Old is New Again


Tonight, daughter-one-and-only is playing "Mrs. Coffman" in a school play about the history of our town. So she needs to dress up in a costume reminiscent of the 1880s. She had a bonnet, bought last time we passed through Amish Country; so I got out some spray starch and the iron and stiffened the brim. But we were having trouble with the dress. No skirts were long enough, and I couldn't find the long apron that had been in the dress-up box.

While I looked elsewhere, I told her I thought I had an old shawl that might suit, and sent her to my closet. She went pawing through, and came up with a dress I'd hand-made for myself out of pink and white calico back in the summer of '85, (I was dating her dad back then, I think he kindly gave me a ride to the fabric store in downtown Provo to buy the materials), when the prairie style (with the big shoulder ruffles and waist bows) was in fashion. I forgot it was there.

Well... the dress was a misses size 12 (doesn't quite fit me any more), and she's a girls' size 8. But when we slipped it over her head, buttoned the cuffs and cinched the ribbon-waist tight, it made a perfect long-dress for "Mrs. Coffman."

I had to laugh. I never dreamed when I made that dress that someday my little girl would wear it.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Mindless painting leaves too much time for thinking - Warning "Harry Potter" Spoilers

I've been thinking about this (and re-read the part with Slughorn), and whether Harry could be himself a Horcrux. I also considered the Priori Incantum spell we observed at the end of book 4. Here's what we know: 1. That EVERY murder rips a piece of the soul from the murderer. (note to self... did Snape save Harry from ripping his own soul at the time of the attack on Draco and again the attacks on Snape?) 2. The effect of the Horcrux is to capture this bit of torn soul and preserve it, tie it to earth (as opposed, I suppose, to allowing it to descend into Hell or ascend into Heaven), for later reclamation. 3. The soul-bit is preserved in a tangible thing... we know it was preserved in the Ring and in the Diary, we suspect also the Locket and Nagini (didn't Voldemort meet up with Nagini AFTER the Prof. Quirrell disaster?). We know from the Diary that the soul-bits thus preserved contain sufficient personality to take independent action when given the opportunity. (questio...
Read more

And did I mention...

He left his diabetic supplies at the previous place of staying? Two days with no insulin... no wonder he was getting lost and his car kept breaking down. So, he got in at two this AM. At the moment, my husband has taken him up to the VA hospital in Cheyenne (the Denver one was so overloaded, the wouldn't even return a phone call until next Monday), hoping to finagle some stuff until the goods can be shipped here. The fun never ends. As for me, I'm picking wallpaper. Looking at the wallpaper books at my desk, rather than in Home Depot, is quite nice. Ordered drapes from J.C.Penney earlier. Later tonight, maybe I'll get to move my kitchen back into its proper place. And of course, the kids haven't let me forget... Waldenbooks at the mall has an item for me to pick up, first thing tomorrow morning. So, any bets on just WHO is the Half-blood Prince?
Read more

Ok, why I have no pity for piggies

When I was a teen, way back during the 'recession' of the late '70s/early '80s, when Jake Butcher ravished the State of Tennessee with the S&L collapse, our family existed on a little farm way back in the hills, complete with two-seater outhouse and outdoor hose shower. Being city folk really (ok, my mom was raised on a farm, but my step-dad certainly wasn't), we were rather inept in our attempt at living off the land. Anyway, we experimented with raising poultry (chickens are dumb... they all run into one corner of the barn during thunderstorms, and only the top layer survive - and besides, when you miss lopping their heads off, the results aren't pretty), turkeys (they attacked arriving visitors' tires), goats (curiosity killed the goat when he tried to follow someone into the truck and got the door slammed on his neck for his trouble), and bunnies (my little sisters put the kybosh on that dinner menu option). We also raised a couple o'pigs. I don...
Read more