The Sunday before this earthshaking event, the very first Caminoheads Veranda. The countdown is happening! Preparations are being made. This is all I am up to now, just getting ready for you to be here.

Here are some things that are on my mind that need to get said while they are with me. One, Vashon is under High wildfire alert. We will have a campfire in one spot only. And we must be careful with other open flame, smoking or candles. Please be aware.

Also I am having all attending Bureau Chiefs assigned certain tasks. Nothing hard or grueling just important things that need constant attention. I am asking all other pilgrims to spend a quarter of their time here helping out. That means you are open to help out if something needs doing while you are on duty. Things like serving food, dish washing or manning the sign in table for instance. We are just a big loose albergue.

We are still short on music and other entertainment. We need some sort of projector like something for Power Point. What else?

Local folks are starting to show up tomorrow to help set up and Tuesday is port a potties delivery. Wednesday afternoon folks from out of town are starting to show up. Then Thursday and Friday more folks. So I think that Friday we will get started and will be ramping up with things. There will be some adjustments. Saturday and Sunday are busy and then winding down on Monday.

I know that some folks want to have serious meetings. Some of the authors have requested these. So there are some times for that mostly on Monday. But we can arrange meetings of subgroups. Remember the original idea here was for the Bureau Chiefs to get together. So we will have time for that.

OK, maybe that is it for now. This is just the kind of stuff that is filling my brain during the countdown, lots of nuts and bolts issues. But it is all for our Veranda! Our get together is the important idea, everything else is secondary.

Everything else is secondary loves, Felipé.

We are approaching the sucking vortex of the Veranda party. It is happening sure as heck. Meanwhile rumors have started about famous personalities showing up in the vicinity. I don’t know how these things get started.

Joe Cocker at the Veranda

Wow, Joe Cocker, well maybe!

And here is a beautiful and serious message from our beloved Pope and I don’t want to make fun of him in any way but still he may be here, heck I don’t know?

The Pope may show up at the Veranda

I am going to just be talking about the Veranda from here on in because that is all my brain is holding these days. Not much space left for other things. Busy renting porta potties and buying small stuff that I know we will need. People are starting to show up on Monday to help set up. That’s kind of where we are at.

It is all very wonderful to think about most of you being here for the gathering. If you are watching this from somewhere and want to send in a message to the group because you can’t make it physically then I can read them. Just know that you don’t have to be here to be here.

OK, more to come tomorrow and the next day. So, stick with me for important news. From now on it will be all Veranda all the time!

From now on loves, Felipé.

I went to evening Mass yesterday as it was the Feast of the Assumption of Mary. These special services are always interesting to me in that I get to see a lot of people that I don’t normally. Our little church has three Sunday services per week and folks tend to get habituated to one or the other and if that isn’t your slot you normally never see them. So it is refreshing to be there.

One of these that I talked with was Catholic Colin as Wiley calls him. He yells out from a distance, “Phil, hey what are you on your fifteenth life now?” That’s hilarious. I said something about that I was loosing track! Hehe, guy banter.

But it is something to check in with once in once in a while or daily. It is easy to take life for granted most times especially on the good days. Yes, but I do feel like I have been given fifteen lives sometimes, crazy as that sounds.

Well, time to jump up and continue on the prep for the Veranda. A hundred little things that I would like to get done before people arrive. Some of those might actually happen. Sometimes I feel like one of the characters in my Rebecca’s novel where the quirks of life really rule everything in spite of best intentions.

fifteen loves, Felipé.

Wow, a big day for us yesterday and a must comment for me. It is always a pleasure to have a great day isn’t it? I will get to it with a little detail.

First, I was off early to travel to Seattle to what I call the Institute (Swedish Cancer Institute) for my scan and the doctor’s interpretation. Under normal conditions these scans are so incredibly anxiety producing for the scanee. So much seems to ride on this one snapshot. How could any one thing be so important but it seems so. But I have had so many over the years that

My scan showed the cancer in my lungs stable, no growth! That is a win in my world, a “W”. And two other parts of the puzzle were good also. One, my side effects were near zero and my numbers from all my tests were in the good zone. This is what a win looks like anymore, no growth and tolerating the drug at the same time. Yay!

And rushed back to the Island to catch most of Rebecca’s book launch party. She had a good crowd and a fun reading. So happy that she has this going. A lot of books were sold and signed. And I personally am very close to finishing the book. Somehow actually reading it has escaped me over the last few months. But it’s good, quirky and comical.

Afterward we cleaned up the venue and went across the street for a drink and dinner to celebrate. The whole day was something to be celebrated and we tried to do a good job of it!

So, off to the morning walk. We are so close to Santiago. Sort of dragging our feet and not trying too hard lately so you can catch up and we can finish at Veranda time.

celebration loves, Felipé.

I have a few moments before I have to leave for the Institute. My day to make an appearance. Once every three weeks seems like luxury. Scan today, a lovely anxiety producing procedure. This must be my way of getting ready to give you the update. It will be a very long day with a rushed drive back to the Island to catch what I can of My Rebecca’s book launch starting at 6 PM.

It is such a lovely event for her and I hope that she has many more books and launches in her future. This fits her well as a transition from teaching. And I who have not as of yet read her novel will try to get started today with all my “free” time at the hospital.

Speaking of reading, Catalina our official unofficial art historian has finished reading all the way through the 2000+ posts on this blog. Unbelievable really. It gives me a headache just thinking about it. So, congratulations to her for that accomplishment. But seriously, I am honored to have someone of her caliber investigating my literary experiment.

My literary experiment, I like that. Experimental is the keyword there, kind of like Area 51. Anything could happen and usually does. OK, time to pack up and hit the road, have a ferry waiting for me. Later.

At the Institute. Such a day outside, I’m staring out the window at it. They could feature drive-through treatment maybe. I know we are always way ahead of the times here at Caminoheads. Waiting on getting my tests started. I am getting way to used to this crazy stuff.

Authors are in my life today. I am going to mention their full names because they are all published and therefore public figures. Debra Jarvis (It’s Not About the Hair) is coming by the Institute to chat. Henriette Klauser (numerous books) will be at the launch this evening. And Rebecca Graves (That One Day in August) my better half of course.

Speaking of My Rebecca I need to start reading her novel now if I can make a dent in it before this evening. The husbands are always the last to know.

staring out the window loves, Felipé.

This is the time of year when surplus is the word when it comes to the fields and gardens around us. Harvest, harvest, harvest day and night. What to do with the surpluses.

Everywhere you go people are handing you zucchinis. There was a time on Vashon when they would regularly show up in your shopping bag after you got home from the market. The checker had thrown one or more in there for you, spreading the wealth.

Anyway, I was actually thinking of beans here, green beans. In Spain they served them in a broth which I loved. So, that is what I am doing lately. The beans are cut into one inch pieces maybe at a bias to make them more interesting looking. Then for each serving cook in one cup of bouillon. The amount for two people could be cooked in two cups of broth. Then it is served in the broth in a bowl with a spoon.

Of course you can only eat s much fresh produce and that is where freezing and canning come in. This is a big chore at times trying not too have waste.

OK, just giving you a snapshot of the time and place. Off I go now to work on preparations for the Veranda.

serve with a spoon loves, Felipé.

Yea, hey, out of this world news! Corn season is officially open here at Raven Ranch! No joke Bwana! We got into a dozen ears yesterday at tapas to start the season officially.

This is the Sugar Buns variety ripening which is impressive with it’s earliness. It is tender and very delicate. It will run about two weeks til it peters out. The next variety Bodacious will be ready, of course God willing, for the Veranda party. This is a perfect example of alperfect!

And as long as we are talking corn 🌽, the final variety Golden Jubilee, bigger and better than anything, like third gear, will come along. What a show, almost better than the fireworks on the Fourth of July!

OK, preparations proceed for the Veranda party. People are asking how they can help and I am assigning things for them to do. I am going to drop all other duties here pretty quick so I can concentrate on it. Oh boy!

Monday morning walk coming up. Where are my shoes?

bodacious loves, Felipé.

It rained last night and this morning so uncharacteristically hard. Not the usual just settle the dust rain but a serious rainfall. Wow. Noon now and the sky is still cloudy.

Back from Bible Guys and head still spinning with that wisdom. We finished the last chapter in First John. Oh, I had a correction to some I said the other day about the Apostle John. He indeed was imprisoned on a Greek Island but the right answer is Patmos and not Samos. Not that that makes a whole lot of difference but we have to make an attempt at accuracy around here.

So, My Rebecca is getting all pumped for her event on Wednesday evening. This is the launch of her new novel That One Day in August. That happening is at the Vashon Book Store right in lovely downtown Vashon on August 12th. I don’t have the time on that but it is evening 6 or 7 PM. Come down and support her, let’s pack the place!

Off I go to lunch and work. Glad to connect with you once more. Stop by for the walk and tapas tomorrow, will be serving fresh corn 🌽!

here comes the sun loves, Felipé.

Dangerous Barrettes Part Two was a blogpost from Good Friday 2017, ancient history in the uncharted jungle of Caminoheads. Catalina our good friend and art historian wizard is bravely reading her way through past material and searching for nuggets of Camino wisdom in there. I am sure that she will find some good stuff but it is mixed in with so much flotsam and jetsam of daily life.

It would have been beneficial for this kind of a search if I would have put posts in categories as is possible. But two things seemed to have hindered me from doing that over the five years and two thousand posts. One was that it took all of my concentration to produce the content and I didn’t want to get distracted from that. And two it was all so subjective and I had no idea where things were going as time progressed. If I had the time and energy it would be possible for me to go back and do that now I suppose.

Anyway, Catalina seems undaunted in her quest. The purpose of all this rigmarole is to write a chapter about Phil’s Camino for her new book. This has been in the works for a while and the deadline is coming up so hopefully we will be reading all about it soon.

But the phrase “Dangerous Barrettes” brings back memories of time in the chemo chair and writing the blog from there on Wednesday or Friday mornings during my scheduled times for infusions. Writing from the hospital is tough because I would try to be upbeat with my post and the place just isn’t generally conducive to that. But I would look hard to report something that was positive and interesting. Maybe the weather was doing something interesting out the window. Maybe there was a Seattle Seahawks flag flying in the distance. Maybe there was a fat little hummingbird hanging around trying to winter over just like I was trying to get by. Maybe someone would say something that would spark an idea or it would come from a book or magazine that I was reading. It was a challenge to come up with something in that sterile environment. But in this case two nurses were walking by my chair gabbing away about something non work related when one used that phrase “dangerous barrettes”. A least I think that is what I think she said and it was quirky enough to catch my attention and inspire me. You never know where an idea will come from.

OK, good luck to Catalina then as she journeys through our Caminoheads territory. Enter at your own risk, right?

at your own risk loves, Felipé.

Gosh, I am running late and just started writing. But forging ahead as usual. Had a nice visit yesterday from some old friends of My Rebecca’s. That made me happy.

I am thinking about all the thoughts and notions about love from my Bible class uncovered this last Saturday. The chapter was the 4th chapter of First John. All about how love works. It’s about how God loves us and how to return that love and how we need to one one another.

In this blog over the years I have had numerous posts about how the Camino works and how it works in me and in us. And we all know this. We know because we drank of that wine. We may have a hard time explaining what happened there but we know that something significant did happen there.

John goes a long way in explaining these things. This is his blog from the end of the first century AD. He does a nice job. It is as relevant now as it was then. This is one remarkable thing about the Bible, how it stays current. It’s timeless stuff.

John was the last of the Apostles. The only one not to die a martyr’s death. He lived out his days on the Greek Island of Samos, a Roman penal colony. And he wrote these inspired letters for the fledgling church and for us.

Walking here in a few minutes. Time to join the salon of thoughts, ideas and laughs at Phil’s Camino.

salon love, Felipé.