Sunday, July 3, 2011

Hi, there! I'm back...

...from walking across Spain, where I dragged a chair from a café/bar at O Cebreiro (elevation about 1300 meters/4000 feet) to the edge of the road to wave at Manfred, who said he would stand on a chair in Paris and wave at me (did you?)...
but I am pressing it into double duty, to serve as a general hello!


I've felt overwhelmed, even thinking about trying to start to write about the trip.
Here.
I'll just jump in, with some pictures (from bink, who had a camera--I regret I didn't bring mine):

It was 7 weeks.
Here's bink at the beginning, at Roncesvalles.


It rained some. Not too badly or too long, but enough to make a muddy road.

I got some blisters, also not too badly.
I figured out the best way to deal with them was TO NOT STOP WALKING.
Not stopping seems to be very important in many realms.

On the meseta (plateau), week 3, my brain finally unfurled.
I realized that what I want in myself is SPACIOUSNESS. (I can get very crowded inside.)

People were great. Kindness won out even over snoring and a diet of white bread.
Here I am with Fred (from Holland) and Audrey (South Africa).

Remember I'd invited Marz, of smoothable, to come along, even tho we'd never met f2f?
She was even better in person.

Here we are dancing on the road, the night before we walked into Santiago. (I miss her. But she's coming to visit--or relocate?--in a couple weeks.)

We walked all the way up to the edge of the continent, until we couldn't walk any further unless we could walk on water.
There, beyond the lighthouse at Finisterre, I got out the baggie of words some of you sent along with me.
I read the words out loud (unless they were private), then I set them on fire.
I took the ashes and handed them to the wind blowing out over the Atlantic.

Barrett had sent along her dream. She is living with the final stages of lung cancer.
I superimposed her words onto Eeva's photo of the sunset at Finisterre.

[click to embiggen]

12 comments:

deanna said...

Wonderful post. Welcome back! Loving the dancing and the dream.

ooooooooooooooooooooooooooo said...

I did wave! And...I think I saw your green scarf in the distance!

Beautiful pictures Fresca...the Marz photo should be a painting...

Lovely to have you back!

Annika said...

Aww, Marz isn't at your place after all? You two belong together!

Ginga Squid said...

Sounds like a fantastic trip / journey. Loving the photos.

Jennifer said...

The field of red flowers! Such spaciousness! A spacious soul sounds like a wonderful goal...

And I love the way the words on the final image shift from darkness into light as the sun moves from light into darkness.

Anonymous said...

Welcome back! Missed you and Margaret, even though you very physically closer than ever. ;)

Fresca said...

DEANNA: Thanks! Me too.

MANFRED: You did? That's great!
Yeah, the marz photo is gorgeous. (In reality, we were being very silly, singing the Stephen Colbert's version of "The King of Glory".)

ANNIKA: Poor Marz got detained in Canadian Customs and they wouldn't let her leave the airport to take the bus to Mpls. So she had to fly on home and will come out here in a couple weeks.
I agree, we go together like family!

GINGA: Thanks, it was fantastic---hard, sometimes too. I'll write more.

JEN: A spacious soul, yes. And a healthy sole too! (As in feet, not fish.)
Glad you caught the light shift. Yes.

TINTO: I missed being on the blogosphere too... tho it was also great to have a 2-month break---almost totally computer-free.

Anonymous said...

Welcome home FrankieFresca - and thank you for leading me to Barrett for a long overdue conversation - talk to you soon!
Kate

ArtSparker said...

Oh my goodness! How lovely the three of you are. Why are the photos making me think of the reruns of Xena, Warrior Princess I have been watching? I didn't know Margaret was thinking of relocating...hope to see photos of her visit.

Welcome back, now I am longing to travel...

The Crow said...

So glad you are back! I've missed reading your posts. Looking forward to reading about some of your self discoveries and about the people you met, and...and, well, just everything!

Barrett's dream poem is beautiful beyond words.

Bianca Castafiore? said...

yay, and yay!

Fresca said...

ART, CROW, BIANCA: Yay to youse guys! Thanks for being here now I'm back.