Kelly says that we have 19 more days but I ‘m trying not to count. Rick got a new pack. It is a smaller version than boy pack. We just got done with our weekly meeting / wine tasting. Getting aclimated to the Spanish wine scene is proving harder than expected.
Things are moving forward on the documentary film project. Ivette wanted me to ask if anyone would want to donate airmiles. Also, we have a add in the Beachcomber to startout fund raising. I openned an account USBank to start collecting funds. So we are putting in the creativity on raising the needed seed money.
Have to go for now, SJA, Phil

the boys are lighting them off   the boys are lighting them off   the boys are lighting them off   my retriever is trying to find the birds   my retriever is trying to find the birds   my retriever is trying to find the birds  a light rain is falling   the firemen will be happy  the boys are lighting them off   a light rain is falling   soon we will be off to a party  soon we will be off to a party   a light rain is falling   the boys are lighting them off   drinking canadian beer on an american holiday   a light rain is falling   my retriever is trying to find the birds   trying to keep it simple   trying to keep it simple   trying to keep it simple

thinking of you   wishing you the best   wishing you the best   love your laugh   thinking of you   a light rain is falling   trying to keep it simple  wishing you the best   sister joyce says we are all one   wishing you the best   wishing you the best   always remember we are all one   a light rain is falling   the boys are lighting them off   thank you   you’re welcome   any time   always remember   a light rain is falling   maybe time to go   not quite   not quite  the boys are lighting them off   always remember   a slight breeze   the boys are lighting them off   the boys are lighting them off   always remember

i treasure your friendship   any time   always remember   wishing you the best   the boys are lighting them off   trying to keep it simple   drinking canadian beer   always remember   the light is fading   love your laugh   the boys are lighting them off   thank you   trying to keep it simple   always remember   a light rain is falling   love your laugh   the slight breeze   it’s all good   always remember   maybe time to go   not quite   thank you  it’s all good   i treasure your friendship   the light is fading   thanks for sticking with me   it’s all good   i love your laugh   always remember

Early morning Fourth of July and just got done helping my American Legion Post put up flags.  We put up a hundred on eleven flag days each year.  And this morning was super glorious weatherwise and it was like walking around in a Norman Rockwell painting!  Kind of like Annie talking about in Spain walking around in a postcard.  Another part of our Rockwellism is our amateur hydroplane race which starts at 5 AM every Fourth and the guys circumnavigate the Island with a racket that can be heard five miles away easy.  I hear through the grapevine that Carl Olson won and Paul Hoffman flipped over at the north end but is OK.  This is supremely cool totally local stuff.

So Peggy, one of my buddies that works at the hospital told me that Caminohead means Roadhead.  She grew up in Panama so she knows her Spanish.  I tried to explain that it was a little different but actually maybe not so much.  I got into Roadheadism yesterday during my training.

Yea, was doing a six miler on Old Mill Rd.  But really on one stretch of the road and it is 3/4 of a mile.  So, I go back and forth four times and that gives me the six miles.  This stretch has a big open field on one side and forested on the other.  No houses to be seen and no dogs to come out and bark.  There are little blue flowers and songs of Redwing Blackbirds that one cannot enjoy from a moving vehicle.  Anyway, back to Roadhead stuff.  I got into studying the walking surface, the road, well the road and the shoulder.  Got it in my head that the they are built with a camber or in other words it is a slightly convex surface made that way to shed rain.  So, if I always walk on one side facing traffic or in this case occasional traffic I am always walking across a slight slope.  So, it occurred to me to lengthen that outboard walking stick 5 cm to compensate and it made a difference!  A little minor tweak that made a long stretch easier.

Also, picked up a couple of “flat tires”,  as my old boss Robert called them, a 16 penny nail and a drill bit on the road.  Yea, a good deed.  A few weeks ago I spied an earthworm out in the middle of the pavement and I got out there and tried to pick him up but he was too small and slimy and I wound  up flicking the little guy ten feet to the grassy shoulder.  This kind of stuff happens when you get older, risking your life for an unendangered species!

OK, have a great Fourth, wherever you find yourself.  Have a drink for all the old dead white guys that started this whole experiment!  Phil.

Vashon Island has one of the greatest fireworks shows anywhere around Western Washington.  The fireworks company tows a barge into Quartermaster Harbor the day before and at around 10 PM on the Fourth, as darkness falls, the show starts.  All the local ducks and dogs run for cover.  Boat horns sound as boaters vote on how wowed they are by a particular flurry of light and sound.  We’re all there in the moment of this special event.  And we all give thanks to our neighbors here that have quietly contributed to make this annual fest happen.  And giving thanks to God that we are here in the now of this great country is in order!  Happy Fourth, Saint James is Afoot, Phil.

I was emailing with Annie yesterday and we were writing about inspirations for blogging.  And I was saying that I thought that I did my best work when something was bugging me.  That thing could be a bad thing or a good thing in normal thought.  But it is something that sort of clings to you and hangs around.  It is good ammo for blogging and good probably to get rid of it, which of course, makes room for the next one.

So, very ironic that this AM with my well deserved first cup of joe, what is floating in there but a big juicy fly.  I would put that in the category of bugging, wouldn’t you?  That was minutes ago and right in the middle of my half baked  thoughts about what to blog about this AM.

Back to that in a minute.  What really needs to be done is to write a brief statement for a newspaper add that will appear in the Beachcomber about a donation drive.  Yesterday I blogged about the documentary film idea that is struggling along.  A lot of creative work is being done but until we get some financial help behind that we are not going anywhere.  Big money from big sources is proving hard to come by.  So, we are looking to get local and focused on raising funds from “just folks”.   Our daughter, Tesia, is going to do the graphics for the add and she asked me to provide some text for the appeal.  So, I thought that I would combine that with doing this blog and then there is the fly also.  Hmm.

“This morning there was a fly in my coffee.  This life there was cancer in my body.  What I have learned I would like to share with others who are suffering.  How can we rise above our circumstances and do more than we thought was possible?  How can we stay inspired and possibly inspire others?  We are looking for a way to fund a documentary film about my journey through the medical world, spiritual world and the world of the Camino de Santiago.  Please help us fund this small project about the search for  healing in…. ”

There, how is that so far?  Not quite there but pretty darn good.  Have to get the last sentence hammered out.  How about,”Please help us in our search for funds to tell this story about one man’s search for healing in a complicated world.”  Sort of, but too complicated.  “Help us to tell this story about one man’s search for healing.”  OK.  “Vashon, help me  to tell one man’s story about a three year search for inspiration, connection and healing.”  Not bad.  I like saying that to Vashon.  “Vashon, please help me to fund this small project about one man’s search for inspiration, connection and healing in a complex world.”   All right, let’s see what that looks like all together.

“This morning there was a fly in my coffee.  This life there was cancer in my body.  What I have learned I would like to share with others who are suffering.  How can we rise above our circumstances and do more than we thought was possible?   How can we connect to something larger than ourselves?  How can we stay inspired and possibly inspire others?  I am looking for help to fund a documentary film about my journey through the medical world, spiritual world and the world of the ancient mystical Camino de Santiago.  Vashon, please help bring to light this small project about one man’s search for inspiration, connection and healing in a complex world.”

Well, I think that is good.  Need it pruf readed.  OK, so I am off to walk with Kelly and Signe in the cool of the morning.  Walking seems a soothing rest from the details of life.  Saint James is Afoot, Phil.

Here are two things that just came in:  One is a story on NPR about the Camino:

http://www.kplu.org/post/new-film-explores-reasons-why-people-young-and-old-walk-500-miles-across-spain

And two is NPR story about new thoughts on cancer treatment:

http://humanmedia.org/wellbeing/tabs.php?t=1

That’s all for now.  Phil.

That’s what Ivette says about things.  And what things are those?  Well, it is time to let this cat out of the bag.  There is a movement afoot to create a documentary film of my journey to Spain and the walking the Camino there.  This all started with the idea that the success of my rehab after cancer treatment is noteworthy and would be helpful to inspire the countless cancer patients out in the world who could use some better training along with their treatment.

The ability for me to even think about this journey is wholly a gift to me.  A big part of that gift is the training and counseling that I have received at Swedish Hospital.  Another big part is all the support that I have gotten from family, friends, church including the Archdiocese of Seattle.  And finally the opportunity that the Camino de Santiago has given me to participate in something that is meaningful, significant and doable for me.

We are terribly last minute with this film idea and we are looking for a miracle to have this happen.  And as Annie has told me more than once, we have already had miracles and we need to continue to expect the good.   I have a team of people on the East Coast and West that are using all their creativity to bring this together.  This is totally shoestring but not outside the box.  Possibly we will be able to just capture the raw footage initially.  There is much more to the process but maybe it is one thing at a time.  People in general are inspired by my story and this will carry the film forward to it’s conclusion even if it is just one step at a time (sounds like a Camino to me).

Today, after training, I am opening an account at US Bank that will be able to accept donations to help fund this process.  I will give you more information on that soon as I know it.  This kind of thing doesn’t happen without a certain amount of money.  Enthusiasm, smarts and creativity will only carry us so far.  If you have any ideas about finances let me know, sooner rather than later.  And pray for us.  St. James is Afoot, Phil.

OK, took quick shower, kicked off the Crocs and climbed into bed. Really tired after a full day. Rick was with me this AM, after Mass, and we did 6 1/2 miles on some really challenging terrain. Then after lunch my spiritual advisor Connie and her husband Jim came to walk and talk for another mile here at the ranch.
Then Rebecca took me out for some culture and I managed to sleep through half of that. So, what I am attempting to do here at the moment is to see if I can produce a reasonable blog post on the Kindle in my current exhausted condition, something similar to evening on the Camino.
So far so good! But really what I want to tell you about is the realization that I have had about my current fellow travelers. Never can I remember being in the company of so many high quality personalities as I do now. Father Marc, my spiritual advisors, doctors, nurses, family, friends,, Camino buddies and the Amigos. I am literally being passed from one to the next and never am I in fear of falling. What an amazing feeling and truly so far so good!

Last night I tried to do a post from my Kindle while I was exhausted and ready to turn in.  Sort of a Camino simulation.  Could I pull it off?  And I actually got it written and it was beautiful but somehow, somehow the Kindle eat it.  It got lost in the sauce, as they say.  I cried, well almost, but I was too tired.

So maybe I can recreate the idea and emotion.  It was so like my original inspiration for blogging, Julie from “Julie and Julia”  who was making a complicated French dish from Julia Childs every evening after work and sometimes it was successful and sometimes the souffle didn’t.  There is a certain amount of drama here and there.  By the way, the title of that failed blog post of mine was 10:41 PM in case the Kindle spits it up at some point.

Yesterday, Sunday, Rick and I went to early Mass and then we did a 6 1/2 mile trek on a beautiful trail that I hadn’t ever been on before.  And then later in the afternoon one of my spiritual advisors, Connie and Jim her husband, came to walk with me here at the ranch.  What was starting to dawn on me was the realization of what good hands that I am in these days.  Never is my life do I remember being in the company of or being inspired by so many grade A personalities, spirits maybe.  That day I start with Father Marc and he hands me off to Rick, Rick hands me off to Rebecca and then Rebecca hands me off to Connie and then I go and read an email from Annie in the evening.  The day before, Saturday the same, as I started out with eight great guys in my weekly bible class and then proceeded through my day.  I am being gently carried from one to the next.  The same at my hospital days with my beloved doctors and nurses and Sister Joyce.  Buoyed up is the best phrase that I can come up with.  I am truly blessed.  Thank you all.

The three amigos had their weekly meeting and wine tasting this evening.  We had Portuguese wine so I hope that is OK.  We checked out my new boy pack.  We talked about communications.  We talked about how to get pix from a camera to my Kindle and then onto the blog, this blog.  We talked about training for the coming week.  We talked about how we have only one month to go!

Kelly, I have talked about some in the past.  He is in his sixties like me.  He is a retired school teacher.  Now he keeps himself busy helping his daughter remodel her house and he helps with their two children.  I started calling him Padre because he has an eerie resemblance to Padre Pio the Italian saint.  Kelly lost his wife to cancer a year ago.  That is not the reason I chose him to go with me but I used to see him out in the rain and the dark of winter walking alone and I said there is the guy.  He is also slower than I am so that is helpful!

Than there is Rick who we both invited along because once he heard about our idea just couldn’t control himself.  He is like a piece of spring steel physically, seventy years old and walks circles around us two.  So, we nicknamed him Mario like the race car driver.  I worked with Rick in the past and we always had a good time together.  Rick and his wife, Carolyn,  run a nursery where they grow beautiful landscaping plants.  This keeps them busy and in shape.  Padre and I figure that with Mario’s speed he will be able to sprint ahead late in the day and line up the hostels and dining when we are on the trail!

So, we have a plan.  Yea, for once.  Kelly and I are flying to Madrid where we land on St James Day, July 25th.  We are busing to St Jean in France  to the start.  We will walk to the 17th of August, somewhere around Leon,  where Kelly will put me on a bus to run me up the road to the west.  Later that day I will get to the monastery at Samos and meet Rick.  Kelly will be on his own for some personal inner Camino till his son Michael will join him to do the last 100 kilometers.  And Rick and I will walk from Samos to Sarria and do the last 100 kilometers.  God willing, Rick and I will be at the Pilgrim’s Mass at the cathedral in Santiago at the end of the Camino on Sunday August 24th.  Then the next day Rick throws me on the plane for Madrid and then I am off to Seattle.  Will be traveling with the time zones this direction and will arrive the same day.  Then next day I will be on my way back to Swedish Hospital for an appointment with my psychologist and have a scan later that day.  Rebecca will probably have to strap me to a hand truck and deliver me there.

All three of us amigos are practicing Catholics and all along this Camino there will be religious activities and events to participate in.  We are planning on the moderate pace of 12 miles a day to allow us time to do this.  “It is not a race!” as Kelly, or should I say, Padre reminds us.  And our parish, St John Vianney, here on Vashon has written letters in Spanish for us to announce that we are on official pilgrimage.   And at Mass toward the end of July we will be blessed for our journey by Father Marc.  All official, right?  Let’s get started!