If writing is simply putting down sentences and paragraphs where you or you and others can read them, blogging is writing. I think of myself as a writer, so why not hop into the twenty-first century? The road to hell is paved with good intentions, so it remains to be seen how much posting/writing I actually do. The title "Diversions and Voyages" should handle anything. Voyages are intentional, planned, direct and linear. Diversions are the byways and often as important and entertaining. Either can be mental or physical, internal or external.

I'll start with a voyage, an intercontinental one.

A project I have managed to envision and plan will begin its fulfillment this Friday. Two years ago I swore I would never spend all of January and February in Columbus, Ohio, again. To Jack's amazement, because he knows that the sea, whether on tall ships, canoes or passenger behemoths, is not my preferred milieu, I googled cruises to the southern hemisphere. If I can get through all my punch lists and if we clear security we will be on a plane to Rio de Janeiro in four days en route to a rendezvous with Holland America's ms Veendam to become two of her 1,350 passengers bound south around Cape Horn and back up the Pacific coast to Santiago. We arrive home in time for Groundhog Day, when there will be six weeks of winter left.