Aesthetics

Post #137 Wednesday 8 April 2020 – Kol Nidrei and Kaddisch

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Letters from America
These letters are my glamorous aunt’s posts on her adventures and her life and times as a
♦ mature Sydney escort ♦

Wednesday 8 April 2020

Thank you my friend Michael MA60 for sending me the link to the lovely but mournful Kol Nidrei, which I have added here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eYdXu2MH6YE

It’s suitably intense for so many people’s lives right now.

I am sending you in return Ravel’s Kaddisch sung by the beautiful Frederica Von Stade. I realise it’s actually quite an old recording now, from 1981. There are other recordings by other great singers: Jessye Norman, Cecilia Bartoli, but the von Stade is so lean and spare and penetrating, it is the best I think, the most oriental. She has the touch, not too sentimental or fruity, for the haunting Hebrew song of mourning. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uQFwDgBjpbo

xx MG

Post #135 Monday 6 April 2020 – In the forest a little longer

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Letters from America
These letters are my glamorous aunt’s posts on her adventures and her life and times as a
♦ mature Sydney escort ♦

Monday 6 April 2020

There were a couple of other photos from the forest adventure, so I am posting them as well.  Next we might do flowers in the field, swimming in the river…

Hair flick in the forest, and not a lot else
Looking back
Looking down

Yes, now I can see Norman Lindsay’s forest nudes in these pictures too, thank you Mr Moss for pointing that out 🙂

Norman Lindsay sculpture at Faulconbridge

Also PS I owe an apology to subscribers to the Letters from America. I have had some issues with my MG email account. I hope to sort them soon and get back to emailing again.

xx MG

Post #131 Thursday 19 March 2020 – Exuberance, James Joyce and sleep

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Letters from America
These letters are my glamorous aunt’s posts on her adventures and her life and times as a
♦ mature Sydney escort ♦

Thursday 19 March 2020

It’s probably not quite the right response to our current situation but I was feeling a bit exuberant yesterday afternoon during my Sydney visit, so I posted my cheerful (post cardio) selfie to Twitter. 

Less is more 🙂
(with blue frame glasses in the foreground)

On a more practical matter, I have sometimes, more often in the past than now, found it tricky to get off to sleep at night, or to get back to sleep when I have woken at 2.00 or 3.00am. The magic for many years was to turn the radio on very softly, usually the overnight service from BBC World. Soft voices just in the mid ground of consciousness often helped me to drift away.

I can’t resist making a recommendation – even though nobody asked me for one 🙂

I’ve discovered a wonderful podcast for the going to sleep process so no more BBC World News. The podcast can be found at the following link:

https://www.miettecast.com/

It’s Miette’s Bedtime Story Podcast. She has a gorgeous soft Irish brogue. She has a very light touch and the stories she’s chosen to read – that I’ve listened to so far – are wonderful. When I grow up I want to be Miette. The stories I’ve listened to so far have been James Joyce short stories; as observant as Jane Austen and as poignant and crafted as Katherine Mansfield. All in the loveliest soft Irish accent. I have of course passed out within a short time and then needed to listen to the stories the following day during normal waking hours to get the whole picture.

xx MG – Go forth

The great man himself, James Joyce

Post #104 Sunday 25 November 2018 – Theatrical diversion

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Letters from America
These letters are my glamorous aunt’s posts on her adventures and her life and times as a
♦ mature Sydney escort ♦

Sunday 25 November 2018

I recently went to an interesting piece of “immersive” theatre called A Midnight Visit.  It was held in St Peters in a huge old empty furniture warehouse.  The drama was based on the stories and poems of Edgar Allen Poe.  We had to sign a waiver before entering.  We were each given a black surgical mask to wear while we stood around in the foyer.  There was an MC called The Undertaker who then selected people from the audience to enter the performance through different doorways.  We went into different rooms and spaces which were variously got up in detailed Gothic sets reminiscent of Poe themes.  The actors moved around in the spaces performing in among the audience.  There were music and dance performances woven into some of the story fragments.  Then there were features of the warehouse set which can only be described as playful – corridors and stairwells to climb through, mysterious rooms to explore.  One room was filled with CCTV screens “secretly” relaying what audience members were doing in other rooms.  Another room had a small sunken pool filled with soft pink balls and a sign saying No Jumping, and of course people did.  At one stage there was a regal seeming actor strolling around, who would seat himself strategically and beckon a member of the audience to come over.  He would then have an extended private conversation with that person.   He beckoned me at one stage and asked me, whispering, what was I afraid of.  It took me ages to decide but finally I said “uncertainty”.  He said Oh no, you don’t need to be afraid of uncertainty, you need to be afraid of people who text and drive! Lol.

It was clever in parts, apparently developed from a similar immersive theatrical adventure which has been showing for years in an extended season in New York called Sleep No More (based on Macbeth).  A Midnight Visit was ambitious and intriguing.  I could happily have stayed on exploring for another hour.  There are some great photos included in the link here to the review in the magazine Time Out.

xx MG

https://www.timeout.com/sydney/theatre/a-midnight-visit-review

https://amidnightvisit.com/about-the-experience/

 

Post #99 Sunday 26 August 2018 – In miniature

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Letters from America
These letters are my glamorous aunt’s posts on her adventures and her life and times as a
♦ mature Sydney escort ♦

Sunday 26 August 2018

Following a recommendation I braved windy William Street Darlinghurst and went down to the Australian Design Centre where I saw a remarkable collection of miniature streetscapes made by Joshua Smith.  They were fine works of craftsmanship recreating the patina of urban decay in  the shopfronts of poorer neighbourhoods.  Here is a photo of one of them:

It reminded me of the dioramas that used to be in the War Memorial in Canberra, which were battlefields recreated in miniature – tiny toylike scenes made for adults.

MG xx

 

 

Post #92 Sunday 24 June 2018 – Flowering trees and the allegory of the unicorn

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Letters from America
These letters are my glamorous aunt’s posts on her adventures and her life and times as a
♦ mature Sydney escort ♦

Sunday 24 June 2018

I haven’t posted about any flowering trees for a little while. My flowering tree this time is a lemon tree, not from local life but from a set of French medieval tapestries that have been on exhibition at the Art Gallery.

I specially like this tree because it accurately depicts that habit which many lemon trees have of flowering and fruiting at the same time.  And the flower of a lemon tree has one of the most evocative scents.

The context of the tapestries is the age of chivalry in the late Middle Ages.  But there is no trace of darkness or punishing cloistered religious life that I for one, so often associate with the Middle Ages.  Instead it’s a sensual paradise of garden, music and luxury.  The mythical unicorn appears in all the tapestries together with the virgin maiden.  The story has it that the unicorn is only tame for the virgin lady.

Curiously I found in my investigations that the original unicorn figure – a mythical wild man from Mesopotamia – was civilised only by the temple whore.  I was interested to  learn in that social reality the temple whore was a respected figure herself, charged with the responsibility of making men into better versions of humanity (than they were when left to their own devices).

Your glamorous aunt MG xx

Post #90 Saturday 9 June 2018 – Fireworks fatigue

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Letters from America
These letters are my glamorous aunt’s posts on her adventures and her life and times as a
♦ mature Sydney escort ♦

Saturday 9 June 2018

Sometimes I get the luxury of a little fireworks fatigue. I see a lot of fireworks from the balcony.  There would not be a week that goes by without some fireworks near the City.   So would it be possible to have anticpatory Vivid fatigue?  I don’t even get to see much Vivid detail – the projections onto the Opera House are on to the West facing sails.  But I do see some of the sky lit up by the Vivid festival lights, and then there is the Bridge which gets heavy neon treatment, such as this aqua tone for example:

 

And this year, trying to avoid being a bit grouchy about the ever present bread and circuses feel of the Vivid festival, I took myself off to see some of the sights including a visit to Luna Park at Milson’s Point, where the ferris wheel was looking exceptionally pretty.

And visiting Luna Park reminded me of the short time I worked there – a while ago now – an impoverished student bravely manning the fairy floss cart in my little french navy uniform in all weather.  I didn’t do that job for long, but long enough to remember being reprimanded by management for wearing glasses (it was pre laser surgery so I was stilling wearing bookish specs), and for being too generous with the serves!

Your glamorous aunt

MG  xx

Post #88 Sunday 27 May 2018 – Autumn Japan

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Letters from America
These letters are my glamorous aunt’s posts on her adventures and her life and times as a
♦ mature Sydney escort ♦

Sunday 27 May 2018

It was another glorious Autumn weekend and I spent this one in the Blue Mountains with an old friend, who lives there with her family.  She is originally from Japan and has christened her neighbourhood Aoyama after an elegant part of Tokyo which has beautiful street trees.  I was probably one week late for the colour this year but even so there were some lovely trees still in the streets round about, including this radiant maple:

And so I have to confide I bought tickets earlier this year to visit Japan at the end of November – which will be their late Autumn.   Anticipation will be intensifying as the year progresses 🙂

your glamorous aunt

MG xx

Post #84 Sunday 29 April 2018 – Bridge, scaffolding, suspenders

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Letters from America
These letters are my glamorous aunt’s posts on her adventures and her life and times as a
♦ mature Sydney escort ♦

Sunday 29 April 2018

I made my way down to the Harbour yesterday to confirm the best theory for the Bridge problem – which is that it all depends on the angle at which you are looking at the Bridge…  no need to be concerned that some working party for Bridge Climb has re-engineered things to suit themselves!

So here is the photo I took which confirms the best theory – for which a number of people have to take the prize.

 

I took this photo at the Opera House and got a bit distracted by the way the great stone ends of the bridge do not actually connect to the structure.  Although I have long forgotten where I read this, my understanding is that the stone structures were never part of the original design.  They were added on after an objection was raised that the Bridge-using public would be too uncomfortable seeing the bare steel structure without some “grounding” monolithic book ends attached.  So back in the day the Bridge’s engineering was regarded as too radical for the average punter.   My only lament is that the ends aren’t clad with Sydney sandstone instead of a grey granite.

But on this subject curiously I have heard a similar story about perceptions of the Anzac Bridge.   For many years the suspension cables of the Bridge were adorned by some diagonally attached wires which had apparently had been added to the structure to “reassure” Bridge users that the cables were not unstable or too light.  The underwires were totally unnecessary, just put there for “effect”.

I have not much else to report this week, save I have bought a small piece of scaffolding (with adjustable legs for working on slopes) and did a special trip to ferry this new prize down to the country.  Once it is in action on the little construction project there I will report back with a photo.

So the only other photo for this week is a picture of the suspenders on my new lingerie – which the label describes as “Ruby” coloured.  One way to welcome in the Autumn.

Your glamorous aunt

xx MG

PS a picture of a more golden and grey Autumn from the balcony:

Post #78 Saturday 17th March 2018 – Back from Canberra

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Letters from America
These letters are my glamorous aunt’s posts on her adventures and her life and times as a
♦ mature Sydney escort ♦

Saturday 17 March 2018

I had the fastest drive home from Canberra than I’ve had in ages.   This notwithstanding there was a lot of road work – for which we all slowed down.  But as I regularly  let myself travel just above the speed limit, alas I am thinking this may be the reason for my fast trip even with roadwork and I am none too proud of it really.

It was a good stay and I collected visuals of another interesting piece of sculpture on an early evening walk near the hotel.  On reflection I could have done a better photo:

Here’s a better shot from the local Sculpture Walk Guide which I found on the net, together with a spiel about the scuplture’s name and significance, and its’ creator, all of which is quite appealing:

Being a bit frisky one Canberra morning I took an unsual selfie – the underboob and pyjamas shot, here to amuse 🙂 in the usual way:

I can also say in recent news, I learnt how to make Steak Diane, thanks to an enterprising visitor at home, and that was all very good indeed.

Your glamorous aunt, MG xx
reporting on some of this week’s adventures.