weather worsening -- but of course, it's really like Seattle. Seattle in winter. Driving rains, driving winds - and chilled. I feel like I'm barely prepared for such inclemency, to clothing. But I'm used to it. I've wandered in to Agya Sofia -- and circulated in the great caverns of that space... And further into other markets and warehoused bazaars. These, for the people -- not for tourists. Wandering deeper and deeper into the warrens; and it's clear that much of this space is ancient,...

I did go back to Sofa and selected, with care, some calligraphies. These are more like the wabi sabi objects that I love, from Japan. Or from that matter, anywhere. These rusted and weathered articles speak to me of people, of time past, of beauty expressed and deepened. This is the kind of thing that I found, there. You can see what I'm talking about -- it's like old signing, held in homes and sacred places, brimming with energy of those...past.

It was a long day of wandering. And I learned quickly that fast befriending Turks, even those that are innocuous in their gestures of friendship, are, in all likelihood, drawing you to their carpet casbahs. Exiting is challenging. So, you simply go. That works. I met with a art dealer who struck me from the very opening of the encounter. I found his shop walking into the Old Bazaar -- but more interestingly, I connected with his little display in the hotel lobby. It's sophisticated offerings...

Greetings and good morning. And it's far in the morning there, mid day, here. I'm in Istanbul, having just arrived. I'm staying at the Four Seasons here -- which, really, is the first time I've done this, ever -- staying at a hotel like that. And it's profoundly and unexpectedly luxurious. Really not my thing, per se, since I'd really planned on being here with another. And she couldn't make it from Paris, so that's that. I'm alone, which does seem to be my mode of exploration: solo. And...

In arising this morning, the mist settled out over Central park; and the haze was illumed by the street lights, which glowed from beneath the trees like luminous cocoons enwrapped in silken scrim. Beauty emerged, in advance of the reckoning of the day. From 200 feet up, looking out at the imaginary insects, brooding beneath the trees, bedecked in Fall... I forgot where I was, for a moment. tsg | NYC