Well, here we are on the far side of the holidays. I am grateful, everything turned out peachy. Peachy, that’s a spring type term. I saw the first little flower shoots pushing up out of the soil yesterday. It starts out slowly but soon it is a cascade, peachy that is.

Sincerely hope that you all have survived the festivities. Slight hangovers are OK. Slight everything is OK. I see Pope Francis had to apologize, happens to the best of us. Time to sweep up the debris and get going.

We had four pilgrims stop by yesterday afternoon out of the blue. I took them for a walk and gave them the ten cent tour. They were sweet, I couldn’t resist. They heard about me from friends who heard it on the Camino, that Phil’s Camino was on Vashon Island so they came and found me. Geez, really. They bought a DVD and left a donation for bird seed and went on their merry way. News gets around.

Walking in a few minutes. Maybe I will take some pics along the trail. Still trying to learn how to use my new smart phone and haven’t taken a photo yet. It is dry this morning but rain coming this afternoon again.

OK, I am going to bail out, or is it bale out? Anyway, time is short. Happy New Year and all that!

big smiles loves, Felipé.

Geez, it doesn’t get any more firstest than this! Off we go on a big adventure into 2020. I think that we all need some fresh air at this point.

I am off to church here in a few minutes. I have usher duty this morning for 10 o’clock Mass. So, I have a few minutes to write to you. We all have festivities today so I was hoping say hello to you first before all that.

Jim came over for dinner and a movie last evening. My Rebecca found her favorite Christmas film Mixed Nuts and we watched that. Jim and I spoke about the up coming corn planting since the seed catalogs are here and plans need to be formulated. Jim has stepped up to be my big helper with the project for which I am grateful.

The big push in between now and corn planting is cutting and splitting of the firewood for next year. I am looking at six alder trees that could be removed for that. And it looks like I need to get more harvested than I have been getting in in recent years. This new stove seems to burn fuel at a faster rate than the old one. I am starting to notice and we will run short before this spring. But never fear for St. John Vianney Church has a firewood ministry. They have dry wood to give out in emergencies. I think I will plead my case and get a pickup load to hold us over. Bless those guys.

So, with a little help from our friends we move along. Gratitude is the keyword here to remember. So, let me take this moment to wish you all a very Happy New Year. We need this new year so badly.

With gratitude loves, Felipé.