This goes along with a few posts recently which were about playing around with death.  This following passage from the book of Wisdom was part of last week’s Catholic service but them couldn’t get it copied and then this week the same and I finally just wrote it all down, feeling very monklike, just like the old days.  Now I am going to type all into this post, ready?

                                                                                                   Wisdom 1:13-15, 2:23-24 (98B)

God did not make death,

nor does he rejoice in the

destruction of the living.

For He fashioned all things that they

might have being;

and all creatures of the world are

wholesome,

And there is not a destructive drug

amoung them

nor any domain of the netherworld

on earth,

for justice is undying.

For God formed man to be

imperishable;

the image of His own nature he

made him.

But by the envy of the Devil, death

entered the world,

and they who belong to his

company experience it.

There, that took a while.   Well there is something to chew on.   And while I was working on that Annie called and we talked for a half hour.  So PFJ, she is  alive and well.  So, I’m off to make potato salad.  The best to you,  Felipe.

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Here we are once again, American Independence Day!  This is a biggie in the States.   Pilgrim Farmer John in his comment yesterday wished us all a Happy Fourth and back to ya PFJ.  Hot here as it should be.  But the real celebrating comes after dark this evening with fireworks shows.  Just hope we don’t burn the place down in our exuberance.

One of the great local traditions here on Vashon is the Around the Island Hydroplane Race.  Hydroplanes are a fusion of a boat with an airplane.  They skip across the surface of the water at high speed and they got their start here in The Seattle area after World War Two.  These here today locally are tiny renditions of the monster boats that are used in the professional races.  But we love them because they are local with local young studly drivers.   That happened very early this morning when the water is at it’s smoothest.  I could hear them from five miles away up here at the ranch on the top of the isle.  So that’ s cool.  (YouTube has video under Vashon hydroplane races)

So, this evening My Rebecca and Jennifer and other friends are going done to the harbor to see the evenings fireworks show.  We’ll have food and drinks and laughs.  Then the local show will last a half hour and is usually spectacular.  I heard the rumor hat this year’s will be better than last because the boys got some better deals on explosives.

Well I have to go and water the corn before I get swept up in the festivities.  Can’t seem to throw enough water at it these hot days.  Hope that there is a random cloud floating over MM and Kelly on the Camino today.  Alright, have to prepare to party.  Hydroplane loves,  Felipe.

Just as Our Pilgrim Farmer John lost his childhood friend, we will mourn with him.  Just as Our Angela is in the middle of winter in Australia and we are wilting in the heat we will try and warm her with our thoughts.  Just as its Our Mary Margaret’s birthday, we will help her celebrate.   And the same with Our Father Tom who had his birthday a few days ago.  Just as Our Kelly is getting back to the Camino in Leon we will give a toast to him.

Somehow we have become our own our’s.   Maybe we always were but we are just recognizing the fact.  Hmmm.  I am thinking few words are better than more today.  Global Caminohead loves, Felipe.

You have to read Pilgrim Farm John’s comment on yesterday’s post to understand what I am thinking about today.  It is about the suicide of a childhood friend of his.  So crazy sad this kind of stuff.  I feel for John and his family.

But if you read his comment you will see that we here at Caminoheads were a part of the healing process for this hurt.  John took a step to fill a gap at the memorial service.  He and one of his daughters took a step that maybe seemed small to them at the time to honor the memory of their friend and neighbor.  And John said that he was thinking about and inspired by our blog post, “Cancer Commando’s First Mission”.  This is where we were talking about making seemingly small insignificant actions to better the world.

I heard this part of the lyrics from a Van Morrison song today that was, “Turn It Up”.   That’s what I’m thinking as I blog here, let’s turn it up!  We need to turn it up a notch and see what happens.  In this crazy world where we have to contend with crazy stuff like suicide why can’t we start doing some crazy stuff, crazy good stuff.  I’m calling for turning it up gang!  What do you think?  There is a saint of small things, small miracles.  Isn’t she always carrying roses.  Seemingly small loves, Felipe.

It’s Wednesday of my off week.  Last Wednesday I was at Swedish Hospital, Seattle and next Wednesday I will be there again.   It’s been a long slog as time goes on.  It turns into an endurance race once the novelty wears off.  It takes an effort to make the hospital visits something other than fearful drudgery.  Who wants to go through all that trouble to go that far to be poisoned?  Just leave me alone, right?

But somewhere along the line I got the idea that I should be appreciative toward the doctors and nurses, the folks that I come in contact with anyway.  So, I take them little things, treats.  I’ve settled on healthy stuff like blueberries or those bite sized tomatoes or sometimes animal crackers.  Just something, it’s the thought really.   So I get something out of that that helps me as I look forward to seeing those folks.

Then I try really hard to remember everyone’s name and I ask if I forg

et.  Forging these relationships as changed the whole experience for me.  Then lately having someone to travel with and share these odd excursions has been another upgrade.  Another reason to look forward to going just to be a part of that.  Like on the Camino we share the walk and are the better for it in the end.  Thanks Jennifer.

Off to check on the corn and water a few rows.  Summertime loves, Felipe.

Well his brain is off anyway.  He is flying out for Spain on Thursday.  Off to Leon and meeting up with a gang of people that Mary Margaret is taking.  I was just absentmindedly wondering if that group could achieve the statis of “louder than the Italians”.   I think so, will Kelly and MM coaching,  yea no problem.

Both Kelly and MM said that they would send material for the blog.  That would be good.  I am interested because the first half of this journey from Leon to Samos was the part that I had to bus through.  I missed good stuff like Cruz de Ferro, the man eating heather and Ponferrada.  Maybe I can catch up slightly.

So the important thing is that I gave Kelly his Phil’s Camino patch, a one of a kind item, done by Eileen friend of Esther’s.  It has a map of the Vashon trail sewn into it.  And it doesn’t weigh much either.  I should have taken a pic of it.  Well, maybe on Kelly’s return.

Well yes, people coming and going, isn’t it great?!  I would love to go again to do part or all of it.  Maybe in September or October to eat berries across and skip the heat.  Think about it, we go together!  Berry love, Felipe.

I am supposed to go on a little trip tomorrow to Eastern Washington.  But I just heard from the partner that I was going with that it is going to be 97 degrees F. over there.  Yea, having second thoughts about that.  So nice sitting here in the early morning with the temp at 65.  I don’t think we are going.

I don’t know if I have any unifying theme with my post this morning but does it matter.  I am thinking about Jody who got back from Santiago very recently and walked with Dana and I last week.  And Dana is just weeks back.  It is so refreshing to be around that fresh back energy.

Jody had stories of her adventure.   They were her stories, completely unique but having elements that seem to be universal.  Ever pilgrim has his/her unique experience but there are also commonalities that seem to stick out from the stories.  There is talk of coincidence and syncronizity, right?  There is talk of bonding with folks from far flung places and loosing and finding those folks again along the trail.  There is talk of dealing with pain and discomfort.  Talk of God/religion /spirituality.

Notice that before people go on the Camino they are full of questions and thoughts about gear and books and maps and stuff like that.  Shoes, packs, socks are major focal points of conversation.  Guide book talk is right up there.  How many pairs of under wear are you going to take?

Yea, something interesting happened to us there.  We got a taste of something unusual or perhaps long forgotten.  I don’t know about you but hardly a day goes by that I don’t think about it and wonder.  Saint James Afoot, love you, Felipe.

Just an aside, it’s lightly raining here now as the result of a thunderstorm rolling through.  We certainly need the moisture.  But back to the topic.

I was carpooling with Catherine on our way to early Mass this morning and at one point I took the opportunity to thank her for the lovely dinner party that she and Dana put on some a few days ago.  And we were commenting on how it was so Camino.   It just took us back so easily.  And so six of  the  eight people at the dinner had walked in Spain and all of them have Phil’s Caminoed, so we knew the drill.

But one thing Catherine said commenting on the occasion and saying something about us was that, “Camino people are easy.”   And that took me back too.  And it’s true, no?  We/they are generally happy and appreciative, not much is a problem.  Everyone helps out and contributes.  We/they would be embarrassed to be too demanding or having some quirky special need.   Not that we/they wouldn’t ask for help when we really needed it but “would hate to be a bother.”

Yup, have to run, Felipe.

By the Way: I’m so grateful, it seems I feel supported from so many directions, places and individuals.  I don’t know exactly how this works but it does.  It would be hell to be isolated.  Big thanks, Felipe.

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Jennifer and I back at the hospital to get our portable pumps taken off.  We will be done soon and will make a run for the ferry.  Oh, here she is now, all done, catch you later.

Back at home with dinner eaten and having time to be with you.  It’s hot here and moving slow.  But I choise to entitle today’s post with “enveloped with chemicals” because I am right now.  Couldn’t possibly hold any more.  Now to do my best with the side effects.

But at the very same time I feel, I know that I am “enveloped with love”.  I get so much great support from all angles, at all times.  This is something that I am sure of.   So, thanks for being a part of this.

I have to go, running out of energy.  Love, Felipe.