Monday 0900-1000
Tuesday 1600-1700
Thursday 0900-1000
Sunday 1600-1700

Just come, Felipé.

Well, I am happy to say that Catherine, Jessika and I pilgrimed the heck out of it yesterday with our Good Friday Trek. It was lightly raining and cloudy the whole time of the four hours it took to walk to church. I had torn my jeans and had dried blood on my face but I got there.

It was fun to see some of the trails that Kelly, Rick and I trained on back in the day, back in 2014. It was spring out there with mushrooms, little blue flowers and one random turkey. We were reminded of what a beautiful place we live in.

Holy Saturday here today. It always seems like a strange in-between time. I like to believe that Jesus was visiting the ancestors giving them the Good Word, bringing them to salvation during this vailed time. And now we all live for tomorrow.

Today as I calculate is the fortieth day of Lent and Annie O’Neil’s book Everyday Camino with Annie gives us this last quote:

Recently I shifted from my beginning
mentality of worrying about conquering
the Camino and have settled
into just cruising along being
happy I am able to do it.
Phil Volker

Well how about that? I got lucky enough to get into this group with Dalai Lama and Yogi Berra, not to mention the other notables. Well, throughly flattered I am. My being in there at all was a result of Annie and my meeting on March 2nd 2014 when Martin Sheen handed me over to her for my further training. Our meeting caused her book to be finished and our film to begin to be, heady times.

Thanks for being here today and see you tomorrow for celebration. Only the best to you fellow pilgrims, love, Felipé.

Cloudy and wet here, perfect for our Good Friday pilgrimage. It is about seven miles on the woodland trails and a few back backroads to get there. We are allowing four hours to do it. We have been talking about this for five years now and finally Catherine and I had to admitt that we were loosing our credibility on this one, so itis time.

I am going to try and go to work for a couple of hours this morning. No power tools though. I realized years ago that I was too distracted on this day to do anything that takes concentration. Keep it safe Felipé.

Did get in an hour of rototilling on the corn yesterday afternoon. Had a pile of rotten straw that I worked into the soil along with the cover crop that is quickly disappearing as I till. Not a finer goal then to think of enjoying fresh sweetcorn on the cob this late summer.

Pilgrim Farmer John Conway is going to be here for the Caminoheads Convention is August. I am going to put him in charge of the corn picking when the time comes. Of course all of this is a God willing situation as my friend Aho’i spoke of in the Comments today.

Am I always going to be behind with my Lenten quotes project. I thought that I had this figured out but I must have missed yesterday, what a scatterbrain Felipé. OK, we will do two today:

All of the ways I walked in pain,
all of the times I felt that I couldn’t go on.
The guilt the shame, and all the things
that held me down are falling away from me.
It’s all falling away, away from me.
from Falling Away From Meby Rickie Byars Beckwith and Michael Bernard Beckwith

What a relief to shed certain things from our lives. We weren’t made to carry such a burden, time to let it go. We have more important things to do now.

And here is a Charles Darwin:

If I had my life to live over again,
I would have made a rule to read
some poetry and listen to some music
at least once a week. C.D.

Yea, what is this once a week stuff? How about every ten minutes? Well, we get the sentiment Charles, yes. I think that a guy can get way to wrapped up in that science stuff and lose the bigger picture is what he is saying I think.

Well, time for us to wrap it up for today. Thanks for getting here to be with us on this Good Friday. Sorrowful loves, Felipé.

Notre Dame thoughts from Father James Martin

Hey hi, glad you dropped by. Thursday of Holy Week today and it is all bitter sweet to me, the sort of beginning of the end. Lots of drama to be had. I should try and make it to Mass tonight. There usually is a foot washing ceremony which is moving and rare.

We have opened a email account for folks coming to the Caminoheads Get Together in August to RSVP on. It is time you guys start to get serious about this. Need you to check in to that address by June 15 and it is never too early to reserve a place to stay on Vashon. That’s August 23 through the 26th here at Raven Ranch.

Trying to get the corn started which will be ripe in August for you to enjoy then. Got the field roto tilled almost a week ago and it is drying out and warming up. The soil temp yesterday was 60 degrees which is still short of the minimum of 65. I predict that we will be planting about May 1st, God willing. I am thinking about the final product and how good it is, so fresh, so sweet.

Yea, walking this morning. Have had poor attendance lately, blame it on tax time I guess or Holy Week. Oh, the seven mile pilgrimage to church is still on for tomorrow. Wish us luck on that as it is more than we are used to lately.

I think I just saw a pair of swallows, nothing swoops like they do. Swooping loves, Felipé.

It is Holy Week and so coincidental that this fire occurred now. This event has shanghaied half my mind. Below are two comments posted by readers of our blog. The first by Cris Milher our Caminoheads South America Bureau Chief and the second from our friend Diego of Lake Arrowhead, California.

Dear Felipe,
The images from yesterday were devastating indeed… but the final image… with the shinning cross and the firefighters almost paying respect and in awe, were quite something… and indeed, very powerful this happened in Holy Week.
I listened to Fr. James Martin, in a video posted on the facebook… he made a point… “Where was God yesterday?” and that is such a valid question some of us ask everyday…
The other thing to observe has been all the “togetherness” that such event brought… look at this: you in Vashon Island, me in Banfield, today a work colleague from Russia who sent a message, all of us were touched and came to a point where we are together and not apart.
Yesterday too I listened to my hero YoYo Ma saying that “Culture builds bridges, no walls” and I loved that… and I thought later on and this morning when my work colleague from Russia sent the email… that is what culture and understanding and the Camino or whatever name you want to give to it, builds… Bridges… (or churches, where also people come together)…

Tight and close loves,
Cris

From Magnificat:

Virgin Mary, at the heart of the Cité
We pray to you for this capital city.
You Intact, preserve the purity of its faith!

Virgin Mary, from the banks of the Seine,
We pray to you for the country of France.
O Mother, teach it to hope!

Virgin Mary, in this great Christian site,
We pray to you for all the earth’s people.
You, full of grace, may they be one in Love.

Prayer of Saint John Paul II
Notre Dame of Paris (1980)

And gosh we are behind on our Lenten quotes once again. Well only two days behind. Lets put them all together:

How can I serve today, Sweet Spirit?
How can I serve today, Oh Lord?
Speak in ways that I may understand.
Where you lead me, I will follow.
Where you lead me, I will go.
from How Can I Serve Today? by Rickie Byars Beckwith.

The only journey is the one within. Rainier Maria Rilke

Life will give you whatever experience
is most helpful for the evolution of your
consciousness. How do you know this is
the experience you need? Because this
is the experience you are having
at the moment. Eckhart Tolle

These were things that I was pondering as I walked the miles of my trail in 2014 before the trip to Spain. I was already having a major interior pilgrimage. Walking the Camino de Santiago was like putting the icing on the cake.

OK, I think we are caught up with that project. There are three quotes left and three more days to go to Sunday. So, now for:

CAMINOHEADS CONVENTION – we have a email address dedicated to this event. People RSVP there if you are coming in August. We are coming up with information for you concerning inmportant details: transportation, lodging, activities and the like. But for now we are trying to get a feel for the head count.

[email protected]

OK, a long long post. Bye for now, Felipé.

My heart breaks with the news of Notre Dame Cathedral’s fire. It seems so unreal. Gives a hint of how fast things can change. It seems that “the worst has been avoided” there. It is bad enough as it is but in pics of the interior this morning things looked hopeful. Apparently most or all of the relics and portage art has been saved. Ah, breathe.

Kudos to the four hundred firefighters that got control of the situation. Again, it could have been a lot worse. But the ache is here and for real. It has the feel of September 11th to me. It is an interesting coincidence to have this occur during holy week. Ah, breathe.

I hate to be too cheery too soon but perhaps the rebuilding will be a platform for rhe world to work together on. A nice thought, one can only hope. I would love to go and work on something like that. Your work would have to dovetail with work centuries old. Maybe you would find hidden messages or graffiti from the past. A fun thought finally.

Well, I managed to fall asleep and have used up my time here. Just as well, I need to go and move around to feel better. Off I go.

Charred loves, Felipé.

Blue sky, no wind, this has the feel like it will stick around for a while. We need to dry out around here. I got the corn roto tilled Saturday I think it was. Now could use some sun on it. Last time I took it’s temperature it still had 10 degrees to go.

Lenten Day 34 today. Things are getting so short. What’s in Annie’s book:

Oh let me walk, each day a little kinder.
Oh let me walk, each day a little wiser.
Oh let me live in a wholly holy way.
Oh let me love in a wholly holy way.

from Wholly Holy Wayby Rickie Byars Beckwith

It is my understanding that holy means set apart. It doesn’t mean self righteous. That is always helpful to me. So we need to live life a little removed from the daily food fight called the world. We need to trade in some of our drama for some additional perspective. How do we navigate now having a new set of priorities? It’s a new day!

Not a cloud loves, Felipé.

Here it is the beginning of Holy Week with the commemoration of Christ’s triumphant ride into Jerusalem to begin the Passion. Oh, such a heavy duty time. It doesn’t really get any more substantial then this. Catherine and I were at Mass and Father David has regained his voice I am happy to report.

As part of the week’s activities Catherine and I are doing a pilgrimage on Good Friday. We are walking from Raven Ranch to St. John Vianney’s through the trails and backroads. It is about seven miles through the boonies and we are allowing four hours for our walk. If you want to go with us we are leaving here at 1500.

Let’s see what else is going on? I was watching a documentary on the life and times of Jackie Robinson yesterday. You know the first black Major League Baseball player. What a story! I wasn’t familiar with a lot of it. That is the world I was born into and it seems like ancient history now to us in the twenty first century. Watching the Yankees’ game here with one eye as I write this and I see players from all over in the game these days. Some have to have their own personal interpreters in the dugout like our Ichiro.

A cameraman at the ballgame has been intermittently watching a young boy in a little Yankee uniform eat a foot long hotdog. It took him about fifteen minutes working away at both ends of it. It’s got me thinking about lunch.

OK. my friends, you are the best. Thanks for stopping by today. Walking this afternoon at four and tapas at five. Catherine is going to hear Michael Meade talk at the Lit Con at four so will miss the walk, I’ve been upstaged. I guess she will see enough of me on Friday. OK, enough.

Enough of this loves, Felipé.

This hasn’t been proven wrong very many times in my experience anyway. If you really want an insight into “men” you have to take into account that they are, no matter where they are, always camping. This was pointed out to me at Bible guys this morning. We were at Dave’s and one of us, Kip, was washing his hands at the kitchen sink and immediately dried them on his shirt, Kip’s shirt. I cracked up. You see we trade off hosting the class and this time we were at Dave’s which is very well appointed with beach towels, bath towels, hand towels, paper towels, paper napkins, cloth napkins, you name it and Kip is there wiping his hands up and down on his shirt. Hehe!

I really don’t know what this has to do with anything but it struck me as interesting. So moving on, it is a rainy day here and I think that I will retreat to the wood shop and make some sawdust. I have materials now to play with so that is where I will be if you are looking.

My Rebecca is off to the Lit Con, the whole weekend of literary events here on the Island. Her reading went well last evening. It is great to see her get some credit for her work. I also attended Jessika’s poetry reading and had to sit through her reading the poem Phil Volker about this very persistent guy who lives on an island. Some kind of small town character she ran across in her travels.

Let’s see what our Lenten quote is today for day 33. Oh, from the Bible, Romans chapter 12 verse two: “Be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind.” Invite God in and He can change you from the inside. That is the renewal. I totally believe that hearing the call and going on Camino is a form of letting God in. And we all know that pilgrims are most always camping too.

Yes yes, alperfect once again, how do we do it?! Have to go and get my Saturday going. Palm Sunday tomorrow.

Letting God in loves, Felipé.

A friend in California sent in a link to a letter that Mother Teresa wrote and I must share it. But I will do that later after we get everything accomplished. Friday and the weekend is starting this afternoon. There is a “Lit Crawl” that I must get to. My Rebecca is reading from her novel at 4 and Jessika with the new poetry book is reading at 5 across the street. That is what I will be doing. Lit = Literature as somehow everything needs abbreviation these days, like we are too busy for words.

Yesterday I was so fatigued that it was a chore getting the basics done. Today I am determined to get to the wood shop and get things started on the two cabinet jobs that I got going. It is a cloudy rainy day perfect for the shop. I’ll get a fire started there in the woodstove and get the radio going.

My old friend Aho’i wrote a great comment on the topic of The Mousehole Cat book. He was the one that told us about it and it’s mention of Stargazy Pie. Before I give you his comment I will have to tell you that he and his son had to abandon ship up here a few years ago in a freak bit of weather in the Straits of Juan De Fuca and that is what he is referring to:

“Ha. You got it. I’m so happy. Just looking at the cover sends me. I read this book so many times to my kids and then later to adult friends willing to listen to a “children’s story”. I understand Mouse Hole is pronounced “Mauzel”. You remember me and my son Riley got into big trouble out on the Straits in 2010. The Coast Guard helicopter pulled us out of the raging sea at night. Ho boy. The main thing is a rush of insight, almost an epiphany and in this way it changed my life. I realized that if I wake up in the morning it’s already a good day. Stuff that happens, good or bad is transient. The main thing is being alive.”

Close calls are our best teachers is a way to think about it. And let’s take a look at Everyday Camino with Annie for the Day 32: “Your mountain is waiting so… get on your way!” Dr Seuss. Ah, that is good! I love it when mountains wait don’t you? Of course, they must do a lot of that in between geological events that only happen we might say once in a while. But regardless our own personal mountain is waiting for us to come out and play.

Here is that link to the letter from Mother Teresa which is so powerful:

Mother Teresa Letter

OOK, time to get under way. See you tomorrow loves, Felipé.