Music to write by...

Just what I searched for on Deezer (cz f**k Spotify), nothing to do with this blog, except that, well, yes, I'll be writing. I'll resist the urge to be self-critical regarding my not writing for months. It's hard because that's kind of how I'm wired but apparently it is possible to rewire the brain so I'll try.

Hooman, I added you to the distribution list just for this post since it’s a bit Vipassana forward, to use the parlance of the day, and I thought it might be of some interest to you. I'll remove you once this email goes through.

I flew out of Chile on the evening of March 10 - flying seemed like the best option since I feel that at the age of 62, I don't have that much time left in my current assembly of atoms and such, therefore, spending weeks at sea to get back home didn't seem like the best use of whatever amount of years I have left in said assembly. As a related aside (and I do likes me an aside), I was on a small lookout platform close to the impressive Gössnitz waterfall in the Hohe Tauern National Park, in the Carinthia region of Austria enjoying the cool mist from this powerful waterfall hundreds of metres away and there was an interesting sign. They had many cool signs along the hike, in German on one side, flip it over, English on the other, but I particularly liked this one. It said, "Take a deep breath and feel good. You are becoming part of the waterfall and the waterfall is becoming part of you". Made me think of the whole stardust thing poetically stated by Carl Sagan, "The Cosmos is within us. We are made of star-stuff. We are a way for the Universe to know itself.” Amazing stuff and if you're curious as to how or why that's even possible, this explains it well I think, https://www.planetary.org/articles/were-made-of…

On to Toronto...I arrived the next day, March 11 (see, way faster than by boat) and immediately set to doing stuff: visiting my family including the newest addition, beautiful Wells, son of my niece Gabriella and her partner Marc, and all of a few weeks old . Had a visit with some friends, and with a huge assist from my buddy Phil, got my motorcycle to Courtice, Ontario to get it packed into a shipping container where it would eventually ride the rails to Montreal, and eventually get loaded onto a ship (no rush for my motorcycle so it can do it the slow way) and make the two week or so voyage to Bremerhaven, Germany.

Bear with me Hooman, if I haven't lost you already...

On the evening of March 17, I flew to Paris to begin part two of this adventure. I'm kind of following, kind of not following Gi in her 2026 adventure. We are sometimes at the same place at the same time, sometimes not. Gi's visiting old friends, family, extended family and I'm mostly riding my motorcycle around for the next few months. Our home base is her parents' (Rodrigo and Luz) home in Arcueil, a cute little suburb that abuts the 13th arrondissement (administrative district) of the Southern most part of Paris. It's literary 800 metres from Paris.

On April 8, I took a couple of trains and a bus to get from Paris to Dilsen-Stokkem in the north of Belgium Brussels for a 10-day Vipassana meditation course. Vipassana was something that both Gi and I wanted to be a part of this year-long journey, and since they have centres in so many countries, it's pretty easy to do. For those not familiar with Vipassana - https://www.dhamma.org/en/index - it's just a style of meditation that has direct roots in the teachings of Siddhartha Gautama, AKA the Buddha. It's perhaps not meditation style that most are familiar with as it doesn't exactly calm the mind when doing it, but it can definitely help you be a bit more balanced, thoughtful, equanimous and loving. I originally got into it when I was in between jobs about 14 years ago. A dear friend at the time waltzed into a party at my old house on Perth St. in Toronto and was regaling us with tales of his recent Vipassana experience. A 10-day meditation retreat where you must be silent the whole time, you say? With tasty vegetarian food and accommodations in a lovely country side setting? And there's no fee, only what you decide to donate after the course? I'm in!

It was a very difficult but very rewarding experience and although I did keep up the practice initially (you're supposed to practice an hour in the morning and an hour in the evening), after a few months my practice started to wane until eventually I had more or less stopped the practice after about one year. Coincidentally, Vipassana had hit Gi's radar just before we met about 10 and a half years ago and she did her first 10-day course not long after we starting going out. I remember going to pick her up at the Montebello centre near Ottawa on my motorcycle. The four hour drive back to Toronto was definitely not the best way for her to stay relaxed but it must have helped her work on equanimity! Our practice was on and off during our relationship but when I retired 4 and a half years ago, I had told myself one of the first things I wanted to do was do another 10-day course. If you are a serious Vipassana meditator, it is recommended to do one 10-day course a year. When I was working, my 3 weeks vacation was precious and as much as I like Vipassana, I liked sun, beach, adventure, and motorcycling more so I never did a course.

OK, back to Belgium. I chose this centre because the timing of the course lined up nicely with other things. But once there, once I started the course and my monkey mind started swinging from branch to branch as it inevitably does when it has absolutely nothing to distract it (you're not allowed any music, nor anything to read or write on. You are there to meditate, meditate, and....meditate), my mind wandered to interesting and sometimes dark places. Belgium, the town of Horrue specifically, is where my dad, Isidore (Irv or Izzy) was hidden during WW II. He was born in Poland to Polish Jewish parents on May 7, 1940, a few months after Germany invaded Poland. His father was captured and killed by the Nazis but his mother wasn't captured and joined the underground resistance movement. She knew that the only chance young Izzy had to live was to get him out of Poland, and she did manage to get herself and Izzy to Belgium a few days after he was born, May 10. Unfortunately, that's the day Germany invaded Belgium. Fortunately, Belgians didn't take shit from the Nazis and maybe more than any other country were active in helping Jews survive. More than 25,000 Jews were hidden in private homes and orphanages in Belgium, and thereby saved, young Issy obviously being one of them. There's a really good book called The Twentieth Train: the True Story of the Ambush of the Death Train to Auschwitz by Marion Schreiber that captures so well how amazing and heroic some of the Belgians were. Not heroes who score a beautiful goal or two, or whatever the heck passes for a hero these days, but people who took up arms and fought against incredible odds, sometimes with almost certain death awaiting.

So this big thing was rattling around my cabeza every now and then. What a fucked up world it was. What true difficulty, sacrifice and privation really is, and how nowadays, some brush it aside like old news, or even deny it happened! The experience of sitting in this serene, country side setting, having the luxury of time and all the other privileges I for one certainly have, juxtaposed on the experiences of people who have gone through the most horrific things one can ever go though. What my grandparents and countless Jews and others had endured during the second world war..well...it was weird, tough and pretty emotional at times.

OK, back to this trip. I got a ride to Lille after the course on Sunday morning with a fellow meditator, Allan. I stayed to visit for a few days because it was more chill than the full-onness of Paris and a very pretty city. Interestingly, Allan played Banjo in traditional French, folk type music band and was playing a show on the Sunday evening of our return. The music wasn't too bad but I really enjoyed the experience of the bar - lots of locals getting various degrees of drunk leading to much merriment, bonhomie and dancing. Lille is also home to many tasty local dishes of which I tried three; Tarte au Maroilles, Le Welsh, Carbonade Flamande (the pictures say it all)...I stayed at a beautiful hostel, gambling that I might have the a 4-bed dorm to myself seeing as it was off season and for Sunday and Monday nights. I did and got to do my meditation in peace in the morning and evening. Ahhhhh.

Back in Paris I went to a few cultural events of which I'll expand on in another post but I will say that I looove Paris. So much to do, to see, to eat...the women are super stylin', there are bike lanes everywhere, amazing transit (well, compared to Toronto, almost every non-American city is amazing), and lots of green space in the city and all around it. Gi, her parents and I did a pretty cool walk from Paris to Versailles and most of it was through forests.

This is back in April and we're now in July. In between I've picked up my motorcycle in Bremerhaven, Germany on April 30 and rode it back to France via a lovely, winding road along the Moselle river in Germany, dropped by Filstroff, France to visit a fellow meditator I had met in Belgium, wandered the streets of Paris, did a few hikes around Paris, rode my motorcycle through the Black Forest of Germany with its dense woods, picturesque villages and of course, twisties to Austria to experience some of the thrills and chills the high mountain passes offered, hiked to waterfalls, checked out some mountain towns with sweet spas in the hotels, as well as the cities of Steyr and then Linz with its stoner friendly Grottenbahn (https://www.linzag.at/portal/de/privatkunden/fr…) and Ars Electronica Center, Deep Space 8K exhibit (https://ars.electronica.art/center/en/deepspace/), and visited my old work friend from my days at CI Financial, Mo, and his family in Vienna. Onward to Switzerland where I met Gi in Geneva we hung out with her brother and his family for a few days, and then visited our new friends we had met at Boom 2025, the lovely, interesting and super fun, Brett and Stephanie (Brett rides and we spent a hot Sunday riding around his area and into France...super fun!! Gi and I went walking around Geneva as it was my first time there, and another day we took a train to the cute town of Lutry about 75 km away on the shores of Lake Geneva/Lac Leman and had a nice refreshing swim. France had a crazy heat wave which may have triggered a little motorcycle issue I'm currently dealing with. I also bought a cool, foldable travel guitar from Snapdragon in the UK, and a super cool Beam mini desktop amp from Blackstar so I can keep up my ragged guitar practice.

Almost forgot, I also had to zip back to Toronto in May 17 and work on getting a special French long stay Visa to allow me to stay in the Schengen zone for more than 90 days (if you're unfamiliar, read this, https://schengentraveler.com/90-180-day-rule/ ). I was able to get it in a couple of weeks and zipped back to France.

That more or less brings us up to date. Hope everyone is doing great...more pics and posts later...maybeRead more