Blind Woman's Bluff

(getty images)

Mr Magoo bumbles along not realizing the errors of his ways and always surviving disaster.

Velma is always losing her glasses, which inevitably results in finding the scary monster.

I flit through my life in a blind whirlwind.  Some people might think I'm clumsy.  No, it isn't that.

My vision just can't keep up with my intentions.

Lighthearted and Without Depth, I Assure You

A part of growing into who you are includes examining role models.  Some are people in our everyday lives, some are heros we have chosen from history and some come from popular culture.  The influence of the latter has more to do with what we project onto them since we do not really know these people.  Here are some of the people who attracted me over the years.  The reasons will obviously vary, but I will leave you to guess them.  So, although I would say my mother and maternal grandmother were the most influential women in my life, this collage is for fun. Here they are in no particular order.

I'm sure I've forgotten somebody.  But it was fun thinking up this selection and hunting for photos.

Are you a Real Hippie or do you just Dress Like One? (Warning, Nudity)

In order to be a hippie, "don't worry; be happy"...but remember to protest injustice

(nobody is worrying about cellulite)

Hippies made or embellished their own clothes or purchased items from the thrift shop, deliberately rejecting the standard uniform.  Sometimes outfits were deliberately outlandish.  But at other times they were jeans and t-shirt basic, meant to reflect a rejection of class discrimination.   The hippies still had to choose their clothing from what was available and what suited their lifestyle.  A party going, LSD tripping acid rock loving  hippie might look like this.

(I feel dizzy just looking at a still photo of this dance)

But your clothing might be simpler if you were trying to get back to the land or spent most of your time attending protests.  In either case long hair and unkempt facial hair for men was another way of rejecting the status quo.

The hippie movement did not achieve all of it's goals, but if you believe, as I do, that the choices you make and your motivations for making them speak  powerfully about who you are, then you probably agree with me that new hippies are born every day.  Time has passed and lessons have been learned, so no modern day hippie would be thoughtlessly mimicking the past.  Incorporating hippie clothing into your wardrobe does not make you a hippie although the legacy of the hippies includes the vast choice in clothing options and the increasing tolerance for individual preferences being expressed in the workplace.  Modern hippies are as likely to create their own eclectic style from thrift shops as they are to purchase historical hippie favourites from retail chains or trendy new designs in organically grown and sustainable fabric.  They are likely to have embraced tattoos and body piercing although that too has lost it's edge.  A modern hippie might sport dreadlocks or wear Birkenstock sandals with socks, but these too have become somewhat of a stereotype.  The hippie creed is that it shouldn't matter what you wear; you should wear what you like.  Hopefully you will be an informed consumer.

Other Criteria for Proudly calling yourself a Hippie

* liberal politics and strong views in support of human rights

* concern for and activism regarding the environment     

* vegetarianism/veganism for health, environmental and animal rights reasons

*a belief that outer beauty is superficial and little time/money is spent on this

*beliefs and actions support the philosophy that love and compassion are the antidote to violence and war/hatred and racism/ prejudice and intolerance

*attempts to find a balance in a consumer driven economy and the perils of excess

*a desire for peace love and harmony to rule

Purple Passion

                                                        

While I strive to avoid purple prose, this colour, which is now hailed as one of the trends for 2010, has always been one of my favourites.  There are many tones and shades, so of course I have some preferences.  As a little girl I wanted my bedroom decorated with  grape soda purple and fuschia pink. I even found a shag rug that combined those very colours.  My mother convinced me to go with lavender and blue instead, certain that I would soon outgrow my taste for vivid colour.  The lavender was too pale and so was the blue.  After a few years my room was redone in a crisper blue and white.  I still prefer much more vivid colours than does my mother.

Jump ahead a few decades and I have rediscovered purple. I began to put purple flowers in my garden, enjoying the different colour combinations I could create.  Purple with red, purple with gold, purple with orange, purple with chartreuse,  I happily splashed purple all over my garden.  The blue-purple works well in spring with the softer light and a more violet purple with red undertones works in the harsher light of mid-summer.

I like to wear purple too,

bohomarket.blogspot.com

but probably never like this.

Purple makes it's way into my home; my two favourite shades are a greyed purple such as the mardi grape featured on Maria Killiam's blog, Colour Me Happy and a more red toned purple.  I like them light and I like them deep and dark.

Farrow and Ball colour palette featuring 2010 colour trends, by Patricia Gray Interior Design

Nature always does just the right thing with purple.

(Flickr)

Okay, nature did not make the car, but I would love to have that in my driveway!

And the most amazing thing about purple is that it can make me love turquoise.

Images from Flickr unless otherwise attributed.  Blogs mentioned in this post are listed below.

colourmehappyblog.blogspot.com  home of the fabulous Maria Killiam

bohomarket.blogspot.com  one of my new favourite places for inspiration

patriciagrayinc.blogspot.com  a talented Vancouver designer