Cold here at Raven Ranch. It is about as cold as it ever gets around here. It is supposed to be 19 F overnight. Temps in the twenties seem to be in my memory as the coldest. Well, we are feeding the woodstove regularly and watching for frozen pipes. The lights have been flickering in the windier times but haven’t had to start up the generator yet.
Rho is here in Tacoma, up from San Diego. She will be out here at the ranch later this week for a number of days. I don’t remember the last time we saw her, it has been a while. So we are scheduled to do some archery together which I am looking forward to.
Yesterday we had a nice walk even though we had to cut it short because of the wind and cold. We retreated to the tapas table to talk it over. One couple was new to the walk although I have known the male component, John, for years. So Lin his friend was in from California to brave the locals and the local conditions. I was giving my usually sort of tour guide talk early on in the walk and at some point when Lin and I were together I said, “We have sort of a salon going on here in the French sense of the word. We walk and talk and figure things out.” And she said, “Oh yea, and what have you figured out?” I was gathering my thoughts at that moment and then somehow we got distracted and the thread got lost. But I have been haunted by that simple question since. Yes, what if anything have we figured out in all this effort, expense of shoe leather and empty bottles of wine?
I know for one thing that we have figured out enough to perpetuate our togetherness. That could be enough although I am certainly trying for more. It would be nice to have a long list of accomplishments but perhaps we don’t. I will ask around.
Here we are on the closing end of the first week of Lent. Are you making progress? Only the best, love, Felipe.
Felipe we last saw each other at the Lake Forrest Church near Irvine when you were down for their annual pilgrimage walk and they featured Phil’s Camino. I too am looking forward to my visit to your humble abode, sharing our knowledge Archery, and walking your camino together. The weather is just adding to this SoCal girl’s adventure. (In other word s I am finding the snow exciting.) See you soon!
Rho ~ so glad you are in the neighborhood. I have a few things to get done before your visit. Hope you can keep busy in Tacoma for these few days. It will warm up. Felipe.x
Hola Felipe,
What a great straightforward post! What have we figured out?… That is a great question, and if I speak for myself, being part of this “salon” in the French sense of the word :D, I think for me, it has been a lot. It brought me back to the post I wrote one year after I walked the 2 weeks, back in 2011. But “this conversation” we are having here, deepens day after day, my own humanity. I am learning how to be human, by coming by and read the posts and the comments of my fellow pilgrims. And I am totally honest when saying this.
Probably, there are 3 big things that I “figured out” with you all here:
1) “Once you are a Pilgrim, you are forever a Pilgrim”. There are certainly other things that may change as we walk, but if we walk as we learned in the Camino, we may be at times lost, but most likely we will continue to be pilgrims. Being a Pilgrim is a blessed difficult to forget or dismiss.
2) “The fellow pilgrims are a treasure”. You become part of a Family; the “Family of Pilgrims”, because you shared the pilgrimage. And the secret is in the word “share”, and it is difficult to “dismiss” that part of the sharing thing… First you share the path, the albergue, the showers, then you start sharing the food, the “pilgrim’s gadgets” such as the poles, or the guide; after a bit, the conversation, the ear, the words, soon it become the heart and the soul, and prayers, and thoughts, follow too, and I can continue. Fellow pilgrims have shared their homes and families with me, and I have had the fortune to do the same; just as an example that the treasure is not exhausted or confined to the Camino, it rather starts there.
3) “No matter what or how, we are all connected”. I think about you and I: your cancer, the Avastin, my work, Genentech; your admiration and interest in Pope Francis, me being from Argentina; the purpose of my trip to Ireland, and its connection to Catherine and Dana; and we could continue with “facts”. But I think we also figured out that “feelings” and “words” connect us… I am thinking when we talked about “Beauty”, or “Goodness”, or “Presence”… or when we feel we learn from each other… and mainly when we actively feel we CARE for each other.
I, myself, figured out quite a few things in this “salon”, this is why I am grateful to you and to all of you, for teaching me and helping me to be more human.
Hope I did not miss the point here!
Understanding love,
Cris
Cris ~ well, I think you have finally outdone yourself dear. This is going up on the blog tomorrow. Felipe.x