New Web Address

 My new address for Anniewalkers Camino is here:

Anniewalkers Camino

Just Two More Weeks . . .

Just two more weeks until I leave for Madrid and Pamplona. 
I'm getting excited!

I'm doing some things differently this trip. 

For one thing, it's been YEARS since I walked the entire Camino Frances from front to back. I usually walk the middle section for 3 weeks then pick up a group. I take the group from SJPP to Logroño, where we jump to Burgos, Leon, then Astorga. Then they walk the last section.  But it's chopped up for me. Middle, Front, Back. 

This year, I'm doing "almost" the entire section straight through. However, since I've walked from SJPP so many times, and since this will be a busy time for pilgrims, I decided to skip that stage and will be walking right out of Pamplona. 

In a group, I often use backpack transport.  This trip, I am carrying my pack - at least to start, and have the weight down to 12/13 pounds. 

To save weight, I've changed some of the things I usually carry. One thing I changed is I bought a Sea to Summit AirLite Towel - I'll try it out at home first. I love my Aquis towels, but this one is quite a bit lighter in weight. Microfiber towels, in my experience, just spread the water around and are not absorbant but this one has good reviews. We'll see.

I am carrying a headlamp or flashlight (haven't yet decided) which I don't usually need. Since I am staying MOSTLY in albergues, both private and parroquial, I'll need to be able to get to the toilets in the middle of the night without waking people up. We'll see how that goes. At this point, the only thing that may change my mind will be the heat.  If I can get a bed near a window that I can open it won't be so bad.

I'm walking half stages instead of full stages- taking a full two months - so I should arrive early enough to have my choice of beds in places where beds are not assigned. Keeping my fingers crossed. 

I will be walking in September (which is HOT) and October (which is COLD) so taking my sleeping bag or a sleep sack was a conundrum. I have decided to take my sleeping bag for sure and will wait until Pamplona to maybe pick up a sleep sack if it's still hot when I arrive. Or I may make one. I found an old blog post from 2012 where I made a "bedbug sheet" from an old curtain. I may go to Goodwill today and pick up a curtain and just make something that I can toss if I don't need it. 

I can no longer find my New Balance trail runners - they stopped making trail runners on the SL-2 shoe last. So this year I'm wearing zero-drop Altra shoes. They seem comfortable but I have to admit I'm a little worried. Not so much about the zero drop as I go barefoot a lot, but just the change in shoe. 

I've signed up for Cloisters Ignatian Prayer retreat and am hoping I can charge my phone enough times to be able to use it each morning before I walk, or even while I'm waiting for albergues to open.

https://cloistersignatianprayer.org/dashboard

I've packed and unpacked about a kazillion times. 

I'll probably do it again today.

If I can, I'll post photos as I go - it will just depend on the internet connections. I'm having my son sign me up for international calling for the two months I'm gone. I'm deleting extra apps on my phone to try to make more space on it. I'm not sure if that works, but I don't understand the internet/computers enough to know so it seems logical to me. 

Ok.. that's it for today.

Stay tuned!

Love,

Annie

TUNA! TUNA! TUNA!

We drove to the coast on Friday. Joe spent a couple of hours working on his lot, then we went to what used to be Gino's and ate fried oysters for my birthday.

On the way home, we stopped and bought 3 nice Albacore Tuna off the boats at Newport.

I spent the last two days canning tuna. I ended up with 41 half-pints, over $410 worth of tuna for around $190. MY tuna has only tuna and salt in the jars, I'm pretty happy. No weird chemicals I can't pronounce. 

THIS tuna is $10/can.

The bad news was the house smelled like fish - STRONG fish - even though I did the actual canning outside.  I finally got it all cleaned up and put away this morning, and Joe put a fan in the kitchen to blow out as much of the smell as we could.

Today I canned a couple of quarts of dill pickles.

The rest of the day is my day off. I'm going to sit in front of the television and vegetate. 

Why I Do What I Do

A Facebook friend asked me the other day, "Annie, how in the world do you do all that you do!?"

Well, I just do! Summer is always a crazy-busy time in my house. I'm harvesting, canning, freezing, freeze-drying, and just BUSY.  

Yesterday I canned blackberries. The day before I made blackberry and peach jam. And the freeze dryer was full of peaches and rhubarb for two days. 

Today I bottled up the laundry soap we made last week. I ended up with enough for the year and the cost was under $2. Here's a photo of the result; 6 big jugs, 2 small and a bucket full!

Joe is busy putting in barrels to catch the rain for the garden, so he asked if I'd can the green beans today. I said sure! 

While I was putting them in the jars, he stopped by and said, "How do you do that so fast? You're like a danged  machine!"  

I started laughing.

I can remember, and my cousins will remember, we were always asking Ma (my grandmother who reared me), "Ma, do you EVER stop?"   

She would just laugh.

Well, then you have to remember, I grew up with 13 living grandparents.  Most of those were grandMOTHERS, and those grandmothers had all lived through the Great Depression! 

I've posted this photo before, but here it is again. In addition to these grandparents in this photo, I had two STEP- grandparents, Grandma and Grandpa Sams, and one grandfather, Grandpa Fred (my father's father) and one STEP-grandfather, Bruce, who was at work this day.

Grandpa and Grandma Sams

I'm the baby in the middle in the photo below. I'm being held by my GREAT-GREAT-grandmother Carvalho and my GREAT Grandmother Cato. They both were alive until I was 6 years old and I remember them well. Grandma Cato lived with us 3 months out of every year and she got my bedroom when she was there - I didn't mind because it meant I got to sleep with my grandparents!  lol! My mother said when she was a girl, she didn't like it when Grandma Cato came to stay because she would get my mother's bedroom. Mom was a teenager then and she said she was always ashamed when she grew up because she'd go into the bedroom at night and flip on the light and Grandma never complained. But I liked it when she was there. She had long, long hair that I liked to brush. I thought she was nice.

So here is the lowdown - it's convoluted but maybe you can follow. 

GREAT GREAT Grandma Carvalho's son was my GREAT Grandfather, who you see right above me. 

His wife, my GREAT Grandmother Emma is to the far left.
Their daughter, next to Emma, was my Grandmother Mary (my father's mother).  

Above Grandma Cato is my Grandfather, Chap Cato (I called him Pa).

Next to him is my Grandmother Inez (I called her Ma.) They reared me.  

Ma

In front of Ma is her father, my GREAT Grandfather Benjamin Hall and next to him is Ma's mother, Ada Hall, my GREAT Grandmother.  They lived next door to us. 

My cousin Janie and I with my Great Grandma Ada Hall.

The Carvalho grandparents and Grandma Mary all lived in the same town.

So I spent a LOT of time with all these grandmothers!  Every summer we were busy harvesting and canning peaches, apricots, beans, tomatoes, and in the autumn, making apple butter and canning pears. By the time I was 13, I was working at the packing house in Armona packing fruit.

My great-grandmothers didn't pass away until I was an adult. I was 38 when my Great Grandmother Ada Hall passed away. I was 35 when my Great Grandmother Emma Carvalho passed away and I was 58 when my Grandmother Mary passed away.

I was very blessed with grandmothers and grandfathers!
And they all taught me valuable lessons in survival.
The grandfathers taught me to farm, to fish and how to grow a garden. The grandmothers how to clean, sew, can and freeze food.

The WHY I do what I do is also because of these wonderful folks, but also because I just love doing it. I get great satisfaction from growing my own food and preserving it. Having MCS, I need to KNOW what is in my food. I make my own sourdough from organic flour, salt, and water. That's it. I make my own laundry soap from very few ingredients because the stuff off the shelves makes me sick as hell. I can my own vegetables and meat and KNOW what is in them. 

A long healthy life is what I strive for! Every time I go to the doctor for a check-up, they ask, "What medications are you on?" and when I say "NONE!" they look at me like I'm an alien!  I'm hoping I NEVER have to take medications. My food and exercise is my medicine! A positive outlook is my medicine! 

Joe, my housemate, is really good about not putting things into the landfill. He's the recycler. I often toss cans or bottles into the garbage and he'll pull them out and get them to the correct recycling bin.  

We don't buy a lot of new things. If we need something, we'll look online at our local Buy Nothing group, or go to Goodwill or H20, a charity shop here in town.  I probably buy new clothes maybe once a year, and usually it's just one or two items. I live on about $1200 a month, so I'm not flush with cash!  lol!  But my house is paid for, and I share utilities and food costs with my housemate. 

That's not to say I do not spend money!!!  
Oh, I DO!

But I spend it on things that bring me joy!

I love crafting. I do needle-felting, card-making, and colored pencil or watercolor during the winters. Those things make my heart happy so I spend my money on supplies. 

I also spend the money I save on travel, which I've always loved. I try to walk the Camino Santiago every year for my health - it chelates the chemicals that make me so sick. Or I'll take a trip cross-country in my van. So it's not that I don't spend - I just choose to spend it on things I love, crafting and travel.  

Sunset Kawaii

To me, watching a beautiful sunset over the desert or the ocean is worth more than a hundred new outfits!

Anyway, I guess this is why I do what I do.

And I hope I'm able to DO it for many many more years. 
My grandmothers all lived very long active lives and I'm hoping I got more than a lot of THOSE genes! I would love to live to be a healthy 105 or more and still having fun - and I believe it's possible. 

So that's it.  Why I do what I do.

Oh yeah... tomorrow we're going to the coast to buy tuna from the tuna boats -- gonna can tuna this weekend!

Life is SO good!

Love,

Annie

FIRES!

 

Photo borrowed from Internet

With fires on both the Camino Frances and the Portuguese routes today, life for pilgrims is going to be "different."

On the Camino Frances, the fires started near the hermitage of Santa María de Eunate and are burning in the cereal fields and the mountains in and around Obanos. 

On the Portuguese Route, they've asked pilgrims NOT to walk certain areas until after August 7.  I understand they're working to keep the Palace and other historical buildings near Sintra safe. 

Stay safe, peregrinos!

Love,

Annie

2025 Camino is BOOKED!

 

Well, after mulling it over for a couple of weeks, I made the decision NOT to walk over the Pyrenees again, and to just start walking right out of Pamplona!  This will give me an extra week of days to stay in some of the little places I've missed over the years and to walk shorter stages in the beginning.  

I've made most of my reservations where it is necessary and am getting itchy to go!

All that is left to do is to spray my pack and sleeping bag with Permethrin - a week before leaving.  

Today my grandkids are visiting. 

The next 3 weeks will be busy with canning and freeze-drying produce from our garden. 

Life is busy and good!

See you on the trail,

Annie

My 2000 Toyota Sienna

 I thought I had blogged about my 2000 Toyota Sienna build but I can't find the post so maybe I deleted it when I was cleaning up my blog. At any rate, here are the photos of Joe building out my van.

I can't take the time right now to write comments, but you can see I built the bed with 3 spaces under it. I used the bins I am USING to measure the height of the bed.  There is another older blog on here that I'll try to find that shows how I organize the van. You might do a search on Organizing My Van. It's an older post - I have gone through a lot of changes to get where I'm happy so many of those older posts are no longer valid. For example when I first had the kitchen built, I put a large cooler in the big space -  then that was where my propane went but now I'm using a smaller butane stove so that's where my 5 gallon water bottle goes. 

Looking for anniewalkers.com?

 

It's gone. 
They wanted over $900 to renew it and so I let it go.

You can find my same page at
https://anniewalkers.weebly.com/

No big trips planned. 
Just a smaller, slow Camino with 2-3 pilgrims for 2026, ending with two nights at the Parador in Santiago. 

Let me know if you're interested!

Love,

Annie

The GOOD Memories

 I realized today that I have complained a lot in the past few years about changes on the Camino and how almost always, there was at least one, maybe two people in my group who pulled me down.

HOWEVER... there have been SO many wonderful people in my groups or on the Camino!  Here are just a few that stand out.

2006. Our very first Camino and what a time we had in Azofra where we met Edeltraut and Enrique!  He was from Segovia and she was from Germany. We all stayed at the OLD parochial that night and there was a wine festival going on. My GOSH we had fun! We walked on and off with them for kilometers. Eventually Enrique fell in love and took off on a Camino romance!

Edeltraut (middle) was a kick! She was the first person we met using trekking poles. You could hear her coming 1/2 mile away, click click clicking and laughing loud! 

Several years later, while walking out of Ponferrada, we heard that laugh and that click click click and there she was again!

On our 2009 Camino, we were literally dying of thirst when we heard a man calling to us from a nearby field. He asked if we were thirsty and invited us into his home where he served us chilled homemade gazpacho. His name was Antonio and he reminded me of Zorba the Greek! He kept his motorcycle in his house.

My first group Caminos were in 2012. 
Several people in those groups stood out for me and we became friends.

Father Jeffrey was one. I hear he'll be on the Camino again in September when I'm walking and I sure hope to meet up with him while there!

 Eileen Ciluffo was so sweet!
She and I are still Facebook friends.
She is hugging Anita, who was also a joy!

Patricia Moak became a friend for many years.

She unfriended me after the last election.

I felt it was such a shame to let politics get in the way of friendship,

but I love her and valued her friendship for years.

She went on to walk several Caminos on her own.

We met Angela in Oregon. She walked with Joe and in Forest Park and picked our brains because she was going on the Camino. She went SUPER light, with a tiny pack and had a great time. Then in 2012 on our Camino from Lourdes and down the Aragones Route, we ran into her gain. She was hospitalera at Arres! It was so fun to see her again!

In 2012, I had an Aussie name Theresa in one of my groups.

That gal made me laugh so hard!
She kept in touch for a few years and sent me a lovely merino teeshirt from Australia. She had the most interesting pack that she wore both in front and in back!

I had a wonderful group in 2014!

The entire group was a joy to walk with!
They had a rough start in SJPP
fighting 70 kph winds to get to Orisson.

Barbara said "Enough!" after a day or two of that weather.
She ended up bussing much of the way and meeting us all at our destination, often with dinner cooked!

I took most of the group by taxi to Roncesvalles the second day because there was wind, rain, and snow!

Two of the women, Pat and Chantal, wanted to walk.
So Joe too them over the pass, while the rest of us waited by the fire at La Posada. I guess it was a pretty intense walk as the snow began falling at the summit.

The next morning I met these two,

who had started late and gotten caught on the mountain,

huddled under a bush when the snow started and their 
phone flashlights failed! I heard from them a few years later. They'd gotten married after their Camino experience.

Paul and Pat were always smiling and I was so excited when they signed up to be in Joe's group 10 years later.

In 2015, Joe took a group. 

He said they were great and had a wonderful time!
I'll see if he has photos.

That year, I stayed home to care for my brother until he passed away.

In 2016, I walked from Malaga to Cordoba, popped up to the Camino Madrid, then picked up my group in Pamplona.
Again, 

the whole group was a joy to walk with!

That was before the new owners took over Gite Compostelle.
The old owner, Pierre, always threw us a party on the night before we took off!

In 2018 I had another fun group of ladies!

There were lots of laughs on this trip.

There's always that 'one' . . . lol!

In June 2018 I walked a "Slow Camino" from Sarria to Santiago with these two pilgrims!  They were so much fun and are still in touch.

Carol and Diane

We made it to Santiago!

In 2019 I took a break to walk alone.

In 2020, Joe and I tried to finish the VDLP,
but our trip was aborted due to Covid.
Those were the years I discovered I had breast cancer, 

had a double mastectomy,

and moved my mother in with me.
It was quite a ride!

I cared for my mother until she passed away March 2022,

and left for the Camino in April. 
I was exhausted.
It was Holy Year and Joe and I spent a week in Logroño and then a week in Manresa. We were there for Holy Week and the 500th anniversary of Ignatius Loyola arriving in Manresa. 
I picked up my group in Pamplona.

The two that stood out for me this trip were Nic (far right, stooping) and Marcia (far left top). Those two were so delightful, so positive, and Nic kept me laughing when I felt like crying. 

I realized I had left far too soon after my mother's death.

I was exhausted.

It seemed this was the year things changed,

and tourists, rather than pilgrims, flooded the Camino.

May 2024 was my last Camino.

MOST of the people in this group were delightful  . . .

Yesterday I listened to a podcast.
Rebekah of Moratinos was the guest.
She spoke of The Ten Commandments of the Camino.

Wonderful podcast.
Every person planning the Camino should listen to it 

in my opinion.

Here is a link if you're interested:
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/episode-96-rebekah-scotts-ten-commandments/id1067605198?i=1000714519168

One of the best things she said was 

"The Camino doesn't owe you anything!"
I loved that!

'THE CAMINO DOES NOT OWE YOU ANYTHING!"

At any rate, time heals our soul

and I've been healing.

I've been spending time looking for the positive

in the years I've taken groups.

I've been thinking about the people who were so sweet,

so grateful, so funny, such a joy!

There were SO many!

And now I'm planning a long contemplative walk 

all by myself to think it all over.

I've signed up for the Ignatian Prayer app, 

and will try to walk in silence as much as possible.

I have a lot to think about.

I'll walk the whole route alone, 

from SJPP to Santiago,

taking a full two months.
I've booked a minimum of lodgings,

and I may cancel some of those if it doesn't look busy.

I'm really looking forward to it.

As far as groups go,

I might like to do a few more "Slow Caminos," 

and only take 2-3 pilgrims.

I really enjoyed the one with Carol and Diane.

We'll see.

Until then, I'm doing my best to spend more time remembering the fun, 

the laughter, and the joy.

And for those who pained me,

I'm burning incense, whispering their names and sending them off into the wind with a blessing.

It helps a lot.

See you on the trail.

Love,

Annie