View From My Window

View From My Window by Barbara Duriau  396 pages

In March 2020 widespread lockdown spread across the world. From Afghanistan to Zimbabwe, citizens in every country were told to stay home, to stay away from people who do not live in your household, to wear masks, to use lots and lots of sanitizer, to not go outside if it could be helped. The novel Coronavirus-19 was spreading around the globe at a breakneck speed.  Hospitals were overrun; people were dying by the thousands on a daily basis.  It was scary stuff!

On March 22, 2020, Barbara Duriau opened a Facebook group called “View From My Window.” Faced with only the view from her studio window in Amsterdam, she wondered if others were having the same feelings of anxiety, isolation and loneliness. With this new group, she invited the world to snap a picture from a window in their home and post it.

On March 23, Barbara posted her view. Almost immediately, “344 people accepted her invitation. The following day there were 2,675. One week later, 50,000!...On April 26…(the) Facebook group had more than two million members.” When I checked today (April 25, 2021), Facebook indicated 2.2 million members. Soon, it was more than Barbara could handle alone, and she built a team to keep the site updated.

Views from windows (or doors) from almost every country in the world---city and countryside—began popping up on Facebook, bringing a few moments of respite from the deadly disease that had the world by its throat.

I’m not sure how the book came to be, but I don’t care. Flipping through the urban, country, seasonal, landscape pictures, and those with views with all sorts of animals---made me feel like I wasn’t locked in my home but able to travel the world, seeing things I will never, ever get to see. Those photos are amazing!

Thanks to my wonderful sister-in-law, Mary, for gifting this book to me as postponed birthday gift. I LOVE IT! 

View From My Window receives 6 out of 5 stars in Julie’s world.