Many many pilgrims have written books about the Camino. I’ve read dozens of them. Some are quite good, others so so. I’ve enjoyed almost all of them. One of my favorites was A Furnace Full of God by Rebekah Scott. She is an American woman married to a British man and they moved to Moratinos, a tiny pueblo on the Camino on the Meseta. They open their house to pilgrims, especially those having problems finding places to stay. She talked about how the women in Moratinos started crocheting “covers” for the trees on their town plaza. We walked through Moratinos on two previous caminos (2013 and 2014) but we never saw the tree afghans. I think those were started after we were there. Well, I think it must have caught on elsewhere because when we walked through El Burgo Ranero yesterday morning, we found trees wrapped in the colorful covers. El Burgo Ranero is about 15 miles from Moratinos (2 days walk for us). But we didn’t go through Moratinos this year. We started just past Moratinos.
That is so cool. I think every place should do this. (Though I’m not sure how they’d hold up in Oregon.
Ha ha, Gary. There would be a Lot of trees to cover in Oregon. Even just on your street in Portland. The Meseta has very few trees. I think it might have had more at one time but there are very few old growth forests in Spain (maybe none?).
I guess Spain cut down almost all of their forests over the centuries. The only trees you see are in even rows in a grid, like an orchard but just regular trees. In Franco’s they started a lot of eucalyptus forests and you see them all over. They are old enough that they no longer look grid-like. I enjoy them because they remind me of the eucalyptus I remember from California but I have seen several references that consider them to be weed trees and that it was a mistake to import them.
Just joining you on your blog today & already loving all the photos! What a fabulous tradition you have. I also love the crocheted trees & am inspired to teach myself how to make some for our street 🙂
Be safe & enjoy!
Oh, Claire, what a great idea!!! I used to know how to crochet. I’m sure I can re-learn. I’d love to do that. 🙂
Claire, I just told Charlie what you said and he said “for once the Party Block (Madison NE 900s) will be jealous of our block (800s) and might even copy us. 🙂
Wynette, I’m not sure ‘Arthur’* would allow it, but I could try to ‘reteach’ you the ‘ins and outs’ of crocheting. I think the crocheted ‘block’ is called a ‘Granny Square’. *arthritis.
That sounds good, Mom. I’ve wanted to go back and re-learn how to crochet. Hope our arthritis (and mine!) will allow it.