“I don’t know if that is a word but intentionality is what you got.”   That’s a rough quote from one of my splendid nurses.   In one of her spare moments between things we were having a wonderful conversation.  She made the comment that it looked like Jennifer and I were coping well or having fun or something like that.  I came back that it was work and really hard work sometimes having fun.  Are you supposed to have fun at the hospital getting a gallon of chemicals onboard?  How in heaven’s name can that be roughly fun?

But she grasped our intention or maybe our raison d’être these daze.   She was in a way praising the way we are walking our Cancer Camino.  It is kind of a piece of cake really after Saint James put me through his boot camp walking across northern Spain last August.  It’s the same trail really but the landscape and the people are different.

But back to intentionality, which the big fat paper dictionary defines as :  “the fact of being deliberate or purposive.  (Philosophy- the quality of mental states ( eg., thoughts, beliefs, desires, hopes) that consists in their being directed toward some object or state of affairs. ”  Well well, how about that?  Successful Cancer Campers and Commandos have to be in that zone for sure.  Keeping in that zone is work and hard work sometimes but it is vital to be in there as much as possible.

Time to pick corn and sunflowers for the day for the roadside stand.  The raccoon threat is under control for the time being.  The sun is out, the temp is 68 degrees F and alperfect around these parts.  Intentional loves, Felipe.

We have the all- electric raccoon barrier up and running!  Thanks to Chris and Jennifer for the components and engineering.  Come rain or shine the corn must go through.

But today is a day at the hospital for us,  Jennifer and I, and her daughter Elise is here also.  We are planning our mischief at the moment, Commando Capers officially.  Related to this we met with a new Cancer Camper this AM just by chance, potential Commando material.  Just someone who is feisty by nature and chooses to be positive and has enough energy left over to cause trouble.

Just heard the Jennifer’s scan turned out well.  This is such great news for much worry goes into these things and good news is good news.   We are all going out to dinner tonight to celebrate.

Just sitting around waiting for my chemo to be done.  Always seems like a long day and thankful to get outside in the fresh air.  Jennifer is napping, shhhh.  And Elise is working on her computer.  Time for me to have a cup of coffee and get ready for reentry to the world.

I am going to send this off before it is time to go here.  Thanks so much for your prayers for Jennifer’s welfare that We asked for yesterday.  The mood is light here.  Always good being with you, love, Felipe.

The Raccoon Wars continue and although some minor damage has occured we have kept the situation largely in hand.  We are still working on assembling components for the electric fence which holds great promise for a good next step.  In the meantime Felipe has spent his nights out guarding the precious crop as a stop gap measure.

Yup, and Felipe is a little blurry eyed I might add.  We are looking forward to the fence solution being in place so old Felipe can get his beauty sleep.  Some folks thinking he is carrying this corn thing a little far but who knows really, there is a vision there obviously.

Felipe here.  Also, prayers for my Cancer Compadre Jennifer.  She has to be at the the hospital four days this week for treatment and for a scan and for a meeting.  It’s a week of the routine but also of talks and decision making.  I’ll be there two of those days with her and her daughter has flown in to bouy her up.  Jennifer is an extremely strong person and it is inspiring for me to see her operate in these circumstances.  But please, prayers are the best thing that you can do for her.

So that’s life at our very local level.  I realize that you all have your challenges also.  I try to keep that in mind as much as possible.  Let us all rush out to help with the  pack of a fellow traveler as they stumble into our albergue.   No one ever said that we are supposed to face all this ____ alone.  Love you,  Felipe.

Is that cornperfect or what?  Jennifer came up with that along with the recipe for sweet corn ice cream.  What a country!  This is like some kind of Norman Rockwell Sanitarium of Corniness around here, these daze.   Well, we are going with it if you haven’t noticed.

In the war room now working on the next defensive move to ward off the raccoons.  I slept out last night hoping to waylay some of them but they managed to sneak a couple of ears out right under my nose without disturbing my precious sleep.   I think that the electric fence idea holds the most promise for practicality.   Looks like today will be dedicated to getting that organized.

So, as a byproduct of this situation our Camino friend Dana has introduced me to Wendell Barry’s Mad Farmer’s Manifesto.  One of the lines in there, ” Be joyful though you have considered all the facts.”   Boy that’s a Cancer Commandos kind of basic tenant right there.  Nice.

Oh, I have a walking date right now,  have to go, love, Felipe.

Yea, if there was cotton around here it would be high for sure.  Corn is as high as an elephant’s eye as they say.  Kelly is back from Spain.  MM is  back and I am trying to talk her into doing a post full of observations and insights.  What else, well, friends and acquaintances recovering from accidents and wrestling with cancer diagnosis.  Yes, we will put stones on the pile here at Phil’s Camino for these folks.  And we will think about how we might make things better for them with our own talents, time and resources.

On the light side maybe we need some corn or corny poems or recipes for the blog here.  See what you can come up with and I’ll look around here.  We might as well push this corn thing to the limit.  Corn art, yes.  Corn songs, yup.  A corn milk shake has not been done to my knowledge.  It’s wide open, have cornfidence you will come up with something, love, Felipe.

From advice and urging from Pilrim Farmer John, hailing from Iowa, the corn capitol of the universe, I am picking my corn a little earlier than I would normally.  He cringed when he read that I was waiting for my corn to ripen.  He thinks that the way to do it is to eat it before it gets to far along.  So that flavored my thinking (nice pun huh?) today and I went ahead and picked four ears which we had for lunch the check and then a dozen for the stand just to get things started.  So we are doing it!  And this was the day that I predicted that sales would start and thanks to PFJ we are right on schedule.

Catherine had the idea to have a corn countdown which we did.  10 days, 9 days and so on to today.  Maybe next year if I am still around I’ll have some placards with those numbers on them to put out by the road.  That would be fun.

Yup, pretty near cornperfect around here.  So putting a wrap on our Friday.  See you tomorrow, love, Felipe.

I know you are probably tired of hearing about this topic but the excitement here is high level.  I made this prediction that the sale begins tomorrow.  Will that happen?  It is trying like mad to be ready I assure you.

So one year ago we were on the trail, on the Camino de Santiago de Compostella.  It was that first stage where we getting the hang of the routine.   Learning about taking care of the feet and other important matters.  Learning how to jettison gear that wasn’t ‘t vital.  Learning how to deal with the heat although it would get worse.  Seeing amazing old churches and sites.  Meeting amazing people with amazing stories.  Getting a chance to share our own story.  Encountering the natural beauty of Spain.  Meeting the Spanish people.  Meeting people from all over the world.  Getting a chance to help fellow travelers as you let them help you.  Learning to trust the Camino, that it would provide.  Learning what quaint really means.   Seeing what fifty eagles looks like.   Spending time. Spending time with yourself, with folks, with God or just spending time.

I could go on I suppose but you get the picture.  Would I go again in a minute?  Would you go with me?  Food for thought as they say, love you immensely, Felipe.

The high point of our walk yesterday was a bunch of us had a sculpture lesson at the studio of artist Michael Magrath, a Michelangelo moment.  Jennifer arranged this event for a birthday gift for her buddy Heather and we were included to amp up the fun.  Playing with clay, yea.  Check the pic, that is Michael on the right.

That was three hours and the old story how time flies.  I could do that for another three years really, where do I sign up?  He has weekly sessions that folks attend.  Sounds like a good wintertime activity.

Today I am off to work to hammer some nails.  Also, keeping the stand supplied with available produce.   Friday is the big day to start corn sales, well hopefully.  I think we have enough out there to sell for two to three weeks, if the raccoons don’t attack.  I may sleep out there in my tent if I get too nervous about them.

Bird and rabbit hunting starts September first and am starting to think about that.  That means a road trip to Eastern Washington to the Middle of Nowhere, my favorite place.  My favorite location had a big wildfire two years ago, this time of year.  Was back there once and am waiting on it to rebuild.   Speaking of wildlife, the deer are here outside the kitchen window, mom and two fawns.

Just planning on an ordinary kind of day today but who knows right?  We all know about plans.  Thinking of you there, love, Felipe.

We had some thunder and and half inch of rain last afternoon and evening.  Now it is sunny.  I walked this morning and enjoyed the peacefulness.    It ‘s  like boredom at the emergency room, that would be a good thing.

I’ m mailing off some packages to Spain.  My three Angels from the Camino will soon all be living there, one in Barcelona and two in Madrid.  So I sent them some Northwest Catholic Magazines with yours truly on the cover and the maps of Phil’s Camin

o.

Just recently received a copy of a little book that eight of us Camino walkers wrote, a chapter apiece.  Laura from Barcelona was the orchestrator of that.   It is entitled Hotel California.  That was fun.

Kelly is back from Spain or will be shortly.  It is always fun to see him and he will be bringing news.  I’ll get you the report on that.

Rebecca and I get to do something really fun this afternoon.  We got invited along with a small group to play at a famous artist’s studio here on Vashon.  Jennifer set this all up for us.  We get three hours there to get creative.  Will fill you in on that tomorrow.

Yes, an uneventful morning has just passed but sometimes that is so enjoyable.  Take care where you are, love, Felipe.

I am so glad that I had my sidekick Camino Catherine with me today at Mass.  When one commits a major false step it is good to have Caminoheads close in.  Let me discribe the situation.

Father Marc gave a bang  up homily on synchronicity, one of the favorite Caminohead topics of all time.  He was doing great and weaving it in with what was happening today at the parish.  This particular Sunday is the annual Salmon Bake which has been going on for 55 years.  Lots of good chow celebrating the late summer return of fish to Puget Sound.  Also, we were dedicating an icon today in the worship area.  This has been in process for at least a year and I got to be on the committee that worked on the project.  It portrays  the risen Christ preparing fish on the beach for the apostles who are coming to shore on their boat.    I look forward to seeing it for the first time in a few moments.  But all kinds of synchronicity goin’  on.

So back to my miss step, my faux pas.  Shortly after the homily is the Sacrament of the Eucharist.    This is the very center of the Catholic world.  And I go forward following Catherine to receive the body and blood of Christ that is present in the bread and wine.  And what do I do but “fat finger” the situation and drop my small piece of bread, piece of Christ right there on the carpet.  Yike.  So I quickly pick it up and move on.

I am so glad that I had training on the Camino in the form of an outdoor Mass that had something similar.  A strong gust of wind sent the Body accross the pavement and there always a scramble to collect Him.  But what to do with forces like wind and gravity, we do our best, yes?   Pilgrims know that nothing here on earth is perfect but we do our best and keep moving down the trail.   So, here we go, love you, Felipe.