I hope it is just one of those Monday mornings when it just takes a little longer to get things organized but that will happen, right?  Maybe I just had too good a time over the weekend.  I hope that is it.

One of my Camino buddies Emily just had a good Yiddish quote on FB, “Men plan, God laughs.”  Maybe that is what is happening to my Monday morning?  I’m not even that far yet, still trying to find the plan.

Oh, I have a walk at 0900 too.  Maybe someone wise will show up to point out the way to me.  That would be nice.  Where is that guy when you need him?

Well, one good thing is that the Sheepdog Trials are over.  I think two or maybe three times as many people as live here showed up to watch this thing.  The whole place including the ferries were close to grid lock.  But now it is over and the cleanup begins, kind of how my Monday morning feels.

Well, time to go.  Take care and hopefully it will all come together.  Love, Felipe.

I know it’s June.  Sometimes we have a Junuary though, which appears to be happening. The corn does not appreciate this and it’s growth is slowed.  But have the weeds slowed down, not so sure?

Had fun with Catherine going to Mass this morning.  Father David was better than his usual self which is pretty darn good.  Today was Trinity Sunday.  To me Father was saying that God sees me as who I am rather than what I have done.  I am/we are all created in the image of God and that is who we are.  My muddling my way through life is what I have done.  So, God only sees who I am, a reflection of Himself.  Father wanted us to come up with a name for God for today.  I chose the Forgiver.

We went off to tailgate at the supermarket afterward.  Well, actually we sat in the cab because of the cold snap but we got theology done just the same.  And four baby ducks followed mom across the parking lot and jumped up over the curb into the tall weeds.  Of course there was the last little duck that had a little harder time and it takes a few tries to get over that high curb.  God the Forgiver looks down.

OK, I know I am going to miss the walk today.  I got an invite to go to the Mariner’s game with Matt my Marine Corps buddy.  Then have a birthday party for another friend tonight.  I am going to have to miss weeding today.

OK, you are the best, Felipe.x

Felipe’s at a total loss at what to write about today.  Is that going to stop him?  Naa.  Yea,  just taking a break right now from running around the ranch.  I’ve got to make some chicken salad for din din and do the dishes.  Somehow I’m the housewife today.

“Ninety percent of the game is half mental.”. Right?  That Yogi Barra quote just came up on TV baseball.  That’s going to fit in here somehow.

My Rebecca is up at the Sheepdog Trials today helping to man a couple of booths.  The Vashon knitters have displays of their craft down there.  But the trials themselves have just gotten so popular that it is hard to believe.  There are so many people down there from off island I think they are going to cause a balance problem and we are all going to slip into the sea.  It started out so small maybe ten, fifteen years ago and now we are on some national circuit.  They have Temple Grandin down there to top things off.

They probably took some cues from Phil’s Camino which started with some folks just walking in the mud a few years ago and look at it now.  Shoot, it’s on the international circuit.  I hear someone needs to get out there and do some mowing so those poor pilgrims can make it around.  I wonder who gets to do that?

OK, well, I have to get to work.  Miss you guys, love, Felipe.

Back at the treatment center and it is noisy and my ear plugs are in so I can get to  Blogland.  There.  What kind of mischief are we going to get into today?

This morning I had a glimpse of something extraordinary.  I was just driving on the Island and suddenly it was like a veil was lifted and I was viewing a bigger picture than normal.  I know, pretty woo woo.  It didn’t last for long but was definitely there.  I remember thinking can I function safely here.  I was driving and was doing well at that so I concluded yes I could.

It wasn’t as  though I didn’t have my own thoughts but they were joined to a larger vision that’s all.  I don’t know what else to say about that but it didn’t seem so complicated or impossible a place to get to.  Maybe it is a deal like prayer or contemplation where you practice spending longer and longer times there.  Yea.

You know, this is a journal of my journey and things come up and I report on them.  It is partly cloudy out right now and that would be a report.  In the present everything sort of has the same value, it all seems equally important.  But somethings  are more important in retrospect for seeing patterns or trajectory say.  So, just reporting.

I talked about this before but let’s review.  A book that I read about the Korean War written by a young Marine officer who later became a famous writer left a big impression on me.  At one point he listed all the things that were in his pockets that day.  Seems very mundane, as in why bother but it put flesh on the bones of his story.  Things that we take for granted in the present may just be important to someone down the road  so I continue.

I think that I will read a few poems from my Brian Doyle book.

See you tomorrow, love, Felipe.

On the 2nd we were were talking about Brian Doyle and his final letter “Dear Coherent Mercy: thanks. Best life ever.”  That was very moving to say the least.  Yea.

My Rebecca was so impressed with him when she saw him at a talk at Seattle U last year maybe.  And she bought several books of his, one of which I am holding in my hand entitled “How The Light Gets In And Other Headlong Epiphanies”.   On the title page in Brian’s hand is this note, “To Phil, with my regards – welcome to the wild weird joy of Catholicism – Brian Doyle”.   Yea, that’s it.  I might mention that Seattle U is a Jesuit school and Rebecca probably told him that I was a recent convert to this wild and weird joy.

So I am just getting around to reading this wild and weird book after all this time.   Now I am having  a rest from the pace that folks were giving me books at which seemed like two a day.   I mean there was no way that I was going to keep current under those circumstances but am trying to catch up now.  It is a poetry book but it is made up of  prose poems, a new one on me.  But it is good as his letter and am enjoying it.

So at this same time I am listening to a lot of Pink Martini and my current fav song is “Hey Eugene” written and performed by China Forbes.  It is a wild and weird song about her meeting this guy at a party on Avenue A and hitting it off and leaving her phone number and for whatever reason he doesn’t call back, just nothing.  So, the song is this intense longing for a reconnection.  “Hey Eugene, remember me?”

OK Felipe, how does this all fit together?  Well, last night on the very last page of the book in Brian’s hand is his email address.  It’s like a “Hey Phil, remember me?”  I’m so touched.

Yea, life is fleeting, make stuff happen.   Love you, remember me?  Felipe.

This is my Wednesday to be back at the treatment center for my, well, treatment.  Donna my nurse today got me a great spot with a huge orange rhododendron just out the window.  Yea, extra credit for her.

Just ordered a thousand balloons from partypro.com  .  Makes me feel like a real party pro for sure.  Archery targets for summer shooters.  Nobody doesn’t like to hear balloons  pop, young, old and inbetween.

Man, we have a variety of topics going off today.  What’s next hockey, politics, Washington State wine.   Not very focused today at Caminoheads.  But some days are like this and we have to go with it.

So Kelly and Rick and Rick’s granddaughter Zoe are on the Camino Frances right now as I write.  Haven’t heard much from them but really wasn’t thinking I would.  Leave them alone to their adventures is how I am thinking about it.  A couple of pics would be great.

Oh, since we are have a newsletter today, one of my buddies here at the hospital stopped by and had his lunch here with me.  He and his wife just had a new baby and they are moving to Cleveland.  Yea, folks coming and going.  I am going to miss him.

OK, just got released.  Time to make the 3 o’clock ferry.  See you tomorrow, love, Felipe.

It’s my Camino I guess.  A friend informed me of his diagnosis yesterday evening.  It is 95% heartbreak and that can seem downright overwhelming.  But somehow we fight our way to the surface and begin to pick up the pieces of our lives maybe.

What is my role in all this I am continually asking myself.  There is the documentary and people say that I inspire them which is a good thing.  But having face to face encounters with suffering takes thinking on one’s feet in the present moment and lots of energy.   I am learning to be a better listener and to be better at just being present to people in their states.  And it is a balance between listening and yet not getting swamped by negativity and pointing out that pesky 5%.

What is that 5% really and why is it important?   I am feeling it is hope.  Hope that things will work out one way or another.  There is always room for it.   And one needs it to foster a rock solid belief that they are bigger than this situation.  Yes, that is good.  But then again it is not all something that one can accomplish on one’s own.  Being bigger means that one recognizes that they are small in and of themselves.  Small is not a bad thing it just is.  What makes us big is our connections.

Sorry, I guess I am thinking out loud here.  Not everything that I just think of is ready for prime time.  But nevertheless this is a good track.  This is a good line of thought because we all have times when we have to deal with suffering face to face.  How do we tend to that friend who is standing in front of us trying to deal with that dreaded diagnosis.

OK, well that’s all a bit heavy.  Let’s not leave each other is a dark mood.  Ah, it is a beautiful day outside, a gift to us.  And we have today no matter how many days the doctor has given us, that’s important.  Love in the 5%, Felipe.

Man the corn is popping out of the ground.  Heehe.  Have to get the sunflowers in next.  That is only one row so no big deal.  Ah, what a great time of year.

I wanted to give you some words from Hiking the Camino before I put it back on the shelf.  We and we at this blog are forever talking about the why, and the how and the what of the Camino.  Apparently we are going to go on forever.  Here is the Father’s take:

“In the end my student was correct.  The Camino is Jesus.  In moments of grace I was able to see Him in every step I took.  But a funny thing has happened: I still see Him.  I see Him in places where I did not recognize Him before and experience Him in ways that I missed in the past.  I have come to understand more fully that all of life reveals Jesus.

Of course He was always there: It is not He who has changed but rather I.  I continually pray that my life my be a reflection of His.”  Father Dave Pivonka.

Yea, that is so nice.  We will talk of it again soon after it sinks in.  OK, speaking of Caminos, it is time for his cowboy to get up and going.  Got ten minutes before I get to walk on this beautiful day.  This is the kind of day I would dream about in the rain of the winter.  And here it is!  Hiking loves, Felipe.

Come and join us for a walk and talk.  You won’t find better weather than this.    It’s all down hill from here.

Monday 0900-1000

Tuesday 1600-1700

Thursday 0900-1000

Sunday 1600-1700

Here for you, Felipe.x

It’s Pentecost Sunday today.  It’s a celebration of the coming of the Holy Spirit into the lives of Mary and the Apostles.  The Holy Spirit comes to be an advocate or guide for them and for us.  This is what Jesus meant when he said that he was leaving us but he wouldn’t leave us orphaned.  The Holy Spirit has gifts for us:

“He brings gifts into our lives, much the same way that fruit appears in an orchard – things like affection for others, exuberance about life, serenity.  We develop a willingness to stick with things, a sense of compassion in the heart, and a conviction that a basic holiness permeates things and people.  We find ourselves involved in loyal commitments, not needing to force our way in life, able to marshal and direct our energies wisely.”  Galatians 5: 22-23 from The Message.

Yup, I think that you can find plenty of things in there that remind us of the Camino and of people and events there.  We were lucky to have had the opportunity to go and have that rub off on us.  Not that that is the only place to find it but it sure seems concentrated there.   And then we learn to see it other places afterward, to recognize it.

Have to leave and get out to the corn, my little babies call.  Thanks for stopping by.  Caminoheads is here for you.   Recognizing loves, Felipe.