The Journey Continues...

In my original blog; www.geraldstokes.blogspot.com, I told about some of my recent journeys with my wife Pat. Journeys that we took together as we "share the rest of our ride in this life together". When we lost our spouses going on five years ago we both understood that they could not be replaced, but also that we did not want to spend the rest of our lives alone, so we joined our lives and our families in another chapter in our Journey of life.

And what a great Journey it's been!

In those trips together we found ourselves in Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island; several weeks in western Turkey, a wonderful trip to Ireland, a five country trip up the Danube from Bucharest, Romania to Budapest Hungary where I was able to trace my mother's family roots back to the 18th century, (I wrote about that experience in another blog, it makes for a good read I must say), a Yacht cruise that took us to Malta, Sicily (Seracusa, Toramino, Palermo, the Lapari Archepelego including Stromboli errupting at night, the Amalfi coast, Naples and Rome), in addition to our annual Jazz cruises every November in the Caribbean. WHAT A RIDE IT'S BEEN!!

Yesterday we returned from our latest oddesey. Another trip to Italy. We started with several days in Sorrento, with a special trip alone to Capri; from Sorrento we travelled through Umbria and Tuscany visiting Assisi and quaint Medieval villages dating to the 13th. century. Tuscany is as breathtaking as the pictures we all see of the rolling countryside, especially early in the morning.

From Tuscany we went to Florence spending a lot of time viewing some of the most beautiful works of art the Rennaissance produced in Italy. Finally we ended our Italy trip in Venice, the city of 119 islands and endless canals where more great art was to be seen and appreciated. We parted company with some of the nicest people one could travel with in Venice. they came home...we continued on. On to Budapest and Hungary once again to search for ancestral answers raised in my head from our trip the year before. I got those questions answered.

But that's for another blog...the next one coming up!

For now we are home again and after resting I'm sure we will plan another trip... somewhere. We both are simply amazed at the grace of our wonderful Lord. As old as we are we can still travel and enjoy His wonderful world. While home I will honor some speaking engagements and we will visit with our families both here in Florida and in Connecticut and Virginia. our 15 grandchildren and 6 great grandchildren are special to us as are our sons and daughters. God is so good! We give Him all the praise, and honor Him who alone is worthy of all honor.

The Preacher in Ecclesiastes gives this advice, "teach us to number our days..." Good advice for everyone! God bless you all.

Gerald Stokes, Musings from the first Coast of Florida.