Slap on a hat;
Sunhats are a fashionable summer essential. We had lots of them, wore them and lost them. It is a condemned item like umbrellas; doomed to be left on counters in stores on chairs in cafes were they are snatched as soon as you turn away. There was a lot of interchanging hats taking place in the Northern Rivers area.
Peter had funny bowl shaped hats with a broad soft rim made of blue or white terry towelling. The white ones took on soon an unidentifiable colour. They had to be washed often and got in the process softer and softer. He liked his hat best this way. The hat was used to dry his sweaty brow, to swat at flies that are persistent in crawling up your nose and all over your face. Walk down the paddock and the blasted flies follow in a cloud settling piggyback on you.
He also owned a beautiful, Spanish felt hat. The sales assistant at McKelly’s, carefully swiping the rim with his elbow, said:" Yes sir this hat will keep the sun away!" And this it did just fine. The rain was not mentioned because the rain wouldn’t justify its expensive price tag. Peter wore this hat when he went into town, the sale yard or shopping. It looked good on him, as he is a tall man.Wearing this hat he was fully accepted into the clan of graziers.
At first he owned a high felt hat a la Americana, cowboy style, it had this aura of the far Wild West. He got a lot of comments when he wore it. As hats are such an essential item here everybody wears them it is natural that a hat that cries out to be seen collects a lot of interest. In the end it was lost, stolen, not directly from his head but behind his back at the October fest in Grafton. Somebody must have wanted this hat badly enough to snatch it. Well, no wonder, it was an item much talked about. He lost it and found it never again.
The girls and I were addicted to sunhats. In any store we were torn towards the hatstand.
Not even the untidy heaps on shelves kept us away. We followed the trend, dipping into the depths, rummaging trying on discarding and start the game anew until the sales lady with murder in her eyes asked us if we intended to buy. The girls mainly bought caps, red, blue, yellow, Hang ten and Gotcha! I went for the creations that were coveted for a while. Then they were used for mundane things like work in the garden and at the same time as bowls to hold tomatoes in lieu of something better at the moment. This treatment left them a bit undone so it was not a big tragedy when they got lost.
The exquisite, white or soft yellow hats, their rims decorated with flying ribbons and blowsy old roses. The ones destined to be worn for afternoon tea in the vicars garden.
They were as impractical as they were beautiful. Endless times I chased after them in not a lady like manner. The lightest breeze found them an easy target. With time I too had to settle for bowl shaped, funny cotton hats and yes they had also more than one purpose. All I was allowed now were mere yearning glances towards the creations.
Marie-Louise and Lilli could wear any hat, cap or an old stocking on their head and they looked stunning. Not so Jacky and I. We needed the creations. Jacky bought in Tenerife a huge, really huge huge Mexican hat. It fell over her ears; generously it nearly covered all of her. It was not thoroughly successful there were certain problems with stability and balance. In the end it blew away too and was never seen again.
Copyright T.S.
Peter had funny bowl shaped hats with a broad soft rim made of blue or white terry towelling. The white ones took on soon an unidentifiable colour. They had to be washed often and got in the process softer and softer. He liked his hat best this way. The hat was used to dry his sweaty brow, to swat at flies that are persistent in crawling up your nose and all over your face. Walk down the paddock and the blasted flies follow in a cloud settling piggyback on you.
He also owned a beautiful, Spanish felt hat. The sales assistant at McKelly’s, carefully swiping the rim with his elbow, said:" Yes sir this hat will keep the sun away!" And this it did just fine. The rain was not mentioned because the rain wouldn’t justify its expensive price tag. Peter wore this hat when he went into town, the sale yard or shopping. It looked good on him, as he is a tall man.Wearing this hat he was fully accepted into the clan of graziers.
At first he owned a high felt hat a la Americana, cowboy style, it had this aura of the far Wild West. He got a lot of comments when he wore it. As hats are such an essential item here everybody wears them it is natural that a hat that cries out to be seen collects a lot of interest. In the end it was lost, stolen, not directly from his head but behind his back at the October fest in Grafton. Somebody must have wanted this hat badly enough to snatch it. Well, no wonder, it was an item much talked about. He lost it and found it never again.
The girls and I were addicted to sunhats. In any store we were torn towards the hatstand.
Not even the untidy heaps on shelves kept us away. We followed the trend, dipping into the depths, rummaging trying on discarding and start the game anew until the sales lady with murder in her eyes asked us if we intended to buy. The girls mainly bought caps, red, blue, yellow, Hang ten and Gotcha! I went for the creations that were coveted for a while. Then they were used for mundane things like work in the garden and at the same time as bowls to hold tomatoes in lieu of something better at the moment. This treatment left them a bit undone so it was not a big tragedy when they got lost.
The exquisite, white or soft yellow hats, their rims decorated with flying ribbons and blowsy old roses. The ones destined to be worn for afternoon tea in the vicars garden.
They were as impractical as they were beautiful. Endless times I chased after them in not a lady like manner. The lightest breeze found them an easy target. With time I too had to settle for bowl shaped, funny cotton hats and yes they had also more than one purpose. All I was allowed now were mere yearning glances towards the creations.
Marie-Louise and Lilli could wear any hat, cap or an old stocking on their head and they looked stunning. Not so Jacky and I. We needed the creations. Jacky bought in Tenerife a huge, really huge huge Mexican hat. It fell over her ears; generously it nearly covered all of her. It was not thoroughly successful there were certain problems with stability and balance. In the end it blew away too and was never seen again.
Copyright T.S.
Photo T.S.
4 comments:
Same here, finding the right hat, one model to fit all. I still haven't wrestled away a hole-y old blue beanie hat from D, but he has a Tilley one for posh. Mine is an old Panama plus a beautiful new sea-green one for next year. Keeping it anchored on the head will be troublesome, but it looks so lovely!
Oh, I love old hats, and it probably is genetic; my father used to collects hats from all countries he travelled while younger... I whish you good growing and writing year of 2009!
I love hats but I haven’t had any, unfortunately. The other day I saw a black and quite elegant hat in one of our shops. I liked it very much and it would suit well to my coat but I didn’t buy it because it was expensive for my budget. I was very pleased how it fitted me yet I managed to resist to it. What keep my head from this cold weather are caps which I have them in black, light blue and light pink colour.
Thank you for your comments.
Post a Comment