All of a sudden “On To Lourdes” sounded good also.  Do we have any English majors here?  Guess I can’t go wrong maybe.  Reminds me of the time when Annie came to walk Phil’s Camino for the first time March 2nd, 2014.  The day before I had placed five flat rocks going across Raven Creek so she could cross it without getting her shoes wet.  So, as she saw that on her first lap she said, “Oh, how Camino!”  I then said, “Please be careful I just placed them and they are a little wobbly.”  She replies cheerfully, “Oh, how Camino!”  What a lovely situation, right, when you can’t hardly go wrong.

That’s the groove I am looking for our pilgrimage to Lourdes, the no way to get it wrong Way.  Looking forward to spending some quality time with Father Tom or Padre Tomas as I think of him.  We need to better develop our stchick, as Kelly and I did when we had all that time and opportunity on the Camino.

And Kelly, just stopped by yesterday to see him.  He had a hip replaced exactly one month ago and he is getting around with a cane around the casa.  He says hello.  What  a guy, we always laugh together.

And got the four cabinets installed yesterday.  Catherine gave me a hand with that, the dear.  Father David was thrilled.  I was thrilled with the paycheck.  Still have to go fine tune them after I get back.  The wood has to get used to the new environs and things will move around a little.  I will try and remember to get a pic for you.

Well, that’s pretty much it for today.  I need to start thinking about packing my bag for the big trip.  So far all I got organized is the list of folks that I am taking with me to pray for.  I guess that is the most important thing anyway.

Miss you, love you, Felipe.

My emails this morning told of two people who I am taking to Lourdes with me.  They need some TLC.  One is short on the Spirit and good on health.  And the other is short on health and long on Spirit.  There are both going.

Months ago I decided to take all the people that wanted to go but were too sick to go.  There has to be a bunch of those.  I was once in that group that couldn’t go to Spain to walk the Camino.  I guess that is what empathy is.

Somehow this all feels like I am going to blast off to another planet, or time or dimension.  It has a sort of other worldliness about it.  Must be because it is such a holy place, holy meaning set aside or not ordinary.  Yes, that it is.

Have to go for now, duty calls.  Another beautiful day here.  Beautiful loves, Felipe.

Here it is ten at night and I am just finding some time for you.  Yike.  I am trying to finish up on all my loose ends before the big trip on Monday.  Had a productive day today with Catherine and I moving all the cabinets and tools to the job site.  Tomorrow will hopefully get everything installed and get paid.

I had to cancel the walk tomorrow morning.  It is just too crazy everything that I have going.  So, if you were coming here in the morning take a detour to the Burton Coffee Stand instead.  Sunday we will have the sendoff walk at 1600 with your last chance to see the preLourdes Felipe.

Take care,  love, Felipe.

Hey here we are with another day.  How are things there?  Was thinking about yesterday’s post and wanted to add to it.  We were talking of facets of wellness during the cancer journey.

I think that was all a description of a zone.  It was a place to be that gives meaning and a sense of possibility.  I like to be there as much as possible but can’t always.  It is a way to think about a goal or a way, a camino I suppose.

It is a place away from the doctor’s numbers and the hospital’s rules and regulations.  It is a different sort of healing.  I am grateful for my doctors and nurses and the hospital, don’t get me wrong, but it is not the complete answer to the situation.  To be able to operate and think in such a way that one has less fear, worry and general wear and tear must be a positive in placing the cancer in it’s proper place.  It is in the big picture only so important remember.

My cancer in my body appears persistent but lazy.  It likes me and doesn’t seem anxious to leave but at the same time it seems to be like a plant growing on a bad patch of soil.  It is sort of maintaining or existing and stunted.   I am not giving it the proper conditions to thrive.  Well, yes.  Thinking of my father-in-law who taught me an important lesson, if you can’t stop something bad from happening then learn to control it.  OK, yes exactly.

Sometimes, I say to people that God is keeping me alive for His own reasons.  That would be another way to say all this but maybe a short answer.  All these aspects of the situation that we have talked about are maybe the long answer to the same question.

OK, off we go to the wood shop.  Making progress loves, Felipe.

It was a action packed weekend with Annie and the gang.  We talked about that.  And we talked some about the Q and A that we did.  It all went pretty wonderfully.  There was some wear and tear but nothing a few days of recovery can’t cure.

So, part of the audience there at the church hall was made up of a cancer support group that was meeting there at the same time and came over.  And while the questions that Annie and I fielded were, as memory serves me right,  all about pilgrimage and the Camino, nothing much came up about cancer and that whole world.  Somehow now I am thinking that I could have guided the conversation more towards that.  But maybe I will do it now as some of those folks might be coming to the blog as a result of the talk.

I don’t know if I have anything particularly new to say but there are some basic ideas that I could review.   This is all beyond and/or in conjunction with your treatment.   One, from Dr Zucker’s teaching, exercise can be used as a form of medicine.  Movement strengthens the body and that gives the ability to do more.  It builds on itself.  Movement actually cuts down on fatigue which seems counterintuitive. I have found that exercise outside in a peaceful environment brings added benefit.

The ability to cut back and limit fearfulness is something to be pursued.  Fear and worry are huge wastes of energy.  Any amount of that that one can save can be plowed back into health and that grows on itself and pays off.

Beware of isolation.  Be open as possible about your condition.  Meet with others who have similar problems and are positive about it.  Stay away from all forms of negativity.  You have little time to waste on that.

Dwell in the bigger picture.  Dwell in the Spirit.  There is peace, energy, hope, nimbleness and joy there.  You deserve all that, every bit.  You can learn to live in this musical.

Be with family and friends who know how to support you.  Community is a form of medicine, thank you Erica de America.  Practice buoying each other up.  Everyone is playing injured, they need you, you need them.

Have a purpose.  That could take many forms I suppose and would be as unique as you are unique.  You are the only you that ever was or ever will be, give it to people and expect it from them.

Learn to spend as much time in the moment as possible.  Trust and don’t worry too much about the next step.  Concentrate and celebrate the step you are on.  You are the beautiful flower that is growing up out of the crack in the concrete, be there!

Love, Felipe.

The trail is doing it’s best to dry out after that two weeks of rain.  Coming up I will be on a pilgrimage to Lourdes so no walks April 30 through May 10.  But other than that will be here for you.

Monday 0900-1000

Tuesday 1600-1700

Thursday 0900-1000

Sunday 1600-1700

Keep coming, Felipe.x

Hi, the best to you.  I have two reports for you today.  One is about yesterday’s event at St Michael’s in Olympia.  Continuing from yesterday’s blog post where we were driving down, the five of us plus a film crew of three were there.  Albout 55-60 folks showed up. They sat for the short version and Annie and I did at least a half hour of Q and A and My Rebecca joined in to help with that.  I think everyone took something away of value with them.

Then last evening Catherine made all of us a dinner and afterwards we watched the new long version.  It has the new original musical background.  At the moment it still needs color and sound correction but the story is being told.  It seems pretty impossible that it could be better than the short version but everyone is loving it that has seen it.  It really fills out the story better and more completely.  There is more Kelly, more Wiley, more Spain.

Yea, it is alperfect once again.  Thanks to you for checking in.  Let me go for now.  Love, Felipe.

Esther is driving, born to drive.  I am next to her in shotgun.  My Rebecca and Annie are behind us so they can keep their eye on us.  Dom our excellent sound man is in the way back with all his gear.  

The ferry is just coming in.  It is kind of sideways with all the wind and the current whipping by.  Dom said this is one of the trickiest landing in the Sound at the south end of Vashon.  We are off to Tacoma and then done to Olympia for our film showing today.  Yea, Phil’s Camino is on it’s way to St Michael’s for a shindig.  Never been to St Michael’s.  

Andrew just showed up, he is riding the same boat.  He set this whole thing up so we are headed in the right direction.  The event is at 1PM and we just got off the 9:40.  Annie likes to get to these events early to “get the lay of the land”.  This all includes technical stuff like a sound check and then us just getting used to the space.  

We have a film crew coming also who are meeting us there.  We have never captured a Q and A session which can be fascinating.  So, that is happening along with just giving our audience due attention.  

This reminds me that I need to begin to tune into this audience now to make sure that I can mesh with them seamlessly.  So, I will fill you in on the happenings tomorrow when we meet again.  Alperfect, love, Felipe.

OK, I really don’t know where to go from here.  There is so much energy here right now that I am barely holding on.  Spring energy and end of project energy which we have talked about.  Visitor energy with Annie and Esther coming tonight.  I’m not even getting to Lourdes energy which I am trying to keep the cork in for the moment.

Now just have to keep rowing at a steady pace and on a steady course to keep myself in tune, in time with it all.  Then we have reports coming in from our bureau chiefs.  William our Canadian Chief is reporting from Hawaii the Big Island.  Check out the pix.  I can’t wait to meet him in person one of these days.

Esther had an awesome comment combining the robust fecundity of our descriptions of springtime with the blossoming of Caminohead energy.  Camino dust abounds, it is thick in the air like the tree pollen right now.  The air seems visible right now.  Yes, certainly, this could all be.

It is wild and wacky but deep and wide.  It is slick and slippery but something you can always count on.  It is visible and then disappears.  It seems to travel well but can be found everywhere.  It is timelessly but then always here at the very moment.  It is friend and foe.  It helps you move forward and then trips you up.  You can always give it away but you will never tire of it.

Just have to surf on it all right now, the only thing to do.  Blue sky, rising barometer loves, Felipe.

Thursday morning with a walk at 9:00.  The sky is blue and the land is starting to dry out and warm up.   The trail still has some standing water in a few places and the creek was running still on Tuesday so more sun is needed.  I have been able to start mowing is the drier areas, which is good.  This time of year I have to hit the ground running when it comes to mowing.  The grass and associated flora grow at such a rate that they will overwhelm the capability of your equipment in no time.  I was just saying to My Rebecca that she and Wiley will have to mow while I am gone to Lourdes.  I said that I will try and get everything done before I go and she said yea, it’s not going to stay done.  Right, that’s it.

I guess I can’t knock God’s wish for a place that grows plants at this crazy rate.  This scene is so robust that you can practically watch things grow.  Or if not you had better not concentrate too hard on any one thing or in any one direction without looking behind you or you will be overwhelmed by it.  Ah, and look the swallows are back.  Catch those bugs little guys!

Pretty well wrapped up in the fold of Mother Nature around here at the moment as you can see.  I guess that’s why I am here and why my Rebecca is here for this long.  We complain about the work of it all but it, the place, the area provides.

Yes, off I need to go.  Can’t concentrate too long on this right now, the morning moves along.  See you soon, love, Felipe,