Are you in between? That’s your affair–not mine.
The first snow fell and autumn color had not finished–in between fall and winter.
And my friend CJ has always been in between–in between cultures. See for yourself: Tangier Gardens at https://amzn.to/3HLrtyv
Science has lost its magic since the covid. Academe has lost its magic since the wokeism. I fall back into the era of Christianity and alchemy where nature and its connection to human emotion is magic, a gift from God… but life ain’t just a bowl of cherries.
Released in 2019, the popular Netflix series “Crash Landing on You” is about a paragliding mishap dropping a South Korean heiress into North Korea — and into the life of a North Korean army officer, who decides he will help her.
This is a love story that overcomes the hardships of world politics–what is there not to like??
After incredible political complications, they separate due to those hardships; but they have already given their hearts to each other. And through the tricks of screen writing they reunite, in the tear-jerker of all time, on the dock in Iseltwald.
Meanwhile, the 400 residents of Iseltwald, a quiet Swiss village on Lake Brienz, rarely visited by tourists, have, most recently, seen hundreds of thousands of #CLOY visitors from Korea and East Asia. Quiet village? No longer.
What do you think about that?
Me? What do I think? Human emotions and their links to the landscape–mysterious, diaphanous, beautiful, arcane–they are the stuff of my books, like Tangier Gardens, link–https://amzn.to/3HLrtyv
Links:
The movie–https://www.netflix.com/ch-en/title/81159258
Swiss newspaper–https://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/business/fans-of-netflix-series-disrupt-peaceful-swiss-village/47851764
I could never get “magical realism” until I spent too many years around the Rub al Khali–the Empty Quarter.
Then I met CJ. He was obsessed. About? I couldn’t figure it out–magical realism or the Empty Quarter.
He wrote: “How to beat, tame, survive–the Empty Quarter–life–magical realism?
Only by imagination.”
CJ tried…and got beat.
It all started in Morocco, Tangier Gardens, then KSA, Egypt and finally, the Empty Quarter.
…off the beaten track.
Sometimes it is necessary.
I know a guy, CJ, who almost died looking for that refreshing breath.
Tangier Gardens is his story: https://amzn.to/3HLrtyv
Coming to a village near you–SOON
Disrespect for public and private property.
Tell me what it is without saying it.
I hide from it by writing fiction, Tangier Gardens: https://amzn.to/3HLrtyv
An American university student, majoring in landscape architecture, has one more design class to complete for graduation—a term abroad and he has chosen Morocco.
Using the beautifully tiled, colored and patterned public water fountains in the medinas, he plans to count people—a simple ‘turn-up-every-day-and-count’ metric exercise.
He thought it would be simple; but it wasn’t.
Ayisha Qandisha and other djinns from North Africa and West Africa are determined to get a piece of the Western fresh meat.
The whole story is in Tangier Gardens.
Ebook on sale now-75% off.
Only 99cents at Smashwords this link: https://bit.ly/3SIAfma
CJ was in Morocco during Tangier Gardens and Curious Tales, the first two books in “The Landscape Architect“ Series, which now have been published.
The next two books have CJ in Saudi Arabia, Thailand, Switzerland and Egypt…BUT
…springtime in these Swiss mountains and lakes has been so enchanting that I have had to go outside and walk and walk and walk. My novels suffer. Yenbo Palms and Crystal Vision will be published before the end of this year.
Please sign up on my email list for pre-release details and discounts. Thank you.
Every morning, around 8AM, I would be awoken by shouting from a man walking down the street outside my apartment window. Where was this? Ville Nouvelle in Meknes, Morocco.
He was yelling NaNa, NaNa…with a lot of nasal. He, wearing qadrissi pants (characterized by a wide and low crotch that reached to the knees), was walking with his donkey. And the donkey’s two saddlebags were chock-full of freshly cut mint clumps for making mint tea at home.
Fresh mint–the only way to really enjoy it is the Moroccan way. Grab a bunch of freshly picked mint and just add a pinch of black tea, too much white sugar and a sprinkle of orange blossoms on top. The water should be too hot to touch, too hot to drink. Got to slurp it. Hospitality without words.
This is local-agriculture-home-delivery. I had seen it once before in the early 1950s where I grew up on the East Side of Detroit. Then it was a local baker–up and down neighborhood streets. What kind of neighborhoods then? One car per family used by father to get to and from work. Neighborhoods sized by cars–not by pedestrians–no walking–only driving. But late 20th century–Meknes, Morocco. It was walkable and local. I loved it.
Had to tell that story–thus CJ was born. Read about his experiences in Morocco. He wrote about them in Tangier Gardens: Out of the classroom into real life… via plant portals.
The ebook is FREE now at Smashwords via this link.
