As far back as my memory serves me - about the age of three - I can remember knowing exactly what was attractive to my mind's eye. As any parent will attest to, trying to convince a young child any different is an uphill battle. I knew exactly what colours I loved and would let my mother dress me in. She was a seamstress and milliner during our life in Montreal, so my clothing was always custom. Shoes were purchased in the little Italy part of of the city and nothing but leather would do. Being that my Dad's father was a cobbler from Germany, this was a given. The European philosophy that I was brought up with was that you bought the best that you could afford and you took good care of it, because it had to last. Money was spent carefully and thoughtfully in order to make the dollars stretch. To this day, my challenge has always been to have a life as beautiful as possible within my snack bracket. It's so easy when you have pocketfuls of money.
Both sides of my family have artists and musicians and gardeners that obviously contributed to my genetic predisposition. My mother's mother was a Prada from Hungary. Need I say more? Although I believe that this is along the same lines as Smith or Jones over on this side of the pond.
Beauty is everywhere and nowhere. It's both natural and unnatural. It's in the eye of the beholder. Sometimes I wonder though - What were you thinking??
