Seattle wins in overtime! Amazing. Todd and I were messaging back and forth during all that. Amazing. And Stephen the photographer who was out here yesterday doing our photo shoot was right there at the end of the game taking shots of the winning quarterback, OUR Russell Wilson. Way cool, Felipe.

I was at the local auto repair yesterday getting a slow leak fixed in one tire on my Rebecca’s car. So, I’m looking around the funky scene there in between chatting with Don my buddy who owns the place. Some of the stuff on the walls has been there since the glaciers melted it seems. I started reading this metal sign which listed the distances to various destinations that you could drive to like after Don fixed things. The places on the sign were in miles from the near city of Tacoma. So, I’m running down the list and there are various towns and cities in Washington and Oregon, so may miles to Yakima, the Dalles, Walla Walla. I’m thinking that sounds like fun, a little drive.

So, I’m reading down and I see Chicago and then Miami at 3353 miles! Wow, that would be a trip to see Alida. But who drives that far anymore? It brought me back to my younger years when I probably drove across the country a dozen times sometimes just for the heck of it. Well, Alida you will have to wait on a road trip from me for a while. It does sort of sound like fun though.

OK, big football game today for the Seattle Seahawks. If they win this one they will be headed to the Super Bowl! Yea, wish us luck. Love you, Felipe.

PS ~ here are some great pics and thoughts all Camino. It will tweak you. Check it out:

http://home.michaelgeorgephoto.com/portrait-of-a-pilgrim

Yesterday was definitely something and it revolved around two centers, both Camino related. One was the photo shoot here at the ranch and the other was Mary Margaret. And right now the way it looks is that today is just sort of cleanup after that although the day may suprise me with it’s own great story. I will keep my eye out.

The weather cooperated yesterday or one could say that St. James was around here helping facilitate with our outdoor activities. In the morning Kelly, Mary Margaret and I were here walking Phil’s Camino. MM got a taste of the locale through that. Then in the afternoon Kelly and Rick showed up to walk and be a part of the photo shoot for the NW Catholic Magazine article coming up in March. Stephen and Ellen were here from the Archdiocese for a number of hours taking shots and trying to capture the flavor of our effort here. Then at 1700 tapas began and dinner somewhere around 1800.

So, the guest of honor, MM was here, as was Kelly, Rick and his wife Carolyn (parents of Maryka), our son Wiley and his girlfriend Riley. The Tapa Nazi, that would be me, organized the tapas. My Rebecca fixed a pork roast with sour kraut and black eyed peas. This is a very southern meal that we always have on New Year’s Day but missed it this year. And Carolyn and Kelly brought some dishes to supplement the whole.

The meal was delicious and the wine drinking was also. The table was strewn with all the evidence of that and also the Bible, other books, an icon, a map and other reference materials. Conversation was spectacular. We approached the realm of being louder than the Italians. What pushed us over the top was the opening of a champagne bottle with just one slash of a big kitchen knife by MM. We were swashbuckling our way through the universe at that point! So yea, the Camino continues.

Then we had a few hours sleep and Kelly and MM are off to Seattle this AM to tour the Pike Street Market and then head to the airport. I am just positive that MM’s trip was a total success and that makes me feel good. We all connected beautifully and this is a gift of the Camino to be able to do that so easily. Yup, reporting from the epicenter, connected love, Felipe.

We three amigos got together and did a little walk this morning. We three enjoyed a nice window of sunshine and calm winds. Yea, time to catch up and tell stories that we hadn’t heard before. Maybe making plans to get back to Spain.

MM told a great story about her and Anse in Roscevales which I have to repeat. It sounds like the kind of crackup that our giddy selves would appreciate. So, the two of them were in town and MM saw some saddles and said to Anse that a person could ride a horse on the Camino. And Anse came back with the thought “or a monkey”. MM is thinking what the heck. And then Anse says, “A donkey, a donkey!” A slight translation glitch.

We know how to have good cheap fun, don’t we? Matter of fact that might be what’s it’s all about in the end. A place, a task, time and good company and we will figure out the rest.

OK, off to chores. I have been wrestling with my tractor, trying to get it running for firewood splitting duty. But it should come to life today, hopefully, give enough tender loving care . Then this afternoon the film crew from Northwest Catholic Magazine is out here to photograph us pilgrims on Phil’s Camino. Then this evening is tapas and dinner here at the ranch for a big bunch of folks revolving around MM visit. All good, alperfect, you are in our thoughts, love, Felipe and company.

Alperfect, yup, reunited. Kelly and I ran over to Seatac to pick her up and then back to the Island for tapas and dinner at Kel’s. Today she has Mass this morning at St. John Vianney’s and meeting with Sister Joyce. This afternoon my Rebecca’s taking her on a tour of the Island.

Hmm, my usually trusty iPad just ate the rest of the post that was a done and I was trying to add a pic. I am out of time so this will have to due sorry. But the theme of today was MM being here and enjoying our hospitality. And also saying to you to come also at some point. Open door loves, Felipe and Vashon Island.

Ha ha, pretty funny really. That’s what my Rebecca calls me when she has level two irritation. Level one is maybe, I’m guessing, is maybe just sort of irritation/amusement, sort of something I could get away with without a comment on her part. Anyway but yea, the Tapa Nazi.

Coming back from Spain and being the survivor of more tapa situations than I can remember. Maybe that is like what is said about “the sixties” here in the States. If you remember it you weren’t really there. No, I do remember most I think largely due to the Angels and Kelly and Rick’s massive supervision. But fond fond memories to have been socializing and being socialized by you my dear pilgrim buddies. I owe a lot to you.

But, what you see at that moment is only half of the story, right? What you don’t see at that late afternoon gathering is the long hours since way before light, the many miles, the sharp rocks, the slippery slopes, the quest for hydration and the pain. As you melt into your tapa chair you are hopefully remembering the great landscapes, the odd ruin, the beautiful little church with the smiling nun or the incredible Camino Conversation that you had with a fellow traveler that brought you an insight which is or will be very important to you after you have time to digest it properly. A extremely full day already and you have to make it through the fun part yet.

So tapa time is the time to start making sense of the day. Some of the folks now were with you earlier, some not, some you know and some are new to you. But you all have a story of how your day went. And it is important for everyone to get that in the mix. Your highs get awed over by the collective and your lows get analyzed, minimalized and worked on. And what about those awkward moments that you had like walking in on the Italian gal in the rest room or having someone step on your sandwich? How did we handle it and what did we learn. All in a day’s work for the circle of pilgrims at tapas.

And this is as vital as the other things that you have to get done in the evening there at the albergue. So here, me the Tapa Nazi has to bring this incredibly important ritual to the uninitiated. And I’ll have to admit that it hasn’t always been pretty but in the end after a few months of good, excellent and not so good the thing is in place. So,concidering all my hard work for something that is supposed to be not work (sitting, conversing, laughing, joking) I do except the nick name with a certain amount of pride. Just don’t put it on my tombstone, it would take to much to explain it and I’ll have better things to do by then.

It’s all happening, St James is Afoot, Love You Always, All Ways with All A’s, Felipe.

It’s my every other Tuesday and I’m at Swedish Hospital Cancer Institute again. It occurred to me recently that I don’t talk enough about my cancer. It is an important part of who I am these days and maybe today is the day to work on that since I am here at the epicenter.

But first my whole morning has been lovely. Like the weather is beautiful, the traffic was reasonable, I got all my errands done and things just generally ran smoothly like maybe this is my kind of day. Which is great really because I have been a little burned out by the hospital routine as of late and sort of forcing myself to smile about it. And today the universe is conspiring to treat me well even with my grumpy attitude, how nice.

This is delightful actually as I am in a good mood to tackle this hard topic. Well, let’s forge ahead then with such an auspicious beginning how can I go wrong? Cancer, yes.

Well, it’s not cancer in general but just my version, which I can talk about. I can talk about my experience mixing with other patients who have a variety of situations that I know little about medically. And really I know little about my cancer either. I mean by that that I could be way more studious and read up about studies and research. But I have a life to live and trust my doctors and nurses to cover my backside.

The basic idea, my modus operandi, is that I have to know that yes I do have cancer, yes, but at the same time with that in place, I can’t let cancer define me. I think that I have to accept it totally to be able to be free of it this way. It is a workable situation for me.

So, the cancer was the catalyst for ninety five percent of what is going on in my life now but remarkable it only takes up five percent of my consciousness. I have to say that another way. Cancer knocked me off my horse, so to speak, but I got right back on another, a superior one. Life goes on for me in a better way really.

How that happened and what that is is a long story that hopefully the documentary will get into. Maybe that will explain it to me too, haha. Well, I still haven’t talked about my cancer but I have talked about it as an instrument of change and the ultimate challenge is how to make that good change.

Change for the better loves, Felipe.

Monday morning here which is looking pretty ordinary. Outside the kitchen window the climbing rose’s branches are all dripping from the last shower. Close to the ground fog is thick. But when I look up at a higher angle there is some blue sky in place of the usual ordinary winter overcast. Is that sunshine hitting the top of the fir trees? Maybe not so ordinary after all. Nice.

When Henry was here the other day he was telling me how extraordinarily ordinary I was and my scene was. It took it as a compliment. I could be ordinarily extraordinary just as easy. This all reflects our “walk and talk” conversation which was inspired by a quote in the kitchen from Albert Einstein, “There are only two ways to live your life: one is as though nothing is a miracle; the other is as though everything is a miracle.”

Is’t this one of the things that we learned as we walked through Spain’s ordinariness. You would look and see ordinary people, places and things all along. And then the next minute you were struck by the extraordinary beauty of it all. So, beautiful you didn’t know what to do with it, no existing categories. Overwhelmed with the ordinary extraordinary beauty, truth or holiness of things that you cried your eyes out.

Well, I just walked three laps around the backyard Camino, sort of an ordinary place. I filled three of the bird feeders along the way and then said the rosary for the last lap. Praying for my friend David who is having surgery today and for all the other stones on the pile. And the sun disappeared at some point just as mysteriously as it appeared earlier.

But that’s the way it is. As long as you know that the sun could come out we will be OK. It doesn’t even have to be out on us in this particular spot. It always helps to see a sunbreak in the clouds and the rays are pouring down on a hillside five miles from here. Yea, that’s good, it’s their turn and we may be next or maybe tomorrow.

But things are possible in our world is the important thing to remember even in the seemingly most ordinary of times. You could remind me and I could remind you. OK, off to my day. Reminding you loves, Felipe.

Here I am after four games in one weekend. These are the end of the season playoff games. And, and The Seattle Seahawks are one of the four teams still standing, gang. Yea! And we are the best looking team of them all. Yea, take that a lot of ways. We’re just the best!

On the soup front the oxtail is down to the last bowl which we will fight over tomorrow. The split pea/ham hock creation is bubbling away on the gas stove getting ready to be the new soup of the week. I don’t know how something so simple can bring so much joy. It’s really quite amazing.

So, we will be finishing up the split pea soup next weekend while the Green Bay Packers come to our fair city to play the Seahawks to see who gets to go to the Super Bowl, the Big Kahuna of football games. So, who will come out on top the Green Peas or the Seattle Oxtails. Everything goes in the pot right? No holding back for the all out push for the Souper Bowl! All very critical this time of year when the temperatures are low, the tummies are hungry and the minds are weak. Ah, football season, where the veggies meat the road. I love it!

Well, so much for that. Time to move on. Slightly damaged love, Felipe.

Here it is, just in from my daughter, a report that says that writing helps people do better with there health problems. Well, I had better keep going with my effort then. Yup, blogging onward. That link is: http://mic.com/articles/98348/science-shows-writers-have-a-serious-advantage-over-the-rest-of-us.

And speaking of writing, we got back an email from Emily who has been going to school in France. I had written her to make sure that she was alright. So here are her words:

Hey! I actually just got back to Michigan a couple weeks ago, I had changed my flight to come home earlier for the holidays and I’m glad that I did. It’s very sad and scary what’s going on in Paris, but I feel that fortunately most people are in no real danger and that the news is making the city seem more unsafe than it actually is.

But anyway, happy holidays and I hope that you’re doing well also!!

Love, Emily

Well, I have to iron a shirt and find a tie and get over to a friend of mine’s memorial service. He was 93 when he passed in December. He was a Naval Officer, captain of a minesweeper that operated in the Pacific in World War II. I am supposed to be one of the speakers.

Yea, it’s all happening: healing, escape from danger, death and remembering, moving onward. More tomorrow, love, Felipe.