Some who know me well might say the statement, "Alice is a disciplined person" is an understatement. I get it. I like a schedule, a rhythm, a routine. Some might call me tightly wound. That's ok. But let me tell you what the Camino taught me. It's ok to be disciplined in the every day. […]
On the third day of walking the Camino I had a painful realization. I wanted to go back and start over. I had been so anxious, nervous, excited, uncertain as we started walking that very first day that I did not settle down enough to actually pay attention. I was overwhelmed with the beauty. I […]
"Heaven and earth," the Celtic saying goes, "are only three feet apart, but in thin places that distance is even shorter." The Camino felt like a very thin place. The air heavy with the weight of centuries of pilgrims. The soil itself felt holy. I barely have words to explain it. But I do have […]
I think one of the things I loved most about the Camino is that I was unplugged. Unhooked. Undistracted. I had no work to do other than to walk to our next destination. I only used my phone to take photos during the day. I listened to no news. I did not have to mow […]
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 […]
