THE MEDIUM

 

we must change the inside to change the outside........ the outside is a constant, in the bigger picture..... which "seems" to change, depending on our own perspectives..... the inside is mutable and capable of transmogrification through consciousness, attitude and unknown and uncontrollable factors even the brain's chemistry can change, if not through will and resolution, by a change in the dispensation of energy and the utilization of good will and concern........ it is through love for others that we begin to love ourselves. and it is through love of ourselves that we are energized to love others.....

THE MOST BEAUTIFUL TRINKETS FROM THE AGE OF INNOCENCE Handel - Atalanta CD1 by Philharmonia Baroque

  ATTENDING A GRAND DINNER AT THE GOLDSMITH'S HALL, AT LLOYD'S OF LONDON, I MET THE ILLUSTRIOUS EDUARD GUBELIN,WEBSTER, CROWNINGSHIELD....JOHN LORING....A VERITABLE WHO'S WHO OF JEWELERS AND GEMMOLOGISTS.......MORE IMPORTANTLY, I WAS SEATED ACROSS THE BANQUET TABLE FROM MADAME "X", WHO, QUITE INEBRIATED, INVITED ME TO LUNCH, THE FOLLOWING DAY, AT AN INDIAN RESTAURANT NEAR LIBERTY'S........SHE TOSSED THESE WONDERFUL GEORGIAN EARRINGS ONTO MY FOLDED NAPKIN AND ASKED, "CAN YOU SELL THESE?".... ALTHOUGH I HAD NOT YET ENGAGED THE WORLD OF JEWELS AT THIS LEVEL, I REPLIED "YES!....MY LADY." WITH NO WRITTEN AGREEMENT, SHE LEFT HER CARD AND VANISHED...... LATER, IN SAN FRANCISCO, I ENCOUNTERED ANOTHER GRAND LADY AND HER YOUNG SON.....AT GUMPS, DURING ITS RENOVATION......SHE HAD PLANNED TO PRESENT SOME OF HER TREASURES TO THE BUYERS THERE, BUT, BECAUSE OF THE MESS AND REMODELLING, THIS WAS NOT AN OPTION......HER YOUNG SON LOOKED ME DIRECTLY IN THE

I STUMBLED, QUITE BY HAPPENSTANCE, INTO A SUCCESSFUL CAREER AS A PURVEYER OF ANTIQUE JEWELRY TO THE RICH, SPONTANEOUS COLLECTORS OF THE NEIGHBORHOOD....THEN, TO THE ECCENTRIC COLLECTORS IN OTHER PARTS OF THE GLOBE.......I WAS NEARING THE TOP OF THIS GAME....THEN WALKED AWAY.......MY GARBO MOVE.....THERE WAS TOO MUCH TRICKERY AND DECEPTION IN THIS GAME.........I RETURNED TO THE INWARD EXISTENCE OF A POET, AND HAVE NOT MISSED MY RUN AS JEWELER.......

THERE'S SOMETHING SINISTER HERE! AND A BIT SILLY, TOO!

  well, not really....this outfit was for "footlight vanities"......where i performed, as a merry minstrel (that looks like a stretch, from the serious look on my face) for Miss Hazel Robinson, my tap teacher.....later, i moved up to Miss Irene Jones School of Dance, conveniently located a half block from school....there, i became the waltz, rhumba, chachacha and tango champion.....there was not a great deal of competitors for this illustrious title.....i was a favorite skating partner too, with skillful dancing to "hully gully" and "centipede run", skating's answer to synchronized swimming.......

my grandfather built a very angular, stone home in 1936, divorced my grandmother and took on an energetic and ambitious younger wife......when this wife left him, years later, he lived with her mother, who was his age......within a few years of his death, a large tree grew through the roof of the greenhouse, his ancient vehicle was left to rust in it's garage, the house was boarded up and forgotten.........he outlived his three sons by my cast-off grandmother, whom i never met, and died, thinking of his new lover, Jack Daniels.........we were never close, although he gave me a brown, bakelite AM radio when i was ten.....his estate had fallen into ruins and he seldom saw the light of day.......he is still a mystery who always wore a beautiful hat, and three-piece suit of white ocre color....white and caramel two-toned oxfords with thin stockings held by wine and grey garters...........there were no tears at his funeral........

  yesterday was so splendid.....i listened to the chattering of plump yard birds as bunnie played in the bamboo clippings, bernie kraus nature sounds and the fountains splashing......chocolate covered coffee beans, curried dark chocolate bars, a flawless chocolate ganash from the aetherial kitchens of Alon's Bakery set my mind in such a pleasant state of mind.....then visits of friends, culminating in masaman curried shortribs, a fatty pleasure, it's creamy, rich gravy adding sensuousness to nutty, sticky rice with a hint of jasmine and cilantro......accompanied by thai basil rolls, dipped in the extreme of chili oil infused with unidentifiable fragrant essenses and crushed peanuts, a hint of fresh lemon and a touch of sourwood honey and fresh rosemary......then chocolate mousse with raspberries, and candied seville orange peels, dipped in Alessio Tessieri chocolate , cooled in a vapor of pear essence and cleansed from the palate with courvesoir and expresso.......a