I just wrote an email to my old Caminohead friend Annie and I said something to her that I had to look at again. Maybe marks a new level in finding my way back home after Spain. I wrote,”My reentry is sorting itself out.”

Liking that so much. This is one of the new gifts of the Camino for me and for you maybe. Thank you Maryka and Lucia for helping me with this. In other words, it would be helpful to realize that I can’t affect reentry all by myself, I have to give it a life of it’s own so it can do what it needs to do.

Does that make sense? Maybe someone else could explain that better or just add something to the mix. Please feel free to comment on this or any post.

I got to see Sister Joyce yesterday. What a joy she is. She always leaves with the feeling that we are all in this together. And that is very comforting. Love to all, Phil.

Good Day Caminoheads! We are off on a new day with surprises ahead. We may not be next to each other physically today as we would wish but we can hold each other tightly in our hearts and walk together in spirit. Rain, shine, bedbugs, blisters, we don’t care. Our biggest fear is missing the message of it all!

Yea! I really need to get my walking trail open again on a regular basis. I miss my local folks and the fun that we had before that darn trip to Spain. Anyway, so here is the schedule to start with and we will tweak it as we go along:
Monday 0900-1000
Friday 0900-1000
Sunday 1000-1100
I am not going to have sign ups. Just come and walk.

The pic today is a shot taken by Esther back in July when this iPad was brand new. Just now I finally figured out how to get it to the blog and to a post. Thank you Esther and I must explain. These three artifacts I found within a half hour as I was working our corn field getting ready to plant this Spring here at the ranch on Vashon. Look at these: a excellent palm sized HEART ROCK accompanied by a working COMPASS (as in finding north) and a brass KEYHOLE plate. A message do you think?

So yea, let’s get walking again wherever we are. Love, Phil.

Just when I am running out of things to say Mary Margret has wrangled up some great info. Here is a magazine article by Brierley, the guy that wrote the most used guide book. I could only figure out how to read the first page but that was plenty good.

http://www.sopdigitaledition.com/commonground/#/26/

I was driving through urban Seattle on the way to the hospital for my chemo treatment and I stopped at a light and this homeless guy was crossing on the crosswalk in front of me. He was suntanned, T-shirt, ballcap, walking shoes. He was weighted down by a pack and he had a slight limp.

Hmm…

Our own Mary Margret just sent the link to, well, you’ll see.

http://stevemccurry.wordpress.com/2014/08/13/step-by-step-2/

Sorry if this is not a hot link, you’ll have to cut and paste. Let me know if you have trouble. Animo, Phil.

BLESSED ARE YOU PILGRIM, IF YOU DISCOVER THAT THE “CAMINO” HOLDS A LOT OF SILENCE; AND THE SILENCE OF PRAYER; AND THE PRAYER OF MEETING WITH GOD WHO IS WAITING FOR YOU.

This best describes the time alone that you spend walking. There is time to contemplate and commune even in August which is the busiest month there. Toward the end, after Sarria, finding the time and space for this was harder in the dense flow of pilgrims.

But as we know, God is always present and it is just us that gets distracted with the busyness around us. But there is plenty of silence and time in most of the earlier parts of the trail. The Meseta is the best. A lot of people tend to by-pass this part but it is the best for being out in the middle of nowhere. Kelly said that this was his favorite part and I would have to agree. Of course, the whole Camino is good in it’s own way but for silence the Meseta is priceless.

Well, we are at the end of our Beatitudes with this being number ten and it is getting time to move on down the trail to other things. Just a few last minute items for you. I hope that this has been helpful and thought provoking. It has for me. There are a lot of riddles in there to chew on. There are little puzzles to contemplate. I am currently working on this phrase, “the silence of prayer”. And we must say thank you to the author whomever that may be. It is an unsigned gift to us and we are grateful. Ever onward, love, Phil.

BLESSED ARE YOU PILGRIM IF ON THE WAY YOU MEET YOURSELF AND GIFT YOURSELF WITH TIME, WITHOUT RUSHING, SO AS NOT TO DISREGARD THE IMAGE IN YOUR HEART.

If I am not mistaken this sounds suspiciously like Dilly Dally here or Smelling the Roses. Or maybe more random acts like jumping off a medieval bridge into the river on a hot afternoon or howling into the emptiness of the Meseta. Strange but true.

The Camino is not supposed to be all work. Make room for FUN. Make room for the JOY. Make room for ICE CREAM. Make room for SURPRISES. Make room for the UNPLANNED AND THE YET UNDISCOVERED. Love you guys, Phil.

Blessed are you pilgrim, if you search for the truth and make of the “camino” a life and of your life a “way”, in search of the one who is the Way, the Truth and the Life.

This to me is the over arching message of the our walk. That we will be blessed if we take our experience and make a life of it. And this life will be a journey, a search for the one who said, “I am the Way (Camino in Spanish), the Truth and the Life.” This is Jesus talking to us. This is my interpretation of the situation.

Throughout the Pilgrim Beatitudes the word camino is used five times and it is always in lower case and in quotation marks. I think that the author is using this to refer to the physical walk, the el Camino de Santiago. And this thing/experience is a facsimile of the real Camino, or the Way that is following Christ. It is a training ground to get us started in the right way.

Yesterday I got the accounting done and handed in. I am so glad that is done! This morning I gave a talk on my walk to my old friends in my men’s bible class and their wives. That went well and it was definitely not a chore. And some time today I have to get some walking in also. OK, that’s all for now. Love, Phil.

BLESSED ARE YOU PILGRIM, WHEN YOU DON’T HAVE WORDS TO GIVE THANKS FOR EVERYTHING THAT SURPRISES YOU AT EVERY TWIST AND TURN OF THE WAY.

It will sort of pick at you. Or nudge you. Or trip you up. Or suggest. Or trick you. Or show you something. Or invite you. Or draw blood. Or give pain. Or take away pain. Or give you something. Or have you meet someone. Or…

As I reread this Beatitude now again and again the phrase “to give thanks” jumps out and is my surprise at this turn. Have I done that? Have I done that sufficiently? It is showing me something.

I hope that there are some clouds to shade you as you walk today! Love to you, Phil.