Way too many nice days in a row here, getting sooo spoiled. This is the time of year when we just forget about the last six months of weather and celebrate why we are so glad to live here. Yea, absolutely. It is just so easy to fall into. Going out to work on the corn this morning because it may be too warm to be out there this afternoon. Such a hardship.

Walk day today and tapas. This afternoon Henriette is coming. Trying to get Catherine and Dana to come for a few minutes. They, the dears, are sitting vigil for a friend that is dying.
That is important work for sure.

Wiley cut his hand yesterday at work bad enough that we ran him into Tacoma for stitches. It was toward the end of day and everything was closed out here. Haven’t heard if he is taking a sick day today or if he is doing light duty. Always something in the construction biz.

I am off to Seattle and cancer treatment again tomorrow. My week vacation will be over. And I have to see what comes next. If they are having me continue the clinical trial or not. So, thar is a little bit up in the air.

And then while I am in town I will pick up old friends Jim and Gloria at SeaTac airport coming in from Buffalo. So, that will be fun. They will be with us till Sunday.

OK, that is all the news for today. I am outside and working on the corn 🌽. Alperfect it is really. Alperfect loves, Felipé.

I am planning on planting the corn 🌽 on Thursday. Jim will be here from Buffalo to help. So, God willing, Thursday it is. The weather is supposed to be fantastic and I am close on having the soil ready, just have to level it and layout the rows and set up the irrigation. It will be good to have that helping hand for the actual planting.

So, this morning I set the corn seed to soaking in warm water. I’m saying, “Wake up you little guys, it’s time!” Have the three varieties in the three coffee cans with the water, as you can see in the pic today. The early is Sugar Buns which has a smallish ear which matures quickly so it there when you are craving. The middle is Bodacious which takes longer and is cornier tasting with a bigger ear. It is a favorite. Then the late is Golden Jubilee which has the biggest ear and takes the longest. It won’t happen in a cold summer here at this latitude but it should this year. All of that just means that we will have fresh corn for a month or maybe five weeks at best. It is called succession planting when you have different varieties that come in waves and don’t interfere with each other.

So, John Conway, Pilgrim Farmer John, will be here from Iowa later this month to put his blessing on all this. And the real point of this is to help feed the pilgrims who will be here in August. Yum!

Walking in a few moments here. What a beautiful morning too. See you tomorrow. Corny loves, Felipé.

The weather has really been cooperating lately. Catherine said this morning at tailgating that it was going to be 85 on Friday. Really? The corn is going shoot out of the ground.

Mass was very moving today. To start Father David always finds an excuse to bless the whole congregation with holy water by walking through the whole space sprinkling us with droplets on our heads. I think that is one of his favorite things to do. But his homily was good too with talk of Christ buoying us up. Over the years we have used that word a lot, “buoying”.

But I hadn’t thought about buoying within my relationship with Christ although it has certainly to be there. To ask for help I have to surrender to the other. That is why I think off of the Camino we don’t usually do it or at least do it so easily.
But there we were in distress on numerous occasions. There would be some Camino angel who would appear to help and you/I would say sure, help me. But it is a thing that we balk at with Christ a lot of times. Oh, I got this. Or oh, I’m fine when we are not. But most of the time I think it is pride, oh I got this, thanks. So the help is maybe always available but our surrender is not.

Well, time to travel on. Jim and Gloria coming on Wednesday and staying to Sunday as house guests. Have some clean up to do, sort of streamline the situation and make room. It is good to have a deadline to get this worthwhile work done when we don’t seem to be able to always pull it off without.

Beautiful springtime blessings to you. Thanks. Sunny loves, Felipé.

Just one of those days with a lot of moving parts. I’m hanging out here on the couch drinking a cup of coffee trying to stay awake to finish this blog post to you. The sun is going down and there’s is a bit of alpenglow, that rosy light.

Off to Mass in the morning. I think that this is the third Sunday of Easter. The lilies still adorn the front of church. Hope Father is a little rested up after all the holiday duties.

I am going to have to go. Miss you all, Felipé.

m

A PRAYER FOR THE SICK AND INFIRMED

As our earthy clothing becomes torn and tattered
in the rough and tumble
so it goes with our bodies.
Why is this Lord we ask?

Some of us, we suffer.
Why us we ask?
Is this fair we ask?
Please Lord open our eyes and our ears.

Some die before others.
And whose turn is next?
Who sets this clock?
Please Lord open us to understanding,

Why are some of us chosen for this journey
of the “The Sick and Infirmed.”
What is our purpose now?
We wrestle to make sense of our suffering, of the uncertainty.
Give us a hint Lord.

We know that you are the Wellspring of Mercy.
This mercy is what ultimately will bring us to peace.
In the shelter of this peace we are hoping
some of the answers will appear.

May the tangles in our minds be loosened, our knots untied.
May the knowing of your bigger picture bridge over
our times of personal smallness.

We are grateful.
We are hopeful.
Give us strength.
Lead us through.

All in the name of our Savior. Amen.

Phil Volker 5/2/19 National Day of Prayer

I have to admit that I am a little disappointed in the results of the scan from Tuesday. The results were no real change. You could see slight growth depending on how you measure it but never-the-less no turn around. We decided to give it another six weeks as sometimes these drugs need sufficient time to build up to the right level. But in the meantime I feel beat up.

There was also a glitch in the numbers for my kidney function and I am getting a week off while they double check. So, my nerves are somewhat jangled at the moment. I was hoping for some significant dismantling of those tumors equal with the work I have been putting into it the last sixteen months.

Ah, so it goes. Yesterday I saw some of my favorite nurses. I miss those guys since I don’t go in as often with this latest drug that I take orally. Anyway they are very supportive. And one of their own is on the Camino right now, ten days into it and blogging. And another is also a pastor at a local church and wants me to come and show the documentary to his congregation. That’s all good.

Off to the prayer service at noon and will be offering my prayer for the sick and infirmed. I worked hard on the crafting of it and will be glad to read it here soon.

Off I go. Lots of moving parts here today, have to get started. “sick and infirmed” loves, Felipé.

Another beautiful day in the making. And yesterday was so pretty with a nice walk and tapas outside. Ahh, this is what we all have been waiting for all those winter months.

So, back to the big city in a few minutes. The big day to see what is in the surprise box of my scan report. Always anxiety producing and important to get over with.

CAMINOHEADS CONVENTION GET TOGETHER NEWS

OK, this is August 23-26th here at Raven Ranch. RSVP at caminoheads@outlook.com . Also, if you could leave phone number and email address we can have all that in one place.

So let’s talk accommodations and transportation. There are lots of BandB’s and Airbandb’s. You have to Google around at Vashon Island, WA for info. It is not too early to book something for yourself. We need a certain amount of rental cars to make this work so if you can afford one please get one.
Local folks will have their own transportation and may be able to get some folks from place to place. I am sure that being the pilgrims that we are this will work out.

Camping and portapotties will be here at the ranch. We have plenty of room for that. And the weather is the best that time of year. We will have an outdoor kitchen set up for campers to use.

If you have questions post a note to me in the blog comments. Reminder, comments don’t show up immediately after you submit them but they will go through.

Well that is all I have for today. Have to pack it up.
Where are my sunglasses loves, Felipé.

Well, this is usually the time cloaked in anxiety and worry, this scan time. The whole process is when I have the worse time but am feeling strangely peaceful at the moment. I am trying to be as optimistic as possible to hear news of this new treatment that I have been receiving. It has been six weeks now and the doc and research nurses are keeping close tabs on my every move. And this scan is the first look at my insides. Ah, my insides, the place that has been steering my life for eight years now.

I will share the news with you after I learn about it tomorrow at my doctor’s appointment. But really enough of that for now. There. are other things, other important things, going on. Such as I look out the window and the swallows are swooping once again. There are bunches of them right now, so happy to be back at the ranch after there long trip south. See that’s important!

And I don’t hear chainsaws everytime I open the door to the outside. Neighbors have all their winter cleanup wrapped up. Or, the leaves are out on most of the species of trees changing the look of the place. The walnuts are still bare but they are some of the last to leaf out. And the corn patch is looking mighty fine after six times through with the tiller. Just needs a few more degrees of warmth.

And I need to finish up my prayer for the “sick and infirmed” for National Day of Prayer. I have a good theme, a good beginning and I am working on the body of it. If I can come up with a great wrap up ending I will have it in the bag.

OK, have to go shower up and get pretty for my nurses. Enjoy your day where you are. Swoopingloves, Felipé.

We have the morning walk today and I am expecting one car to be here from the mainland. That is unusual and the sign of devoted pilgrims to make the trek so early. I hardly ever know who is coming or not but this time I got a email. So, looking forward to Sui coming and sharing. She is on her way to Spain in a few weeks to walk the Camino. I forget exactly whether this will be her first time or not. She will fill me in with the details shortly.

It was cold here over night with the temperature dropping into the low forties. But plenty sunny now and that will feel good on the trail. May is one of the prettiest months here with the new green leaves and the parade of flowering plants. Everything is new and fresh.

I continue to labor on writing my prayer for National Day of Prayer. Different local folks are doing prayers for different groups and I was lucky to have gotten the “sick and infirmed” in which I am a card carrying member and know something about. It probably isn’t one of the flashier ones so probably has a lot of room for improvement. I view this as a great honor and a great opportunity to express some thoughts. I have four minutes. It would be good to post it here on Friday for you.

So, what else is new here? My Rebecca is buying a new used car for herself. This one belonged to our friend Jessika and will be a good addition to our fleet. It is a Ford Taurus and looks like a good fit for her.

We continue to organize the upcoming convention. Look for news every Wednesday here at the blog. We are adding new things every week.

Off I go. Best wishes to you. Monday morning loves, Felipé.

Today will be eventful too but still high from yesterday’s. My Rebecca and I went into Seattle to a fund raiser for Trudy James and her film. Trudy I met this winter finally after hearing from half a dozen people that I have to meet her. She is retired now and focusing on her mission. She has done social work and chaplaincy during her career and then produced this film entitled Speaking of Dying.

This film is the centerpiece of her mission to get people thinking more about their own passage and finding out about options to make the process a good one and not the usual chaos of random elements. So kudos to her for her vision and her hard work around it. So I feel unusually pumped here now and wanted to pass that on to you.

Thursday is the National Day of Prayer when we pray for our leaders and other important groups. I got tapped to pray for the “sick and infirmed”, oh OK I know about that. I really had no inspiration till lying awake this morning a few minutes before the alarm went off. Got a vision!

So thanks Trudy for your talk-up. OK, time to make a move on my to-do list for this day of rest. No problem loves, Felipé.