Who would have thought that Dylan would grace the cover of the consummate senior citizen magazine. “Don’t trust anyone over thirty.”, what happened to that? This is about as incongruous as the U.S. Janis Joplin postage stamp that came out recently. What? “burning the candle at both ends” Janis, that we know and love, on a “Forever Stamp”. What the heck is a forever stamp anyway?

Just the same I am trying to make sense of being on the cover of a magazine myself. Pretty heady really but what to make of it after that. And I wonder what my dear departed Catholic mother is thinking. Incongruous is the word again.

Ah, I look out the window and see the sun breaking through the morning fog. Just when you think that the world is all fog or that fog will be here forever the sun decides to pay a visit. Hmmm, maybe that fits right in with what we are talking about this morning.

Good, just got another cup of coffee to get me through these thoughts. Yes, what to make of Phil aka Felipe aka Red Hat aka Red Hot, on the cover of Northwest Catholic Magazine? I’m the guy that is sixty seven years old and still doesn’t know what I want to be when I grow up. Well Felipe, maybe this is it hey? Maybe being the guy that gets the stage four cancer and manages to scratch out a few more years to have the time and finds the energy somehow gets to inspire others to keep going.

Maybe, this is the battle that the Marine Corps trained me for as a youth and I never fought. Maybe I’m that crazy guy that advances when things look impossible and laughing while I’m at it. Am I that guy? Are the bullets cracking all around us? Are my comrades moving forward on my left and right to cover my flanks? Can we take that high ground ahead? Why not! Godspeed!

I put it in guy terms there, hope you can translate. Self discovery apparently is a long term project. OK then, time to get the day moving, thanks for being with me, love, Felipe.

I just got an email this morning from my dear Camino friend and flan guru, talking flan yes, amoungst updates on her life. So, I take it that I have her blessing to experiment with the basic recipe. Which is a good thing as I have already gone down that road. My big triumph in this area is creating orange flan which I am making again soon for the company coming. So, Alida liked the orange idea and said that she has a coffee variation that sounds interesting to me.

Where am I going with this? There is a point though, and that is that in this cooking endeavor I have to employ variation to bring surprise to a menu. Just as surprise on the Camino was such an important part of the magic there having suprise in a menu seems equally vital. If I am spending the time and effort to bring love to my tapa friends or dinner friends though cooking for them I need to have ways to keep things interesting over time. Sort of food as a journey is what I am seeing. Then I should should create an interesting journey is the thought.

I had a nice surprise yesterday in meeting an acquaintance of Annie’s named Kate that teaches classes in art history and pilgrimage. She is interested in ways that people have set up there own local facsimiles of larger things that give them a sense of that larger thing. As in labyrinths are miniture facsimiles of full scale journeys. Well, that sounds familiar. So we FaceTimed for an hour on the topic.

OK, off to work. Buen Camino one again, love, Felipe.

Another walk in Spain which you can check out if you dare:

http://www.cnn.com/2015/03/13/travel/spain-caminito-del-rey/

Just curled up on the couch with a cup of Irish tea, warming up. Walked this morning in the rain and had to change clothes and throw all my wet gear in the dryer. But here I am ready to blog. Already had an email from Steve saying, where’s today’s post? OK, OK, I’m coming.

I did 1/303th of a Camino Frances this morning. My first lap around I just walked and grumbled. Splash, splash, splash. My second lap I took some video and grumbled. Splash, splash, splash. Then on my last time around I got in my rosary and prayed for the rock pile. Splash, splash, splash.

I went to Reconciliation this morning after Mass. That is the new word for Confession. I try to go fairly often, like every two months. That’s pretty often by today standards. It went well and as a lifelong Protestant it is challenging to make happen. But I always feel better afterward, lighter. Also, that is good to do that as part of Lent.

Gee, that was scary! Just nodded off and mistakenly fingered this post into the trash by mistake. But I found it and revived it. Man, I can make the weirdest mistakes and fat fingerisms.

I’ve got some important phone calls to get done today and need to get the house organized for Annie and the film crew coming on Friday. A good day for all that. I can look out the window and think about how we really need this rain and not actually have to be out in it.

People,have been checking in saying how they enjoy this blog. That is really satisfying. Then a friend from my bible class let me know that he prayed for me twice a day as he past the ranch on his way to and back from work each weekday. Nice things. Thanks you all, love, Felipe.

Just got out of my weekly bible class. It is one of the highlights of my week and after something like ten years of attending is one of those things that has become irreplaceable. If I miss it for some reason than things are thrown off kilter. It is a blend of study and fellowship, roughly fifty – fifty.

It’s been a very stabilizing force in my life and I am sure that things would have taken a different course without it. I bet that the other members would say something similar. Myself and people and the world in general provide more than enough drama to life. Where can I find that rock to hold on to in the surging waters? What is the point of all this motion? How do I find that something that I am supposed to do?

It all gets talked about. We look to the bible for wisdom that has stood the test of time. Right now we are studying the book of Daniel from the Old Testament or Hebrew Bible. Chapter three today which is the story of God saving Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego from King Nebuchadnezzar’s fiery furnace. Pretty exciting stuff.

A rainy day today and the sort of day for introspection. Cancer patients should get paid overtime for this as it seems like we put in a lot of time on it. OK, nothing overly exciting or glitzy from me, just rainy day thoughts. Thanks for your prayers, Felipe.

This is the link to the radio interview that I did with Northwest Catholic Radio in Feburary 2015. It has been running from March 1st to the 15th on 1050 AM in Seattle.

https://soundcloud.com/northwest-catholic/walking-the-camino-de-santiago?in=northwest-catholic/sets/northwest-catholic-magazine

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Just 11 seconds of waking with me on Camino de Santiago Vashon.

.88 kilometers is a little over a half a mile and the distance around one lap here on my backyard Camino. The footing is irregular mostly and it takes us about fifteen minutes to go around. It’s about 60% walking on pasture and the rest is woods trail. A nice blend of differences.

One thing that has been a great coincidence, if there are such things anymore in my life, it is that it is the perfect distance for saying one round of the rosary. There is not a lot of extra time to do anything fancy, just the basics. Yea, and I try to do that once a day to pray for the rock pile that pilgrims have left with their cares embodied.

And if I am off to the hospital in Seattle which occurs twice every other week I get the rosary in on one trip across Puget Sound on the ferry which takes about fifteen minutes, give or take a few ships or few gulls. Another perfect little niche of time.

Well, that’s what it looks like from here. Alperfect once again, loves, Felipe.

I heard yesterday that Trygve had to be put down. My buddy Steve kept this dog and he gave us Sture back years ago. They were both flat coat retrievers, which is a European breed and may seem unfamiliar.

It’s really fascinating the close bonds that we form with our pet dogs. It is why we grieve so when they leave. Our dog Sture left right in the middle of a party we were having at the ranch in November. Couldn’t have been better really, although that may sound strange. But he was surrounded by people he loved and who loved him and it all seemed perfect to us at the time.

I remember watching some science shows on the tube about dogs that have left me with some ideas. One was about how dogs watch humans, their masters. They watch your eyes most of the time to get clues on us. And two, they can understand when we point our hand they look off in the distance in the direction of the pointing. Very much of a leap of understanding really.

These type of abilities have come from our close relationship. And one show even went so far as saying that humans wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for dogs. If you think about it some,it doesn’t seem so far fetched. Their keen senses, loyality and ability to learn made perfect companions. And by guarding us and increasing our effectiveness as hunters gave us a big edge.

So thank you to dogs in general and thank you Sture and Trygve for dogs in the specific. We will drink to you at tapas today. And life goes on as they say, love to you my readers, Felipe.

When I am at the hospital every two weeks for treatment I try to have as much fun as I can, try to get some work done, and try to check in with other patients around me. It’s just an approach that works for me, facing poison with a light and grateful heart. It’s been hard work to get to this point but worth it.

Yesterday I struck up a conversation with a lady that was getting treatment in the next comfy chair. These chairs are separated by a curtain but I had to walk through her space to get to the WC down the hall. I just think that the hospital has the idea that patients should not be too isolated from one another there. They need a little visual privacy at times but need to feel like what they are experiencing is not something to be locked away. Anyway, she was farely new at the process and I thought that I would talk to her since I was invading her space.

She asked what I was doing here and I answered her saying that I was here working on my cancer hobby and she burst out laughing. See that’s what I bring. I wound up showing her the magazine article and left her with a business card. Hope that she checks in to the blog and website.

But what does that mean to treat cancer as a hobby? I am blessed that my situation is such that we have the tumors stabilized, that we have the knowledge and life style to stay one step ahead of the present side effects of the chemo and that our mindset is positive about the whole journey. This focus is a result of all the wonderful people in my life that have come to add something to the life lines that have saved me. I guess I am smart enough to pay attention to their messages and implement them in my days is where I can take credit, if for anything.

So, when I can go from walking through the doors of the Swedish Cancer Institute on treatment day thinking any sane person just wants to run away TO going through the same doors and having fun and making a fellow patient laugh is an important change. Thank you everyone that has helped me do that.

OK, off to my day. Love you guys, Felipe.

That’s what my Camino buddy, Kelly, would say to me when he would want to go over something that he thought was important for me to remember. “OK Phil, let’s review.” Kelly spent a lot of time as a school teacher, can you tell. No, but I was lucky to have him watch over me, no telling where blissed out Felipe would wander off unsupervised.

But I wanted to go over something that I think is important for all of us to remember. In the last few weeks I have been working on the corn patch. Putting on composted horse manure and rototilling with the tractor in the springtime sun is enjoyable. But two years ago or maybe last year at this time I was out working on this same ground and I uncovered three objects from the soil. I was raking with a rake on foot. Yea, not on the tractor is what I am trying to say and these three things appeared in the same short time.

Look at the pic above. There is a very gorgeous heart rock which is about three inches in size, palm sized. Then resting on top of it as it sets on our kitchen table is a working compass, as in finding the way, and a brass keyhole, as in the way to the heart. A message maybe? I’m just raking around in God’s earth and what should appear? A message maybe? A coincidence? Let’s review, as our beloved Kelly would say. A message.

Off to Swedish Hospital for treatment. Time to be strong. Love, Felipe.