Spring is here despite everything

Something you can count on is that Nature is not going to follow any quarantine. Spring is coming, and with it, everything is waking up to a new cycle of life.
This is a sort of consolation, and although, it would be better to be quarantined in winter, the explosion of colors offered in this period gives an extra motivation to keep going.
During this long weekend, which included the missing celebration for the first of May, I had the chance to retreat to the forest, and take some pictures.
I thought to share what I've found in nature with you, hoping this will cheer up you all.
This lockdown seems to last forever, and in effect, the only reasonable way to end it would be having a vaccine and a cure for COVID-19.
Meantime, I know someone who has been extremely annoyed with having us for a longer time at home, and that is Carolina.

Despite the low resolution, it was obvious I was in the wrong place at the wrong time, at least considering the threatening stare she gave me.

This was one of the reasons why I took my camera and decided it was safer to be away and leave her spaces too.

The weather was strangely fair, and the healing power of nature did the trick on my restless soul. It didn't just give me peace, but also inspiration and entertainment.

The first person I met was an interesting guy. He was looking for food, and if I'm heading to a particular spot, I know that on my way I will meet him or someone who won't miss the occasion for a snack. Therefore, I had some nuts with me.

The wood is a place where to find hidden gems, like a sun, shining in the darkness:

And as the sky was so perfectly clear, the new leaves peeked out to test the weather.

Losing myself in this beauty, I completely neglected my garden, to which I hope to give the right attention starting from the next week.

In the meantime, I hope you enjoyed this small spring show, and I wish you a great beginning of the month.

Take care and stay at home.

It's a new year!

It is for a few years that there is this way of saying "New year, New me."
I have no idea why people should change themselves or whether it is even possible to make drastic changes in the span of one night when to develop the one you are now it took a life.

Regardless of this detail, I am not so much into this fashion, and you will have to deal with the old me, I suppose. Well, old me certainly but with new adventures, new travels, experiences, books, and whatever this new year will be able to bring.
Travelwise, the new year brought some bad news, and my husband and I are trying to figure out a solution for it. The problem is that in December, taking advantage of a discounted deal, we decided to purchase the flight to Egypt and Iraq, via Jordan.
I presume all of you have heard, even by mention, the diplomatic problems caused by the american airstrike at the Bagdad airport. Luckily for us, we are not US citizens, and Finland has neither any affiliation with NATO, so this should make, at least, the granting of the visa easier. Nevertheless, concerns seem reasonable and more than justified in this case.

I know, you might wonder: why in the world we decided to reach Bagdad? Well, the reason, as usual, is to gather knowledge from the direct sources. Iraq has a very interesting heritage and hosts many beautiful historical sites worth the visit, and the risk. The ruins of Babylon are my main target, together with other least known places around. I aim to get inside the culture, history, and possibly to stay alive.
This is not our first journey to conflict areas. So far, the most dangerous place we visited was the Democratic Republic of Congo. However, with a bit of planning and updated information, we had one of our greatest experiences so far. Sierra Leone was another dangerous place, and it really touched my heart in a way I didn't think possible.
I hope we will be able to reach it. The departure is scheduled for May, so four months from now.
Let's keep the fingers crossed.
Concerning my writing career, I am now at the learning point, and I am following an intensive course on advertising. This should not take me too away from the writing process, but it might slow down my social presence. I will try and do my best to be present but time might not be on my side.
Despite this, I plan to be at least punctual with the monthly blog and every news that I need to share.

It's a magical world!

Today I am going to tell you about one of my passions besides writing: photography.

I believe there is a very close connection between all forms of art. In my case, the three things that go hand in hand are writing, traveling, and photography.

How do they relate to each other? Well, writing needs inspiration right? What better inspiration than visiting new places, experiencing cultures, meeting people, reading other countries' newspapers.

Photography offers inspiration. This one helps me to think outside the box, see the world from different perspectives, and clear my mind whenever I feel stuck with a page or chapter.

Here, the weather started to be quite unstable. It began with a chilling period, when we had the first snow, to the time we are now with temperatures that raised far above the seasonal average.

Despite this, during this winter, I was lucky enough to have a camera with me right when I needed it and could get some interesting shots that helped me going through the last few weeks.

Due to stress at work, I couldn't proceed with my writing, so I just got out and took a walk in the forest.

What I found was really stunning, and I spent most of the time taking shots of those crystals. 

The perfect harmony between the white of the snow, ice, and the blue of the sky (believe me, it's quite rare) was extremely inspiring. I could have spent the whole day there.

 And that was exactly what I did. Not caring about the temperature, I stayed the whole day out, to take pictures, and admire the sceneries.

I also got the chance to take a shot of a hawk, who was taking a rest on a tree, checking the food situation on his territory.

Undeniably, days and walks like this give a lot of inspiration, besides offering the chance to unwind from the stress of everyday life. 

With those images, I greet you for this weekend and wish you a great day.

As we get into the cold season.

So, what's next?
As we entered the month of October, every business in town started to theme the windows and shops with Halloween themed decoration. Also, those countries where Halloween is not celebrated and means another day on the calendar weren't missing this big chance to get some extra sale. After all, every excuse is good to sell one additional item, isn't it?
And now that we are already past the day, and we should just give more time to think about our daily life, returning to what is like without the expectation of another holiday, we seem to enter the new phase, the Christmas, interrupted by Thanksgiving day.
For Businesses, this is the most hectic time of the year because never like between October and January, they have to change their advertisement targeting.
Authors are not different, and meanwhile, we are writing our next masterpiece, we are dressing our covers and banners with themes, from the spooky to the festive, from the Christmasy to the New Year.
It's a big load of a job to get the right creatives to get something enticing and new to get a piece of the Holiday shopper's attention.

I make no difference, and as a matter of fact, I am going to do my best to finish my next novel, which seems to get longer and longer as it goes on. My longest book was my debut novel with 143k words, but I am afraid that, in this case, I will have to go over that limit.
At the same time, I am also looking around for new ideas on the creative side for promotions and banners.

Going on this way, I am afraid I am missing my favorite activity, which is observing nature and its changes during this season.
This fast-moving forward from one holiday to the other seems wanting us to speed up our time. Although, this would be rather the time we stop to think about the year that is about to end. Just like in every moment of our lives, we shouldn't be forced to switch from one season to the other in such a hurry.

It seems like the only thing important is not just to have fun during the holiday but to get prepared for the next one as soon as this one is approaching.

But do you know what?
This is my plan, I am going to spend the whole weekend almost freezing outside and risking to catch the flu, by taking pictures of the natural environment around me.
I am taking a break from writing and just spend my time outside, far from the city, far from the businesses, and far from civilization.

I am going to enjoy the calm and the natural routine of a quiet life, without stressing and hurries.
How are you going to spend your weekend?
Whatever you do, make it special!

The Berlin wall: 30 years anniversary

This post comes a little later than usual, but I have a good reason for it. Friday and Saturday, I was in Germany with my work colleagues, and there hadn't been any chance for me to write my weekly post. Nevertheless, this trip gave me the perfect topic for this weekly post.
In 1989, I was a sixteen years old teenager, and couldn't travel to Germany when finally the Berlin wall, which divided the city of Berlin into two parts, fell. This started the process that brought the following year to the reunification of Germany.
Since 1949, Germany had become two separated countries; the Federal Republic of Germany, run by the allies (France, UK, and the USA) and the German Democratic Republic, run by the Soviet Union.
The city of Berlin was within the territory of East Germany. Yet, it was divided and shared between the allies and the Soviet Union.
In August 1961, the East German communists were given the go-ahead by Moscow to close the border and build a physical barrier: The Berlin wall.
It was constructed initially as a barbed-wire fence overnight, to contrast the immigration of young and educated citizens to the west.
Although it has passed three decades since the reunification of Germany, there are still significant cultural differences between the people living in West and East Germany.
Those differences in lifestyle, wealth, political beliefs, and other matters remain. It is still common to hear people talking about eastern and western Germany as if they ere still two different countries.

Here, Germany and Europe were divided until 10 December 1989 at 10:15 am

Nowadays, Berlin, despite the differences between the two sides of the city, is one of the most fascinating cities for its impressive architecture, the cultural heritage, the museums, and history.
Besides the must-see historical places, like the remnants of the wall, of the checkpoint Charlie, and the Brandenburg Tor...

 

it offers one of the most intriguing and eye-catching architectural design that make this city beautiful and unique.

A city that made of its internal diversity its strength and point of attraction, and where the past of classical architecture meets the audacity of the present days.

It's a city that certainly is able to impress for the ability of their architects to find interesting solutions that can use shapes and materials to create a harmony of forms and reflections.

As usual, I wished I had more time to explore the city and its beauties, but it was enough to have a taste of it and pinpoint a place where I will surely return one day.

Doha, you can't even imagine it.

So, here, we were ready to board once again to return back home after our journey. We could not leave Nigeria without anything that made me wonder.
We just passed the check-in and passport control when we reached the gate. However, there we had to go through another security check before entering the plane, which sometimes happens when the flight company does not trust the local screening completely.
I arrived at the counter, and the woman there started to open my carry-on baggage for prohibited items. Everything followed the routine when suddenly she glanced at me: "Do you have anything for me?"
In the beginning, I wasn't sure what she meant, or whether she was just joking, so I just replied that I didn't have anything.
She looked a bit disappointed and seriously: "aren't you, my friend?"
At that point I just thought you gotta be kidding me, bribing at the safety check at the airport? Really?
"No, I am not your friend," I replied firmly.
She checked thoroughly and sent me to the body scan, "well you can scan whatever you want, I am not going to get robbed this way."
Of course, this didn't cause anything more than just a delay to my boarding, but the least I can accept in this world is people trying to rob me.
This was just a little incident and didn't really mean any trouble. Yet it raised a few considerations about what is considered legit and what it is not from the personnel at the airport.

So here we were leaving Nigeria to reach our first stop of seven hours in Doha. The flight went smoothly, and at five o'clock in the morning, we reached the International airport in Doha.
Now the first impression:
You certainly are familiar with the heatwave that hits you when you open the oven to check on your food. The same heatwave hit us as we stepped out the plane. The engine was off, so it wasn't because of it. It was like entering a giant oven at 240 Celsius, barely breathable humid and hot.
I thought I knew about the heat after having experienced the Afar desert in Ethiopia... No, this was more... In Ethiopia at least it wasn't that humid, although the temperatures were much higher than in Doha (around 50 Celsius).
It was only five o'clock in the morning, and the temperatures reached already 30 Celsius!!
We reached the well air-conditioned inside the terminal with our great relief.
The first idea was that perhaps we could have had a tour of the city, but thinking twice we could also take a hotel room, have a shower, a good meal and maybe a tour of the city, before returning to the airport.
That was the best idea possible, and we had a hotel arranged within a couple of minutes. The efficiency of the country reflects on the way the general organization of the services.

Now I need to make a small introduction to Qatar. This little State of about 11.000 square kilometers is one of the wealthiest countries in the world. The funny thing is that 88% of the population are expats working there, the rest 12% is Qatari.
I cannot figure out yet a good reason to move and live in such an over, where, going for a walk is totally restricted to the night or early morning.
We tried to have a walk, and our stubbornness found an empty city, where only cars were moving around.

If you have followed the Olympics that is now going on in Doha, you might have heard horrifying stories about the heat, well, let me tell you, they are not exaggerating at all. That place is not fit for humans. Just like the Sahara desert, it is made for very specialized animals.
At least THIS human doesn't consider it as a place for herself. Although I crave the summer and the hot, there is a limit to it. My limit has been abundantly tested in Doha.
So glad to have returned home, where I am free to go wherever I want without fear of dying dehydrated LOL
I wish you, as usual, a great weekend. If you live in similar desertic countries, believe me, you have all my respect and sympathy.