Showing posts with label Romance. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Romance. Show all posts

Monday, November 11, 2019

Taj Mahal Agra India

The Taj Mahal Is an extraordinary World Heritage Site. It was commissioned by Gughal Emperor Shah Johal  and built in 1632 taking 22 years to finish using 22000 workers around the clock  The architect was Ustad Abrahad Lahori.
It is a mausoleum built in memory of the Shah’s wife, Mumtaz Mahal. She died in the child birth of her 14 th child.  4 sons and 2 daughters were especially.  The relationship between the Shah and Mumtaz began early and they were inseparable. Their’s is truly the most beautiful love story.  The Taj Mahal is considered the greatest monument to love.  Originally it was only meant for her, but later, thanks to his daughters,  he was too buried in Taj Mahal, their bodies side by side for eternity.
It really is the most beautiful architecture and the most romantic creation. Laura loved it all, the mausoleum, the gardens, birds and butterflies, the famous gate and water ways.
A 1000 elephants were used to transport materials from all over India and Asia. The marble was brought from Makrana. It has unique properties and is itself such a wonder. I loved the inlaid flowers each delicately hand laid.  Carnelian from Arabia, Lapis Lazuli from Afghanistan, Jasper from northern India, Jade and crystal from China and turquoise from Tibet.
The tomb is on 42 acres with the onion dome building in the centre and a minaret on each side. Two further outlying buildings were built, one a mosque, for balance.
Callie Chan at Flight Centre Burnaby arranged the tour with Creative Travel +91 81 30 565777.   The car and driver were exceptional. The tour guide, certified by the Government of India, a gentleman and historian, was a delight.
Laura and I loved the Taj Mahal.  A tributary of the Ganges river flowed behind the Taj. Everyone was so friendly, young couples even asking us to join in their photos. It was a place of endless charm and romance.










Saturday, June 13, 2015

Young love, Bacon, Shoes and Air Conditioning

Another perfect day in the universe.  I’m here in my underwear, unwashed, unshaved, working on the second coffee. I’ve done an hour of writing for another book.
I’ve had a long fitful night sleep's beside a gorgeous young blond.  She cares for me because I have  air conditioning in my place. It counteracts the effects of her menopausal hot flashes.
All my life I’ve wanted to be loved by women for who I am but instead have settled for being loved for what I had.   I think my first girlfriend liked me for my guitar.  Not because I could play it but because with the guitar I accessorized her image of herself as an artist.  It helped that I had blue jeans, an Army Navy turtle neck sweater and Montreal Beret.  The Army Navy sweater was digested by moths decades past.
The girl I’m with today doesn’t care so much for what I wear.  She’s the kind of gal that would say, “you can leave your hat on.”  I lost the original beret but replaced it with a Canadian Boy Scout one.   When I’m fully clothed she sometimes  says affectionately,  "you clean up nice.”  
I remember the meaning and purpose of life, my relationship with God, finding the “answer", ‘getting ahead’, ‘fighting the good fight’, “learning”, ‘solving the puzzle’, ‘running the rat race’, all being more important.  I remember ‘having to have her’.  I remember ‘needing desperately’.  I don’t know I feel this way today.  Everything is tempered by time.  I’ve fought so many good fights, found so many answers, won so many races that each day seems sufficient unto itself.
She’s in the bath now.
The dog is asleep at my feet.  He picks this place so if I move he can be right there.  Ready for adventure.
I’ve had so many adventures and frankly look forward to the next.  Several are muddling along in my brain like the book I’m working on.  I’m meandering forward.  All the straight lines have been taken and discarded. There’s been too many mazes, too many mountains. I’m content with the valleys.  Today.
I know I’ll impress her soon by making her a bacon and croissant breakfast.  I wasn’t planning on being particularly attractive when I bought the croissants yesterday in the East Vancouver Bakery.  I just know she finds me sexy when I make her breakfast.  I got her coffee already.  She’s the kind of girl that likes a man with a job who pays his taxes.
I dreamed of riding the Harley last night.  I’m thinking I might go for a spin later.  Pick up my laundry.  Apparently women find clean clothes sexy?  The girls I used to date said all kinds of bullshit which I only knew was false when I tried it out on the next woman I dated.
“What makes you think women like men who don’t wash each day.”
“My last girlfriend said women  like that in a man.’
"She was an idiot.  Do you like dirty women. Don’t answer that, I mean, do you like women who stink of sweat. Don’t answer that either, men are pigs.  Just remember women aren’t.  More women will like a man that showers daily than one who showers once a month."
I’m glad women got more honest over the years.  I like to shower. After she’s finished with her bath, I’ll probably lather up. The only dirty dog in this relationship is Gilbert the cockapoo, He hates baths.  Probably his girlfriends like the animal smell.  I figure if I’m missing it, i can stuff my face in an ass or crotch just like he does and get the full fragrance. It’s just a thought.  I like those smells at night, in the moonlight, in the heat of passion.
But coffee and bacon smells, that’s on my mind right now.  I don’t know what I’m going to do after that.
I’ve got so much work to do. I could work around the clock seven days a week and not make a dint in what I ‘should” be doing.  But yesterday, friday,  I couldn’t even think straight. I’m utterly exhausted each day by 6. My mind literally weeps. I feel like my brain today acts like my body did when I did construction. I’d put in a 10 hour day, come home, eat and sleep. That’s all i’ve been able to do with thinking and office work now.  I crash each night in front of the tv, utterly overwhelmed by all the demands and desperation and anger in my work.  There’s a constant crisis and emergency.
Now in my new office, the sirens are gone. For 5 years I’ve heard sirens and screaming all day long outside my window and the quiet is the first thing I noticed in my new office.  And no one accosting me on the street, wanting me to give them money, shouting at me because they think I’m someone else or wanting me to buy drugs. I feel like I’ve done a five year tour in a war zone and by moving a few blocks I’m no longer at ground zero.  I’d begun thinking everyone was looking for an angle.  It’s been too long that I’m triple locking my world.
People on drugs simply don’t realize how loud, insensitive and assaultive, they are.  They’re baby bubble boys and girls in adult bodies,  their emotions protected by layers of cotton candy anti feeling agents so they can assault everyone verbally around them with impunity. The drug addict lives in a flack jacket.  I’m bruised everywhere today.  And the ignorance off the front lines is appalling.  The people ‘back home’ are living in their own ‘bubble boy and bubble girl’ worlds.  The law makers and judges are so distant from reality that they may as well be living on space stations. They don’t know they don’t know and their arrogance and ignorance are even more painful than those who are suffering the disease.
I’m recouping. She says, to me, it's okay to do nothing.  It’s okay.  You can relax. You need to have a break.  I’ve got files and work.I’ve taken home work every night and weekend for thirty years. I’ve a dozen books to read. I’ve read a thousands of books related to my work, thousands of documentaries and movies related directly to my work. I’m always working. But today I’m reading a book about an English privateer in the 19th century  New Orleans harbour. I’ve got a cowboy novel nearby that looks equally appealing. That’s my plan for today’s agenda. Maybe sit outside in the sun, maybe go for a swim in the pool.  Maybe ride the Harley for the laundry.
I’ve just read two theological philosophical texts this last two weeks. I’m off to ireland, a conference on autism, so I’ve read a half dozen papers on the subject and am slowly progressing on a new text on neurotransmitters. “I should be ‘finishing’ it but I preferred reading the Kindle version of ‘celtic myths’, enjoyed learning my forebears were the ‘barbarians’ that first invaded Rome.  I’ve loved learning about the history of my grandfather’s people. I’ve talked with my brother about his trip to Ireland. He’s reassured me about driving the stick shift I’ll be renting.  I’m always learning. Everything new frightens me, then I face it and move on.
I’m still thinking about bacon.
The young girl just walked past smelling of lilac and bath water.  She was happy yesterday when I got her Keens walking shoes at Mountain Equipment Coop.  If I could talk to myself as a young man wanting to get laid, I’d tell myself, forget about the poetry, save your money and take the girl to a shoe store and buy her shoes.  I wouldn’t tell my younger self about bacon. Somethings are best kept a secret.  It takes a life time for a guy to learn about bacon and shoes.  Young men are slow. But I think the women like that.  The mystery.  Listening dreamily to the young guys playing guitar and reciting poems, knowing that if you play your cards right as a girl, you’ll one day get shoes and bacon from a guy with a job who pays his taxes.  The dogs left me and followed her into the other room.  The dirty dog wants my girl. I think I’d better get in the shower.  Then I'll get started on the bacon.  She really is hot. I never thought as a young man I’d be thankful to have air conditioning to cool my girl down.  

Sunday, January 13, 2013

Frost on Dock, Vancouver

Gilbert woke me up this morning. Even though I went to bed around 11 pm, he'd crashed right after eating, having had a truly great dog day running all over fields and parks. His normal wake up time is 730 am. I like to sleep in an hour more on the weekend. I think he may even know that. He jumps into bed at 730 and curls up beside me leaning against me. I think that's his 'subtle' way of saying, if you want to get up and get me food and take me for a walk, I just wanted you to know I'm here for you. I rolled over and went back to sleep.

An hour later he pressed up beside me again like there wasn't that much room on the bed for him. It's really love. So I began to get up. Suddenly like a proverbial puppy shot from a cannon he's in my face licking away while his paws are baby punching me and trying to circle my neck. This is what I call my wet alarm clock.

 I decided to dress and take him for a walk. I worry about his bladder which is probably bigger and better controlled than a camels with all the piddling he does on every tree in the forest. My dressing makes him even more ecstatic so there's lots of circles.

 I'd read an Emmett Fox passage in the bathroom. He said the first attribute of God is life. God is alive and where there is life there too is God. The greatest expression of life is joy which he says is a combination of Love and Life. The Bible says we are to be joyful and in joy we meet with God who is life and joy and love. I always like the image in the Bible of David dancing when I think of joy. But joy was also on the face of the father in the parable son tale. Gilbert is joy incarnate.

The dock is covered in frost. My first thought is the water is frozen. Gilbert though leaps to the dock and careens down it's length only to run sliding back to me. Then he's sniffing every crevice for something new. He's forever like the story of the boy in the basement full of manure with the man. The boy is happily digging and looking everywhere while the man stews. Eventually the man asks the boy doesn't he realize we're in a basement of manure. Of course I do, answers the boy, but with this much manure there just has to be a pony somewhere. That's Gilbert.

I look up and it's a truly beautiful day with blue sky and sunshine. This is such a change from the gloomy rainy days we're used to in Vancouver. The air is crisp. There's fresh snow on the mountains making the white caps look simply pristine. Gilbert is prancing down the street looking in the bushes. I'm limbering up. It's a glorious new day. Gilbert does his business. It's healthy and good. On the way back I increase the pace to a brisk walk. I'm working up to joy. I wouldn't want to blow out a circuit board with a surge.

Gilbert's detoured by the place where his little yorkie girlfriend lives. I think he leaves especially fragrant notes for her to find where her mistress takes her out in the morning. Romance is surely in the air. I get back here to the computer and Gilbert's girlfriend Aim is has written him us a note saying she is getting married to Mark this summer. Gilbert's been invited to a traditional Thai wedding. Gilbert's ear perk up when I mention her name.  He's really happy for Aim and likes Mark too.

Now Gilbert's had a Little Caesar and drunk more water, he's gone back to bed. Joy is a bit exhausting. I'm thinking a little nap right now would be joyful too. After that we'll make our way to church for praise, worship and thanksgiving. Gilbert will be in joy all over again to see his friend Alice. Maybe Father Mark's dog Bear will be there too. Personally I'll be talking to God about a whole lot of other things.  I'll add joy to the list today. Life is to be loved and love and life are joy indeed.