Seven autumns ago, in my pre-kid era, while roaming free along the high bank of the Vedea River, I met my first hedgehog. Riciu. The one in the photo, so cute and friendly! I actually touched him and he didn’t move an inch! Which might have been a big problem, as I realized after the first few seconds of euphoria.

Yesterday, I finally got over the darth vader feeling I had when wearing a mask outdoors. My midday walk along the calm alleys in the neighborhood was quite a treat. Glowing honey leaves filtering the autumn light. Chirps and buzzes, and a lazy meow of an alley cat in the distance.

We all read Robinson Crusoe when we were kids and still remember this amazing story of survival and quest. But have you ever wondered, as grown-ups, what it would be like to find yourself shipwrecked on a deserted island? 

Let’s develop this scenario a little bit, in a friendly manner. The motorboat you hired broke down very close to the shore. How convenient, I know. My blog is called Azure, so what would you expect? Besides, I have zero experience in boating, so I’ll skip the juicy narrative and focus on the setting of this soft and sketchy scenario.