Here is a nice article about pilgrimage in England that was given us by Catalina our art historian. It is specifically about visiting cathedrals, making pilgrimage to historic cathedrals. Here is one paragraph:
“So what is driving this uptake in pilgrimages? “The top reason for pilgrimage is emotional well-being,” Hayward said. He views this as part of a broader sociological trend. “The rise of pilgrimage is part of the shift from the age of knowledge, which has dominated the past three centuries, to the age of experience.””
Ah, it looks like we are cutting edge here, bounding and leaping down the trail. We the advanced guard. We the trend setters. What is that song we used to sign, “don’t know much about algebra”, don’t know what a slide rule is for”.
It is my observation that the experiential quest is closely allied with the mystical side of religion. It finds it’s juice in the doing, the immersion and the internalization. Knowing is one thing but living with it is another.
So tapas, not to change the subject. Cruised Trader Joe’s yesterday on the way back from the Institute. I found two other items that make for good things to bring to the table:
Off to the Institute for a checkin with Nugget (Dr Gold). My clinical trail moves along. I am hopeful that we are making a difference in the cancer situation.
In a way progress with my personal case is progress for everyone. Every step forward is progress for everyone as ripples move outward. And progress of my cancer patient neighbor is progress for me and everyone also.
Anne, one of my nurses showed up yesterday with her husband and new baby to walk the trail. So good to see her as I am in a different department at the Institute now that I am on this clinical trial. The new baby could have been the newest little person to walk Phil’s Camino.
I am humming Country tunes today. I am so in love with the Ken Burns documentary on TV these evenings. Entitled Country Music it is just a peach of a program. The last episode is tonight. My Rebecca is into it also. It is a great big slice of Americana and a fun history lesson. Thank you Ken, once again. Once Again Ken, just nicknamed him. Hehe.
Finished my book Walking to Listen by Andrew Forsthoefel. What a wonderful documentary. It is heartening to see such a work from someone so young, must be an Old Soul. Thank you Janie for handing that off to me.
Well, winding my way through the process here at the Institute. Maybe I will get out in the sunshine and beat the afternoon rush hour after all.
Is that it, that the equinox is on the 23rd this year. It was the year My Rebecca and I got married in 1978. I’m moving too fast to look that up right now with Uncle Google. But it doesn’t really matter all that much. But it always seems a little odd that it can occur that late.
So Farmer John and Farmer Cathy’s road runs perfectly east and west like no road on this island. So, twice a year at the equinox’s the same old sun sets in perfect alignment with the road. That is the pic at the top. I love the way that all fits together so clearly. The cosmic machinery all lining up with the grid of your neighborhood is a stunning affirmation. Some kind of Heartland Stonehenge goin’ on there at the Conway homestead. Makes you want to drag out your old Earth Science book from Junior High to see if you couldn’t make that happen on Wiggly Holler Road where you are.
Farmer Cathy and Farmer John in dresses. Oh wait, that’s a kilt.
Yea, that’s our wedding anniversary too, the 23rd that is. Somehow we thought that it would be cool. My birthday is on December 21st, the winter solstice. Maybe that was the attraction don’t remember, lost in the mists of time.
So, back from our mini vacation to Port Townsend. Time to make sense of the home front. The wood stove is still apart on the bench waiting for parts as the temps fall. The winter birds are starting to show up. Was holding off til the 1st to start feeding the birds along the trail. And then before you know the time will change and it will begin to seem like another planet with the darkness descending. But I think we have a few fab days in the offing yet.
Happy Anniversary to My Rebecca and myself today. A whole bunch of water can flow under the bridge in forty one years. That’s more than a lifetime for some folks. It’s a lot of Christmas presents and Easter bonnets. Of course it’s not all party time, challenges abound but so do blessings.
We are back from our trip to Port Townsend, our treat to each other. So glad that we took a hold of that. We are talking about trying to go again next year. Lots of good new filmmakers and good new films every year. It is always inspiring to sample their work. Of course there are plenty of film festivals in different towns but Port Townsend is such a lovely welcoming place. They work really hard on this and they celebrated their 20th anniversary this year.
So, we are back to the ranch today. Work that needs continuing and walks that need walking and I suppose tapas to accomplish. The weather is rain, sun, rain, sun and repeat. Perfect conditions for little seeds in the soil. The crimson clover, the cover crop, is up in the corn. And all the areas of dead grass around are greening up with new little hopeful shoots.
The apples are ripe and the wild pears are starting to litter the ground. The deer like them alcoholic and mushy so they will move in for treat in October. The voles are everywhere, a high point in their population curve, and the barred owls are starting to be everywhere responding to that boom. It’s all happening in the wild kingdom neighborhood.
Off to walk momentarily, a beautiful morning is presenting itself. Come by when you get a chance. Check the schedule I put up yesterday. Remember soon the time will change and the afternoon walks will then start at 1530 instead of 1600 (3:30 instead of 4:00). Yup, winter schedule.
Running back from Port Townsend and the festival to make it back to the ranch. Have a walk at 4 PM to get to. So, generally the trail is in good shape. The Fall thing is going on and there is a little rain here and there but no mud as of yet. Come by!
My Rebecca and I are up at The Port Townsend Film Festival doing that festival stuff. Lots of other folks here from all over, yea, a festival. We saw two great films yesterday before the incident.
One was Jay Myself and our friend Doug Blush is one of two of the executive producers. Jay is Jay Maisel a giftd and famous photographer. And it is a story of his life and adventures. Check it out. Doggie knows what he is doing.
Two was Primary Instinct with Stephen Tobolowsky story telling. He is a wonderful storyteller and human. Rebecca worked with him on fund raising for the Vashon High School Drama Department some years ago. So we had a little reunion there.
But the incident, which our friend Pat proposed might be a blessing, happened while we where in the second show. We had parked out away from the theater next to the skatepark. Lots of youngsters there enjoying themselves. But when we came back to the car I jumped in and could hardly see through the windshield. What the heck? I started inspecting the exterior of Sheba (our Ford Taurus) and it was covered with white splashes. At first I thought birds but the quantity was ridiculous and I switched the blame to the youngsters wielding a vanilla milkshake.
But I had to take that back after a car wash when I discovered on closer inspection that the the material was bird related but the quantity was unbelievable. I have to conclude with Pat’s help that we had received a massive direct hit of goose blessing from above. How can we be so lucky?!?
Well, we are having fun in whatever way we can. Doug is here, Stephen is here. Jane Julian, the Program Director is here somewhere and Annie is flying in as we speak. So, more shenanigans are in the making.
A Privilege indeed to step into Phil’s shoes and put forward a small contribution to this Incredible Blog.
Here I offer a brief introduction from your C.C.B.C.–Caminoheads Canadian Bureau Chief–William.
Born June 1945 at home in Glasgow Scotland.
As a child and in early youth I spent much time outdoors walking and cycling in the Beautiful Scottish countryside.
Restless was I, in my late teens, to see more of our wonderful Planet. This resulted in me immigrating, on my own,to Canada in March 1966 just prior to my 21st birthday.
Continued my Life long addiction of walking by exploring many hiking trails in the Canadian Rockies over the past 50+ years.
Many many THANKS to Phil and Rebecca for hosting an AMAZING Veranda this August 2019.
To all,from near and far, who contributed to the Verandas Great Success I say a Heartfelt THANK YOU.
As Mother Teresa would say—Life is an Adventure,Dare it.
Buen Camino everyone.
lWalking for Oxfam to raise funds/1967–Heading to Newfoundland for a charity walk/2017. Same kilt,same waistline.
I am working on a book that one of my regular walkers Janie left with me. It’s entitled Walking To Listen by Andrew Forsthoefel. I think that he may be related to Stroopwaffel. Anyway, Andrew descides that he is going to walk across America and collect stories on a portable tape recorder. He is searching for a number of things and is receiving an incredible education in the process. Right now in the book he is in the desert in Arizona. It’s taken him six months to get that far from Pennsylvania.
Am quoting him in a moment but was struck by how this is similar to our experience in Spain. The ability of the trail to stress us out enough so we slip into another dimension is what I am getting at.
“Today, when I forget what I have learned and the questions start itching all over me again, I try to get back to the blankness of Arizona, the space in between the words.. The kind of walking I fell into there was called beauty-walking, I discovered later, in the Navajo Nation: it is a state of clarified connection, after my body and mind had been so exhausted that there wasn’t much strength left to hold up the heavy misperception of being a barricaded individual existing on his own, that burdensome belief that I was an isolated self, somehow separate from everything else. Atlas finally collapsing under the globe. Beauty-walking. It was quite like what that elderly walker Jerry Priddy called the white time. You can’t see anything and you’re not aware of anything, and it’s going on around you. It don’t amount to a lot, but the sum total is it’s a beautiful experience when you get through. It clears your head. You’re there. Beauty-walking, I was just there, without interpretation or analysis, without imposition or manipulation, and that felt a bit like not being there at all. Not being there at all, it was impossible for me to be against anything, even the headwinds. I was with everything. Beauty-walking was one of my absolute favorites. Whenever it came , all I could say was thank you.”
(page 277)
Yup, slipping in and out of another dimension seems like a valuable skill. The more you do it maybe the easier it becomes. In the end all we can say is thank you.
Henriette was here yesterday for the afternoon walk and tapas. There was a nice break in the rain for us on the trail. And she brought treats from the big city for us out here at the ranch. The big deal was the stroopwaffel experience. I don’t even want to try and describe it. You will have to have your own when the time is right.
We watched Country Music with Ken Burns again last evening. I think that we are up to 1953 and the death of Hank Williams, the Hillbilly Shakespeare. It is an amazing documentary, well worth your time. It’s a Ken Burns, what more do you need to know.
Trying to get used to life after the Veranda. That’s what it is, I/we are having a little case of Camino reentry lately. That’s it exactly. How to reformulate after the big experience. Why did that take me so long to realize. Now I understand.
It’s our anniversary and My Rebecca’s birthday next week. We are treating ourselves to a weekend away to the Port Townsend Film Festival. Jane Julian, Doug Blush and Annie O’Neil will be there too. We had a blast there in 2015.
OK, that’s the news for today, a Wednesday in mid September. And William CCBC has sent in his post for Friday. Talk to you tomorrow.
You have to hand it to whoever thought of that one, “ raining cats and dogs”. It’s not like a violent rain but one that will be here for a while. Perfect morning for blogging and working in the shop. Some gray, grayer and grayest clouds overhead.
On public television they are showing this incredible new documentary from Ken Burns entitled Country Music. Has he ever done anything bad? Anyway, very fun and poignant side by side.
Well, I finally got something approximating a thank you letter out on yesterday’s post. And Cris the darling wrote an addition comment that knocked my socks off and continues the theme. I am going to give it to you here because it is so good and heartfelt. And now that you met her at the Veranda you can hear her voice as you read.
“Querido Felipe,
These words are the perfect “Thank You”, which in fact, they are what we were thinking of: mostly a reflection of what it was, a “giving thanks” for what we lived. And what we lived was all you wrote and all you and us have been writing about in this blog since we become a part of it with you… we have been trying to “figure out” what is that we have learned… and the Veranda was a proof of it all: pilgrims looking for a shelter that found a place in your yard, hospitaleros waiting for us (like Marcie and Charlie), a pilgrim with some skill who offered the hospitalero to fix the outlet, or the shower, or to water the plants… fellow pilgrims offering the “half of half an apple” or the Victorinox or the band-aids… arriving to the albergue and see the tapas table already “in progress” and other pilgrims “directing” the kitchen to do the communal meal, and be part of it just because there is always a place in the table for someone else…, and the ones crossing the doors when the meal was almost done, but adding more with with a bowl of food, or a bag of cookies or fresh bread or cheese or a wine… others doing the dishes… and even that pilgrim who out of nowhere would take the most delicious sweet or chocolate or whatever, that as simple as it could be in normal life, in the tapas table is the most extravagant delicatessen,… the generosity to share all, no matter how tiny, how cheap or how expensive, or how much you may need it the following day… and the conversations… Ohhhhhh… the conversations resulting in a hug, or in tears, or in laughters, or in a chest expansion, or in growing like 50 cm (yes, I left SO much taller and wider than I arrived!!!), the moments shared with such intentional presence that let you know you have gained a brother, or a sister, or someone you know will be walking with you even if you are in the other side of the world, … and the experiences… the experience of walking the Camino (Phil’s Camino), with other pilgrims or just with one, in silence, or talking, or praying, or meditating, or giving thanks, or just contemplating how lucky we were for being there… and the experience of sharing mass, or sharing the moment at the rock pile, or praying so intentionally over a fellow human… the experience of the anointing (that is another chapter)… and recognizing in our bodies the healing power of touch, or a hug, of a kiss, or holding hands, …and the presence of the others… those familiar faces again (like Catherine and Dana!)… and all that was simply there: the trees who held the lights, and the tables and chairs that someone else offered, the dishes and coffee pot and that shinny sun, wonderful weather and comforting campfires… all those things that different someone”s” put on our way, for our comfort, for our experience, for our memories… So to answer the question of what we have figured out, all of that could be quoted, and if proofs are needed, we also have them due to the generosity of the ones who were recording all that happened while we were just there… the images captured of what we lived are just so touching… we probably thought we had an idea of what it was, but there are so many pictures taken that tell so well what we a day in the Camino can be and what is that we have figured out in the Camino and so convinced say that we can live it after arriving to Santiago…
Well, I guess all I am trying to say is thank you to all and for all. You have made me a better human being.
Just Gratitude and Just Love,
Cris”
