Death’s Cha-Cha Step

Thinking is bad. Or more specifically trying to put your head in order, that is bad.IMAG1718There’s experience and caring and many, many other things. And then there’s death, being no longer. Cape Breton 029There is stone. Or nothing. Someone else might write that story. But probably not. There are no notes to be reviewed. No follow-up meeting. You’re done. Dead. 20160205_145103The world is only how you knew it, how you had it, your memories. But when that is done, whatever you did, good or bad, that is gone too.

Jose Saramago Updates “Cain”

Cain and Abel were, according to the Old Testament, two sons of Adam and Eve.
20140627_134848Cain is described as a crop farmer and his younger brother, Abel, as a shepherd. Cain was the first human born and Abel was the first human to die. 20140627_134224Cain committed the first murder by killing his brother. Interpretations of Genesis have typically assumed that the motives were jealousy and anger. 20140627_142100Jose Saramago offers a different story in his final work, Cain, stating that Cain killed Abel because he couldn’t kill God. 20140629_143653Saramago’s Cain states: Our god, the creator of heaven and earth, is completely mad.

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Only a madman unaware of what he is doing would admit to being directly responsible for the deaths of hundreds of thousands of people and then behave as if nothing has happened, unless of course it’s not a case of real, authentic madness, but evil pure and simple.20140629_170419

(Photos: Istanbul, a 2600-year-old city of 14 million people and many old things.)

Obsession III: Rocks

I picked up my first rock with purpose in the summer of 1983. IMAG2547I was sitting beside the road in Prince Edward Island on a hitch-hiking journey across Canada when I saw this rock and decided I should keep a memento from each province. I continued to collect sporadically over the years. IMAG2559It became ingrained in me when I hiked the mountain trails around Vancouver, beginning in the early 1990s, bringing a rock home every time.

Crown Mountain, British Columbia

Crown Mountain, British Columbia

I don’t know where all of the rocks are from, although a few do stand out.

Hot Springs Cove, Vancouver Island

Hot Springs Cove, Vancouver Island

Acropolis, Athens, Greece

Acropolis, Athens, Greece

Rasafa, Syria

Rasafa, Syria

John Street, New York City

John Street, New York City

The collection continues to grow, maybe around 400 now. IMAG2567More space is needed. IMAG2539I just have to get my partner to agree.