Birds In The Belfry

 It's a chilly 45 degrees this morning, heading on down to 35 this week.  There have been weird cloud formations in the sky for the last few days.  Word has it that the aliens are pouring chemicals into the atmosphere, causing these "trails" that are sucking the life out of us.  Poisoning us as it were.  Who knew?   I just thought they were pretty clouds!

So while I'm still preoccupied with counting beans ... at several different locations now ... here's another fashion show.  Anyone remember back in the day when you had to wear a hat if you went to town?  We were lucky, we only had to wear a hat to church ... every single Sunday.  None of them looked like these.

I'm betting that in the old days, it was a coverup of the messy, unwashed hair.  I think about that sometimes ... there weren't a lot of bathtubs or showers available in the mining towns.  Can you just imagine?

On the left is the go to town hat, with birds in the belfry.  Two REAL wings from either a blackbird or maybe a crow are sewn onto this hat.  I can just imagine being the first to wear THAT down Main Street.  The one on the right is completely covered in sewn beadwork.  This was the hat of an upper class woman with a rich husband on her way to church.  It was made to impress. 

I've shown this image before.  I have to admit it's pretty hard to walk in those boots, which were always catching on the petticoats.  In order to be presentable even in a tornado-like windstorm, the hems of these already heavy black skirts were loaded down with even heavier lead weights.  That way they didn't let your skirt blow up in the wind and you could kick it out in front of you so as not to trip and fall.  They also left nice bruises on my shins.  They were strong those gals!!!  It was a workout every day they left the house.

Coming into the 1900's, things got a little lighter weight.  This hat was worn with a thin white skirt and blouse, under which was layered three petticoats.  You were certainly upper class when you wore lacy blouses, but then you had to don layers underneath to make sure no one could see through the material.  It must have been hotter than hot in the old days.

I've no information on this beauty at all.  It looks like something you would wear to the horse races back East.  It's still in fabulous condition and fits perfectly.  

Even horses got into the act.  This is a horsehair fluffy thing attached to this wonky hat from the 30's.    Imagine ..... things from 1973 are now considered antiques.  Get out those tie-dyed shirts and bell bottom pants.  You are now officially ancient!!!

This is one of my favorites.  It's made of velvet.  The inside of these hats usually had a silk lining, but silk was made beautiful by acid washing.  As it aged, the fabric disintegrated almost completely.  I have a silk flapper dress that is in shreds.  Nowadays they make fabric so cheaply, that I doubt it will last long enough to become an antique.

Here's another of the few outfits I have pictures of.  The jacket and blouse made a great outfit for Captain Hook to wear on Halloween.  Check out those rose colored glasses ... and I was so SKINNY!!!  I doubt I could get my arm in that jacket now!!  By the way, this was the perfect outfit for where this picture was taken.  I'm sure I wasn't the only one to wear it to church.

Finding someone to care for all these amazing things will be difficult, but I will continue to look.  I hate to see them go in the trash.

And so ended another day of counting and accounting.  I think I mentioned when I went to Sanger to see my wonderful friends Barbara and Tom, they had a great lunch planned.  It came from Walmart she said.  That can't be ... it was so GOOD!!  

So yesterday I placed my order to be picked up in the late afternoon.   You can set your own time.  I have to admit, this is a pretty easy way to do shopping ... and they get my order right every time.  

This is red pepper and tomato soup in a box.  No kidding .... just pour it out, heat it up and you've got dinner.  I couldn't believe my taste buds.  It was delicious!  Add some of these garlic croutons and WOW!!  Dinner is served in about 60 seconds.  

To make it even better, they seem to pick the right ones.  I ordered avocados ... they were perfect.  I ordered tomatoes ... they were perfect.  You know I'm not a Walmart fan, but I'm apparently crossing over to the dark side.  Dinner is served!!!!!