My uncle scoffs at marijuana legalization as he downs his third scotch rocks at Thanksgiving dinner. I breathe out, no point in arguing with brainwashing, the media in the 60’s was damn good at brainwashing, they made propaganda into an art, flawless execution, gota hand it to them. Still going strong. As of this year,… Read More ________________ changed my life
I came to the Camino looking for profound experience, and I found it. It met and surpassed all the expectations I had. I have always been an introverted person, a highly self-conscious person, bordering on obsessive. An isolator, a loner. Many people realize and acknowledge I am a personable and easy-going person. By all outward… Read More The Camino de Santiago, A turning point
“You can tell your friends you met this crazy Norwegian girl on the Camino de Santiago.” These were Katrine’s words before we parted. She said that we had both accumulated a fun memory from our hike across Spain to tell our friends back home. We had met on the trail and spent 4 days together. I… Read More The ex-girlfriend is always greener
Arriving Santiago in Santiago de Compostela was an anti-climax. All the pilgrims crowded into the pilgrim office to get their certificate of completion. I paid 3 euros to get some diploma looking thing written in Latin with my name on it that I have probably lost by now. We settled into a hostel that was… Read More Day 22- Arrival in Santiago de Compostela- The cathedral is covered in scaffolding
Sometimes I’m overtaken by euphoria with a rapid onset promptly followed by dissolution, like a chemical state change and then a return to original, water turning to ice and then back to water. I am eager to shout it, to smile and make someone smile, to belt a song from the bottom of my lungs or… Read More Day 24- Creation and Dissolution- Finisterre, Spain
“I saw my life branching out before me like the green fig tree in the story. From the tip of every branch, like a fat purple fig, a wonderful future beckoned and winked. One fig was a husband and a happy home and children, and another fig was a famous poet and another fig was… Read More Camino de Santiago-Day 18 – The Rollercoaster and the Hamster wheel- Somewhere- Sarria T-minus 100 km to Santiago de Compostela
The first part of the walk today was in darkness. We walked down the winding roads in the remote mountains, I craned my neck to look up at clusters of stars contrasted with the sky like blotches of paint on a canvas. The outline of the Milky Way Galaxy was faintly visible. Nicole led with her flashlight. There was… Read More Camino Day 16 -“You look dumb when you’re trying to sound out the words.” Somewhere in the Northwest of Spain
My group out-walked me today. I am sure I will link up with them again. I craved solitude after walking with a group for a long time and I crave company after being alone for too long. Such is the swinging pendulum of being a contradictory mix of traits on the introvert-extrovert spectrum. I was walking at… Read More Day 14-15 “So what’s the first thing you’ll do when you get home?” ???- Astorga – 18 miles
Today began in cold pre-dawn darkness with a beautiful golden moon gradually sinking below the horizon. We passed the halfway point in distance yesterday and it seems to be getting monotonous. I offered a 12 pill strip of ibuprofen to Peter because he was all out and I had extra. He gave me a chunk of his… Read More Camino Day 12- Italian Hospitality in a log cabin- Calzuela de la Cuenca-??? 20 miles
I was browsing the small book store in Penn Station in New York City while waiting for my evening train to take me to my home to Long Island. I perused the David Foster Wallace book I have never been able to get past the first 50 pages of-Infinite Jest. A family friend, 10 years my… Read More Camino Day 11- Ruminations from a Soulful observer- Fromista- Calzuela de la Cuenca. 25 miles
The Sober Hombre 