Silver Anniversary Trip, Day Eighteen

a rough travel day
and some rough river waters
aren’t too rough for us

the sunset calms us
the river settles for bed
and we can rest now

Silver Anniversary Trip, Day Seventeen

we’re the post office:
through wind, rain, sleet, clouds… weather
we weather the storm

just another day
in the life we’ve created 
in sickness and health

rising before dawn
to walk up stairs to a plane:
yes, in Portugal

seeing motherland 
for the first time in my life?
green love connects us

it’s more than patchwork 
it’s where so many of us
find our heritage

a one-day journey
to return to our homeland 
of a thousand years

botanic gardens
will forever be compared
to Monte’s beauty

tropical magic
trees and blooms of every shade
giving us NO shade

two thousand years old:
a tree planted by Romans
to bring us olives

on all future trips
beating Madeira? so hard
blue-green amazement

1.8 million:
the years laurel has lived here
giving life to all

enchanted forest:
the only words to describe 
Madeira’s true gold

traditional homes
give homage to these laurels
simple thatched roofs

a magical place
waits for you on this island 
hidden in the sea

ten thousand stone steps
slippery at dawn, at noon 
as mist never stops

ten thousand reasons 
to be afraid of this hike,
yet we keep trekking

ten thousand peak views
all in different shades of light
just like our marriage

ten thousand questions 
when we married at twenty
look how far we’ve come

enchanted lava 
creates unique swimming pools
otherworldly

infinity pools
so twenty-first century 
simply don’t compare

jet-lagged beginning 
for a slow and easy day
goals: tea, nature, food

the Thames is perfect,
Chelsea is as sweet as pie, 
London has orchids

with perfect planning 
(cutting onions with bad knives)
we’ll eat cheap; sweet prize