. . . And, I’m back. During this eighteen month nightmare I had no less than 8 trips comprising visits to 23 countries canceled.  On the marginally plus side, we have a bunch of trips scheduled for 2022 that are already paid for, and I made several substantial improvements on the house.  Also grand, of course, is that no one I know died.

My retirement goal (first imagined when I was 13) has been seriously compromised.  With that, I’ll stop commenting on the past and look ahead.

Tomorrow we’ll depart for a Viking cruise in Portugal, which we did in 2019 and loved.  This time we’ll be joined by two friends plus my sister and husband.  Also new this time is a vastly better understanding and appreciation for port.  We received our negative Covid test only 30 hours after testing, which, among other things, is a new wrinkle in travel. Another change is that I’ve actually learned how to properly make use of the camera I bought for the Africa trip. I hope to take better photos.