Fashion Show and Muffins

Southern Gardenia by frances robson

Good morning and come on in to the porch and have a glass of peach tea with mint for it has finally cooled off after the nice rain this morning. It was so good to have some rain this morning for even though it is only May, it has been 90 to 100 degrees this week. I hope this is not the harbinger of what to expect this summer.

You know it is hard to shock me anymore for I taught in a high school for 20 years and you see and hear most anything but I was reminded yesterday that I can still be shocked. Maybe disgusted is a better description than shocked but it was not pretty and again I have to take some people to task about the clothing issue.

We were in a hospital waiting room yesterday sitting with a friend who's husband was having knee surgery and the parade of fashion faux pas proceeded. It was quite obvious that several factors did not enter into their choice of attire with not having a "A Good Southern Mama" or the Southern Fashion Police as part of their childhood as the main factor. Either of these would have not let them out of the house or in the house dressed as they were. Mama would have told us to go back to our rooms and find some clothes to put on.

It was also quite obvious they didn't any fashion sense either for it was quite awful and they were parading through that hospital like the Queen and King of Sheba or like they were on the New York Fashion runway. The group which was sitting directly in front of us were all large women of various ages and they were all obese - past the fluffy stage or pleasingly plump. It had hit the "where can we find scales that won't break when we step on them" size and they seemed to be proud of it for they were showing off most of it. Their muffin tops had grown int0 large inflated tires around the middle.

Close your eyes and picture lots of rolls of flesh hanging out, over, under and all around jiggling and moving around as they walked or moved. Several times I could see boobs almost popping over the little bit of cloth straining to cover the mountains and I was praying they wouldn't bend over. Too much would be seen that no person should have to be exposed to. What amazed me is the fact they chose these clothes to attire their bountiful bodies and then had the task of trying to keep it all covered with inadequate resources. In other words we saw just about everything for it was all on display.

My mama and the fashion police would be having fainting spells and heart palpitations at the lack of decency displayed for all us to try not to see. Those parts which were covered in some cases were covered so tightly I just know they had to use cooking spray to grease it down so they could slide the clothes on. I was just hoping they wouldn't move around too much for if they did some of it was going to rip right down the middle of the seat - oh me oh my what a sight that would have been. The patients in those beautiful hospital gowns that open down the back had on more clothes than this group did.

Then you had the others who just looked like they threw some clothes up in the air out of the dirty clothes basket and their bodies caught them as they ran out of the door. Dingy, unironed, and certainly not matching was the results of this "dressing to go to the hospital" attire. When will some people learn that clean and ironed is so much better than dingy and wrinkled is the look we should strive for when dressing our bodies for public or private viewing. I wouldn't even dress like some of them at home for the cat might throw me out the door.

Now for the shoes - house slippers are not to be worn in public and especially if they are about the size of ocean liners. If you are a patient in the hospital then that's OK but please visitors in the lobby, put on something else for the big, sloppy, dirty house shoes are just not appropriate. There are some really cute flip flops available for not a lot of money and would look a whole lot better.

If you are wondering if I am a snob - I'm not but our Southern Mama taught us that dressing decently in and out of public is the polite thing to do. After all women, a little mystery is good but letting it all hang out is revolting and especially if you have a whole ton of it. Men, we like you cleaned up, hats on straight, pressed and with shoes on if we are going to be seen with you.

Just saying that yesterday afternoon was interesting and I hope the next time I have to sit in the waiting room of a hospital or any other public place it will be freezing so some people will put on some clothes.

Speaking of obesity and muffin tops, I have a good recipe to share with you but if we eat only one, it won't add too many pounds and at least we can cover it up if we have it.

Carrot Orange Muffins

1 12 oz.(340 g.) Carrot Cake Muffin Mix - (I used Anastasia Bakery)
¼ cup vegetable oil
½ cup orange juice
2 eggs
½ cup coarsely grated carrots
1/3 cup oatmeal
½ cup dried cranberries
1 tsp. Orange extract or flavoring
optional – add zest of orange when mixing

Preheat oven to 350 degrees
Spray or line muffin pan – 12 muffins
Combine orange juice, oil, and eggs in small bowl. Combine the muffin mix, grated carrots, oatmeal and dried cranberries in large mixing bow and add the oil, orange juice mixture and flavoring and mix for 2 min. Do not over mix or the muffins will be tough. Divide the batter among the 12 muffin cups and bake in preheated oven for 17-20 min or until toothpick inserted in center of muffin comes out clean. Cool 2 -3 minutes in pan before removing.

Ya'll be careful going home and come back to see me and I will always have sweet tea waiting on you with a sprig of fresh mint.

Nuff said,

The Georgia Peach

Labor Day is Coming

Welcoming Goose - by Frances Robson

Good evening and come on in the house for some iced tea. It is rather hot our there and I know you need something cold. I am about as tired as I can be today for I worked at the church food pantry this morning packing groceries. That is hard work, dear heart, but worth it for we helped over 60 families this morning. We also had a new volunteer and he was a life saver for he was young enough to pick up the bags and take them to the window. By 12:00 I was about ready to take a nap, and I did.

It is hard to believe that the summer is 'bout over. Most all the schools have started their new year in this area and that surely ends the summer. They began here today for due to cuts in the education budget, the system obtained permission to have a 160 day school year rather than 180. It is sad when the state has to cut education budgets to the point we have to have a shorten the school year. Hopefully it will be better next year.

It dawned on me yesterday that Labor Day weekend is almost here and I must get my wardrobe ready. Here in the South, if you were raised by a good Southern Mama, you were taught the fashion rules for the seasons. We have to put up our white shoes and white gloves after Labor day. Years ago, in the dark ages, we wore hats and gloves to church, teas, parties, weddings, funerals and other "dressy" occasions. These dress rules were strictly observed by all the Southern Ladies, Girls, and Belles. If not, the "fashion police" in your town would go "Tsk, tsk" and blame your mama for not raising you right or overseeing your wardrobe. You didn't want to bring shame to your mama!!!

Labor Day weekend is the date you put up your white shoes, white gloves, white dresses and any other white clothes. Way back yonder, in the olden days, you were also not to wear open toed or slingback shoes but your pumps came out until Easter. The brown, black, and tan gloves were brought forth and your dark color hats were unwrapped from tissue paper and fluffed and brushed. The time of dark colors has arrived and would be observed in your fashions until Easter.

Easter marks the acceptance of open toed and slingback shoes, white gloves and dresses but NOT white shoes. These are only worn after Memorial Day until Labor day. I know it's confusing but we all knew the rules and dressed accordingly. It was necessary for a Southern Female to abide by the fashion rules if we were going to be considered "Raised Right." This was and is terribly important to us for we want to accepted in "Polite Society".

Now these rules seem a little silly as I think about it but I still observe them. To solve this problem with the shoes, I rarely buy white shoes and that solves that problem. As for the gloves, I only wear those when it is freezing cold and I just don't worry about the open toed and slingback shoes. These guidelines are part of who I am and are ingrained into my mind and lifestyle, never to be removed.

There are other rules we observed such as not wearing sundresses to church without a bolero (little jacket), short shorts when you went to town, halters, except to swim, and panty hose with dress shoes. Even if you weren't a lady, you had to look like one- modest and pretty.

This sounds a little silly now but when I look at the way some women dress in public I wish the "old ways" were still being taught and observed. Many women dress like what mama would call a "street walker" when in public. Boobs, butts are hanging out everywhere and I am a little tired of looking at them. Some look pretty good, if you want to look at them, but mostly they look awful. They would look a whole lot better if some of what's showing was covered up. Modesty seems to have gone away for many women. What a shame.

So, I better go begin rearranging my closet and put the whites up and get out the darks. Not really for I don't worry about most of this at my age but I still won't wear my white shoes after Labor Day. Glad I don't have to worry about the gloves.

Ya'll be careful going home and thank you for dropping by for a visit. Now you ladies watch out for the "fashion police" for they will be out before long looking for white shoes and blaming your mama for not raising you right.

Nuff said,

The Georgia Peach and Southern Lady