Remember all the fun stuff about back to school when you were a kid, before the reality of homework set in? Please join me for some arts and crafts and some back to school shopping in pursuit of classic plaid. Sorry this is so tardy, I know it’s mid-September already, but the dog ate the first draft…
When I was a kid in the sixties, art class was a rare treat, saved for special occasions when the teacher was too frazzled to do anything else. I recall making mothers and fathers day cards but that was about it. I was never a Brownie or Girl Guide. In older grades, I got a C in art which nixed my dreams of becoming a fashion designer. I can’t draw a straight line or paint. But today I am a regular patron of Michaels the craft store. Their 50% off coupons lure me in every time.
I ran into someone a few weeks ago and she was looking for plants for her parents grave-sites. We started talking about those hideous purple and yellow gravestone wreaths, and I asked why are you buying those when you can make your own much nicer and cheaper, with a green wire hanger from Michaels and some flowers from the dollar store. She thought that was an excellent idea, so I hope someone else might find some of these ideas inspiring. Here’s a link to last years (unpublished) post Arts and Crafts 101: (As I recently explained in my one year anniversary post, my blog was private last fall for the first three months).
I had a quick look through the mall recently and the stores are full of plaid flannel tops, despite the fact that the forecast this weekend is for the same hot and humid weather we have had all summer. You would think we were a country of lumberjacks, but then plaid is a perennial fall favorite. Here’s a link to my blog from last fall, Mad for Plaid. Enjoy!
(I bought a new pencil case at the dollar store for old-times sake – it might be good for stashing makeup in or all those small things which fall to the bottom of your purse).
thehomeplaceweb 
The dog ate your first draft . . . on the computer!? Now, don’t dat beat all, y’all!
As for red Stuart plaid, LOVE it!! My lunch boxes were red plaid. I wore a red plaid jumper with a red wool sweater. Then repeated that color scheme for my little girl (back when she was little). Same for her little girls.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I guess that would be kind of impossible! But it was a classic excuse like red plaid is classic! Glad to hear it brought back memories.
LikeLiked by 1 person
In the mid-70s there was a craze for awhile where young people wanted to dress like a lumberjack – blue jeans, a plaid wool shirt (never flannel, had to be wool), sometimes with a turtleneck sweater underneath it, and work shoes with heavy socks. Maybe even a wool cap, but no outer jacket. Guys and gals wore this outfit – we all looked like Paul Bunyan., or the guy on the Brawny Paper Towels. It was comfortable to be sure, but the trend seemed to disappear just as quickly as it emerged.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I can picture it as some guys here still dress like that, if they work outside. We have a store here called Marks Work Wearhouse that specializes in the lumberjack look for men. Although the other day I saw a guy with a man bun in one of their ads! It never fails to surprise me though that every fall the stores like American Eagle are full of plaid blouses/shirts, mostly for teenagers – I guess it is a classic look with jeans for back to school.
LikeLiked by 1 person
A male bun is a modern twist for the lumberman or “Brawny Papertowels” man look. I just Googled “Mark’s Work Wearhouse” as I’d never heard of it and it looks like it is a Canadian brand. So I hopped onto your website, thinking you mentioned that in your bio page – but you didn’t say you were Canadian. The reason I ask is that I’ve lived here in Michigan for 52 years, but I am a Canadian citizen. Lived there for 10 years until my father got transferred from Ford of Oakville. I have always loved plaid. I have a picture of me around 7 years old in a purple plaid jumper … I loved that jumper. I too was and still am mad about plaid.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Howdy neighbour! I guess I didn’t think to include it when I set up the About section a year ago, but I do mention it from time to time in my blogs, usually when I’m grumbling about the snow! MWWearhouse also has a woman’s section which isn’t too bad – we have so few places to shop now that Sears is closed across Canada – I did a post RIP Sears last spring. At least you have lovely malls! (Oakville is now a very pricey place in terms of real estate).
LikeLiked by 1 person
For me, once a Canadian, always a Canadian.
What I have to go through to renew my green card to live here is just shameful.
I moved here with my parents in 1966, lived in the same house all these years and must renew my green card every 10 years. I had to return to the immigration bureau because I have no fingerprints. I’ve been a secretary since 1978 and now with blogging. that’s even more hours on a keyboard. I have no fingerprints as they are worn down. Had to have electric prints, then return for ink prints and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security was still not satisfied I was safe to live here, so I had to go to the local police department and have them certify a document I’d not be in any trouble the last 10 years and I’d lived at this address ten years. Sigh.
What part of Canada are you in – must be very snowy and I thought I saw Calgary on their locations when I was looking for a store. Most of our Sears and KMarts (same owner for both stores over here in the States) have closed as well. There is one in Lincoln Park, Michigan where I live and I think it is hanging by a thread. I remember the Eaton’s and Simpson’s Christmas catalogs fondly from when I was a kid and even wrote a blog post about them. I have no family to reminisce with, so I often wax nostalgic here. People do come over from Windsor to go to our big malls, especially the outlet malls.
I have not been to Canada in decades. My grandmother passed away in 1986 and we were over there in 1987 and 1988 to wrap up the estate then never over again. I have not renewed my passport and now, since the Patriot Act was enacted after 9/11, you need a passport to cross the border to Canada (whether by tunnel or by the Ambassador Bridge).
I discovered about Oakville’s pricey real estate a few years ago. I was on Facebook and decided to see if there were any sites devoted to Oakville. I follow a site for my City (for the crime and some other goings-on) so I found a few, and one in particular looked interesting, so I asked to join. Interestingly I found a kindergarten chum, she was next to me in our class picture and we were friends back then. Did a post on our renewed friendship in fact. But, after I introduced myself to the group I mentioned that I had Googled my own address and was sure what the house number was as my parents made me memorize it way before kindergarten started. A Google map could not locate the house as I remembered it though. The site administrator was very nice, a computer guy who is in business for himself and goes on business and house calls, thus is familiar with the City of Oakville and has lived there his whole life. He said he believed they had razed all the property on Sandmere Drive and made larger and taller houses in their stead. I said it was a brand-new sub when my parents moved there from Toronto to Oakville when I was two years old. He gave me a price on the houses (astonishing) and he sent me a real estate virtual walk-through on my house from a few years before … I said it does not even look like my house did – I remembered the house, I was ten when we left. Outside didn’t look the same either. So next time he was out, he went and took pictures of my old house and did confirm that everything had been razed and rebuilt and was very expensive now. I was amazed. The City looked beautiful – I remembered Coronation Park and the downtown area, but all that had changed a lot.
LikeLike