Portugal!

Tomorrow we are off to Portugal, and I am looking forward to it very much.  It will be our first plane trip in many years – for Isabel, the first one in memory.  The last time she was on a plane, she was a babe in  arms and  cried all the way across the Atlantic.  Everybody on that flight hated us.  I suspect tomorrow  will go better.

I am looking  forward to seeing my brothers and my sister, my nephews, my niece and her husband.  I am looking forward to  swimming  in the ocean, hanging  out on  the beach, and taking  some long  walks in  the countryside.  I am looking  forward  to a  different  cuisine, and  spending  a week immersed in a foreign language. (My niece’s  husband is Brazilian, so we’ll have an advantage most tourists  don’t)

I hope we have ready internet access, because I definitely want to keep  up with  this blog, but I’m looking  forward  to a week of spending  a lot less time online.  As much  as I  dislike  Hillary Clinton,I’m starting to  like  her supporters even  less.  Which  will  be awkward, because our family is split  and I’m  in the minority.  Real life is not facebook, though, and I’m sure we’ll find other  things  to talk about.

So, the blog next  week will be as regular as I can  make  it, and probably more  about swimming  in the ocean and eating  great food  and long walks in the countryside and a bit less  about  politics.  If  it  goes  dark for  a day or two, you’ll know why.