(I’d been thinking of writing on something else)

(The garden goes along wonderfully)

Anyway, boxes! I like boxes. Not the anonymous boxes of today, mind you. I have a soft spot for the old ‘everyday’ boxes.* But I particularly like the little, decorated boxes designed to hold? Jewelry, change, whatnot, nothing at all. I was contemplating some just now** and marveling at the breadth of time and distance that they encapsulate. From some given to me: mother-of-pearl from Cairo, spalted hickory from New England, lacquer with Asian cranes from a distant Miami flea-market, the trick box with the band of inlay. But then all the others: the stamped/gilt leather of the turn of the century, that my grandmother and her mother used for jewelry, to the old, old box my many greats grandmother used. The marquetry boxes of Europe, the carved wooden boxes of southeast Asia, the lacquer/pearl boxes of Korea, the sand paintings on the boxes from Albuquerque, New Mexico, the c.1900 California date box, re-purposed for a fan collection. The dates were from a family member’s farm… The metal boxes stamped with the date and initials of a long gone wedding or christening.

The decorative arts at their finest. And is that so bad?

*We have a particularly Good collection of old hard liquor boxes, all empty mind you! Courtesy of the Cocktail era.

**Well what do you think about while getting dressed for a meeting?