Madeira is more than just a destination.  Its a continuum for me. The 3300 miles of airspace is nothing for the Wanderlust at heart.  We do it all the time.  If not with our feet, certainly with our mind. It's way over there somewhere, closer to Africa than Portugal; closer to Morocco than Spain. I once went to Ascension Island near Angola but that is about as close to Benin (the home of the Dahomey people) as I have gotten.  Nothing there but tuna, rough seas and the bluest ocean you ever want to see.  Umm, I really want to get to Cape Verde someday too but now I am rambling; back to Madeira. 

Its more than just wine for me.  Its about the journey, the excitement, the people. Lord knows I have met my share, and they are all genuinely different, diversified, transformative, curious, dependent/independent and humble; just like God made us all.  The capturing of growth skills has to be learned and practice to refine most of those qualities of course.  But in the end, humans (i.e. homo sapiens) are born with everything needed to survive except instincts (only animals have mastered that). You see that coast line above, who would not want to eat on those terraces/cliffs of blue, green, aqua, turquoise and verde.  I know I do.  I have seen many but they each have a different story with a glass of wine; maderia in this case.  Serve that with a dose of acoustic freedom and an Atlantic breeze coming up from Cape Verde and you have the picture perfect summer afternoon.  That's why we travel, thirst for the over the horizon expectation and share words of tomorrow with the world.  There are a few of us, only a few.  The rest, well they hope and dream and imagine what could be. 

My final thoughts before I go on this journey, to remember that the journey awaits all of us in the best of our season.  Life is superbly fair, it cheats none of us in relatively to our own space and time.  What is given to me was given to thee and so on.  What thouest do is up to you and the setting sun.  You'll never find me waiting on another to decide to venture out on the moon for I will have already watched the north star arise over the East for guidance. Let us begin now and meet in the end having discovered the meeting place we seek. 


“We should take wandering outdoor walks, so that the mind might be nourished and refreshed by the open air and deep breathing.”   Seneca