There's world enough, but time?

A week from now, not counting the time difference, I'll be in Munich with Bill and Mary Davey, en route to Bled, Slovinia, via Salzburg, Austria--all places  I've never seen. My son James and wife Hideko will be in Japan--they leave tomorrow; friends Bob and Denise will be in Paris, and daughter Jennifer and family will be preparing for London! So many places to visit--some again and again--so little time, not to mention money!

But following Slovenia, I'll be visiting my dear Scotland. Land of sea and sky, rock and water, standing stones and cairns, ruins of castles and abbeys. A place of elemental beauty smoothed by glaciers ages ago, inhabited almost forever. A place in the open where I can breathe deeply.

Following a brief sojourn in the Border country, we'll be touring the Far North beginning at Inverness and driving on to Wick, ferrying to the Orkneys, returning to continue the drive around the top to Ullapool, over the sea to Lewis and Harris, back to Skye, over land and sea again to Mull and Iona, returning ultimately to Glasgow and home in time for fireworks on the Fourth of July.

Happy I am to be going but intrigued by all the other sights to see: the cemetery in Monmartre we only saw from above, munching Croque Monsieur at the Place du Tertre near incredibly Sacre Coeur and where you can sit on the lawn and see the Eiffel Tower, pinching to make sure you're really there. And London where I was too jet-lagged to walk up the hill to Greenwich's Prime Meridian; what about another look at 'Carnation, Lily, Lily Rose' at the Tate--and the NEW Tate? the Harry Potter walk with my grand-daughters? And Mount Fuji, hot springs and the Philosopher's Walk in incredible Kyoto?

But happy I am with my choice, delighted in fact! Chuck and I shared Scotland four times, and though it will be poignant, I will sense him there with me. I can hardly wait!