Early morning Fourth of July and just got done helping my American Legion Post put up flags.  We put up a hundred on eleven flag days each year.  And this morning was super glorious weatherwise and it was like walking around in a Norman Rockwell painting!  Kind of like Annie talking about in Spain walking around in a postcard.  Another part of our Rockwellism is our amateur hydroplane race which starts at 5 AM every Fourth and the guys circumnavigate the Island with a racket that can be heard five miles away easy.  I hear through the grapevine that Carl Olson won and Paul Hoffman flipped over at the north end but is OK.  This is supremely cool totally local stuff.

So Peggy, one of my buddies that works at the hospital told me that Caminohead means Roadhead.  She grew up in Panama so she knows her Spanish.  I tried to explain that it was a little different but actually maybe not so much.  I got into Roadheadism yesterday during my training.

Yea, was doing a six miler on Old Mill Rd.  But really on one stretch of the road and it is 3/4 of a mile.  So, I go back and forth four times and that gives me the six miles.  This stretch has a big open field on one side and forested on the other.  No houses to be seen and no dogs to come out and bark.  There are little blue flowers and songs of Redwing Blackbirds that one cannot enjoy from a moving vehicle.  Anyway, back to Roadhead stuff.  I got into studying the walking surface, the road, well the road and the shoulder.  Got it in my head that the they are built with a camber or in other words it is a slightly convex surface made that way to shed rain.  So, if I always walk on one side facing traffic or in this case occasional traffic I am always walking across a slight slope.  So, it occurred to me to lengthen that outboard walking stick 5 cm to compensate and it made a difference!  A little minor tweak that made a long stretch easier.

Also, picked up a couple of “flat tires”,  as my old boss Robert called them, a 16 penny nail and a drill bit on the road.  Yea, a good deed.  A few weeks ago I spied an earthworm out in the middle of the pavement and I got out there and tried to pick him up but he was too small and slimy and I wound  up flicking the little guy ten feet to the grassy shoulder.  This kind of stuff happens when you get older, risking your life for an unendangered species!

OK, have a great Fourth, wherever you find yourself.  Have a drink for all the old dead white guys that started this whole experiment!  Phil.

Vashon Island has one of the greatest fireworks shows anywhere around Western Washington.  The fireworks company tows a barge into Quartermaster Harbor the day before and at around 10 PM on the Fourth, as darkness falls, the show starts.  All the local ducks and dogs run for cover.  Boat horns sound as boaters vote on how wowed they are by a particular flurry of light and sound.  We’re all there in the moment of this special event.  And we all give thanks to our neighbors here that have quietly contributed to make this annual fest happen.  And giving thanks to God that we are here in the now of this great country is in order!  Happy Fourth, Saint James is Afoot, Phil.

I was emailing with Annie yesterday and we were writing about inspirations for blogging.  And I was saying that I thought that I did my best work when something was bugging me.  That thing could be a bad thing or a good thing in normal thought.  But it is something that sort of clings to you and hangs around.  It is good ammo for blogging and good probably to get rid of it, which of course, makes room for the next one.

So, very ironic that this AM with my well deserved first cup of joe, what is floating in there but a big juicy fly.  I would put that in the category of bugging, wouldn’t you?  That was minutes ago and right in the middle of my half baked  thoughts about what to blog about this AM.

Back to that in a minute.  What really needs to be done is to write a brief statement for a newspaper add that will appear in the Beachcomber about a donation drive.  Yesterday I blogged about the documentary film idea that is struggling along.  A lot of creative work is being done but until we get some financial help behind that we are not going anywhere.  Big money from big sources is proving hard to come by.  So, we are looking to get local and focused on raising funds from “just folks”.   Our daughter, Tesia, is going to do the graphics for the add and she asked me to provide some text for the appeal.  So, I thought that I would combine that with doing this blog and then there is the fly also.  Hmm.

“This morning there was a fly in my coffee.  This life there was cancer in my body.  What I have learned I would like to share with others who are suffering.  How can we rise above our circumstances and do more than we thought was possible?  How can we stay inspired and possibly inspire others?  We are looking for a way to fund a documentary film about my journey through the medical world, spiritual world and the world of the Camino de Santiago.  Please help us fund this small project about the search for  healing in…. ”

There, how is that so far?  Not quite there but pretty darn good.  Have to get the last sentence hammered out.  How about,”Please help us in our search for funds to tell this story about one man’s search for healing in a complicated world.”  Sort of, but too complicated.  “Help us to tell this story about one man’s search for healing.”  OK.  “Vashon, help me  to tell one man’s story about a three year search for inspiration, connection and healing.”  Not bad.  I like saying that to Vashon.  “Vashon, please help me to fund this small project about one man’s search for inspiration, connection and healing in a complex world.”   All right, let’s see what that looks like all together.

“This morning there was a fly in my coffee.  This life there was cancer in my body.  What I have learned I would like to share with others who are suffering.  How can we rise above our circumstances and do more than we thought was possible?   How can we connect to something larger than ourselves?  How can we stay inspired and possibly inspire others?  I am looking for help to fund a documentary film about my journey through the medical world, spiritual world and the world of the ancient mystical Camino de Santiago.  Vashon, please help bring to light this small project about one man’s search for inspiration, connection and healing in a complex world.”

Well, I think that is good.  Need it pruf readed.  OK, so I am off to walk with Kelly and Signe in the cool of the morning.  Walking seems a soothing rest from the details of life.  Saint James is Afoot, Phil.

Here are two things that just came in:  One is a story on NPR about the Camino:

http://www.kplu.org/post/new-film-explores-reasons-why-people-young-and-old-walk-500-miles-across-spain

And two is NPR story about new thoughts on cancer treatment:

http://humanmedia.org/wellbeing/tabs.php?t=1

That’s all for now.  Phil.

That’s what Ivette says about things.  And what things are those?  Well, it is time to let this cat out of the bag.  There is a movement afoot to create a documentary film of my journey to Spain and the walking the Camino there.  This all started with the idea that the success of my rehab after cancer treatment is noteworthy and would be helpful to inspire the countless cancer patients out in the world who could use some better training along with their treatment.

The ability for me to even think about this journey is wholly a gift to me.  A big part of that gift is the training and counseling that I have received at Swedish Hospital.  Another big part is all the support that I have gotten from family, friends, church including the Archdiocese of Seattle.  And finally the opportunity that the Camino de Santiago has given me to participate in something that is meaningful, significant and doable for me.

We are terribly last minute with this film idea and we are looking for a miracle to have this happen.  And as Annie has told me more than once, we have already had miracles and we need to continue to expect the good.   I have a team of people on the East Coast and West that are using all their creativity to bring this together.  This is totally shoestring but not outside the box.  Possibly we will be able to just capture the raw footage initially.  There is much more to the process but maybe it is one thing at a time.  People in general are inspired by my story and this will carry the film forward to it’s conclusion even if it is just one step at a time (sounds like a Camino to me).

Today, after training, I am opening an account at US Bank that will be able to accept donations to help fund this process.  I will give you more information on that soon as I know it.  This kind of thing doesn’t happen without a certain amount of money.  Enthusiasm, smarts and creativity will only carry us so far.  If you have any ideas about finances let me know, sooner rather than later.  And pray for us.  St. James is Afoot, Phil.