I had a hard time arriving at a topic today.   Not because I didn’t have one really but because I had too many.  One of those days.  So I decided to go random and look at my collection of pix and see if one jumped out at me and build on that somehow.

You know that’s Kelly on the right and me in the back and then there is Gracie.  Now Gracie beside being a most wonderful human being and awesome dilly dallier has as you can readily see a world class smile!  I know that she is going to give me grief for talking about her but just look.  That right there ladies and gentlemen, is the kind of  smile that can change the weather.  My personal theory is that she was born smiling and then improved on that somehow.  Thank you Gracie for so generously sharing  your time with all of us and, yes, your smile.

So yea, the trail is said to be full of surprises and she was one of them for sure.  But every day is different and every kilometer is different and the cast of characters changes but it is all just another day on the Camino as they say.  Love you guys, Phil.

Zowie!  I found another half dozen wine glasses that are the same as our set that was down to three since I so handily broke that last one.    And  I forget the description on the box that they came in but it was something like oversized or wide or grande or over the top.  I like the idea of that.  If we are going to dilly dally  let’s be generous about it all, don’t you think?  Love, Phil.

Morning here, second cup of coffee.  Just feel the need to chat and catch up a little.  Yesterday I was going to talk about Spanish cooking but I didn’t have the time and I put it off till evening and I got too sleepy.  So, to continue on, I wanted to tell you that I have this new passion for cooking and really cooking in the style that we enjoyed along the Camino.  Nothing fancy but wholesome.  I’m not reading recipes but cooking ingredients from the garden and what is available locally in stores in Spanish style.  Just having fun with it.

But regarding recipes, I must mention that my Rebecca has produced wonderful tortilla Española.  And I have screwed around with flan as you will remember.  Alida, was supposed to send me her recipe for flan and I am waiting on that.  Alida?

In other news I am beginning conversation with a priest from along the Camino via email.   That is pretty exciting and we will see what we can learn from him.   All good.

Ok, I just learned that I have to catch the 10:15 ferry so I have to cut this dilly-dally short for now but we have forever for that, right?   Love,  Phil.

I am really too tired to write anything now for today.  Sorry.  But know that I am thinking of you and wishing you the best and praying for you now and often through my day.   Please do that for me also.   That’s big and enough.  Thanks, love, Phil.

Phil’s walking schedule:

Friday the 3rd –  0900-1000.

Sunday the 5th –  1000-1100.

Monday the 6th –  0900-1000.

Boaty is sort of a word that I used in Scrabble one time and Rebecca rejected it but she has since seen my side of it, I think.  Anyway yesterday I walked on the ferry boat with a few tools and my friend picked me up and we went to a marina in Seattle to work on his friend’s sailboat .  That ‘s two boats. We worked as long as we could and took off back to get me on the ferry again to get back to the Island on boat three.  Then I met a dear friend that I haven’t seen for a while and we caught up and while that ferry was close to the Seattle shore we watched a man fly fishing from a red canoe, boat four.    I could see fish rising in the water  around him.   Finally we got too far out to see him and at that point he hadn’t caught anything yet but he remained hopeful.   Of course, I am speaking for him there and I don’t know him very probably but I know fishermen, and that is what fishing is all about, yes?

Please remain hopeful, love, Phil.

If the pix on this blog are sometimes upside down and sideways, it is not intentional. Sorry. Ever heard of a poltergeist?

But now it’s not! Because I (Rebecca) got in there and fixed it. Am I awesome or what?

I was just in the kitchen trying to make breakfast for myself and I clumsily broke a wine glass that was on the drainer next to the sink. It fell into the sink with a crash! And that’s pretty loud in a pretty quiet house, just me and the dog up and he is quiet and content after being fed.

Yea, so? Well, the other part of the story is that this is the time and place where most of the blog writing gets done and this morning like very recent mornings I was having trouble. Topics have been hard to find. They weren’t just lying around on the surface to be casually picked up the way that they were earlier. So, I was thinking about that actually when crash the wine glass went falling into the sink and woke me up.

Let me try again to describe it with what I felt. By the way,the bread is still sitting on the cutting board and what am I am doing at the instant is blogging away happily instead of having breakfast. See how it works? Ok, so crash, the beautiful and delicate glass that was happily sitting on the drainboard, meets the not so beautiful and not at all delicate sink.

Yea, so? But what’s important really is my first thought. What about people coming to Dilly Dally? What about those great people that have been coming to share afternoon tapas with us? What, now we are down to three wine glasses. This will never do!

So, isn’t that lovely? Aren’t I outside myself and with you. Isn’t that Caminoheady? Thank you for teaching me this, you guys. Amazing. See how it works?

Love, (do I need to say that? Yes.) Love, Phil.

p.s. – the walking schedule for the near future:
Friday the 3rd 0900-1000.
Sunday the 5th 1000-1100.
Monday the 6th 0900-1000.
(This is here at the ranch. Just show up with your boots on. Would be great to see you!)

I know, the Fall Equinox was a few days ago but it started feeling like Fall for real for me this AM. Had the first real fire of the season in the wood stove. Time to take the screen doors off so it will be easier to get the fire wood in and anyway the bugs are gone mostly.

That all sounds very local which is good for me to express as it is a reflection of my progress to get back home after Spain. But at the same time my walking buddies from Australia and South America are in my thoughts and who are maybe home by now and welcoming Spring there. Love you guys and you are always welcome. All good, Phil.

Phil’s Camino schedule:
Friday the 3rd – 0900-1000
Sunday the 5th – 1000-1100
Monday the 6th – 0900-1000
(There are no sign ups, just show up during these times and walk with me at my place. I am trying to keep it simple and workable.)

Little gifts are coming at me. I am doing my best to catch them and to examine them and be thankful for each. These are realizations resulting from seeing my surroundings, physical and otherwise, from new viewpoints, new perspectives, I think.

Remember when we were walking and we were in the middle of nowhere, and we were in that stage between pain earlier and tiredness later. That’s right, the giddy stage. We had mastered pain for the time being and we still had plenty of energy left to walk and learn about each other. We talked and we had time and we explored each other. Is that sounding too weird to say? Somehow in that process I was not only hearing your story but magically I became your story. And maybe you became my story, I don’t know for sure. I was seeing things through your eyes is maybe a more conventional way to say it but it was stronger than that. It was more than an intellectual understanding. And maybe when one does this with enough people you just get the ability to lose yourself which I think is what I am experiencing now.

And this is part of being a Caminohead, don’t you think? And maybe part of the reason I think so much of you. SJA, Phil.

Walking Schedule for Phil’s Camino:
Monday the 29 – closed
Friday the 3rd – 0900-1000
Sunday the 5th – 1000 – 1100

We are on the an agricultural theme today because I ran across this passage in the Bible from Matthew 6:1, “One Sabbath Jesus was going through the grainfields, and his disciples began to pick some heads of grain, rub them in their hands and eat the kernels”. We would grab a snack in the same way. Sometimes it’s a long way in between towns. You could eat the wheat like that or eat the bread when you got to the next town which is made from the same stuff.

So, thanks for joining me in this little remembrance. Have to get out to the outdoors. Love, Phil.