Wayward Scaup

#NatureTwinning Part 52

Lesser Scaup--Thursday, 4/12/18

It's nice to have some interesting blouses that can be worn with a pair of pants and some shoes--boom, work outfit done.  I decided to add a bit more to the outfit with a completely unnecessary multi-strand necklace.  I like that this necklace has (fake) pearls and a mix of metal colors, so it's very versatile (for those of us who have to take a deep breath when considering wearing a necklace with silver and shoes with gold, for example).

Outfit cost per wear (OCPW): $8.63

It's always a special pleasure to post a wild bird photograph.  Look at this jaunty lesser scaup in his breeding plumage.  The Cornell Lab identification states: "Head is purplish-iridescent, but is only visible with ideal lighting."  I guess I approximated the ideal here because I can definitely see that gleam in his feathers that always reminds me of the colorful sheen of a pool of gasoline.  He's also totally sporting a pompadour like a 50s Elvis.

Upper Newport Bay

Birds Fountain at Maritz Apple Allee Demonstration Garden--Friday, 4/13/18

This was a day I worked from home, in a supremely comfy oversized knit blazer, jeans, suede flats, and a t-shirt and flowy scarf.  I totally would have worn this to work, if it had been warm enough to go outside without socks.

OCPW: $10.18

I'm telling you, that outfit title was hard-won.  It took a bit of investigation to figure out where this dancing goose fountain was located...a lot more effort than identifying the lesser scaup (a well-known fellow, even though he moves around rather) and probably more effort than it was worth.  So I need to take a moment to savor the pleasure of having put the proper name on something.

Missouri Botanical Garden

In other news...A few months ago, I told you to read Every Heart a Doorway, the first novella in the Wayward Children series.  I have since read #2 Down Among the Sticks and Bones and #3 Beneath a Sugar Sky, so let me revise this instruction:  Go read these books right now.  So very, very good.  The second one, telling the backstory of Jack and Jill (not at all what you'd expect) was my favorite, but I have very high hopes indeed for upcoming #4 In an Absent Dream.  I mean, get a load of this brief but attention-piquing description:

This fourth entry and prequel tells the story of Lundy, a very serious young girl who would rather study and dream than become a respectable housewife and live up to the expectations of the world around her. As well she should.

When she finds a doorway to a world founded on logic and reason, riddles and lies, she thinks she's found her paradise. Alas, everything costs at the goblin market, and when her time there is drawing to a close, she makes the kind of bargain that never plays out well.

Ding an Sich

#NatureTwinning Part 51

Butterfly and Bee on Coneflower--Thursday, 4/5/18

This scarf has so many nice neutrals in it, but not much in the way of a proper brown, so naturally I had to wear it with brown pants.  Luckily when you wear a bright pink velvet blazer and a showy butterfly scarf, nobody notices your pants.

Outfit cost per wear (OCPW): $13.83

Coneflowers are among my favorite flowers.  They are so big and vibrant and bold and simple.  And insects love them, too.

Coneflowers are the genus Echinacea, from the Greek for "hedgehog" (referring to the spiny center).  Yes, that's the Echinacea that is the stuff of herbal remedies for the common cold.  I don't know about that, but I find they are a palative for winteritis, a malady of northern climes.

Missouri Botanical Garden

Orange Clownfish and Bubble Tip Anemone--Monday, 4/9/18

This is what happens when you wear a bunch of things in different shades of blue.  I can't tell if it's a disaster or what.  I was kind of losing my sweater + vest + scarf mojo at this late point in the winter, I think.  I did like the skirt and boot combination, though.

OCPW: $11.49

The symbiotic relationship between anemone and anemonefish (clownfish) is one of the cooler things in nature.  Somebody should make a movie about a clownfish.

Did you know that clownfish are sequential hermaphrodites?  They develop into males first, and when they mature, they become females.  Makes a lot of sense.

Newport Aquarium

Cheetah--Tuesday, 4/10/18

A sister to the inexpensive Walmart.com white skirt, this mauve skirt fit well with black and various shades of grey for a little peek of spring to come.

*Mauve skirt (Walmart), $5.50

OCPW: $12.69

You might want to be more careful about a cheetah springing into your car.  This video of a dude frozen in place while a young cheetah investigated the backseat of the vehicle was a classic.  My favorite line: "Luckily the cheetah lurking behind him minded his business and eventually left to eat a gazelle."

Cincinnati Zoo

In other news...The part of this article about "surviving your 40s" (an ill-chosen headline, actually) that resonated the most with me was the uncomfortable realization that I'm the grown-up.

Indeed, the strangest part of the 40s is that we’re now the ones attending parent-teacher conferences and cooking the turkey on Thanksgiving. These days, when I think, “Someone should really do something about that,” I realize with alarm that that “someone” is me.

Yeah, that's a scary feeling for me too!

Data Fix

OK, these late-winter outfits are starting to look crazy given the warm weather recently (though today it only reached 50 F), so let's push on through this!

#NatureTwinning Part 50

Roseate Spoonbills at Simmons Aviary--Monday, 4/2/18

I actually enjoy wearing a white skirt more during tights season than I do the more traditionally appropriate Memorial Day to Labor Day period.  (This may be because I like a degree of contrast that my pale legs do not offer.)  I bought this one from Walmart.com, where they have a strange selection of apparel, often sized like you see for the Chinese market (size up, then size up again).  But for $6.00, I can ignore the label.

I bought these magnificent burgundy/maroon tights during a lucky tights-shopping spree at our Pokemon Go mall.  The end of the season is a good time to snatch them up on discount, and I was happy that multiple stores had a better-than-usual selection of larger-size tights.  (Often, you can only get black, or they don't have ones that will work for women on the tall side, or whatever stupid limitation.)  Seeing this tights + ankle boots combination is kind of making me eager for fall, when I can wear it again.

*White skirt (Walmart), $6.00

Outfit cost per wear (OCPW): $13.99

It was fun to see these spoonbills, which I associate with the waters of the Texas coast, hanging out on a roof.

Henry Doorly Zoo

Decorative Cabbages--Tuesday, 4/3/18

OK, I recognize that the "mint" of this scarf and the "mint" of this vest are really not at all the same color, but I was fine with that.  I was also mixing up stripes, floral, and leopard print.

OCPW: $10.45

Looking at these cabbages made me wonder at Google: Are decorative cabbages....edible, it auto-completed--yes, I guess that's a common question.  The answer?  They are edible, though they are more bitter than the kinds we tend to eat.  They are, in fact, the same species as edible cabbage, cauliflower, and broccoli, Brassica oleracea.  To which I say, Wait, cabbage, cauliflower, and broccoli are the same species?  Apparently this species includes kale, Brussel sprouts, collard greens, and kohlrabi (among others) as well!  It took only a couple thousand years of artificial selection for people to develop all these varied plants from the original wild cabbage. 

I wondered whether this shared history would mean that these veggies have similar oxalate levels.  Looks like cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, and Brussels sprouts are all fairly low in oxalate.  Collard greens and kale are a bit higher (though still a ton lower than spinach aka The Kidney Stone Maker).  So these are all veggies I could happily eat, though I think I will leave their bitter decorative brethren to beautify zoo landscaping.

Indianapolis Zoo

Baby Giraffe Tongue--Wednesday, 4/4/18

I'm amused by how this salmon-pink skirt, against the light brown + beige background of clothing and carpet, looks like a bit like it time traveled from the 1980s, when neon reigned supreme.

Plus: scarf with overhand knot revisited.  Still liking it.

OCPW: $8.96

No pink in this photo!  The baby giraffe's tongue is that strange purplish-black some animals have as protection from sunburn.

Cincinnati Zoo

In other news...It was interesting to read how central data science is to the Stitch Fix business model.  Also a bit depressing to see how difficult it was for the founder to find venture capitalists to support her business due to their general apathy for retail and women's fashion.  Also sad?  The CEO is kind of proud that 35% of data scientists and 32% of engineers at the firm are women--yes, the numbers are still that low at a company that sells women's clothing.

Visible Figures

#NatureTwinning Part 49: Quilted vests without end, amen

Goose--Friday, 3/30/18

It was cool to realize that I could wear a bright pink (slightly patterned) scarf with this bright pink sweater, especially with some black vest breaking up the Casual-Friday-by-Barbie-ness of it.

Outfit cost per wear (OCPW): $8.66

Although raptors get most of the credit for being avian badasses (due to their predatory ways), geese can be seriously in your face and tough as hell.  I liked the way this goose was giving me attitude.  (I maintained my distance so I was not attacked.)

Upper Newport Bay

Capybara at Rivers Edge--Saturday, 3/31/18

AKA Han Solo in a scarf.

OCPW: $14.95

This guy straight up looks like he's from Star Wars, too.

St Louis Zoo

In other news...From the Washington Post: "Three black teens are finalists in a NASA competition. Hackers spewing racism tried to ruin their odds."  Three black teenage girls.  So of course the asshats at 4chan had to try to shut that down.

Refashioning Ethics

#NatureTwinning Part 48: Florals for spring that feels like winter, ground-breaking?

Nice Mix of Patterns--Wednesday, 3/28/18

I think I was more successful in incorporating a basic white T-shirt into this outfit than I was the previous one.  This skirt doesn't have white in it, but the combination of a scarf with a white background and a blazer with white piping did the trick.

I also liked the various shades of burgundy/maroon represented in this outfit.  Harmonious without being matchy.

(Hah, looking back, I see that I wore long-sleeved white Ts to work 3 days in a row.  3 different shirts, though of the exact same style--1 V neck and 2 crew necks of the plain JC Penney t-shirt style that I also use as my go-to pajama top.)

Outfit cost per wear (OCPW): $11.23

The pattern mixing in my outfit was quite a bit more subtle than the lively geometric contrasts in these plants.  I love the pop of color from the New Guinea impatiens.

Missouri Botanical Garden

Sunny Yellow Rose--Thursday, 3/29/18

OK, can I just say I slayed myself with this second rendition of the new-to-me floral skirt with a striped sweater + navy vest + scarf + boots outfit?  Loved it, would wear again, 10 stars.

OCPW: $10.49

I'm highlighting the yellow flowers from my skirt with this rose photo, something that's hard for me to do with my wardrobe that is mostly devoid of yellow.  When you have pink skin and golden hair, there is like one shade of yellow that works, and I haven't owned anything in that shade since a strange but beloved shirt I wore back in my parks and wildlife days bit the dust.  It was a short-sleeved button up made from yellow corduroy with ribbon edging on the pockets.  I also owned the shirt in brown.  If I remember correctly, I bought them at Kmart at a ridiculous clearance sale price.  I must have gotten the cost per wear on those down to pennies.

Los Angeles Arboretum

In other news...My mom sent me this interesting post from Dances With Fat about the trend for small women to buy plus-size clothing at thrift stores for re-fashioning.

One thing I'll note is that it's not just that there are a lot more items in smaller sizes than larger sizes at thrift stores.  Plus size items, especially anything above a 1X, are actually pretty rare.  The rack of short-sleeved shirts in size S or M will measure at least 10 feet in the Goodwill I visit most often.  The rack of short-sleeved shirts in all sizes above XL combined might measure 6-10 inches.  The number of short-sleeved shirts in 2X and up you could probably count on your hands.  Add to this the fact that many thrifted items have been washed and dried to the point of shrinking a partial or full size, and it's a dire selection for plus-size women.

I don't know where the refashionista featured in the article shops that she even finds plus-size dresses.  They are almost entirely non-existent at the stores I frequent.  Or maybe she's so small, that's what a size L looks like on her, I don't know.

When I wore a size M, I really wasn't aware of this discrepancy because I just didn't pay attention to the higher size sections.  People who actually do frequent thrift-store refashions of larger clothing have had abundant opportunity to notice this, even if they haven't reflected on the implications.

Still, it's a tough call.  Sure, a plus-size person could walk into the store and purchase that item and be really happy about it.  Or not.  Maybe the refashioner really is the only person interested in it, and otherwise it will be turned into rags (or whatever happens to clothing that doesn't sell).

So I guess I'd say the kindest way to shop at thrift stores, being aware of the crap selection for plus-size women, would be to purchase items that are maybe a size up from your own size (in SMLXLetc sizes) or a couple sizes up (in numeric sizes) to have room to tailor them if you like.  If you're buying something that is a lot bigger than you, that is hanging on you like a tent, and that you are only interested in as a source of really cheap material...that's an environmentally friendly choice but could be kind of socially crappy.

What do you think?

A Little About Birds

#NatureTwinning Part 47: Puffy vests, and tall boots, and quilted vests, oh my

It feels so strange to see these cold weather outfits. Apparently winter decided to stay a couple weeks late this year, then spring was picked up in progress, which meant we bypassed the lightweight jacket stage of spring pretty much entirely.

(Being picked up in progress reminds me of how I came to hate the Atlanta Braves in my childhood.  If one of their games didn't replace the TV show I wanted to watch entirely, a game ran long so the show was picked up in progress.  It's not fun to miss the first 15 minutes of a program.)

Today my office was over 80 F.  When I got home to my 78 F apartment, it felt markedly cool, which it really should not have done.  But 15 minutes with the A/C on and all was well.

Japanese Giant Spider Crab--Saturday, 3/24/18

It felt so bold at the time to wear shoes without socks, but as long as I didn't go outside, this was bearable.  It was March and I was just ready to wear purple ballet flats, weather be damned.

Outfit cost per wear (OCPW): $9.19

With a name like that, you know it's going to be creepy.  But man.

Henry Doorly Zoo

Lettuce Bed--Monday, 3/26/18

Wearing this light-colored floral scarf was the day's nod to spring in an outfit that otherwise looks like it emerged from the depths of winter.

OCPW: $8.11

Robert pointed out this feature of the demonstration garden--a lettuce bed with a lid to keep the bunnies out.  Smart.

Missouri Botanical Garden

Resting Cheetah--Tuesday, 3/27/18

I didn't feel like wearing this infinity scarf double looped around my neck because that seemed too short for such a long expanse of white t-shirt (a color that isn't even picked up anywhere else in the outfit).  But when I wore it single looped (i.e. just hanging around my neck), it looked goofy to me when I saw how it photographed--this is a method that's hit or miss for me, and I haven't figured out why it sometimes looks fine and sometimes not.  Is it the scarf itself?  The shirt it's worn with?  The alignment of the planets?

So in a last minute act of desperation, I tried tying a knot in the single loop to restrain some of the volume and voila!  I think it looked great this way.  No doubt this is on some list of 37 ways to tie a scarf, and I probably read that list and forgot about it, but whatever the inspiration, I was glad to stumble upon an alternative way to wear an infinity scarf.

By preference, I purchase long scarves instead of infinity scarves because they're so much more versatile, but when you see an animal print scarf in a color combination that is missing from your scarf collection for $8 at the thrift store, whaddaya gonna do?

OCPW: $13.80

By contrast to my various attempts to reach sartorial adequacy, this cheetah looks effortlessly wonderful every single day.  (To be fair, most anyone would in that coat.)

Indianapolis Zoo

In other news...The turkey vultures are back in force at work, enjoying the warmer temperatures and the thermals coming off the bluff across from our building.  It's funny--when I started working there, people in my department were vaguely aware of these huge birds swooping outside our windows, but aside from one person*, no one knew what they were.  But this past week I heard multiple people noting the turkey vultures' presence.

My office mate said that last week she and her husband were driving in the neighborhood and her husband was like, Whoa, those are some big birds!  She replied, Oh yes, they're turkey vultures.  He said, Turkey vultures...what?

She said that it was very enjoyable to be, for a moment, a person who knew something about birds.

Really, if you know even a little about birds, in most company, you are the (one-eyed) Bird King.

The other side of that coin for me is how enjoyable it can be to be around expert birders and to feel like I know nothing and am just ready to be taken to ornithology school.

*Incidentally, this person--who retired and then came back part-time working on a grant but who is in a different office building now so I don't see her all the time--Skyped me today to talk about seeing an osprey diving for fish at a local lake on Sunday.  It just so happened that Robert and I had been to the same lake (playing Pokemon Go) on Saturday, so we were able to compare notes on the birds we'd seen, and I was able to identify the "black duck with a white bill" (American coot) that she'd seen. 

I think I might not be exaggerating when I say that this is perhaps the 3rd Skype conversation of any length I've had since it was installed several months ago.  Hah.

And because it's the first of the month...

Rabbit Rabbit Rabbit!

The Market Trio, playing a state fair near you

Pokemon Research Therapy

#NatureTwinning Part 46...with no end in sight

Bathing Elephant--Thursday, 3/22/18

Yep, can't get enough of this red cardigan and brown pants.  This time I wore it with a navy top and a scarf that incorporated all these colors in small quantities.

Outfit cost per wear (OCPW): $19.80

We were lucky to hit the elephant area in the morning when they were being brought inside for their baths.  This girl had been very well-trained to respond to a zookeeper's signals to sit, stand, roll over, lift her trunk, etc., so that the other zookeeper could spray her with water.  She seemed to really enjoy the process.

Cincinnati Zoo

A Bundle of Roses--Friday, 3/23/18

This outfit becomes increasingly casual as you move from the bling necklace and sorta-dressy blouse at the top to the jeans and smoking slippers at the bottom.

OCPW: $18.04

I love how this photo turned out--when you have a gorgeous and perfectly cooperative subject, it's so easy.

Los Angeles Arboretum

In other news...The combination of the onset of actual spring (i.e., high temperatures reaching 60 F) and the introduction of quests finally has really revived our recently-somewhat-lagging Pokemon Go obsession.  There are two kinds of quests (called "research" because ostensibly you are helping a professor with his work).

Regular quests are triggered when you spin a Pokestop, and they offer a small reward (e.g., balls, potions, revives, berries, stardust, spawn a Pokemon for you to catch) in exchange for completing a small task (e.g., catch x Pokemon of y type, play a raid, win a gym battle, spin z pokestops).  It may seem dumb that this makes the game more interesting, but it really does.  I mean, come on, anything that makes you happy to catch Pidgeys (for the "catch 3 Pidgeys or Murkrows" quest) and so on is pretty much brilliant.  It adds just a bit of direction to how you play, and it gives you a chance to get extra stuff (always good).  Last weekend, for example, Robert and I purposely sought out opportunities to battle gyms and raids for quest purposes, and one of my quests ("use a supereffective special attack in 7 gym battles") definitely required some strategizing to complete efficiently.

Each day that you complete 1 or more regular quests, you get a stamp.  Once you collect 7 stamps, you get a "research breakthrough" that rewards you with more desirable rewards and spawns a legendary Pokemon for you to catch (and it will not flee! if you keep trying, you will eventually catch it).  Since the only other way to get legendaries is to win a super hard raid that requires 12+ top level players AND to get lucky enough to catch it (my success rate so far is about 1 in 3), this is a huge development for the game.  So far, I've gotten 2 research breakthroughs, and both times I've gotten Moltres as my legendary.  I'm guessing they will rotate the legendary Pokemon perhaps once a month or something.

The second kind of research is special research--which is like the main quest line of a Skyrim type game.  The current quest is helping the professor find a Pokemon called Mew.  There are 8 stages to the quest, with 3 tasks per stage, and these are more difficult and more varied than the regular quests.  You get experience for each task you complete, and a nice set of loot for each stage you complete.  Once you complete all the stages, you get to catch Mew.  Again, not only is it fun to get cool stuff, it definitely provides an extra oomph of motivation to do the various aspects of the game--walk more, catch more, catch more, battle more--while helping guide your next move.

This evening, after a series of rather annoying events caused running a couple of errands to take longer than it should, and both of us were feeling irritated, we were driving home on an unusual route due the the frustrating nonsense.  And in that exact time and place, a Ditto (a not very common Pokemon that looks like another Pokemon then reveals itself after it's been caught) had appeared at the side of the road in the guise of a Pidgey, and I caught it.  And it was the last of 3 tasks needed to pass the current stage of the special research quest!  But contrary to our usual practice, in which I play both of our phones while Robert drives, he'd been distracted when we got in the car outside the unexpectedly closed restaurant and hadn't given me his phone.  So we circled back to the location, afraid that in the time that took, the Ditto-Pidgey would have de-spawned (each Pokemon only exists to be caught for a given amount of time--something like 15 min, or 30 min, or an hour, depending on what you read; no one knows for sure).  But it hadn't!  So I caught that one too.  And it pretty much saved our evening.

Pokemon Go quests: I am a fan.