I think that it is a valid question. These are the kind of things that get us through the winter out here in the Great Pacific Northwest, wondering about newts. Could be worse I guess.

Better quit while a I am ahead, love you, Felipe.

Couple of nights ago I had an hour and twenty five minute phone conversation with my one of my best friends and my college roommate at the New York State College of Forestry. Yea, NYS has trees, lots of them. Anyway he emailed some pics that I thought that I would share.

Mel, has a hobby of maintaining trail cameras on the various acreages that he owns and cares for in Western New York. These cameras have the capability of taking pics day and night, thousands of them. The shutter is triggered by motion. They are small and unobtrusive and are generally strapped to a tree trunk in places of likely wildlife activity. This is a great hobby, if you enjoy things wildlife.

Looking at tracks in the snow you wouldn’t know that a particular deer was a piebald, a spotted deer, an anomaly.

Or by looking at the tracks you would never know that this critter was an albino:

Or here is another that I find the truly inspirational. If we see a three legged animal we generally conclude that it was caused by some accident after birth. At least that is my take, opposed to the phenomenon of color mutation which is genetic. I’ve always been fascinated by three legged dogs who carry on with their lives after a trauma and wag their tails like all the others. Anyway if you saw the tracks in the snow of a three legged deer you would see something unusual there but look at this pic. Look closely, there two three legged deer together:

Well, “carrying on” is an important concept in my thinking. And I’m wondering about the amazing healing that took place for those two. Can only imagine that journey that they are on. Well, an inspiration for sure.

Love you as always, Felipe.

Exciting news for you Vashonites is that our beloved Terry Hershey author of the Sabbath Moment blog will be speaking at Burton Community Church this Sunday. The topic is Grace (capital G) and the time is 11 o’clock.

Terry will soften you up with his warmth and humor and then will give you a priceless gift. All you have to do is get there and listen up. And it’s not Super Bowl Sunday so what will be your excuse?

Burton Church was built in 1897 and stepping inside will take you back to historic Vashon. Then you will have music by Threshold Choir Trio before Terry and yummy coffee hour afterwards. All good with Hershey’s on your Sunday.

Felipe.

For Elizabeth

I met an interesting woman today
who knows about poetry.
Oh yes Felipe, but your wife knows about poetry.
And yes Felipe, your oldest friend knows about poetry.
Felipe, you know someone that actually has a doctorate in guess whato?
You, on the other hand my dear romantic you know dog biscuits about it.

Perhaps, but I know about little blue flowers.
I know what it feels like to fall into a school of barracuda.
I have talked with cancer.
I have taught people how to kill people at 500 yards.
Yes, and I have washed people’s feet.
And so far I have learned that cooking, sex and love
are all about giving, not taking.

My list must count for something surely
it can’t be rocket surgery can it this poetry
Hmm
perhaps it might be
my batteries are below 3%

Don Felipe 2/17/2016 in the Year Of Our Lord.

Here is the latest:
Jess and Todd came up and joined me for color correcting the film this past weekend. That is a necessary part of filmmaking these days, where we are able to watch the film scene by scene, even frame by frame really, making sure that everything looks the way it should. The colorist’s name was Luke Cahill, and it felt very much like we met a long lost member of our team. He fit right in, with an excellent talent for what he did, a great work ethic, and was just an all around nice guy. Last week there was preliminary sound happening in advance of this week’s sound mix. Everyone says that sound is even more important than color, meaning that we as humans can forgive something if the color is a little off, but if the sound is off, the film will look less professional, and will not grab people as much. So this week on Thursday I will be going to the sound mix studio and making sure it is as good as it can be. Friday I will do the same with color. Hopefully, Doug will join me on both these trips, bringing his experience with over 70 documentary films with him. It is nice to have his wealth of knowledge to lean back on! From there it is just a matter of duplicating the film onto the necessary formats required by film festivals and DVDs for the rest of us! Wish us Buen Camino!

Well, just follow the trail Felipe. OK, OK, I knew that! Will include a paragraph from Annie, the Producer/Director of Phil’s Camino with the latest news on the progress of the documentary. We both agreed that her updates would be good for us to have to keep up to date here at Caminoheads. So, we will have a double post today, Annie’s following this one.

Where is the trail this morning? Well, I really had no idea till I just read the aforementioned news from Annie. She said something that tweaked my sensibilities. She was talking about the possibility of having Doug Blush along on these final fine tuning sessions for color and sound. Doug is a very talented and accomplished editor and here he is hangin with our crew of pilgrim artists lending his expertise to the effort. We are so lucky to have him on our team. Thank you Doug, thank you St James.

Let’s see, what did Annie say about Doug’s presence? “Hopefully, Doug will join me on both these trips, bringing his experience with over 70 documentary films with him. It is nice to have his wealth of knowledge to lean back on!”
I love the way Annie put that, “to lean back on!”. Thank you Annie for showing me the trail this AM, for this blog, for me.

I find myself more able “to lean back on” God more everyday as my days pass by. There is a way, a vision, a path that opens to reveal a God that is welcoming, that has a feminine side. I am discovering this and discovering how to approach it. After years of fire and brimstone, which is still there, I am lucky enough to start to experience the milk and honey side of God. This deserves many more well chosen words but I am out of time for now.

Off to the big city to see Danger Zone, my beloved rehab doc. Have a great one, love, Felipe. Remember to swerve for those newts.

Between Terry and Richard I just got overloaded with God stuff. See right there, I was trying to write “good stuff”. I was overloaded with God stuff, exactly right. I guess I need to write my blog before I open and read these guys, too much for me. Wonderful stuff but heavy duty.

So, Catherine y Dana and Cynthia y Roan showed up this AM to walk and we did make it around two laps when I suggested that we go inside and have a coffee and read these blogs. I needed some help with this stuff. We read all three blogs outloud and had a great discussion. Just perfect for a rainy morning. This is all great stuff for Lent and we are doing exactly what we should be doing. Thanks Terry and Richard.

Alright, we haven’t solved the case of the lucky octopus but he can wait. We have covered enough for one day. And remember to slow down for the darn newts. Don’t be a stranger, love, Felipe.

Yea, I have no idea what that means but it is intriguing. It was a news story on the TV news just a moment ago and the sound was off so I don’t have the details. Perhaps a Valentine Day story. I was all prepared with a headline for this post of “We Swerve For Newts” which I came up with this morning after an early morning trip to town. It is wet and warm out and the little 3 inch newts (amphibians) are crossing the roads. It’s kind of a Springtime thing.

And then I had a chance at writing a blog post and I read Terry’s weekly Sabbath Moment post and was filled with that. It is a real beauty. And then to finish me off another Richard Rohr message came in. I’m pretty much toast. My only chance is if Catherine y Dana get over here to walk shortly and we can talk our way though this.