No matter how hard I try and be here at the Ranch on the Island my thoughts are drawn away.  There is a sucking vortex that is Phil’s Camino the Movie and it is not here, it is somewhere else.  My thoughts are either about planning to travel for an upcoming event in another place or about what can I do here to get things off my list so I will be ready to be somewhere else.   I need to get used to this new dynamic and get a grip on it’s ways.

And speaking of somewhere else, Annie has announced that we are in the Dubuque Festival.  Woo hoo!  Been pushing this because I wanted to make sure that we touched the Heartland.   I want the movie to be dusted with some good old Iowa corn pollen, I know it’s the wrong season, symbolically, symbolically.  Pigrim Farmer John we are coming baby!   That’s  April 21-24th, so put that on the calendar, just around the corner.

Right now the film is at the festival in Sarasota, Florida.  I wish I could make all the festivals but it is not possible.  Doing one a month seems like a reasonable goal for me, for my situation.  So stay tuned as we will announce news about the festivals as it comes up.

One of the things that I see myself becoming involved with is fund raising.  This is not my forte but hey, it needs happening.  And it needs happening right now.  Fortunately or unfortunately I am learning about this whole world of documentary film making as I go along.  And one thing that is apparent right now is that we need more funds to carry this process forward.  Yes, the movie itself is finished, physically finished, but that is not the end of the story.  Getting the movie out to the public is next, is now.  And that is this process of attending these festivals through the season.

Just getting accepted at these festivals is a major honor.  The news that South by Southwest in Austin accepted us, for example, didn’t mean much to me until I heard that we were one of 12 out of 800 short documentaries that they looked at.   That woke me up to the fact that we are blessed, how else can I put it.

Promoting is what the task is now, to get the film out.  It is worthless unless it gets out to the people that can use it.  And that is what these festivals are all about.  This is where folks that know about film and deal in film gather to network.  And we need to be at as many as possible to meet with these folks.  Annie is dedicated to making this happen as much as our treasury will allow.  That means she is going to many and that means that I need to go to as many as possible.

So, our pitch to you, to all possible donors, is do you want to become part of Phil’s Camino?  Do you want to help get this message of healing and hope out to those that need it?  This is how you can help by donating and of course by praying.  So, just warning you, I’ll be on all you’ll’s case!  Love,  Felipe.

We missed a few days of walking here because of the trip to Austin but we are back now. Yesterday, Sunday’s afternoon walk, we got into the town of Castrojeriz which is 40 km out of Burgos.  We are out on the Meseta now.

Here is our current schedule which I think will hold for the spring.  It will be interrupted once a month for my travels though.

Monday 0900-1000

Tuesday 1600-1700

Thursday 0900-1000

Sunday 1600-1700

The trail is drying up but still muddy in spots and you need your rubber boots.

Please come and keep me company, Felipe.

Monday morning, light rain and cloudy.  Crawling out from my funky chemo weekend.  These Monday’s are pretty good generally.  We have been calling my every other weekend, laden with fatigue from my chemo treatment, my Pyrenees weekend.  So you will know in the future.

Just got done reading “La Concha”, the official mag of APOC, American Pilgrims on the Camino.  This is our national organization in America.  I got around to joining recently although my walking partner Rick urged me after we got back in 2014.  And a nice magazine with poetry and stories and news and nice pics and a painting.

I don’t know if I mentioned it but one of the gatherings for our movie group in Austin was the first meeting of APOC in Austin.  At least twelve folks signed up to start the charter process.  It was nice to be involved like that.

Now that I am a member I can submit an article for La Concha about Phil’s Camino to tell folks to be on the lookout for the film coming to their locale.  And to give them an idea of our journey of the last two years.   If I am not mistaken I think that our film will be showing at the national gathering of APOC  this spring or summer in St Louis.

Ok, you are up to speed on that.  We will be walking in a few moments here.  Ah, that reminds me that I haven’t put out my weekly Sunday post on the progress our walk locally.   Will do.  Yes, always more to do, keep walking loves, Felipe.

Just the thought of those beautiful blooms puts me in a special place.  And in Spain in August with the heat so intense the vision of the sunflowers going on to the horizon was intoxicating then and totally rich for me to recall now in my mind’s eye.   It deserves a poem is my thought at the moment.

I will work on that to write a poem about the sunflowers.  Perhaps I will need some ninety degree weather to conjure that up.   Perhaps some sort of Camino related smell will help.  It will be fun trying, right?

It seems now my thoughts are on Phil’s Camino the film and the festivals and trips and meetings.  All good really but hard to get away from.   All of a sudden I have my own travel agent.  Yes, well, planning on one trip per month through the festival season which seems to go on forever.  So, that’s my plan anyway.

OK, back here to Phil’s Camino the backyard walk, we will be walking at 1600 for an hour.   Hopefully the rain will continue to be light.  And. have an appointment with Sister Joyce at 1500.  Catherine is going with me to meet her.  So pretty full afternoon on this Palm Sunday.

Glad to share a little time with you today.   Will be back tomorrow of course.  Simply, love you, Felipe.

It was 90 something in Austin one day last weekend.   They are a little ahead on their spring.   We like to savor spring around here, stretch it out as long as possible.

Just hearing back from some of the folks that we met there.   So many great folks were there in Austin to be with us.   The film Phil’s Camino is of course a great project but in some ways it is an excuse to get together with some amazing people.   I am deeply honored to be around such great folks.

Ah, yes.   I am going to go for now.  Things to attend to.  Have a wonderful day.  Love you, Felipe.

Why was there a big “Y” in the sky at 0717?   Interesting.   And how are you today?  Any letters overhead?

I have a pile of business cards that I collected in Austin and they are sitting next to me now.  What to do?  I feel like I need to send off a little email to each, thanking them.   Thanking them for being there with us.   Or how lucky it was for us to be there with them.   Something like that.

A beautiful day here today.   Things drying out outside.  The grass is starting to grow, time to start mowing to keep ahead of it, a jungle out there.   Got some damage to fix from the last wind storm that occurred here while we were romping in Austin.  Yes, and speaking of romping, there is more romping to be done.  More film festivals and fund raisers coming up on the horizon and we will keep you posted.

So, for now I think I will say adieu, is that the right word?  These business cards are calling me.   But always great to be with you, my fellow travelers.   You look good today.  Love, Felipe.

When I described our project to Our Michele, a knowledgeable horticulturalist,  she said, “Yea, Guerilla Gardening!”.   Well yea, something like that I suppose.   We have been working at it a month now since things are warming up around here.

A brief discription would be that we discovered some viable patches of soil that need some love.  They exist where thousands of people would see them everyday if only they had a little color to show off.  Right now they look like accidental piles of dirt that have built up over the years because of road dirt, bird poop and whatever has tended to collect due to natural forces.  And the area is so busy with traffic that it would be a huge hassle to close the road to clean up these untidy little piles so there they live sort of invisible.   We thought that there were three out of many that looked large enough to support flowers over the summer season.

This looks like a caper for Cancer Commandos if ever there was one.   Our Michele suggested Calendula since it is colorful and easy.  I added California Poppy because they are colorful and thrive on neglect.   So this is the blend.  So how do we actually get the seed in the “soil”?   We thought up this plan of mixing the seeds in water in a standard paper coffee cup like from Starbucks which are everywhere and attract zero attention.   Then since our hopefully fertile piles exist so close to the car window and since most time the traffic slows us down to walking pace we thought that casually pitching the cup of liquid on a strategic area as we roll by would look like we were jettisoning some cold coffee.

Feburary 19th I did the first cup and yesterday I did the last of six.  And the piles are sort  of rough with a lot of crevices so sowing with lots of seeds with no raking in should mean that we could expect maybe a 10% germination.    That would work to bring some color to lots of folks from an unexpected place.   Well, we have our fingers crossed.

So geographically this area is where the West Seattle Freeway enters I5 North and there is a ramp that curves down and to the left.   There is a sign to Vancouver overhead  and the three piles are the largest ones around that sign.    So I got Wiley interested in the project and he could probably get all his friends to help water it over the dry of late summer.   What family fun!

Yesterday while I was conversing with one of my lovely nurses this project came up.   I am with these folks in the chemo treatment area for four hours so almost any new topic is appreciated  and explored.  I thought that this was a good one to mention.   So I’m describing the situation like I just did for you and she was listening and forming a pic in her mind.   And the dear came up with this great question that was a high point in my day.   She said, “Well, how do you know that no one will come along and clean those up and destroy your project?”.   Actually I had been thinking of this so the answer came quickly.   “That is the beauty of it!  It is a metaphor for our lives here with our cancer, right?  Get it?  We don’t know when we will be swept up from the living.   But that  shouldn’t stop us from planting something for the future.”    Yea, nice interchange.

Off to walk this AM.  Thursday morning is beautiful here with the rising barometer, rising love, Felipe.

“Fire Danger Low”, that’s  what the Fire Department’s sign by the side of  Vashon  Highway read this morning as I headed to the ferry.   Of course it has said that all goll darn rainy winter but I’m back from Austin and everything here on the Island  looks fresh and new.   But I’ll take it “Fire Danger Low” is one less thing to worry about, right?

Yea, I’m back from Austin and at Swedish for my 65th treatment this morning.  Somehow I have learned to have fun here and my docs and nurses respond to that.  Yes, love them.   And I was representing them in Austin so I need to give them the After Action Report.

But back to Austin, where we met this  funny little man with an equality cap.   He maybe is slightly older  than Felipe.   And he had this quirky way of getting a little to close to me  when we were conversing, as in your face close.  I say to myself that there is something interesting going on here.

Not only interesting but this little guy’s film won the award for best short documentary at the Austin Festival.  Yea.  And what was the title of that film Felipe?  Well gang,  I have to preface this by saying that this title is pretty darn raw so take your heart medicine if you need.  OK, it is called ” These C*cksucking Tears”.   It  the story of Pat’s life as the first openly gay Country and Western singer and that title is also the title of a song that he put out in 1972.  He let’s himself be very vulnerable for this movie and that makes it moving.

It it just so happens that Pat lives close by in Bremerton,  WA,  a virtual stone’s throw from Vashon.   Amazing that we are so close geographically.   And Pat will show up soon at the ranch to walk Phil’s Camino I am sure.

OK,  back home after a long day of treatment and errands.  On the couch with a glass of Rioja Dry Rose ready to finish up the blog for today.   Seems like everyone and their brother wanted to hear about the festival today and the post suffered, so here we are back.

So we have established that we are close geographically, Pat and I.  But we both realize that we have a cultural divide between us.  We made a good start at our meetings to get the ball rolling to bridge that gap.  Remembering what the Camino taught that we are all witnesses to one another.   Meaning we have an obligation to listen to our neighbors story and try and find that bridge that connects us.   That’s my plan and I am sticking to it.

Yup, you are a peach.  I remember I said that to my friend in Malta and it needed some explaining.  The idea doesn’t translate well.  The word peach in Maltese is “hawha”.    There is some trivia for your Wednesday, love, Felipe.

Ah, back again home. Trip back was a little precarious. The lines at the Austin Airport for security were hugely long due to the festival travelers. We barely got on board and people got left behind. Man, but once we were in the air things were good. We watched the dawn from up high.

So, Felipe how did it go? Man, what a dream to be treated so. Camino people flew into Austin to help out for one. Carol came from California to be our handler. That sounds funny but she was great at worrying about getting us where we were supposed to be on time and looking good. Karin, major film buff and the owner of the Breckenridge Theatre called the Speakeasy flew in to travel with us and I called her our bodyguard. Local Camino folks offered their homes to put us all up. Erika did that and served a huge brunch for all the Camino people that we could round up on Sunday. The hospitality was five star!

One of our events also served as the very first meeting of the totally brand new Austin chapter of APOC. Oh, that’s American Pilgrims on the Camino. Yea, how cool is that! A lady named Claire was heading that up. We played a part in history there.

Probably the two high points for me were attending the two showings of Phil’s Camino and participating in the question and answer sessions afterward along with Annie, Todd and Jessica. The film was received very well both times and the Q and A’s were amazing. I was just so unselfconscious then up answering queries and being Phil or maybe more Felipe genuinely. Having people to handle the details left me to concentrate on the issues that people wanted to hear about. And the film is so solid and St James is there and I/we just have to smile and enjoy ourselves really. The film has a life of it’s own and it progresses at it’s own pace and surprises us all the time.

So, many great connections were made and new opportunities are opening up. We talked with many folks from hither and yon and made plans for future get togethers and confluences. And then last evening we the crew had a chance to meet in a quiet place and put it in perspective. Unfortunately Annie wasn’t feeling well and couldn’t be there. But for me the important thing that came out of that was the notion that we were incredibly lucky to be in South by Southwest. And two was Todd and Jessica talking about how they just wanted to make a really good movie aside from thoughts of festivals and competition. And they did in Spades and people respond. Just simple like that.

Yea, there is more to unpack from this trip for you and we will tomorrow. For now Catherine y Dana are going to be here in a moment to walk and have tapas. Time to get back to what we do best, walk in the mud and talk celestial. What fun. It’s all a heady time.

We are blessed, love, Felipe.

Pilgrim Farmer Felipe! Pilgrim Farmer John here. Here being the south east corner of the great state of Iowa, corn growing mecca of the world. I’m going to begin my congratulations with the phrase “I salute you”. We are fellow Marines, and that phrase means more to us than most. We salute our Flag, our fallen brothers and sisters, our heroes marching amongst us. We Marines have been doing so much with so little for so long that now we’re pretty sure we can do anything with nothing. Which is pretty much what you pulled off Amigo. You get sick, dumped on with bad news, take treatments that knock the hell out of you: No problemo! React. Adapt. Overcome. We’ll just bring that Camino here and walk it like we own it. And then the blessing of having a good Doc to recognize the importance of that to you, and telling you to “Saddle up and Go”. It seems to surprise a lot of people that you could do that. No surprise to me Marine. I made my Holy Walk from Le Puy, France to Finnesterre, Spain and if you told me you wanted to take that on, you’d have a shipmate for every step. All of my old USMC buddies have been in the loop on all this stuff you’ve done. They’ll be proud that you’re a movie star now, but not as proud as they are to call you Brother. Semper Fi Marine.

You’ll make it to Iowa someday, I’m now sure of it!! You can buy me a beer and we can tell each other lies about how good we used to be.

SF,
PFJ