Category Archives: Design

Did you ever wake up to find… yourself living… in a strange place?

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Bad juju? Nah. What else? 

No, no, no—it’s not the evileye. Couldn’t be. The landscape wouldn’t tolerate such violation, would it?

Living in Tangier, 2000, Christopher Janus, CJ, during his six-month term abroad design study, explored northern Morocco. But his geographic explorations were not the entire story. He was swayed—swayed? How? By what?

Unlike CJ had ever imagined, that geography throbbed with a much larger pulse beat—that of the northwest Africa landscape…. 

If you are: 

-A nature lover or a landscape aficionado;

-Curious about all things green—the environment, plants, gardening, horticulture;

-Intrigued about the northwest Africa multi-cultural, mystical history of people and plants, and their arcane interactions with strangers, then…

Pick up a FREE copy of this Amazon E-book here: https://amzn.to/3nO2WEG

NOW, FOLLOW THAT LINK AND PICK UP THE FREE EBOOK, CURIOUS TALES—NOW!

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You wonder… who is this CJ?

CJ is an American, born in the Midwest, raised in New Mexico—a hard worker who found his muse in the landscape.

At university, he grew to embrace music, literature and all the fine arts with humanitarian, environmental and spiritual sensibilities. Did that help him in Morocco?

Studying landscape architecture, CJ was into pedestrian towns and warm sandy beaches. For his last class, that term abroad design study, he’s been in Tangier, a town with sandy beaches on the Med and a historical pedestrian district, the medina. But CJ got more than he bargained for… and it wasn’t a suntan or a relaxing time.

These 43 curious tales were CJ’s final submittal for his term abroad design study. CJ’s curious tales highlight the strangeness of the landscape he encountered in northwest Africa and… what he learned.

E-Book FREE NOW Here: https://amzn.to/3nO2WEG

#Morocco #Tangier #Mediterranean #FlashFiction #LandscapeArchitecture #Design #Cultures #Gardens #Plants #Landscape

Please share this FREE offer with your landscape friends.

Thank you.

E-Book Free Now Today

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E-Book FREE NOW Here: https://amzn.to/3nO2WEG

#Morocco #Tangier #Mediterranean #FlashFiction #LandscapeArchitecture #Design #Cultures #Gardens #Plants #Landscape

This is a tonic for the curious, for those who would delve beyond the surface knowing there is more than meets the eye at first glance.

Please share this with your landscape friends.

E-Book FREE NOW Here: https://amzn.to/3nO2WEG

#Morocco #Tangier #Mediterranean #FlashFiction #LandscapeArchitecture #Design #Cultures #Gardens #Plants #Landscape

Thank you

Graduation? Not yet.

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Here: https://amzn.to/3nO2WEG

#Morocco #Tangier #Mediterranean #FlashFiction #LandscapeArchitecture #Design #Cultures

Travel with us to Morocco on a fun trip. Together we will be weaving culture with horticulture. That arcane weave is the magic connection of humans with nature.

CJ is an American, born in the Midwest, raised in New Mexico—a hard worker who found his muse in the landscape.

At university, he grew to embrace music, literature and all the fine arts with humanitarian, environmental and spiritual sensibilities.

Studying landscape architecture, CJ was into pedestrian towns and warm sandy beaches. For his last class, a term abroad design study, he was in Tangier, a town with sandy beaches on the Med and a historical pedestrian district, the medina. But CJ got more than he bargained for… and it wasn’t a good time.

And the subject of CJ’s 43 tales? …his daily life, the high points, the low points–nothing was normal–it was all curious.

Here: https://amzn.to/3nO2WEG

#Morocco #Tangier #Mediterranean #FlashFiction #LandscapeArchitecture #Design #Cultures

Please share this with your landscape-minded friends.

Thank you.

The True Story

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…what! If this is true, then what have you been telling us? Lies? Is that so?!

No…it’s just business.

In order to graduate with a degree in Landscape Architecture, CJ had to complete a term-abroad design study. That was the story in Tangier Gardens.

And in order to complete his term-abroad design study, CJ had to submit a final deliverable. Curious Tales is that final deliverable.

In some aspect, Curious Tales is the short form of Tangier Gardens—but with added style.

In Curious Tales CJ shares, in a series of 43 flash fiction stories, his take on the culture and landscape of northwestern Africa. He describes how the unique culture and landscape of that region have impacted his life and approach to landscape architecture design.

I am happy to announce that Curious Tales is now live on Amazon at this link: https://amzn.to/3nO2WEG

And please my friend, share this post with all of your like-minded friends of the landscape.

Thank you.

Who is CJ?

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I write CJ’s autobiographical stories.

Some of you may not have any idea about Christopher Janus, CJ, so here goes.

Who is CJ?

CJ is a contemporary designer, an American, born in the Midwest, raised in New Mexico—a hard worker who found his muse in the landscape. 

At university he grew to embrace—with humanitarian, environmental and spiritual sensibilities—literature, all the fine arts and their roots in the landscape. Those humanitarian and environmental sensibilities drove his thoughts and explorations.

Underneath it all he had questions about his purpose in life. In other words, he was just like many of us.

Drawing upon his fine arts history, CJ becomes obsessed with his experiences in nature and the landscape—experiences beyond the five senses. Beyond the five senses? The paranormal? You can decide.

But what does he design? 

Christopher Janus studied landscape architecture in university and graduated; but they did not teach him about landscape. He learned landscape from the hardest, most unfortunate events in his life.

CJ was studying the large scale landscape and the fine detail of plants and gardens to uncover the essence of design. He did that internationally as he worked in the strangest cultures and most exotic landscapes. Christopher Janus had adventures in and was inspired by the landscape.

You may ask what is the landscape? To which he would answer, “When we get out of bed in the morning and put our feet on the floor, we are in the landscape”. You might rightly ask again, what… my apartment, my flat, my house, my town, my city? To which CJ would simply answer, “they all sit in the landscape”.

CJ chases nature, its landscape and plants to their existential roots. He describes his interactions with cultures, landscapes, gardens and plants of the world—where the unexpected and downright strange become daily facts of life.

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Interested?

Join my email list for discounts on new releases as CJ goes deep into Cairo, Istanbul, Vienna and the Swiss Alps via this link:

https://bit.ly/3q5lcaq

On the Road to Morocco

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Six Days in Spain before Tangier Gardens

WHAT HAPPENED BEFORE TANGIER

I had to edit the peculiar highlights of CJ’s term abroad design study adventures in Andalusia and among the Moors. Please read the Kindle Vella–3 episodes, and don’t be surprized, at: https://amzn.to/3ZHeuHX

CJ in Andalusia, “… the Alhambra: mocarabes, muquarnas, marquetry–geometry, patterns everywhere. Here it was all about the worlds within worlds of micro inspection. Everything intertwined–micro to micro–then micro to macro–then macro to macro–then macro to micro. And at the end, I had turned in on myself.”

CJ among the Moors: “I was at sea–absolutely nothing was certain. I must be frank. I almost failed my self-directed Moroccan design study.” 

Please read the Kindle Vella–3 episodes, and don’t be surprized, at: https://amzn.to/3ZHeuHX

Better still read Tangier Gardens, you can find it here:

https://amzn.to/3HLrtyv

And please note that 15Apr2023 will be the launch of my second book, Curious Tales: you can find it here:

https://amzn.to/3Jn3N7n

All my books are about a young person (CJ) growing up and learning lessons that form his approach to design. CJ studied Fine Arts before majoring in Landscape Architecture. My first two books explore CJ’s experiences in northwest Africa, especially northern Morocco and Tangier where he lived during his term-abroad design study.

Take a look. Fun reads.

Tangier Gardens

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For a limited time only…

It’s the year 2000. CJ needs a break. 

Been there? But have you done that?

He has been busting his hump full time six years at university with one more class till

graduation–a term abroad design study.

CJ’s studying landscape architecture, into pedestrian towns 

and warm sandy beaches.

He’s on his way to Tangier, a town with sandy beaches on the Med 

and a historical pedestrian district, the medina. 

But, it didn’t quite work out. 

When the West meets the East… there is always turbulence.

Tangier Gardens

For a limited time only, Tangier Gardens e-book is FREE on Smashwords at:

https://bit.ly/3SIAfma

Pick it up!! Did I say the e-book is FREE!!

If you like it, leave a short review, please. Thank you.

How Easy Is It?

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Morocco

How does a beauty such as this…come into reality?

What was there in that same place before?

How does water get there?

Where does the water come from?

Who made the design for the tiles?

Who made and colored the tiles?

Where did the color come from?

How long has the fountain been there?

Why did people stop using it?

And how does the fountain fade away and die?

Is it a cultural museum piece?

In Tangier Gardens, CJ had plenty to examine when he went to Morocco for his term abroad design study; but somethings got in his way…

Somethings?

These are what CJ describes in his curious tales.

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Those tales are very short stories, for the first time, being released on Vella everyday between now and Christmas Eve: find them here=http://bit.ly/3B9rJXE

ENJOY!

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All 43 tales will be found under one ebook cover titled Curious Tales and via KDPselect will be offered for FREE on the day of launch likely in the first half of 2023. Sign up here to be notified of the launch date to get all 43 tales for free=https://bit.ly/3q5lcaq

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If you wonder what actually happened during CJ’s six months in Tangier, pick up the eBook, Tangier Gardens–out of the classroom into the real world–via plant portals, here: https://amzn.to/3HLrtyv

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Edward Flaherty–author of Tangier Gardens

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Published in Aug 2022 Landscape Middle East

–>✅Landscape Middle East, August 2022 issue, featured my reflections on a 50 year landscape architecture career in the USA (California and Florida), the UK, Switzerland, Morocco, Turkey, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates.✅<–

Experiences in these countries, where, with my family, I have lived, are the foundation of the novels I write.

Landscape Middle East, in that same August 2022 issue, published a review of my book, Tangier Gardens.

Published in Aug 2022 Landscape Middle East

–>✅Please visit my book page on Amazon, buy Tangier Gardens and leave a review.✅<–