Fashion

The pattern of snack

/ edebock / 4 Comments

Have you ever noticed how often we use the word usually? I hadn’t until I came to China to teach English and immediately noticed that the Chinese always say urally! I have no idea how the r sound crept in but apparently that’s the way all Chinese English teachers teach it. Wrong habits are hard to break and our students still need to be reminded once in a while but after lots of practice they do know how to pronounce it correctly now.

Though urally was one of the most common mistakes made by our students, who have never been taught by native English speakers before, we have encountered many other mispronunciations. Vowel sounds are particularly difficult. It isn’t any wonder considering the fact that one little letter like an a or an o can represent so many different sounds. Sometimes these mispronunciations lead to a complete lack of understanding but we also have a lot of fun with them.

Early in the term, one of my students told me that he liked eating snakes! I clearly remember being somewhat startled but this is China, after all! We’ve eaten bullfrog and catfish, restaurants serve silkworms and there’s one not far from here that specializes in donkey meat, so why not snakes? When I attempted to clarify, however, I discovered that he actually meant that he liked eating snacks! As it turns out, the snake/snack confusion is a common one and has led to lots of laughter in our classes!

Is it any wonder then that the headline "Snacks Dominate the Fashion World of This Early Spring" caught my eye when I picked up the April issue of Sichuan Airline’s in-flight magazine on our recent trip to Jinan. The magazine is published in Mandarin but some of the articles are translated into English. Clearly, they could use a more qualified translator but this particular article was hilarious! Here’s just one tidbit:

"It is the year of the snack, patterns of reptile animals have crawled back to the fashion world of women’s wear in spring and summer, among which the pattern of snack turns out to be the most popular. It seems like designers have already foreseen that the pattern of snack would be a fashion trend, this eye-catching animal pattern is now seen in all fashion fields."

The article was accompanied by photos of clothing with a snakeskin motif as well as snakeskin purses and shoes!

I haven’t been following most of my favourite fashion blogs lately because both WordPress and Blogspot are blocked in China. It’s also been several months since I’ve seen a fashion magazine so I don’t know whether or not snakeskin has caught on as a new fashion trend in North America. I haven’t actually seen it being worn here yet but for those who want to know, apparently the pattern of snack is the newest trend!

A most unusual Easter!

/ edebock / 5 Comments

For the second time in our lives, we’re spending Easter in a country where it isn’t celebrated; where very few people have ever heard of it. This is definitely the first and probably the only Easter Sunday that I will ever spend in a shopping mall!

Our Sundays are usually spent with students and today was no exception. We met Howard and Vicky at noon and caught a bus to Xi’an Road, Dalian’s most popular shopping area. They had chosen a Hong Kong style restaurant for our lunch and what a feast we enjoyed! Our Easter dinner included both roast duck and bullfrog! That’s right, bullfrog! Like us, Howard had never eaten it before but Vicky assured us that it was delicious and, believe it or not, she was right!

After lunch, the guys followed Vicky and I in and out of a few stores before deciding that that was boring and wandering off to a coffee shop to wait for us while we shopped. They had a great time visiting while we browsed. Can you imagine all the English that we used as we talked about colours, styles and fabrics and discussed what we liked and what we didn’t? Our afternoon was much more about spending time together and using the language than it was about shopping but Vicky did buy a pair of bright pink jeans and I bought a hat. It’s not an Easter bonnet but when I wear it, I’ll remember our most unusual Easter.

Of course, Easter wouldn’t be Easter without chocolate. I’d actually been craving chocolate lately and Easter seemed like a good excuse to check out the candy aisle the last time we were in the supermarket! In spite of the muffin top which seems to be growing around my middle thanks to the rice and noodles that make up part of almost every meal here, as well as the mochas that I drink whenever we visit a western style coffee shop, I felt justified in buying chocolate when I did my daily brain training today. As I waited for Lumosity, the internet’s most popular brain fitness website, to load one of today’s activities, I noticed the following quotation

"Chocolate can be good for your brain! Dark chocolate contains flavanols and antioxidants, which seem to be good for long-term brain health."

Of course, Easter isn’t really about what we eat or who we spend the day with. Whether we’re with family around a table laden with ham and all the trimmings or in a shopping mall in China eating bullfrog, as Christians, Easter is at the centre of who we are and what we believe.

As our day comes to an end, yours may just be beginning. I hope that, wherever you are and whoever you’re with, it will be a day of celebration and reflection.

He has risen!

Packing 102: Mix, match and layer

/ edebock / 9 Comments

How many outfits do you really need to take on any trip? After all, you can only wear one at a time!

Since we’ll be teaching during our upcoming stay in China, I’ll need a working wardrobe as well as casual clothes but I won’t pack a top that can’t be dressed up with dress pants or a skirt or down with jeans or capris. In addition, nothing will go into the suitcase unless it can coordinate with several other items so that just a few pieces produce many different looks.

Unlike in Japan where Richard was required to wear a dress shirt and tie to school every day, we’ve been told to dress for the classroom the same as we did in Canada. Our orientation booklet does say that we should dress conservatively, however, so I’ll stick with neutral colours for dress pants and skirts. A pop of colour can always be added with a brighter top or a scarf.

Layering is also key to travelling light. Whether you’re packing for a destination with warm days and cooler nights or expecting a seasonal change such as we’ll experience in China, layers are the way to go. A sleeveless top over a cami and worn with a cardigan will keep me warm in late February when Dalian’s average temperature is around 0°C (32° F). I’ll wear the same top on its own when daytime highs reach the mid twenties in May and June.

IMG_0718  IMG_0719

Without question, the most versatile piece in my suitcase will be my Jockey Person to Person black modal cardigan.I have yet to figure out all the different ways that it can be worn! Click here to watch a short video that shows just a few of them. And here are a couple of my favourite looks.

IMG_0720  IMG_0717

So, what will I pack for approximately 4 and a half months in China? The list will probably be refined a bit between now and packing day but here’s what it looks like right now:

  • 3 pairs of dress pants
  • 2 pairs of jeans
  • 2 pairs of capris
  • 2 or 3 skirts
  • 2 camis
  • 2 button up shirts
  • 1 long sleeved tunic top
  • 3 long sleeved tees
  • 2 short sleeved tees
  • 3 or 4 sleeveless tops
  • 2 cardigans
  • 1 fleece hoodie
  • 1 pashmina

Throw in socks, underwear, pjs, and a couple of belts and scarves, as well as assorted accessories and I’m almost ready to go. I never travel anywhere without a swimsuit and, of course, I’ll need shoes! I’m seriously thinking about only taking three pairs; a good pair of walking/hiking shoes that I’ll wear on the plane, a pair of black flats and a fairly dressy pair of sandals that are also comfortable to walk in. I’d love to take more and I will if there’s space but I survived childhood with only one pair of shoes at a time so really, anything more than that is luxury, isn’t it?

I’ll also be packing a light spring jacket; one that works well in wind or rain since we’ll be living on the coast. I’ll wear a wool coat on the flight over but when we return in July, I’ll have to try to squash that into one of our suitcases. I’d look a little funny wearing it in the height of summer!

In the meantime, before I start the big packing job, there’s one more trip we must make. Our mountain has moved! Richard picked up our completed medical forms this morning and on Monday we’ll be heading for Calgary to apply for our visas. When we drive, all my careful packing tips go out the window and we usually end up taking way more than we need. This time, I must remember to pack our skates as we’ve promised to take our grandchildren, Drew and Jami-Lee, skating in Bowness Park if the weather cooperates.

Inspired!

/ edebock / 4 Comments

A couple of weeks ago one of my favourite fashion bloggers, Jeannie, writer of gracefully50, published a post in which she wore an unbuttoned trench dress as a long jacket over a tight black dress. It made for a unique and classy look but then, I think Jeannie could wear a paper bag and look stylish!

What intrigued me was the realization that I had very similar items hidden away in my own closet. Neither had seen the light of day in a very long time but they were pieces I hesitated to get rid of; the black dress because, after all, every woman is supposed to have a LBD and the other because I’ve always simply loved it.

This afternoon, my daughter and I dressed up and did a photo shoot. I took pictures for her blog post about her latest fabulous thrift store finds and she photographed me in my take on Jeannie’s outfit. I don’t have the funky shoes or the adorable pup to complete the look but here’s my version.

   

Not only did I love the look but it was amazingly comfortable. Now I just have to decide where to wear it!

Dressing like a girl

/ edebock / 6 Comments

I’m a blue jeans kind of girl. Perhaps that has something to do with growing up in an era when girls were required to wear skirts to school every day. I took my final year of high school in the Northwest Territories. The only good thing about that was the fact that we were allowed to wear pants to school from the beginning of November to the end of February, a concession to the fact that the school remained open even when the temperature plunged to -50°F (-45°C) or lower! By the time I entered an Alberta classroom as a teacher five years later, dress pants were permitted and during the last few years of my career, Casual Friday had made its way into the schools. Finally I could go to school in blue jeans!

Never in my wildest dreams did I expect to spend my retirement working as a seasonal farm labourer but at this time of year, I can be found wearing faded, well worn blue jeans and a t-shirt or sweatshirt while operating a combine! I often wear dressy jeans to church but at this time of year, after dressing like a farmer all week, I love to dress like a girl on Sunday. That’s when my skirts are most apt to come out of the closet.

I’m especially glad that I chose to dress up for church yesterday. Our local high school has a long standing tradition of holding graduation in mid September. It makes absolutely no sense to me especially considering that this is a farming community where a fall grad invariably falls in the middle of the busy harvest but tradition is tradition and it isn’t likely to change anytime soon.

The morning after the big celebration, the graduates in our congregation traditionally come to church dressed in their graduation finery and each is presented with a Bible with their name engraved on the cover. They’re sometimes a bit bleary eyed after the festivities of the evening before but it allows all of us an opportunity to share in their special moment.

Yesterday, three young men showed up for church looking much more formal than usual. I was delighted when one of their mothers asked me to pose for a photo with them after the service. It doesn’t seem like very long ago that they were little boys in my Sunday School class & look at them now! Matthew, the one on my right, is studying engineering while Rylun and Jason are apprenticing mechanics.

photo by Michelle Edey

I’m glad I was suitably dressed for the occasion!

Age appropriate?

/ edebock / 10 Comments

If you read yesterday’s post, you know that age has been on my mind a lot lately. Earlier in the summer, one of my favourite fashion bloggers, Jeannie over at gracefully50 wrote a post about an outfit that her husband thought was “not so age appropriate.” At the time, I had a couple of things hanging in my own closet that I hadn’t worn yet because I was wondering exactly that. Were they really suitable for someone my age?

Here’s one of them.

I bought it on sale for 500 yen (about $6 Canadian) the last time I was in Japan. I loved the style and the fact that it’s a subtle example of Engrish, the often bizarre use of English that appears on so many items of clothing in Japan. The front says

There is nothing in
your life that does non
have meaning

and

SMILE ON YOU
YOU ARE THE PERSON
WHO IS IMPORTANT FOR ME

appears on the nape.

I finally took it out of the closet and started wearing it recently and decided that, age appropriate or not, I love it! In fact, I love it so much that I wore it for a photo shoot with my talented nephew, William, an amateur freelance photographer.

    

After looking at his pictures, I’ve decided that if this is what 60 look like, I’m definitely okay with it!

The “right” way

/ edebock / 12 Comments

Richard and I have been married for over 35 years. Before the wedding, he told me that our marriage was sure to be a good one because he knew everything there was to know about marriage! I laughed and married him anyway. I knew he didn’t have a clue what he was talking about. After all, I’d been married before and he hadn’t and I still had very little idea what made a good relationship work.

Apparently, he also knew everything there was to know about folding socks. The first time he saw me do the laundry, he told me that I was folding them the wrong way and proceeded to show me how I ought to do it! I’ve confessed to being a stubborn woman before but if anyone needs proof of that, here it is:

My sock drawer

and his!

Over 35 years later, I still stubbornly fold my socks my way and his the “right” way!  (even though his way might actually be better)  Oops! You didn’t hear me say that, did you?

Richard’s way of folding socks (or having me fold his socks) does make a nice tidy package that fits neatly into a drawer or a suitcase. I’m sure that you probably fold your socks my way but just in case you want to give his a try, here’s a simple tutorial:

Simply tuck the toes of both socks into the opening of the the top one.

Hmm… I think there could be a lesson in here somewhere. Maybe that’s what it takes to make a relationship work: a little bit of stubbornness, plenty of respect for one another’s differences and a healthy dose of compromise! It’s been working for us for over 35 years!

Who makes the rules?

/ edebock / 9 Comments

Apparently when women reach the advanced age of 40 we must lose the ability to think rationally. The internet is full of lists of rules to help us avoid making complete fools of ourselves.

A good example is the list of “10 things a woman over 40 shouldn’t wear” that’s plastered all over the net. What things, you ask?

  • black leather pants or jackets
  • jackets that are mid-thigh length
  • pleated pants
  • fluorescent colours
  • capri pants
  • low rise jeans
  • plunging V necklines
  • mini skirts
  • bikinis
  • sleeveless clothes of any kind

Says who? And what was I supposed to wear on the zip line; a frumpy housedress? Oh right, zip lining is probably on someone’s list of things a woman my age shouldn’t do!

According to a slightly different list horizontal stripes and double breasted blazers are also out. Still others will tell you that women over 40 shouldn’t wear long hair and there are even those who say that jeans are out for those of us who’ve passed our 40th birthday! I guess I’m just a rule breaker! After all, I’m wearing horizontal stripes as I write this and I practically live in jeans all winter long! The right pair of jeans can be very flattering and they can be dressed up or down depending on the occasion. Why, I’ll probably be buried in my blue jeans! I’m just that kind of girl.

As far as I’m concerned, as long as something is comfortable, fits well, makes you feel confident and isn’t beyond the bounds of decency, I say wear it with pride regardless of what age you are! There are 20 somethings who look ghastly in mini skirts and older women who look downright classy in low rise jeans and black leather.

A much more useful list is More magazine’s “8 warning signs women over 40 shouldn’t ignore” which includes

  • flu-like feelings including fatigue, nausea, sweating and chills
  • not feeling rested regardless of how much sleep you get
  • pain and swelling in your calf
  • a new mole
  • trouble finding the right words
  • bloating and pelvic pain
  • burning, tingling or numbness in your feet
  • a persistent cough

After all, regardless of how we dress them up, our bodies are wearing out and if we want them to continue looking good into our 60s, 70s and 80s we need to take good care of them.

p.s. Thank you to Jeannie at gracefully50 for inspiring this post. If you enjoyed it, you might want to check out her post Am I wrong?

From drab to dramatic

/ edebock / 3 Comments

It’s amazing the difference a change of colour can make. After visiting Matt and Robin last month while they were in the midst of renovating their new house then stopping at Melaina’s on the way home and seeing how a coat of paint had taken her small bathroom from drab to dramatic, I came home all fired up to do a bit of redecorating of my own.

I began by tackling the feature wall in our bedroom. Down came the 1980’s wallpaper and on went several coats of paint. Choosing the colour took awhile and involved consultations with several friends. I wanted a colour somewhere between brown and burgundy but who knew that there would be so many shades to choose from. We looked at colours with fanciful names like Avent Garde and Arabian Nights but settled on Burnt Brick. It isn’t easy to imagine what a finished project will look like based on a 2 inch colour chip but I’m delighted with the outcome.

Before

After

Did you notice that we also raised the headboard on the bed?

So, if a new colour makes that much difference, is there something here that I should change? So far, I’ve chosen not to cover my ‘silver highlights’ but what do you think?

   

First snow

/ edebock / 6 Comments

Winter’s first snow fell this morning; tiny flakes sifting down and gathering on the streets and between the grass. I’m not a fan of winter. Here in Alberta, it’s long and bone chilling cold with temperatures that drop well below -30 Celsius (-22 Fahrenheit). This year’s snow came late. It’s often here before Halloween and it doesn’t melt away again until sometime in April. Roads are often icy and travel can be treacherous. I almost did a full circle in an intersection this afternoon and that’s with good winter tires on!

It’s easy to dwell on the negatives but this year, as winter approached, I began thinking about the things that I like about winter. It’s not a very long list but here are a few.

Winter sunrises

I’m sure that there are beautiful sunrises at other times of the year but that’s another thing about Alberta, long hours of daylight in the summer and equally long hours of darkness in the winter. I’m never up early enough to see the sun come up in the summer but, as difficult as it is to crawl out of bed in the dark of winter, I’m often rewarded with a glorious sunrise.

Cross country skiing

Winter can be pretty depressing but when the weather allows, getting outdoors and getting active is invigorating. There’s nothing better than the swish of my skis under a crystal blue sky with snow sparkling all around me to lift my spirits.

Drama

Drama is my other favourite winter activity. This winter’s play will be The Black Bonspiel of Wullie MacCrimmon, a story about curling, the quintessential Canadian winter sport. More than a few curling fanatics would consider selling their souls to the devil for a chance to compete in the national championship known as the Brier. Set in small town Alberta in the 1930s, W.O. Mitchell’s hilarious story tells what happens when main character, Wullie MacCrimmon, has the opportunity to do just that! Auditions were held on Wednesday evening and now I wait to find out whether or not I get the role I really want.

Boots

Last but not least, one of the best things about winter is boots. I’m not sure why but I really like wearing boots! My absolute favourites are my old well-worn brown leather ankle boots. I loved them the moment I first saw them and was thrilled when Richard gave them to me for Christmas many years ago. They’ve been reheeled and resoled and fit like a glove. Then there’s my brand new pair of tall black fashion boots. The slouched look and the strap detail around the heel give them an edgy look that I really like. Of course, when the temperature plunges neither of these pairs would keep my feet from freezing for long so I also have my trusty Cougars. With warm insulated lining and deeply treaded rubber soles, they’ll easily take me through the long snowy winter that lies ahead.