After two and a half months it is still hard for me. These two adorable beings have found a new loving home. Hopefully for another 5 good years of elderly life. My heart broke, but I knew it was the same break I would eventually experience once they leave for good, in old age.
You see, Ramses never felt at home in the apartment in Denmark. He would not sleep, and would not let anyone, including the neighbors, sleep. He was happier in a cat hotel than he was at his new home with me. He spent the last three weeks on antidepressants, totally drugged and out of this world. It was heart-wrenching to see. His best friend Cassandra did not know what to do as her buddy was not completely mentally present. Moving was not possible as a short-term option. It would have been selfish to ask for these elderly kitties to keep up with the speed of frequent travel, moving every couple of years, varipus cat-sitters visiting, and weeks spent in cat hotels?
Since last October these two have peacefully and cozily cohabited in south Sweden with two furry guinea pig friends and three less furry human friends. Hugs and cuddles are not spared. And I am left wondering how life takes such unexpected kinks and turns.
(Brande, Denmark; January 2019)
Catching the last of the green before it is gone for the winter. And yes, there are forests in Denmark. Real ones, not just those plantations with one sort of trees planted in endless rows. 
But (unfortunately) one must go looking for the natural forests. To Silkeborg, for example. 
Oh, such a gorgeous backyard for the lucky people who live in Silkeborg. And how sad: this is what all of Denmark probably looked like before people got the bright idea to convert it into a flat, open-land agriculture nation.
(Silkeborg, Denmark; October 2018)
Japanese green tea, a chaise longue, and a Japanese-inspired view: this is all I had time to experience at the Yasuragi Spa in the Stockholm archipelago. Not the tranquil pools, nor the hot water baths in an airy outdoors-like indoor space, nor the saunas, nor the shiatsu massage and the lovely healthy snacks. Because nobody briefed me of the meeting location until a week before, and I had already booked my flights in and out, the same day. Unlike everybody else in the team.
(Hässleholm, Sweden; October 2018)
The sun set over the Tiber and the Vatican, like it has done for thousands of years. For us this meant good wine with spaghetti cacio e pepe, a traditional simple wonderful Roman dish with cracked black peppercorns and cheese.
(Rome, Italy; September 2018)
“Pantheon” means “of all gods”. Was this really a temple of all gods? Or many gods? One would like to think it was once a site of inclusion of faiths, not exclusion. But perhaps the Romans just had so many gods they built one to serve the most important ones?
(Rome, Italy; September 2018)
This blue marble 