Have a habit of looking out the window for a while after I shutoff the radio alarm. Just for a few minutes or fifteen trying to get my bearings and drum up some gratitude. Casually watching the wind move through the trees is my joy. The wind animates my landscape.

Once daydreaming in church and looking out the windows at the dancing trees I imagined a system for categorizing trees that seemed new and important. Remember I went to forestry school once and studied taxonomy. But instead of a system based on physical structure of the trees I would categorize on the way that wind affects them. A system based on movement. That’s all pretty revolutionary in my mind anyway.

But I digress. But this morning it was absolutely calm for two hours which sort of never happens. I stared and stared looking for a zephyr. Oh, there was occasional movement that could be put down to birds and squirrels on their rounds which would attract my attention. But here I was being sucked in by this thing that was nothing really or really nothing and therefore the Mucho Ado About Nothing.

I was majorly relieved to see some wind around 0800. A little movement is reassuring apparently, like I am not alone, there is something to accompany me. And the wind still here at 0900.

Off I go.

reassuring loves, Felipé.

Jessika our Caminoheads liaison with the Order of Malta just got back from a trip to Ireland. She was here at the Ranch a day or two ago reporting on her travels. Here are some pics she took of St James Roman Catholic Church in Dublin the spot where Irish pilgrims have started their pilgrimage to Santiago since 1220. Amazing.

Yesterday Maryka and her family were here to show off their new baby girl, Noa Ives von Arx. What a cutie! Remember Maryka and her father Rick walked with me in 2014 from Samos to Santiago. They are in several shots in the film.

Then Steve-O rolled in, our CNWBC, with doggie friend Rasmus. They are here for a few days. Steve-O has news from Ashland, OR to Bellingham, WA which is the width of two states. While he is here I am going to find out the news while I get him to help with the new corn irrigation system. Everyone gets put to work around here.

Catherine is still on her trip with Dana down to Bishop, CA. They are visiting their daughter and taking a break from their duties here. This coming week sometime they will be back.

I got a Zoom this Monday with my radiation doc from the hospital. Seems I may need some additional treatment there. We are going to talk it over.

OK, Action Central around here.

coming and going loves, Felipé.

Making my breakfast this morning I cracked open a double yoker. I hope that you are all familiar with that term, an egg with two yokes. It doesn’t happen very often, at least to me. Well, what does a good Felipé do but take it as a sign, a light in the darkness. I so need some double yokeiness these days.

I am going to take off and get something done while I have a little energy.

breakfast loves, Felipé.

Back, back at the ranch where the deer and the buffalo roam. Something like that. Back at the red leather couch the source of all blogginess. I don’t really feel like I am back home til couchiness combines with blogginess. My spell check loves me.

Ah, time to gear up for the Thursday morning walk. And I did one lap instead of three. But happy I got that done I guess.

What do I have to say today? Seems I have to coax it out. Steve-O was just here with his faithful dog Rasmus for a few days. They took off yesterday morning. But I did get them to commit to be here for the Oasis in August. Rasmus is three years old now and such a beauty. He reminds My Rebecca and me so much of, you know who, our beloved Sturé. So, Rasmus, the spirit of Sturé, will be enchanting us as he is streaking through the neighborhood.

OK, off I go. Off to make a difference.

streaking loves, Felipé.

Well yea, I’m at the Institute navigating through the hoops of my appointments. I have a little time here and a little time there in between things. So thought that I would read up on Gambia where Buba’s come from.

Uncle Google gave me a bunch of pics mostly of crocodiles. And I read on to find that Gambia is the smallest country on the African continent. It is hemmed in on three sides by Senegal and on the west by the Atlantic Ocean. Mostly it is about following the Gambia River for a little ways in toward the interior.

There’s more of course but I think that is enough for me for one day. Everything seems a chore these days. I do a little bit here and a little bit there and have to call that good. So a little Gambia is all we get which is a lot compared to nothing which is where we started.

Here I am lounging in the chemo chair with some time. Maybe it time to say a rosary for the people of the Holy Lands and for peace sometime soon. OK, signing off for now.

Best to you loves, Felipé.

I was in yesterday to the hospital for a scan. I had a nurse, a black fellow with a soft singsong voice. He said his name was Buba. Not Bubba but Buba, Bu-Ba. I try and engage these folks when possible so I said, “Where do Buda’s come from?” And he said, “Buba’s come from Gambia.” I don’t know where Gambia is exactly and neither do you but maybe we could look.

I know this all seems relatively unimportant but you never know when that will be useful. Ten years from now you will be doing your crossword puzzle or your jigsaw puzzle and this Buba thing will pop up just so innocently and you will be right on top of it. Everyone will be impressed.

Steve-O is here with long haired doggie partner Rasmus for a few days. And the weather is improving after a drizzly day yesterday. The corn is up. And of course the weeds are up. Yup, it is May.

Well, time to get the day moving. Picking up propane and working on weed control today. Thanks for being here.

Buba loves, Felipé.

About half the little corns are poking through and hitting the big wide world here with the rest of us. What a delight! Just did a lap around the trail and thought I would look as I went by. And behold!

There were many comments about the nightmare that I had. Check those out. I am so glad that I brought that out in the open. You all were so supportive and helpful. Thank you.

I am off to the city in minutes. I have a scan today. Hopefully I can get in and out of there quickly.

what a delight loves, Felipé.

Is there always a way to see stuff in a positive light? Can I just keep getting up after every hard time? Can I find inspiration continually? Is it possible to keep going no matter what comes up? I had the hardest night last night. As you can tell something happened.

It was shades of mental illness in nightmare form for me. I really don’t want to go into it totally but some explanation is appropriate I think, as it is the flip side of my good crazy dreams. Guess you can’t have one without the other.

A common form of nightmare for me is the anxiety dream. I get stuck in some situation where there is maximum pressure about something. I can’t find something or I am running out of time to get somewhere. That kind of thing. But fortunately I have always woke up and realized that it was a dream and I was off the hook.

Somehow last night this dang thing lasted all night, I couldn’t shake it. It felt like I suppose some form of mental illness would feel like. My cause was good and my methods were good and I could see what I was supposed to do but the procedure was complicated and I was not up to it. I keep losing my place and forgetting things. It was a quagmire of frustration.

Somehow I thought that I should report on that. Now I am regrouping and it is 1PM. It was all what I call now a Pyrenees time when you do your hardest trek and have your hardest day. If I frame it like that I can find the inspiration to get back up.

Well, enough of that. Sunny day, the mower calls.

Pyrenees loves, Felipé.

The whole Emergency Confetti episode brought back memories of a simi deal back a few years ago. I was in chemotherapy getting a infusion minding my own business when two nurses walked by in close proximity and I happened to catch the phrase “dangerous barrettes” and that is all. What? What the heck?

We are just minding our own business, trying to shorten our to-do list and what should happen? These interruptions should come with warning labels.

I’m so fatigued these days. Everything seems tiring. Hopefully this will pass. This is the worst that has been ever.

So, I am just going to take a nap after lunch here and call it good.

dangerous confetti loves, Felipé.

I was working on my FaceBook and I came across this gem. An eight year old got into the car with his mom and asked if he could throw his confetti. Mom says not in the car and asks why he has confetti anyway. “It’s my emergency confetti, I carry it in case there is good news.”

Yea, that’s the spirit, right? Be prepared, you never know when good news will strike! Could happen anywhere, any time. Good news breaking out, could get out of control. Carry your emergency confetti and keep it handy.

And there was good news recently for people vaccinated against Covid. The CDC says we can pretty much throw them away, those masks. I got a feeling that this many be awkward given certain situations and times. We will have to relearn the social dance steps.

Had a great Zoom with Wellness House, Chicago. They are are a support group for cancer patients and their caregivers. There were somewhere around sixty folks there for this showing and QandA. I always have fun at these. Who doesn’t like being the center of attention?

Today the emphasis here at the Ranch is on mowing. My belt finally came in yesterday and I got things greased, assembled and adjusted. Friday is sometimes a day off for Wiley and he is out cutting grass right now, I can hear him. And when he gets tired I be riding til we get caught up. Life on the Ranch in the Spring.

Yup, good to be with you again.

are there emergency loves, Felipé.