We finally made it to Astorga today. We had a good crew too, four pilgrims and two dogs and no cougars. That is a little Vashon joke as we’ve had so many big cat sightings out here lately that we don’t know if we currently have one or two roaming around on the Island. Some Wild Kingdom going on here.

Walking schedule:
Monday 0900-1000
Tuesday 1600-1700
Thursday closed, working
Sunday 1600-1700

Come walk with us, Felipe.x

This is Seattle with hydroplane races going on today at this moment. This is a signature Seattle sport. These machines are half boat half airplane and they skim on the water surface just in case you have never seen them.

So, what’s happening with Felipe and Phil’s Camino? Well, we are miles away from that noise and commotion. A hummingbird outside the window is our level of excitement here at the moment. We have a walk in a few hours. This is my low energy chemo weekend so just kind of doing the minimum.

Just had a email from Bill and Sue from Santiago de Compostella Church in California. They were part of the contingent that came up for the premier of Phil’s Camino in Santa Monica. That was where I met them and it was a special time for all of us. They have a Camino that they walk on St James Day and maybe next year God willing I will be able to join them.

My pic is up at St John Vianney Church here on Vashon for going through the Door of Mercy last weekend at Mission San Diego Alcala. Thank you again Sherie for the wonderful trip there to participate in their Mass and to tour the beautiful grounds. Apparently there are twenty six such missions in California. And a tour can be made of them. Some are ruins and some are fully functioning.

Well, I think that I will be off. Oh, look a little blue sky. Love, Felipe.x

Saturday after the California trip, after my treatment week and after stressing out over my lost glasses. Found the glasses so all’s good. Cruising along here on Vashon, away from the traffic, freeways, airport and heat. Time to regenerate.

Things are shaping up for the Port Townsend Film Festival. Lot’s of interest both from here and from LA. Should be a blast. So, that’s September 23rd – 25th. Check their website although I hear that the schedule isn’t posted yet but I expect Phil’s Camino to show everyday.

Yup, time to spring into action here. All these guys and gals hopping around on the Olympics are getting me inspired. OK, love you to bits, Felipe.x

I am trying to wrap my head around Hillary and Donald and all the weirdness of the world and then the guy in front of me at Starbuck’s orders a latte with seven shots of espresso. Is that what it takes these days? Wow!

OK, back at the hospital, it’s Pancho day. Time for my portable pump to go back to it’s cleanup and storage till next time. And Rebecca is with me because she has a little day surgery appointment. Yea, we’ll get it all figured out and be back on the road this afternoon.

Man, the festival at Port Townsend is shaping up. A lot of really great personalities are going to be showing up there. Yesterday, Erica from Austin said she is rearranging her schedule to be there. It’s beginning to look like a very cool summit conference. So, if you want to get in on this get your ducks in a row. I think there are still some rooms left at Fort Warden. Let me know in the comments if you need that and I will get back to you with the contact info.

Let’s see what other connectivity have we going on? Well, Harry showed up yesterday to walk and see the film. He is with me at Swedish at the Treatment Center. And Jessika from St John Vianney’s is showing up with two iced bottles of Sangria for Sunday tapas. We’re not having too much fun around here are we?

What else is cooking? Well, maybe a few thoughts from Felipe. I was just getting a glimpse of the harshness of the urban life today. At the site of the three little mounds of soil where Jennifer and I were trying to get some flowers to grow I will have to admit that in the end we got nothing to come up. Every new little green plant turned out to be a weed. It is the home to tough plants not flowers. But lesson learned, sometimes intentions need some help, some math and science to accompany them. A little more agricultural savvy would have gone a long way. And there on the ledge where the three mounds are was a dead pigeon and a live starling, two weed birds. The starling was trying to make a living there a few inches from the endless stream of moving cars. And at the hospital underground parking lot there was a live pigeon, this time, pecking around on B level, two levels below the street.

Well, time for me to go. Everything good here. Oh yea, little ears appearing on my corn, maybe a couple of weeks away from fresh corn on the cob. Love, Felipe.x

One of the amazing folks that we have met and one of the major talents on the crew of the ship Phil’s Camino is Doug Blush. He is Supervising Editor on the full length documentary Music of Strangers which we took in last evening. Just briefly it is the story of Yo Yo Ma’s quest to answer a deep question that he was wrestling with. I will leave it at that, mysterious. A beautiful and moving experience, check it out. Love you, Felipe.

Sounds like an exciting thing, maybe a book for teens. But it is us the Cancer Commandos rocking the boat again. Couldn’t we just be satisfied being plain old cancer patients like normal folks.

Actually I need to credit Dana with the title which came out of our walk yesterday on Phil’s Camino. We were talking about the notion that being well connected with others seems to be vital to ones well being. And this came from the panel discussion with Dr Asher in LA. But to back up even more Erica from Austin has been beating this drum for a while now. So, somewhere on our walk yesterday we talked about Phil’s Camino being a connectivity machine, being a way to really be with folks. Of course the Camino in Spain does the same.

And My Rebecca talked about this on the film which Dr Asher picked up on. And that’s how we roll. We all seem to be parts of each other’s conversation. It is hard to say where one starts and finishes. We compliment each other; we are connected.

At the treatment center right now practicing on connectivity with a chemo machine. I have two more hours to go, then back to Vashon. Going to watch Doug Blush’s film tonight at the Vashon Theater. I forget the name of it though.

OK, time to eat lunch and maybe take a little nap. Good to be connected to you all, Felipe.x

Ahh, back on the red leather couch on Vashon Island, ready to blog! This is like the driver seat for the whole deal. Well, LA and San Diego were exciting for sure but a guy can only take so much. Now back to ordinary Phil here at home.

Our crew and hosts were so great. Thank you Annie for steering the ship. Thank you Doug for making time. Thank you Carol and Esther for the handling. Thank you Ivette (and Marc) and Sherie for the accommodations and extras. Thank you Janet for getting us around. Thank you Paulette for the lovely and exciting meal. Thank you Bill and Maggie for the laughs and the views. Thank you Bob and Lois for the pool party. Thank you Quint for showing us the way. Thank you Todd and Jess for the Padre’s game and the lovely time at your wedding. Thank you to all the warm folks from Agape and Santiago de Compostella Church for being who you are. Thank you to our audiences who came to see the film. Thank you to the Royal Theater and Emil’s Bakery in Santa Monica. Thank you to our son Wiley for covering for us here in Seattle. There are certainly people I and forgetting here but know that we appreciate you all. We had a great and memorable experience.

The next topic is the Port Townsend Film Festival in Port Townsend, WA taking place on September 23-25. If you are planning on coming to experience this and want to stay at Fort Warden with us let me know. There are some rooms left in the block that we reserved and where My Rebecca and I are staying. These are plain but very reasonable. If you want to leave a comment on this post I can pick up your email address from there and put you in touch with John who is taking care of the booking.

Well, there, that taken care of. Want to talk a little about Mass this last Sunday morning. We had made the trip down to San Diego on the 5 and we were with Sherie there in Point Loma. So Sherie and I made a plan to go to Mass Sunday morning at San Diego Mission Acala, which is the oldest mission in California. What a beautiful and holy place. It was so moving being there and I got a chance to go through the Door of Mercy on the way in.

The long narrow church was just beautiful in that rugged historic funky sort of way that is so rich because of it’s simplicity and honesty. Ivette explained to me that these structures were narrow because the beams that were used to span from wall to wall were only so long coming from the trees of the dry environment so to make the space bigger they could only make it longer. I see.

Mass was beautiful and I wept during the Eucharist. And the people in attendance whether they were mostly regulars or visitors like us I don’t know, applauded afterward which we joined in on and that was new and fresh. Even though Roman Catholic Mass is the same worldwide on any given day there are local peculiarities that are fun and meaningful that sneak in. Maybe Padre Tomas is reading this and he can let us know his thoughts.

Well, time to go and make Tuesday happen. Have a great one and send a comment to let us know how you are doing. Sun coming out loves, Felipe.

The big day was yesterday in the late afternoon and twilight of lovely La Jolla, California. Todd and Jessica where married in a beautiful service. It was their day. In a few words of explanation they were on the Camino with Kelly, Rick and myself in 2014. Todd the videographer and Jessica the director fell in love there somewhere along the Way. It is wonderful that somehow Phil’s Camino played a part in this as we put them in the same place at the same time. And it was a beautiful place and a beautiful time. Bien Camino to them as they go onward!

My Rebecca and I drove last night back to Burbank after the celebration. I din’t have anything but water at the wedding, which was tough. But I was prepping for the journey. We made it in two and a half hours as opposed to four and a half on Saturday. So that was good. But at one point I mistakenly took an exit instead of staying on the Five. Off into the unknown. We didn’t have any GPS gizmos on and was worried as I had no idea where this “the” was going to lead. Feeling totally lost in the wilderness I had that sinking feeling when all of a sudden here is Quint and Annie along side of us waving to follow them. What? Where the heck did they come from?

It was the Freeway Angels appearing when we were in need, us strangers in a strange land. They led us all the away back to where we needed to be to get to Burbank, Bob’s your uncle. Little did we know that they had been following us for an hour and a half. So, there you go.

Safe and sound at Ivette’s and getting ready to fly out this afternoon from the Burbank Airport. It is a two hour direct flight, easy peasy. Well, that’s it as of the moment. Goodbye to California!

As always, Monday love, Felipe.x

This is Phil philling in for Annie, she’s bushed. The film is playing every noon now in LA at the Royal on Santa Monica Blvd. That’s the news and all the details come out on Phil’s Camino Facebook page if you can get there. Annie did send this little gem (thanks Maggie)for us:

Work with love. Remember, whereas it used to be that your growth was based on discipline, admonishment, fixing, and curing, your growth is now about more loving and more healing. It’s about changing more than about fixing; it’s about healing more than about curing. Work with love. You always do.
— Lazaris

OK, Phil.x