Bring your berry bucket, you can pick as you walk.  Dandy time for Phil’s Camino right now, high summer.

Monday 0900-1000

Tuesday 1600-1700 (tapas 1700-1800)

Thursday 0900-1000

Sunday 1600-1700 (tapas 1700-1800)

This schedule should be good for another month and a half, through the middle of September.

Don’t just talk about it, do it.  Felipe.x

Here is what we wrote three years ago from along the trail in Spain on July 31, 2017.  This was entitled “It’s Only A Flesh Wound”.

“There is a point were the pain all becomes silly.  I’m too tired and goofy right now to tell you about this amazing day.  I am going to hand this off to someone else who is more qualified than me.

“Today was the most trying day so far. I found myself on a roller coaster of emotions. Mostly between the joy of realizing that my body is starting to hurt much less, and the complete dismay of turning around a bend and realizing just how much more there is to go. I know that the Camino isn’t supposed to be about the end but rather getting there and how you spend that time, the things you learn, and the people that you meet.. But since I’m a very goal oriented person, I find myself getting mad at my body for not going faster and mad at the road for not being shorter. I’ve really been struggling with that lately, not just on the Camino but in life. I find myself constantly nostalgic or planning out the future but never stopping to enjoy the moment. To stop and stare at the beautiful wide open fields of Northern Spain, to take a deep breath and relax instead of constantly worrying about getting there alright. After all, the worrying is so pointless. Tomorrow I plan on taking it easy since I’ve been pushing my body far past it’s normal limits these past few days and I really need to start appreciating my body, this beautiful vehicle that allows me to walk dozens of miles, rather than wishing it could be faster and better.

-Emily

“The way, in the beginning was a torture because you just wanted to get to the end, now it becomes to turn into a pleasure, the pleasure of search and adventure. With this, you are nourishing something very important : your dreams.”

– The Peregrine of Compestela

The pain becoming silly, it is good we remember that.  And that was Emily who teaches now in South America.  And a nice quote there.  This post was written at tapas after a long day on the trail.  Lots of times my companions would write things if I asked them.

I have half an hour before my walk here at Phil’s Camino.  It will be the cool of the morning and I won’t have the pain here.  Man, we worked hard there, that is what is hitting me right now.

Love, Felipe.x

Went to eight o’clock Mass with Catherine this morning.  Then we tailgated in the supermarket parking lot.  Nobody does that but us so people stop by just to check us out.      We have coffee and a doughnut and work on our tailgate theology.  Seems to be the perfect combination.

Read the Richard Rohr blog this morning also.  He has a daily message that focuses on experiential understanding of God’s mysteries as opposed to trying to grasp with the intellect only.  Great stuff and highly recommended.  I know we have talked about him before but he just blows me away every day and have to comment.

Also half way through My Heart Will Triumph by Mirjana Soldo.  It is the story of her experience as one of the visionaries at Medjugorje.  This is fascinating stuff.  I didn’t know anything about it before.  Loretta who visited here recently had just returned from there.  It felt like we were on the circuit, first Medjugorje and then  jet to Phil’s Camino for a few laps.

Well, dinner time here, have to go.  See you tomorrow morning, love, Felipe.

Sometimes I look at this blog and I wonder.  It has been over three years now that we have been meeting daily.  I have been writing day after day all this entire time.  It was supposed to be a way to communicate with folks when I went and walked in Spain.  It was a broadcast everyday from along the trail.  And now what, thirteen hundred posts and three years later?  What are we doing?

After coming back from Spain this whole endeavor began to be fueled by the notion, “When you get to Santiago your Camino begins.”  I now take that to mean, yes, you have been trained and now what are you going to do with it?    Or perhaps, you are still walking, can you feel it?  Anyway, it has been a place to talk about this phenomenon and more exactly what my personal walk looks like.

In my Bible Guys class we are reading the Acts of the Apostles.  And that whole book was written by Luke as a view into the walk of St. Paul and his fellow travelers as they rough and tumbled their way around the eastern Mediterranean spreading the news about the Gospel.  Interestingly enough we do know that before the word “Christian” those who followed Christ were called people of “the Way”.

What are you getting at Felipe?  Well, I think there is still value in this sort of journaling that we have been up to but also I am starting to see something new emerging.  This is with the help of Cris from Buenos Aires.  She is grateful that we provide space where the Camino “exists”.  It is a place where we talk about it is such a way that it is here and now.  It doesn’t exist just in Spain or just on the way to Rome or Jerusalem.  It doesn’t exist three years ago but now in the here and now.

One of my Angels that I walked with in the early part of my trek across Spain was Laura from Barcelona.  She runs a place there that provides a space for performing arts.  The name of the storefront is translated Island in the Sky.  It is a space, a chance, an inspiration, an acknowledgement,  an environment for growth.  This is what I see anyway.  Maybe it is more than that but you get the general idea.  That is what I am seeing the Caminoheads blog now with the help of Chris looking at us from thousands of miles away.  It is serving that purpose for her there where apparently fellow pilgrims are few and far between.

Well, that is certainly something to think about and be conscious of and to build on.  That seems worthy of the “ink” and the time that it takes to write all this.  Must go for now, Buen Camino!  Felipe.x

Thank you to my readership for all the comments lately.  I especially enjoyed and profited by the ones about my homilies at the Santiago Church in CA.  Speaking in front of a crowd is not in my background but seems to be what I do now.  Still getting used to the idea that it is a tool in my tool kit.

Comments on this blog site really make things happen for me.  With people reading without commenting it is hard to figure what everyone is thinking out there.   It brings the whole thing to life for me otherwise I am just lecturing.  And maybe more importantly a comment can steer the conversation to a new area that needs exploring, something or someplace that I hadn’t considered.

One of my best commenteers is Pilgrim Farmer John but he is riding across Iowa right now on his annual trip.  Our banter has led us on all sorts of interesting conversations.   Stay safe PFJ.

Also at the bottom of the comment page there is the signup to get Caminoheads automatically.  If you successfully get that figured out the blog post will just show up in your email whenever I post it, easy peasy.  This is the best way to do it.

OK, off to work, see you all tomorrow.  Love, Felipe.

When I think of all the wonderful people that are praying for me I straighten up and am glad to be continuing on.  The day is young now and so many good intentions have been focused on me already.  I have to turn all that into positive energy for myself.  Guess I am a little down after that action filled weekend.  That is sort of common with me.  I need to get back on my usual even keel.

Maybe I can get some archery classes in this afternoon.  That is always fun to teach and challenge people learning to shoot.  Maybe I can get some shots in myself, never can have enough practice.

Well, off to work here for the morning.  Oh, I have a walk first, right.  Phil’s Camino calls.  I’ll probably get a chance to say a rosary.  I love the Luminous Mysteries on Thursdays.

Again thanks so much for all you kind folks praying for me.  Miss you, love you, Felipe.

http://thesantiagoway.libsyn.com/parish-camino-with-special-guest-phil-volker

There is the link to one of my homilies from the weekend.  I obviously am no public speaker but can get up in front of a group and talk for a few minutes.  It is both challenging and rewarding.

Ah, back to the ranch and the constant battle to beat back the jungle.  The blackberries are on the verge of a giant explosion.  It will be such a show, such a display.  If we can harvest 1% of them it will be a miracle.  We cleaned out what we stil had frozen from last season and made some juice.  Rebecca and Hanna got together and developed the Raven Ranch Blackberry Mocktail.  Juice, lemon and tonic water over ice.  Yea, and good for ya.

There is the corn explosion too, no small deal.  It’s gone from the Fourth of July knee high to now chest high.  The early variety is starting to tassel.   Corn sex on the way.

Yup, just sitting back and trying to digest the whole past weekend.  A whole lot of folks came and got a Camino taste.  A significant number came to the four Phil’s Camino showings complete with Q and A’s with Annie and myself.  And maybe a thousand folks total were there for the three homilies that I was fortunate to be able to give.  So, we touched people.  Quite a few lingered after things and between things to talk and tell me a story.  Lots of hugs and hand shakes were participated in, lucky me.

Time to go for me, the best to you there.  Thanks for checking in and listen to that podcast.  Love, Felipe.

Wow,  three years ago Kelly and I were landing in Madrid.  That was the 25th and on the 26th we traveled by train to Pamplona and then bus to SJPP.  We started walking the morning of the 27th and went up and over the Pyrenees.  Wow, we did all that!

Feast of St James today, wherever you are around the world.  Can’t get away from him although I don’t know why you would want to.  So us going from here to Spain to walk was all St James.  He is the patron saint of Western Washington and Spain and pilgrims in general you see.

In the Bible he is James the Apostle, brother of John, both sons of Zebedee.  They were fishermen known as the “sons of thunder”.  It gets a little confusing because there is another apostle with the same name but he is known as James the Lesser.  Then there is the “brother”of Jesus who wrote the beautiful book of James.  He is a whole other character.

We do know the James the Apostle was the first of the Apostles to be martyred.  The story goes that his body was wisked away and he was taken the “end of the earth” which we know as the west coast of Spain.    His body was buried a long time unbothered.  Then somewhere in the 800’s it as discovered and the first church was built.  Then for 1200 years we have been tramping through the dust and mud of our beloved Spain to get near him and his energy.

We at Phil’s Camino the documentary film know him well in his role as Exective Producer.  No one worked as hard as he did to make sure that movie was made.  And now we are thankful.

Happy St James Day all you Caminoheads out there!  Love, Felipe.

Right here in the transition from desert of Southern California to jungle of Vashon Island, WA.   From celebrity to ordinary Phil.  Will be walking the trail here at 0900 in a few minutes.

Want to thank Santiago de Compostela Church for your  hospitality and your cheerfulness and warmth which you have a lot of.  It was a great visit for me and an opportunity for me to help out with a significant Camino project.   We did it up right.

A big thank you to Anne-Marie and John for putting up the Phil’s Camino entourage, no small feat.  Next time I will bring my bathing suit and take better advantage of the situation.  What lovely folks, thanks so much.

I see the links came in for my three homilies.  Thank you Bill.  I will get those to you Caminoheads soon, like tomorrow.

One thing that I have to comment on with all this coming and going was that I got to do a lot of talking with folks there during the Q and A’s and then just everywhere and anywhere around the church grounds,  I tried to make myself available as much as possible.  And I was getting a lot of feedback from folks about how much the movie was accomplishing in their own circles.   Remember Annie was there with the film a year ago.  There is a definite ripple effect happening and I personally am getting energized as these come back to me. How powerful!  I can see we will have to spend more time writing on this soon.

Yea, the trip was well worth all the hassle of travel.  But glad to be back to my Rebecca and the trail and the corn.  Good to be back to a little peace and quiet and the space to blog away with you all.

Glad that you stopped by, love, Felipe.

OK,  thinking that we are back on schedule for now.  High summer here and maybe you will need some sunscreen and water bottle but all smoooth going.

Monday 0900-1000

Tuesday 1600-1700

Thursday 0900-1000

Sunday 1600-1700

Alperfect, Felipe.x