Something triggered me to write this post. Actually, it was two things. The first was a blog post that Michelle of Shelbee On the Edge wrote. It was about her love of cloche hats and plaid.
Shelbee on The Edge! What a Hat! I keep thinking about the book “Go, Dog, Go” by P.D. Eastman and “Do You Like My Hat?”
Remember this? Remember? I swear this was one of my faves and my childrens’ faves. In fact, we have a family joke of sorts. When we show up with a new or different hat, we’ll say to each other “Do you like my hat?”….and we all know the reference point!!
The second was a “like” on my Instagram feed. The like was from a hat designer, Marie Mercié. After I checked her IG account, I loved the photos of various hats and began to follow her.
This is a fun feed and I highly recommend checking it out!!
And all this got me to thinking.
About hats.
My mother, I’m talking about the late 1950’s into the late 1960’s, always wore a hat when she was dressed for an “occasion”. Whether it was a party, or out to dinner or to Mass or to a luncheon—she always wore a hat.
And she wore those hats quite well. My favorite of all her hats was a cute little number that resembled a bouquet of lilacs sitting upon her head. There are no photos of this particular chapeau, but I remember it so well. The color of the lilacs, with little spots of yellow to resemble pollen and small green leaves scattered about were a delight to look at. With her olive-toned skin and pitch-black hair, and red lipstick, this hat looked beautiful on her. And it has been a lasting memory of how pretty she was.
Here’s a sketch I did. This lilac hat fit close to her head and it was so beautiful. My mother had black, black hair and just looked wonderful whenever she wore this hat. I honestly wish I had a photograph of her in it. She wore it with a gray coat. Very nice pairing!
Even as a young girl, my mother always made sure that I had a hat to match my coats. I had hats like the ones the infamous Madeline wore.
I took this photo from MY Madeline book. Yes. I still have it. And those hats. Oh Dear God. I loved my navy one….
And I wore this with a Black Watch Plaid coat. The plaid seed was planted when I was a young girl!
I wore wool berets. And to this day, I can’t find a decent one to fit my head. Oops! Gotta get back to France to buy one!
My mother’s other obsession with hats was that they kept body heat in during the winter. I do have to agree with her there. I may walk around sockless during the winter—and I may substitute a blazer for a winter coat—because as long as my head is warm, my body is warm!
And might I add–there was a time when my bio hair was so thick that I really didn’t need a hat. I’m not kidding! Do you like Roman’s Giant’s hat?
Let’s take a look of some of my present headwear.
This Nordic number is one of my deep winter faves. It really keeps me warm…
Another little knit number..
A knit beret. I’m still on the search for the perfect wool beret!
I would love to add that I like hats much better when I’m wearing longer hair.
I love this inexpensive Primark hat. It’s really cute!
I only know that this hat was in the downstairs closet. I think it belongs to one of my kids!
I call this my George Costanza hat. If you watch Seinfeld, then you know what I mean!
That gray beret again! Much better with longer hair!
And my favorite hat–this cap that was my dad’s favorite. He bought it many years ago on a visit to Ireland. I feel like he’s with me when I have it on!
And that brings me to the entertainment aspect.
I was entertained by Shelbee’s blog post. In fact, I’m constantly entertained by her blog posts. She always manages to tell a story!
And that’s what I want to talk about—blogs that tell a story. I don’t know what others are looking for when reading a blog. But, when I read one, I want to be entertained. I want to read a story. I’m not looking for a novel—just a simple story about the blog’s subject.
What I’ve found daunting in my quest to peruse the blogosphere in search of blogs geared to the “mature” woman, is that many of the “mature” women blogs are, or have gone the way of those blogs that have morphed into, one large advertisement. I’ve stopped reading quite a few blogs that I previously loved because of this.
I want a story. I want details. I want to see a bit of humor. I want the human touch and mostly, I want engagement.
One of the most engaging, visually delightful, funny, charming and just plain fun is The Vintage Contessa.
Elizabeth always makes me laugh with her stories of her adventures and life in her house with a pet pig and her Italian husband. She’s quite the fun character and I love her blog!
La Contessa. Honest to God, this is one great blog and always puts a smile on my face!
One blogger that I’ve really come to admire and respect is Catherine Summers of “Not Dressed As Lamb” She’s an incredibly successful blogger who manages to tell a story even when she is publishing a sponsored post. She’s honest and transparent and she’ll call you out. I’ve been called out on an anti-aging issue and she made me stop and think. I gotta respect that. She’s a good egg!
Catherine Summers of “Not Dressed As Lamb”. I’m digging that cape. Big time!
But my point is that she isn’t posting a photo of her and only adding a link on where to purchase. She’s got substance. She will write something engaging in addition to adding a link!
I adore Penny, the “FrugalFashionShopper”. Her posts are always entertaining. She’s chatty and her writing is just so conversational. She tells a story. AND she slays hats! She’s a glad hatter!
Want to know more about thrifting? Then follow Penny!!!! She’s also a great story writer!
Naturally, there are more blogs that I enjoy. Head over to my Blogger and Vloggers page and you’ll see my regulars. I also started to add Instagrammers that I follow but the list is so long. If you would like to see all of those I follow in IG, head over to my feed @atypical60 and check out who I follow.
I have to admit, I’m still on the fence with IG’ers who have like 50,000 followers and only follow around 200 people. It leads me to believe that someone purchased their followers—so I tend to not follow those feeds. But that’s just me. The majority of those on Instagram that I follow have smaller numbers and I like it that way.
So that’s about it for today. I’ve got to clean out the kitchen to make way for the Christmas baking and to store ingredients. That’s be a chore—I’m just wondering how many containers with moldy contents I’ll find. I’m scared!! It’s been crazy/busy around here with the preparations. So please forgive me for not posting more during this Holiday time!
Off to clean!!
Torn jeans and barefoot. The perfect ensemble for cleaning out the fridge!
If you have any suggestions for blogs that you think would be a great read, please—add them down in the comments!!!! It would be great to share!!
Have a great day. And for your added entertainment, I’ve added a video of my favorite cookbooks! Hope you enjoy. If you do, please subscribe to my YouTube channel—you’re helping me tons if you do. Thanks so much.
