Category: Capes

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A Cape And A Tie: Be A Superhero For Love

On this Monday after the Super Bowl, I would like to offer my sincere congratulations to the Seattle Seahawks for their League Championship win yesterday. I would like to, but I can’t—since my Seahawks were not in this year’s bigly game. ‘Scuse me while I sob about it for two whole seconds. Oh, well. There’s always next year. Go next year, Seahawks!

Candy conversation hearts Tie o’ Valentine’s Day is joined by my Suzanne-sewn pink hearts Cape o’ the Day. As far as love itself goes, I say, “Go bigly, or go home!” If you’re not willing to put in the effort that love of any type requires, don’t even attempt to get involved in it. If you aren’t in it for the long-haul, you’ll surely end up inadvertently hurting people who don’t deserve it. And you will just as certainly end up dooming yourself to regrets. Once embarked upon, love is a deepening and complication of every decision you will make thereafter. If you’re loving another person properly, you’re always juggling your own goals, feelings, needs, and wants with those of someone else. To keep a relationship alive, you must nurture the closeness between you and your beloved, while at the same time maintaining clearly defined boundaries that keep your own soul free, independent, and accountable. That nugget of wisdom is as true for loving your companion, as it is for loving your kid, your parent, or your neighbor. Maybe even your football team.

Loving someone is a wondrous task. It demands work. It requires regular attention and ever-evolving interpersonal skills. It requires selfless passion and pointed self-reflection. It also requires unending resilience, because no matter how much you care and how hard you work at a relationship, you will sometimes get hurt—as certainly as you will cause pain to whoever you love. When human beings are involved in an endeavor, pain and loss are inevitable. The distress that comes out of plain old human imperfection can be intentional or unintentional (It’s mostly unintentional, from what I’ve observed)—but if you love somebody, you will experience it from both sides. Remember: you are perfectly you, but you are not perfect. Let me yell that thought boldly, so you don’t miss it: YOU ARE NOT PERFECT! No one is, so it’s a good idea to always love with a dollop of forgiveness handy. Continue to love onward, with your trusty shield of resilience at the ready. Resilience won’t keep you safe from the pangs of loving, but it will help you survive pain like the Adult of God you are likely trying so hard to become. 💝 ❣️

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A Meeting Of Sister Minds

Howdy! TIE O’ THE DAY is back in session. I will catch y’all up on some of the more memorable of my recent time-off escapades, so stay tuned for more holiday-ness over the next few posts.

These photos are from a brief—but rejuvenating—meet-up I was able to have with my oldest sister, BT/Mercedes, and her hubby, Nuk. As far as my attire goes, for the meet-up, I stayed with the colors of the Christmas season by wearing one red Sloggers shoe and one green Sloggers shoe. I also wore my seasonal wintry cape, which was made by Suzanne. In contrast, I added a non-holiday pink cravat as my Tie o’ the Day for the occasion.

As per usual, BT/Mercedes and I met-up at Barnes & Noble in Layton. We didn’t go inside, but Mercedes and I devour books like the world ends at midnight, so Barnes & Noble is a both a convenient and symbolic spot for us to meet. BT brought some goodies she wanted me to take to Mom when I drove down to Delta the next day, and I had a pile of books for BT which I thought she might like to scour through. We made the swap in the parking lot, where we had a gabfest in the cold. BT just had to read the bumper stickers on my car, and then she said to me, “You’re just like me, only funner!” Trust me—she’s a mega-fun person, in her own right. I learned much about how to entertain others from her. She’s the firstborn. I am the baby of the family, who showed up 15 years after her. As I have probably said about us before, we are exactly the same person—except for the million significant ways we differ from each other. I do think we make a swell set of bookends (and bookworms) for the family, though. 📚📖

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Day #5 In My Madras Shorts

Bat signal Bow Tie o’ the Day seemed an appropriate piece of neckwear to be the cherry on top of my Superman tank and my Suzanne-made harlequin cape—along with my madras shorts. My cow Sloggers boots are deceptively fast. Even as an old broad, I can run fast enough in them to cause my cape to fly. If you put together a truly fantastic outfit, you’ll be amazed at the powers you can utilize. I learned this fact one morning when I was 12, when I woke up late for softball practice. Practice was at 8, and I woke up at 8:07. I scurried to get dressed and grab my mitt. On the way out of the front door, I was putting an old, broken set of spurs on my tennis shoes—just for the style of it. Spurs on, I jumped on my bike with all my fashion superpowers, pedaling so fast to the softball field that I was able to get there at 7:59. I kid you not.

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Here’s Another Place We Lived

Back in December 2020, closer to our actual anniversary, we made a pilgrimage to the one place we had lived in Ogden. This was not just an apartment, like all our SLC residences had been. This was our house—with a swell porch for sittin’ and watchin’ the world go by. It was located on the “bad” side of Harrison Blvd, but it was a good area for Rowan to grow up. We lived here until we moved to our current residence in Centerville, almost a decade ago.

Note that in this photo I am wearing a Christmas Tie o’ the Day and a Suzanne-made Cape o’ the Day.

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Another Fine Cape For My Capers

[Here’s still another Valentine season re-peat post. My bipolar head is still out to lunch.]

Bow Tie o’ the Day is dressed in a field of red and white hearts on black silk. It clashes bigly with my newest cape. My heart-covered hat does some eye-popping clash as well.

As you probably guessed from the hearts on my cape’s pink side, this is my Valentine’s cape. Suzanne cut, assembled, pinned, sewed, and ironed it just for me. Just like she usually does. You know I have an obsessive hankerin’ for Suzanne-made capes. A girl can never have enough capes.

I’ve discovered that although wearing a cape doesn’t make me a superhero, wearing a cape does make me feel like I’m walking around in my blanket wherever I go. To me, that’s every bit as wonderful as being a superhero. I asked Suzanne to make me a flannel cape for extra warmth, and she’s all for it. A flannel blanket feels like home.

Especially as children, but also as adults, we have a tendency to mythologize our parents. We make them more than human. We make them bigger, smarter, funnier, braver, etc., than they really are. We think of them almost as superheroes. And that’s okay. I mean, to be fair, our parents think each of their kids is a genius, an all-state athlete, a musical prodigy, an artist, and a mythological character—all wrapped up into one snot-nosed brat.

Now, I know my parents aren’t perfect. You know your parents aren’t perfect. But they’re our parents. When we realize exactly how precious they are, their mistakes seem to recede into the horizon in our minds. Their greatest kindnesses and triumphs come to the forefront of our memories. We learn to forgive their mistakes and embrace their most excellent accomplishments. That’s as it should be.

Of course, we should try to improve on the worst qualities our parents handed down to us. And we should live by the best characteristics that live in them. We should carry their best characteristics with us always. We should tell stories and tall tales about our parents’ lives to our families and friends and whoever else will listen. That’s how we teach the important stuff forward.

Even when I’m wearing a fantabulous cape, I try to carry my parents’ best qualities with me. Perhaps one day, if somebody mythologizes me into a superhero, I’ll be able to fly in my capes.

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I’m Trying To Make Zero Noise

Tie o’ the Day is a luscious Art Deco print. My harlequin Cape o’ the Day was made by Suzanne, as per usual. Suzanne is feeling under the weather, so she took the day off to sleep. I have neither seen nor heard her stir all day. I have done my best to not wake her. I have purposely made nary a noise or spectacle of myself, which is difficult for me to do, in general. I’ve simply worn Tie and pantomimed through my entire day in the house, while wearing my cape—without even once narrating what goes on in my head to Skitter, which is how I usually move through my day. Skitter probably thinks I’m giving her the proverbial silent treatment, which, I suppose— technically—I am. But the silence is for a good cause, which I will certainly explain to the mutt after Suzanne finally wakes up from her soporific state of being.😴

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Practicing How To Fly In My Cape

Hey! Look what I got! My new Day of the Dead skulls face mask goes well with the Day of the Dead cape Suzanne made for me two years ago. I actually do have a bow tie made out of the same fabric as the mask, and I really did put it on before I cinched up the turquoise Bow Tie o’ the Day I ended up wearing in the selfie. But I had to immediately take it off and toss it for another day, due to the cutesy matching that was happening between the perfectly matching mask and bow tie. When it comes to matching, as you have probably surmised, I can usually match according to theme—but rarely can I breath while wearing two separate things made of the very same fabric. Even wearing matching socks is a hives-inducing stretch. It is just how I be.

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Better Than Christmas Morning

Suzanne and I had some Christmas presents to deliver to Bishop Travis and Bishopette Collette—and Gracie, too—so we drove to Provo a few days after Christmas, when the season had settled down for everyone. We and our Face Masks o’ the Day were treated to an hour of good—though mildly muffled—conversation with Gracie’s parents, and a live performance of The Gracie Show.

Skitter visited the Blackwelder’s with us. It was the first time Skitter and Grace had met, and their encounter was a success. Gracie was enamored with the mutt, and Skitter was willing to let Amazing Grace shower her with up-close, pokey, hands-on attention that only a kid can give. Skitter basked in it. In fact, I didn’t ever see Skitter vibrate around Grace. Well, I guess that’s not quite true. Gracie has a slide in her room, on which she performed amusing tricks for us. Skitter begged me to let her go down the slide a few times to impress The Divine Miss Grace. Of course, I helped Skitter be brave to accomplish the scary feat. Let me tell you, Skitter vibrated all the way down the slide three times, much to Gracie’s delight.

Bishopette Collette later texted that Grace talked about Skitter long after we had gone home. When Skitter heard that, she asked me to teach her to wink. She wanted me to snap a photo of her winking to send to Gracie, and said photo is included here.

BTW Holiday Tie o’ the Day was a hit with Grace. I showed Gracie how to turn on the reindeer’s flashing red nose and Christmas music by pushing the fire flames on the tie. She pushed it as many times as you’d expect a toddler to push a button that turned on a flashing red light and Christmas music. The battery was dead by the time we left. I loved every minute of the visit.

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Holy Sweet Christmas Neckwear!

Candy cane Ties/Bow Ties o’ the Day add their coolness to the flip-side of my wintry cape from last week. This glittery winter wonderland scene is amazingly warm when I’m outside in the b-r-r-r-r-. I’m sure I’ve mentioned it before, but the thing I like most about wearing a cape in the winter is that it feels like I’m wearing a blanket wherever I go. And who wouldn’t want to stay wrapped in their blanket all day, when it’s cold and people-y outside?

Holiday Tie Tally: 63 Neckties. 12 Bow Ties.

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It’s Cape Weather!

I got my Suzanne-sewn wintry cape out of the closet this morning. It will be my go-to cape through the Thanksgiving/Christmas/Hanukkah/Kwanzaa Season. At night, under the lights of the city, it sparkles and shimmers like a fabric gem—no matter which of its sides is showing. The snowy cape is a charming background to this morning’s seven seasonal Ties o’ the Day, with one Bow Tie o’ the Day on top. And thus, in my wintry cape and neckwear, I shall now harness Skitter for our walk to the mailboxes. What would our neighbors do without our daily spectacle?