Wednesday, June 3, 2009

Feelin' Hot!


It's hot!

Yesterday we hit the dizzy heights of 88F, not much for some of you I know, but this is the Pacific NW. We have literally only just emerged from the depths of winter. My feet have been encased in woolly socks right up until about 2 weeks ago (in fact, come to think of it, my Broadripples could still be laying in a heap on the bathroom floor.)

Thankfully we got our pool up over the Memorial holiday weekend which has turned out to be perfect timing. As soon as the kids get home from school, they want to get straight in. The nights are another matter though. A house devoid of air conditioning at a time like this is no fun and makes you long for cool European cottages built from stone. Wood is great when you need flexible building materials to cope with the odd earthquake that tends to hit when you live on a fault line, but you can't beat grey stone in a heat wave.

The sudden warm weather has also led to bare leg syndrome. Yes, I have finally got out of trousers and even braved it and wore a skirt last week. I was lucky enough to get a new one in a recent sale and hastily threw it on as I raced off to attend DD2's final band concert. It was only as I was walking across the road in the late evening sunshine, that I realised that something might be amiss. A truck driver at the traffic lights was giving me a very strange stare as I passed in front of his vehicle. Glancing down I realised to my horror that my lovely new skirt was entirely see through!

I turned every shade of pink imaginable and spent the rest of the evening avoiding any kind of back lighting!

I now have an extra project to add to my to do list. I have bought several lengths of white cotton muslin and some elastic so that I can make what we used to call in England, a petticoat. This was a demure little underskirt that any and every self respecting woman had in her wardrobe, in fact she often had several. For fear that she would be deemed a woman of 'loose' or 'easy' virtue, every real 'lady' wore a petticoat or slip under her dress. This allowed her to move freely in any given situation without the fear of inadvertently showing off the shape of her legs and arousing unwanted male interest.

What a pity they don't sell them in the shops any more (petticoats not unwanted males.)

7 comments:

CT said...

hahaha! you made me remember a book of LM Montgomery where a character criticized another because "you could see the border of her petticoat under her skirt, and she only wears TWO!!! In my day, I wore SEVEN petticoats or I wouldn't feel properly dressed"

SOOOO funny!

Jane said...

Great quote, CT. I love it!

Rudee said...

I remember all the razzing Princess Di got for her see-through skirt. You probably gave the truck driver palpitations.

As for the weather, I'm deeply jealous. It's cold and grey here. 47 degrees as I write this, and yes, I'm clad in wool.

Unknown said...

Oh this reminds me of Princess Di's faux pas early on in her royal career ..... turned those brits on their ears the sight of bare legs under a skirt backlit by some sunshine. Poor girl!

Almost American said...

I bought a couple of 'waist slips' at Filene's department store quite recently, so they ARE available in the US. However, when M&S had their recent free shipping to the US offer, I bought a cream-colored one in every length because they were a LOT cheaper than the ones I found at Filene's!

When my grandmother made skirts for me when I was a child she always lined them. They draped so well like that. Somewhere I still have a lined corduroy skirt I made for myself when I was 19 - if I lost 20 or 15 pounds it would fit again! (OK, more like 30 to 35 pounds - aargh - time to stop eating!)

Jane said...

Yes, I immediately thought of Princess Di too, although she did have youth on her side at the time, unlike me.

AA - I really must check out M&S, although it is so hard to find cotton too. I don't like the manmade fibres that drape well but make you sweat something chronic!

Jane said...

Rudee - it's cooled off a little today, but it has been uncharacteristically glorious for 2weeks.I'm contenplating washing the woollens and putting them away, although perhaps that would be tempting fate.

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