role that they have played on the Camino long ago. The Camino has lasted through all sorts of turmoil to be what it is today, for us the benefactors. Thank you Knights of Templar and Cherry for being a part of our Caminos too.

Well, off to walk, foggy and dry here. Alperfect, love, Felipe.

I have had a long day today with appointments and meetings at the hospital. Also have been working with Annie and the crew revamping the Phil’s Camino website. I’m out of gas. Aretha Franklin is singing “You Send Me” and that’s the way I feel about you. Please come back tomorrow for TGIF. And we will be together over coffee. Cafe con leche loves, Sleepy Felipe.

It’s early morning and my Rebecca’s off to a babysitting job that she does once a week. We’ve had a good breakfast and I got Soul on Pandora and am wrapped up in my Camino bag looking forward to being with you. Today is the big Mass for the sick from St. Anthony’s in Padua, Italy. I got a prayer in for myself and all cancer patients that’s on the altar. And I know that others (my pals) have placed my name there as well. I’m blessed.

Well, I am not feeling so blessed at the moment as I was trying to write to you about my very Caminoy day yesterday and my iPad has just eaten two different half hour attempts. Hmmm. OK, well, I am out of time and energy at the moment, maybe later. Frustrated loves, Felipe.

I came back from the Camino with a passion to cook. It is a way to give back to those around me and a way to celebrate being together. My Rebecca said,”Who would have thought?” True though and it has given me much satisfaction over the last how many months? Four months I count. Along the way I’ve bumped into a few things that really amazed me. So I choose four of these to talk about today.

The first really great taste that I bumped into happened in a quite planned way. My cooking tended to be in the “Spanish way” from what I remembered from the Camino. It was based on olive oil and baguettes and simple ingredients. I had learned that cooks in Spain used two grades of oil, one for cooking and one for dressing. So in exploring around on the olive oil shelves and reading labels I started learning and I came to the conclusion that I needed to get one really special to see what the good stuff tastes like. So, I bought Lucini (www Lucini.com) brand from Tuscany and fell in love. It’s flavor is of pine, rich in a almost a resin taste. Yea, don’t waste a drop.

Next is a cheese from Norway called Gjetost (www.jarlsberg.com). This stuff is equally dreamy. It is part cow and part goat cheese and is a brown color which could be a turn off if you hadn’t tasted it yet. I’m not even going to discribe the taste but it is great with slices of pear. Slice it really thin and yea, check it out and don’t waste a crumb.

OK, next is a basalmic vinegar made from or with grape must. Must is juice that includes seed and stems. This stuff is thick, pours slowly. It’s an elixir really, just a teaspoon after a meal is dreamy. The label says,”Aceto Balsamico Di Modena, Ritrovo Selections”. Website is: www.ritrovo.com .

The next one is on par with these amazing tastes and it is the blackberry jelly that we make right here at the ranch with our local wild berries. Well, my Rebecca actually makes it but I mostly pick and get all scratched up in the process. And you cannot buy this in any store, you have to come and visit to get it. So do that, will you.

OK, I have a few more chores to do before bed. This was a fun post and hope that you enjoyed it. Wild blackberry loves, Felipe.

You’ve got to love them. I’m talking about the young folk of the Pacific Crest Trail. We had dinner with our son Wiley and his girlfriend Riley, I know, yesterday. One of the things that he brought up was a geographical mistake on my part and that is that the PCT runs along the crest of the Sierra and the Cascade Mountains and not the Rocky Mountains as I had written. OK, will have to edit that post. But also he was talking about a phrase that came out of his trek which was, “smiles per hour”. Keeping track of your smiles per hour instead of your miles per hour is that switch from quanity to quality in our lives.

The movie theater was crowded to see the film about the art treasures of the Vatican. I really wasn’t expecting so many people. I guess we have an island of artists so it makes sense. I didn’t think that they would be interested in religious art but yes they were. But it put me right back in art history class were I first became enthralled with this particular art. I throughly enjoyed it and was deeply moved. Raphael, Michelangelo, Giotto, da Vinci, Caravaggio, Fontana, Van Gogh, Chagall, Dali and more were there. Check it out if it comes your way.

www.sharmillfilms.com.au/?p=3824

Well, I am off to the city today to the hospital to get a scan of my insides. My doc has moved this procedure from every two months to every three months so I take that as a sign of him relaxing somewhat with my situation. So, the results of this scan will set the course of my treatments for the next few months. People and myself praying for my cancer to be in a withering state or at least not on the move. This is the most anxious time of my health reality, these points of waiting for a glimpse inside my body to see what is happening.

But, we will continue walking for the moment just like always. Thanks for your friendship and your interest in this blog and the thoughts, hopes, wishes, thankfulness that we delve into. In the end it is all good, alperfect. Thanks for walking with me, love, Felipe.

Hi. “Smiles over miles”, is a saying that I heard the Pacific Crest Trail folks say to get across the idea that being happy was more important than how may miles you walked. I like it. And somewhere along the Camino I started saying something like, “it’s not the mileage but whether you got the message”. The message being the answers to your personal questions. So, pretty close. And I like their wording better than ours so I am going to change ours to, “message over mileage”. There, that’s way better, lighter and more concise, more backpacky. Thanks PCT guys.

Just walked three laps around Phil’s Camino. Not that far really but again we are going for smiles and answers so alperfect. I was filling bird feeders along the trail and took a few pics and I was checking out the partial flooding of the pastures. So I was kind of dinking around.

And new this week I opened up an afternoon walk on Wednesday from 4-5 PM. So, try and come and walk we us. Here is the spring schedule:
Sunday 1000-1100.
Monday 0900-1000.
Wednesday 1600-1700.
Friday 0900-1000.

In a few minutes we are off to see the movie about the art at the Vatican Museum. Can’t wait, I love this stuff, a feast for the eyes. So, have to go for now. Always great to be with you. Remember, “smiles over miles and message over mileage”, it will help out. Alperfect, love, Felipe.