Long Time No Blog

It has been months since I got a new computer, but I had not added this blogspot to my bookmarks. I had to google to find it.
I bought this scarf at Palmyra in Syria. In the background, slightly askew, are the incomparable ruins. In the foreground is an ever-hopeful seller of tourist trash outside the hotel at seven in the morning. I bought the scarf much to the disgust of our guide who told me it was over-priced garbage. How could I possibly explain to him that I knew perfectly well that it was over-priced garbage, (and not pure cotton as the salesman claimed but crass acrylic). It cost me 8 bucks and I like it. I wear it a lot. It has become my security blanket as the days grow colder. When I travel abroad I often find objects that the local people deem so inconsequential that they discard. Terracotta tea cups in India, rice wine cups in Viet Nam, knives and sheep shears and scraps of blue silk once tied to some significant object and now blowing loose in the wind in Mongolia, as well as a padded bag I found in the Orkong River. Yes, I brought them all home. In Jordan I found scraps of the wonderful goat wool fabric that the Bedouin use to make their tents, and yarn or string made from the same stuff, and brightly colored tassels from some passing camel ... oh I guess I should admit to picking up a red checkered headcloth used for god knows what before being abandoned at Wadi Rum. It's OK I sterilized it .... Hey, it was definitely pure cotton!



Now this beautiful object came into my possession through my decision today to treat myself to lunch at an all you can eat Chinese restaurant in our half abandoned local shopping mall. I dined in splendor on poached salmon and baked mussels and hot and sour soup...... all highly delicious. I noticed the pearly beauty of the mussell shell, in particular the green rim. Does it signify toxicity? I feel fine so far. I furtively slipped the shell with its little meaty attachment into a paper napkin and into my purse. Another treasure to throw away one day.