Shadows on the sea

“O call back yesterday, bid time return.“ William Shakespeare, Richard II Tuesday 11 March 2025 Landschlacht, Canton Thurgau, Schweiz The fog drifts over the Bodensee (Lake Constance) like a whispered secret, delicate as breath on glass. It moves with the hush of something ancient, curling in tendrils over the water’s surface, dissolving as it meets… Continue reading Shadows on the sea

Invention of self

“Life is other than what we write.“ André Breton, Nadja (1928) Friday 7 March 2025 Landschlacht, Schweiz Above: Landschlacht, Canton Thurgau, Switzerland Literature is both a mirror and a chisel: One reflecting the world as it is. The other carving out the world as it could be. This blog may not be literature, but the… Continue reading Invention of self

What’s love got to do with it?

Thursday 14 February 2025 Eskişehir, Türkiye Where does one find love? Perhaps Rome? Above: Roma (Rome), Italia The Basilica di Santa Maria in Cosmedin is a minor basilican church in Rome, dedicated to the Virgin Mary. Located in the rione (neighborhood) of Ripa and constructed first in the 6th century as a diaconia (deaconry) in an area of the city populated by Greek immigrants,… Continue reading What’s love got to do with it?

Daddy dearest

Eskişehir, Türkiye Thursday 9 October 2024 It has been a while since I have written my blog and the reasons are complex. Since my trip to Andalucia – the subject of the past few blogposts – I have changed employers, visited the Princes’ Islands off the coast of Istanbul and have been building a network… Continue reading Daddy dearest

Obituary (1): The little corner gathering

Eskişehir, Türkiye Wednesday 11 September 2024 Writing about death shouldn’t be easy, especially when there is far more happening in the world – pondering the past, dreaming of destiny, existing in the experience of this moment. People die every day. Even when I am not writing about it, people will keep dying. Discussion of death… Continue reading Obituary (1): The little corner gathering

The recumbent lion

Above: The natural phenomenon of the karst erosion in El Torcal de Antequera, Andalusia, España “Throw the lumber over, man! Let your Boat of Life be light, packed with only what you need – a homely home and simple pleasures, one or two friends, worth the name, someone to love and someone to love you, a… Continue reading The recumbent lion

The torment of the Tarasca

Above: The Tarasca, Antequera, España ‘Twas brillig and the slithy tovesDid gyre and gimble in the wabe;All mimsy were the borogoves,And the mome raths outgrabe. “Beware the Jabberwock, my son!The jaws that bite, the claws that catch!Beware the Jubjub bird and shunThe frumious Bandersnatch!” He took his vorpal sword in hand:Long time the manxome foe… Continue reading The torment of the Tarasca

Antequera: In transit

Eskişehir, Türkiye Saturday 10 August 2024 “No young person under 40 is ever to be allowed to travel abroad under any circumstances. Nor is anyone to be allowed to go for private reasons, but only on some public business, as a herald or ambassador or as an observer of one sort or another.“ Plato, The… Continue reading Antequera: In transit

Of a jazz that I feel

Above: Composition for Jazz, Albert Gleizes (1915), Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York City Eskişehir, Türkiye Wednesday 24 July 2024 Last Sunday evening at Starbucks with a new student after my classes at the school have ended. He is an educated man, a well-seasoned man, despite being half my age. Not that unusual. But to… Continue reading Of a jazz that I feel

A separate Málaga

Tuesday 2 July 2024 Eskişehir, Türkiye Fair land! of chivalry, the old domain,Land of the vine and olive, lovely Spain!Though not for thee with classic shores to vieIn charms that fix th’ enthusiast’s pensive eye;Yet hast thou scenes of beauty richly fraughtWith all that wakes the glow of lofty thought. Felicia Hemans (1793 – 1835), Abencerrage… Continue reading A separate Málaga