I just need to do something completely different today. Sometimes I heavy myself out, like yesterday with the post, and then I can’t quite figure out what to do next. But a little quirky thought just dropped into my quirky brain about quirky stuff in Spain so I am going with that quirky little digression.

The first one is that in the little super markets the shopper is not supposed to touch the produce. Well, obviously, one needs to pick a piece up to buy it but you can’t just squeeze all the cantaloupes looking for the ripest, say.

Another was the flies everywhere, in August anyway. That got down right weird at times. Generally people didn’t worry about it but the newer places were starting to utilize screens I noticed.

On the front doors of the little cafes there were curtains made from long strips of plastic and it operates like a beaded curtain. This is tricky to navigate through when you have a cafe con leche in one hand and a pastry in the other. These were supposed to offer some help with keeping out the flies I guess.

Another really great one was the variety of bathroom/shower arrangements in the procession of albergues. They dealt with the guy/girl thing ever so differently in each one. Just a slight change in the rules could get you in trouble with someone. This happened constantly as the days went by.

Oh, here is one. When you get a pilgrim’s meal at a restaurant they brought you wine but you have to ask for water. Yea, not that I am complaining.

What else can I remember? Ah, the motion sensor lights everywhere was different from what we are used to. The lights would keep going out during a standard sit on the toilet and you have to wave your hand above your head to get some more. It sounds simple but the first few times are disorienting.

OK, so just one more and really people of Spain I love you. When you are at a place that is going to have a bull run and you see all the people dressed in white with the red scarf don’t be fooled. When you go inside the barrier to be with the critter stampede hardly any of those guys will be in there with you.

OK, I feel better, somehow that was good for my winter blues. And again, Spain I love you. Tomorrow, quicky loves, Felipe.

I lifted this book from the Treatment Center waiting room. Well, I did tell the receptionist on duty that I was going to bring it back in two weeks. Somehow I had missed seeing it before, hmmm, been in and out of that room for four years. Anyway, it was speaking to me and jumped into my hand.

It is entitled “Lilly Oncology On Canvas”, subtitled “Expressions of a Cancer Journey”. It is a selection of art works from a competition held in 2008. All the work was done by patients, nurses or caregivers. Next to each work are some words of explanation. I am weeping reading these things so I know that I am on the right track here.

Well, that last paragraph is the short story of these artists. I’m promoting the whole lot to Cancer Commandos immediately. They are so far beyond patients and campers it’s ridiculous. I can feel them using their precious energy trying to express these pivotal moments in their lives to us. These aren’t pretty little landscapes or portraits done for normal reasons. These are way beyond normal in my book and maybe that isn’t easily appreciated by the uninitiated but I guess that I am here to tell you.

I weep on. The cover has a portrait done in a very painterly fashion where the artist employed a palette knife instead of the finer brush to achieve this rugged look. It has a sort of positive feminine “Mount Rushmore” quality. Yea, nice but that’s not the whole story. Inside the book on page 65 is the whole painting with the whole story. It shows not only the face but the upper body of a rugged Commando naked and appearing with one breast. Oh man!

Yea, the book is full of stuff like that although that painting was the overall winner in the completion. Powerful stuff when you factor in all the upheaval, pain, unknowing, fear, sacrifice and loss that each and every one of those works represented. How many Van Gogh ears is that? The paintings or photographs are just final products built on mountians of other stuff.

OK, very moving, right? But have to regroup and get on with my morning life. But that is the way it is with this cancer stuff. It is terribly sort of foreign and demanding but life goes on around it. A Commando has to keep one eye on it and one eye on life and look for opportunity to “paint a meaningful painting”. Thanks Commando Artists.

That’s today, love you, miss you, Felipe.

I’ve been putting it off, cleaning out the frig, that is. The holidays are definitely over and there is no room in there, why? There must be some UFO’s (Unidentifiable Food Objects) lurking taking up precious space, like what is that thing?

That’s what this time of year feels like for me today. It’s drizzly rainy, Christmas and New Year’s are definitely finished, hmmm. I’m trying to reinvent my attitude. Is all I have to look forward to is rigging up my income taxes one more year? Hmmm.

The only thing that is shining through this fog at the moment is the memory of the three ladies, the expectant pilgrims, that I blogged about yesterday. They were so sincere and hopeful. I hope that somehow I wasn’t too glib in my responses, they deserve better. Somehow they are prodding me now to get into gear and perhaps look at things a little differently and maybe change direction slightly.

Instead of getting lost in my little malaise I could get useful. Thinking about doctors and nurses that I meet in the ER at Swedish Hospital. They talked about how a boring day there was a good thing, right? Or I am thinking of the old saying that when a carpenter can’t work he sharpens his saw. Yea, how about that? Or thinking about all the farmers repairing their equipment this time of year as the fields sleep.

Yesterday in a little thought about what it is that we actually do here I said that we have been working on how we integrate the lessons of the Camino into our lives. Yea, that’s good but maybe it is time to expand and challenge ourselves to get folks prepped for their pilgrimages, like the three ladies needed. They came to me to ask for that.

OK, we will think on this. The walking season is coming up and maybe we here at Caminoheads can be helpful to those preparing for their journey. Well, time to get my day in gear. I think I’ll put off the frig till tomorrow but we have made some progress on other fronts. Yes, alperfect, SJA, love, Felipe.

I had three lovely ladies corral me after Mass yesterday to ask questions about walking in Spain. Over coffee I did my best to address their concerns. They had most of the typical questions of newcomers, mostly about gear, accommodations and transportation. At one point one who was a Catholic sister asked if I had enjoyed the Camino which left me floundering for a while. “Did I enjoy it?”? Hmmm. Guess my mind is still sufficiently blown by the experience to be able to answer that question with a short sweet answer.

I told them to get in touch with American Pilgrims. Told them to get in touch with this blog because we talk about this stuff. And there are a million books out about the walk. They had the big fat Brierley guide book.

They are going to start in September which I thought was a good idea. That would be my personal choice for a next time, after the big crowds and after the big heat. Foraging the way across Spain on blackberries and other ripe fruit has an appeal to me.

They asked about the physical prep that we did before going. That was our biggest plus. Kelly and I did something like 700 miles in the nine months before going. But all that physical stuff should ideally be balanced by a good portion of spiritual stuff to round out the preparation. The Camino did start out as a religious pilgrimage and that is still there for the taking. It can be much more than an athletic event or a cultural tour or anything else.

Well, I know this blog wanders all over the landscape in terms of topic. It is not the place really to find the best brand and model of boot to wear or to find facts about availability of potable water or facts about bedbugs or anything else. But there is an amazing amount of info about walking this trail out there in other places. Our strong point or emphasis here has been integrating what the Camino teaches back into our everyday lives. And that has not been easy or very concise. I have been reporting for a year and a half about this topic and we have rambled all over hell and back in that process. But that’s the way it is, you have to put up with it I guess.

Yea, but in the end it’s alperfect, we have discovered that much and that’s a biggie. So, we will continue to walk here at the blog and deal with issues as the trail dictates. Maybe tomorrow we will explore more Spain, or more Catholicism, or more cancer, or family, friends or the weather. It is a free wheeling situation as life tends to be.

I see Sabbath Moments has come in and I am looking forward to checking that out next. One thing at a time loves, Felipe.

We aren’t making supersonic speeds but heck it’s the number of insights not the number of miles. So, we will be in Azofra this afternoon which is between the cities of Logrono and Burgos.

Life that is. We are constantly stressed by one thing or another as we walk on our Way. We groan and moan as we put another blistered foot down on the Walk. We see others that have greater challenges and we realize that we can do what we are supposed to do. We ask God for strength, clarity, peace.

Life that is. Maybe someone along the trail sees us struggling and walks along with us till we stabilize and then they are gone. Who was that?

Life is like that. Semi mysterious, semi delirious we all go on. Look there is a cafe and coffee up ahead. Man, it is going to feel good to just sit for a while. Can you join me? Love, Felipe.

I can’t tell you how beautiful it was to wake this morning to the sound of a crackling fire in the wood stove in the next room. Our son Wiley was up getting going to be at the job site at 0730. He started a new job on Tuesday with a local construction company here on the island.

It seems that over the years of marriage and having our two children growing up it fell upon me to be the guy to be up early to start the fire and thaw the place out. And to be up early and make breakfast and pack lunches. We never had much money during those years but one of the things that seemed important was getting them off to a good start in the morning and I made that a priority.

And then there were early mornings in the Elk Hotel camping in the snow and blow when someone would have to get up and start the fire and get the place thawed out. We talked about the Elk Hotel not to long ago, a winter worthy tent with a small wood stove that has been the base camp of many adventures over the years. Heck, the tent poles weigh ninety five pounds. All these memories came to me this early morning when I heard the crackling of Wiley’s fire and I was still horizontal and warm. Bless you my son.

Well, that was the start to my day. Now I am off to Our Jennifer’s to pick her up and swoop into the big city and the big hospital. More mischief opportunities for the Cancer Commandos are in the offing.

OK, that’s the way it is or at least the way it appears, crackling loves, Felipe.

Last evening Rebecca had a Caminoheads Theatre Night. It wasn’t quite a Belly Laugh Theatre Night but good none the less. She showed “A Man Named Pearl”. She and I have seen this three times a least. It is about this black guy that lives in a small city in South Carolina. He is a hard worker, church going family guy but he has this passion for making topiary sculpture. That’s bushes that are shaped in imaginative ways. Well, that sounds slightly interesting but you will have to see where this leads him, his family and the small city of Bishopville.

On the same movie vein I was talking to the nurses about how my near sixty chemo treatments were getting to feel like the movie Ground Hog Day. I was amazed how few of them had seen it. So, if you haven’t, this is a good one to watch.

And then to review, as Kelly would say, The Way is still one to catch if you haven’t already. I saw it after Spain and it was all the more better. And there is Walking the Camino – Six Ways to Santiago with Our Annie in it. This is also known as the Camino Documentary informally and we sometimes call it that here on the blog.

That’s about all the great news that I can bring you for the moment. Off to do stuff, the best to you, Felipe.

All good now. Just want to let you know that Our Jennifer is home and I am home after day with complications at the hospital. Can’t be specific but because of excellent care, steely determination and a rosary we pulled out a victory.

Victoriously we love, Felipe.

We are hunkered down at the treatment center with windows. Sometimes we get some windows and sometimes we are looking at some interior hospital ambiance. And the sun is out so it is more fun to see the neighborhood out there. Yea, but a little bored so I was considering filling out a Pajamagram customer survey. Then I got a grip on myself.

Jennifer just started doing a sock puppet show so things are looking up. Marilyn, Jennifer’s cousin was here and Steve-O my hunting buddy showed up. This was all good because at a certain point things changed and we had a harder time than usual and there support was important. We’ll get through it but the trail has gotten rough here for now and it requires more care and the need to slow down.

Thank you for your many prayers. Thank you for your many thoughts. Some days are harder than others but we know that. Will be back to you tomorrow but for now I need to pay attention. Love you, Felipe.