Tag Archives: Morocco

Has ANYTHING Changed?

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21Dec2022

The first day of winter.

Four days til Christmas.

And CJ posted four tales.

4.1–The Oval Garden experiences inspired me to address the things that were at the very heart of landscape architecture. In this tale, I talk about the sun and sunlight.

4.2–After my Oval Garden visits, I went over and over my portal experiences, trying to understand logically what happened. I, in this short tale, share my own conclusions.

4.3–I used my own forest experience to construct a short tale in which I talked about forests in the landscape, their life beyond the senses and salubrious exchanges.

4.4–I described what I was missing in Tangier. But I did have a rooftop garden terrace with a view over the Strait of Gibraltar.

Who is CJ and why is he writing these tales?

In June 2000, Christopher Janus, a senior studying landscape architecture at a mid-west America university, finds himself in Tangier on a term abroad design study. The strange culture, the North African landscape and Mediterranean gardens are not what he expected. CJ, as his friends called him, could not wait to be home for Christmas.

To complete his term abroad design study, CJ documented his strange culture, landscape and garden experiences in Morocco in a series of 43 short stories that are being released on Amazon Kindle Vella everyday between now and Christmas Eve. The first 3 are FREE! You can find them here: Tales til Christmas Vella link ASIN: B0BNZDYKKC

Mediterranean Sun, Sand and Palm Trees

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La Baie de Tanger–the beach at Tangier with the medina and Kasbah in the background. No wonder CJ thought he had it made for his term-abroad design study.

What could possibly undo the beauty of this landscape, its plants, its gardens, its sun and sandy beaches?

Or is the question, rather, what could enhance this outstandingly beautiful landscape?

CJ had his hands full.

He tried to explain it in a series of short stories about his six months in northern Morocco. He called his very short stories tales. 

Tales? 

Tales because in Morocco, for the first time in his life CJ couldn’t distinguish between fiction and fact.

CJ’s tales are the reveal.

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Those very short stories are, for the first time, being released on Vella everyday between now and Christmas Eve.

The first three episodes are FREE and 16 tales have already been posted. Find them here=http://bit.ly/3B9rJXE

ENJOY!!

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, FREE on Smashwords here: https://bit.ly/3SIAfma

ENJOY!!

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.

***

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!

***

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

***

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

***

Let’s have a party

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FREE 5-minute-read–Kindle Vella

In their homes, Moroccan families are welcoming to strangers, Western tourists, especially on the big party holidays of Eid al Seglir and Eid al Kebir.

But this party, Welcome Ramadan Party, in the Tangier Kasbah, was hosted in the riad of an American expatriate. Nobody could have guessed what was about to happen.

2 of 3 for USA readers only. No traps. No obligations. Just a short, fun, FREE read. CLICK HERE!

College in Tangier?

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FREE 5-minute-Read–Kindle Vella

For decades, the word on the street in Morocco was that persons of ill repute, of all ages, were drawn to Tangier. This story is about 21st century Westerners who were drawn to Tangier.

Who likes Mediterranean gardens and landscapes? Is that a real question?

1 of 3 for USA Readers only. No traps. No obligations. Just a short, fun, FREE read. CLICK HERE!

A new path

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Have you been there?

Is it new or is it always there?

Don’t we all feel joy at the unfurling of the leaves and flowers with the coming of spring?

What happens on that spring path through the forest?

What is that beauty to the eyes? In the air? 

Does it emanate from the plants?

How does it make us feel better?

Take the walk. Find out for yourselves.

And it happened to CJ. In Tangier Gardens. 

He describes it. Read about the joy.

Spring Joy–it has begun

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Every spring is a joy! So let’s cheer the warmer sunny days, fresh spring greens, dancing flowers, sweet scents–everyone of those entrancing joys.

Celebrate the first day of spring with an additional joyful special–a FREE OFFER.

For five days only around the first day of spring, I offer for FREE my debut eBook novel, Tangier Gardens. On the mesmerizing Mediterranean coast, the story revels in the discoveries of Med landscapes, gardens and plants.

On March 19, 20, 21, 22, 23–pick up a FREE copy here on Amazon.

Buy at Amazon Books.

The story?

…coming of age…

 FUN READING

for students and 

aficionados of landscape architecture, the Med and Morocco.

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In this bildungsroman, Christopher Janus, his friends call him CJ, needs a break. He has been busting his hump full time six years at university with one more class till graduation.

CJ’s studying landscape architecture, into pedestrian towns and warm sandy beaches. For his last class, a term abroad design study, he’s on his way to Tangier, a town coincidently with sandy beaches on the Med and a historical pedestrian district, the medina. 

In Tangier Gardens, the author draws upon his years of extensive experiences in the Middle East and North Africa to weave a fascinating tale of intrigue.

Just released, this fast moving novel is on a ‘Spring Joy Special’, the eBook is regularly $3.99 but to celebrate the coming of spring 19-23 March, I offer it for FREE.

Grab it at Amazon now!

Casablanca?

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Not too long ago I wrote, ‘Becoming a landscape architect is like walking an unknown path in a strange forest. You know someone has walked it before, so you have some confidence. Then the path disappears. You have to make your own path and you don’t really know where you are going. You must decide—forge ahead or go back.’

In one way or another, it is something we all face…

…a real life mystery that can be solved only with the passage of time and the taking of hard decisions.

We all have to take hard decisions in our lifetime.
1943 or 2001?

Sixty years later, not in the Casablanca of French Morocco–but in Tangier, the international heart of Morocco–we are in Tangier Gardens.

In Tangier Gardens, CJ is immersed in an enthralling saga. He is lost in a place non-different from the haunts of Claude Rains and Humphrey Bogart; and he is disoriented. To keep his appointment with destiny, he has to take some hard decisions. 

That’s just one of his many challenges. In this foreign landscape, CJ finds a culture whose roots run deep into West Africa, North Africa and the Arabian Peninsula.

He wants to become a landscape architect. He has to make his own path. And the medinas? CJ, trapped in the Tangier medina, finds those labyrinthine paths full of adventure…and despair. The excitement and danger confuse what CJ had thought was a certain destiny.

Who would have thought that the only existential clarity that CJ finds in Tangier would come from the plants and gardens of eccentric British and Russian horticulturists?

So, is it Casablanca? No, it’s Tangier Gardens!

If you’re looking for CJ’s adventure and hard decisions in Morocco…in Tangier–visit my Tangier Gardens book page on Amazon.