(An excerpt from the book in progress, describing the morning of April 8, 2015.) Despite the wine and the jet lag, I slept fitfully in Le Puy, waking every hour to stare into the darkness and listen to pilgrims breathing in the cubicles around me. We were so close to beginning this thing. When myContinue reading “The Morning We Became Pilgrims of Le Puy”
Tag Archives: France
6 Ways to Be THAT Camino Pilgrim
What are the ways to be THAT pilgrim — which I read as the one who not only thrives personally, but makes the experiences of everyone around them better?
10 Tips for Not Being “That” Camino Pilgrim
A collection of advice I found tucked in my journal, solicited from fellow pilgrims and compiled over sangrias and cervezas during our afternoon rests.
The Sagging Middle
In my day job back in Seattle, I help writers revise and develop their work, which are often works of fiction. One of the things I’ve learned to look for is what we call the “sagging middle.” A good story starts off with a lot of drama and tension. Things happen. Everything is new.Continue reading “The Sagging Middle”
I Have Always Known (Almost Wordless Wednesday)
I have always known That at last I would Take this road, but yesterday I did not know that it would be today. — Ariwara No Narihira Photo taken just outside Figeac, France. The red and white stripes on the tree mark the Chemin du Puy, the Camino stretching from Le Puy toContinue reading “I Have Always Known (Almost Wordless Wednesday)”
The Via Podiensis (Le Puy Camino) Memoirs
It’s winter, it’s raining, and the world is a complicated, messy place. Sometimes the only solution is to turn it all off and curl up with a good book. And when it comes to books about the Camino, your choices are plentiful. Amazon lists 60 memoirs with the key words Camino de Santiago, and thatContinue reading “The Via Podiensis (Le Puy Camino) Memoirs”
How You Spend This Afternoon (An Almost Wordless Wednesday)
From Annie Dillard’s Pilgrim at Tinker Creek: “Thomas Merton wrote, ‘there is always a temptation to diddle around in the contemplative life, making itsy-bitsy statues.’ There is always an enormous temptation in all of life to diddle around making itsy-bitsy friends and meals and journeys for itsy-bitsy years on end. It is so self-conscious,Continue reading “How You Spend This Afternoon (An Almost Wordless Wednesday)”
3 Camino Mantras for 2017, Part 3: Choose Your Focus
The walk from Castet to Romieu was 30 kilometers (18 miles), a distance we’d walked before, but longer than I ever wanted to do in a day. We’d looked at the maps, though, and talked to our friends on the trail, and decided that a longer walk day while the weather was good was theContinue reading “3 Camino Mantras for 2017, Part 3: Choose Your Focus”
3 Camino Mantras for 2017, Part 2: Sometimes You Win, Sometimes You Lose
I spent a lot of time last week trying to sort through how to make 2017 into a better year than 2016. Not having an election is obviously a good start, but I’m looking for things that are a little more personal. And my most meaningful, personal lessons came from the 79 days I spentContinue reading “3 Camino Mantras for 2017, Part 2: Sometimes You Win, Sometimes You Lose”
Three Camino Mantras to Carry into 2017, Part 1: Practice Acceptance
I tend to approach the world as if everything is negotiable, everything happens for good reasons, and the people who are kind and fair will be rewarded. We can probably blame four decades of reading novels with happy endings for that.
camino times two 