I woke very early this morning – much earlier than usual – and found myself smiling while reminiscing about last night’s amusing late-night conversations: the fun “summer camp when it’s too hot to sleep” whispered laughings shared with a later-arriving Michael, and even the not-so-fun and sincerely apologetic “it’s late and you guys are keeping […]
Some might think that the fog obscures the wonders that lie ahead, and yet a different view maintains that fog but ladles a soft layer of wonderment upon the same – making the path ahead seem celestial; making the lilies by the roadside (and all similar grandeurs) suddenly appear as if from nothing … “A […]
And so it was that I flowed onward and upward – slowly and surely through the glimmering morn – until I finally exited a shaded tunnel of overhanging trees and emerged into a day clearly reborn … “Some have asked me if I have walked so very far to merit such an activity, and yet […]
I soon came across this cute little donativo* cafe for pilgrims. It was too early for anything to be set out for me, and yet I found myself feel deeply grateful nonetheless. For in truth there is no need to wait for personal benefits to accrue to be thankful. In truth, it is both more […]
I had heard from other pilgrims about the Chalet du Bonheur (the Cottage of Happiness) on the outskirts of Peyret – a place with a longstanding history of being overtly kind to any & all pilgrims in need, and so I decided to stop briefly by and offer the caregivers there yet another of my […]
I made it smoothly (albeit limping a bit due to still-sore right hip) to the town of Manciet, where I surreptitiously-yet-respectfully sneaked upstairs to use the town hall’s employee restroom and then more overtly (and just as Respect-fully) appreciated the Peace-full solace emanating from the Oratoire Saint Jacques – and this, despite the fact that […]
“Our attention is so sacred that if we truly look for Beauty and Grace, we will find it in everything around us. Indeed everything nearby is worthy of wonderment when our minds are no longer small.” ~ inspired by Kamand Kojouri & Fernando Penea
I had been graciously given some duct tape by Marcel the night before, and yet its quality soon proved to be just as tenuous as Marcel’s graciousness had been* … Of course, this too was fully appropriate; reminding me that ours is not to toughen-up the tools that help us walk The Way, but rather […]
The walking proved to be strong and true today, and I made it without trial or trauma to the lovely pathside Eglise de l’Hospital St. Christie – a tiny 12th century chapel located on the Camino just to the west of the village of Cravenceres … “Sacred space is any space where your mind doesn’t […]
I was walking on a bit further, deeply soaked in the Joy of Moving, when I crested a hill and came across Jean Michel Danard’s remarkable wayside portrait gallery (located directly on the Greenwich Meridian, no less) – a pictorial gallery of pilgrims who had walked this Way before. How joyous it was to feel […]
I eventually thereafter made it through the poplar-lined promenade on the outskirts of Nogaro (the last stop for the duct tape that had been so devoutly hanging on to my shoes for so many miles before) and into the city proper, where I (as usual) paused to rest in Gratitude within the cool confines of […]
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