So far so good on opening up Phil’s Camino in the middle of the pandemic. I am satisfied that we are being safe and getting in a significant portion of our pilgrimage, minus the hugging of course. But it is happening so come back. Don’t let us fall off your radar!

Monday 0900-1000
Tuesday 1600-1700
Thursday 0900-1000
Sunday 1600-1700

lace’em up, Felipé.

I think that I caught the news that things are starting to open up in Spain for some sort of pilgrimage experience. Don’t think that I made that up. Feels like we all have been living in a cave for far too long now. If anyone gets any reports in an pilgrims resuming the Camino please get them into us. Maybe Ronaldo and Ann in Astorga would have and idea on this.

When I think of my Camino experience with Kelly and Rick and the camera crew and our Camino family and the general crush of people it is hard to think of translating that into a virus safe situation. That would take some major engineering. But it needs to happen somehow. What a challenge!

And slowly here things seem to be opening up. Had a great walk Thursday morning with old pilgrim friends Jim and Jen. They hadn’t been here to be with us since the end of February or the beginning of March. After our three laps we sat on the deck with My Rebecca, in distant seating of course, and gabbed. We are starting to reconnect.

Well, maybe we can prepare by thinking about reopening. Maybe we can sort of will it into being, safely though. And we got our first issue of Atlantic Magazine which Rebecca sprung for, keeping the Felipé informed.

making it happen loves, Felipé.

Seattle is the only place I have ever been that has apologetic weather reports. The weatherman said that this morning as I was looking for the local news on the TV. I’ve never heard that one before but I am used to the phenomenon. We can have 35 days of rain in a row and each day they come up with some new creative way to describe the same rain. Well, they are certainly working hard for their paychecks.

Today I will be out under the gray skies hopefully pretty soon. Also I have a little writing to do today with a project that Catalina and I are working on. She is trying to boil down the material in this blog, all seven years of it, one year at a time. We are working on the first year now, 2014. We are trying to get the volume of words down to something like 1/12th the original. So, I have been reading my blog material from the very beginning with this effort. That’s before, during and immediately after Spain. To read my words about my reentry is very moving. That was such a powerful era to revisit.

In these turbulent days please find your calm and maintain. 2020, who would have thought.

Friday loves, Felipé.

I was successful with getting in and out of town in a safe and timely manner. The Institute was geographically between two different protests, one on Capital Hill and one Downtown. Activities at the Institute were going to shut down at 3PM as opposed to the normal 5PM to get everyone on the road and out of there.

So, got back and had some dinner and a wine and participated in a Zoom with other cancer patients. This was something that Patti of the Survivorship Program was involved in and asked me to show up. After so many years of conferring with cancer patients it all seems pretty easy to just show up and just brighten the day.

Yup, the times are pretty crazy and hopefully we are bringing some new positive ways into being after is all said and done. It is amazing reading the latest from George Will and General Mattis this week. They are not the usual loud characters so I welcome their strong and measured words at this time.

Speaking of time, have to go and find my boots and get awalking.

awalking loves, Felipé.

So, having announced the dates for Veranda 2021 we already have three people signed up to come. How about that for enthusiasm?! It is warming my heart. Now Felipé all you have to do is get there.

This summer will be the 🌽 Corntine 🌽 and that is August 22-23, Saturday and Sunday for locals only. No traveling from out of state.

And the dates for Veranda 2021 are August 20-23, Friday through Monday. Yea, this will happen! Make plans now!

This is way too much fun just to think about. For now I need to clean up and head to the Institute for my meeting with Nugget. Will be in and out of Seattle as quickly as possible although it looks things are quieting down somewhat.

miss you all loves, Felipé.

I set a goal for myself of making up my mind by June 1st, one way or the other, to announce to you whether we were going to have the Veranda 2020 party. I really regret that we will not be having the full blown party. There is no way this will be workable for people traveling from out of state much less out of country. But the corn is growing and my own sense is that a local party would be appropriate. So thus the Corntine is born!

Why not have a two day party for local folks to come to walk, drink a glass of wine and go home with a bag of fresh sweet corn. No hugs, no camping, no field trips just a chance to say hello from a distance. It is the best we can do under the circumstances. Personally I can’t bear not to have the ranch open. We have to keep the beat.

So, that is it. At a time when we could use a Veranda more than ever we are thwarted. We will have to live another year my friends and met here in 2021 and I am setting the dates right now, Friday August 20th through Monday August 23rd. Are you in?

our path isn’t easy these days loves, Felipé.

A new week, a fresh start, I think that is what the country needs. I think most of us have had it with the riots and upheaval. Can we please get back to the other couple of crises that we originally had cooking? How many do we need at any given time.

Well that is news that is hard to get away from. OK,OK, I get it that it points to a problem and we need to work on the problem. We all got that.

Over the weekend my family was dealing with two old friends that are in the process of dying, being overwhelmed by their cancer. What a hard deal. I saw one in person and the other is out of town. It is truly sad.

So, what the heck? I’m walking in a few moments and maybe I can work on some of this.

New start loves, Felipé.

The Holy Spirit comes to the hearts of the Apostles. It is a force that guides and inspires that we are celebrating. This was the force that was needed to lead fledgling Christianity though four hundred years of persecution and beyond.

This is a powerful idea to keep in mind as we navigate through the latest in our world’s news. As if the pandemic wasn’t enough of a strain we have the riots in our cities. I was up and watched the 7AM news on Channel 5 from Seattle. It was sad and disheartening to see the destruction in our downtown.

It was sad to hear the serious protesters talk of the way things morphed from protest to riot after dark. I think that the average guy here in the area sees that difference and is not blaming the protesters. And it was a good sign that locals were showing up to help clean up by picking up trash and sweeping up broken glass. It looks a mess but as Mr Rogers said, look for the helpers.

So, the world and it’s cares is always impinging on our spirit. Let us not lose sight of the important things that need looking after in ourselves and in each other. Let us be helpers.

cloudy Sunday morning loves, Felipé.

At some point early on in my backyard Camino experience I used the word “alone” to describe in my logbook a lap that I just completed when no one was with me. I remember one occasion when I wrote that word in and then started walking on my next lap. And somehow all the birds and the dogs and whatever in the whole neighborhood was out chattering at me, “not alone”. It was sort of a crazy deal. From then on in the logbook I used the phrase “not alone”. So when you see that in the logbook you will know. I’m still using that to this day as a reminder to myself.

Karen from Cambridge had a wonderful blog post yesterday. She was not alone in her walk through the woods. And William from Alberta wrote her about his outdoor hikes and I know that he is never alone. It is healthy and encouraging to be engaged in Nature as we pass through. We are not just observers but are participants in the process.

We had some bizarre weather this morning here on the Island. There was a crazy thunderstorm, very ominous right at the time that I was starting a Zoom meeting with twenty five folks from the Cutaneous Lymphoma (skin cancer) Foundation. They had just watched the Phil’s Camino film and we were doing a QandA via Zoom. They were from all over the US and Canada. An hour and a half flew by. I could do one of those everyday I think, very energizing.

So, I think now I am going to call Buenos Aires and talk with Cris CSABC. It is time to make a decision about how to handle the Veranda party that we have scheduled for August 2020. I set a deadline of June first for myself so we could inform you of any plans concerning a get together.

time to mosey on loves, Felipé.

Walking in the Woods

I’ve been musing this week on the healing power of Nature and of walking. Now we are allowed a little further from home in a car, I’ve taken to visiting Wandlebury Country Park. It’s an area of woods and meadows which surround an Iron Age fort, about two or three miles from home. I’ve been there at 6.30 am when I didn’t see another soul and I’ve been there on a Sunday afternoon when it was full of families picnicking.

It’s a healing place. The trees, the grass, the birds. Deer, hares, squirrels.

I’ve taken to walking a simple circuit of 3 or 4 km. With my cancer, I’m certainly not walking fast. But it’s peaceful, prayerful even. Alone, I can go at my own speed. Alone, I can be with the place. And it’s like pouring a calm green balm on my heart.

Over the past two months I’ve had times of deep loneliness. When I am there I am alone but not at all lonely.

One of the things I loved on my Caminos is walking alone. I wasn’t someone who developed a Camino family, though I certainly had friends I would eat with. But I loved this simple alone walking. I’m refinding that. Phil’s Camino is inspiring my Camino. I’m thinking now what alone but not lonely looks like and how do I take it back home. Maybe it’s one of the gifts i this Covid retreat time.

Karen Kelly, Caminoheads England Bureau Chief.