Camino of the Mind

Like many American pilgrims in 2020, my Camino is right here in my own neighborhood.

Leslie H ColeSeptember 22, 2020Comment

Three Camino Essentials

And one I should have left at home. No, I’m not talking about my 15-year-old son.

Leslie H ColeSeptember 11, 2020Comment

A Well-Worn Backpack

My REI Traverse 35 might be the best purchase I ever made. Third backpack’s a charm!

Leslie H ColeSeptember 8, 2020Comment

Camino Cred

Some numbers qualify you for the Camino de Santiago pilgrim hall of fame.

Leslie H ColeSeptember 4, 2020Comment

Kilometer 0

After nearly 800 kilometers of walking in 2018, the 0 kilometer marker in Muxia was my last stop on the Camino Frances.

Leslie H ColeSeptember 1, 2020 Comments

All Roads Lead to Rome

The destination can be motivation, but the journey is life, day-to-day, one foot in front of the other.

Shrewsbury to Rome, Slow lifeLeslie H ColeAugust 28, 2020Camino Frances, Camino de Santiago, Via Francigena, Walk, RomeComment

40 Days of Camino Paths

A video of the paths I walked from St Jean Pied de Port to Santiago de Compostela on the Camino Frances.

Camino, Spain, Slow lifeLeslie H ColeAugust 25, 2020 Comments

When the Dead Speak

We climbed the paved road along the edge of the high ground. At some invisible division between earthly nature and magic, we stepped into heavy snowfall.

Shrewsbury to RomeLeslie H ColeAugust 21, 2020My Slow RoadComment

An Ending, and a Beginning

The sun sets over the Atlantic after a journey of 500 miles on the Camino de Santiago.

Camino, Spain, Slow lifeLeslie H ColeAugust 18, 2020Comment

10 Things I Love Today

Autumn transitions, breakdowns, and breakthroughs. Sometimes I need a reminder of what I really love.

Slow lifeLeslie H ColeSeptember 27, 2016

The Mouth of the Hippo

I glanced around to see if anyone had witnessed my shame, only to revisit that parenting mistake in my head every time I made another.

Leslie H ColeSeptember 12, 2016

Palacio de Cristal

The glass and iron palace in Madrid’s Parque del Buen Retiro was created in 1887 as part of an exhibition on the Philippines, at that time a Spanish colony.

motherfailLeslie H ColeAugust 7, 2015Spain, Retiro Park, MadridComment

Dog Days of Summer

Along the Manzanares River in Madrid, outside the busy city center, is the 6-mile long Madrid Rio park.

motherfailLeslie H ColeAugust 4, 2015Heat, Madrid, Water Park, FountainComment

Embracing the Spanish Siesta

Anyone who met me on Camino could see that I had needed a rest, not just a siesta but a very long rest.

SpainLeslie H ColeJuly 31, 2015

Fashion Queen

Directly across the boulevard from the Museo de Prado in Madrid, this shop window takes inspiration from Las Meninas, the 1656 painting by Diego Velázquez.

motherfailLeslie H ColeJuly 28, 2015Madrid, Fashion, Queen, PradoComment

The Truth in the Middle

Our culture righteously touts an iconic vision of motherhood that no one can define because, of course, it doesn’t exist.

SpainLeslie H ColeJuly 24, 2015

Public Naming

Every street on this functional if unimaginative grid is named after a woman.

SpainLeslie H ColeJuly 17, 2015

Running of the Bull

The young bull and his equally young human counterparts played a game of tease and chase around the bull ring the village created in the central plaza.

2014, SpainLeslie H ColeJuly 14, 2015Navarra, Bulls, Puente la Reina fiestaComment