This afternoon I revisited a dozen or so photographs of the Mirna valley that I took as soon as I bought my house in Motovun. That was nine years ago. Before I moved to the hilltown a year later, I would go through the photographs on my computer screen whenever I wished to remind myself of the miraculous landscape. More often than not, I would take a deep breath whenever I would cast my eyes on the Brkač hill and the vineyards surrounding it. Even a bit less than a decade ago, about fifty percent of the vineyards were abandoned a few years earlier. The vines were overgrown already. But it is amazing to see the same vineyards now. Many of them do not show any signs of their former usage any longer. There are shrubs growing all over them. Some of them are graced by small trees, as well. In about a decade, no-one visiting Motovun would be able to guess how the Brkač hill used to look less than a generation ago. Or how many people could have made a decent living out of the abandoned vineyards. I just compared the old photographs with the view from the window of my study, but I quickly abandoned the painful comparison. Fighting tears, I kept brushing the memories away with both hands.