: Travels of My Mother: 23July1971: St. Nicholas, Crete, Greece: Surly and Grasping Cretans

Dear Mother:

I am sitting in an open-air café trying goat’s milk for the first and last time. It must be 90 degrees but there is a lovely breeze blowing. We arrived on the island of Crete at 3:30 p.m. yesterday after 7 hours on deck on a very rough ocean. Both Robert and I are excellent sailors as we have many hours left on the water before we return to Athens.

Iraklion, Crete

This is the largest city in Crete. We have a pension in town and it is too far from the beach. We will probably leave Crete on Saturday to go to another island. This island is far too touristy. We are seeing the ancient ruins of Knossos today then to the museum and finally to the beach. I don’t ever intend to return to Crete. I don’t like it here. Nor does Rob so we are going to push off. It is not only very hot but humid. I find the people here very grasping not at all like the other Greek islands.

Next day

We are headed to beach just having had breakfast. The sandy beach near us stretches for miles. We spent yesterday going through the Royal palace at Knossos. It is unbelievable they have uncovered an entire city. The archaeologists were busy digging in 3 or 4 sites. They number every stone and sift all the earth.

Last night Rob and I wandered around, had a late dinner and did not return until,11 p.m. I like eating outside as it is too hot to do anything else. We will leave here at 6 p.m. tomorrow sleeping on the boat for the island of Skiros. Then after a week to Skopelos and soon we must make our way back to Athens to prepare for our trip back home. If there are no planes flying out of Athens we will have to fly from Frankfurt and leave from there.

Love Marnee

“Reggie the Egyptian Rescue Dog”: The Final Cut: Reggie’s Security Detail: Kit Kat: Cary Grant Personality: Keen Film Set Awareness; Chapter Twenty Nine (29)

Kit Kat originally hails from Mozambique a key exporter of heroin and amphetamines into Portugal. Kit Kat was a messenger dog for the ISIS linked Al Shabab but what did Kit Kat know about politics and drug running? Was he facilitating narcotic distribution or extremism or both? Al Shabab ran drugs a key funding source for ISIS and their ilk. Al Shabab operatives fed and sheltered Kit Kat and he became somewhat of a mascot at their Cap Delgado headquarters. But one evening Kit Kat witnessed the torture and beheading of an Italian nun by Al Shabab and that was it. He ran away from the horror stumbling upon a Rwandan security battalion battling Al Shabab. Using all his Cary Grant charm he befriended a South African anti terrorist unit and through grit and charm ended up in Cape Town exuding yet more charm being adopted by a first mate on a ship bound for Lisbon. That first mate left the ship in Lisbon for a walk in the port with man’s best friend. Kit Kat bolted leaving his ‘best friend” bewildered was hit by an automobile. Fortunately Kit Kat was only stunned by the impact. The driver Nilton was the head of security for the Port Protection Service (PPS) an organization funded by the Portuguese Minister of Agriculture and “The Douro Cabal of Ten” a syndicate of the 10 top producers of Port in the Douro region of Portugal. The Cabal was being financially challenged by counterfeit Port running rings in China and Albania. The PPS detected and “terminated” these rings. Kit Kat was, and let’s not mince words, a PPS spy and informant hounding counterfeiters at least until he took a bullet in the flank as the PPS was closing in on “The Big Sardine” a major ringleader of counterfeit Port operating out of Victorian style Port warehouses in Vila Nova de Gaia directly across from Porto. Portuguese government “informational units” captured footage of Kit Kat lunging for The Big Sardine and being felled by a bullet fired by The Big Sardine’s bodyguard. Kit Kat became a short-lived Portuguese hero landing a role in a limited run television show “Mighty Douro Dog”. The show was a flop and Kit Kat was transferred to film set security for three years at Obrigado Film Studios before being taken in as a mascot at The Home For Senior and Infirm Port Quinta Workers in Porto.

It so happened that I was a big fan of this obscure television flop and knew about Kit Kat’s exploits. Bob made a generous donation to the home and the financially enriched management of The Home For Senior and Infirm Port Quinta Workers shipped Kit Kat to Toronto where he will serve on my security detail. Kit Kat has an uncanny ability to treat all his surroundings as a film set and if things are out of sync he will know. Assassinations and murders almost always occur when there is something strange in “the set”. Kit Kat is cognizant of security requirements for media events and the way my life is heading it just might be a media event for awhile at ease and Kit Kat on my team puts me at ease. As a canine star perhaps Kit Kat can help me with my acting?

WELCOME KIT KAT!

“Reggie the Egyptian Rescue Dog” : The Final Cut: Reggie’s Security Detail: Ollie the Pup Known as “The One with the Enlightened Nose”: Chapter Twenty Eight (28)

I warn you. Ollie is not a puffball like The Mookster but more of a cuddlekins. But get on his wrong side count your fingers before you meet his ire as when Ollie is pissed man that pup is on fire!

Ollie is in my hood like The Mookster and I love both those dogs almost as much as Dillie the Westie.

Ollie was born in Salmon Arm, British Columbia. Like The Mookster his past is a bit spotty and I am not referring to the spots on his coat. Ollie was a guide dog possessing a supreme hunting instinct. He was part of an illegal hunting guide operation for Chinese tourists looking for big game bears in Northern British Columbia. He could sniff out a bear two kms away and all those rich capitalist industrialists from the PRC always returned home with a haul of bear gall bladders and testicles which you can bet were never shared with the proletarians working in their factories. Ollie had such a reputation in Peking he was referred to as “The One with The Enlightened Nose” and the talk of the old boys’ clubs in Peking as the stories flowed about him in copious quantities as did the counterfeit Port. Exaggerated stories proliferated about his bravery like attacking a group of Grizzly Bears and biting off their heads and saving the Chinese hunters from a horrible death.

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police busted the hunting ring and since he was a dog how could you sentence him to 12 years in the Big House? Ollie became a quasi mascot to Unit #65 of the RCMP in Salmon Arm. The squad realized, when they were not defending themselves from harassment charges on fellow female officers, that Ollie had a terrific sense of smell. That dog could smell Mooseburgers heading into the detachment twenty minutes before they arrived. And when the television crew from Peking arrived to report on the “detention” of “The One With The Enlightened Nose” the RCMP realized they had a valuable asset….a potential bomb sniffer. Ollie was “transferred” to RCMP headquarters nestled in Ottawa’s Red-Light District for bomb squad training. It was discovered Ollie had what corporate types referred to as “transferable skills” enabling him to sniff out not only Colombian blow but explosives and the rest is history.

On a protective security detail for the Grand Vizier of Albania he sniffed out the bomb but it exploded prematurely as those Albanians could never tell time properly and the explosive device was detonated 3 minutes earlier than planned. Ollie was felled with shrapnel to the eye.

Ollie was pensioned off and adopted in a furever home by Dunny Funkheiser and his wife Peggy-Sue (not the one that got married).

Given my Muslim “background” hence the potential for aggravating many extremist camps and their love of IED’s Ollie is my man….ooops…my pup.

WELCOME OLLIE!

Travels to a Different Time: Travels of My Mother: 13August1970: West Berlin, Germany: In Berlin Shocked By The Wall

We arrived in Munich after a “delightful” trip on a Yugoslav train. It originated in Athens and it was full of TURKS and GREEKS. The filth was incredible. No food or drinks and the toilets were beyond description. We left at 4:30 a.m. and arrived at 2:30 p.m. to a beautiful hotel dirty and tired. I spent an hour soaking in the tub. Our friend met us and took us to see Munich. Then on our way to Stuttgart and it was blazing hot at 95 degrees. Finally, we arrived in the Black Forest where we stayed in a log cabin and even though I was provided with heavy hunting clothes it was damp. The next morning as it was raining we decided to drive to Basel, Switzerland. It was pouring and at 3:30 a.m. on the train to Berlin. The German train was clean and we had a compartment to ourselves. Then upon entering East Germany the experience with East German soldiers began. We obtained a visa on the train to pass through East Germany into West Berlin. They looked at our passports and were surly laughing at Robert after seen his middle name Kennedy in his passport. They locked the doors and did a thorough search both inside and outside the train. There were soldiers in machine gun nests watching the train. The station was deserted with high walls and barbed wire surrounding it. The train started and many soldiers remained on the train. The train went very fast and only a handful of people in the stations we passed through. Dreariness everywhere in East Germany. The train stopped to let the soldiers off before we entered West Berlin.

We met our friend Hedi at the train station and went to her apartment where we stay for a few days. It is very new and modern like most of West Berlin. We met her boyfriend Michael who showed us around West Berlin. She will join her boyfriend leaving us her apartment full of food for hungry Robert. As a physician she will be on duty at her hospital for two days. Our next stop will be Frankfurt. We saw the Berlin Wall last night. It has been 10 years since it was built and, on this anniversary, they are expecting trouble. Hard to believe anyone could get over that wall. I think the worst thing is the trained dogs on the East German side. There are blazing bright lights and trip wire everywhere. I hate police dogs now more than ever. We were advised to fly into West Berlin but I wanted the experience of a train trip through East Germany. How fortunate we are to live in a free country where you may go where you please. I wanted to see a concentration camp but living with Germans it was impossible. Freedom is the most precious thing we have.

Bye for now

Love Marnee

“Reggie the Egyptian Rescue Dog”: The Final Cut: Reggie’s Security Detail: MOOKIE aka THE MOOKSTER: Chapter Twenty Seven (27)

I can imagine you might be snickering about a bunch of puffballs providing security! That is part of their cover. Many will not take them seriously but I assure you as cute and cuddly as they are they have vicious and deadly personality should they sense an attack on those under their protection. These dogs protecting us are lightning fast with a reaction time that makes human security look like a tortoise.

Mookie fits the visual personality of a classic puffball as stereotypical as that might be. His main attribute is his keen eyesight that enables him to ferret out dangerous situations long before human eyesight could.

Mookie has the wisdom of age that Dillie the Westie has but as far as security experience other than being harassed by it in North Korea he is a bit green when it comes to being a member of a security team as opposed to being harassed by it. Mookie will be trained through watching attempted assassination videos whether it be by guns, poisoned umbrellas or plutonium laced tea.

I mention North Korea. Mookie was perhaps a bit corrupt and misguided for a few years being in the inner circle of The Supreme and Blessed Leader of North Korea. He enjoyed a privileged life of state barbeques and a highball or two of fine Russian themed cocktails particularly “The Drone” made with Russian vodka and ingested with Iranian caviar. The Mookster liked that cocktail’s “explosive” taste.

Mookie quickly lost favour in the ruling cabal of The Supreme and Blessed Leader of North Korea by his strong stance against the consumption of dog meat in North Korea. REPULSIVE! He founded and lead a movement “Keep Dogs Out of the Hot Pot Luncheon Specials”. That lasted for two days until a price was put on his head and he managed a defection out of North Korea onboard a train with its cargo of drone missiles en route to Moscow.

The Mookster knows the working of a repressive security organization benefitting from it before he saw the way. He knows the mechanics of state security. He is remorseful of his being a beneficiary of an abhorrent security machine. You are forgiven.

WELCOME MOOKIE!

RKS 2024 Wine: An Alternative to Sauvignon Blanc: Entre-Deux-Mers? Apologies to My English Teacher

Sauvignon Blanc on a personal preference level for white wine sits at the bottom of the pile. It has a certain intensity that has me skittering away from it. While I can discern a good and bland Sauvignon Blanc even the good ones I’ll restrict to professional and not personal consumption.

Entre-Deux-Mers will have Sauvignon Blanc in it but it will be blended often with Sémillon and Muscadelle. The blending obfuscates the Sauvignon Blanc or tones it down if you prefer making Sauvignon Blanc a delight. By a rough analogy I am not fan of Ontario Merlot or Cabernet Sauvignon but blend it with Ontario Cabernet Franc and you may end up with an excellent “Meritage”.

Stopping the yakking we move to sampling of a Château Haut-Garriga 2022 Entre-Deux-Mers. A blend of 60% Sauvignon Blanc, 30% Sémillon and 10% Muscadelle.

Aroma: While the Sauvignon Blanc is identifiable it is tempered by the Semillon and Muscadelle nuancing it with honey, apricot, melon and marzipan.

Palate: Hardly bursting with flavour it is easy on the palate with what shall we call it initially a non descript character but give it some time it rather comes into its own with pear, peach fenced in with perfect acidity. A sort of watered down Sauvignon Blanc. Did you have an English teacher that admonished you for using the word “nice” I will incur the wrath of that departed well intentioned soul by saying this wine is nice! Not a wine with a hot and heavy finish but rather a gentle longish finish.

Personality: I am light footed and may not make any bold statement. I am easy drinking particularly in hot weather.

Food match: White fleshed ocean and lake fish. Roast chicken with 100 pieces of garlic.

Cellarbility: Consume by 2024-year end.

Price: $15.95 CDN (Ontario).

RKS 2024 Wine Rating: 90/100.

(Château Haut-Garriga 2022 Entre-Deux-Mers, AC Entre-Deux-Mers, C. Barreau et Fils, Gironde, France, 750 mL, 12.5%).

Reggie the Egyptian Rescue Dog: The Final Cut: My Security Team: Why Are They with Me? Houthi and the Blowfish Rebels Burn My Picture in Effigy! Chapter Twenty Six (26)

You humans have an expression “big shot”. Please bear in mind when you watch me zipping around in limousines, travelling around in a private jet, eating Beverly Hills kibble, sleeping over at Ritz Carltons I am Reggie The Egyptian Rescue Dog. Survived the streets of Cairo you say. Damn it you are right so even when you hear about me eating pistachio cream cake from Snoop Dog’s favourite Beverly Hills bakery “In the Weeds”, I remain a humble and very thankful dog!

And you remember in our initial negotiations with Disney they did mention a security detail was required whenever I was involved in any sort of Disney promotional tour for the Disney film about my life. As Disney said to Bob I am an extremely valuable “corporate asset” and if I was ever “taken out with extreme prejudice” it would cost Disney millions and according to their “bean counters” as Bob calls them indeed given potential Disney profits I am Disney’s hottest property.

As I am a Muslim dog and that will be dealt with in the Disney animated film about me there may be some Islamic extremist backlash or even a fatwah leveled on my little noggin. Likewise the far right Christian “fundamentalists” could seek to “neutralize” a corruptive Islamic influence on the children of the world. I am nothing but a pediatric terrorist to certain members of the Islamic and Christian fringe community.

Bob and Fay are not thrilled about this security detail but feel to protect themselves, Dillie The Westie and me security is necessary. I saw a bunch of armed men on the telly (where are the women?) wearing white baseball caps and AK 47’s burning my picture in street demonstrations and shouting with unfathomable hatred in their voices, “death to America”! Those turkey heads are so ignorant they don’t know I am Canadian! In any case Bob calls these fanatics Houthi and The Blowfish rebels. They are in some country near Egypt Bob tells me.

We will introduce my security team shortly but here is a brief snippet about them.

Ollie is a King Charles Cavalier. He is a neighbourhood dog and friend. What he was a king of I am uncertain. He was a bomb sniffer for the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) and took a piece of shrapnel in the eye just after discovering a mini-plastic explosive device intended to take out the King of Borneo who was visiting Canada. His tremendous sense of smell and experience with explosives and operating within a sophisticated security detail will prove invaluable.

Mookie, a 13-year-old Bichon Poodle is also a neighborhood pooch and my pal with eyesight twenty times superior to a bald eagle. Sharp eyesight will be invaluable. As a North Korean defector “The Mookster” as dogs in the hood call him, for a time was in the inner cabal of the “Supreme One” in North Korea until he launched a “seditious” movement “Keep Dogs Out of the Hot Pot Luncheon Specials”.

Believe it or not we have a Portuguese superdog Kit Kat hailing at 16 pounds out of Porto, Portugal. He was a key member of the PPS (Port Protection Squad) entrusted with crushing counterfeit Port rings throughout the world. After his PPS retirement he assumed a crucial role for protecting film stars working with the globally famous Obrigado Studios headquartered in Lagos, Portugal. His knowledge of the entertainment business gives him a great ability to “sniff out” interlopers…those who clearly are misfits in a crowd.

Also from Porto there is a human in my security detail Mr. Antonio a small arms expert and driver famous for navigating treacherous winery roads in the Douro. It is said his driving skills make James Bond look like a novice. Gran Turismo!

Travels to a Different Time: Travels of My Mother: 28July1971: Skiros, Greece: Old And Very Clever Husband and Young Wife

Dear Barbara:

If you could see us now you would wonder what is coming off. We left Crete yesterday for Skiros which is 8 hours by sea from the Greek mainland. No rooms were available so we slept in a person’s backyard under a grape arbor. We have no choice but to wait for a room. It gets cold overnight and we sleep with our clothes on and a linen blanket. We are 5 minutes away from a beach and the swimming is good. But we must climb down a ladder to get to the each like Billy goats. The toilets like all Greek toilets stink and ours has no toilet seat. It is a cold shock if you have more than the usual to do. Robert is still asleep with his head covered up. Last Nite we went to the local restaurant and there was nothing but fish and meatballs and the inevitable spaghetti. Sitting across from us was a woman who came from New York to Athens on Overseas National Airways. She told me there is an ONA flight back to New York from Athens on September 17th. She spent $238 to get over here and I didn’t let on we travelled for free. Good thing Rob has good eyes as we returned from the restaurant and it was pitch black when we climbed up the ladder from the beach to the back yard. Things are so crude here you think you were in a different time. This woman doesn’t even have a refrigerator. They have a deaf and dumb son about 25. A handsome man. One son died and they have a daughter. As usual the woman is much younger than the man. These Greek men are clever as they will have a nurse in their old age.

I am getting that “kind of want to go home feeling”. It has been a long time to be away. It is 8:45 a.m. and very hot so it will be a long day and I only wish I could take a siesta like the natives. No doubt if you were here long enough you would get into the habit.

Love Mum

Reggie the Egyptian Rescue Dog: The Final Cut: From Street Dog to Celebrity! Reggie’s Rescue Society Funded! A Warning from Anwar: Chapter Twenty Six (26)

Bob has been on Zoom calls with Pilkington his Los Angeles agent. It is a no brainer. I am going to be featured in a Disney animated film and the money is unbelievable. Bob knows the financial details and all I know is he keeps saying that we are rich. The best part is that for the most part I don’t have to be on set and away from Dillie the Westie, Fay and Bob and I get to stay in Toronto. But there are promotional stops Disney had negotiated with us. Of course, the more we promote the wider the distribution and the more money we make. Bob had instructed Pilkington to arrange a “Reggie cut” of the revenue. .05% of net revenues from the film will be directed towards two Egyptian canine rescue organizations. Bob thinks of everything!

One of our stops on the promotional tour will be in Cairo which terrifies yet excites me. I have a nightmare I will be lost in Cairo and end up as a street dog again. But I will be with Bob who will protect me and hold me tight. Bob and Pilkington negotiated with Disney a torrid 14-day blitz for PR purposes with our own private jet. London, Paris, Berlin, Athens, Cairo, Saudi Arabia, United States (Chicago, New York, Boston and Los Angeles) and Stockholm to start. Dillie the Westie, Fay and two bodyguards will be with me! Bob has insisted upon a canine security detail and we will bot begin interviews to hire the best.

I am thankful some of the proceeds from the animated film will go to help street dogs rescued in Cairo. Bob has added two million dollars of his own to establish “Reggie’s Rescue Society” in Cairo and another two million dollars to establish a “Reggie’s Rescue Society” in Toronto. Bob has also ensured on the promotional tour we stay in hotels near parks so Dillie and I can go on walks.

I have no desire to be famous other than imagining when they speak about “Lady and the Tramp” they will also mention “Reggie the Egyptian Rescue Dog”. And money will go to help dogs tossed out onto the street in Cairo.

Disney has lined up voices for the animated film about me. My voice will be that of Canadian Rick Mercer. Fay’s voice will be Jennifer Aniston. Bob’s voice will be that of Spanish Shakespearean actor Eduardo San Juan Breña and Dillie’s voice will be that of Ewan McGregor for the right Scottish ancestry of Dillie the brave and proud Scottish West Highland Terrier.

Despite all this excitement Bob and Fay maintain a low profile. The Canadian media hasn’t much of an idea about this Disney film so we lead a quiet life like nothing has changed. I appreciate the simple things in life that are unheard of for street dogs in Cairo…..love, clean water and that tasty chicken kibble. But the adventure that awaits us fascinates me but I hear Anwar in my dreams saying be careful my little one. Does he know something from The Land Beyond?

RKS Literature: Madame Bovary Thinks Her Husband Charles is Clumsy and Vulgar (Flaubert)

“Her tenderness, in fact, grew daily as her repulsion toward her husband increased. The more she yielded to one, the more she loathed the other. Never did Charles seem so unattractive, slow witted, clumsy and vulgar as she met him after her rendez-vous with Rudolphe. Then while playing the part of a virtuous wife, she would burn with passion at the thought of his head, the black curl falling over the sun-tanned brow: of his figure, both elegant and strong, of the man so experienced in his thought, so impetuous in his desires.”

Gustave Flaubert, “Madame Bovary”, Gustave Flaubert, 1857