memorial day
My grandfather was a veteran of World War II. He’d been on the Normandy coast, though he missed the gruesomeness of D-Day proper.
In 1998, when I visited the graveyard there, I walked down to the ocean and collected some sand for him. I filled an empty film canister. (Remember those?)
It was an eerie experience. I’m sensitive to psychic disturbances, and I could almost hear the crush of souls hovering in the air over Omaha Beach. When I got back to New York, I visited my grandfather and told him what I’d felt there. He was something of a mystic himself, so he understood. He believed in stuff like that. He was an inspired carpenter, and he often said that his creations just sprang forth from the wood. His hands were tools, he said, but whose tools, exactly, he was never quite sure.
Posted on May 30th, 2010 under Grenada • Tags: family, memorial day, mysticism, veteran. • 
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May 31st, 2010 at 8:52 am
The most disturbing moment I’ve ever had was at Auschwitz. While touring the prisoner barracks, the overall area felt different. But one in particular stopped me at the front door. The force was like a wall. The feeling was so horrible that I couldn’t force myself in. I’m skeptical by nature, and very much questioning my prior beliefs on religion and spirituality. But that moment was real. I’ve never felt anything like it. I’m not sure how I could conjure something like that.
May 31st, 2010 at 11:10 am
Hello Maria, my name is Kip. I have spent time in Grenada in 1993, 1995, 2007 and 2010. I’m following your blog with interest and wanted to make contact. I’m struggling to get a blog started concerning Grenada, but at the moment am experiencing some writer’s block. If you have interest, please reply.
Kip
May 31st, 2010 at 4:35 pm
Tony,
I understand exactly what you mean.
Kip,
My first piece of advice is just start writing. Get yourself a free blog at wordpress.com or tumblr.com and just write. Write something every single day, even if it’s only a sentence. Please feel free to email me if you want to talk. (maria@piscesinpurple.com)
June 4th, 2010 at 6:42 am
Maria,
In January, I was living with a Canadian couple in the Sauteurs area at the northern end of the island. We were helping children at the Belair Government Primary School on the eastern coast improve their reading skills. Belair and other Primary Schools pass their children on to Secondary Schools, like the so-called MacDonald College in Sauteurs. I really prefer these rural areas over urban areas such as St. Georges. Have you and Bean lived in various parishes in Grenada?
Kip