Hello darling. Isn't that a lovely image? I'm musing about Miss Dior right now. I wore it a very long time ago, and miss it. I've worn other fragrances over the years, a series of them that perhaps roughly corresponded to epochs in my life. For many years now I haven't worn any fragrance at all - at some point it got to be too much for me. Why? I'm not sure the reason. Maybe just living in the city, enduring olfactory assaults, commuting to work on subway, going to a movie theatre, or having to encounter a boss I absolutely detested who doused herself in a cloud of something or other, very very offputting to me. So I myself stopped wearing it. But more & more I'd like to wear a fragrance again, just a light one, one that I would enjoy (because who else?). And so I think of Miss Dior, so timeless, classic, and not sugary-sweet.

I suppose it's crossing my mind now because I'm going down to the city tomorrow for the day, via Amtrak. I obtained the tickets already, days ago, to avoid the sticker shock I encountered last time I purchased them, moments before a trip; the price had doubled from what I had looked up online due to an airline-like pricing model in which prices fluctuate according to - not supply/demand precisely - there were plenty of seats the offpeak time I went - more like extortion pricing. Lesson learned, and the tickets are tucked away in my pocketbook.

So I'm headed down mainly to catch a gallery exhibit - but now I find my mind wandering. Maybe I'll head down to Soho and buy another bottle of babelube, I'm running out, and wouldn't mind checking out other toys with you & me in mind; and from another shop I could use lemon verbena bath soap - it's all about body oils & soaps & fragrances, darling! - shows where my head's at. But I don't know how much walking I'll be doing, I plan to wear sandals - I can't exactly traipse all over town on foot as though it's simply an urban conservation area. Ah, my vanity! I've become vain, a little bit. I'm looking forward to wearing my nice skirt outfit - formfitting crinkly print blouse with neckline ruffle high at the back - Pucci kaleidescope meets formal Chinese - atop black flatteringly flared pencil skirt... and new sandals to match. Of course I wish perfume!

So how are you darling? I hope all is well with you. If you were with me then I would offer you nibbles of delicious things I made today. The pissalediere came out divine, crust perfect, sweet onions caramelized, salt flavors of olives & anchovies all fusing together - oh! I also made another pizza, also long & rectangular, of fresh mozzarella, farmstand tomato, minced garlic, sprinkling of oregano, and when I pulled it puffed & bubbling & melted out of the 500 degree oven I topped it with minced fresh basil that I had just brought home from the weekly CSA run - and the aromatic basil absolutely made it. Seriously - swoon material - I would (and have) paid serious money for a pizza like that. And last I made a summer-squash pie, like spinach pie with the eggs and phyllo and feta - but no spinach. The pie came out well - but disconcertingly exclusively yellow what with the sunny vegetable and bright yolky eggs. With the flaky golden crust the creation looks like a nutty food experiment in yellow. But it's delicious, and warmed up will make a convenient breakfast on the fly as I hurry to catch my early morning train.

So I don't know what tomorrow will bring, I have tentative plans to meet for lunch with an old friend, but she seems very busy & scattered & getting ready for a week's excursion of her own - so I'm guessing that it won't happen. It would be nice to see her, and especially to have a long chatty lunch with her, but if it doesn't I'm fine with that too - truly, in this case, whatever.

I hope to blog tomorrow, but it may be a bit late, I won't be home much before eight. My thought is that I will try to jot down thoughts on my train ride back, that I can quickly type up and post...

Ta for now darling. Sleep well, dear Minotaur.