The Man in the Blue Turban

Friday, March 1, 2013 – The Man in the Blue Turban

Inspired by van Eyck’s painting, I was going to wrap a blue tablecloth around Elliott’s head, take a photo, and call it Man in a Blue Turban.  However, I brought him a cup of Earl Grey tea and a couple of hamantaschen instead.  He deserved a reward after spending the past couple of hours building a fire to keep us cozy on this gray and gloomy afternoon.  I contributed to his efforts by collecting firework in the backyard.  He brought out an array of tools – various saws and a knife that he called a “bayonet” – to cut the wood into suitably sized pieces for the fireplace.  I was a dropout from Girl Scouts so I was no help at all when it came to actually building the fire.  It took quite a while to get the fire going.  We both would have failed miserably as pioneers on the frontier. 

Although Elliott isn’t great at building fires, he has other talents.  As part of our ongoing bathroom remodeling drama, he has been dismembering the vintage 1960s sparkle Formica vanity cabinet in the pink bathroom.  And he’s showing off his engineering skills by constructing a mock-up of a new vanity out of apple boxes that we schlepped home from Wegman’s.  There was some purpose to this activity, but at the moment, I can’t recall what it was.  At any rate, Elliott has been busy.  Meanwhile, I’ve been developing a higher level of patience as we continue negotiating every decision related to the project that has taken over our lives.  Yesterday, after days of research, countless visits to showrooms, and multiple appointments with designers, we were finally able to reach an agreement on a new vanity.  Now we only have to wait another 4-5 weeks until it’s delivered. 

We had a brief and welcome respite from our daily concerns when we went out for lunch at P.F. Chang’s with Matt to celebrate his 26^th birthday.  I’m more and more convinced that birthdays are really for parents, who have an actual memory of the birth.  Every year, when his birthday approaches, I’m overwhelmed with amazement, thinking back to that day in Grasse when I held my newborn son in my arms for the first time.  There’s nothing quite like maternal love.  

Elliott really liked the spareribs at P.F. Chang's

Finally, back to the subject of turbans, I’ll give you a quick summary of what I learned from some online research.  First of all, the headdress on the man in the van Eyck painting isn’t a turban at all, but a chaperon.  Chaperons developed from hoods with capes and tails when some brilliantly inventive gentleman put the face hole of the hood on top of his head, wrapped the cape and tail into an elaborate turban-like shape, and started a fashion trend.  Throughout the 1400s, this was the most popular headgear for men in Burgundy and Flanders.  If you want more information, I’ll refer you to Susan D. Reed’s 1992 Master’s Thesis on 15th century men’s headdress, which is available online.  And as far as seeing Elliott in a blue turban, you’ll just have to use your imagination.