"The best-laid plans of mice and men / Often go awry"

I have been contemplating for days, the best way to share how my original plans of staying on Armadek changed twelve days ago.


Recently having been reminded of some of the greatest works of poetry - this morning as I'm listening to yet another batch of rain fall in Spain -  a Scots poem "To a Mouse, on Turning Her Up in Her Nest with the Plough" written by Robert Burns in 1785 came to mind.  


The romantic idea of experiencing something through nature is as old as time, which is why at least in America we often remind someone who is working non-stop and keeping up with every responsibility and expectation almost to the detriment of their joy to "stop and smell the roses." 


As I began planning this trip four months ago, I began researching, studying, and investigating (as anyone who knows me knows I can do on almost an obsessive level) every possible option until I felt I had the best laid plan that met all of my criteria.  As with anyone who is a planner nothing pleases us more than when things start falling into place once we decide what direction we will go, and things did for a time.  


While many things in life look fantastic on paper, the reality can actually be something quite different.  Once on the trip, I took note of a few things that were not quite in alignment of my expectations  but I pressed on in order to stick to "the plan."  Finally, there was a deal breaker, at least for me, so I turned a corner and didn't look back. No plan.  


One of the goals or criteria I had at the onset of this adventure was to learn to sail, and that is exactly what I am now doing.  I've enrolled in a sailing school http://www.farosailingschool.com/ and successfully completed the first class.  The school came recommended, but I didn't have time to do any research, I just showed up. 


The only plan I have now is to complete the next week of class.  


Experiencing nature, is understanding that the very beauty that we appreciate whether it's the Grand Canyon or a gazillion stones deposited on Chesil Beach 10-thousand years ago was not the result of the best laid plan, but by change is that is constantly going on in nature.  It's all around us.  Sometimes the best plan, is not to have one.