To please Sandy who likes balanced galleries, today’s photos are all from the same day – the last before our innocence was lost.
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C
r
a
v
i
n
g
s
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Oh yes, I know I will crave it. With the rest of nature I will miss this isolation for a good long while. Such peace.
Plus amore was at home at all times, well rested, in a good mood, happy. When his company notified him that psychiatric help was available for the time off work, he asked if instead he could get it upon return to work. Today was his second day.
Well, Sandy, you said isolation cravings… Oh! You meant pre-isolation!
Am I the only one who gets sad watching the queues outside IKEA in Rome? Or several kilometres of cars waiting in line for McDrive in Ljubljana a couple of weeks ago when it was one of the first in Slovenia that opened?
I’m certainly not missing any of that.
What I’m missing is what we will never get back: that carefree feeling that everything will be alright. I’m missing the option of being among the people, going to a new town, eating in a restaurant at any moment (here in Italy at two moments), having a gelato now. Freely.
I’m missing my people, but I got many of them this Saturday when I turned 50 and amore organised a grand online surprise birthday party for me, with the help of Flavia who shared the link on her blog and with some of you who joined me.
I will never forget this day.
For example, Ishita‘s gift for me when she popped up was the mention of a certain compressing online tool that makes my photos take less space without any noticeable change in quality. How can this even be?? Today’s post is the first with thus modified photos. See if you can see any change. I don’t. Thank you!
Today’s photos are from the 22nd of February, the last day that I went somewhere, with Flavia to Viterbo and around. The first seven were taken on the go at 11 am, and the last two on return at 6.30 pm. I stopped the car in almost the same spot both times.
No captions today, I wish to let the nature talk in its own language.
And if you ask me: Why don’t I go back there if I crave it so much, now that I can drive around again? I can’t. This and Flavia are in Lazio and I’m in Tuscany. For a while longer we cannot mix.
For Friendly Friday Photo Challenge hosted by The Sandy Chronicles: Isolation cravings
Manja Mexi Mexcessive (closed) 
Oh Manja, never change for me! If everyone was like me then there’d be no balance in the world 🙂
You nailed it when you said you miss the carefree feeling of walking into a crowd. It’s horrible to lose that innocence and feel that we have to always look for a a bogeyman ,.. in this case the Covid cooty-man. I think though that we’ll get back to that eventually.
Happy 50th Birthday! I’m glad you were able to have a happy one. Did you imagine 10 years ago you’d be able to connect virtually with all your friends? Can you imagine what you’ll be able to do & see 10 years from now? That’s the gift that I think about 🙂 Cheers – Sandy.
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Thank you, Sandy! You are right. We need to keep our diversity. And you’re double right in your last thought – who says that in ten years there won’t be any vast improvements? A great upbeat stance to keep. Cin cin!
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I hear you! I miss that feeling of not having to watch where you go, what you touch, what you do or who you interact with. I will miss the clean air, and the peaceful roads and that people are more chilled, ( albeit financially stressed). What price is relaxation? I do hope that Italy copes with the opening up process as you have had such a hard time in this pandemic.
I will check out your image compressor. I have used easy image resizer on my phone and the photos pixelate quite badly. So I will be glad to find another. Thanks for sharing.
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I’m glad if this tool helps, Amanda. Yes, we will see how it goes in the future… I suppose it will improve with time. I hope to go to Slovenia after June 3rd, when Italy opens its borders. Thank you!
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I tried the tool on my phone but could not adjust the slider. It miggt work better on desktop. I have been using ‘imgur’ and embedding photos that way.
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I’ve only used this tool on my PC, don’t know about the phone. I don’t know imgur. I hope you manage it!
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Me too.
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Such peaceful shots.
I miss it too, and I hate to think what our future’s going to look like. Will it look like THIS?
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I think it’s changing all the time, everything is, now more than ever. Never a dull moment. Thank you, Bojana, and all well to you!
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Aww thanks for mentioning me. I didn’t do much actually. But I’m glad it worked!! None of the image quality is ever compromised 🙂 Beautiful post. I miss the normal way of living at times and sometimes I like being in my shell. x
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Thank you so much, Ishita! Yes, those of us who like our shells have it better at this time. We are lucky this way.
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Manja – I miss that feeling too…and I worry about the future. Will it ever come back? Innocence. Yes. I miss all spontaneous hugs and the joy of meeting new people. Are we doomed to stay alone? Nature benefited from it, maybe we did in many ways as well. But, sunny days sitting in an outdoor cafe, smiling, feeling free – this too feels lost.
Beautiful photos, and I am happy you had a great birthday. I didn’t know your amore arranged it! How sweet of him.♥
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Thank you so much, Ann-Christine! 🙂 It warmed my heart to see you and your pack. ❤ Yes, it was his idea and technical part, while Flavia informed some bloggers. There are sooo many more that I'd love to talk to so I think a regular bloggers' chat timeslot could indeed be established. But we will chat in a cafe too one day, you'll see. 🙂
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So looking forward to it!
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Wearing a mask all the time still feels so strange…I’m afraid it will be with us, here in NYC anyway, until there’s a vaccine. And will the fear ever leave? We will see. (K)
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Quite, K… I was in a shop today for the first time in three months or so. It was tiny. I forgot apricots at the cash desk and a kind woman brought them after me. Italy is still Italy. ❤
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I’ll miss the peace of the isolation too! I don’t miss McDrive and Ikea but I do miss good friends. Bittersweet that amore has returned to work. Wishing you another wonderful 50 years and hoping that you can experience that ‘everything will be alright’ feeling again.
PS Loved your composition of the fields and farm #wishIdtakenit
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Ahhh, thank you, Lisa. ❤ He returned to work, but now he goes by car and not by train! Almost three hours saved this way! Incredible! Also, it's already 30 degrees C here. Early. Good friends are everywhere and also with you when you think of us. I miss them too.
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Oh, Manja, how wonderful that you had a great 50th birthday thanks partly to blogging!
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Isn’t it, Sue? Blogging brings daily rewards. Quite incredible. Thank you and all well to you!
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