As Partner and I make final preparations for our trip to Spain in mid-June, I was piddling around this afternoon and, experiencing a surge of nostalgia, I decided to review some photos of another trip that I call The Grand Tour. (This is a reference to a past tradition of monied people who, from the mid-1800s through the early 1900s, would travel about Europe for a year or so, because they could, being monied.) We only took two weeks, because we aren’t trust fund kids and four of us still had jobs that didn’t just let one go on a lark for a year.
Still, we crammed a lot into those two weeks, and as I clicked and smiled my way through the photo archives of that adventure, I realized that I hadn’t really shared many of the snaps and stories from that time. I’m not sure why, as the romp easily contends for top billing in my personal list of “best things I’ve ever done”. (Perhaps I didn’t want to possibly tarnish the glow of my memories? This can happen, sometimes, when one reflects on past reflections. Digging too deeply can lead to forgotten stones in the hallowed ground.)
To be fair, I did pontificate rather profusely about The Grand Tour in a piece called “Goodbyes and Hellos”, found here. I’ve shared it a few times before, so please forgive my redundancy if you’ve grown weary of going down that path. But that piece remains one of my personal favorites, for various reasons (mark this down, should you hope to fare well in the next round of Bonnywood Manor trivia, because you know there will be one). On the morning I wrote that, there were no stones and the soil was rich with nutrients and, frankly, everything I’ve written since then has been based on the hope I felt that day.
So, full circle, in the lead-up to our departure for Spain, I plan to release little snippets of The Grand Tour for your perusal. I don’t know where it’s going to take me or how much fidelity I will have with a concept that seems like an exceedingly swell idea at the moment but may not play out in the manner imagined. (Bonnywood Manor is littered with the carcasses of short-lived ideas, truth be told.) We shall see.
For this first entry, I’m starting on a rather low key. The above photo is a snap from a flower market in Amsterdam. As is obvious, I had brought along a fancy new Fuji camera that had more filter options than Oklahoma has Democrats. But I like the focus of the color, the pop. It symbolizes the sharp intensity of so many exhilarating moments we had on The Grand Tour, some much more dramatic than this, of course. Really, though, isn’t life all about the colors you see at any given moment?
Fair warning: There will be more use of the Fuji filters as we stumble along.
Join me?
Categories: Travel
Bonnywood Manor 
I’m loving that filter.
I am very excited for you.
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Thanks, Vanessa. I had far more fun with the filters than I really should have… 😉
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haha no such thing 🙂
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great post 🙂
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Thank you!
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No problem 🙂 check out my blog when you get the chance 😄
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Happy to be stumbling along with you.
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You’re such a great traveling companion… 😉
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Have fun! We’ve been to Spain twice and loved it both times:-)
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This will be our third time and I’m squealing with excitement…
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Nice, purple. (Brevity is on).😂
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I do hope I don’t muck things up with my filtered selections. There are many in the batch where it’s very clear that I hit a wrong button or two… 😉
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I meant MY brevity is on (in other words I was too lazy to think of an adequately lengthwise reply).
Cause, let’s face it, YOUR brevity has gone ona an extended holiday, and that’s just the way we like it. 🙂
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I’m totally on board for this. I’ll purchase a floppy sun hat and bring sweeties. Although you’ll have probably flown over my head before I get round to reading them, I’m looking forward to tales of your forgotten stones 😊!
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The great thing about flashbacks is that you can visit them whenever you want, they’ll always be there… 😉
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For sure I’ll join! I won’t get my holiday until mid-July (and have a lot to do between then and now), so I will vicariously enjoy yours, past future and present. 🙂
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I will do my best to provide an admirable and worthy, albeit selective, travelogue…
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Count me in!
Love the Fuji filter. I didn’t realize that was what was missing in my life. Thank you for enlightening me. 😊
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Most smartphones these days offer an array of filter options. But that cheapy little Fuju was/is stunning in the number of options, most of which I had no business trying out… 😉
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Welcome in a couple of weeks to MY land, the land of the wild bulls. I can be your tour guide for only 100$ a day, I´ll take you to what is very interesting but not the typical tour of castles and museums.
You said you took that photo in Amsterdam?you sure those are purple normal flowers…..
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I can reveal nothing about the true nature of the flowers we sampled in Amsterdam… 😉
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Don´t reveal it but take them here, to me that is.
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