Pearls @ MindSay 
When I turned 40 I bought a mink coat. I decided I was thin enough and accomplished enough and pretty enough and had money enough. so i did it. If you have never worn a full length mink coat in public you won't understand how much an alpha female it makes you. Other women defer to you physically. Waiters and sales people wait on you immediately and smell of uriah heap. It's quite wonderful in addition to the warmth and softness and sheen. Of course I wear leather and eat meat and I don’t have a serious problem knowing that some animals died for my comfort. I wouldn't wear wild cats, I draw the line there and snake skin totally freaks me out. but little silky rodents? no problem.
the long coat has since been traded for a long blackgama swing jacket with an adorable matching hat. Much lighter and sensible in the temperate places I have lived since then. but still alpha.
When I turned fifty I decided I deserved another drop dead fantastic piece of jewelry. I already had diamonds, an emerald, a sapphire, several strands of pearls from my mother - the pink are the best- and so I decided one baroque pearl in a pendant would be just right. Montgomery has one good thing going for it: great antique stores. so I dropped into Yesteryears and asked about a baroque pearl… on a lark. total lark. and the big haired blonde with too much perfume and lipstick beyond her lip line said," do you mean like the one I am holding right now?" and there it was. one perfectly pear shaped white pearl about one inch long. set in white gold filigree leaves with teensy diamonds. and i knew it was one those 'meant to be' things. Jim got it for me for the fiftieth birthday. It went perfectly with my diamond studs. hell it still does. So how does one top that for the next decade marker? Or even equal it? I have always believed that significant birthdays' gifts should always be durable goods of a totally useless nature... precious jewels, art, whimsical furniture, never household things or clothing that wears out or a trip that only stays a memory. although jewelry hidden in the salad while in Vienna would not be anything to sneeze at. SO i thought I should start early. I mean REALLY early because when you have most everything you ever wanted you gotta get up pretty early to find something new and completely different? Oh go on and slap me. I am indulged. poor me.
Howdy Howdy all!
Still feeling kinda blah but hey, you can't feel FANTASTIC all the time. Following the trend of a few other mindsayers I shall post a photo that I dig.......
I kinda wish I could just sit quietly in this place for little while......but Diva Day begins tomorrow morning bright and early...Woo Hoo!
How about some poetry...here goes....
Warming Her Pearls;
for Judith Radstone
Next to my own skin, her pearls. My mistress
bids me wear them, warm then, until evening
when I'll brush her hair. At six, I place them
round her cool, white throat. All day I think of
her,
resting in the Yellow Room, contemplating silk*
or taffeta, which gown tonight? She fans herself
whilst I work willingly, my slow heat entering
each pearl. Slack on my neck, her rope.
She's beautiful. I dream about her
in my attic bed; picture her dancing*
with tall men, puzzled by my faint, persistent scent
beneath her French perfume, her milky stones.
I dust her shoulders with a rabbit's foot,
watch the soft blush seep through her skin
like an indolent sigh. In her looking-glass
my red lips part as though I want to speak.
Full moon. Her carriage brings her home. I see
her every movement in my head...Undressing,
taking off her jewels, her slim hand reaching
for the case, slipping naked into bed, the way
she always does...And I lie here awake,
knowing the pearls are cooling even now
in the room where my mistress sleeps. All night
I feel their absence and I burn.*--Carol Ann Duffy
Goddess Bless
After picking up the latest edition of the "Walking Tour of Hong Kong" Brochure, we set off to find the Jade Market. (Have I mentioned that you can find jade in almost every country I've ever visited and you should never pay more than $5 for any of it?) At the jade market I fell in love with a deep red jade bracelet. The woman asked for $50 (USD) for something that should have cost $5 max. Again I found myself wishing I was at a Walmart with a fixed and decent price. I managed to get it for $13. I'm still bitter I overpaid but after searching the entire jade market and not finding another one like it I came to terms with it… of course I found myself hoping she'd accidentally drop the money on the street, ha ha ha. Anyway, putting my grown up face back on, I also found that pearls are super cheap in Hong Kong. I bought a fresh water string of pink pearls for $15 or so with a pair of earings… and I think they are actually real. One of the girls rubbed one on her teeth and said they felt real. (Apparantly if they are fake they are too slick and slide right off the surface of your tooth, but real ones grab a little.) You can also burn them… real pearls don't burn, I learned that in Mauritius. But I didn't want to risk ruining my necklace if it was fake. And that's pretty much all the shopping I did in Honk Kong. By now my bank account was more than dry. I have to say I spent a good amount of time in the Starbucks, with cheap Internet and American food. I tried the Chinese food a few times and really didn't like it.
I also visited the Space Museum and spent a good couple of hours in there. I'm a closet Science, Space, Quantum Mechanics Maniac. I'm all about the Science Channel and Brain Greene books. Anyway, it was a great museum. They had a couple simulations including a space walk and they had a movie theater. I watched a movie on Einstein and his quest for the Theory of Everything in a sky theater. The movie was projected on the ceiling in a circular room and parts of it were projected at all 360 degrees. I actually took a nap for the last half of the movie since I dooze off. I was so tired from walking around everywhere for so many days. We just walked and walked and walked through markets and streets and anything walkable.
There's a lot of cheap crap for sale at the night market on the street and everything in the stores is waaaayyyy too expensive to even look at. I almost laughed when I ran into the Indians. Yes, there are Indian men on every block trying to sell you things, but this time, they aren't carrying their special merchandise around in front of your face. These guys are dressed well, some even in suits, and they come up to you and very politely ask you if you'd like handbags and jewelry or some other fake design product. And these guys have sticking power too, they may follow you for half a block or so. Overall, individually they aren't as annoying as the sellers in India, but at this point I just want to hurt anyone who tries to talk to me! I found it funny that they just come up to you and I guess if I wanted something they would lead me to an alley? Or a trunk or something? I don't know, it's pretty sketchy. I kinda felt like Hong Kong was a big shopping stop for most people. There wasn't really all that much to do besides shopping, especially not for cheap.
I also went to the giant Buddha statue and a fishing village on Lantau Island. The giant Buddha was giant, end of story. The fishing village was interesting. These are people who are considered poor, they live in little tin shacks on stilts on the water. The government built a huge apartment complex to relocate the people to in like 1992, but no one has ever moved into it. The people refuse to move out of their shacks on the water which their families have lived in for generations. It was funny though because among all these tin shacks was a nicely built bank building. They had a bank and health services and really everything they needed, they just live in tin shacks. Over all it was good to see the flip end of Hong Kong. Not all of it is giant malls and fancy neon lights… they have a ghetto too.
From the ship
Double decker bus
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