A YEAR AGO THIS MONTH AND THOUGHTS FROM OTHERS

APRIL 2019 at our PARIS hotel on Ile Saint-Louis - "MY BOYFRIEND"

SOME WORDS OF WISDOM from my Aussie friend, HELEN - 

"Raise your words, not your voice.

It is rain that grows the plants, not thunder."

APRIL 2019 - Springtime FLOWERS in PARIS by the EIFFEL TOWER

APRIL 2019 - TULIPS outside AMSTERDAM - COLORS for miles!!

APRIL 2019 - a cheerful window of FLOWERS in EDAM, NETHERLANDS

APRIL 2019 - CHARMING EDAM, NETHERLANDS

Also from my friend HELEN - 

She asked her 16-YEAR-OLD GRANDSON, "who is a bit of a geek and loves nothing more than to play games online with his friends" - 

Helen: "How are you coping with being at home?"

Her Grandson: "I've been training for this all my life!"

And another from HELEN -

ANDREW BLACKMAN is a British-born, award-winning novelist who WAS traveling around the world with his wife. Writing now from his home in BELGRADE, where they are confined to their homes after 5pm each day, he said this in his APRIL 2020 NEWSLETTER.

"When I stopped reading tweets and starting reading books, I felt healthier. 
I plan to keep that distance as much as possible this month - 
not hiding from the news, but not drowning in it either."

"At 8pm every evening, the people on my street come out onto their balconies 
and clap for a minute to give thanks for the medical staff 
who are working so hard to keep us alive. 
As I clap each evening I also think of the supermarket cashiers, 
the cleaners, the garbage collectors and all the other people 
who are keeping things running."

APRIL 2019 - FRANCE

Speaking of BOOKS, I could sit in this PLAZA and read for hours!

The beauty of traveling to new places and taking photos of special moments and places, is that you can return there in your mind in just seconds...... and DAYDREAM and REMEMBER and SMILE for a bit.

Naturally, it's disappointing that my foreign trips for this year have been canceled but this time at HOME has given me extra time to reflect, to appreciate all that I have, to continue to connect with FAMILY and FRIENDS via FACETIME and ZOOM and to think about all of the ADVENTURES that still lie ahead.  

THICH NHAT HANH, Vietnamese Monk and Activist states -

"Hope is important because it can make the present moment less difficult to bear. If we believe that tomorrow will be better, we can bear a hardship today."

And to keep us all smiling here's one more BOYFRIEND photo.......

APRIL 2019 - MONNICKENDAM, NETHERLANDS

STAY HEALTHY!!

JOAN