Everyday Images and Fashion Files

The prompts for July Everyday Images are the following: layers, current season, milestone, getting ready, wings, entrance

Layers

The frenetic sky couldn't make up its mind...

Layers of decor to put away...

The bottom items are the patriotic pillow covers that I used for the patio pillows- Donnie was happy to see his arcade themed pillows once again after I removed the pillow covers :).

Current Season

Beautiful blooms and bountiful blessings meet... Christmas in July: I love the red and green colors found in nature that, can, if one pays much attention to the summer "thing" known as Christmas in July remind one of Christmas in July. 

Isn't the red of this red hot chili pepper (from the garden, natch) vibrant? I think it's so striking and pretty. Paired with its green top, it practically screams Christmas spice (of the hot kind, not like cinnamon!!)

The weed in this picture- don't know its name- appears all over the garden spaces, flower beds and in our lawn as well. It's so annoying because of how proliferate it is on our property. I'm constantly pulling this weed. Fortunately, it comes up easily and its roots are shallow. Anyway, I was about to pull this bad boy and I noticed the red from the leaves of the bee balm spread around it made sort of a festive picture in a red and green motif kind of way. And so I took a picture before I pulled the weed... This picture's Christmas symbolism is receiving a gift that is not wanted!!

Milestone

In July we celebrated a milestone birthday for our country and for my mother in law:

My MIL with two of her grandkids

USA

Getting ready

Ready or not, Alyssa will move into an apartment next month as her junior year of college begins. We have not really begun to get things ready for the move; she'll have to discuss (soon, ideally) with her roommates regarding who's bringing what. Of course she'll need plenty of her own things for her room, her bathroom and the kitchen. It's the latter that we don't really have much of for her since she's needed things for her room and bathroom her first two years of college. Kitchen supplies are things she's not needed prior to this year so we will need to think about everything she needs/wants in light of the space she'll have (not much!).

This is all we've purchased so far... we have less than a month before we'll move her in 😢

Wings

We jokingly refer to our backyard as a wildlife/bird preserve. It's not at all. In fact it's not a beautiful back yard with mature trees or anything. But the birds. The birds in our backyard are fine not being in a wooded area. They are quite basic 'burb birds, apparently. Because no exaggeration, when I sit on the patio, I hear birds chirping and I see them constantly. My favorite spot on the patio is a place on the couch where I can see the water fountain because I like to look at it :). When I'm gazing at it, I see so many birds- they come to the garden and perch on various spots- the tops of the tomato cages, trellises and even the boards of the garden walls. 

While I'm not pining to join the Audubon Society, I'm not putting any scarecrows up either. (Now, if I perceived that the birds were eating my plants, I would consider putting up a scarecrow: my veggie plants > birds, sorry!) I mean who knows what's happening with them in and around the garden when I'm not around to watch them but when I do observe them in the garden they seem to like the garden for its plethora of perching opportunities. (And they definitely use it a bathroom on occasion as well- yuck!) 

Here is a mourning dove's wings.  

...and a hummingbird

Entrance

Donnie's favorite pizza is Flying Pizza. There are three locations in the area and they're owned by an Italian family that made its way west from New York City and stopped in the Dayton area to open up shop. Their pizza is NY style and Donnie would eat it twice a week if there was a location closer to us! When we walked into the location in Beavercreek to pick up our pizza, I couldn't help but notice this NYC map near the entrance of the shop. I love looking at maps! Looking being the key word, not like utilizing them as a tool to get me from point A to point B. I didn't fare well before MapQuest and then iPhone maps! 

Our pizza wasn't quite ready so I just stood here and looked at the map.

Young

My young niece at play with...

...her cousins' old toys

... and her aunt's even older toy!

"Oh golly, it's the lady with her camera again? Maybe if I weren't so cute she wouldn't take so many pictures." Ok, the latter likely didn't factor into her thought process but the former did, I think!!

(This was the visit where MG asked if I could come home with them so she must have forgiven me for my shutterbug antics enough to want me around!)

Fashion Files:

This is kind of an odd/different topic for fashion but it's been on my mind so here goes:

I recently attended the viewing and funeral of a man. The man was a colleague of my husband's. As such I didn't know him well at all. We'd seen each other a dozen or so times at social events over the course of a number of years but we'd said little more than a few words to each other. 

Of course I felt terribly for his family and friends as well as for my husband and his colleagues as they'd worked along side this man for years and no one expected his untimely death. Yet, I can't say that I was personally devastated because I simply was not close to him  or anyone in his family at all. 

And so regarding anticipating his viewing and funeral, I had the mental "luxury" of thinking about what to wear. I say that I had the luxury because, had the funeral been for someone close to me (unfortunately, I've attended a number of those over the years (you don't get to midlife without that, I'm afraid)), I would have been too upset to worry too much about my outfits. 

I didn't take selfies of me in my dress clothes for either event- to have done so would seem equal parts ghastly and gauche to me but I will talk about in general what I wore and what I noticed others wearing. 

I felt like I should wear black but not all black- that seemed too formal. So for the viewing, I wore a dress with a black and white pattern. It isn't a super dressy dress at all. I think you'd call it business casual. For the funeral, I wore a gray skirt and a black blouse.

A couple of things stood out to me when I was at the viewing and the funeral. One is that many women wore items with some black in them but not nearly all of the outfit was black. And quite a few women wore nothing black at all to either the viewing or the funeral. I guess anything truly goes. Everyone, men and women, wore somewhat dressy attire- just not necessarily black. 

One reason that outfits were of interest to me is because this summer I read a book called Bellman and Black by Diane Setterfield. I didn't think it was a good book overall though I kept reading it (I liked the first part of it and was sorely disappointed that I didn't like the last part). The book is set in England and the main character starts a company that sells all things and services pertaining to those in mourning. The store sold the items necessary for people to wear when in mourning. I knew from reading other books set in older times (this book specified no year but cars weren't yet invented. I'm thinking it had to have been set in the 1800's) that people who'd recently lost a loved one entered into a season of mourning where certain clothes (of certain fabrics) were worn for the duration of mourning. There were specific time periods for mourning based on the relationship to the deceased and the one who was mourning. Women in mourning wore veils as well. And for a time period, those in mourning did not attend social functions. 

I was curious as to when "mourning periods" and the attire/customs that accompanied with them ceased. According to the AI, in the United States, it was around the time of WWI. Almost everyone knew a man who died in the war (so almost all were in mourning) and many women entered the work force as a result of men being overseas or no longer able to work. And so, the custom of wearing black/mourning clothes ended for practicality's sake mainly. And if everyone or almost everyone had lost someone, there was no reason to signify personally, I suppose, that one was in mourning.

A culture's custom to the reality of death is interesting- I could write so much more but need to finish this so... I'll end it here.

Well not quite. I read this poem and decided to share it here:

Time is too slow for those who wait,

Too swift for those who fear,

Too long for those who grieve,

Too short for those who rejoice,

But for those who love, time is Eternity

By Henry Van Dyke 

And on that note, this post is complete though I have lots of linking up to do :).

Linking up with Kim for Everyday Images, Joanne for Talking About it Tuesday & Amy and Marsha for Fashion Files