MEETING COMMODORE SARNISH - the English Admiral

179. MEETING COMMODORE SARNISH - the English Admiral

'"I never could get to the bottom of any study of human sexuality without realizing it had a big gaping hole in it" - that was my joke for Commodore Sarnish when he first came home and I was relieved when he laughed although no one else in the drawing room did (cocktails pretzels and small containers of caviar) as everyone went on their way : chamber music and minuets and all of that : but that was long ago and now I am listening to some crappy country music in someone else's background while trying to read Diedrich Knickerbocker and my memory of Tarrytown's hills is all screwed up as I confuse it with Ossining and Briarcliff Manor Spring Valley Yonkers Pearl River and all the rest ('Sunnyside' being something else yet again) and EVERYONE was unsure but they moved ahead anyway : ALL that the cat dragged in : it's very nice to be balanced and to have things in order and to certifiably achieve small things each day - to be able to mark off a certain form of ordered progress on a daily basis one small piece at a time : it's much as if a magician undertaking his tricks-of-the-trade succesfully uncovers the pace and progress of his magic as others watch - and they all together understand the grandeur of even the smallest steps within the achievement AND it's all of a piece with the progress and wonder of getting though to something - to a completion - and a totality of all what is : perfect concentration and uninterrupted focus : the smallest items of everyday life.'