The idea of hope is so very powerful. It all starts with the idea. I was reading on my Second Mountain book by David Brooks and he was writing about how hope opens possibilities. How having hope somehow allows the mind to imagine new ways, new avenues. I put somehow in that sentence because sometimes the way things work are just downright mysterious. Matter of fact it occurs often to me but it’s not a bad zone to inhabit.

I remember early in my cancer “fight” I was describing my cancer as not being monolithic. As I crawled around on it, it didn’t seem to have a smooth solid surface but had cracks and fissures. It even had caves and caverns. I learned that it was possible to “make a life” in these gaps. And that has worked for me for years now.

Without hope that wouldn’t have been possible I see. It takes a certain amount of hope to even wonder about possibilities. It is sort of the ladder or the pathway to get to possibilities. The more I think about this idea the more I see the power in it.

It has to be from God. Things this simple and elegant we mortals are not capable of producing. It is just too basic, too foundational. It’s a God thing.

And off to worship this morning. Catherine will be here momentarily so we can say our rosary together. Always a pleasure and an inspiration to hang out with her. Her could be Catherine or Mary or both.

hoping like hell loves, Felipé.

I must say that to write today’s post for The Boss’s blog was a bit of a challenge… It took me a while to think about the topic… What to write about when the world is upside down and I have not yet been able to put myself “upside down” too, so as to live on it without falling off…?

I actually had this thought and then realize that The Boss -a.k.a as Phil or Felipe- is a visionary, when hanging the “Phil’s Camino yellow arrow” sign upside down… (Think about it!!!)

Anyway, live has been crazy busy in these latitudes, lots going on in the country -where we are right now experiencing the peak of the pandemic, with a new strict lockdown in place-, lots of workload at work as a result of the new peaks of the pandemic in so many places in the world, and certainly my inner self has been struggling to find balance and rhythm… It has been challenging to reflect and “breathe in” that life, as we knew it, won’t be the same for quite a while…

And let me do a confession here: there have been moments, when to “breathe in” this idea has been scary…

But then, I somehow reflected that I have been in this situation before. Actually: All of us. Not under the name of a pandemic, clearly, but I can almost guarantee that all of us have been in a situation where in a moment, as a result of some news or events, our lives changed in a way that we knew they would never go back to what they used to be. Just think on our Felipe: receiving a diagnosis of Cancer changed his life for ever.

And yet, I kept reflecting that our lives have kept going on, and in many opportunities, in a pretty nicely way… like in Italy during the pandemic: there has been lots of singing in the balconies.

And I remembered all the things that we have overcome as humanity, as countries, as communities, as neighborhoods, as human beings… In psychology, they use the word “resilience”, this capacity human beings have to adapt to adversity and get stronger, but our pilgrim’s dictionary says that it is our capacity to trust again, to have faith, to say “yes”, to raise our heads above the water after being thrown in the deepest of the seas; it is this instinct of survival, this force of life…

And as I was reflecting on this, a poem from David Whyte (“The True Love”) where he quotes Peter walking over the waters towards the boat where Jesus was in came to my mind… because you know: an image is worth a thousand words…

“And I think of the story of the storm and the people
waking and seeing the distant, yet familiar figure,
far across the water calling to them.
And how we are all preparing for that abrupt waking
and that calling and that moment when we have to say yes!
Except it will not come so grandly, so biblically,
but more subtly, and intimately in the face
of the one you know you have to love.
So that when we finally step out of the boat
toward them we find, everything holds us,
and everything confirms our courage.”

If you are having one of “those days”, when you are struggling with this thought of what the future will bring, my prescription for you is to read these lines a couple times (you can trust my prescription, I am a Health Care professional!!)

Stepping out of the boat Loves,
Cris

I am changing the way I am going to describe my Camino experience from now on. It wasn’t just a life changing experience it was as a matter of fact DEEPLY life changing. There is a big difference. It was not just a change in surface things or a change in the details of life but a deep down ground breaking radical change. Yea.

Lately Lovely Catalina and I have been working on her latest book which is about Caminoheads blog. It is a condensation of all the material into an inspirational book basically about walking in your backyard. But it is also about “fighting” cancer and the Catholic faith and other things all on my Swiss Army Knife of blogs. And we are beachcombing through the entire billion words to come up with the essence of it all. A chore which is actually taking a whole team of us. So, as we do this I am reliving the times that I am rereading. I wrote it all but some was so long ago it is like discovering a long lost friend to see it again.

Yea so, seeing all this material that I daily poured my heart out over I am struck now by the change in me that it represents. Well, maybe that should be deep change. And I am sure that you see that in yourself too. For this is not just my story but it has happened to others, not everyone but yes to many.

I worked over my foot doc Dr Le Bella on Wednesday giving him him
my latest song and dance about the Camino. He said that it was on his bucket list and maybe I just moved it up a few notches in priority. All in a days work. Yea.

off to the corn loves, 🌽Felipé🌽.

Yea, my feet feel so much better today just from the get go. I was so in need of some professional help. You know Felipé, he would have trudged on for another three hundred years grinning and bearing it. Have a walk in a few minutes and that will give me a better idea of what’s going on.

We have had some lobbying by some of our readers jockeying for positions since I mentioned the new position of official foot doc. Well, really it was one reader. And you know who you are. Years ago she brought a maxim to us that we have been living by since:

Fun first, Shenanigans Second
Safety Third (Always Third)

Well, we do need an Official Caminoheads Safety Officer. OK, OK, you are in Esther. Oops, wasn’t going to mention any names.

life walks on, Felipé.

You know Mary Margaret, Kelly and my old buddy from the Camino, she used to refer to her foot problems as her stigmata. It is a kind of Catholic joke which Catholics appreciate and they can make jokes like that. We can joke all day long and we did. But I digress.

So, today I went to Dr Matt Le Bella to check out my right foot which hasn’t been the same since since Spain. That is what I am calling my stigmata but since I only have one I really don’t know if stigmata is the right word, singular or plural. Anyway, he did his magic and eased my mind on the seriousness of my problem. He fixed me up with treatment, new insoles and product recommendations. He said I should come in every six months or year for a tune up. OK, which is cool because I got us talking about the Camino and I was there with him for over any hour. My favorite, gabbing away about our fav topic with someone new.

So, maybe I should make this guy the offical foot doc of Phil’s Camino. That would be quite the honor. He would be in the credits along with Padre Tomas our offical spiritual director and Catalina Barush being our offical historian. None of this pays very well but it would be great on the old resumé. I did bring up the fact that doctors along the Camino don’t charge pilgrims for working on their feet but he didn’t respond to that. I wasn’t hinting about anything was I?

it’s a wonderful life loves, Felipé.

Here we are coping with the pandemic in summertime of 2020. Which means that we realize the dangers and we have safeguards in place and with that we are walking again. We opened up when our governor opened parks and recreation areas. But we are maintaining distancing and wearing masks when that can’t be done.

Walkers have been trickling in with most folks staying home. But we are here walking on our same old schedule, no crowds.

Monday 0900-1000
Tuesday 1600-1700
Thursday 0900-1000
Sunday 1600-1700 (tapas after in good weather)

Also coming up this Sunday July 5th we will be opening up a simplified version of tapas in good weather only. It will be no frills and we will be sitting out on the grass in our circle of lawn chairs with plenty of distance between.

Other important items are this year in August, Saturday the 22nd and Sunday the 23rd we are having a small get together we are calling the Corntine🌽. God willing the sweet corn will be ripe and you could come and eat some here and take some home. We might walk and have a small glass of wine but no big party, just a chance to say hello and see each other. Just a quickie.

Then some dates have been set for 2021 for the next Veranda. Can we make it? And that is Friday August 20th through Monday August 23rd! That is here at the ranch of course and hopefully we will be blessed with less restrictions, corn 🌽 and good weather. So put that on your calendar.

just nuts and bolts and other details, love you, Felipé.

Let’s try to take a break from all the fighting. In this time of the pandemic everyone seems to have an axe to grind. Well, not everyone but too many anyway. Seems like it must be a way to gain control or something similar in a time of loss of control. Of course getting right down to it this being in control is largely an illusion. But living with that revelation takes time and getting used to.

Working together is the only way out of this situation. I think we all know that deep down. But we seem to have a long way to go to get this to the level of reality. Talk is one thing but doing is harder. There seems to be a lot of doing to be done.

Praying for ourselves and our family, neighborhood and world seem highly appropriate. We need help. All things begin here with us asking for help.

Keep in touch please. We can and we already know how to buoy each other up. We know how that works. We are veteran pilgrims. We have learned the lessons. We know…

off to walk loves, Felipé.

Boy, what a great time of anticipation for us in the rainy Northwest. We have maximum faith that summer will really come after all. There is an old joke that says that summer starts July 5th around here. Man, we have had our share of moisture and clouds. So any second now!

Catherine my Mass partner came today so we could have our worship service. We are doing great with this by the way. But “real” church calls and we will be there soon. Maybe we will have two more sessions here at the ranch and then try and go back. We both miss Communion which we can’t duplicate.

Each time that Catherine and I get together we work on a set of mysteries. To my knowledge there are four sets and today we were discussing the Luminous Mysteries which are my favorite. Forgive me if I talked about these before. They are forever new to me.

And in the corn news I did take some pics several days ago. And you all need a progress report as we approach the Fourth. The old adage of “knee high by the Fourth of July” is always in play. It is a special challenge this year here with all the rain and cold. Not as red hot as normal but we are close. It was boot high Friday and a week to go.

Maybe I will include a pic from last year because I am trying something new and you can see. Up to this year I was trying to keep the whole plot clear of weeds. Well that works to a certain point where it just gets overwhelming and I say good enough, “Corn you are on your own.” This year I seeded the whole plot with New Zealand White clover directly after the corn went in the ground. This was an attempt at forming a “green mulch”or living mat to keep the weeds down. So you will see what that looks like.

Well, I think that is it for a Sunday late in June in the time of the pandemic. Sincerely hope that you are holding up under the strain of all this these days. Thanks for checking in.

extremely corny loves, Felipé.

This is a story of recovery and reconciliation that occurred 50 years after one of the most horrendous periods in American history. In 1913 the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania threw a reunion for any and all American Civil War veterans that wanted to attend. The Blue and the Grey came by the trainload from all over the States. It was termed a pilgrimage by some and that’s what I would call it for sure.

There are bunches of still photos and numerous motion picture clips available on UTube. This is an easy way to step back to an era that we may find hard to understand from here in the 21st century. It is a way to see an example of reconciliation at it’s best. We all adore President Lincoln and of course he was very concerned with joining our States back together after the fighting was over. Here is a vision of pilgrims that traveled a long way individually to join in this communal meeting, this ceremony of peace. It is truly amazing and tearful to view as we sit years and eras and ideas later.

But it is the same peace, the same restoration of relationship that is vital in whatever era, whatever place or in whatever universe. If these guys could pull this off then anything is possible for us and for our future. This is my belief.

https://youtu.be/LVgIFjwPGrw

others have been down this road before loves, Felipé.

William is here to do the Friday blog and I so appreciate him and all the Bureau Chiefs participating in this. He sends in many pics of his garden and his travels into the outdoors. You only see some of those because I wind up using many on various posts but nowhere near all. So I thank him.

Here are some of his pics that he just sent in from a hike with his wife Joan (please forgive me if I got that name wrong).

William CCBC