Hats

I am the proud owner of many a hat.
There is something to wear for wherever I'm at.

A hat for the summer,

A hat for the fall,

A hat for nary a reason at all.

I have one with big bows and one with a feather.

There is one I can wear when there's inclement weather.

A hat made of rhinestones,

A hat made of fur,

A black one, a white one, and a red one for sure.

I'm told that I am quite a vision in hats,

And I am not too shy to agree about that.

Hats for excursions,

And some just for play,

My hat is my crown, and I like it that way.

        By Pamela J. Randolph

I can't believe I sold this one.

I would eagerly marry into the British royal family just so I could wear hats.  I've always swooned over them, but I could never wear them because of my glasses.  No matter how many different styles I tried on, none of them ever looked right.  To my great disappointment, the glasses just ruined the effect.

Then around 20 years ago, I had lasik surgery to correct my vision, but it was badly botched.  Very badly botched.  At the time, I was on my way to becoming a professional travel and nature photographer, so this was a devastating development and caused me to sink into a severe depression.  The only compensation was that while my vision was not good enough to tell if my 35mm slides were sharp, I no longer needed glasses for distance.   Eventually I told myself that even if I couldn't see well, I could at least look good.  So to cheer myself up, I bought a bunch of hats.  Glorious hats.  I even had a few chances to wear them although ladies in hats were not common in Toronto.

Sold this one too.

I'm very far from being religious, but I seriously considered moving to the South and joining one of the African-American congregations famous for ladies wearing "church hats".  I think I would have fit right in.  The book Crowns is a marvelous celebration of these ladies and their (multiple) hats.

Fast forward to 2019 when we prepared to move to Mexico and had to downsize our possessions.  I sold or gave away most of my nice shoes and, I'm sad to say, a number of my more elaborate hats.  A church-going lady in Toronto bought several of them.  I never dreamed I would have any use for them in Mexico, but now I'm kicking myself for getting rid of them.  Because of Covid-19, our wonderful classical music organization has been holding its concerts outdoors during the afternoon, and it has been warm and sunny.  A perfect opportunity to wear fancy hats.  I'm very glad I kept a few of them, and I've been delighted to show them off to my fellow concert-goers.

Fancy Hat Parade

I've been on another Bottles Of Hope craze.  These ladies remind me of the Easter Parade in New York City.

My mission, which I chose to accept...

I seem to be on a mission to produce as many Bottles of Hope (BOHs) as possible.  I made 20 in November and so far in December, I have finished 9.  I'm hoping to make at least 10 each month.  Part of my motivation is because, out of 12 close friends from college, 2 of us have already struggled with breast cancer.  Perhaps if I make enough bottles, I will never need one of my own.

(For non-polymer-clay people, Bottles of Hope are small medicine bottles, only 1 to 2 inches tall, donated to clay guilds by doctors.  Guild members decorate them with polymer clay, put an inspirational message inside and then give them to hospitals.  The nurses give them to cancer patients who are just beginning their chemotherapy.)

The bottles above were inspired by my last long weekend with my college friends.  We stayed in a lovely house owned by American Sikhs in New Mexico.  There were Indian objects all over the house, thus the "turbans" on these bottles.  The colors make me think of the Southwest.

These BOHs are part of my Fancy Hat series.  The feathers are real. The little pink flower is made of cloth and was purchased at Michaels.