Tag Archives: Flaherty

Switzerland: The Real Music

by

Mountains so alive with energy they breathe clouds—in and out… in and out…

Animating so many levels that I can sense… and so many more levels beyond my senses.

Remarkable solar energy exchanges stream through patches of blue sky to electrify the landscape.

With exuberant displays, creeks dance through fields and gush down mountain cliffs exploding with  excess energy into bubbling mists of white foam… all the way down… down… down…

To the valley bottom where they join lively white rivers rushing over boulders, winding through steep mixed forests, chartreuse deciduous and deep dark green conifers, rubbing against each other and bursting with an exquisite energy I can feel, I can see, I can hear.

But I can sense the sadness in older people, the farmers, trudging about daily homestead activities burdened with melancholy memories how it was 70 years ago… compared to the invasive, fast moving trains, packed full of ‘bucket-list’ tourists racing on to their next destination before their vacation is over. 

And alas, I too, am just one of those tourists… in Switzerland.

But CJ, in Tangier Gardens, Curious Tales, Orient Espresso and Dubai Sands, thought he wasn’t a tourist. Little did he know. Check it out @ https://amzn.to/3HLrtyv

Blues?

by

In Tangier Gardens, CJ thought he had the blues until he discovered Heinies, an independent–Tangier mid-twentieth century leftover, a dark basement dive, a friends-only speak-easy serving Austrian draft beer and whiskey, sporting an image of St. Augustine of Hippo behind the bar. While enjoying a shot and a beer, he heard Heinies favorite artist, Janis Joplin singing “Ball and Chain”. The blues. The real blues.

Read a free Amazon sample of my novel–lots of plants, gardens and landscape adventures–via a safe, clean, secure and direct link @ https://amzn.to/3HLrtyv.

A Losing Battle?

by

In Tangier Gardens, CJ had so many losing battles—but in the end… Read a free Amazon sample of my novel–lots of plants, gardens and landscape adventures–via a safe, clean, secure and direct link @ https://amzn.to/3HLrtyv.

Or just buy Tangier Gardens NOW!

Hope… I see only hope

by

Does anyone hope for the worse?

Sometimes the landscape poses too many difficult questions. That’s what happens in my novel Tangier Gardens. But CJ finds answers. Read a free Amazon sample of my novel–lots of plants, gardens and landscape adventures–via a safe, clean, secure and direct link @ https://amzn.to/3HLrtyv.

Idea in Bloom?

by

When an idea reveals itself in full bloom… how will you capture it?

Not always easy, but well worth the effort.

As CJ found in my novel, Tangier Gardens. Read a free Amazon sample of my novel–lots of plants, gardens and landscape adventures–via a safe, clean, secure and direct link @ https://amzn.to/3HLrtyv.

Inspiration

by

I like to look at plants. Plants inspire me. I get ideas. Today I saw an idea trying to emerge. That was all.

How does an idea emerge? How does it inspire?

Questions like these, inspired by my observations of plants, drove me to write Tangier Gardens. Read a free Amazon sample of my novel–lots of plants, gardens and landscape adventures–via a safe, clean, secure and direct link @ https://amzn.to/3HLrtyv. Find fresh inspiration. Buy Tangier Gardens today.

Moon Indigo

by
Moon or Mood?

Which is better? Moon Indigo or Mood Indigo

Duke Ellington: https://youtu.be/RFUSD23ZXEw?si=jWVjptEpjCZx9ydU

Ella Fitzgerald: https://youtu.be/jaq9Gx9GT5E?si=EY9bdAQaB5AizYk9

Frank Sinatra: https://youtu.be/X86SgLwFdqw?si=t3a9CWC8ptSPX2h6

Or are they all shades of the same—the variety of life.

But the variety of life may not alwys be beautiful, as CJ found in Tangier Gardens. Read a free Amazon sample of my novel via a safe, clean, secure and direct link @ https://amzn.to/3HLrtyv. Got to find the balance. Buy Tangier Gardens today.

Are we safe yet?

by
Uncertainty in the landscape?
Pulsatilla montana–Pasque flower

This week on the first day of Spring I found these. Could there not be a more peaceful yet refreshing image of the coming of Spring?

But it is still March and with snow in the forecast, the March lion may yet be released.

Uncertainty in the landscape? For sure. 

That’s what CJ found in Tangier Gardens. Read a free Amazon sample of my novel via a safe, clean, secure and direct link @ https://amzn.to/3HLrtyv

The First Grapes

by
Grape hyacinth: Muscari armeniacum

In the temperate climates of the northern hemisphere, grapes come early—but not that early. They are a sure sign that the lion of March is gone and spring is definitely here. These grapes come March and April.

But in the northern hemisphere, if you are not in a temperate climate, your seasonal clock may be in for a shock as was CJ in the Mediterranean climate of northern Morocco. He tries to come to grips with these shocks in my novel Tangier Gardens. Read a free Amazon sample via a safe, clean, secure and direct link @ https://amzn.to/3HLrtyv