Ultreia!

The Road

Here is the road: the light
comes and goes then returns again.
Be gentle with your fellow travelers
as they move through the world of stone and stars
whirling with you yet every one alone.
The road waits.
Do not ask questions but when it invites you
to dance at daybreak, say yes.
Each step is the journey; a single note the song.

~ Arlene Gay Levine ~

Graduation!

Packed and ready to go! Tomorrow (Tuesday) I fly to Madrid, then take a bus to Pamplona, then another bus to St. Jean Pied du Port (France) and finally start my long walk on Friday. I can't wait to meet my Camino family! But first I want to thank family and friends here at home who have helped me walk a different path these past six years. Molly and Peter Eppig, cousins in NH who were the most gracious "landlords" when I came up for classes, seminars, intensives, and finally defense and graduation!

Bug and Annie - the Coonhounds

And there is a long line of dog and cat and cabin sitters who have been there for all the times I had to fly/drive/leave for doctoral work/research/classes. Some of these include Laura, Kari, Poppy (Glen), George, Julie, Maggie, Mary, Emily, Pete. Most of all I need to thank Jacke - my neighbor and great friend - for always being there for my coonhounds when the sitters were late or delayed. Poor Annie can't hold it anymore. Old, old girl. It's been a team effort, this doctoral program!

Environmental/sustainable ag history is my thing and I can't wait to look at the rural and urban scenes of the Camino through the eyes of a pilgrim. I really want to learn as much as I can about rural life of Northern Spain, including the past and present issues of farm abandonment. So much is being done in the EU and in Spain and Portugal particularly, to rewild some of these landscapes. Nature and ecological tourism holds a lot of promise for abandoned landscapes, especially where focused efforts to conserve and reintroduce wildlife are being made today. I'll be the pilgrim with binoculars around her neck and a waist pack loaded with a notebook, maps, and camera! It'll be like walking a six week intensive field course.  

APOC and Camiga patches

Somebody asked me if I had any spiritual intent while walking The Way. I don't think this hike is any different than the dozens of other long distance hikes I've done - they've all been pilgrimages of sorts. Nature is my church and St. Francis "gets me" well enough that I am comfortable having long walking conversations with him.  But if St. James calls out from am olive grove and offers me a drink of fresh, cold water on the hottest day on the meseta, I won't argue with him!  Birds have always been my angels. Mountains and the prairies have always given me visions. Old farmers, my sages. Old shepherds, my guides. Ultreia!

How many are your works, Lord!
    In wisdom you made them all;
    the earth is full of your creatures. 

 There is the sea, vast and spacious,
    teeming with creatures beyond number—
    living things both large and small. 

 There the ships go to and fro,
    and Leviathan, which you formed to frolic there.

All creatures look to you
    to give them their food at the proper time. 

 When you give it to them,
    they gather it up;
when you open your hand,
    they are satisfied with good things.

When you hide your face,
    they are terrified;
when you take away their breath,
    they die and return to the dust.

When you send your Spirit,
    they are created,
    and you renew the face of the ground.

May the glory of the Lord endure forever;
    may the Lord rejoice in his works— 

 he who looks at the earth, and it trembles,
    who touches the mountains, and they smoke.

I will sing to the Lord all my life;
    I will sing praise to my God as long as I live.

May my meditation be pleasing to him,
    as I rejoice in the Lord.

 Psalm 104

(As read at Pentecost Service, First Congregational Church of Hancock, NH, 15 May, 2016)