2024 update from February through to almost the end of April
2024 update from February through to almost the end of April
For the rest of the February stay in Paris, I worked much of the time on Theologies and the Gods. Richard & I went to the Musée d’Orsay, and one evening at Anahuacalle we had dinner with Marie-Laure, Celine, Toby & Camille. Soteria was Thomas on John Boswell which was interesting. We also went to the Mark Rothko at the Foundation Louis Vuitton. I liked a lot of his earlier works – especially his 1930s New York paintings. His later works are
interesting – especially as backdrops, but otherwise I still feel they are over-hyped for the most part. At Saint Sulpice, we saw the Delacroix. I also had a delightful dinner at Il Covo with Anne-Laure. Another evening it was the Restaurant Japan with Marie-Laure and her lovely niece Valentin.
On our first day back in London, it was Nova Stella on the Witches’ Compass. Vaguely interesting. I liked the Cochrane part on elemental directions, but the rest was too Grimoire oriented for my taste. The next evening was dinner with Tilly at ROSL. Two nights later, at the Love Theatre/Playhouse Theatre, my tickets turned out to be for 29 March rather than for 29 February. They were swapped, and we got two front row seats in the Dress Circle, but through the confusion and crowd I managed to lose Richard when we were trying to find our seats. I looked everywhere and went everywhere. He joined me only after the opening Wilkommen. It was a very active and powerful Cabaret in the round. Heavy but enjoyable.
While in London, I managed to finish Patti Smith’s most moving Just Kids. Richard & I went to the Tate Modern for the Yoko Ono exhibit. The stay in London was mostly medical and dental appointments, but at the October Gallery we attended the vernissage of Rachid Koraïchi and his ‘Celestial Blue’ works. One day, we had a delightful luncheon with Gillie in the 1910 of ROSL. Double G&Ts as well. Richard & I went to the Royal Academy afterwards and quickly walked through the Entangled Pasts, the Angelica Kauffman and the
Impressionists on Paper exhibitions. The Van Gogh and Odilon Redon were what for me were the most impressive.
I did hear the State of Union address, and had mixed feelings about it. Biden did well but still was only speaking of a six-week ceasefire. For the rest in London, I continued with my writing and reading of Peter Carroll’s Liber Null and Psychonaut: An Introduction to Chaos Magic. The 9th of April was what is becoming the usual Saturday night ritual. It is staggering to find oneself at the pinnacle of human happiness. Arnold’s 5th, Gershwin’s Piano Concerto, Dutilleux’s First Symphony and Rachmaninov’s Second Piano Concerto. I could have substituted Roussel and, of course, Ravel, but the orchestra is the social/creative unit I most wish to exalt. In contrast to Carroll, I do not see chaos as the primary reality but as the primary non-reality. His tertiary reality of the material physical world I place as the first, and his second (aura, the gods, morphic resonance, the egregore and his Kia) for me is the third – the vapor or smoke that etherealises from the substantial. Magic is still the non-empirical.
And I fully agree that physical existence is dualistic – my bi-existence that is BE & beingness and as ‘opposed’ to operative non-existence or ONEness.
And then we were back in Paris. Marie-Laure met us at the Gare du Nord. With Toby and Marie-Laure we had dinner at Charbon our second evening. Richard and I visited the Père-Lachaise and found the grave of Delacroix after which we had dinner at Anahuacalli with Marie-Laure. The following night, it was Il Covo with Marie-Helene’s sister Florence and Marie-Laure.
Amsterdam was next. We saw Hans our physiotherapist the first full day in the Netherlands, and that evening at Tomo Sushi, we had a lovely dinner with Saskia. The next night, it was dinner with Hans at That’s Amore. The following day, it was the fascinating Frans Hals exhibition and the Rijksmuseum followed by an enormous lunch. And dinner that night was at the Golden Temple with Stephan & Koen. They treated. The next day it was a fun evening of ‘smoke’ & whisky and dinner at Shiva with darling Erdem. And for the following day, we
went to Jimmy’s . I could not find a pizzeria, but Amir (who was not there) had made a delicious lentil soup which we enjoyed instead.
The Soteria for March was Jenean McBrearty’s presentation of Juliet Nicolson’s The Great Silence. Toward the end, I saw the swan that I had seen earlier. So, I grabbed my pants and some bread and rushed out into the rain to feed it, but not having my keys I could not get back in or get Richard’s attention. I think I was in my t-shirt in the rain for 10 minutes.
On the 26th of March, I saw Hans again, and then we had our Stadhuis appointment, but Richard cannot apply for Dutch nationality until his 15 years of registration has completed, and that will be 1 July. So our next appointment is now 2 July. On the 27th of March, it was La Caramba with a taxi ride home. We were Stephan & Koen, Michael & Maxim, Faye, Zelda, Santima, dearest Vicky and her daughter Alisa, Jimmy & Amir. Table 13 with 13 of us. Great & exhausting fun. Two days later, we took the train all the way from Amsterdam to
Les Arcs where Ryan met us and got us back to Tellus. Marie-Laure had met us at the Gare du Nord and accompanied us to the Gare de Lyon.
The next day at the marché and without a car, we ended up having expresso and pizza with Margit & Jan at the Café du Cour. Said hello to Pierre at the pharmacy and then ran into Penny, Guy & Caroline. So almost immediately we saw almost everyone we know in ourimmediate Midi locale. That night we had dinner and negroni at Joanne’s where we spent the night. The next day for Easter, we had a huge meal with mousseux and red wine, goat and lamb. Yvonne had joined us and brought several of our course. Fun but I collapsed at 18:00 and napped until 19:00. Joanne got us home in the rain by 20:00. For Easter Monday, we enjoyed a lovely luncheon at Jessica’s with Tilly, Edith, Douglas, Stephen and the two Tom’s.
The following Wednesday, I lugged all three laptops to the computer technician. At least my speaker was finally working. I then got the machines back home before re-joining Richard at the Provençal. We never got to the marché that morning. At the hotel restaurant, we were Tillie and Stephen, Jessica, then Penny, Guy & Caroline. Richard & I had orange juice and cheese ravioli. The only alcohol I had was a digestive offered us at the end. I treated. Stephen then took me to farmer Guy and after to Petit Claude. Claude came over to Tellus and jump-started Mercedes.
On Messenger, I heard from Little Nancy/Anna Quinn: “I just had open heart surgery for a mitral valve repair. I decided that I want to stick around to reconnect with ones I have loved in the past. I am done with my hermitage and hiding. So after I recover I would love to visit you and Richard.” I have replied to her.
I had forgot that our nefastus had begun, so Richard and I engaged instead in our Saturday night ritual. The following evening was not much better with dinner at Jan & Margit’s with Guy driving us along with Penny and Caroline, and at the dinner Marijka, Thomas and Menno. Richard & I had Glenfiddich. Chicken was the main course. Very pleasant evening. The next day, our Aupsois Guy came and ploughed for the vegetable garden. Richard & I went straightaway and got tomatoes, courgettes, raspberries and strawberries, etc. Ran into Penny, Guy & Caroline just as we leaving the Pepinieres nursery in Flayosc. I planted everything almost up to 20:00. On Thursday, when shopping, we saw Liliane at the Intermarché. We then ate early, and then at Penny’s, it was Knox Goes Away with Michael Keaton. A powerful and terrifically engaging film.
On the 13th, I dreamed that I was in Banaras for a family reunion. We were in the top floor of a building overlooking the river. When I looked down, I saw Mother walking along the Kashi Coast. Shortly later I rushed down to look for both her and Dad. I don’t how I began talking to an older American woman but she handed me an envelope with old letters I think addressed to me with Mother’s writing. I asked her how she had got these, and she mentioned
Dad’s name. I asked how she knew him, and she replied, “I am his wife.” So I invited her to the reunion as well and took her to the others. Eventually I found Dad, but we were now far from the restaurant building. We hurried to it, but Dad ran ahead and much, much faster than I could. At the building there was now a lift to get to the upper floor. An attractive guy at the desk said that it was so much per person to use the lift. I think he gave me a slight discount
and asked for $21. We may have reached the rest, but I then woke up.
The 15th was Richard’s 86th birthday, so we had negroni with our 5:2 Monday meal outside with a fire in the barbeque. Earlier, we had café crême at Du Cours and mailed Richard’s power cord back to Amazon in the UK. After dinner, I phoned John Walder. He’s in bed, can’t walk, and not well but at least not in pain. His cardiologist gives him months rather than years.The next day, we went to Draguignan. We found the MaxiBar but did not buy anything. Then
it was our cardiologist. Richard is fine. And I was seen and checked too. Mikhael was more friendly than previously, is from Belgium, has a daughter of 19-months, and is into sea-diving. When we got home, we found that the ferocious wind had knocked down and demolished our storage tent. Even more, with the extreme cold that continued in the days that followed, the tomatoes and zucchini that I had planted all died.
We had a Zoom with Coral. At another time, we Zoomed with Nancy. For April, I fogot about Soteria. Cinema night at Penny’s was Poor Things which was among the strangest but also fascinating of films. Emma Stone was quite amazing, and the settings were pure delightful fantasy. Earlier Margit and Marijke had stopped by while on their walk. After the weekend, I went to went to Petit Claude’s. Katie had to return to the hospital on Saturday. He says she is dying and will not ever come home again. It was terribly sad. The following day, I got to my train in time, but it was a hassle the whole journey because I did not have or could not find the QR codes. In Strasbourg I had to purchase another ticket to Mannheim (€55) but once there I sat in the seat that I had originally reserved for the Mannheim-Mainz leg, and finally the conductor gave up on me.
The next day in Mainz, I visited the churches of St. Ignaz, Augustine, and the Dom – the first two have beautiful Baroque/Rococo interiors. Later with Bron, we visited the open but ruined remains of the church of St. Christopher where services are still held. For the rest, I found where the conference will be, did some shopping, had a pretzl, came back to the hotel when the sun that had appeared became rain and hail and had a decent nap. Bron’s train was cancelled, so we met up around 16:00. Took a walk together along the Rhine – it was now sunny – and at the train station I tried to get my tickets but could not. On my phone with Bron helping, we were able to get two of my required QR codes but not the one for the first train to Stuttgart. We had dinner at a super Mexican restaurant (Montezuma). I had two margaritas, a beer and chile con queso. We were joined by Devin and later by Siv Ellen.
The conference has been pleasant, enjoyable and engaging. I got through my paper but was not relaxed for the delivery. Enjoyed though the discussion. At the dinner after, I had ordered chicken for dinner but was given a beef ragout instead. Had a Weitzen beer. At the conclusion of the day part of the conference the following day, Bron took us all to see the Green Man (or Men) in the Dom. Then with dinner, I actually had my chicken breast. Also a beer. Afterwards, we went to the Natural History Museum for Bron’s presentation on Science Museums and Dark Green Religion. When the conference ended the next day on Saturday, I went to the St. Stephen’s church to see the Marc Chagall windows. That evening with Bron again at the Mexican restaurant, two margaritas and the mole. Smoked a joint with Bron after dinner back at his place. It was a good exchange, and I was able to see that his academic
work on ecological and environmental activism is coming to a fine fruition. We need, though, to bring-in corporate and banking people into the conversations.
But now I’m on the train heading home and to Richard. I arrive at the train station at 21:18. Tomorrow, Pennell and Roger arrive for three days. Life is challenging but still remarkably fine.