Shhhhhhhh… That’s what the light rain sounded like in dark early this AM. I have been getting up earlier and earlier and now there is the darn time change so I’m all screwed up. But I was standing in the dark at the open window listening to the soft rain and thinking of the dust bowl story we were talking about yesterday. Didn’t rain for seven years and the boy had to explain to his younger siblings what rain was as they had never seen it. Wow.

So, Mass went well this morning and then Catherine and I tailgated at the supermarket parking lot with coffee and doughnuts. It was an actually sunny morning and perfect weather for tailgating with my buddy. Then Steve-O is going to show up in a minute for an over night visit. And we have walk and tapas at 1530. This is the kind of busy I want to be.

So, prayers for Lisa and Caton in Hot Springs, Arkansas. Lisa is bringing her high school aged son Caton home for hospice. Cancer again. Annie and I met Lisa last month when we were at the festival there, lovely lady.

Well, today we start our afternoon walks at 3:30. And that will go through the winter. So, we have more walks through thick and thin this rainy season. Just slip on your Bean boots and join us. We’re pretty fun, love you, Felipe.

My Rebecca bought me a ticket to a play tonight. She had seen it last night and was raving about it so it was my turn. It was about a local woman who had a Dad that grew up in Oklahoma and lived through the seven years of drought and was part of the migration to California. But the twist is that she never knew any of the details of his story until later in his life when he started having dementia and was time traveling and it all started coming out. Fascinating view of that period of history and a fascinating view of old age thinking.

Yup, it is night and here I am doing the blog but better late… And the University of Washington Huskies are romping over Cal 56 to 20 in the third quarter. And now my battery is 10%.

Yea, and my own battery is low here too. Have to bail out, love you, Felipe.

One of my nurse buddies at the treatment center, Suzanne, shared a pic and story on FB sent to her by a Mom whose child is suffering with cancer. And it is not one of those sort of cheery pics, doing the best as we can at the moment pics but one very heart wrenching. One showing the painful side of the situation.

There was another post this morning from a man that had gone to the Holocaust Museum. The photo of the young girl in pain was for me maybe such a similar experience of viewing some of the displays there. Hmm. But this isn’t Halloween where we’re spooked for fun. This is real stuff that is brought to us so that we understand parts of life that as adults we are supposed to have knowledge of. And beyond that maybe we would be moved to do something about it.

And this brings up something that I have been wrestling with for a while now. And this is that I have had a relatively easy time with my cancer compared to those at the other end of the spectrum. And I think the other end of the spectrum has to be the children with cancer. I feel kind of guilty in a way, a survivor’s guilt so to speak.

I live my life in the wriggle room that I have found and things are relatively good, I commend myself for that. But how do I successfully address the people that have the maximum trouble. How can I poke fun at cancer from where I am sitting and not have some way to recognize those with maximum problems. I don’t know, exactly how to fit that into my act but I know that it needs to be done. I will have to consult with my doctors, lawyers and Indian Chiefs. I haven’t bothered them in a while and they have to feel like they are earning their keep.

The sun is breaking through the morning mist and fog outside just like it is doing so inside me for my spirit. Thanks for listening to me get this out. Time to go to work. I built a fireplace mantel in my shop and it needs to be moved and installed today. Thanks again for being here for me, love you, Felipe.

“It kinda feels like if they win anything is possible!” That was Annie at some point during the game. Yea, and so they won! Wasn’t that the most amazing game ever. Up and down, back and forth, I could have thrown up eight times. As Anthony Rizzo said, “I’m an emotional wreck.”

People used to say that we’ll always remember where we were when we heard about the Kennedy assassination or 9/11. But we will remember this one too but for good news not bad. Man, did we need this right in the middle of the mud and the muck of this election year. A breath of fresh air!

It’s Joe Madden for President! I love the dorky way he pushes his glasses up with his pointer finger. We’re going to see more of that now, my prediction. And Rizzo for VP. I love that guy! I had a Tony Rizzo in my high school class back in western New York. Yea, I drug my senior yearbook out last night to prove it.

So, anything is possible now, let’s dream big. The Cubbie’s won, wow, not since when, 1908. Who was President back then, Fred Flintstone? OK, I give you permission to call in sick today, sports injury. Rizzo love, Filipe.

It has almost a sacred feel about it. The seventh game coming up, the armageddon, the last possible… The Cubbies did it right last night, winning game six by a decisive margin. What was it 9 to 2, something like that? Catherine and I were off to church last evening and we were juggling that with the game. Maybe we didn’t do either well but it was fun trying. They both seemed like obligations.

Catherine said something interesting about the situation of the Cubbies forcing game seven. She said something like, “No matter what happens their fans will love them.” I’ve been thinking about that since. That’s true right? And really how could it be otherwise. They have such heart that they are going to push it as far as they are able and perhaps won’t win the ultimate prize. But as long as the fans think that the team did everything that they could and sacrificed everything along the way, they will be loved.

And doesn’t that go for us with the major life threatening diseases. Chances are most all of us will get overwhelmed but pushing it to the seventh game and then getting overwhelmed is all one can do. Then it becomes sort of how do we do that best with what we got, with the most style, the most verve. The cards are stacked against us but realizing that and continuing on in spite of it and doing the best one can with that is the goal in my mind. And doing that for as long as possible is the winning. Maybe that is why Maryjane calls my Camino, my life quixotic. I’m still thinking about that.

The best to you on your trail, whatever that might be. Game seven loves, Felipe. Go Cubbies!!

Yesterday’s Sabbath Moment blog by Terry Hershey started out about blowfish. Yea, blowfish. So, not to be outdone I’m bringing you some blowfish news today. There are all kinds of species of these guys but Terry was talking about the kind that the Japanese eat as sushi. Now, apparently it takes a highly trained chef to make this dish and have you live after eating it. Sometimes or somehow they are highly poisonous, the fish. So, the whole thing about the eating of the blowfish is way more exciting than the fish itself, which is kind of boring.

So, in San Francisco there is a place that serves it and their website has 460 photos and 1371 reviews. Then in San Jose there is a place that has 598 photos and 1502 reviews. I guess potential customers check this stuff out pretty closely. And then there is this place that offers 70% off, this is the “cheapest blowfish”, hmmm, think I would pass on that one.

So just spicing up the old blog, bringing you cool stuff just like Terry. Hehe. Just letting you know that we all still have a sense of humor. If we can’t have fun with this stuff I’m not doing it, right? Right!

So Day of the Dead or All Saints Day in the Catholic Church is here when the veil between the living and the dead is very thin. It is a day of obligation so Catherine and I will be there at St John Vianney’s this evening. We are supposed to take photos of our loved ones that have gone on. I have a nice framed shot of my folks on their honeymoon at Niagara Falls in 1946 to take.

OK, I have a long list of things to accomplish today, time to go. Love is greater than death, Felipe.

I just saw this on my May 30th 2014 post, roughly two months before Spain:

“Live carefree before God; He is most careful with you.” 1st Peter 5:7

I’m liking that and a great way to start off another thousand posts here at Caminoheads. Are you ready for that? Probably need a whole new readership as I’ve probably burned you guys out by now.

Maybe a little on readership would be appropriate here. I was just looking at the stats for the number of visits to this blog per month over the last two years. In 2014 we were averaging 700 visits per month and this year 900. The low point in the year is summertime, July and August. And the winter and spring times are most active. So here we are now at the beginning of the best time, I had better up my game.

So, now we are averaging roughly 30 visits per day by interested folks. Some are regulars and some maybe have just wandered in as a result of a search. Anyway we have fourteen parties that receive the blog automatically, ten via email and four via Word Press. That is handy and it might be worth your time to sign up for one of those. I know my Rebecca is one and it just automatically shows up on her email whenever I post.

It is raining like mad out here and barely light out, must be good blogging time, right? So what will be up for the future of this blog, for the next thousand posts? Gee, that sounds daunting but it really isn’t when you take it day by day, it just adds up. And I think that one of the main pluses of this writing is that it is fresh everyday. There is no major long range plan to it. It just describes the pilgrimage of a guy with cancer going down his trail and the people he meets and the things he finds out. How long can he keep this up, maybe is a major question. Well, we will see I guess!

So, I see a couple of comments came in to help celebrate the occasion yesterday. One from Terry Hershey of Sabbath Moments and one from Pilgrim Farmer John from the Heartland in Wellman, Iowa. Thanks guys. Two walkers, Mary and Debbi from the Port Townsend area showed up yesterday to be with us. And Wiley and Hanna and Catherine y Dana came by to toast the 1000 blogs (and watch the Cubbies of course). So, that is what it looks like (nice win Cubbies).

So just a thought to folks that read Caminoheads, I always always enjoy comments on the posts and I answer every one. It is easy to do if you haven’t done it already. It makes the whole situation come alive, otherwise Felipe is just yelling into the wind out there on the Meseta somewhere.

Off we go, walking in a moment, love, Felipe.

I have a really great idea! I am going to goof off for my one thousandth blogpost and give you a lovely poem that my lovely wife wrote for this lovely occasion:

What if?
One thousand blogs.
More than ten times the number of chemo treatments,
And more than the number of walking days.
More than the times of tapas and friends coming by,
More than the film festivals you’ve been to.
Of course it’s the chemo and walking that keeps you alive,
But what if it’s the blog instead?
What if?

OK, well thanks to all of you that have been putting up with me for two and a half years or how ever long it’s been since you wandered in here. If you want to give me a comment on this celebratory post it would be great. Always loving you, Felipe.

We are here on Phil’s Camino clawing our way “across Spain”. I know it has been over a year to do this but I guess we don’t care at this point. Anyway we have walked 723 laps for 636 kilometers. We are at the town of Hospital da Condesa just west of O’Cebreiro. So that’s 152 kilometers to go.

So, one of the important dates coming up is November 6th when Daylight Savings reverts back to Standard Time. So let me publish our walking times for a couple of weeks:

Sunday October 30 – 1600-1700
Monday October 31 – 0900-1000
Tuesday November 1 – 1600-1700
Thursday November 3 – 0900-1000
Sunday November 6 – 1530-1630
Monday November 7 – 0900-1000
Tuesday November 8 – 1530-1630
Thursday November 10 – 0900-1000
Sunday November 13 – 1530-1630

So starting Sunday November 6th the afternoon walks will start a half hour earlier. OK, nice job Felipe.

Come walk with me, Felipe.x

Here we are on the verge of the thousandth blog post. Really crazy, this whole endeavor. Maybe I can blame it all on St James and call it good.

I got some chicken soup going to warm up on, a rainy day, although one of those pesky sun breaks could come along. And so far so good with my new red hat. It stays on my head in the wind and nobody has mistaken me for someone else.

Right now watching the U of Washington Huskies playing Utah. This is my low energy weekend so watching football is about the right speed. Maybe a nap. Oh, touchdown Huskies!

And I am making vast progress on my Don Quixote book. Got through the translator’s intro, then the intro, then the prologue and then a group of poems and sonnets celebrating the book. OK, then I am on page 48 of 900 and some pages of adventures. Am enjoying it.

I’m going to bag it for now, need to rest up. Have a good one today, love, Felipe.