Nights in Madeira...breathtaking!...A new day...whew....Hello, Madeira!

This is the nighttime view from our veranda! Tom said it looks like Las Vegas with all the lights. Not quite. These street lights stay on all night on the entire island. This must be quite the view from a ship. Soon, we'll take another nighttime photo when the stars are shining bright but, last night was cloudy

This morning I awoke to a new day after a 12 day illness. I reminded myself of a goofy little dog we adored for 12 years who passed away five years ago, Ben.

Each time we gave him a bath we washed his often troublesome "poopie butt," a common affliction of little dogs after which he'd run around the house as fast as he could excited to be free of his tangled butt. He was happy.

Last night, our living room. The lights cast a cozy glow.

This morning I awoke with a desire to run around the house like Ben, happy to be feeling better from the recent illness, not from being free of a tangled butt. Finally, the splitting headache and heaviness in my head are almost gone along with the glassy eyes, dizziness and general feeling of malaise. Yeah!

Of course, the tendency is to go wild doing everything we've missed since we arrived in Madeira 11 days ago. But, I'll be wise and gradually increase my level of activity building back my strength and stamina, sorely missing after days of being sick.

This morning's view of the sea with white caps as the wind whistled through the hills.

Last night, we'd intended to dine out only for me to change my mind at the last minute when I couldn't muster enough energy to go out. We ended up making a meal of scrambled eggs with Portuguese sausage, onions, mushrooms and cheese with a side of green beans and salad.

Late this afternoon, we'll head to Ribeira Brava to walk along the boardwalk, peer into the windows of the shops and later try another restaurant. We're both excited to get out, see the local "flavor," take photos and experience more delicious Portuguese food.

A freighter passing by.

Over the past several days, we've been planning our future travels when all of our reservations run out on May 15, 2015, a year from now. Its hard to believe that with all of the advance planning that we're less than a year away from the end of our bookings.

Now is the time to begin booking well into 2016 when many of the great vacation homes getting booked well in advance. Many have asked why we don't "wing it" and wait until closer to our travel dates. The answer is clear for us.

What appeared to be a pleasure boat pulling a smaller boat.

We've learned that the best priced vacation homes get booked well in advance. If we waited, we may end up paying more than we'd prefer or unable to find what we'd like for the quality we'd like at an affordable price. As it's turned out, the planning well in advance has worked out well barring a few locations that weren't necessarily ideal.

Our bedroom is above these heavy sliding doors with its own small veranda.

Hopefully, today or tomorrow we'll wrap up the beginning of our planning beyond May 15, 2015 which we'll share with you as each booking occurs. We've spent hours of discussions and researching our options as to where we'd like to go next.

Gladiolus on the veranda a few days ago.

We take these decisions seriously to ensure we will be making the correct choices, now well armed with experience and, most of all, knowing what appeals to each of us, the most. We feel confident we're making the right decisions after many months of research.

Tomorrow, we'll be back with photos of today's outing. See you then!

This morning, the Gladiolus in full bloom.

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Photo from approximately one year ago today, May 27, 2013:

With no story or photos posted on May 27, 2013, here is photo of one of the jeweled (real jewels!) chandeliers in the Sheikh Zayed Mosque that we visited on May 29, 2013 for which we posted photos on May 30th. More will follow in days to come. No link is available for this date.