Lens-Artists PC: Seven times bliss

For today’s post, which answers to two challenges with similar themes, I gather seven times when I felt blissful. I wouldn’t mind revelling in repetition of such times, but most of them were unique.

I have a good friend who has just come out of the hospital after almost three weeks of Covid-19 pneumonia and non-stop oxygen mask. He found it hard to recognize his city, his apartment, his life. And so he is making some changes.

He negotiated a higher pay from the hospital bed. He is fixing things on the spot and doesn’t leave anything for later. He is getting ready to die, he says, but not in a morbid way, he is young. He also looks thirty years younger. Talking to him was truly empowering.

With this in mind I embarked on choosing some of my most blissful moments, because Lens-Artists guest host Lindy Le Coq suggests we follow our bliss.

Each of these seven occasions gets its own gallery with three photos. Usually one photo is of the setting, one of the company and one of the blissful me so that you can see for yourselves how happy I was.

1. The hike in Slovenia

The first two things that came to mind were a couple of hikes. (Why? Do I miss suffering?) Both are from August 2009 when I was at my fittest. There is just something about a hike done well and the high that comes with it.

The view down towards the Sava river with the Julian Alps in the back.

My friend and our goal: Stol, 2.236 m (7,336 ft), the highest peak of the Karavanke range.

After: Extremely blissful back in the valley below. Photo: Alenka.

2. To Croatia next

Ten days later we were already in Croatia, in a little village Duba where I used to spent Augusts with my family until I turned 20. This was the return after almost 20 years.

Like a goat. On Pelješac peninsula we attacked their highest mountain St. Ilija from the wild side. There are no maintained tracks from Duba. We were on our own. Yes, that’s me.

Towards the top. It took us most of the day, like this post.

A just reward. The bliss is not due to the beer but that we made it down intact. The first and this photo taken by one of my three companions.

3. The first visit of my parents

The surprise visit of my parents on my birthday in 2013, their first to my new home, is another example.

Mom picked me flowers. Photo: Dad.

The next day they had to leave already!

Having them there: total bliss. Photo: Dad.

4. My first visit

Only eight months before my parents arrived, at the end of August 2012, I was on my the first visit to the place that would become my new home and I wasn’t aware of it then. We were caught by surprise. It must have been the apple.

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  The information board at Lake Burano, a nature reserve. It is extremely nice to have it as a neighbour.

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  Every paradise needs an Adam who is not afraid to bite.

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  Beyond bliss. Photo: Amore.

5. The Garden of Eden and Druga

Let me add my parents’ garden in Piran as such and the fact that it exists. From here is also my Embarrassment of Riches photo at the top of my blog. This garden makes it hard not to be blissful.

Permissive upbringing.

Eden and druga, Slovenian for one and the other.

Book and serenity and bliss. Photo: Dad

6. The end of lock-down

To complete the proverbial seven, I add two moments from this year. The first is my birthday in May, since that was the first time we drove to a new place together and had a meal out after half a year of being locked down. And I wish there were more such days also when it’s not my birthday and there is no lockdown.

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  A new viewpoint in Pitigliano.

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  In Sorano.

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  The day was murky but we saw something new. And each other outdoors.

7. The visit from far away

The second and most recent blissful occasion was a week spent with my two visitors from Oregon in early September, rushing from one site to the next, from one country to the other, over mountains, via lakes and rivers to my various homes. And we did it more than well.

I’m especially glad that Crystal chose this photo to begin her recent post on the first anniversary of meeting Pedro.

The last caress of her, now my camera. Uber blissful. Photo: Pedro.

I was really happy that we walked the Piran walls. It was my first time.

And since yesterday I discovered Ju-Lyn’s Happy Place, Happy Space challenge by chance, I link to her as well. In her post she speaks of repetitive actions and the tedium they bring along, which is something that I feel more strongly with every passing month, as I walk bestia to the right with the morning light and to the left when the sun sets.

I know what is called for: to be more like my friend and bring everything in order, no matter how repetitive it is. Instead, the only place where I maintain the order is my blog.

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For Lens-Artists Photo Challenge, guest-hosted by Lindy Le Coq: Follow Your Bliss

and for Yu-Lyn’s Happy Place, Happy Space

This day in my blogging history

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  2015: A book lying idle on a shelf is wasted ammunition. —Henry Miller

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  2016: What we have is ourselves, and that is all we can really write about. —Dinty W. Moore

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  2018: If you post so many doors and if you’re lucky, the Challenger himself will visit you in person and take a photo of you next to a grand specimen. Photo: Norman Frampton

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  2019: Friendly Friday construction of our happy house in Piran by stages

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