Let's Say Goodbye to 2020 ... Without Much Regret

A great idea, to recap last year in a monthly retrospective, of course, desirable to be done more through images but not mandatory. The proposal made by @alexanderfluke through this post Let's Say Goodbye to 2K20 · 47 pics

What can I say, you must see this post full of beautiful photos from Russia, especially the photos with forests are wonderful, you can really feel their greatness and cleanliness, especially in winter.

I was fascinated by the nature of Russia, seen only in movies (Siberia being only one of them), I imagined its grandeur, endless space and wildness.

Well, these are the simple requirements to participate, as @alexanderfluke suggests us:

The name is Let's Say Goodbye

The idea is as simple as it gets. You publish a post about what interesting (or not so interesting) happened to you this year, in a free form, preferably with photos, in any language (or without text at all), and use the #letssaygoodbye tag among the first five tags. I will be happy to search and read your memories and impressions of 2020 until January 11 next year. The most interesting posts (in my opinion) I will definitely comment and come up with something with a reward. It is possible that major curators will also be interested in this challenge.

There are several elements that bring me closer to this kind of posting ... the pleasure of posting photos, the desire to remind me of last year's events and a small connection with @alexanderfluke's posting. Birches! I don't think there are birch forests elsewhere like in Russia, you will see the photos in his post. I love birches too, and I have five in my very small yard (in a pretty big city).

Let's Say Goodbye to 2020 ... Without Much Regret!

So let's get started. I haven't looked for the photos yet and I am both excited and curious what memories they will bring me. Because, for me, this challenge is an opportunity to choose some of the memories and events or things that impressed me in the past year. This year has also become a memory.

January

The first month of the year also brings back the memory of the previous year (2019), the decorations for the end of the year celebration.

The window is my favorite part of the house, the eye of the house. From here I look at my birches.

As I searched for these images to illustrate the old year, I found that the effects of global warming can be seen long ago. Now, at the beginning of January, it should have snowed, snowed and instead flowers bloomed, which usually bloomed at the end of March (this in my childhood, to be more precise).

A year of walking, my favorite park, also devoid of snow but the thin ice on which the birds can stand, still proves that it is winter.

February

Winter, which should have started in December at the latest, sent the first snow on a February night.

In the morning, my little yard under the snow.

It was a short but very beautiful winter. I don't think it lasted more than ten days.

At the end of the month I made the first trip of this year, a few days of vacation in a beautiful city of Romania, in Iasi.

Palace of Culture, one of the most beautiful buildings in the city.

March

The short and hurried winter has passed and now I can't remember again about the global warming that is settling over us. In winter it should have snowed for at least three months. It's only been ten days.

March came with the rebirth of nature, insects and flowers.

April

Already through the window I see only green. Spring is the master of this part of the world where I live.

A new word has already appeared in our vocabulary. Lockdown. Covid-19, the virus that upset 2020, has also reached Romania. We lost freedom of movement, I could not go away from home, we could only walk around the neighborhood. The flowers have become the main beauty and for that I went every day on the streets near the house to see as many as possible.

May

Our life totally changed by the pandemic and the obligation to stay longer in the house. This situation is harder to bear in the city than in the country. Everything comes down to staying at home, reading and watching TV, listening to music and the internet. A blessing this internet! And coffee, of course ...

Lockdown, just the house and the yard. If I lived in the country or in a very small town I could have walked through nature, forests, hills and mountains. I only had my yard and flowers.

June

I don't remember what June was like. I open the folder with photos taken in June and find that most of them are overwhelming with flowers. I conclude that I also stayed in the house and in the yard, due to the pandemic. I also made a lot of food because I like to cook.

July

In July, the situation changed a little, the number of covid-19 infections decreased and I had freedom of movement. I live in a suburb of Bucharest (the capital of Romania) and the possibility to go to the city center seemed like a trip. The subway that reaches me in the neighborhood has fifty-year-old wagons, enlivened by graffiti made by young artists.

Moreover, I was able to leave the city to visit some happy friends to live in the country, not far from the city. Of course, country life also means grilled food (stove), very tasty. Another life !

August

Starting with August, the situation changed a lot, I was able to travel right outside the country. The planned holiday in Greece was abandoned due to the conditions imposed by this country to allow the border to be crossed. Also because of the pandemic. Fortunately, my favorite place on the Black Sea in Bulgaria was accessible and so I had a trip even in these pandemic conditions. The closest and favorite place was Balchic. Famous for the castle of Queen Maria of ... Romania.
It was an unexpected and wonderful vacation!

September

September was a very beautiful time last year. We shared the time with the walks in the gardens of the Mogosoaia Palace, located very close to our house. It was the perfect place for our niece Ilinca to discover the world and for us and our son to walk and relax on a terrace ...

... moreover, there was another trip to Bulgaria where I discovered a wonderful beach, close to the border with my country, Romania. Shabla!

October

This month another long trip to the north of the country. I saw my childhood home again, I saw the view I missed and I also saw what it means to live far from the city. Life in the countryside...

The famous painted monasteries from Bucovina were very close and, of course, I took a walk there.

November

Starting in November, the hard and ugly part of the past year begins. My wife and I became infected with covid-19. We followed all the rules of isolation and protection ... and yet we were not bypassed by this disease. It was very difficult and unpleasant, although I did not take the worst form and I was not in the hospital. I hid in the house for almost two months ...

The window of the house has once again become the place that has brought us closer to the rest of the world ...

It was a very beautiful autumn that colored the leaves of the trees in bright colors. We have some birches in the yard and a Japanese maple.

December

This month, the recovery from the disease began, with difficulty. Unfortunately, many do not believe in the severity of this disease. It is a dangerous disease, this virus affects many of the internal organs and leaves long-term health problems. We have to live with this and ... we're happy to live.

The autumn was very beautiful and long, it pushed a lot the arrival of winter. In the yard, many flowers continue to bloom, proving that global warming has more and more obvious effects.

Eventually winter came! For a short time, less than a week. A thin snow cover.

Then the snow melted ...

... and the year is over!

It was an interesting retrospective for me. I haven't done this before and now I see how useful it is. I had the vision of a difficult and bad year 2020 but now I realize that it was not so.

I said in the title that I say goodbye to this year without too many regrets but it is not so, I regret the days, weeks and months that have passed and with them another year of my life!