In the passage of time

We are observers.

Before

After

And what happened during? Were we all there? Growth. Health.

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Short story about a strange…

…garden and its even stranger keepers…in Tangier.

The Story

Click the orange circle above to listen. This story is 30 minutes about Moroccan landscape, a strange garden, absinthe, chocolate and its plants.

Date palms and mimosa in Morocco (Phoenix dactylifera and Acacia dealbata). Ever wonder about the magic of fragrance? Try mimosa, in its natural habitat, in the winter.

The Background

Anyone who has worked in a garden–suffered blisters and callouses in a garden for fruit, vegetables, flowers, medicine–knows there is something more in those gardens. This is for you.

Gardens? Chocolate? Yes, definitely…but I never thought to combine them until the email I received quite recently from an almost forgotten friend. Donkeys’ years ago when I was in Tangier, we worked together on the Baie de Tanger–it was a tourist destination development project.

Now, my friend’s still in Tangier, but as an antique dealer, using as an income cover, a store of second hand furniture. This story is a found antique.

In ‘Christopher and the Hibiscus House’, Christopher tells the story of a Tangier, Morocco garden. In order to visit the garden he was required by the garden’s keepers, a Brit and a Ruskie, to undergo a special ordeal of chocolate and absinthe before walking at sunset in the garden. Christopher first had to visit the land of the green fairies before he could enter their Oval Garden. This is that story.

Readers…by now you know that my blog, flahertylandscape, is all about plants and people–landscape journeys. Sounds fair and safe enough; but what I  share with you in the above story goes beyond ethnobotany, beyond strange.

 

The Moroccan dream.

…for millennia…Tangier has been a nexus of Mediterranean, African and European cultures…a classic melting pot that is still on the boil.

This is in part a freshly edited re-post of  a 2015 post I made, entitled Chocolate, Gardens and Magic, which, if I might say so, was a too long read; but it is fortunately well illustrated with Art Nouveau graphics.

The photo won’t get you there

Maybe two photos will help you on your way

On your way to where?

Worlds within worlds in the plant world,

Start here.

And try to get here.

But you can’t. You can only get there if you discover the path in real life. 🙂

The promise is yet to come

Corylus avellana, 600 meters above sea level, 12June2010, North facing slope, Bernese Highlands, Swiss Alps.

Hazelnut or filbert. At the risk of sounding too much like an oldtimer…

Once upon a time, before European mass produced chocolate became common in the United States, if you wanted chocolate with nuts, you had primarily chocolate with peanuts. Then if you took the big voyage to Europe and tried to find chocolate and peanuts…impossible.  Chocolate and nuts in Europe meant chocolate and hazelnuts. Need I say mouth watering?  

Had to Catch a Bus

Had to catch a bus today. Once a week I have therapy and I get there by bus. Well, on the way…it is mid-March in the Berner Oberlands and March came in like a lion with Russian wind and cold from Siberia. The first two weeks felt the harsh results.

But this morning, on my way to catch the bus, I saw the promise of spring realized. I had to stop and photograph.

Is today the day? For sure.

And even I was still 10 minutes early for a bus that is always on time. Temperature had risen above 50 degree fahrenheit. Mild for mid-March. I sat down and took one more photo before the bus.

Deep breath of fresh water lake air. No chill. Yes, spring.

Is it just my imagination…

when I think a plant looks happy?

Or…my errant choice of words?

Clivia miniata

Nothing To See Here

Just another day, but…

Winter does have some beauty.

Just when we may think winter does us in…

Spring shares hope.

Everything to see, smell, hear and feel.

3 of 3

2 of 3

1 of 3

Coniferous Infrastructure

The snowfall on the branches tells me the story of coniferous infrastructure.

Water, flowing up and down the trunk road interstate, branches off to the regional limited-access freeway, then via highways to cities and on to local neighborhoods until arriving at each needle, each home…pausing at the stomata, before finally exiting to begin its mystical cycle again.

Water supply infrastructure for these conifers.

Big time flows.

Big time pipes.

Ground water.

Rain.

Snow.

Energy.

I love the feel.

Beautiful.

Trees…

…and green meadows…who can not love them?

Oscar Hammerstein II, said that in the 1950s when he wrote the lyrics for the musical, The Sound of Music.

The title song has these simple lyrics. “The hills are alive.” Think about it. The hills are alive…with what?

He wrote, “with the sound of music.”

No, not the music written by Richard Rodgers…but their own music. “The songs they have sung for thousands of years.”

Think about that because that is what anyone can feel when they visit these hills. These hills are alive with the sound of music. These hills will let you ride on the sound of their music. It is real.

And Hammerstein finished with:

“I go to the hills when my heart is lonely,

I know I will hear what I’ve heard before

My heart will be blessed with the sound of music

And I´ll sing once more.”

Happy New Year, all. 🙂

People and Plants Caption?

Caption?

This is a bit of a change. But most of my posts are about real life, so I guess this fits in.

All I see in this photo is an attempt at ‘cross-cultural integration’. Is that sad or is that just a practical fact of life?

Do any of you have experience with signs like this?

If so, in public or in your home?

Do any of you wonder why this sign was put up?

Do any of you wonder what happens if this sign isn’t put up?

Caption?

Oh heck, forget it. I’ve been living in foreign countries too long. I’ve forgotten what is culturally right or culturally wrong.

Happy holidays to all. I’m going out for a walk, maybe an adventure.

An adventure in the making…going my way?