I have been fighting  the good fight against spam for months now and maybe I will get on top of it with some help.  My password is somehow all screwed up and I can’t get to anywhere that can change the situation for me.  But hopefully I will be able to get my Apple guy to untangle the mess that I have made.

So yesterday I looked through almost 300 comments that have stacked up over the months to check if any of the spam had gotten in there.  And I scanned through and discovered all these great comment that people had written and for whatever reason I hadn’t read them.  And therefore I haven’t replied to these great comments.  So I am sorry for that because it might have sent the wrong message.

Just want to say that since I have this iPad, home computer and cell phone it doesn’t mean by a long shot that I know what I am doing.  In other words I know enough to be dangerous.  Please forgive my ineptitude as it may at times send the wrong message.

OK enough of that.  To totally change the subject, we had Will and Jasper Forrester over yesterday for dilly dally and dinner.  Very fun.  So Will, a wonderful artist,  had done a portrait of me for a show which is a collection of Vashon mentors (old guys).  The drawing is very cool with me in my Camino cap and sunglasses and in the background is a map of the northern Spain.  Very cool.  Thank you Will for including me.

Alright, have to go walk in the rain.  Love you guys, Phil.

No man is an Iland, intire of it selfe; every man

is a peece of the Continent, a part of the maine: if a

Clod bee washed away by the Sea, Europe is the lesse,

as well as if a Promontorie were, as well as if a Mannor

of thy friends or of thine owne were; any mans

death diminishes me, because I am in-

volved in Mankinde; And therefore

never send to know for

                                        whom the bell tolls; It

tolls for thee.

JOHN DONNE

Somewhere east of Burgos is a monument at the top of a mountain marked 1937 or 1939 for men killed in the fighting there during the Spanish Civil War.  Maybe more of a hill than a mountain but the important thing is the monument and what it stands for.  I was waiting to run across some such rememberance along the trail.  I had read Hemingway’s “For Whom The Bell Tolls” twice by then and roughly I knew of the story of the war.

And near the monument are three or four picnic tables were Kelly and I had some food and rest.  While sitting there I noticed a wooden fence with a gate close by so I walked over to investigate.  Inside the fenced area is an area about fifty meters by four meters that is bordered by rocks and beyond a interpretive display.  So I continued in to see the display.

What was going on was that it was a gravesite or actually a former site.  The information described the project done in the early 1980’s of digging up the 104 bodies that were there and running DNA tests on them to identify the remains.  So the bodies were IDed and returned to the families in their home towns.  All the little and big towns that you had just walked through or were going to shortly had someone or more.  The project took place shortly after the death of Franco, the Fascist leader of Spain that died in 1979 when finally the country returned to normalcy.

So last week I started to read the Hemingway book to get me in the mood for this topic. Just wanted to include it somewhere as it was a part of our walk and this is the appropriate day.  Not exactly cheery but a story of reconciliation which is a good thing. Love, Felipe.

OK, just have a few moments this morning before I have to jet off.  Rebecca is back from here trip to the East Coast to see Osian, the new Grandboy.  Have a few thoughts to share:

So, the Good is that Rebecca is back so that I don’t have to wander around unsupervised, Gracie is doing her homework, Sherif  and Cherry are sending great material to supplement the blog and we are thinking of each other.  Yea.  The Camino goes on, right?!!

The Bad is all the spam that is coming into the blogsite.  Fortunately, I have an appointment with Ken my Apple guy on Monday.  I just have to keep from getting over run till then.  It seems so easy to fix but somehow my password is all screwed up and I can never….  Well, Ken knows.  I’m counting on you buddy.

That leaves the Ugly which is this blog.  Well, not really really ugly but it needs some different things happening.  The TGIF is terrific.  Sherif # 2 introduced us to poetry.  I think that is poetry of some loose form.  Nice.  And I think that we are going to do, are you ready for this, Spanish recipes.  Not just any, but ones that I have proven good ones.  I think that we will start with Alida’s flan recipe which I have made twice now.  So, yea.  That’s my proposed solution to the Ugly.

Also, also, also I just realized that this post right here is number 200 since we started out back in May or June, can’t remember offhand, it’s been so long.  That is something to celebrate!  I’ll raise my coffee cup to that,”Salud!”.   Love, Felipe.

Dust, mud, sun and rain

is the road to Santiago.

Thousands of pilgrims

and more than thousand of years.

Pilgrim, who calls you?

What hidden force draws you?

Neither the fields of stars

nor the great cathedrals.

It’s not sturdy Navarre

nor the wine from La Rioja

nor Galician seafood

nor the Castillan fields.

Pilgrim, who calls you?

What hidden force draws you?

Neither the people along the way

nor their customs.

It’s not the history and culture

or the cockerel in Santo Domingo de La Calzada

nor Gaudi’s place

nor the castle of Ponferrada

I see it all as I pass along

and it is a joy to see,

but the voice that calls me,

I feel more deeply still.

The force that drives me

The force that draws me

I am unable to explain.

Only He Above knows!

(Sherif just said at the beginning of his email the question, “Remember?”)

So, my Camino partner Kelly ( aka Kel, Padre, the Walking Supermarket) came to dinner last evening.  And as usual, things got up there on the sillymeter.  Before I go into that we had a great meal with tapas at one end and flan at the other.  You know, I went all out for the guy.  Vacuumed the new carpet and everything.  And it was game seven of the World Series and we checked that out.  I held it to one glass of wine, just in case my doc is reading this.  Kelly went a little over that.

Anyway, the whole meal was as Spanish as I could get to from here.  And at some point the conversation got around to memorable meals on the Camino.  Well, don’t all conversations wind up going there given enough time. ( I think that I am on to something there.)  Anyway, it got down to flies.

There is this great old joke where the perturbed customer asks the waiter, “What is this fly doing in my soup?”  And the waiter peering down to get a closer look very politely says, “I think he is doing the backstroke sir!”    hahaha.  That’s the kind of stuff we were up too.   And really how are you going to have an authentic August style Camino meal without a few jokes and a few flies. So then the idea came up of canned flies, right?  Why not, indeed.  For the really authentic presentation this would be a nobrainer.  Well, and we had kind of a no brainer thing going by that time, as you can see, so it was an all good situation.

So yea, we got the film crew and Annie coming next month.  They told me that they are coming about eight times now so we are throughly warned.  So, I just want to let them know that we here are still in great Camino party shape and will match anything that they can bring!  Yea, we can’t wait to see you guys!!   Love, Phil.

Good morning.  I’m running a little late here on this but here I am.  Just wanted to dilly dally with you for a few moments.

One thing that is on my mind is my hunt this year.  I’m allowed one deer this year and we have plenty here on our island.  It is great habitat for them and they thrive.  But I have this rule with myself that if I shoot one and can’t recover it then my hunt is over.  Technically I could still hunt since my tag is still valid.  But with myself I don’t get another chance.  It is supposed to make me more serious about the process.  So this is what happened two evenings ago.  I hit a nice buck and after much looking couldn’t locate him.  This happens once in a while to everyone but it doesn’t help the disappointment.  And then the next day a bunch of my neighbors were out looking and still nothing.  Well, ultimately in nature nothing is wasted as this will provide coyote and raven food.  But still.  I just wanted to tell you about my world.

So, also, I am communicating via messaging with a lovely person that is doing the Camino right now.  I am so jealous.  She is at the albergue that Paulo Coelho is associated with now.  Does anyone know where that is?  She has suffered a great lose recently and has physical issues that are challenging.  I admire her courage and am sort of holding her hand electronically as she goes.  Please pray for us.

Also, Matthew from the Netherlands has checked via email with Kelly and myself.  So that is tres cool.  If anyone needs his email I could get that to you.

That was three items but I’m still going.  A wonderful man came and walked with me and my son Wiley on Monday.  He happens to be blind so it was interesting working with that.  I learned so much.  I think that he will come back on a regular basis.  Tres cool again.

Let’s see, maybe I can squeak out one more thing.  Sherif has provided some material for the TGIF so we are covered for this week.   Thank you buddy.  I know that I have asked some people specifically for help on this but that doesn’t mean that anyone can’t contribute.  Just pretend that we are having our afternoon tapas and a glass of wine or a brewski after a long walk and we are passing my iPad around and you are writing about your day.  Maybe you have a rememberance, suprise or epiphany to report for all our benefit.

Have to go.  It is sunny out and I need to take advantage of that.  Adios, Felipe.

I have no idea what I am going to write today but the sun just came out after a rainy gray morning so that must mean something.  It means a lot around here, believe me.

Maybe I will look at my photo library and see what jumps out at me.

There we go!  I was just Skyping with Gracie and she remembered this one and she had her pic taken next to it.  It’s just so lively and the blue is so cheerful.  Excellent.  It is just a symbol of how we can keep each other motivated and positive as we walk.  None of us can have that good day everyday, clearly.  We need each other to take turns being the cheerleader.  Or maybe the person to remind us that we are all unique children of God.

Best wishes, love, Felipe.

Just in case I haven’t noticed we are now global here at Caminoheads.  I think that other people have noticed but it took me a while to figure it out.  Here’s what it looks like at the moment:

Brisbane, Australia, Cherry’s headquarters,  28 C/ 82 F  nighttime

Cairo, Egypt, Sherif, 27 C/ 81 F sun

Miami, USA, Anamaria and Alida, 27 C / 81 F sun

Barcelona, Spain, Laura, 20 C / 68 F sun

London, England, Gracie, 19C / 66 F sun (Lucia, Scotland, is in this time zone)

Seattle, USA, Phil, 6 C/ 43F cloudy (MM, Long Beach, CA, USA, is in this time zone)

I just put those in terms of temperature which is pretty interesting.  London looks downright cheery compared to here.   Hmmm.  Love, Phil.

Come in, I have a big fire going.  We will warm up, yes?  Glad that you could make it.

How are your feet and legs?  Could be better, yea right.  It’s amazing what kind of situation that we can still walk on.  Well, just kick your boots off while we have a bite to eat.   Yea, change your socks, that’s always good.

You got some sunburn too I see.  Right, the tops of your ears get it the worst.  No hat?  It blew off?  Well, just hunt around in that big box over there and maybe you’ll get lucky.  What’s that, not your favorite team, well it is now.  Ha ha.

You want a big glass of agua?  Then you have some soup and a glass of wine, how’s that.  I made chicken stock and I had some garbanzo beans in the pantry that I threw in, you’ll like it.  There is carrots and parsley.  Everything tastes good to a hungry pilgrim.  Well, yea, some of that ham is pretty bad.  You mean that stuff that you can repair your sandals with?  Haha. Yea.

OK, here’s your soup and some toast.  We take care of you good.  There’s plenty of salt in there, you taste it first.  Good, good.  You want red or white?  Red, OK.

So,  dessert?  We have some flan, homemade.  Yes, good, here.  More water?

Feel better?  Right, not too many pilgrims in October.  We are about ready to close for the year.  We had a record year and August, you should have seen August.  That’s the worst or the best, depending on how you look at it.  Yea, Saint James is happy.

So, you were crying before you came in?  Tears of sorrow or tears of joy?   Oh, it’s an anniversary of something.  A death, I see.  Well, I will pray for your loved one and pray for strength for you precious pilgrim.   OK, lace them up well, you have some ups and downs ahead before you get to the albergue.

There you look better.  A smile and a hug, what a lucky man am I.  OK, see you next time.

It’s 0700 and I have a roaring fire in the wood stove to warm our hearts.  It’s been a rough few days for us here.  I had a health scare which fortunately has been figured to be the lesser of the evils.  Good but exhausting.  Then last night our son had news that one of his high school classmates had gone the suicide route.  Someone we knew.  We have had a rash of young people taking their live’s in the past few years.  Hard to handle for me and for us.

You will remember that when I was in Spain I had three of those wrist bands on to remind me of things.  One was for a wonderful young US Army Officer that was killed in the recent fight against terrorism.  I knew him.  Second was a  wonderful young young man that went the suicide route here in the neighborhood and I knew him.  And the third bracelet was from the hospital to remind me to talk to people about colon cancer.

Somewhere on my way back from Spain I cut these all off because they ….  Well, they were too heavy for me, if that makes sense.  I had bought the pilgrim bracelet and I had to go with that for a while.

Please say a prayer for our neighborhood.  Ah, I look up and the fire has died down and we need some more wood.  Let’s keep it all burning.  Love, Phil.