I am excited about the book that I just finished reading, Radical Remission by Kelly A. Turner, PH.D. She put together a smashing collection of good solid knowledge about healing and health. It was a ten year Camino for her completing this. Thank you Dr Turner and friends!

Haven’t been this excited about reading material since receiving the Pilgrim Beatitudes back in 2014. They both are an awakening, a springboard and an organizing structure. We tackled the ten Beatitudes one at a time back then to squeeze every last drop out of them and I intend to write about the “common factors” in a similar fashion.

The “common factors” are factors that kept coming up in interviews with a thousand cancer patients that beat the odds and somehow were cured of their cancer. It is a very precious list, a distillation. What did these precious few people do to place them in this position.

It may take a few days of introduction before we actually tackle the list but we will get started. This information, these ideas or notions are valuable to people with disease and to healthy folks. It just seems like a good way to tackle life in general. If we can look at cancer as imbalance, this is balance.

Oh, another half hour just appeared in my schedule here so I will keep going. Last night I took the time to triage the list for my own clarity. In other words I broke the nine factors down into three groups. The first group were the ones that I thought I was doing a great job at and in someways better than the book described. OK, that was easy to find those three. Then I grouped three that I was doing but that could use improvement. And lastly was a group that I really needed help on to get sorted out and going.

I have to put all this in my own words as it occurs and applies to me. This is how I see it and how I wrestle with it. You and yours are different people with different backgrounds and different needs but the factors are common factors. The topics are important to all of us. People that got this particular Darwin Award by surviving and possibly thriving in spite of cancer used these notions to help them get there. So listen up!

Oh, this is going to be fun, not easy but fun. We are going to squeeze juice out of these notions but also out of me as we go. And you might ask why am I doing this? Why be so vulnerable in front of the world? Well, that is because one of the factors that I rated myself highly on is “Embracing Social Support”.
You dear readers and friends are a large part of my social support and we have been doing a great job so far and this is furthering that. So, off we go…

Walking in a few moments on this beautiful morn. The light has a reddish cast from the wildfire smoke that has settled into the Puget Sound basin. It is not oppressive but there. Embracing social support loves, Felipe.

The blackberries along the trail are ripe and the rain has settled the dust. Come walk Phil’s Camino and we will talk things over.

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

We have tapas and wine after the afternoon walks. Bring a baguette or a jar of olives to share if you can. Alperfect all the time, Felipe.

Good homily from Father David this morning. It’s sticking with me too which is important. I would entitle it, “Striving to cultivate a grateful heart.” A grateful heart meaning one that learns to accept what God sends their way. I think that we can become ungrateful very quickly waiting for some big golden goose to land in our laps while a thousands subtle good things go by. Sometimes a good thing is hard to recognize without some work. We need to participate in this process.

He was talking about his recent airline trip. He was going to a wedding of a family member in Indiana and it had been nine years since he had flown last. So he wound up running through the airport and even with that he missed his plane. But with some participation on his part he finally realized that he was just happy that he could still run. He had lost a lot of weight in the last few years, a process that he had been working hard at and viola there he was running through the airport.

This notion fits with what I was seeing in the Navajo prayer in the post a few days ago. There I was seeing that it is the viewer of beauty that had to see it to create it. It is then valuable because it melts our heart. We are participating in the process. We have to be open and aware. We can’t be lazy or sleep late or we may miss something valuable.

Off on a walk this afternoon at 4. A person is coming that will be going to the Camino next month, how delicious. So, we will be talking Camino hot and heavy, my favorite.

Seeing the beauty in you loves, Felipe.

I don’t think the rains and Cris’s reappearance are in anyway related. But here we are at the neighborhood and that is what is going on. Cris was off on some mysterious secret mission and has come back to us with a full charge on her batteries. And equally mysterious was my conversation with Father Tryphon in the super market several days ago. He told me of the impeding electrical storm that will happen today. And here we are now with a couple of showers and maybe the start of something bigger.

Let me put in a plug for Father Tryphon who runs a monastery here locally. It is Orthodox in flavor and the brothers that are there roast coffee to support the operation. It is quite a beautiful place. If you come up to walk Phil’s Camino you might be able to tour the monastery as well. Maybe I could come up with their visitor schedule or phone number for you.

What else is new around here? Well I did finish reading that fascinating book Radical Remissions and I am digesting it. Remember there were nine factors that the author brought up that were most common to the one thousand people that she collected data on. I am thinking of writing a post on each one of those factors for us. They are terribly interesting not only to people with cancer but to people in general as a basis for a healthy life. She has really tapped into something here for us to work on. We have been working on this stuff for four years now but she has sort of organized it for us, gave it some structure.

Well, I am off now. Picking corn and blackberries today. See you all tomorrow. Love as always, Felipe.

Hi. I know better than to read another blog before I write mine in the morning. My own thoughts and feelings at that time are good but usually vague and commingled and in need of refinement. If I get lured into reading Terry Hershey, Richard Rohr or Joyce Rupp I invariably run across some shining idea that Shanghai’s my mind no problem. Well, that just occurred with Richard’s. Oh, I’ll just take a peek says I.

I ran across this Navajo prayer having to do with looking for and appreciating the beauty around us as we walk:

“In beauty I walk
With beauty before me I walk
With beauty behind me I walk
With beauty above me I walk
With beauty around me I walk
It has become beauty again
It has become beauty again
It has become beauty again
It has become beauty again”

“It has become beauty again” is an interesting sentence now that it begins to wiggle into my mind. What does that mean? We create beauty by seeing and appreciating it? OK, there is some interaction for you! Knowing that beauty is one of the pathways to God, letting that idea tumble around in my mind is giving me the goosebumps.

No way I am going to follow that up with anything I can come up with. Enjoy yourself, help someone out, create something beautiful! Your guy, love, Felipe.

My Rebecca is always ribbing me about my spelling and very occasional misuse of a word. The other day I was reporting on the crowd at the wedding and I wrote that we were all balling, well that should be bawling I guess. Geez, picky picky, like they mean two different things. But I really do want to say to you, “Keep Clam”. Yes, I know it is supposed to be “Keep Calm” unless you live in the Seattle area though. We know about these things.

Up here there is Ivar’s Seafood Bar and Ivar’s Salmon House and Ivar’s Acres of Clams for your dining enjoyment. And old Ivar who started all this rigmarole was always telling seafood jokes and would say stuff like, “Keep Clam!”. Well, now you know. I hear the Seattle is becoming the new San Fransisco so now you will be hip too knowing about this cool stuff.

But I really think that keeping clam is one of our important jobs these days. It is statement really. Everyone and their brother is hyping us about some darn thing day after day. We need to remember what is important and think about that as we listen to the waves lap at the shore of our minds.

I hear we are supposed to have an electrical storm this weekend. I am worried about that. All these weeks of heat are building into something weather wise and dangerous in combination with all the dryness of the environs. We have enough wildfire going in the West.

Had some nice mindful pilgrims coming to walk on the trail this morning. It was so nice and cool and we conversed up a storm, speaking of storms. Come back Jen and Jim please, we were far from done. We were “figuring things out” for sure.

Clam loves, Felipe.

We picked a dozen ears of the early corn, Sugar Buns, last evening and enjoyed the heck out of it. Freya our latest grandchild was keen on it too, I’m glad to report. Oh, this is a beautiful thing and the start of my favorite season. Time to fatten up for winter.

And it is time to start picking blackberries. For all you locals that aren’t lucky enough to have your own patch going swing by. What a crop! These brambles are so productive and after all I abuse them. I guess I will have to explain that. There are at least three species of what we refer to as blackberries growing here. And not merely growing but wanting to take over the place. They will grow anywhere that has been cleared of forest and they need absolutely nothing from us. In a few years they will form these patches that nothing can penetrate. Oldtimers would wire the throttle open on their tractor, put it in low gear and point it toward the blackberries and then catch it as it came out hoping to divide and conquer.

But the blackberries are just one example of the terrific life force that is really all around us here. The trees they say we can grow by accident around here. It is a jungle. I realized years ago that ninety five percent of my relationship with plants was hacking and burning trying to beat back this jungle. And that mode is needed. But lately I have been studying this life force that surrounds me and marveling at it hoping to learn something. What if I had that kind of energy and persistence in the face of all sorts of abuse and obstacles. What if…

Yup, that’s it for today, the jungle is calling me. Wednesday loves, Felipe.

Still doing dishes from the wedding amongst other things. What a disaster area but working our way through it. And we are not short on documentation so will be posting more pix here.

Terry Hershey in his weekly blog Sabbath Moment wrote a paragraph on the wedding and will copy and paste it in here in a moment. He was blogging about seeing the Mr Rogers movie and writing about the safe and sane place that his show provided in a sometimes crazy world. So our event got a mention on the shirttails of that good stuff. Terry wrote:

“Last night, I joined a group of islanders to witness vows under a cloud dappled sky. In my belief system marriage is a sacrament. And an important social and communal ritual. And more than ever, a statement necessary in the face of cynicism and depletion. A sign that hope is still alive. So, another Kleenex moment. Open the spigot. Damn. But I don’t apologize. I am grateful to know my heart still works. In fact, I feel empowered, invited to choose to be a steward in a world where care matters, to create neighborhoods, to be on the lookout for anyone who is on the outside or left out, needing home or sanctuary.
​​​​​​​A Wise Physician said, “The best medicine for humans is love.” Someone asked, “What if it doesn’t work?” He smiled and answered, “Increase the dose.” “

Boy, that was a great segue. I wanted to announce the opening of a pipeline to deliver tens of thousands of gallons of love to my chest cavity. It will be focusing on the area of the disturbance that I also call my cancer. I have gone through all sorts of ways of viewing and thinking about my tumors and lately seeing the area where they occur as a site of disturbance has been a good way. I am flooding the area with every sort of love that I can come up and in major volume.

I love the way Terry talked about creating neighborhoods and we have been about that work here too as Cris identified recently. She was seeing the Caminoheads blog as a sort of neighborhood and brought that to our attention. Isn’t that the best?

OK, that. could be it for today. Let me dig around here for a few pics for you. A walk and tapas this afternoon, don’t forget. Cardigan loves, Felipe.

Great walks lately with summer people coming. Come and join us.

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

Alperfect usually, Felipe.

We had a heck of a wedding here at Raven Ranch. It was all outdoors in a big pasture that we have been grooming for months. The weather was warm and dry, not hot, just perfect. The ceremony was short but not too short and full of love. Wiley and Henna’s vows were so thoughtful and sweet. We were all balling.

Our good friend smoked a lot of meat for the feed. There were three kegs of different brew, one a local Vashon one. There was no wedding cake but a wedding cobbler. All very down home.

I have a few pics for you today but I haven’t sorted through all of the ones that have come in to me. Speaking of me, I really did enjoy myself at the event. I have been involved with so many deals in the past where it was all I could do but to be glad they were over. But I did have a good time although I only made it to 11 o’clock and the party went on all night. But the cops never came so I guess we are still loved by our neighbors.

We had a nice walk and tapas yesterday afternoon. I wanted to keep the trail open even with the wedding going on and we were able to do that. Three pilgrims showed up yesterday that were really fun and energetic. One had taken a class with our buddy Catalina down at Santa Clara so we got some news from down there.

Off walking again here in a few minutes. The morning is bright and cool and the blackberries are ripe for the picking along the trail. So come by when you get a chance and see for yourself.

Blackberry loves, Felipe.