The third day of the Camino I noticed the ferns. They were everywhere; growing - almost impossibly - out of the side of ancient stone walls. Ferns at every stage - baby ferns, newly unfurled ferns, old and established ferns, and even dry, brown ferns at the end of life. It was the baby ferns […]

On the second day of the Camino I noticed the trees. So. Many. Trees. Old trees, new trees, fat trees, tall trees, perfect trees, broken trees ... Trees I had never seen before. I was dazzled. And then, there it was: a tiny, fragile, new tree staked to a large, knobby, deeply-rooted, older tree. It […]

I went on the Camino with five friends from home. I walked the Camino with a group of 12 lovely humans, all of whom became my friends. Isn't this life? We start off with our own group, our people. Then the journey begins and people we never knew existed start walking next to us and […]

It was a cold, dreary Saturday morning in January when my dear friend texted me. "Hey girlie, I have a proposal for you ..." It was an invitation to travel to Spain with her and 4 of our dearest friends to walk the ancient and beautiful Camino de Santiago. Over 100 km of walking in […]

I have written in the past about my penchant for homesick feelings. Of course, I feel them most often when I am away from home. One of my biggest fears about walking the Camino was that I would feel alone, sick for home; a dark melancholy familiar to my heart. I shared this with my […]

It is a strange thing to come home. While yet on the journey, you cannot at all realize how strange it will be. Selma Lagerlof I have been home for about a week from my "accidental pilgrimage" to Santiago de Compostela in the heart of the Spanish countryside. I say "accidental" because I had no […]