Just a short post to promise to resume my regular communications soon. I really need to get internet in our apartment. This little bar is quite smokey and noisy. However, it is a cross section of small-town life in Spain.

We have met pilgrims nearly every day and all want to interview Elyn, who is well known in that small camino world. She was interviewed by a Korean pilgrim this morning. He is walking with an impossibly heavy pack and his wife and daughter. The girl was sick, but the determined Korean pilgrim was impervious his own and his family's pain. He is a theologian who is studying the actual practicalities of the camino. His family is suffering right in front of his eyes and he is blind to their suffering. We are all most blind when looking at ourselves, myself included.

Announcing Elyn's New Book.

This is the official announcement of Elyn's new book: Walking Through Cancer: A Pilgrimage of Gratitude on the Way of St. James. (See front and back cover on the left.) We will be at the annual gathering of American Pilgrims on the Camino March 12-14 in Albuquerque, NM to introduce the book. It is already listed on Amazon and Barnes & Noble online, or you can order a copy from your favorite bookseller. We have spent many hours editing and producing this book and it is a production that we are both proud of.

A special feature of the book are a series of twenty-eight watercolors by local Santa Fe artist, Kate López. The front cover is also one of Katie's works.

Click on either image to view them at full size.

Fireside Chat

No, not like FDR's, but a fireside chat, nevertheless.

We are sitting by a piñon fire in our kiva fireplace in Santa Fe and contemplating where we go from here. I've been saying that we only know our plans when we execute them, but we know that the direction is toward Spain and away from SF and the US. How we get there and when is still up in the air. We have become quite accustomed to turning around on a dime (less than 10 cents these days) and happily traipsing off to new ventures. I am happy with this nomad life and as long as health holds out I expect that we will be out there somewhere, exploring and soaking up experience.

I've begun to hatch a plan (who said we can't plan) for some writing projects geared to our travel to interesting places. I'm preparing a series title for several short books called "Powerful Places in . . . " You fill in the blank. Over the years we have come upon some wonderful places, some known to the world at large (Glastonbury, Carnac, Mont St. Michel) and others that we find quite by accident. I think it will be fun to document some of these findings in a series of short books. The writing (which will be shared with Elyn), production, and publishing will keep me from boredom and some of these places we've found are really worth a visit by others. Well, everyone needs a hobby and this publishing business is mine. It's great to have a hobby that at least breaks even and this one does about that.

So that is my pipe dream this morning as I sit in front of the fire.

In the Crown Club in Atlanta

We just got a free one-day pass to the Crown Club here in Atlanta—just what weary travelers need after a 9+ hour flight from Madrid. We have a five hour layover here and will go on to ABQ tonight and Santa Fe tomorrow. So far the travel has been relatively painless. We spent the time during the flight marking up some final corrections on Elyn's book. We will do the computer work over the next two days and get it out in time for a gathering of American Friends on the Camino annual meeting in ABQ next month. We'll be in the US for this meeting, then, hopefully back to Spain in time for Holy Week festivities early in April. Much to accomplish in this brief month and a half.