Wait a minute. What were Stefano and I doing in the center of Florence this morning, snapping photos of flag throwers (sbandieratori, in Italian) and of the historical procession that marched from Piazza della Signoria to Piazza Duomo, celebrating the birthday of Florence’s patron saint, San Giovanni Battista, or St. John the Baptist? Hmmm. There’s something very wrong with this…picture!!!

You see, we were supposed to have been on Skokholm Island in Wales, UK, snapping photos of puffins all weekend. This weekend! We had a booking! So what were/are we still doing in Florence???

Well, let me explain. You may have noticed that I’ve been a bit distracted, lately. This is because a lot has been happening in my personal life. In OUR personal life. Mine and Stefano’s. Mainly, that Stefano has accepted a new job and has quit his old job (where he’s been unhappy for quite some time now). So this is going to be a big change for him…and a big change for me, too. A good change, of course! (We hope…!)

Point is, this “deciding and accepting and quitting” period has been a bit hard on both of us. Happy in many ways but also quite stressful. His former employer didn’t want him to leave and is still in a state of total shock. So this wasn’t a simple matter of handing in a resignation…

At any rate, I’m happy to note that things finally seem to be settling down. After a bit of push-and-tug, back-and-forth negotiating with his former (or rather, soon-to-be-former!) employer, Stefano will be able to leave his old job at the end of July…

And our new life will begin…

We’re happy, of course, as I mentioned…but changes can be scary. Yup. And they can also force you to give up things that you have been looking forward to all year. We’ve had to give up our annual, much-awaited visit with our beloved Welsh puffins. Stefano is in the middle of his job transition period right now and can’t take any holiday time. Too bad, since this is the first time in yeeeeeears that Skokholm Island has reopened to overnight visitors. We were really excited about that and looking forward to being “pioneers” on this “new” island. No matter…the puffins will still be there next summer…

And Stefano’s happiness is the most important thing, of course! 🙂

Let’s go back to this morning…It was a lot of fun to watch and film all the lovely flag throwing, listen to all the triumphant Renaissance music and take photos of Florentines dressed up in Renaissance costumes. My mind did frequently stray, I admit…and I wondered about the puffins…But yes, in the end, it was fun to be in town today…And I got some decent photos. By the way, some of the flag throwers are children (see photos 2 and 4). I didn’t realize that until I got home, since I had to hold my camera above my head to take almost all my photos and movies (there were so many people there, mostly tourists who didn’t even know what was going on but who clearly loved the show!)…

Soooo, if you happen to be in Florence on June 24^th, don’t miss the historical procession and the evening fireworks (best seen along the river)…