Every day we sought to be with the Majestic Beauty of Greece. We had lovely picnics or sought out traditional cafes down the coast at more desolate beaches. Sometimes we came by boat. Other times we drove. One night we were coming back after dark and Tony Howard was driving rather fast! The roads were dusty and full of potholes waiting for the day they would be tarmacked. David and I were thrown around the back seat as he took the corners. I think we all were a bit tipsy from the wine. I was frightened and kept asking him to slow down. He didn't. He just laughed. We held on and I prayed. And yes, we made it back in one piece to the safety of the village. Thank God! Juliette and Rick Wright had rented a separate house in the village that year. They had no idea that Steve had rented one at the same time. I think they had expected and hoped to have time away from the other members of the band. After the last group holiday in France, they wanted to be alone, but it was not to be. I spent a lot of time with them. Their family had become mine because while in London I was getting close to Juliette, and their two children, Gala and Jamie.
Being in Lindos together brought us closer. I spent a lot of time in the water with the children looking for tiny abalone shells, especially with Gala. I was teaching her how to be a dolphin. This seems to be something I do with younger children. I have come to love giving dolphin lessons. It came naturally for me, for David and I loved the water. We are dolphins in many ways, I believe, and we have inspired other children, especially ours, to love the water.
***
I am jumping time, but I do not know if the memory will come again. So I would like to share this one story. One of the Italian families, the Corvos, had a large Greek Caique with deep wine/terracotta sails, Be-el-za-bub. Often we would go on adventures out to sea to find sanctuary from the tourists on either their boat or Carla Pelegrini's. Sometimes we would go in convoy. Little boats and larger Caiques meeting somewhere down the coast for lunch or sharing our picnic.
Very often, we came back into the bay just before sunset. I would sit at the bow of the boat bathed in the golden reflections upon the water. We surfed with the wind, (sails out) or cruised if the water was calm like glass. There is such a peace at that time of the day. And in those moments, I felt fulfilled with the day's adventure. I was at one with creation and if one listens, one can hear the angels calling forth the night as it enters the day. Often David would be sitting at the back holding the tiller. His body bronzed from the sun and the olive oil we used each day to moisturize our skin. With his long hair and this deep color, he looked like a Native American to me. He too was one with nature and the sea.
As we entered the bay, the sun would be setting behind the mountain. The air would cool in its shade. The beaches were quiet, as the tourists had left to prepare for the evening activities. The sound of sails coming down and clink clink of the ropes on the masts filled the early evening. Often I would jump off at the mouth of the bay and swim in to shore. This day Alice and Dixie, Melissa's daughter, were both there, saw me jump and jumped as well following me. Fortunately, they were wearing their water wings.
Everyone on the boat began shouting to me, "Ginger, Ginger look, the girls!" I looked back and saw these two blonde bobbing heads flipping and stroking the wateras hard as they could to catch up. I waited amazed at their courage. That's my girls, fearless and dolphins in the making. We made it back to the shore and climbed the hill back home. They were tired and ready for dinner and bed.
***
During that first summer in Lindos, we often saw David Hockney, pad and pencil in his hand, walking on the promenade of the top balcony in Sandro's house. Years later, the memory would spark a desire to draw when I was on holiday. Each summer I watched other artists at the local cafés capturing the villagers while they fearlessly sat amongst the villagers, like Toulouse Lautrec. I would come to know his and Hockney's work later. I pondered, how do they do that? Sit and draw people in front of them without a worry.
In some of my first attempts, I found it was easier to draw a person's back. I discovered more about the heart of an individual when drawing the back. It seems we put on a mask, a false image, a barrier when facing one another. I wanted to capture the essence not the role. In drawing their backs, all their tenderness, vulnerability, kindness was revealed. Gradually, I grew more daring to draw in public. Now most of us use cameras with telephoto lenses.
During my first few years across the pond, I was so green and innocent but ready to discover my destiny full of Joy. I was impressionable and easily inspired by those that were creating Beauty. And the world I had entered stimulated my own innate creativity. I was so in love that being in the unknown was ok. There was so much to learn and to experience. Life was taking me on a fast track into my future path of Beauty unbeknownst to me. I was just a child touching my dreams, loving the adventure, overjoyed with the feeling of God's grace.
Melissa and her sister, Mary, had set up a business called the Looms of Lindos. Mary and her husband (now deceased) did a lot to help the village to get back on its feet after the war. They set up the looms to give jobs to the local women making fabric and created a local industry to help the economy of the village. They organized a preservation order upon Lindos to hold the encroaching hotel madness at bay and to protect their ancient culture. Their task was not complete until they brought water to village homes.
Marco Rocca, whose family owned one of the knights houses, related stories of this period when he was just a boy while having dinner recently at Broccolino. His family had water delivered by donkey twice a day. There were metal containers above the kitchen sink and showers, which needed filling. From each house, a small water channel allowed the water from the sinks and bath to run away down through the village to the sea below. Each house was responsible for white washing it regularly, which had become his job as a boy. I could tell that he did so with great pride as his hands mimicked holding the brush.
Previously, most of the villagers had to go to the square and fetch water in urns carried by their donkeys. Unless, you could afford to have it delivered. Water eventually came into their homes. There are many wonderful stories of how the villagers went wild for a time with their hoses. Giggling voices heard within their courtyards as they got each other wet. Having water directly into their homes enabled the village to have flowers, which the Greeks are so fond of growing. Over time Bougainvilleas, Frangipani, Geraniums, Poinsettias, Oleanders and Lemon trees began to peek out above the walls of the villas. The village became a feast of colors against the background of their traditional white walls.
Since those days, many have helped to establish a sustainable future for Lindos besides Mary and her husband. It would take years to establish a proper sanitation plant, and the stopping of plastic waste burning on the distant mountainside overlooking our bay. Until then, even the village waste pumped out into the St Nicholas bay. In addition, Keith, a marine biologist, helped to set up regulations preventing incoming boats from dropping their waste into the bay where we swam. All these changes began a new era of health and prosperity for Lindos and the sea.
St. Nicholas bay is now restored to its original wonder of Mediterranean Blue and Aqua colors. In 1960, its majestic mountain cliffs provided one of the locations for the movie Guns of Navarone in which starred such actors as Gregory Peck, David Niven, and Anthony Quinn. In fact, Anthony Quinn was so taken with the area that he bought land on Rhodes in an area still called Anthony Quinn Bay. Mary helped during the filming.
Mary is now called Auntie Mary. It is a name given to herby our children who adored her stories about Lindos and other lands far away. For our family she became the storyteller, the holder of the history and legends of the Greeks Myths. We loved sitting in the winter room by the fire while the wind blew outside listening as our imagination felt the Gods speaking to us. Jason and the Argonauts came alive each evening, bringing a deeper experience of Greek history and their culture. Those stories made Lindos our home.
CHAPTER 9
TODAY
&nbs
p; SPIRIT OF PEACE
September 2013
As I go deeper into my memories, my quest for Beauty and Love reveals itself before me. My journey has led me to discover what lies innate in my heart. What seems years ago, a dear friend said to me, "Ginger, try to find what you were before you met David." I was in my fifties then. Throughout the years, after David and I divorced, many have planted seeds of encouragement, inspiring my next step on my quest to discover "What I was truly born to BE." I spent hours studying the philosophy of other teachers in the ART of LIVING while sitting under the oak tree at Brockhurst. Little by little, I came to discover a deeper side of life, which had been calling me since a child. It still calls me to go deeper and deeper to touch the feet of God and be of service.
At present, I am sixty-four and I am still discovering new dimensions of Who I AM. My journey has awakened me to the realization that I was born with the Soul of an Artist. A purpose manifested to uplift the hearts of each of us through creating images and forms of Beauty. Images which seek to reveal the Spark of God Within each of us. The process still beckons me to go further. Humanity has so much more to live, so much more to give. We have not even touched our greatest potential.
Today, Dorothy Maver, President of the National Peace Academy, asked me to participate in a Global Webinar called the "Spirit of Peace." It is to initiate the opening of the Global Peace Summit in Geneva. I was to be one of seven principal inlets from the major energetic centers around the globe. Its purpose was to establish a link around the world to awaken the Spirit of Peace. They were New York, Geneva, Tokyo, Darjeeling, London, Sydney & Africa. Its intention was to invoke the Spirit of Peace and the Spirit of Goodwill, which is increasing in the hearts of men more so than any other time in History.
Many people invited were ready to participate. Many had worked years within the UN or other organizations creating infrastructures for maintaining and supporting Peace. Such as Nancy Roof who now is the editor for the magazine Kosmos.(1)
Steve Nation spoke from New York City. He shared a photo of the United Nations Assembly standing all in prayer, heads bowed. He brought to our attention a speech, President Franklin D. Roosevelt gave called the Four Freedoms in 1941, which I would like to share with you:
"In the future days, which we seek to make secure, we look forward to a world founded upon four essential human freedoms".
The first is freedom of speech and expression - everywhere in the world.
The second is freedom of every person to worship God in his own way - everywhere in the world.
The third is freedom from want - which, translated into world terms, means economic understandings, which will secure to every nation a healthy peacetime life for its inhabitants - everywhere in the world.
The fourth is freedom from fear - which, translated into world terms, means a world-wide reduction of armaments to such a point and in such a thorough fashion that no nation will be in a position to commit an act of physical aggression against any neighbor - anywhere in the world.
"That is not a vision of a distant millennium. It is a definite basis for a kind of world attainable in our own time and generation. That kind of world is the very antithesis of the so-called new order of tyranny which the dictators seek to create with the crash of a bomb." - Franklin D. Roosevelt, excerpted from the State of the Union Address to the Congress, January 6, 1941 (2)
For me, it still applies today, but with my understanding and experiences, this vision has widened. I realized that Peace based upon those freedoms alone is not enough. We are born with the divine spark of Love, of Beauty, and of Goodness, but we have forgotten. Some do not even know and are lost in the wilderness.
Last night after the "Spirit of Peace" Webinar, it became evident to me that Peace lives! That it is our right because it is in us. It is a gift from God. We just have to awaken it! During our conference, someone said, "There is nothing more powerful than when an idea's time has come to be." People, the time is here! Throughout the World, the desire for Peace begs for more Demonstrations. If we just open our eyes to see, if we just open our ears to hear, if we just open our hearts to feel and our minds to know that mankind is on the verge of a Breakthrough Not a Breakdown. Peace can be on Earth.
Last night a memory emerged of when in High School I went to the United Nations with my school debate club. I remembered the feeling of peace and unity as I gazed upon the Gold Emblem before me and the majesty of the room. I was inspired to be a member of a group who had a vision that felt strongly about these principles globally. It came to me that all the times I had rescued those lost animals; all the times I cheered at the Pink Floyd concerts and joined the chorus as the Wall tore down had a purpose. But really, it was a vision, a vision of a future full of Beauty and Peace. One, which would include all of mankind.
Avon Mattison, from Tokyo, has quoted a saying by Nicholas Roerich, "Where there is Peace, there is Culture. Where there is Culture, there is Peace. Positive Creativity is the fundamental quality of the human spirit. Let us welcome all those who, surmounting personal difficulties... propel their spirits to the task of Peace- building, thus ensuring a radiant future." (3) This saying re-activated the soul of the artist. I went to bed looking forward to the next day when I took up my paint brush and painted the Spirit of Peace. It appeared as a waterfall of fine crystal sparks of lights bathing the earth and humanity with the pure white dove that overshadowed all above the Christ.
Nick Mason had encouraged me to seek out culture. But I had no understanding then of how important that is for us all. Now Culture has become my quest. My vision is becoming more and more aligned with the "Spirit of Peace" through the creating of artwork that reveals our Inner Beauty, our Divine Spark. But first before going to my studio, I needed to return to paper and pen. I wanted to capture the essence of last night before I had forgotten its message. I wanted to capture its moment for it is for us all and for our children's future. It is through Culture that we can stand upon the mountain top and be one with our Creator. I look forward to seeing you there! - Let the story continue...
CHAPTER 10
THE ROSE CITY
MARRAKECH GINI PHOTO SHOOT
FRENCH TOUR 1974
A French soft drink company who produced a bitter lemon drink called Gini approached the Floyd to do some advertising for them. It was to be the first of its kind for the Floyd to allow the use of their image in a publicity campaign. It would prove to be an embarrassment later, but it seemed at the time a lucrative adventure. But hey, we would get to go to Morocco and be in the magical rose city of Marrakech. David and a few friends had gone before and spoke of it highly. The only bad memory was the food poisoning from something they had eaten.
Gini booked us into the famous La Mamounia Hotel, which previously had been a historical palace of the Rose City, and then converted into a luxurious hotel. As we entered the lobby of mosaics and carved plaster work, a man was walking away down one of the corridors. He had long hair and was wearing a Hawaiian Shirt. I commented to David that he looked a bit like Mick Jagger. David said whimsically, "That may be because it is Mick Jagger!" Being in the presence of all these rock legends was very new to me. I only ever saw them on telly, in a magazine or at a concert. And everything any of us, the normal public, knew about them was from the music papers and gossip. Here I was within their world. Mick was on holiday with his baby Jade and his nanny. Bianca had just left. Later, we were to meet up with him for dinner and a night out. Our rooms led out to a private balcony overlooking the gardens and decorated in the Moroccan tradition. The sound of water filled the air from all the fountains. David and I fell in love with the intricacy of the mosaic work, which was on not only the floor, but also half way up the walls. From that point, there were white carved plaster panels to the ceiling and above. We came away thinking perhaps one day we might want to bring one of their craftsmen home to do this in our home. A great idea, but it never materialized.
We had the afternoon to explore amongst all the all
eyways and bazaars. Everywhere was lined with tradesmen who tried to lure us to buy their carpets or wares. It was a bustle of tourists and a mixture of many cultures, Arabian, African and European. One could only enter its mystery by walking deeper and deeper amongst the pink-terracotta walls. Each corner spoke of its history reminiscent of a bygone era nestled at the base of the Atlas Mountains. Didn't I tell you I had become a Culture Buff? By the time we had returned to the hotel there was word that Mick Jagger wanted to be our tour guide and would take us to a very exotic but hidden restaurant in the center of Marrakech. It was his favorite and not many would find it without help. He had a car and a driver. We all took taxis there. There was a copper triple tiered water fountain at the entrance. The sound of water seems to be part of the culture of Morocco. Perhaps, a symbol representing its precious value and importance to life while in the desert. Every drop as it cascades down to the bottom pool refreshes to then return and start again. The circle of life in its presence sings its song.
As we entered the main dining room, the décor was the same as the Mamounia with mosaics and carved plasterwork. We sat upon long seats covered with traditional Moroccan fabric. Hot and cold salads began our meal. Lamb and chicken dishes then arrived in earthenware dishes with pointed tops. Then followed the traditional Tagines of various kinds served with Couscous, which is a Moroccan delicacy. Mint tea followed that cooled and supported our digestion. It was the first time I ever had Moroccan food and I must say it was delicious.
Memoirs of the Brightside of the Moon Page 6