I had been longing for spring

This morning, from the treadmill, I watched a high-legged rabbit leap across the snow.

The sky behind was lit with pink ice.

I decided it was silly to light a fire for Spring, as if Beauty will be born Tomorrow.

full skirt femininity

I am ambivalent about fashion. I'm skeptical of trends that last 5 minutes, yet I love seeing a woman wear a beautiful outfit well.

I wear some of my clothes for 10 years or even longer. I try to buy things that won't go out of style any time soon and update with pieces here and there that will keep me feeling young. I don't have a big closet, and I try to keep my clothes pared down to just a few things.

You have to laugh at haute couture sometimes, but a few years ago I began looking at it as Art, and that changed my perspective. If I don't think of the shows in Paris and Milan fashion weeks as serious wardrobe contributions for the average woman, but as art galleries of a sort, I am more likely to enjoy them. And honestly, these shows are just big expensive marketing events for perfume.

Fall 2008 Ready to Wear hit Paris last week, and the Louis Vuitton collection really caught my eye for its fitted tops and full skirts. I'm sharing two photos without permission, taken by Karen Kooper at the Paris show (above and below). I hope she'll forgive me if she comes here, hehe. The others below, of Audrey Hepburn, I'm afraid I don't know who the photographers were.

Isn't this fez hat fun?

This pic of Audrey and Gregory on the Spanish Steps for "Roman Holiday" - one of my favorite movies - shows how well tiny Audrey wore the 1950s style with the fitted waist and full skirt.

Our old Iranian friend Shirin Majuri designs and makes clothes in her own version of haute couture right here in Lansing. I took a friend to her once to discuss a wedding dress, and Shirin said, "Why would you want a wedding dress like anyone else's?" My friend didn't go with her. But Shirin has a point, I suppose. But, even if I had $1000s to spend on clothes, I wouldn't. And maybe it's just sour grapes, but I think it's more fun to find great looking things at the VOA Thrift Store for $2.50. Think I can find a full skirt like Audrey's?

I hope this full skirt trend lasts more than 5 minutes.

phone

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Alexander Graham Bell’s birthday is today, Monday, March 3, b. 1847, the same year as my grandpa! (Yes, my father’s father was born in 1847. In fact, he fought in the American Civil War - on the losing side. I am two generations removed from the Civil War, and I’m only 51. My dad’s dad was 70 when my dad was born. He died when my dad was 9. And my dad was 40 when I was born.)

On March 10, 1876, Alexander Graham Bell spoke the first words into a telephone:

"Mr. Watson -- come here -- I want to see you."

Wiki says he (Bell - not my dad, or my grandpa) refused to have a telephone in his study, because it intruded on his true work in science. The inventor of the telephone said it was an intrusion and didn’t have one in his office. Hellooooo!
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We have gotten rid of a land line in our house (it was an intrusion), but we each have a cell phone. This model put out for Verizon customers is pretty low tech now compared to state of the art models, like the next one, below it, with a slide-out keyboard. But we always get the cheapest model. Yeah, my charger connector is broken, so we have to charge Don’s and switch batteries every few days. Jeepers.

I mostly talk with my kids and Don on my cell. (Why don’t we call it a mobile like the rest of the world? Same reason we don’t buy into the metric system? We’re stupid?) What did we do before cell phones, picking someone up at the airport? It’s fun to send text messages and pictures too. It’s great having all my Contacts on speed dial. Owee, Boots has two numbers, one’s her cell, and one’s her land line.

This picture on mine was one Don took of one of his sunflowers. I love it when Lesley pix messages a pic of herself at Central Park or in front of the Empire State Building. Or just smiling at work. Ah, two flowers.

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Speaking of NYC, I’ll never forget September 11, 2001. Well of course. But I mean that at noon that day, I was supposed to meet my friend for lunch. After what happened that morning, we decided to cancel our plans. But then I wanted to be with other people. So I walked across campus anyway, to the International Center, and there was my lunch friend watching CNN on the ceiling mounted TV in the lobby, along with a hundred other people.

In that 10 minute walk, everywhere I turned, crouching under trees, walking slowly on sidewalks, sitting on building steps, every single student was on a cell phone. It was eerie, knowing what everyone was talking about, even though I couldn’t hear the words. They were saying the same thing I was saying to my kids and to Don on my cell: "Are you there? Come here -- I want to see you."

Don's new blog!

Don started a new blog, A View from the Green Barn, about life on our little farm.

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He has ordered chicks to be delivered the first week of April, and I think this prompted blogging. He visited many chicken blogs these last few months while researching how to raise chickens (which he's actually done already back in Milford on our previous farm). His favorite line became: "I google chicks on the Internet." He'll also raise quail, and who knows what this will lead to!

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Oh no, two bloggers in the same house!

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