T- Minus 6 days

It’s less than a week before heading North. My friend, who I was going to walk the last leg of the Camino with, has become ill. We are postponing our walk together until next Spring. But I’ve got plane tickets and train tickets so I’m going. And, Surprise!!, El Jefe is coming with me.

Yes. He’s decided that he’s going to give himself a taste of what it meas to go on Pilgrimage. Jeff has always been a much more ‘Outdoorsy’ person than me. He’s owned sleeping bags and tents, while I’ve had none. He’s got gear up the wazoo and he moved it all here in that slow boat from the US to Spain last year. But the Camino isn’t a camping trip. It requires some things that he didn’t already possess.

We headed to our local Decathlon. Decathlon is a local sporting goods retailer (they’re French actually). They are everything we wish we’d had in the US. Everything REI used to be before their prices and narrowing selection sent us to other outdoor retailers. But Decathlon will sell you riding gear, archery bows, darts, tether balls, every paddle sport you can conjure up. And so much more. They’re like Costco for us. If we go there for one small thing we will leave lugging gobs of new sporting equipment home and have me on the phone with the local riding club the next day inquiring after a membership and a horse rental.

Their quality is excellent and their prices can’t be beat. Now Jeff and I are fully kitted out and ready for our journey. We’ve packed and repacked. Edited down to just the essentials. I took out another pair of pants today. Kind of proud of myself for that. But I hate being ready this early. Walking by those packs – ready to go – makes me want to leave now. But our flight isn’t until 6am on Sunday morning. So what to do?

I did what I always do these days when I’m feeling out of sorts. I picked up my brush and started painting. Here’s my newest creation. I’m hoping to finishing it before we leave. Jeff sat on his computer and watched me paint it.

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‘Do you like it?’ I asked him.

He turned his head to the side to examine it – like our Golden Retriever, Mr. Perkins, used to do.

‘Yeah,’

A very Jeff response.

‘Do you think I’m evolving as a painter?’ I’m not sure what I was looking for.

Again, the head thing.

‘Well, they’re all different.’

I don’t know what I was expecting. This is the same response I get when I ask his advice on multiple outfits when we’re going out. So that’s how my week is going to go this week. But it will be worth it in the end.

I was walking back from Espacio Creativo today and I saw this painted on the ground. And I’m taking it as a good sign I’m on the right track.