Perchance this cup will show it thee. Would’st thy fortune like to see?
—from Mimi’s magic teacup
One last note on Violet, whom the grandchildren called Mimi. She was holding court and reading tea leaves for the assembled (this was before such gatherings tired her so). She picked up a cup and declared, “I see heads, faces, babies. Lots of babies. I see a maternity ward.”
Her daughter-in-law told Mimi that this was impossible, and she already had her last child.
As I recall, Mimi also predicted it would be a girl.
Perhaps a year or two after this pronouncement, her last grandchild—a healthy baby girl—was born.
I am unsure whether the soothsability resided with the reader or the instrument, however, I am taking no chances. Such a cup, if it fell into the wrong hands … well! Suffice it to say, the teacup is now locked away safely here, at the Mercuriosity Shop.
You may remember last year around this time I mentioned some wintery music by Prokofiev, specifically Lieutenant Kije. The song I mentioned was the Troika (scroll down to track 11). I was delighted to recently hear a different version played by the Sauter-Finegan Orchestra. Scroll down to number 16—Midnight Sleighride. The Sauter-Finegan version is much more playful.
And John has mentioned that he thinks track 1—Doodletown Fifers—was the theme song to the great old children’s show BJ and Dirty Dragon.
During a Dean Martin Celebrity Roast where Johnny Carson was the “honoree”, impressionist Rich Little performed a bit called “The Twenty-Three Mannerisms of Johnny Carson”. Johnny passed away today on the 23rd of January.
Hello, friends! As you can see, it’s been snowing quite a bit at the Mercuriosity Shop. The entire world seems to have been changed to black and white. I’ve been taking things slowly here. I find January is a perfect month to catch up on things, or let things catch up with me. The sun sleeps in late, and some days doesn’t roll out from under his gray flannel blankets at all. Snow, conversations, and hours all drift on these diffuse days. Spirits murmur in low tones, drained after the greenery has faded to brownery and crimson ribbons have been put in yellowed boxes for another year. Formless shadows collect in high corners, no longer scurrying from pinpoints of Christmas lights glinting from brass and chrome bells.
I enjoy the quiet solitude of these January days.
Utilizing the expertise of our friend X, Mercuriosity Shop visitor John has just launched his new site, inkyboy.com. An excellent artist, John hopes to bring in a little extra cash by doing illustrations freelance-style. He has assisted me with the comings and goings of the Shop for a while, and all of us here wish blessings upon him and his current endeavor.
If you own a computer, you can. (my apologies to Dr. Alterman. I simply swiped his code for the following post.)
Tsunami Relief: Charity Efficiency and Transparency Ratings
Helps provide an overview of how much of your donations actually make it to the victims, using several rating systems.
Doctors w/o Borders, American Red Cross, American Jewish World Service and OxFam were all very highly rated.
Here’s where to make Contributions online to the top rated Charities:
- American Red Cross (via Amazon)
- American Jewish World Service
Asia Tsunami Relief,
45 West 36th Street, 10th Floor,
New York, NY 10018,
800-889-7146
donate on line - Doctors w/o Borders
donate on line - Oxfam
donate online