Ironic "old lady" or "rich lady" fashion: use what you have

When I started this blog many years ago, I was passionate about sharing my tips for frugality.  My motivation came, in part, from R, friend of both son and daughter. Well! R is now a psychiatrist (I helped him with his med school essay) stationed abroad.

I loved reading other frugality/personal finance blogs. These have generally disappeared or morphed into commercial sites hawking credit cards and other unsavory products.

As has been usual in my life, I got off track and began sampling middle-aged woman sites and got especially sidetracked by ones exploring style for that age group. Of course, most of those have gone the way of the frugality blogs.

And the OTHER blogs that attracted my attention were the decluttering sites. Because...I have a problem. Thrift stores both giveth (to frugality/keeping spending under control) and taketh away (as even a few extra purchases a month  at $3 can add to the clutter in no time flat).

I have been going through my closets, amazed at all the nice things I have. Thanks be  to thrift store gods. In that process, I find a number of unworn items: these are my "old lady"/"rich lady" things.

I keep meaning to wear them, thinking they are "ironic" or will appear to be so. Then it occurred to me that at 66, I have probably passed the age of irony in that department.

And, of course, it is NOT frugal not to  use things. So herewith I vow to wear the following (most not from thrift stores btw).

--the Burberry raincoat, worn ONCE. This was bought by my parents on a trip to London in the  late 70s?/early 80s? when the pound was par with the dollar. My mother outgrew it.  Wore once to a funeral of a person who was not very nice to me. My DH wore the matching one my father outgrew. We got many compliments.

--the authentic LV mono bag (style is Looping, no longer made) This was a gift from my sister-in-law to my mother. My mother placed it in her Goodwill donation bag upon receipt. I happened to see it. I retrieved it. Worn never.

--the vintage Gucci bag I got at a thrift store. This has the disintegrating lining characteristic of the real thing. Has the GG monograms and the stripe. Worn once when I had to go into a snooty store for some reason.

--the alligator bag that belonged to my grandmother. I need to get the handle reattached. My grandmother was very chic but unable to really live her aesthetic because she lost most of her money fleeing Europe in 1938. She worked at a fancy store in Boston. The bag has a label from another fancy Boston store. Worn never.

--the LV mono card case also from my grandmother--see above. Used never. (I believe with Marcel Proust that objects retain something of the person who owned them, so I can never relinquish these items. They give me pleasure just to behold them and touch them.)

--Bally croc patterned bucket bag from thrift.  Used never.

--Gucci loafers from thrift store. A bit big. Want to get inserts. Otherwise, must say good-bye.

Use what you have!

Notes on the Magic Mountain

On at least my seventh attempt to read this book. Even though I am only about 1/3 through, I think I shall make it this time. I am sorely feeling my lack of German--the native language of my grandparents, which I heard spoken my whole life.  I could read the segments in French--in the Walspurgisnacht chapter.

I feel that I have hardly time to experiment with books. Masterpieces--a vexed term, of course--urge me on. My very smart colleague Z said that she read MM many years ago and that "it wasn't worth" the labor. It is worth my labor. Perhaps another instance of needing to wait for the right time to read a book (similar feelings about Bronte's "Villette").

'I just realized that I have adopted the posture of the "horizontals" in my reading. They are on balconies in Davos, swaddled in camel hair and fur  against the cold. I am in my drafty house (in the Deep South! humid as opposed to the dry winters of Davos). So I have taken to reading in my bed, with the heating pad at my feet.

I sorely miss being a student of a good teacher. I was lucky to have more than a handful. Unlike my students--who scarcely read anything now and depend on internet analyses to write their papers and provide relevant passages from primary and secondary texts--I do not find Sparknotes and the like particular helpful.

BUT I did find a one hour lecture given by a University of Chicago professor for "Humanities Week." Meant for non-specialists--that would be me--he provided a framework for the book. I am writing this for me, but in case a reader is on a similar quest: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eaZZcRB01kQ.

The rest cure on the balconies becomes an occasion for reading (chapter called Research) and, even more, for intense daydreaming. I have always been  (too) prone to that. Even more than usual, I lay the book on my chest and drift off.

Perhaps internet meanderings are a form of day dreaming. While meandering about other works by the UC professor, I learned that he is, or perhaps was, married to someone I knew slightly in college, a woman I am sure would have no recollection of me. And that led to a memory, which came out of nowhere.

The woman was very friendly with the daughter of an old-style Hollywood star, though we were all too cool to ever mention it. I was slightly friendly with the daughter. One night I was invited to a small gathering at the home of one in their crowd. Also attending--a charismatic and smart and heavy drinking fellow who later married the daughter of the star. They were all incredibly heavy drinkers. I left early. I could not keep up. One is now a physician, one an attorney....

How strange...