Life is just a Cheese Danish. Just a Danish away. Some Enchanted Danish. I Left My Cheesey Heart in San Francisco. Life is like that some days.
Dave from Austin was here this morning with his son Jon and grandson Parker. Parker came for an archery lesson which he does when Dave is in town and brings him over. Dave was at the original film festival party in Austin at S by SW Festival way back in the Spring of 16. So he is turning into an old friend. He will be here for the Oasis!
Then Wiley and I had some work in the shop making sawdust. It is nice and challenging to work with one of your kid’s or one of your parents, don’t you think. I’ve heard horror stories but we seem pretty compatible and we want to keep it that way.
There was too much going on today to get the blogpost done early so now I am all tired so this is what you get, Cheese Danish poetry.
Buenos Aires, Argentina Saturday April 10th, 2021 ~ 9:21 AM The sky is cloudy and it is drizzling.
Buenos días Peregrinos! I decided this morning to hijack the boss’s blog and write a post on his behalf… With these blogging injuries he has been talking about, my medical training indicates that he should be prescribed a day off of blogging, would you agree? It isn’t that life in the South Cone is running smoothly at the moment, in fact is all rocky, but at least, there are no blogging injuries so far!!!
In Buenos Aires city and Great Buenos Aires (what it is called the “AMBA” -Metropolitan Area of Buenos Aires-), we are in a new lockdown due to COVID since yesterday. At the moment, it is sort of “soft” but the situation is getting serious and I am afraid more severe measures will be soon needed.
Personally, in the last month, life has been pretty much like the first half of Stallone Rocky III movie, although I am not in a boxing ring. There have been some unexpected fast-pace news family related, including that my only brother and his family (i.e. my only two young nephews with whom I am very close) are moving abroad this coming weekend. So, it has been busy, in all the ways this word can be used…
Although, I guess that who is truly going through a very sorrowful painful time right now is Queen Elizabeth, with the dead of her husband of 74 years, at age 99… I don’t know a lot about the Royal Family in England, but one of the things that I have always been touched by were the pictures where the 2 of them were… there was always a look of love and companionship, unbelievable after so many years…
But, as we all may know -if you are friends with Phil, Phil’s Rebecca and/or Catalina in the facebook-, there have been fantastic big news about the work, that Catalina started and completed by the three of them, related to the book about the Caminoheads blog. I will let the boss comment more about this when he feels it is the time, but all I can say is that that book will be life changing to anyone reading it… It is an extremely well curated distillate of Phil’s thoughts (and you know the boss can be wild!) This is why I would like to give you all an early kind free-of-charge advice and suggest start saving money to buy several copies and distribute to everyone you love and want to live their lives fully.
Hopefully, I will hit the right button and have this posted!
We had a great walk yesterday morning. The weather was gorgeous and two couples showed up to do it. Richard and Susan were here after a year’s sabbatical, great to see them. And also Jim and Jen who are more or less regulars. And Jen is so excited because she has had a dream over night and both Richard and I were in it. And of course she couldn’t wait to tell us. That was amazing that we were both there randomly. Coincidence?
But on the way out of the house earlier I was hurrying because I was late and had pulled on my boots without tying them. And I got about half way out to the rock pile and felt something unusual about my right boot. It was like there was a crease in my sock where it wasn’t flat or something. Oh bother. Should I just lace up and tie up and go on or should I take the time to check it out? So, I decide to look and what is in there but my favorite, my red glass bead rosary. Oh.
This flashed me back to the Camino where I walked for a while on my glasses til I figured that out. Geez! But the rosary showed up unexpectedly as a reminder to us I guess that Mother Mary remains close by.
The whole walk was pleasant break from from my wrestling with my maladies. The present good news is that I am receiving some welcome relief from the visit to the chiropractor. He has begun to loosen things up in my back and neck and my muscles are much relaxed and I have more movement. Progress is welcome! I have an appoint next week to continue.
Hopefully the brain scan on Monday will, prove to be clear of problems. We might be racking up this headache episode to being a blogging injury. Funny huh, well sort of? Just like the rosary had a precursor with the glasses in the Crocs on the Camino these headaches have an earlier relative. Let me explain. Several years ago I found myself in the Emergency Room at Swedish Hospital thinking that I was having a stroke. And of course that turned into a big deal as those things do. But really after all the root problem was found to be my habitually crossing of my legs while blogging for hours everyday, pinching a nerve behind my knee. And now it looks like my current problem may have it’s roots in the way I have habitually propped my head up while blogging on the red leather couch. Yike, blogging injuries, who would have thought?
So, life goes on, through thick and thin and it appears that Mother Mary wants us to know that she is close by always.
I was off to the Institute yesterday for my three week visit. Two major things happened. But before that I got to see some of my old buddies there which is always a great check in. We have grown so close over all these years. We trade thoughts and inspiration.
So My Rebecca has been concerned about my headaches as of late and wanted me to ask Dr Gold about it. He ordered up a brain scan and I go in on Monday to get that done. We have to check out what’s happening in the brain bucket. Hopefully maybe nothing.
Related I do have a chiropractor appointment this afternoon to work on my neck and back. I have a sneaking suspicion that I have something out of place and that is giving me these headaches. So we are working the problem although I would rather be fishing.
Speaking of fishing the Hemingway documentary finished up last evening and we dutifully watched although it was hard to watch. I’m glad we made it through and I have new energy to read some more of his work.
I still want Ryck’s take on that doc as I am sure that he watched it.
And then while I was at Dr Gold’s he showed me the images from my last scan of my lungs and it is looking pretty wild in there. Things have progressed a lot further than I would have thought in other words the tumors have grown. And they are taking up a lot of space. It was a little depressing I have to admit. But we continue to hang on.
That’s the inside of the Wine glass with a two inch crack. (photo P Volker)
At the ranch we have a set of wine glasses, six to be exact. Five of them are beautiful and totally functional and you can’t tell one from another. And then there is the sixth one that is cracked but not dangerously damaged. Pilgrims get that one and get to the last swallow and exclaim, “It’s cracked!” And grant it it looks terminal.
But it is my favorite of the bunch and I love it when I get it. It’s got character and it teaches me things. I can’t feel the crack inside or out and it doesn’t leak so what’s the problem? It reminds me of me and folks in similar situations. We seem to go on and get the job done despite obstacles.
And I guess that is the lesson, to figure out how to get the job done with what we got. I’m happy with that.
The third and final part of the Hemingway documentary is on in a few minutes so I’m going to bail out.
Yesterday on the blog I was writing about the swallows returning soon. It is a sign of further Spring progression. And wouldn’t you know I saw four sitting on the wire here yesterday afternoon. Just like I planned it. Too bad more things don’t go like that.
Then indoors, last evening, we had a TV scheduling conflict. The NCAA Basketball Championship was bumping up against the Ken Burns documentary on Hemingway. Well, fortunately or unfortunately, the Zags had a horrible game and we had to stop watching and there we were for the beginning of the film. What a powerful production. The first part went up to the late 1920’s and there must be one or more parts. Need to check those out. I know Ryck our CECBC is a big fan of his so we will need to talk with him on the topic.
Here we are with Easter over and the majority of the month of April out before us. Easter should linger though providing a spark to the time we have. But April calls, an emptiness of possibilities. What can we do there?
One thing, I got 60 bandanas in for the Oasis party. Five beautiful bright colors, light enough so the lettering will show up. So, there is that project to work up. I am going to try and get some help with that this time.
Then the days and night will continue to warm up and the bees will do their thing with the blossoms all over. The bugs will be flying and the swallows will show up to feed on them. It will be a busy time for all those guys. Our part in all that will be to sharpen blades and be mowing, mowing and mowing.
It’s all pretty exciting and a relief from months of being hunkered down in the cabin. And then there is the freedom of being vaccinated. My Rebecca is planning a little day trip for us. I’m planning a trip to get a haircut. Pretty silly little things but big events now.
Yup, wide open spaces here in April. Time to learn to spread our wings again if we can do it safely. Maybe if you are close enough you could come and walk again here. A pretty morning here with a walk in minutes.
How many words have been written about Easter? What more is there to say? Well, there is always personal revelation which seems to be a font of never ending inspiration. Sometimes when we realize something for ourselves we strike new paydirt. Isn’t this really what counts? Isn’t this really what makes a difference? We can hear a lifetime of Easter sermons and still not grasp the importance of the day until…
Today I wake with the idea in my head that more than any other day in history this day could be the single most important day. It really sealed the deal for this idea of victory over death and paved the way for Christian ideas to influence the world. It was pivotal in other words.
And here we are now with our mounds of chocolate eggs and neighborhood egg hunts which don’t say much about this historic upheaval. But we can realize it personally one at a time despite the distractions of the world. It can be very personal and private to start. But we will soon meet others who share our enthusiasm.
Yea, here it is, had a dream about the bearded lady last night. I don’t know if you want to read about it but I’m thinking it has it’s appeal. This so reminds me of the the half and half woman that I dreamed about and fell in love with several years ago. She was half beautiful and half disfigured. She helped me understand the Transfiguration when I needed it.
In my dream last night I was outside at some event and apparently I dawdled and my party went on without me. So to catch up I had to walk out to the road and walk down the road to get to where they were headed. So I am walking with a limp and I make it out to the road and start down the shoulder when the bearded lady stops to give me a lift. Must have looked like I needed it. Her rig was an old person’s car. You know one of those big chunks of American steel that was bought new in the 1970’s or 80’s and has been driven lovingly since. It’s like a maroon Mercury maybe.
I hop in, well maybe not hop in but old person get in. And who do I encounter but this Georgia O’Keefe looking gray haired woman with a red beard. Not like a big bushy beard but a definite beard and it’s red, hard to miss. And I am entranced and off we go. My dream ended so I don’t know what happened but it seemed more interesting that what I was doing.
It seems my dreams are populated by a cast of colorful characters. And not only that but people that maybe I am not comfortable with at first but learn to appreciate and love. Maybe that is a lesson in itself.
And today is the Saturday between Good Friday and Easter. A day that has room to wonder. What went on back then two thousand years ago on this day and what is going on today. What did the bearded lady have to offer?
