FROM THE HOME FRONT
Susan Martin: Ketchup spills and other misfortunes
I’m not exactly the superstitious type, but Friday the 13th has me thinking: As luck would have it, summer is full of fashion mishaps.
White T-shirts –a summer staple if ever there was one –are accidents waiting to happen.
Coffee at the office, barbecue sauce at the cookout … no wonder style experts recommend keeping an extra white T-shirt on hand during the summer months.
(One style book I own even advises women to keep an unopened package of men’s plain white T-shirts around – in case of a fashion emergency).
In fact, many of us are wary of anything white.
Years ago, I had a long white linen skirt that was absolutely gorgeous –until I spilled an entire cup of coffee on it.
Good morning!
Linen, itself, can be troubling, even though the wrinkles are supposedly part of the look.
Have you ever worn a pair of linen pants on a long car ride? Big mistake.
I don’t even wear my linen shirts much anymore. Crumpled isn’t my look. I don’t like the wrinkles. I don’t care much for ironing.
I could try one of those spray-on wrinkle-release products –well, maybe next year.
And there are others.
Sandals with heels that sink into the grass. Lightweight wrap skirts that blow open at the slightest breeze. Airborne hats. Sundresses that present a major challenge in the underpinnings department. And noisy shoes.
That’s right. Noisy shoes.
It’s not just flip-flops of which I speak. Many mules and slides out there go clap, clap, clap when you walk in them. People can hear you coming and going, if that matters at all to you.
Chewing gum on hot pavement? Drippy ice cream cones? Blow-dryers on hot, humid mornings? All things to be avoided. Home and garden also offer challenges during the summer months.
In our family we still get a good laugh recalling a scene involving a relative. It began with her relaxing with the rest of us on lawn chairs in our backyard.
Suddenly, and as if in slow motion, the back legs of her chair began sinking deeper and deeper into the grass.
This would have been fine had she been, say, at the dentist’s office.
But she was not, and the expression on her face was priceless.
Sprinklers? Dangerous in my book. That’s because I can’t set one without getting drenched.
I marvel at people positioning their own lawn sprinklers while dressed in really nice clothes.
How do they do it? While on the subject of water, sudden thunderstorms also can wreak havoc during the summer months.
You know the story. You leave the second-floor windows open while you run to the supermarket. You exit the store into an unexpected (to you, anyway) downpour.
Once this week, I was caught in a rainstorm without an umbrella. Once, this week I was caught in a rainstorm with an umbrella.
Didn’t matter. As I headed into the building, the umbrella flipped inside-out in the wind.
At least I remembered to close the windows at home. At least this time.
