Diana and The SC took to the streets and decided to do a series of photo shoots throughout Denver over the next few weeks.  After all it’s summer and easy to navigate the city, searching for spots that we love.  Today we settled on Cheesman Park HERE and its Walter Scott Cheesman Pavilion, which is just minutes from my home by car.

Unlike the brilliant and dearly departed Nora Ephron, most of the time I feel good about my neck, next to the columns built in 1908.  They both have an interesting and intriguing patina.  Patina is such a beautiful word.  Many of my friends didn’t make it to 70 to have any feelings about their necks.  I think I’ll flaunt my neck like any self-respecting Crone and leave my inner ageist below the radar.  Too bad it can’t be excavated along with other self-limiting beliefs that linger within the collective unconscious.

The vintage multicolored Pucci blouse with yard sale black leggings and pencil skirt, along with estate sale jewels, provided a contrast to varying shades of the Pavilion’s marble. The black headwear by Brigitte NYC is made of a verging on transparent fabric and an infinite number of shapes can be created with its supple form on any given day, depending on mood and inclination.  One interpretation is just the tip of the iceberg.

Which brings to mind the comments and questions regarding the headwrap in my last post. To begin the wrap, I centered the edge of the scarf at the nape of my neck and pulled both ends toward the front of my forehead, tying knots and draping/tucking folds until it felt right.  Every time I wrap a scarf it turns out different and I play with it until I feel satisfied.  Similar to the fabric hat that I wore today in that it molds to my head almost like a piece of clay.  Perhaps that’s how it feels to build a sculpture, which I have never done, so I hesitate to draw a comparison.  But maybe this is just another form of sculpture.

Though my life is moving forward and backward, at times I think about how my daily activities are radically different from two years ago.  My purpose and focus have been extremely altered.  This is an unchosen freedom to do whatever I visualize on any given day, but it comes with a price.  Will I always feel intermittent survivor’s guilt?  When will I be more accepting of the impermanence of life that I vividly recognize and navigate moment by moment?  Now I see that impermanence has always been a fact of life and accepting that is the ultimate freedom.

Photos by Diana

All of this has been brought to mind by the largest wildfire in Colorado history.  Over 460 homes have been burned to the ground and there is a collective melancholy in the air, along with the smoke that covers the blazing Colorado sun, irritates the eyes and emits an odor that infiltrates the atmosphere from time to time, even though the fires are miles away.  Sometimes it seems that the  fires are leaping from the next block. And in a way they are.  Like Istanbul.  I have a friend there.  She makes headwear.

The estate sale vintage suede slingback heels adorned with multicolored beads.

The SC is off to join the party at Visible Monday HERE that the gorgeous and creative Patti created at Not Dead Yet Style.

The SC knew she was in for a change when her nail polish color went from neutral to a vivid coral.  In the distant past I wore a shade of orange on my fingers and toes during the summer, but during the era of crisis it didn’t seem to work.  This week that suddenly changed and here I am decked out in ‘ginger,’ and I hardly recognize the crone hands that currently move in front of me.  I stare at them in amazement as I arrange my headwrap in knots and folds.  This evolution affected my outfit choice, which I wore to an evening gathering of friends and an art show three days later.

Are my changes really this radical?

And I’m wearing more white, hence the repeat of the cropped pants that I purchased in Florida last September.  Sylvia of 40+ Style HERE had me thinking about incorporating white into my compositions.  Sometimes all that is needed is the planting of a seed!

All of these changes are reflected in the plans that I have been contemplating for Style Crone.  Alyson at That’s Not My Age HERE writes about blog obsession.  Well, count me in!  After much thought and obsession I will be expanding my blog and making changes, similar to the explosion of ‘ginger,’ but not nearly as extreme.

Photos by Diana

One of my additions will be the launching of ‘Hat Attack.’  Inspired by Patti of Not Dead Yet Style and her weekly Visible Monday HERE, Bella of the The Citizen Rosebud and her monthly Shoe Shine HERE, and the gatherings of bloggers created by many others, I will be inviting all of you out there to contribute photos of you in headwear (hats, headpieces, fascinators, headwraps, headbands, etc.).  I am launching a once a month event which will take place the first of every month, hopefully beginning on July 1st.  I chose the first of every month because headwear if the FIRST item I think of  when assembling an outfit.

I understand that not everyone wears and adores hats, and I get that.  I admire the self-expression of all, with or without headwear. However, one of my life goals is to contribute to the health of the millinery industry.  I would like to be a drop in the ocean to ensure that hats have a future for generations to come.

So I’m stepping out with my crone feet in yellow patent leather heeled slides (linked with Bella’s Shoe Shine at The Citizen Rosebud HERE) and asking you, if you so choose, to give The SC a ‘Hat Attack’ on the first of every month.

Vintage multicolored silk Neusteters blouse and vintage multicolored Vera scarf as headwrap – estate sales, vintage orange earrings – vintage shop, white cropped pants and yellow patent leather heeled slides – summer retail sales of the past.

I’m linking to Patti’s Visible Monday HERE at Not Dead Yet Style for the gathering that continues to inspire me weekly.

The SC has finally made it to the garden!  The purple iris have just passed their prime, and play parallel with the cherub on pedestal that I discovered at an estate sale several months ago. I have a late start, but have been motivated by a dear friend who has fallen in love with my rose garden.  Marge is a retired nurse with a beautiful, warm and engaging smile and a heart of rich gold.  She enters through my back gate once a week at 6:30 am and stays for at least two hours.  She is lovingly transforming this small peaceful plot of earth into a magical space that has been my vision for years.

She doesn’t want to accept money in exchange for her efforts, but I insist. She says she just loves the process of playing with plants and physical transformation.  I call her the ‘angel of the garden’ and look forward to her visits and gifts with deep gratitude, making plans for other areas of space in need of attention.

Photos by Diana

When I return home from yoga, I join her in the back garden and find myself continuing to work for hours after she leaves.  She has activated my love for creating beauty in the space surrounding my sanctuary.  Digging in the earth while wearing my new powder blue gardening gloves feels grounding and meditative and planting my pots is an exercise in creativity.  Choosing and coordinating the colors and textures of plants is similar to composing an outfit.

Though Diana caught me off-balance as I fell forward in my orange pumps in the dirt, I made a quick recovery and held my ground.  After all, Marge is coming tomorrow and I want to be ready for another morning of cultivating my exterior landscape, which surely will calm and nurture my inner spirit as well.

Vintage estate sale and Gypsy Collection bangles, estate sale earrings and flea market vintage bracelet on fabric hat by Briggitte NYC.

Orange patent leather peep toe pumps – summer retail sale years ago.

Asymmetrical block striped white/grey tunic – yard sale several weeks ago and white cropped pants – retail summer sale last year in Florida.

Patti’s back and we’re all gathering at Visible Monday HERE at Not Dead Yet Style for the festive weekly party that is not to be missed!

“Curiosity Sparks” is a sculpture created by Barbara Baer, located in front of a residential building a block from my home and across the street from City Park.  Camille was born in this building, which was formerly the home of Mercy Hospital.  I’ve been wanting to use the sculpture as background for some time now, as I drive or walk by it almost daily.  It calls to me with its bright blue and yellow features which spiral upward.

There are so many ways to play on a sculpture, which became an analogy for a change I wanted to make in my life.  Change can be elusive;  I resist, barter with myself, procrastinate and then stay stuck in a place I don’t want to be.  I needed to use new and different modalities/poses to help me wrap my brain around a new way of thinking.

A friend recommended several books by Pema Chodron, which proved helpful in making a shift that involved self compassion and radical acceptance.  I am willing to try any approach that appears on my path and makes sense to me when I find an internal puzzle in need of solutions.  I’ve come to believe that this is a lifelong, ongoing, ever evolving journey.

Finally I was able to expose barriers and hesitantly look at what was holding me back. Digging deep into mind caverns is a painful yet rewarding excavation.  Triggers from the past become more persistent and troublesome in their effort to prevent my growth.  But I wanted to change more than I wanted to grasp tightly to an old pattern.

Photos by Diana

It’s all about the big picture, opening my heart to the possibilities that exist before my very eyes and allowing/challenging myself to be sparked by curiosity.  ”Seeking” is as creative and gratifying as assembling an outfit. Sometimes it’s discovering an important insight/accessory that brings everything together. I will be enthralled with the mysteries of the inner self and its outward manifestations until I wear my final hat.

Jewelry on Turban

Black tunic and tank top – yoga wear; black leggings and pencil skirt- recent yard sale; blue/purple turban – Brigitte NYC; black chunky heeled sandals – consignment store; beads, earrings and bracelet/bangles – estate sales.

I miss you Patti at Not Dead Yet Style HERE.  It doesn’t seem like Monday without you.  Hope you’re having a wonderful time in NYC  How could you not?

This past week The SC was honored and thrilled to be included in a feature in Look.UK, the best-selling fashion magazine in the United Kingdom.  Click The Pensionistas to view the article.  Jean and Valerie, The Idiosyncratic Fashionistas who were also in the piece, wrote about the feature HERE with their usual brilliant and witty commentary.

I decided that the only thing to do in celebration would be to lounge in leopard while savoring this fun and unexpected surprise.  To be in the company of the magical and phenomenal Jean and Valerie, Tziporah Salamon, Lynn Dell, and Linda Rodin has me over the moon and wearing animal print from head to toe.

I have been an ardent fan of leopard print going back to the 70′s  I see it as a positive addiction, like yoga, frequenting estate sales or collecting hats.  I never have a hangover, side effects or withdrawal after I overdose with this heavenly neutral.  Although I do have to admit that sometimes it does have me wanting to acquire more because I can’t get enough!

I’ve wanted to dress in total leopard for some time now, and today I took the leap with this 70′s polyester robe, vintage dangle earrings, bracelets, scarves as head wrap, and 40′s wedge peep toes all purchased over the years at estate sales.  Even the leopard print rug, leopard pillow in the shape of a heart and jewelry box (which of course holds my leopard jewelry collection) threw themselves into the act.

Lounging in leopard in the guest room.

Photos by Diana

The SC landed in another area of her home embellished with leopard in the form of pillows on the purple couch in the living room.  Whether as accent or full body adornment, leopard love adds playful pleasure to a time of celebration or just an extraordinarily ordinary day.

The SC is flying over to Patti’s Visible Monday HERE for another magical gathering at Not Dead Yet Style.