New blog for jewelry


So I have decided to create another blog uniquely for my jewelry stuff. I call my style Primitive Elegance. The domain name is already taken. Boohoo! The worst part is that the person also does jewelry. Lol. I looked in vain for a contact info to see if he would sell it.

Here is the link to my new blog, if you are interested.

Primitive Elegance

Thank you for following me.

Trip to Goa


Mom and I organize trips to India every year centered around Ayurveda. This year we went to Mandrem Goa. Goa is unlike any other Indian State. It was colonized by the Portuguese and still has a strong Catholic presence as well as the taste for alcohol. This is probably why most people, including Indians, go there to have fun and party on the beach without Allah, Shiva or Krishna watching you.

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( This is the beach in Mandrem. It’s a very long beach. Most people don’t swim in it. )

We were there for a different kind of fun. 🙂

We found an isolated place with the Ayurvedic clinic right across the street…well, when by street I mean dirt road. The soil is a beautiful red.

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( The group doing their daily meditations on the rooftop )

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( Some of the technicians. Ladies massage ladies and men men )

The Ayurvedic technicians are from Kerala, the birth place of Ayurveda. These trips are rejuvenating, both mentally and physically. Living in the modern and ‘civilized’ world takes its toll on the body. I know I would get sick if I didn’t get at least one week of treatments every year.

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( You had to cross a river in order to get to the beach )

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( This is me chilling at the hotel )

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( We did an excursion to see Old Goa )

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( This is where St. Francis Xavier’s body is ‘buried’. He’s in a tiny coffin. I guess people were just smaller then. His body is almost intact. )

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( There he is. )

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( The guy on the bottom right looks like he’s taking a selfie )

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This is the beach in Calengute where most people hangout. They also hang out in Baga.

Ok, this is all for now. My next trip will take me to Thailand. This will be my first time there.

Caesar watching the Super Bowl


So I just watched the Super Bowl. It was interesting to watch and the athletes were amazing. Both teams gave their best.

However it is crazy to see the amount of money and attention that goes into something like this…a game, entertainment, a distraction.

It is sickening to see the team’s owners in their special boxes looking down at their investments like Caesar looking down at the coliseum stage. The coliseum where the masses were duped and distracted by the true owners and leaders of the country.

Could you imagine if, instead of the winnings going to the owners, the winnings would go to the city or State of the winning team to help fix the economic problems such as education, housing, poverty, health, clean water, and city development. This, this would be an amazing game indeed.

Ok, more about my home.


I cannot help it. It is just too beautiful.

I found a few more pics I want to post here.

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This is where I hung out with a cup of coffee chilling and listening to roosters signing and sometimes the rain coming in.

 

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My family owns some property in the mountains. This is the view from the balcony looking down at the river.

 

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My uncle loves to plant stuff. Here are some of his cool plants. I got on the roof to take this shot.

 

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I love these old houses from Pointe-a-Pitre.

 

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This is the view from Fort Fleur d’Epée.

 

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Pointes des Chateaux is the Eastern most tip of the island. There is a giant cross up on that hill and it’s about a 15 minute hike to get there.

 

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Another amazing beach.

 

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The view os the sunset behind my friend’s  house was so cool. I could look at this for the rest of my life.

 

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This is the house I stayed in.

 

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This is another beach called Raisin Clair. The restaurant there had the BEST cunch!

I have flash backs throughout the day. I feel I am still there sometimes.

 

Secluded beach in Guadeloupe


So this might be my last post from Guadeloupe for now since I am back in the frigid cold of Saint Louis Missouri.

I absolutely love this beach. I don’t like to be where there are many people. This beach was perfect for me also because I could find many corals that I want to use to make jewelry.

I’ve made a small video for your enjoyment and to show you why I love this place.

Coral beach


I haven’t been home in a while so my friends brought me to a secluded beach. It is such a lovely intimate quiet place. I spent the whole time looking for beautiful pieces of corals on the shore. 


I took comfort in the sounds of the waves crashing and wind and birds up above. I collected quite a few coral pieces. I am hoping to make jewelry with them. 


The searching and finding of pieces was like a meditation in stillness and peace which I desperately needed. 


I also found pieces of drift wood. I am not sure yet what I will do with them. 


Oh and a natural sponge as well. Nature is amazingly beautiful. 


You can see here the amount of coral piece that is in this beach. 


This is the beach. Stunning, no?

I would use every little time I had to go up there even if it was for thirty minutes. 

As my time here is coming to an end I have mixed feelings about where I am in life. I know the perception of life here is skewed because I am in vacation but I can’t help thinking that this place is paradise, that life is short, and that I need to decide soon where I want to live. 

I flew back home. Now my arms are tired. 


It has been three years since I have been back home to Guadeloupe. It is a small French island in the Caribbean. Norwegian has the absolute cheapest flights. 


I forgot how beautiful it is. My favorite part is to just sit on my friend’s porch, feel the breeze, listen to the sounds of roosters, dogs and just chill. 

I don’t know why things are so tense in the States, or why I am so tense. Maybe it’s the weather. The cool breeze seems to rock me to sleep. 


This is the view from the shower. 


And this is the view from the top of Fort Fleur d’Epée. 

I would love to come back here. I always say this every time I come. Maybe one day…

I feel like disappearing


I have unfollowed more than 70% of my ‘friends’ on Facebook. I see too many childish remarks about Trump; not enough critique about Obama. I have a difficult time understanding the lack of critical thinking from most of them. Every thing seems to be divided into teams and your team must win at all cost, and of course your team is never wrong.

I voted for neither of these parties. I voted for Jill Stein. I believed in her platform, and yet now that I analyze the ‘teams’ it would seem like the Green party is playing the same game as the other ones. There seem to be an identity associated with belonging to these groups. This identity seems to be more important than solving problems.

As I look at this landscape of confusion, hatred, and chaos it makes me want to disappear. Nature is always a good place for that. I am living for Guadeloupe, my home, for a couple of weeks. Hopefully the ocean, the food and yes, some rum will help.

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A Much needed break.


So Jennifer and I went to Chicago for a much needed one day mini vacation.

We had a great time. We travel well. Maybe it’s because we are easy, lol. We got there in time for breakfast so we went to Cafe Sel Marie. It’s a great place for breakfast and lunch in Lincoln Square.

Then we went to one of my favorite store Merz Apothecary. The wonderful smells tickle your brain as you walk into this old place. The floor to ceiling shelves are full of all sorts of products you would ever need for your hair, skin, teeth and even stomach. Yeah, I had to take a digestive tonic. I ate too much. It tasted like Jaegermeister

We drove to Millenium Park and went to the Shedd Aquarium. We spent a few hours there. It was like another world, an underworld of strange and beautiful creatures. Jenn even touched a huge fish. He seemed to like it. The dolphins were fun to watch. I don’t know if the other guests realized they were trying to mate. It would be nice to have a retractable penis. Hmm, I guess we do, but I mean a fully retractable one where the whole package would slide back in. My favorite were the Beluga whales.

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After we checked in the River hotel, we walked to the Christkindl Market to drink some yummy Gluewein. It’s this hot spicy sweet red wine they serve you in this collector’s mini mug. We wormed our way to a tall table where some guy joined us with a plate of beignet looking funnel cakes. It looked so good I had to ask him if I could taste one. He said go ahead. That made Jenn laugh. 🙂

We then made our way to a Thai place when Jenn almost choked to death after eating some  extremely spicy sauce.

Yadiyadiyada (sex was awesome), the next day we walked to the best breakfast we’ve ever had. This place is called Wildberry and pancake cafe. The food was amazing. Everything was made with the freshest ingredients.

We decided we had to walk through Millenium park to digest a bit. We took some pics at Cloud Gate of course.

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This was a great mini vacation indeed.

 

Burial or Cat Poop


I’ve been thinking about how and why we bury our dead. In all movies and books they show people gathering around a hole in the ground. In this hole lays a corpse. Next to it is a mound of dirt waiting to fill the hole. Once every one gathered around has shown some sort of respect we then fill the hole. As if the main reason why we bury them is to show respect, and love. I think all of these reasons are secondary to our own health and survival.

The original reason was quite simple and more self serving. We simply have to. If not, they will rot, smell bad, carry diseases, and kill us. 

It reminded me of cat poop. Have you ever seen a cat if they smell something bad or they just barfed on your brand new rug. They will smell it and then try to cover it up with dirt or imaginary dirt.

Our dead are this poop that we are trying to cover up instinctively for our own survival. 

By the way, I did the drawing with IPad Pro. I’m still learning how to use it. 🙂

Rickshaw ride with friends in India!


Every year my mom and I bring people to India. This is Varanasi. We’re on our way to see the Ayurvedic doctor.

Varanasi is a holly city right on the Ganges (Ganga) river. Shiva is the main deity. There is one temple right on the river where they cremate bodies 24 hours a day.
It’s an amazing ritual that has gone on for more than 3000 years.

The Buddha gave his first sermon near there in Sarnath which is about 20 minutes from Varanasi.