Round Santa Fe with mother

[sawyl]

In a wonderfully funny essay Terry Castle describes taking her mother on a trip to Santa Fe. In one particularly amusing moment, she describes her mothers talent for making unfortunate comments:

And she can still plunge a knife — without warning — deep into one's narcissistic wounds. Not long ago, apropos of nothing, she took mournful pleasure in observing that with my whimsical new blue-framed glasses, floppy dyed-blonde locks and middle-aged paunch, I was beginning to resemble David Hockney.

I can just imagine a certain senior relative of mine saying the same thing to my mother — with the best possible motive, of course — only to be completely surprised at the level of umbrage generated...