walking stick

[cmpstla]

Gabrielle, I hear your words about taking your walking stick!

I too spent some time thinking and  researching this.. I decided to make my own  : on 7/25/98 ( the feast day Santiago Apóstol ..the yr before I went..)  I cut down a small tree on my  island forest home here, and spent 1 yr whittling it down to a "perfect walking stick"..it was just under 5' tall . I collected one small item from those I loved here ( 2 sons, husb, etc ) as well as the Spanish peseta with the hole in the middle, a scallop shell from these ocean waters, and streamers of red and yellow ( Spain's flag colors) I tied these to the stick... During the year before I went, I spent a lot of time  preparing this stick, practice walking A LOT, and reflecting on what lies ahead...

This stick went everywhere !  A true treasure of the journey... blessed by Benedictine Monk friends south of Astorga  during an ancient Medevial ceremony to cut my long hair .... on horseback near Portomarin... inside Porferrada,   the castle.., in the Cathedral  S de C for Año Santo Jubilar Feast Day celebrations 7/99... many, many memories...

Also as a practical issue, I had the airlines "tag" it with their ID tag, so it wouldn't be considered a weapon...  folks at Heathrow were wonderful !   ( Just put it in the long way in those xray units! )

Patricia

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://mailman.oakapple.net/pipermail/gocamino/attachments/20010224/c3dc7ae4/attachment.htm