Category Archives: accessibility

ISOB: 1964-2017

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In 2017 I visited Brussels. Lots of ‘stuff’ has happened there since 1964 when I attended school there. Decide for yourself. Myself, I like the 1964 version better.

One more thing. For those of you in the US, I have written a 3 episode short story entitled ISOB. It is free to read via this direct link–>https://www.amazon.com/kindle-vella/story/B0BCZ7VF7T

Won’t be everyone’s cup of tea–but it is laced with memories from the 1960s.

It is 100% fiction. Names, dates…pure fiction.

Hope you can enjoy.

Please share your thoughts and memories in the comments.

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Health, good health

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*Health, good health*

Everybody wants it; but can health, good health be seen?

I’m not talking about humans.

This is about plants. And it is not a discussion about the definition of beauty or the definition of good health.

It is rather about what our eyes can observe. See a beautiful plant. See a beautiful flower. We are accustomed to those.

But something happened to me the other day on a walk. Our local weather has been good: sunshine, warmth and deep gentle rains. Locally, one finds in many home gardens well maintained topsoil–mulched with animal manures and dug in every year.

What does that mean? Healthy plant growth. And even with very common plants, their health shines. It captured my attention recently. My photo shows that. I hope you can see it.

Unusual perceptions of plants and their flowers? That is what CJ experienced for the first time in my book, Tangier Gardens. If you like plants and their flowers you will like CJ’s story.

Spring primrose

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Primula veris

At 2,000 meters above sea level, in the northern range of the Swiss Alps, I rediscovered the spring joy I had experienced three weeks ago, albeit at 500 meters above sea level.

This joy can be discovered anytime, anywhere.

This is the joy that Christopher Janus experiences in the Mediterranean gardens and landscape of Tangier, Morocco. Read about it, muse and adversary, in my book, Tangier Gardens.

Spring at the forest edge

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You may have been there before–maybe not.

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

What happens where the pasture flowers meet the leafy forest?

What is that beauty to the eyes–in the air? 

Does it emanate from the plants?

How does it make us feel better?

Find out for yourselves.

And it happened to CJ. In Tangier Gardens. 

He describes it. Read about the joy.

https://amzn.to/3HLrtyv

Liver problems?

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Hepatica nobilis–portals?

Hepatica pushing up through last year’s beech leaves at 600meters above sea level in the forests just above Interlaken, Switzerland.

Still not sure about portals? Neither was CJ.

Favorite Fog

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Fog or cloud? This morning, this is what I saw. You might say–fog what’s the big deal.

You might say that if you have never lived among steep mountains in a climate blessed with humidity and precipitation.

Let me get on with it.

On the ground it may as well be fog. Can’t see blue sky or sun. Can only see 50 meters in front of me. Definitely fog. 

Or is it?

I live at 600meters above sea level in that fog.

But from a camera 1300meters above sea level, I am seeing that my ground level fog looks distinctly like cloud cover. A sea of clouds like all of us have seen while flying at 30,000 to 40,000 feet.

For me the question of fog or clouds is one of the pleasant riddles of life. Hope you have found it the same.

In the afternoon the clouds began drifting away or put another way, down river, downstream on the Aare River.

Olives and lemons

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Liking the markets full of fresh fruits and veg? Morocco is the place. But is that the whole story? In Tangier Gardens, CJ finds out the rest of the story. More about Tangier Gardens –>here–>learn more.

Olives of infinite variety and preserved lemons to die for. That is Morocco.

Real snow

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I wrote previously about winter colors, snow line and black and white.

The most attractive black and white in our landscape is the magpie, the Eurasian magpie, Pica pica. They have an large, active nest nearby in the top of a huge linden tree, Tilia cordata. When the first winter snowfall arrived the nest got so snowed in…it was no longer visible, neither were the magpies.
Where are the magpies?