By Ted Grussing
… an evening listening to the musical poetry of Rod McKuen and today was just one of those days where plans shift … some things get done and others are put off for another day and given the nature of the things I put off, it is likely that when their turn comes up again, I will put them off again. It feels good to do that because whether I do them or not is of little consequence in the overall scheme of things and I like not doing things too.
I took up faceting again today and got the pavilion roughed out on a rectangle Barion cut. This is a brilliant cut pavilion with a more or less standard step cut crown. The cut was designed by Basil Watermeyer a gem cutter in South Africa in the early 1970’s; the name is a morph of his first name and his wife’s first name … Marion. The cut is a mixed cut with brilliant cut pavilions and traditional cut crowns and he applied these to a number of different shapes, from square, rectangle, oval and so forth. I took up faceting in 1978 and never one to stick with tradition the Barion family of facet designs became my favorites … if executed properly they are unbelievably beautiful … they are a difficult design to execute so it is possible to screw them up too and then not quite so nice. Although I have used the faceting machine for numerous projects over the years, this is the first stone I have dopped up to facet in about fifteen years. I still have the first stone I cabbed (turquoise) and the first stone I faceted (smokey quartz) and after those it was on to the expensive stuff … doesn’t take any more time and the risk/reward is infinitely greater. This stone is from a ruby laser rod (chipped so not useful for original purpose) and then it will be back to the fine gem rough. Faceting is a more mechanical art form than cabbing stones, but I am back in the mood for that. Should have it done in a few days and then I’ll photograph it … maybe a necklace for One?
Got another late afternoon flight in today, but no sun. I kept hanging around the rim hoping something would break through, but it didn’t. Didn’t look like there would be any last rays over the horizon so I landed at sunset … that is when the sky burst into beautiful colors … I didn’t take any pictures … I just sat in awe and watched the show play out all across the sky and in every direction. You’ve seen sunsets like that, and maybe this one too … sometimes it is just good to sit back and take it all in and keep it as a memory to look back on and smile.
I took this photo yesterday and it is of the Mitten formations north of Sedona. You can kind of see SR 89A on the left heading up the canyon … the canyon rim upper right is Munds Canyon and Oak Creek Canyon is in deep shadow.
After flying, I went grocery shopping and I sent my daughters a photo from Basha’s showing the contents of my shopping cart, just before I checked out; a half dozen fritters and donuts, 2 Lindt chocolate bars, a quart of vanilla flavored half and half, a jar of peanut butter, and a quart of Haagen-Dazs Vanilla ice cream. In my defense I did walk through the produce section and exposed myself to all manner of very healthy vegetables and fruits … feeling better about my purchases, I then checked out.
Time to shut it down for the night … have a beautiful day and like a friend of mine does, walk out of the house and say good morning to the morning. What a beautiful thing to do!
Smiles
Ted
I am the dawn, the whisper of winds, the perfume of morning.
The passing night fondled me, hovering close to me, softly, silently.
The breaking day builds the spirit temple of my joy, I abandon myself!
I see all as one, and nothing repels me, as this new day climbs noiselessly out of the valley of the night.
Peace lies over the world and over the world of my soul.
— Max Ehrmann
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The easiest way to reach Mr. Grussing is by email: ted@tedgrussing.com
In addition to sales of photographs already taken Ted does special shoots for patrons on request and also does air-to-air photography for those who want photographs of their airplanes in flight. All special photographic sessions are billed on an hourly basis.
Ted also does one-on-one workshops for those interested in learning the techniques he uses. By special arrangement Ted will do one-on-one aerial photography workshops which will include actual photo sessions in the air.
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