It just happened out of my loneliness at that time, because I was living by myself, and I didn’t have contact, I didn’t know people from Lebanon. I didn’t even look out for them. I just was there. And this mountain was a — it defined the landscape. Instead of a landscape being flat ad infinitum, it had a point which — a physical reference became the reference of my own being. ((Footsteps Of St Francis)) As soon as I saw it, I was oriented. That’s how it started. And then it’s beautiful. And then all the — there are many reasons, many responses to one question. One of them is, as I said, the very physical landscape. Then there is its beauty. Then, I learned its name, Tamal is the name of the Indians and pais is a Spanish name, a country of Tamal.

And then, when I became a painter, it took over my page. It’s such a powerful image. It’s a triangle. So, all these things mixed together. I still miss it enormously. And it’s really beautiful when you climb. It’s low, it’s not that high, 3000 feet but it ends in the ocean. And it’s extraordinary. And you can travel it in one day when you take your car, and you roam around. And it has herbs, it has perfume plant smell, it’s an extraordinary place.

And in September, the low hills are gold like the skin of a lion. So, the whole of California before it was built around there. It was like touching animals in the jungle — not jungle, but semi-jungle, the Persian lions. It was extraordinary. It’s very beautiful.