Answer Me This, Vol. 18 - Home is Where My Appendix Isn't

Summer is here and Kendra over at Catholic All Year has done the entire internet a huge favor by bringing back probably my favorite link-up in the history of ever: Answer Me This! Every Sunday from now until August we will answer 6 questions as asked by Kendra and link-up to share our answers. It's the internet's favorite cocktail party and I'm so happy it's back.

Posting late this week, sorry. I got dragged to the middle of nowhere in Eastern Nevada last week and it feels like I'm still catching up on life, let alone the blog. On to the questions!
 
1. How long have you lived in your current home?
I have lived on Jacaranda Lane (not the real name of my street, but might as well be) for 4 years now. I have yet to really finish "unpacking" or learn the names of more than my absolute immediate neighbors. This doesn't bother me, though, because the not-immediate neighbors are way more transient and short-stayed than I am it seems. I've thought about moving out many, many times in the past, but ever since my uncle moved out and I realized that I actually like it here, I've been okay with staying. This is not my for-ever home, though, but it's a good for-now home.

  2. How do you find out about news and current events?
This is shameful: Twitter. I get Tweets from certain celebrities, actors, and public figures sent straight to my phone so sometimes I wake up in the morning and there's a dozen or more tweets about the same thing. Also Facebook tells me things sometimes, too. If neither of those is quick enough on the draw, I know my roommate will fill me in when I get home. I actually like hearing news from her because she's able to tell me really awful things without making me super sad about them because that's why I avoid news in general: I'm trying to keep the sadness at bay.

3. Would you be able to make change for a twenty right now? For a dollar?
Nope. I'm that typical millennial who almost never carries cash. I have plenty stashed at home for emergencies, but I feel really vulnerable if I'm carrying around lots of cash. It's like, "Hey, muggers, please come steal my purse!" and I'm just not a fan of that. I have recently started carrying smaller bills (tens, fives, and ones) because I feel silly going to Del Taco or something for a $1 burrito and using my debit card to pay for it. That's kind of dumb.

4. What's the craziest food you've ever eaten?
I'm not the most adventurous eater (not picky, just not super adventurous) but I had some really gamey venison in Germany several years ago (like, really gamey) which was a bit much for me, and I've had squid and octopus and the usual "exotic" foods grown-ups scare 5th graders with. I also ate catfish in New Orleans (I never thought I'd actually eat catfish) and it was one of the most delicious things I've ever consumed. I'm working towards being more adventurous and not always getting "the usual" when I go out to eat. I'm pretty good at eating like the locals when I travel, though.

5. Which of the commonly removed parts have you had removed? (tonsils, wisdom teeth, appendix, etc.)
I am currently (not) missing:
Wisdom teeth - all of them - from the summer before I started college. Extremely painful, came out of anesthesia hysterically crying and disoriented, and couldn't take the Vicodin because it made me violently ill and threatened to undo my stitches. Also, I couldn't kiss my boyfriend for 2 weeks. When you're 18, two weeks is an eternity.

Source

Appendix - removed 3 years ago this past April. I went to urgent care thinking it was an abdominal infection or something (this had happened twice before mind you, and both times they said it 'probably wasn't as bad as you said it was' and gave me a shot of antibiotics and sent me home. I hate doctors). After a pregnancy test and lots of vomiting they let me go to the ER where I took two more pregnancy tests before they determined it was clinical appendicitis and gave me morphine and scheduled surgery. You can read all the details of how awful that whole experience was HERE. (Warning: I was under the influence of a lot of painkillers and cabin fever so there's quite a bit of swearing in that post - sorry.)

6. What's your favorite sport to watch on TV? 
Basketball. Lakers' basketball. Otherwise, I don't like watching sports on TV. I'll attend a volleyball game or watch a minor league baseball game if I have people around me to talk to between interesting things. Generally speaking, though, I'm not a sports watcher or enjoyer. At all.

Pinterest

That's it for this round of Answer Me This!  If you have a blog, answer the questions and link up with us over at Kendra's in this post. Don't have a blog but still want to play? That's okay because the whole thing is made up and the posts don't matter - leave your answers in the comments either at Kendra's post or right here! I'd love to hear from you!



love,
Willow





*Note: The Answer Me This logo image belongs to Kendra Tierney over at Catholic All Year and is used as part of a link-up only. The "Evil Appendix" comic is from Awkward Yeti and is used with permission. The "Basketball Season" t-shirt image has been sourced. All other images in this post are property of Whitney Miller.* 

52 Lists, Week 25

Happy Monday! Welcome to my 52 Lists Project, wherein I feature one list every week for 2015. To join in with your own list, scroll down to the link at the bottom, print out your own list, and then share it however you wish!

Week 25: List Your Favorite Summer Activities
Summer is in full swing here in So Cal and while many people (I'm looking at you, people in school) will be gallivanting about chasing down ice cream trucks and organizing picnics in the park, I will be languishing in an office, remaining as pale as though it were still January. However, there are some summer activities I enjoy on my days off, and here's that list:

• BBQ-ing
• bike rides at the beach
• watching fireworks shows
• going to Disneyland
• spending a day at the pool
• camping
• hiking
• visiting the farmer's market
• going to the county fair
• going to the OC swap meet (followed by an afternoon at the beach)
• stargazing
• concerts in the park
• toasting marshmallows (and friends) at bonfires
• eating tomatoes from Mom's garden
• roadtrips
• going to the lake
• eating hot dogs and potato salad
• binge-reading poolside
• experimenting with summer cocktails

I especially love a good mint julep, with properly crushed ice and good bourbon. Yum.

*My camera capabilities are currently out of order so I will update a photo of my list when they are restored. Sorry for depriving you of my fantastic photography skills.*

How about you? What are your favorite ways to pass the time and keep cool in the summer? Got any great cocktail recipes I should try out? Let me know in comments or with a list of your own!


Love,

Willow

For more fun with 52 Lists, click down on "52 Lists" in the little categories section at the bottom of the post, and go over to Moorea Seal's site to see more!

Check out Moorea Seal's entire project at her blog below:
http://www.moorea-seal.com/p/52-lists.html  

Yarn Along - Tali's Tallulah, Week 4

Greetings! Obviously one of my favorite things is reading, but I'm also very fond of knitting. Ginny over at Small Things hosts a lovely little weekly link-up where we showcase what we're working on and what we're reading. Once you're done here, head on over and see what everyone else is up to!

I got so much knitting done this week and I'm quite proud of myself. I had almost 3 hours of knitting time at my Saturday night babysitting job plus another 3 hours on Sunday night. Unfortunately, I forgot to bring my smaller size needle on Sunday so I didn't get to start on the ribbing of the hem on the body until Monday. Monday turned out to be quite successful knit-wise because I had to take my Oma to check-up with her optometrist and wound up sitting in the waiting room for about an hour working on the ribbing. Monday night was more babysitting so I got even more of it done and after a couple more rows I'll be ready to finish up the sleeves! So much knitting!!!

Reading:
I'm still working my way through To the Field of Stars and I'm still really enjoying it. There are a few things about it that aren't so wonderful, but on the whole I'm really enjoying it. It's reading like a real story instead of a travelogue or guidebook (so it's refreshingly different from my last two Camino reads) and I'm really loving Fr. Codd's writing style.

In other knit-related news, I got a new knitting bag! I'd been using a cloth tote/shopping bag for a long while and it was falling apart. Julie at Knitted Bliss ran a post about her sponsors for the month and one of them is Madbird Knitting & Accessories who makes knitting bags and totes and the like, and there was a discount code offered so I figured I'd look. They're rather pricey but the fabrics are so beautiful and the totes are really sturdy, plus I really needed a new dedicated knit bag and I had a discount code so I went for it and bought the large butterfly tote. (Apparently the butterfly one is sold out but I've linked to one that's the same size and type in a different fabric.) It even came with a small zippered pouch for notions and a built in yarn guide that snaps so you can change the yarn you're working with whenever you want! And the tote itself has a magnetic closure which is really nice, and longish handles. Look at it!

Isn't it preeeeeeeeeetty? Here's a collage of all the features:
 

I'm not making any money from this post or all the linking, I'm just really excited about my new knitting bag. I'm definitely looking forward to using it when my knitting group starts our next sweater project at the end of the summer. It's the perfect size for a medium to large project like that (a blanket would be way too big but a sweater should fit nicely!).




Whew! That's it for me today. You can also find notes and detailed specs on this project on my Ravelry Page. What have you been reading and knitting lately? Let me know in comments and then head over to Ginny's to see what everyone else is up to!

Love,

Willow






*Author's Note: The Yarn Along button in this post is property of Ginny Sheller and is used with permission. All other images used in the post as well as text are (c)Whitney Miller and may be used only with express permission. See the About Page for details.*

Book Review: Camino de Santiago - Practical Preparation and Background

Stats:
Author: Gerald Kelly
# of pages: 144
Original Publication Date: July 4, 2011
Publisher: Createspace (self-published)
My Copy: Second Edition April 2015

My obsession with El Camino de Santiago de Compostela continues with this fantastic little guidebook by Camino veteran Gerald Kelly. I really enjoyed it. Truly.

It should be noted that this book is self-published and has a few typos and a couple of formatting issues. This is inevitable when dealing with a self-published work (a mark of the sad state of the publishing world in my opinion) but honestly they weren't really problematic. Mr. Kelly opens the book stating that it's self-published, and that efforts have been made to correct any and all errors, so the few typos that persist weren't too irritating. The only issue that truly frustrated me consistently was the way the text ran almost all the way into the crease between pages. This made the text in those areas difficult to read and I found myself bending the spine considerably more than I like to with slim paperbacks. Otherwise, the self-publishing thing wasn't an issue.

I really loved the way the book was set up, so that you didn't need to read it cover-to-cover if you didn't want to. It's a short book to begin with, but I think the way the chapters and sections are worked makes it invaluable as a reference guide. The first (very brief) section introduces you to the Camino - what it is and why people walk it. The second section is all about preparation: what to bring, how to pack, how to prepare, and how to get to Europe if, like me, you don't live on that particular continent.

My favorite part of that section was that instead of making a comprehensive list of everything you need, Mr. Kelly broke it up into three: the essentials, things you can bring if you want to, and what to leave at home. He also doesn't really push specific items or brands, but rather offers the pros and cons of a variety of options and allowing the reader to make an educated decision about what might best work for him or her. I found that to be an intelligent and considerate format and I greatly appreciated it both as a reader and as a prospective pilgrim.

The next part was all about walking the Camino itself. Mr. Kelly wrote about what a typical day on the Camino looked like, and what the hostels are like. He wrote about what to eat and where to buy food, when to drink the wine and when to stick to water. He talked about the potential dangers people face (mostly heatstroke and heart attack) and a variety of ways to deal with blisters. It is a lot of information to digest but it's broken up into bite-sized chunks and generally well-written. He covered a lot of topics but again, all of them fit into pretty small sections and sub-categories and it's easy to bookmark the sections I want to go back to.

After the main section on the day-to-day of the Camino there are shorter sections on other pilgrim routes in Europe, nature and architecture, as well as a chapter on the history of Spain. Some people found this section unnecessary or too long and boring. While I skimmed through most of this section myself, I felt that it is important for non-Europeans to understand Spanish history in order to better understand the nature of Spain today. The history lesson is followed by a Spanish phrase guide as well as some explanation of the differences between Castilian, Galician, and Basque Spanish as well as the variety of regional dialects spoken in Spain. The phrase guide is useful and I liked that instead of trying to teach rudimentary grammar Mr. Kelly simply offered a list of common words and phrases that the pilgrim needs. I personally plan to brush up on my conversational Spanish in the next two years anyway but I like that this phrase guide is available.

I loved that this man walks the Camino every year (or close to it at least) so he actually knows what he's talking about. He's also tried and tested a variety of different walking styles and brought a variety of different equipment with him, and he's also talked to other people about their Caminos and what worked for them. Obviously I won't know what will work best for me until I actually go, but having a variety of opinions to draw upon will likely be quite helpful in two years' time.

I don't have any quotes to share because this book wasn't really the quotable kind. There were parts that made me laugh, but out of context they don't make sense.

Recommended Reading Level: Teen+ but mostly Adult. It's all about packing and walking almost 800km and exchange rates and blisters and I wouldn't give this to somebody under 18 just because unless they were getting ready to walk the Camino for their 18th birthday/high school graduation, they'd be bored to tears.

Rating: 4 of 5 stars. I have to deduct because the typos and formatting issue of the type running right into the crease were annoying. Also, while I did enjoy reading it, it didn't completely captivate me like a 5 star read would. Because it's a guidebook. Can't be helped, sorry.

Who Should Read It: People who plan on walking the Camino anytime in the future, people who plan on backpacking through Europe anytime in the near future, people who like practical guidebooks, people who like books about preparing for a very long walk, people who are considering walking the Camino for the first time.

Further reading to consider:
The author has a website where you can download a guide to a variety of Caminos for free (a donation is suggested but if you want it for free it's available but really, make a donation if you do!) at CaminoGuide.net. 

I'm already reading my next book on the Camino, this one written by a Catholic priest. I'm looking forward to a religious perspective on this crazy obsession of mine.

For more of the books I've loved, hated, and reviewed, please check out my Book Reviews tab.

Happy Reading!

Willow 





*Note: I am not now nor have ever been an associate or acquaintance of Mr. Gerald Kelly. This is an unpaid, unsolicited review of a book I genuinely liked and wished to share.*

52 Lists, Week 24

Happy Monday! Welcome to my 52 Lists Project, wherein I feature one list every week for 2015. To join in with your own list, scroll down to the link at the bottom, print out your own list, and then share it however you wish!

Week 24: List Your Favorite Things in Your Favorite Color
This is a funny one that my niece helped me think up. My favorite color is purple - any shade, any tone, doesn't matter. Lavender, magenta, royal purple.... I could go on. This particular list isn't very long, but here's the list of some of my favorite things that happen to come in my favorite color.

• jacaranda trees (of course)
• African daisies
• pens
• stationery 
• forget-me-nots
• blackberries
• berry smoothies
• my fairy dress
• lavender plants
• my teacup and saucer from England

So there you have it! Some of my favorite things in my favorite color.

*My camera capabilities are currently out of order so I will update a photo of my list when they are restored. Sorry for depriving you of my fantastic photography skills.*


How about you? What's your favorite color?Are there any of your favorite things that always come in your favorite color? Let me know in comments or with a list of your own!


Love,

Willow

For more fun with 52 Lists, click down on "52 Lists" in the little categories section at the bottom of the post, and go over to Moorea Seal's site to see more!

Check out Moorea Seal's entire project at her blog below:
http://www.moorea-seal.com/p/52-lists.html  

Answer Me This, Vol. 17 - The Return of the Best Link-Up Ever

Summer is here and Kendra over at Catholic All Year has done the entire internet a huge favor by bringing back probably my favorite link-up in the history of ever: Answer Me This! Every Sunday from now until August we will answer 6 questions as asked by Kendra and link-up to share our answers. It's the internet's favorite cocktail party and I'm so happy it's back.

1) Any big plans for the summer?
Not really. Mostly I plan on working on the blog (I really need to update the template and header - it's sad) and organizing the office so that our current storage solutions are more useful and efficient. Boring? Yes. Necessary? Also yes.

I'm probably going up to Salem sometime in July, which should be nice.

There may also be a young man involved at some point this summer, but I'm going to play that one a little close to the chest for now and give you an update if  I have news in the next few weeks.

2) What is the strangest thing you believed as a child?
I believed a lot of things as a kid, partly because I was gullible and naive and partly because I had a wild imagination. I could be totally cynical right now and say the strangest thing I believed was that grown-ups actually know what they're doing (in reality I'm learning that we're all just making it up). However, I sincerely believed there were fairies in our garden until I was about 7.

3) What is your favorite amusement park ride? (can be a specific one at a specific park or just a type of ride)
I'm a big fan of roller coasters, as long as they aren't made of wood (Ghostrider at Knott's Berry Farm freaks me out - feels like it's going to come apart!). I love the kind that have vertical corkscrews the best.

4) What's on your summer reading list?
I should really dedicate an entire post to my summer reading goals (and I may still do that) but for now the current list includes the following:

Finish reading To the Field of Stars
Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore (re-read)
The Book Thief (re-read)
Emma
Sense & Sensibility
Start reading The Sparrow and try to get about halfway through it.
Penumbra's and Book Thief should go quickly because I've technically already "read" them because I listened to the audiobooks this past winter. The reason I'm reading the paperbacks is because I know that my comprehension is better when I see it and I want to be able to underline quotations for reviews here on the blog. You can read more about my reading goals for this year in this post.

For some reason I can't find my standalone copy of Emma so I may have to read it out of my Austen anthology. I don't mind though; it's a beautiful book.

5) Have you ever fallen asleep in public?
Several times, but the only time that really sticks out in my memory was also the most embarrassing. It was the spring of sophomore year and toward the end of the year in my drama class (sophomores could take art or drama as an elective - since I draw bad stick people, it was an obvious choice) in the afternoon. We didn't have much to do so we had a free period/study hall. I fell asleep and according to people sitting next to me, I began to snore. I was also having a strange dream and wound up falling out of my chair which woke me up. Thankfully the people I went to school with weren't mean because it could've been a source of harassment but instead it just became a good story.

6) What is your favorite smell?
This is hard because I really love the smell of jasmine and I also love my mom's perfume, but then there's also the smell of evenings after it's rained, when you can taste the metallic tang of moisture in the air and everything is clear and cool and fresh. And petrichor.

Source

That's it for this round of Answer Me This!  If you have a blog, answer the questions and link up with us over at Kendra's in this post. Don't have a blog but still want to play? That's okay because the whole thing is made up and the posts don't matter - leave your answers in the comments either at Kendra's post or right here! I'd love to hear from you!



love,
Willow





*Note: The Answer Me This logo image belongs to Kendra Tierney over at Catholic All Year and is used as part of a link-up only. All other images in this post are property of Whitney Miller with the exception of the "Petrichor" image, the source of which I have linked to.* 

Yarn Along - Tali's Tallulah, Week 3

Greetings! Obviously one of favorite things is reading, but I also quite love knitting. Ginny over at Small Things hosts a lovely little link-up so once you're done here go visit and see what everyone else is up to.

I haven't done as much knitting this week as I intended, since I've been doing quite a bit of writing instead (there's another book review coming your way!). In any case, I've been working diligently on the stockinette body since I separated the sleeves, and I'm coming up on a place where I will have to decide if I want more stockinette for the body or if I want to do it exactly to pattern with a large ribbed section at the bottom. Personally, I don't really like the look of more than 1 - 1.5 inches of ribbing. Well, part of it is not liking the way it looks and part of it is I don't like having to knit that much ribbing! So I'm weighing my options and I'll decide probably by next week. If you have an opinion, please let me know in comments! The original pattern is here and my project page is here if you want to see what I'm talking about.

Reading Lately:
I'm making progress in my latest Camino read, To the Field of Stars. The prose is still beautiful and he's a wonderful storyteller. He's also quite funny and doesn't take himself too seriously, which is totally refreshing after Jack Hitt's take on things. I'll keep you posted as I keep reading. Oh, and you can also keep track of what I'm reading on Goodreads (in case you feel like stalking my every move, hehe).



That's it for me today. You can also find notes and detailed specs on this project on my Ravelry Page. What have you been reading and knitting lately? Let me know in comments and then head over to Ginny's to see what everyone else is up to!

Love,

Willow






*Author's Note: The Yarn Along button in this post is property of Ginny Sheller and is used with permission. All other images used in the post as well as text are (c)Whitney Miller and may be used only with express permission. See the About Page for details.*

52 Lists, Week 23

Happy Monday! Welcome to my 52 Lists Project, wherein I feature one list every week for 2015. To join in with your own list, scroll down to the link at the bottom, print out your own list, and then share it however you wish!

Week 23: List Some of Your Treasures
I was always into "treasures" when I was younger. I had a few special boxes, each with different kinds of treasures in them. From my seashell collection to tokens from elementary school to love letters from my high school sweetheart, I have some things that I want to hold onto as memories for when I am very old.

• my purple teacup and saucer from England
• my books
• my cat (he's my best friend so yes, he's treasured)
• my great-grandmother's tortilla recipe - family treasure
• my tea set collection
• my grandmother's emerald ring and the story behind it
• my crystal rosary Kyle brought back from Ireland for me
• the postcards I kept from Europe, 2007
• all of my journals, especially the one from junior year and the following summer 
• my Wildflower Cardigan
• old love letters
• all the sweet babes I get to take care of: Lila, Talia, Jude, Adam, Braeden, Makenzie...

There you have it. I could have listed out all of my favorite books, but I've already done that. 

*My camera capabilities are currently out of order so I will update a photo of my list when they are restored. Sorry for depriving you of my fantastic photography skills.*

What about you? What are some of your most prized possessions or keepsakes? Let me know in comments or with a list of your own!


Love,

Willow

For more fun with 52 Lists, click down on "52 Lists" in the little categories section at the bottom of the post, and go over to Moorea Seal's site to see more!

Check out Moorea Seal's entire project at her blog below:
http://www.moorea-seal.com/p/52-lists.html  

Yarn Along - Tali's Tallulah, Week 2

Greetings! Obviously one of favorite things is reading, but I also quite love knitting. Ginny over at Small Things hosts a lovely little link-up so once you're done here go visit and see what everyone else is up to.

Thank you all for your sweet birthday wishes last week. On to the knitting!!!!
My purple Tallulah for little Talia is coming along beautifully. I'm remembering what I love so much about knitting sweaters for small people: they work up so quickly! I even measured the little one I'm knitting for on Saturday and her chest measurements for the size I'm making are dead on. I also got her measurements for the length of her arms from shoulder to elbow and then armpit to waist/hips just so I can make sure it's long enough in those places. 

I'm just about ready to divide the sleeves as I'm almost done with the armhole increases, then it's a few inches of stockinette for the body before I start the ribbing at the bottom. Then it's finishing the sleeves and working the neck and button bands. Wow this sweater is going fast!

Reading: I finished reading Camino de Santiago: Practical Preparation and Background on Monday evening. It was a perfectly practical guidebook and I'm very glad I got it. It's written by a man who's walked the Camino many, many times and has a great deal of sound advice to offer. After I finished it, I dove into To The Field of Stars by Fr. Kevin A. Codd. I'm excited to read about the Camino from the perspective of a religious person, after reading about it from the perspective of a non-religious person (my review is here). I'll let you know if I find it edifying. So far the prose is poetic and beautiful but I'm only in the first chapter.

That's it for me today. You can also find notes and detailed specs on this project on my Ravelry Page. What have you been reading and knitting lately? Let me know in comments and then head over to Ginny's to see what everyone else is up to!

Love,

Willow






*Author's Note: The Yarn Along button in this post is property of Ginny Sheller and is used with permission. All other images used in the post as well as text are (c)Whitney Miller and may be used only with express permission. See the About Page for details.*

Book Review: Off the Road

Stats:
Author: Jack Hitt
# of pages: 255
Original Publication Date: 1994
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
My Copy: First Simon & Schuster Paperbacks edition 2005


So I'm currently more than a little obsessed with the whole Camino to Santiago thing (see my post about it HERE) and as such I've taken it upon myself to read as many books on the subject as I can get my hands on (please don't look in my Amazon shopping cart...) I figured I might as well share some of my "research" with you lovely internet-dwellers out there.

Firstly, there are dozens - probably hundreds - of books about the Camino out there. From the Shirley Maclaine experience to the one written by a couple of nonfiction writers to the one written by a priest (which I've started reading!), there's no shortage of travelogues, memoirs, guidebooks and the like on the market. If you want to read an architect's experience of the Camino, or a housewife's experience of the Camino, it's available. My reasons for starting with this particular account of the road to Santiago is because it is this book that loosely inspired the Martin Sheen and Emilio Estevez film called, The Way. The author even makes a kind of cameo character appearance as feisty travel writer Jack, from Ireland. This character is much more likeable than the author himself, in my opinion. More on that later.

This book was originally published in 1994, so it's a teensy bit dated and I have a feeling that conditions along the Camino have changed and improved a bit in the last 20 years, especially given the Camino's rise in popularity after the release of Sheen and Estevez's film and the Holy Year in 2010. In any case, the idea of dropping your entire life to go for a very long walk still shines through. Because walking across northern Spain takes you "out of time" in a way, the many years since publication don't really affect the narrative experience.

I didn't care much for the beginning - he talked far too much about architecture and it really didn't feel relevant to beginning his pilgrimage. He also didn't have very positive things to say about religion, let alone Catholicism. Basically, I felt he was incredibly close-minded. He began by talking about authenticity and metaphor and literalism. He seemed to think that pilgrimage is about getting back to the truest sense of the word before religious metaphors got tangled up in politics and journalism and came to mean nothing at all. It honestly felt like a lot of pedantic backpedaling; it was like he was trying to say that he wasn't going on pilgrimage for religious reasons or to "find God," heavens no! He was purely intellectual, strictly going for a very long walk to connect with himself and unplug from CNN and see what his brain did when it wasn't inundated with media and hyper-connectivity. It felt seriously inauthentic. 

At first I didn't like the way the narrative of his walking was broken up. It's split into 11 chapters with an introduction and an afterward. Each of the chapters revolves around his experiences in a particular region or portion of the Camino: Saint-Jean Pied de Port, Torres del Rio, Leon, and Arzua to name a few. I was initially displeased because I wanted more detail, more day-to-day grind of walking the road, not the highlights version. Upon reflection, however, it makes sense. He wrote this book for commercial publication and yes, there's plenty of slogging through wheat fields in a lighting storm and blisters and lack of adequate shower facilities, but if there was much more of that the average reader would be bored to tears. He did a good job of giving you enough of the daily grind without bogging you down in it, and there were the usual small epiphanies and roadside gems described.

What I feel he did best was describing his fellow pilgrims. He painted incredibly vivid pictures of the Flemish film crew and Claudy and the donkey, Jesus the gypsy, the Welsh family, the Spanish girls, and the Italian pilgrim who spoke no language well. He illustrated the pack mentality versus "every man for himself" and how that dynamic changed over different parts of the Camino. Hostel workers, priests, Spanish widows, and Basque shepherds all came to life on the pages and both welcomed and challenged the pilgrims. All of these people were real, engaging, and complex. There were a few times when the author was unkind or reduced people to stereotypes, but more often than not he allowed the characters to develop and the reader got to see the other side of them.

My main problem with the entire book was the lack of real epiphany. All through the book I kept waiting for the author to learn something - about himself, about the world, about religion, about God - but it never happened. He even made this lack of "lesson learning" a  good thing at the end, in the afterword. He acts like St. James isn't the saint to go to if you're looking for epiphany because St. James was so much simpler than that when depicted as a pilgrim. I disagree. I feel like walking almost 500 miles on pilgrimage has to change you or all you've done is taken a really long walk through northern Spain, practically devoid of meaning. Perhaps I'm naive and still dew-eyed with the belief that God speaks to us when we can listen - on a dirt road in the middle of the Spanish Meseta - but what I felt most for this writer was pity that he was so cynical and almost actively avoiding any kind of experience of epiphany. Maybe my impression is incorrect or somehow inaccurate or even biased because of the author's largely negative view of Catholic Christianity (I'm willing to admit I could be wrong about this) but I sincerely hope that when it comes to my turn to make this journey I have a much more positive experience than he did.

I thought his redemptive moment would be when he entered the cathedral before the statue of St. James.  The Spanish philosopher Miguel de Unamuno wrote of that space, "Before this Portico, one must pray in one way or another: one cannot make literature." Here, the author drops to his knees and approaches St. James in gratitude - as is custom for all pilgrims, kings and peasants alike. He seems to be on the verge of the epiphany I waited so long for, but then... 

"Even here, minutes away from completing my pilgrimage, an air of fraudulence lingers. I had expected a purity, a clarifying wind of revelation. Instead the tourists unsheathe their cameras and illuminate my already soiled epiphany with the strobe of flashes.  This clenched face and furrowed brow now bowing before the statue of James - is this mine, a performance, or both?" (238-239)

ARGHHHHH! SO close and then the cop-out and blaming the tourists for ruining his could-be epiphany. Jackass.

His one moment of redemption, however, came on the last page. He had been in Santiago for a week and had been showered, shaved, and changed into new, clean clothes, and returned to the cathedral for the last time. Instead of being lost in his cynicism, he joined the line of people waiting to kneel at the statue of St. James to pray. So many people have placed their hands beneath the saint's feet that the marble has actually developed the indentation of a perfectly shaped human hand. Now, cleaned up and dressed as a normal person - no longer garbed and clearly marked as a pilgrim, he says, "One cannot make literature here. When my time comes, I put my hand into the stone and pray."  Not the religious epiphany or grand conclusion I had hoped for, but it's better than nothing. The closest thing we get to the lesson learned is in the afterword where he says, "In the midst of all that work, wrangling the details of life stripped down to that essence [of bare necessities], some tiny thing appears. It might be a funny line, a moment, a chance encounter, a though that gives you the power to see yourself as you really are, there in that awkward surreal place." He speaks to my dissatisfaction with his conclusions in the afterword, saying that if I want revelations or epiphanies I should read a war journal. Frankly, I think he kind of missed the point.

Some quotes I underlined:

From page 36:

The road itself is... among our oldest tropes. The obvious metaphors click by. The high road and the low, the long and winding, lonesome, royal, open, private, the road to hell, tobacco, crooked, straight and narrow.  There is the road stretching into infinity, bordered by lacy mists, favored by sentimental poets.  There is the more dignified road of Mr. Frost.  There is, every four years, the road to the White House. There is the right road. And then there is the road that concerns me most today, the wrong road.

 Immediately following on page 37:

Then again, maybe I should calm down.

 You think?

From page 43:

What the modern pilgrim is exiled from is not a place but velocity. I haven't left the world of the city; I have left the realm of the car. What distinguishes me is not that I am out of town but that I am on foot.  My predecessors were outcasts because they left the security of the village. I have left the world of technology and speed.

Are you beginning to see what I mean about his obsession with unpacking metaphors and getting back to the truest sense of the meaning of pilgrimage?

From page 182:

Is this pilgrimage a sacred task or is it trumped-up tourism?

From page 244:

A thousand years ago, from this belief [in God] but also from crude political calculation, financial desperation, and military necessity, the pilgrimage emerged as a journey to truth. What one finds on the road may not be what god wrought, but it is what man wrought, and, for a time, it was the best we could do.

So to summarize a long and winding post, there were things about this book that I liked, and plenty of things about it I had problems with. I found the author's voice pedantic, cynical, and generally obnoxious, but every once-in-a-while he had something interesting to say. 

Recommended Reading Level: Adult. Not in an R-rated sense but in the sense that this guy used a lot of big words (unnecessarily, too) that challenged my post-college brain a bit. Also there is talk of sex and drug use and flippant remarks that adolescents may not be able to put into context.

Rating: 2.5 out of 5 stars - I'd like to be able to give this 3 whole stars, but the author's attitude really prohibits it. I didn't find this book difficult to read, but it certainly does not have a place on my "favorite books this year" shelf. It was a good glimpse of what the daily grind on the Camino is like but I don't think I'll be recommending it to people who aren't actively planning to go on pilgrimage. Even then I'll recommend it with heavy caveats.

Who Should Read It: People who actively plan to make pilgrimage to Santiago and are unsure of their religious beliefs. People who like writers from Harper's Magazine and GQ. People who are interested in historical Spanish architecture. People who like travelogues with no particular theme. People who don't look for revelations in their everyday life.

I'm already reading more books about the Camino so hopefully I'll find one or two that are good and will have better recommendations for you.

For more of the books I've loved, hated, and reviewed, look HERE. Or check out the Book Reviews tab at the top of the page.

Happy Reading,

Willow.



*Note: All text used in quotes are from the 2005 Simon&Schuster paperback edition of Off the Road by Jack Hitt and these quotes are copyrighted by him and Simon & Schuster. These quotations are used for review purposes only. I am not now and never have been an agent of Simon & Schuster publishing or any of its imprints or affiliates, nor am I any acquaintance of Mr. Hitt. This is an unpaid, unsolicited review.*

52 Lists, Week 22

Happy Monday! Welcome to my 52 Lists Project, wherein I feature one list every week for 2015. To join in with your own list, scroll down to the link at the bottom, print out your own list, and then share it however you wish!

Week 22: List Your Favorite Growing Things
It's gardening season and while I don't have a garden of my own (living in a condo doesn't really allow for it - and our HOA frowns upon more than 2 potted plants) I still love looking at other people's gardens. My mother has an insane garden in the summer (her tomato plants get to be bigger than me!) so I get to garden vicariously. In honor of garden season getting going, here's my list of my favorite things that grow:

• jasmine vines
• daisies
• orange trees
• cattails
• creosote
• Oregon roses
• jacaranda trees
• tomato vines
• a piece of knitting
• my family tree
• my to-read list
• boxwood hedges
• sunflowers
• sweet peas
• my niece and nephew

There you have it! My favorite flowers are on this list, as are a few other funny things that "grow."

Bad lighting = bad photo. Sorry.

What about you? What are some of your favorite summer garden plants and flowers? Let me know in comments or with a list of your own!


Love,

Willow


P.S. I'm now officially on Instagram! Follow me HERE.

For more fun with 52 Lists, click down on "52 Lists" in the little categories section at the bottom of the post, and go over to Moorea Seal's site to see more!

Check out Moorea Seal's entire project at her blog below:
http://www.moorea-seal.com/p/52-lists.html