Our beloved Cris has looked up “oasis” in the dictionary and come up with two meanings. One is a fertile place in the desert. There is water there for plant growth and our thirst. We can drink our fill there after our year wandering in the desert. We can rest in the shade there. We can enjoy others there as this watery magnet draws people in from the surrounding parched landscape.

The other definition that she found was a place of calm in a world of chaos. Ah yes, chaos. That is the word for this minefield of a year. Uncertainty has ruled. False narratives have gathered and reached dangerous proportions like violent storms. We have economic and political upheavals. Fear of this and fear of that is common. That’s all chaos in different forms and intensities. Calm is at an all time low right now.

Don’t we want to touch base with some calm. A retreat perhaps, a respite, a recalibration, a check in. We need to look at each other and say, “Ah, see we made it!”. It will be two years since we were together here. And maybe we can bookend this thing or at least the worst part of it. We know what the before felt like and we know what being in it feels like. Let’s formulate what being over it feels like.

We are in for a couple of sunny days with temps reaching 60 F tomorrow afternoon.

sunny day loves, Felipé.

We are excited! The “S” word is being whispered about the neighborhood. The flowers are blooming, the bees are out, the hummingbirds are smiling. Spring is happening here at this degree of latitude. Of course it has skips and starts but we are making progress. Time to find the soil thermometer and to start checking.

And Lent is on. Things are pretty disjointed here with church and the patchwork of Covid measures that have been imposed. Fortunately Catherine and I have been able to cobble together a meaningful sort of pilgrim worship. Maybe we will keep some of that even when church opens up again. But it will be the second different Lent in a row.

And there is some planning for our Oasis party in August. Cris and Ron working on the use of Zoom to help connect those that won’t be able to travel. We’re going to be uncertain about travel for a while yet. But Zoom is here to help us. And let me say that I think it is really important to hold the Oasis and to have it happen on whatever level that we can get away with. We need this and this will help us.

So, this is our world. It has big chucks that are uncertain but we move forward to make all that we can of the situation. Here we go!

smiling hummingbird loves, Felipé.

Wow, that is almost too much! February seemed like it lasted for ten years. I guess those are Covid years. Anyway, here we are on the door step to March. Yippee!

So, St Patrick’s Day coming on the 17th. Catherine and Dana are coming over for corned beef and cabbage dinner to celebrate that one. And it is really the first real dinner party since shutdown. We are opening up again or starting to. It will be two weeks after all four of have had full vaccinations. Looking forward to that.

This reminds me of part of our conversation on Saturday, that’s Cris and myself. She was saying that they just started in Argentina with the vaccination program and she didn’t know yet how they were going to handle the priorities. She would know more in April. So this uncertainty as to whether she would be able to attend the Oasis (8/20-8/23) here is sad for me. But it has also led to some thinking as to how can we use Zoom for some of our party activities to connect with anyone who won’t be able to come. So, that is exciting. I am a little uncertain as to how that is going to integrate but I have faith.

The other very important thing that Cris and I talked about was the future of Caminoheads and the Caminoheads blog. I proposed since in my estimation she was the best prepared to take over leadership of things if I was no longer able that she consider that. And she graciously accepted to do just that. Don’t you think she is a good fit?

I tried to express that this would include great freedom to mold and shape things as she saw fit. For instance the blog could come out in English and Spanish at a certain point. That is just a for instance. I don’t want to burden her with ghosts of Felipé in how she chooses to navigate. But please support us in this.

Off I go for the Monday morning walk. It looks reasonable out there, calm and cloudy, temp of 43F.

doorstep loves, Felipé.