Reading Don Quixote is definitely a Camino. This addition being 940 pages long reminds me of Phil’s Camino at 909 laps. It goes on and on into the distance and patience is always needed, no quick fixes here. It isn’t drudgery but I learn to do it just to do it whether feeling good or otherwise. It calls.

Being in the book in Spain in the 15 and 1600s is most interesting. I have been spending part of each day there for the last almost three months. There is a vast amount of information there about the culture of the times. And it doesn’t appear all that ancient to me. This seems to be a symptom of getting older, the ability to relate to older and older times. Anyway, I feel at home there in the book.

And here on Phil’s Camino in the rain of Janurary we are in Pontecampaña with 66 kilometers to go to get to our goal. With our pace of 10km per week we should be there, God willing, toward the end of February. And then what are we going to do? I don’t know, maybe out to the coast? Come and help us out. The more the merrier on the trail as always.

Time for lunch here. Time to get to work after that. This is my good week, my time of the least side effects, time to get things done. You are on my mind, love you, Felipe.

Back from Mass with Father David. And speaking of back, Catherine is back as well as Dana from their motor trip to California. I’m happy.

The cold snap has broken, it’s raining and the barometer is in a tailspin. There is still lingering snow along Phil’s Camino but it may be gone by the walk this afternoon. People coming for the walk, some local some from Seattle. I am going to try and make some cornbread for tapas. I’m happy.

Father David was good today and more often than not is. Occasionally a phrase pops up to knock us over and he said one today. It was during his homily which was about how is God showing up in our lives. Or to me how well are we paying attention. And he brought up the phrase, “the manger of our hearts”. How magnificent is that little combination of words. The image of our hearts being a manger as a place to welcome and maybe shelter God who presents himself as a defenseless baby. It knocked me over. I’m happy.

I’m here on the red leather couch writing you and drinking water out of a wine glass. I am trying to fool myself which isn’t hard really. Always feel like I am not drinking enough water, everyone is always on my case. So yea, the wine glass is making it way more fun. I’m so easy. I’m happy some more.

Yup, A Sunday in the rain in Seattle WA, we know how to do this. So, find some reason to be happy today. I guess fool yourself if necessary, get the job done. Thanks for being with me, love you in a wine glass, Felipe.

Our cold spell is supposed to break today which is OK by me. We’ve killed most of the bugs and yellow jackets in the soil and woodpile so they won’t be too pushy this spring. The kids got a chance to run around on the ice on Bank Road Pond the last few days so that’s good and now it can warm up.

Here is some stuff in the news that you probably won’t find too many places. Pilgrim Farmer John from the great state of Iowa is starting a new blog which I think is going to be daily. He is riding across the US on his trusty bike with Farmer Cathy driving the RV close by. This is good as John being the guy that he is needs a high degree of supervision. So his blog is at: http://www.pilgrimfarmerjohn.blog/ or I guess I could put a hot link: Pilgrim Farmer John’s New Blog

Then Steve Watkins old time journalist and Camino blogger from the great state of Tennessee has a new blog which I might have mentioned before. His new writing features stories of memoriable people, one a day. He just had Annie O’Neil yesterday I think. Anyway he is off to a flying start and he would be good to follow: Steve Watkins’ New Blog

So there is some stuff to do on a winter afternoon. I’m going to run over to the new shop to work a few hours before the Seahawks game. Well, if you are local come walk at 3:30 tomorrow, Sunday. If you are far away, miss you. Maybe send a comment so we can keep in touch, love, Felipe.

I don’t know but I am getting pretty goofy after three nights of hardly an sleep, power surge I guess. Starting to remind me of the sleep deprivation on the Camino. At the hospital right now for the second half of my treatment then back to the Island this afternoon. Have a memorial service this afternoon for a person I just got to know in the last few months. He lost it to his cancer.

Yea, shallots. The first time that I ever cooked with them or had them maybe. Catherine y Dana grew them and I think I got them in my Christmas stocking. Not that I am any kind of gourmet cook but just appreciating more different stuff these days. But I am somewhat of a cook by the way.

I drove up the Westside Highway to get to the Seattle ferry this morning, the scenic route. I takes a little longer and is more challenging than driving the straight roads but it has poetry. It has “Rough Road” signs and “Motorcycles Use Extreme Caution” signs and old boats in the weeds and ferns and giant maples and firs. Kind of prehistoric over there on the west side, sun hardly ever reaches the understory.

I think that I will go for today. It might be nap time, hopefully. I have two hours in the chair getting a liter of hydration. TGIF, right? Love, Felipe.

My Rebecca went off the charts yesterday with a big venison roast she cooked all day long in the old crock pot. It was max juicy, falling apart tender and had great flavor. Venison isn’t beef, it has a wild taste and it is harder to cook due to the lack of fat. The challenge is to get the meat tender without drying it out. Her secret was she cooked it with some coffee and red wine. That sounds like a possible safety violation, trust she checked with the fire marshal on that combination.

I hear of folks escaping to Palm Springs and other destinations southerly but we are pretty happy hunkered down in the twenty degree weather here. This is cold for us but so far so good. The cougar has been around, the neighbor saw it a few days ago across the road. I’ll have to say that the wild kitties put a bit of spice in our walks.

Inside the house and driving I have been listening to my new love in music, the ensemble Pick Martini out of Portland Oregon. They have an international feel with a big band sound, very professional. And they make up for the show Portlandia that has been coming out of there for the last few years. Way creative but too goofy for me.

Yea, so I’m good I got the OK to hang with Pink Martini for a while in our afterlife from my Rebecca. She agreed that we wouldn’t always have to be together. She agreed pretty strongly on that actually. Guess that is one of the benefits of almost forty years of marriage.

So, the Martini is lead by Thomas M. Lauderdale who is playing the piano on the UTube videos. He is fabulous and obviously a musical genius at least and he is fun to watch. The highlights are the two female singers that he has managed to corral into the ensemble. Check out China Forbes singing Nina Nanna or Let’s Never Stop Falling in Love. Then there is Storm Large singing Splendor in the Grass and Amado Mio. Well, you’ll get the picture after that.

Hanging out with the band may be on the wilder side of heaven. Kind of fun to think about that, what is the wilder side of heaven? I’m thinking the harps and little puffy clouds are a rather unimaginative view really, good start but still. I can do better than that on a bad day.

Walking this morning in a few moments, sunny but cold. We’ll see who the hard core guys are. So happy that you came along for the blog. fun to be in contact with you, Southern or Northern Hemisphere, East or West, coastal or heartland. We got it all loves, Felipe.

For sixty nine years I have been complaining about my birthday being so close to Christmas. Well maybe I didn’t start complaining till I was ten or something but there was a point when I did the math and discovered that I was getting 1.5X and not 2X in terms of loot. It was one of the first indications that life wasn’t fair.

Anyway, this year on my 69th birthday we had such a smashing good party that we eclipsed Christmas. And that was after me being at the hospital all day for treatment. Not that I have anything against Christmas but it is just hard to compete with, impossible for a kid. Now all of a sudden after all these years it felt like we broke even or perhaps surpassed the energy of Christ’s birthday just for a few brief moments.

Well, that is just a look back at the holidays. We are still getting our feet wet in the new year and still have the tree up so it still lingers. Well, that’s a good thing.

Here is a quote from Joyce Rupps monthly e blog today:

“Perhaps a balance can be found in George Bernard Shaw’s quote from David Richo’s The Five Things We Cannot Change: “This is the true joy in life: being used for a purpose recognized by yourself as a mighty one, being thoroughly worn out before you are thrown on the scrap heap, being a force of nature instead of a feverish, selfish, little clod of ailments and grievances complaining that the world will not devote itself to making you happy.”

“Being thoroughly worn out” I’m working on big time. And the other parts of that quote sound familiar so maybe I’m finally on the right track finally in my 69th year finally. OK, well that is what is apparent today in my day.

The best to you, you’re the best, love, Felipe.

My biggest fault with this blog is that I spend too much energy on content and not enough on other aspects. Well OK, I’m fixated on my writing. Yes, it’s been a challenge and I am proud of my improvement over the months. But for the blog to improve I need to get some other things on the front burner.

One of those things is access for readers. Having the blog emailed daily is a must. And I have been baffled when folks have asked about this, about how to set it up. But just heard from a friend that she was trying with no success and then after she wrote a comment in she was suddenly getting a daily post via her email. I just looked and at the bottom of a day’s comments there is a button to click that says something like “send new posts in email”. So, let’s try that if you want. It would make it easier for you.

And I love the comments and try to answer each and every one. And read them as we go along. They bring up extra thoughts and ideas. Nothing is private in there so read away. When you comment your email address shows up for me and if there is anything private that we need to cover we can do it in email. OK?

I am going to hire Hanna the lovely girlfriend of son Wiley to help me reconfigure the site. It needs some help I realize. So that is coming up. This will make it easier to use and information about events, related blogs and websites will be accessible.

Well, I wrote about a lot of nuts and bolts stuff today, sometimes that needs to be done. OK, off to my day, sometimes love you with nuts and bolts love, Felipe.

OK gang, time to get out and burn off some of those calories. Rubber boots necessary. Smiles necessary. Tapas may occur.

Monday 0900-1000
Tuesday 1530-1630
Thursday 0900-1000
Sunday 1530-1630

Felipe.x

I came out of church on Sunday in the most peaceful mood or mode or both. Sort of relaxed, confident and feeling ready it was. Still have remnants of that I am trying to keep burning. Wow, sign me up for this long term. I could say maybe it was just a result of the hustle and bustle the of the holidays being over. That probably helped but it went deeper than that. Yesterday I was talking about marrow, the inner most being and I think that peace was finally seeping into that. A calm really was what it immediately felt like.

A couple of really great items came in on FaceBook this AM. One was from Nanciann and it was a notice of a free ebook entitled “Assertiveness for Earth Angels” by Doreen Virtue. free ebook
Thanks Nanciann! Then Lisa from Hot Springs who we have all been hovering over and praying for had this great quote:

“What the caterpillar calls the end of the world, the butterfly calls a new beginning.” Richard Back

Thanks Lisa, you are the bravest and most buoyant person I know. And you are obviously ready for the new year.

So, that is what things look like to me this second day of January in the year of our Lord 2017. Man we are kicking ass so far aren’t we?! Love you, miss you, peace and calm, Felipe.x

Happy New Year Caminoheads! 2017 is here with a vengeance, wait and see. So glad that you are here to join me. I have no idea idea what I am going to write about today to kick off the new year but I did notice something this morning that we could chew on.

For months I have been reading Richard Rohr’s daily blog and then just recently started Bishop Barron’s. Both good but different from each other. Both mentioned the same word today and that is marrow so I thought we could start there and see what happens. We just don’T see that word very often, so what’s the deal.

Here is a quote from Bishop Barron from the January 1st blog: “Friends, on this feast of Mary the mother of God, I would like to emphasize specially the word today’s Gospel associated with her: treasured. “Mary treasured these things and reflected on them in her heart.” She pondered them, turned them over, sought out their causes, saw their implications, allowed them to work their way into the marrow of her bones.”

Then Father Rohr’s Janurary 1st blog: We must rediscover what St. Francis called the “marrow of the Gospel.” It’s time to rebuild from the bottom up. If the foundation is not solid and sure, everything we try to build on top of it is weak and ineffective. Perhaps it’s a blessing in disguise that so much is tumbling down around us. It’s time to begin again. This will be our new Daily Meditation theme: rebuilding from the bottom up. Auspiciously, this year is the 500th anniversary of Martin Luther’s important attempts at reform.

Let’s throw in a couple of definitions from the big fat paper dictionary:
1. a soft fatty substance in the cavities of bones, in which blood cells are produced (often taken as typifying strength and vitality).
2. to one’s innermost being.

I don’t know where this all is going but something is afoot. Talk of the very basic innermost areas of our awareness. Talk of the very innermost basic ideas of God’s message. Delving into the start and foundation of our beliefs.

It is just the first day of the new year so as we unpack the upcoming events of Janurary perhaps we will try and drive this train of thought forward. We have time, there is no hurry really.

So, have a great day of friends, football and blackeyed peas. I have to go for now and as always, love, Felipe.