Morocco–the real Morocco

100% Moroccans 100% of the time

Day-dreaming or the real thing?

On an early summer day in Gibraltar I was relaxing on a hotel terrace, shaded by wisteria, looking towards, Africa, Morocco, Tangier. At a table near me, I met a grizzly old American landscape architect named Herb Striet. He talked about the geography at the Strait of Gibraltar.

Why was Striet in Gibraltar?

Striet was in Gibraltar because his old-time Lebanese friend ran the bank where Striet kept his off-shore accounts. “It’s convenient,” Striet said, “I can easily go back to my Tangier if I want.” Then the conversation got weird. I couldn’t understand. He twisted. I got twisted; but I listened.

“Heh, heh,” he said, “…if… if I want.” I didn’t really get the picture. He continued. I summarize.

All the while he had been working and living in the Arabian Peninsula, Striet said he had missed the freedom of Morocco, North Africa, the Maghreb. He had missed the accessibility of the Moroccan people. He had missed the intimate human nature of their medina public realm. He had missed life in Morocco, very real, just 100% Moroccans 100% of the time–Morocco, where daily life was not flash like the oil-countries of the Arabian Peninsula. He told me his daily public realm life in the oil-rich Middle East was awkwardly filled with contracted, sad-faced expatriate service people.

At the end, I finally understood, almost, that Striet had a love/hate thing with Morocco. So nice… but…

And all this is mellowed-out by C418’s cut “Door” on his Alpha album.

Curious Tales: The Prequel is free to read on Kindle Vella at this link: https://bit.ly/3Hv6p2p

And the story behind Curious Tales is Tangier Gardens and it is available on Amazon at this link: https://amzn.to/3HLrtyv

Curious Tales Ebook will launch 15April at a huge discount: Sign up here for details: https://bit.ly/3q5lcaq

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Who is CJ?

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 way to Morocco?

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

Six Days in Spain

This is a sequel that actually becomes a Tangier Gardens prequel. Three Kindle Vella episodes tell the entire story. Please visit for a quick, peculiar but fun read: Six Days in Spain at = https://www.amazon.com/kindle-vella/story/B0BWPT2ZHZ

I’m a retired landscape architect (LinkedIn profile= https://ch.linkedin.com/in/edflaherty1). I was on vacation in Switzerland, a couple years ago just before the Covid thing. There’s a fine little chocolate shop and café in Interlaken–been in business for over a century. (https://schuh-interlaken.ch)

It attracts lots of different people from around the world. I bumped into an American, a guy in his 30s who was a landscape architect. We got on easily. He also was a writer and told me he was thinking of changing his career.

We talked our way through hot chocolates and espressos. Long story short, he handed me a thumb drive with his diaries and design journals from the summer, fall and winter of the year 2000 (he was still at university then), when he travelled south through Europe on his way to Morocco for his university-required term abroad design study.

I read them and one part of his peculiar journey was his six days in Spain–Bilbao, Granada and Algeciras. He met a Spanish landscape history professor. Interesting stuff–the difference between classroom visuals/discussions and real life multi-sensuals.

I posted his diaries and journal entries for his six days in Spain on Kindle Vella. They are free to read–takes about 10-15 minutes. Peculiar but fun.(Kindle Vella link=https://bit.ly/3Hv6p2p)

Visit and enjoy.

Thank you.

Gardens? The Hesperides?

The Rock? The Strait of Gibraltar?
An illustration from a 1922 edition John Milton’s Comus, illustrated by Arthur Rackham.

Myself, I went to North Africa once, and that was enough–too many people pressing in on me all the time–not my idea of a fun afternoon. I was more interested in nymphs, orange blossoms and golden apples in the Garden of the Hesperides.

Finding that garden though, has been one of those fun, but not really serious peccadillo challenges in my life. Good descriptions are hard to come by, what to speak of the garden itself.  I’ve never found it.  I’ve always come up empty. So this time, I figured since I was in the neighborhood–since I was in that hazy western Mediterranean–I figured I’d look for that garden again.

Read this entire short story, The Rock, for FREE on amazon Vella at this link: https://bit.ly/3Hv6p2p

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.

3 for 1–a good deal

Another FREE Vella Episode

3 for 1–a good deal: FREE and available now at Vella here–>https://tinyurl.com/3fhvpdsd

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And coming next week Vella.02. A NEW Vella story = North or northwest?

What is it?

Majoring in Landscape Architecture, CJ is in Tangier on a term abroad design study. The visit occurs at the turn of the 21st century, barely before the 9/11 disaster. 

The landscape had always been CJ’s muse. But in Morocco, he did battle with it. He was confused by it. He tried to understand it. Its Oriental roots ran deep across the entirety of north Africa. 

But he discovered that the Moroccan landscape had equally strong roots deep into the dark heartland of west Africa. In Morocco. In the coming Vella, CJ recounts some of his northwest Africa explorations.

Find the FREE Vella episodes here–>https://tinyurl.com/3fhvpdsd 

Want to keep up with CJ’s international landscape adventures and get advance notice of free copies, then click here–>https://tinyurl.com/bdyjwrak

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Free Vella Episodes

Okay–put up my first Vella (American college student in Tangier)–three short episodes(700wds each average)–more to come.

FREE episodes!!!

 But that is not the whole story.

I self-published Tangier Gardens(120,000wds) via KDP select in March and after the 5 day free offer launch (50 downloads) everything has gone to sleep–deep sleep.

I had a bunch of background stories that didn’t make it into the final Tangier Gardens, so I figured to put them together on Vella.

I need some feedback from the Vella episodes. What is missing? What is disappointing? What is good?

Find the FREE Vella episodes here–>https://tinyurl.com/3fhvpdsd 

Find Tangier Gardens here–>https://tinyurl.com/2p9e66xm

Thanks

Lilac Sunday

Lilacs. Syringa species.

A long time ago–an embarassing number of years–more than you need to know, I worked at the Arnold Arboretum of Harvard University in Boston in the United States. Their specialization was woody plants. 

They have four hundred named cultivars, varieties and species of lilac (Syringa). Each spring they have a massive public event that huge crowds attend–Lilac Sunday. The event timing varied as climate related events do. Early warm spring meant early lilacs could be mid-late April. Cold and a late spring meant late lilacs could be mid May.

So we watched carefully each year to determine accurately when would Lilac Sunday be.

All that crossed my mind as I was looking and enjoying lilac fragrance everywhere in my home town today. So if I was to call Lilac Sunday, I’d call it this week–Mother’s Day in the USA. 

And the climate? A normal average year.

Go out and find a lilac. Enjoy the blooms and their fragrance. They go by rather quickly as May warms the earth.

For a virtual visit to the lilacs at the Arnold Arboretum, there is a 3 minute video at this link here (Mask not required).

The advertisement for this year’s Lilac Sunday celebration is here.

If you are really into the beauty and fragrance of flowers, please join my email list to get updates on the discoveries of my protagonist, Christopher Janus (CJ) and his discoveries in the landscape, especially the plant world.

Spring at the forest edge

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