Ear and Now; "What a Dame!"

At the beginning of last week, I noticed I was having unusual headaches. They were not like the typical sinus / allergy ones. These were more akin to what I feel when I'm in a descending airplane.

(The last time I flew, I was in such pain as we descended, I almost blacked out. As the plane descends, it depressurizes, which means that the pressure in the cabin is lower than that inside the ear canals. Hence the eardrum attempts to expand outward. For most people, you can yawn or gulp and the pressure will equalize. But if you have sinus problems, the pressure does not, and you can literally rupture the eardrum. Several years ago, a friend had such problems that when he landed he had to go to the hospital and get a shot of morphine. By the way, this is why I don't fly.)

By Friday night, I felt wretched. And I finally remembered I'd bumped the eardrum with a q-tip. Big mistake. Saturday morning, I darted off to the clinic. (They really should keep my chart under the counter.) Some new regulations must have recently gone into effect, because everyone that came in had to fill out or sign something.

A elderly woman and her daughter came in. The daughter signed her in, and the mother yelled, "Is Dr. H in?" The receptionist said it was Dr. C. The mother told the daughter, "I don't like him. He's mean!" The daughter's reply was, "No, he's not. He tells you what you need to know."

I spend about five minutes with the doc, and he gave me a prescription for ear drops. You may remember, this is the man who reminds me of Lucas Ridgeston. And I always want to rip his clothes off and perform mouth-to-mouth or versions thereof.

But these were 50% off, plus another 10% for card members. Which got it down to around $28. I debated, hesitated and and argued with myself. And in the end grabbed it.

What a book it is! A gorgeous book with magnificent photos of the jewels and Liz throughout her long career.

The jewelry is staggering. I knew she had one of the largest and finest collections in the world. But I never realized what that meant until I started reading through the book.

Diamonds, rubies, emeralds, pearls, sapphires, cognac diamonds, turquoise, kunzite, ivory, nephrite, amethyst, rock crystal, onyx, coral, enamel, opals.

A 29.4 carat engagement ring from Mike Todd. The 33.19 carat Krupp diamond from Richard Burton. The 69.42 Taylor-Burton carat diamond also from Burton. (She said she has always regretted selling it.)

A pearl that belonged to Mary Tudor. A diamond from the builder of the Taj Mahal. A bracelet from King Farouk. A diamond clip from the Duchess of Windsor.

And I'm certain this is not all the collection. I can easily see the collection being worth in the tens or even hundreds of millions.

What a dame!

PAX!