tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37070024.post3873141642128957966..comments2023-10-31T15:39:09.651+01:00Comments on box elder: PilgrimsLucyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09764296105901909328noreply@blogger.comBlogger11125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37070024.post-84041606657066699462012-05-18T16:13:08.873+02:002012-05-18T16:13:08.873+02:00Catching up, obviously...backwards...but thank you...Catching up, obviously...backwards...but thank you for this wonderfully intelligent, searching post. I haven't done a formal pilgrimage either, and I do think it has something to do with my protestantism, in spite of being Anglican, as well as hating to join in crowd activities, especially trendy ones! What you said about this rings true for me, and I agree about too many people with sharp points, eager to poke them at others. Here in Quebec we have several shrines that are sites of pilgrimage, and when I go and watch the faithful it makes me rather wistful for their simple faith and humility; I too think we have lost something.Bethhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15829062955658284450noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37070024.post-41318985721502472132012-05-09T16:45:05.627+02:002012-05-09T16:45:05.627+02:00I can understand the pull of the road offering con...I can understand the pull of the road offering contemplation and the push of the crowds, conditions and assumtions. <br /><br />Older ladies pale with indignation at the loud concert -- it's funny although I'm sure I would have been indignant as well.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37070024.post-76116893124372167322012-05-08T21:01:41.570+02:002012-05-08T21:01:41.570+02:00Thank you.
Sheila - I would love to have such a g...Thank you.<br /><br />Sheila - I would love to have such a guide and companion, someone with a knowledge and feeling for language and culture.<br /><br />Tristan - I assume so, that was part of the deal, wasn't it? I must say, that last, post-climactic walk from Santiago to the end of the earth, often strikes me as potentially the loveliest...<br /><br />R - yes, I have a feeling that odd, jaunty little tune is authentic and contemporary, the original dealing with a young man bizarrely resurrected after a hanging on a trumped-up charge after a failed seduction by a floozy and the devil in cahoots, or something like that!<br /><br />Plutarch - I remember you saying!<br /><br />LdP - c'est vrai. A medium for exhibitionist introverts, I've heard it called. An afternoon's hard work to say a few things that might have been expressed in ten minutes conversation, and yet in five days with my nearest and dearest in close proximity the opportunity for such conversation, arising from time spent reflecting, did not arise. These are very busy mountains these days.Lucyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09764296105901909328noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37070024.post-58115574450428055712012-05-08T18:13:31.979+02:002012-05-08T18:13:31.979+02:00Quite depressing. Surely being solitary is essenti...Quite depressing. Surely being solitary is essential for contemplation and the rationale needn't be religious. The shared experience - providing it's at a distance - is to do with faith, faith in anything that's subjective. Not mathematics, perhaps, but the beauty of mathematics if you're lucky enough to have been exposed to it and recognised it. Faith in oneself.<br /><br />I have never done a pilgrimage but I have walked in highish mountains. I wouldn't go as far as saying that up there only man is vile, but he's frequently a disappointment. And it's as well to remember that the disappointment may be reciprocal. The English are often quite good at passing each other on narrow paths, managing to acknowledge while containing that disappointment: the half smile, the barely audible utterance, the head turned away afterwards. But none of that works with a crowd.<br /><br />Not a joiner, you say. Could be disputable. In blogging we often willingly disclose more of ourselves than we would ever dare face to face. We're much more inclined to presume a sympathetic response, imagining that something written down has required more effort than merely opening our mouth, and is therefore somehow truer. A risky proposition for someone with a tendency to tease, as I have found out. To join is to enter a community and in blogging it seems we set great - perhaps unjustifiable - store by depending on the absence of our face and our tone of voice. <br /><br />Imagine someone unknown engaging you in a pub with what I've just written. Doesn't bear thinking about.Roderick Robinsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16828395545197001637noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37070024.post-81967221107938897972012-05-08T18:12:16.570+02:002012-05-08T18:12:16.570+02:00I arrived in Santiago by car from the south rather...I arrived in Santiago by car from the south rather than the north. The entire square opposite the cathedral was boarded up to accommodate a pop concert. There were banks of amplifiers on the stage behind the hoardings. In the hotel, formerly a hospital built by Ferdinand and Isabella to accomoodate pilgrims, you could not hear yourself speak. Elderly English and Scandanavian ladies were pale with indignation. The concert was just in preparation. It did not begin as things tend to do in Spain until midnight.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06972049290586377462noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37070024.post-1580690428588523562012-05-08T00:04:08.287+02:002012-05-08T00:04:08.287+02:00"So here they are, on the (early) morning of ..."So here they are, on the (early) morning of departure, not looking terribly solemn or spiritual." Wonderful caption for this charming photo, sweet Lucy! A dash of LotR and pondering swirled into the road trip mix. The Loreena McKennitt song comes to mind ... wasn't it on the Mask and Mirror disk? I'm not certain, but it was titled Santiago, I think.Rouchswalwehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01393987883437907945noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37070024.post-66591078150100481932012-05-07T14:00:17.087+02:002012-05-07T14:00:17.087+02:00and having got to santiago, did the ancestors then...and having got to santiago, did the ancestors then walk home again ?tristanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13268216095376583052noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37070024.post-3114812849078183952012-05-07T13:30:15.584+02:002012-05-07T13:30:15.584+02:00Wonderful post! I smiled and nodded all the way th...Wonderful post! I smiled and nodded all the way through. My favorite line: "There are more than enough people with points in the world, nasty sharp ones they keep jabbing into other people."<br />- alisonAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37070024.post-67181700040844088682012-05-07T05:27:33.722+02:002012-05-07T05:27:33.722+02:00This was fascinating. I had no idea that walking t...This was fascinating. I had no idea that walking these routes had become so popular.<br /><br />I've been reading, and just finished Walker Percy's "Lost in the Cosmos," and now everything else reminds me of it. Your post makes me think of themes in his book. I wonder if you've read it?<br /><br />Let's make a pilgrimage together someday after the fad has passed. :-)<br /><br />The route through Tuscany and further is just lovely....I think I would like doing it myself, for various reasons.<br /><br />I like that Tom thought of the Lord of the Rings moment. Such powerful stuff in those books.Sheilahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03592157819188364751noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37070024.post-76661720595772605552012-05-07T00:39:27.120+02:002012-05-07T00:39:27.120+02:00'The road goes ever on and on,
down from the d...'The road goes ever on and on,<br />down from the door where it began...'<br /><br />Lovely post Lucy.herhimnbrynhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01182397064631016552noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37070024.post-78395593504178977512012-05-06T23:09:51.842+02:002012-05-06T23:09:51.842+02:00lovely meditative pot, lucy.
one of my dearest fr...lovely meditative pot, lucy.<br /><br />one of my dearest friends just did the arid bit of the camino (in spain, amongst a lot of rocks, it seemed from his photos). he did it as a meditation, a way to look inward and find a path - he was a newly empty-nested single father whose career and life opportunities were suddenly opening up. he said he found much on the trek, but little of what he expected. he came back still unsure of what he wanted to do, though far more certain of the where. still, i think that whatever your reason, going on a trek like this, wearing out a sturdy pair of hiking boots, it can only do one good. <br /><br />i'd take the green path, though. the photos of the grey and empty fields he walked along filled me with sadness. still, perhaps there is a reason that those searching for answers often head out to the desert.the polish chickhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09929281676865641560noreply@blogger.com