Mercury 13–what I’ve been watching

October 3, 2018October 3, 2018 | run-sew-read

This week I watched the Mercury 13 documentary on Netflix. It is about the thirteen woman astronauts who trained for the space program in 1961.

I tried to be inspired and not let myself be consumed with anger at the stories told in this documentary. It wasn’t easy. There were plenty of moments that moved me to tears, at how these brilliant, accomplished aviators and scientists were trivialized and relegated to lesser status for being women. They were put through more rigorous testing than the male astronauts, and scored better on some tests. These 13 women qualified, but were banned from the missions to space.

Below is an excerpt from one of the woman astronauts’ testimony before Congress. She used the exclusion of woman nurses from Civil War field hospitals as her example of why women should be allowed on space missions.

National hero John Glenn then testified, drawing laughter from the senators when he said he would welcome qualified women astronauts with ‘open arms’. Then President Johnson ended the women astronaut program, saying, “We have to shut this thing down.”

A free afternoon in Fort Worth–a treat for my inner cowgirl.

September 30, 2018September 28, 2018 | run-sew-read

The day after the ELO concert in Dallas last month, my train wasn’t scheduled to depart from Ft. Worth until 5pm. I opted to spend the afternoon in Ft. Worth, so on checking out of my hostel, I caught the TRE commuter train from Irving back to Fort Worth.

In Fort Worth, I decided to visit the National Cowgirl Museum and Hall of Fame. Feeling an acute need for exercise, I opted to get from the train station to the museum and back via Fort Worth’s bike share. There was a bike share hub at the train station and one at the museum complex. Good job, Fort Worth! All went smoothly with the bike checkout process.

Google mapped the bike route for me.

The bike was a joy to ride. It was easily adjustable, and had no mechanical issues.

It was a mostly-flat, pleasant 3.1 mile ride each way.

National Cowgirl Museum and Hall of Fame

The cowgirl museum was wonderful. Part of it is under renovation and closed to visitors until February 2019. This means I will want to go back and see the rest. But the exhibits I did see gave me a badly-needed cowgirl ‘fix’ for now. I could have stayed there all day.

I love the way they posed this mannequin and draped her red jacket. It’s as if she just got up after being thrown and is walking back to her horse.

Annie Oakley’s wedding ring!

“Ride the range all the day till the first fading light,
be with my western girl round the fire, oh, so bright.
I’d be the Indians friend, let them live to be free,
ridin’ into the sunset, I wish I could be.”

Can you handle more from the cowgirl museum? They have an amazing collection of historic western-themed Hermes scarves.

This scarf, wow. Here is the center motif of an awards themed scarf that seemed to spoof the Oscars. It was quite an entertaining thing to study.

After finishing up at the Cowgirl museum, I still had more time for sightseeing, so I went next door to the Fort Worth Science and History Museum.

In their huge lobby, they have a beam from one of the World Trade Center towers.

The beam towered over the lobby.

They had a great section on Energy, which I enjoyed so much I forgot to take pictures.

They had a large Cattle Raisers exhibit, which was an excellent complement to the Cowgirl Museum.

Lastly, they had a Grossology exhibit, on human body functions. The irony about this is that I took a head cold home with me from the trip. Ugh. I was pretty much like this guy for the next week.

When I’d finished at the museums, bike share got me back to the Ft. Worth Intermodal Transportation Center, where I would await my Amtrak train. They had some neat things to see at the station: An old Fort Worth commuter train car.

A series of history-telling tile murals.

Back in the lovely old train station, I reclaimed my bag from the luggage storage service, drank a delicious milk from Subway, and waited the last few minutes before boarding my Amtrak train.

Some Fort Worth tips I picked up:

The Fort Worth Intramodal Transportation Center is the Ft. Worth hub for all transit–Amtrak, the TRE, trolleys, buses, and bike share. Darn handy.
I originally booked Amtrak all the way from OKC to Dallas Union Station and back. Turns out I only needed Amtrak between OKC and Ft. Worth. Between Ft. Worth and Dallas, the TRE was the way to go.
By cancelling the Ft. Worth – Dallas – Ft Worth portions of my Amtrak ticket before those departure times, I was credited that portion of my Amtrak fare, to apply to future Amtrak travel.
The museums I visited are all at the Ft. Worth Stock Show complex. The complex was easy to get to by bike, and offered lots to do in one spot. The Botanical Gardens and Trinity Park are also adjacent to the complex.

ELO via Amtrak

September 23, 2018December 5, 2018 | run-sew-read

In August I traveled to Dallas to see a Traveling Wilbury and his Electric Light Orchestra.

https://youtu.be/3AexCfnldZY

As it should be, ELO’s full sound filled the huge American Airlines Center arena. The light show was the most extravagant and spectacular that I’ve seen; as it should be for a band called the ‘Electric Light Orchestra’. There was no bad seat in the house. There was no empty seat in the house, either.

ELO crowd

My seat was in the nosebleed section, which was fine for ELO’s show only because their sound and lights filled the arena spectacularly, as I knew they would. The songs were all familiar. The entire concert was a big, fun sing-a-long with the band and 20,000+ of their biggest fans.

Me-made concert outfit (partly):

I’d packed my fun green reflective bicycling dress to wear to the concert.

But as I was getting ready for the show, practical considerations won out. I was going to have to walk 1/2 mile from my lodging to the TRE transit shuttle that drops off at the concert arena. I didn’t want to make that trek both ways in a dress with wedge sandals; the return trip in the dark. So, I opted for a pair of knee-length shorts, flat sandals, and this comfortable floral blouse that I recently made and wrote about last week.

ELO outfit RSR

The blouse has just one reflective bit… the button in the back. So, anyone sitting behind me who tried to take a flash picture, may have gotten my button reflection instead of the stage. But who in the nosebleed section uses flash at a concert? Probably no one.

Back closure Back closure reflection

As for the concert, it was a lovely, lovely night. Everything was perfect. (Except for the guy sitting next to me, who had pulled up an ELO set list on his phone, and kept announcing what song was coming up next. Grrr.) But this guy below sure didn’t bother me. The crowd all around me was really into the show, which made it that much more fun.

IMG_20180813_224351809

For the best sampling of Jeff Lynne’s current ELO live show, I recommend the “Wembley or Bust” live CD-DVD set. I ordered it after I got home, and am quite glad I did.

Travel and lodging

The drive to Dallas for me is a straight 6-hour shot down through the middle of Oklahoma, all on Interstate-35. It’s a boring and crowded highway. There was a lot of rain in the forecast too, which I didn’t relish driving in. My solution was to drive to Oklahoma City and then take the Amtrak ‘Heartland Flyer’ the rest of the way. Turns out it is a scenic, relaxing train ride.

Pauls Valley train station Pauls Valley downtown Oklahoma scenery2

Ardmore station Gainesville station

The night of the concert, I stayed at a hostel in Irving. This was my first-ever stay at a hostel in the US. I booked the hostel through Hostelworld. The girls’ room in the hostel slept 6. When I checked in, the three bottom bunks had already been spoken for. So this was my view from the top. 🙂

Hostel room

I enjoyed chatting with several fellow hostel guests, who were all passing through the DFW area for their own various reasons. I loved the hostel stay, better than a sterile, isolating hotel room. The hostel was an easy walk to and from the commuter train station, where the TRE train took me straight to the concert venue–the American Airlines Center arena.

Irving train stop

TRE regional commuter train

The next day, I took the TRE back to Fort Worth, where after an afternoon of sightseeing, I boarded Amtrak for the trip back to OKC. Ft Worth station sign

Here’s the ‘Heartland Flyer’ arriving in Ft. Worth to take us back to OKC.

Amtrak train approaching Ft Worth 2 Amtrak train arriving Ft Worth

My departing view of Ft. Worth. Departing Ft Worth

Once the train was on its way, the cafe car opened.

For dinner, I ordered the spicy Buffalo chicken tenders and wine. It hit the spot. Each time I see this picture, I want that meal again.

Amtrak meal

Amtrak was also an excellent choice for the return trip, because the weather got severe as we progressed toward OKC. Strong storms, heavy rains, tornado warnings and a massive area of flash flood warnings even caused all area trains to be ordered to shut down on the track to wait for a bad cell to pass.

Trip interrupted.

Our train arrived at the OKC station about 2 hours late, which meant I would be driving the rest of the way home after midnight, through flash flood warnings all the way. Instead, I did a very adult thing (for me), and got a value-priced room in OKC for the night. The storms had wreaked havoc with street lights in town. It was a dark and eerie quiet drive from the Amtrak station to the hotel.

The hotel I chose is a huge once-fabulous sprawling complex. As I was waiting my turn to check in, the old maintenance man told me stories about famous athletes and performers who had stayed there back in the day. He and the hotel were absolutely charming. The hotel lobby hints at its grand past.

Hotel lobby

The hallway leading to my room revealed that the hotel hadn’t fared so well during the storms. They’d taken on some water. Bags of concrete had been used as sandbags, doors were propped open for drying out, and carpet had been pulled and piled in the hallway. I didn’t care because I was so tired. I felt bad for the hotel.

Hotel door sand bag Hotel water damage

My room was nice and comfortable for the price, but when I ventured over to the door that opens out to the courtyard, I discovered the carpet along that outside wall was wet and squishy. I didn’t care. I was tired, and I wasn’t going to need to go out that door anyway.

Wet carpet

In the bathroom was a relic from its past as a luxury hotel–the toilet telephone. It still works.

Bathroom phone

The next morning, I got up well-rested, and drove home. There were places on the interstate where flood water had obviously been up on the road. Staying in OKC had been the right thing to do.

https://youtu.be/1vZR_aMEu2c

Now, back to the Traveling Wilburys for a moment:

A fellow music lover told me that the Wilburys had intended to keep getting together to make music from time to time, and to possibly add new members. So I’m thinking, should Jeff Lynne and Bob Dylan convene the next generation of Wilburys? Who should the new band members be? Should their music follow the same style and formula as the original Wilburys? The departed original members can’t be replaced or mimicked. But do it right and their spirit will be there with the new guys. I have a few ideas of who should join Jeff and Bob and make some new Traveling Wilburys music. I’ve grouped them in threes, to keep the band at five members:

Option 1:

Robert Plant
Gillian Welch
An Avett brother

Option 2:

Lindsey Buckingham
Dhani Harrison
Carlene Carter

Most of these are really huge stars, so why would they want to do it? Well, you don’t get much bigger than Bob Dylan, Roy Orbison and a Beatle, so the standard has been set.

From the stash: Sleeveless floral blouse-skirt duo

September 16, 2018September 16, 2018 | run-sew-read

This floral cotton-spandex resided in my stash for several years, because I loved it so much I didn’t want to make it into something that turned out to be a disappointment. …

Sleeveless blouse and skirt fabric RSR

I finally settled on a sleeveless blouse-skirt combo, i.e., a 2-piece dress. The outfit is devoid of embellishment, and has no decorative features at all. My plan was to start with the most basic garments and add to them as necessary for aesthetics or function. To my surprise, the basic un-embellished duo became one of my favorite go-to outfits this summer.

Sleeveless blouse and skirt

For a pattern, I traced a simple, old linen blouse in my closet. The only change I made was to slightly indent the side seams at the waist.

IMG_20180906_122905492_LL a

The blouse slips over the head, and has a button-loop closure in the back. I used a reflective fabric covered button.

The skirt is a simple rectangle, seamed up the back, slightly tapered at the waist, with an elastic casing.

Skirt

I lined the blouse and skirt with cotton percale sheet fabric. The lining is super comfortable in hot weather, and adds just a smidge more body to the garments.

Lining

This turned out to be the kind of simple outfit that sneaks up on you and becomes the thing you wear everywhere. I’ve worn this outfit when bicycling, to the office, to meet friends for dinner, and to the ballpark. I wore the blouse to a big-time concert last month with a pair of khaki shorts. (More on that to come.) The outfit basically goes anywhere. It’s been excellent for road trips and travel. This simple duo is going to end up in my personal little dress hall of fame.

Here it is with a 10+ year old hand-embroidered Putumayo sweater that I thought was inching closer to the donation box. Not anymore. It’s part of the ensemble now.

Sweater2

With Autumn arriving in a week, I already miss wearing this outfit. I’m considering making another version in fall colors, with simple 3/4 sleeves.

The county fair and a campout

September 2, 2018September 1, 2018 | run-sew-read

The night before my recent trip to the vintage clothing store, I went to the county fair. I enjoyed looking at all of the hand crafted items, and home grown produce of the local 4-H’ers.

There were some excellent handmade garments on display, by teens and by grade schoolers. To my distress, what you see here was all of the constructed garment entries this year. This downtrend makes me want to stop what I’m doing and personally try to reverse the trend and bring young people into the wonderful world of sewing and handmade clothing.

There was beautiful home grown produce.

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There was gorgeous woodworking, and a fun repurposing challenge.

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The foods entries were great. They had everything from breads and baked sweets to canned and dehydrated produce. I was too busy admiring to remember to take a picture.

Over in the animal buildings, there were newly shorn sheep in fabulous jackets. Two of my favorite jackets were the high necked trench coat and a fabulous hot pink number. The sheep were quite friendly, too.

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As for the other animals, there was a handsome rooster that did a great cockadoodledoo, but refused to do a repeat performance for my camera. There was a lovely dairy cow who looks great with purple accessories, a perfect pink pig that belongs in Charlotte’s Web, and a spotted pig on the loose, who had the prettiest floppy pig ears.

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It was demolition derby night, too! This event was packed; standing room only. This picture should come with sound. The motors were loud, and the crowd roared with appreciation.

Campout!

That night, hotel rooms in town were scarce and pricey, but that didn’t matter to me, because I’d opted to take advantage of the gorgeous weather forecast. I packed my tent, chair, backpacking stove, and breakfast, for an overnight at the lake campground just outside of town. The lake was a CCC (Civilian Conservation Corps) construction project in the 1930s, and has been nicely preserved. My siblings and I loved visiting this lake when we were growing up. Point of trivia: William S. Burroughs had a little cabin at this lake in the last years of his life.

On this particular night, my thirtysomething nephew came out with his lawn chair. We sat and talked while looking out over the lake until 1am, mostly sharing fun memories about the lake and about our siblings, parents and grandparents.

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Four woman aviators; one with a side hustle as a designer

August 26, 2018August 21, 2018 | run-sew-read

MARY ELLIS

Several times this summer, women aviators were on my mind. Most recently, the news that Mary Ellis, one of the last living female WWII pilots has passed away. This BBC article gives a summary of her wartime service and her life after the war, when she was put in charge of Sandown Airport on the Isle of Wight.

AMELIA EARHART

Amelia and I were born more than six decades, but only about 50 miles apart. Hers was one of the first biographies I read as a young girl.

Amelia-Earhart-propeller a

Her accomplishments as an aviator are universally known. But did you know:

She sewed her own clothes
She designed practical flying attire for women pilots, and
She launched her own line of women’s clothing designs.

Amelia Earhart fashion label a

She pioneered the use of ‘Lastex’ yarn, that may be a sort of precurser to the now-ubiquitous and indispensable Spandex.

From the Merriam-Webster dictionary–“Lastex”:

Lastex definition from Merriam Webster

During the Great Depression, she made her designs available as sewing patterns.

It’s more well known that Amelia had a line of suitcases.

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The suitcase line bearing her name continued after her disappearance. Below is a May 1947 ad; ten years after her disappearance.

Before she became a pilot, she served as a nurse during WWI. During this duty, she contracted pneumonia. The pneumonia treatment left her with a sinus injury that plagued her with headaches and other complications, requiring occasional treatment and hospitalization for the rest of her life.

Amelia Earhart WWI nurse

From the time I was little, she inspired me with her independence and determined character.

More reading about Amelia’s sewing and designing:

AMY JOHNSON

Amy was a British pioneer aviator. I’d never heard of her until I one day looked up the meaning of Al Stewart’s song, Flying Sorcery. Wow, what a lovely tribute. Amy Johnson is another person I wish I could have known. In 1930, she became the first woman to fly solo from England to Australia. She set other flight distance records as well. Like Mary Ellis, she flew for England in WWII; ferrying planes to the war front. While on one of her missions in 1941, she died in a crash in the Thames Estuary. The circumstances of her crash have never been fully explained. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amy_Johnson

ONE MORE

So, why women aviators, and why now? The answer is that on the same day I read the news about Mary Ellis’ passing, I was talking to an acquaintance who’s had a long career as an aviation engineer. She casually mentioned being able to ‘cross another thing off her bucket list’. That ‘thing’ was an emergency landing she’d made a few days before, while flying alone through rural Oklahoma. (By crossing it off her bucket list, she meant she never wants to experience it again.) She told the story calmly and technically, how the engine started acting up, so she maydayed the nearest manned air traffic control tower, which was an entire state away, in Fort Worth, TX. The controllers stayed in continuous contact with her and talked her through the entire process. Long story short, she safely landed at an unmanned airstrip in rural Oklahoma. I was hanging on every word she said; my mouth probably gaping open in awe. She immediately shot to the top of the list of women badasses I personally know.

Another trip to the best vintage clothing store ever.

August 19, 2018August 18, 2018 | run-sew-read

It is probably a good thing this vintage clothing store is in my old home town, and not where I live now. If it were closer to me, I’d have to build on a room addition just to hold my vintage purchases. I was there earlier this month, and came home with four awesome dresses. Here they are, starting with my fave, which I’ll wear as soon as the hottest part of summer is over:

Dress #1 is a vintage 100% cotton calico print elbow-length sleeve shirt dress will be worn as-is, with a lightweight cardigan in chillier air. The center front button placket stops at the waist, eliminating the need to fuss with buttons down the front of the skirt. I’m not sure where it has been hiding these past decades, but it has never been worn or laundered.

Red calico floral shirtdress RSR

Dress #2 still had the store tags on it, so it too has never been laundered or worn. It’s the one I’m less sure about than the others. I think it is lovely, but I’m not sure about the style on me; not sure it is ‘my’ style.

Dress with long collar tie2 RSR

Tags RSR

On me, I like its appearance better with the long ties tossed back over the shoulder (see below). That modification would be a shame though, because it’s main feature is the long ties down the front, and I love that feature. Maybe it is the pleated skirt that isn’t right. I could easily remove the pleated panel and replace it with a different fabric, or leave it off and make it a tunic instead of a dress. As a tunic, I think the long ties down the front would be okay. Bottom line, this one is going to be a puzzle.

Dress with long collar tie to the back RSR

Dress #3 is handmade of lightweight wool or wool blend, unlined. It’s nicely sewn, and the fit is perfect. It doesn’t look boxy like a suit jacket; it fits like a dress. I’ll wear it this Autumn with a thin turtleneck or blouse underneath.

Purple wool blazer dress RSR

Dress #4! Burberry plaid has been on my wish list for a long while now, so this lined rayon-cotton (I think) jumper that was on the half-price rack, was a no-brainer. It too is handmade. I hope to wear it to the office this Autumn with a white blouse underneath. Because of the roomy pleated skirt, it should be great for the bicycle commute.

I am making one modification to this dress, and that is to turn half of the pleats the other direction. The way they are now — pleats all turned one way, is interesting, but looks awkward on me.

Burberry plaid jumper RSR

More coolness from Burberry. They have dynamite live music for their runway shows……

Paris, someday soon.

August 12, 2018August 9, 2018 | run-sew-read

In my mind, I have my day-trip to Paris all planned. I’ll take an early train from London or Amsterdam, and spend the day seeing the sights on foot–the Eiffel Tower, the Arc de Triomphe, the Seine; and eat at a sidewalk cafe, and then catch the night train back.

I’d like to visit the Beat Hotel…

And the Boulevard de la Madeleine

This book, Fall Irmgard, has strengthened my resolve to make the trip. It is the only book I’ve ever won in a Goodreads giveaway, and lucky me, I won an exceptionally good one. It is the first published novel by Rand Charles.

The story took place in occupied Paris in April 1941, a few months before the US entered WWII. A young American woman named Addie Bridges, who had been working in Paris and loving it, was reluctantly trying to get back home while leaving France was still possible. The German occupiers were getting in her way at every turn, while Parisians had all they could handle just trying to endure the Nazi occupation and keep their lives and livelihoods intact. The book was a long, slow, captivating read. The author enabled me to effortlessly visualize the scenes–the settings and the mannerisms of each character at every encounter. Highly recommend for readers interested in that period in history.

Meanwhile over in the sewing corner, I’m trying to figure out what to make with this Paris-themed fabric: Dress, skirt, curtains, or all three; … and IMG_20180720_071127065_LL b panel RSR

I’m savoring Paris-inspired music.

Daisies, linen and box pleats for bicycling

August 5, 2018August 19, 2018 | run-sew-read

I was so excited when I brought this 1960s daisy dress home from the vintage clothing store in August 2015, that I mentioned it in my blog right away.

vintage-dress-green-daisies RSR

For two summers I wore the dress as-is and loved its style. But bicycling in it was a no-go, because the dress is narrow and straight with no stretch and no pleat for getting on and off the bike and for pedaling. I loved the dress too much to change it.

Eventually my desire to wear it on my bike commute won out. I formed a bold plan to add box pleats, and worked up the courage to make the first cut. I measured and sliced the skirt where four pleats would go. I was lucky to find some fabric for the pleats that was a near exact match of the creamy white color in the dress.

The result: Ta-da!

vintage-dress-green-daisies pleats added RSR

The next morning as I was preparing to wear the modified dress for the first time, I took a mirror selfie, BHM (before hair and makeup).

Mirror selfie BHM RSR

On its first outing with the box pleats, I bicycled a total of 14 commute + errand miles. The skirt was perfect, in roominess, length and drape.

After that first wearing, I decided the top of the pleats should be reinforced to prevent inevitable strain and fraying in the corners. So I added little tabs.

pleat tabs RSR

This project was an unqualified success. The person most surprised is me. I feared I was going to ruin the lovely dress for good. But no, I’ll be using the box pleat ‘hack’ again sometime when I need to convert another dress for bike-ability. I want to post a set of instructions, but I feel like I need to try it again a time or two before telling others how to do it. Stay tuned.

And their love that was more than the clothes that they wore,
Could be seen in the gleam of an eye…

run | sew | read

and all things related that make this a good life.

Mercury 13–what I’ve been watching

ELO via Amtrak

From the stash: Sleeveless floral blouse-skirt duo

The county fair and a campout

Four woman aviators; one with a side hustle as a designer

Another trip to the best vintage clothing store ever.

Paris, someday soon.

Daisies, linen and box pleats for bicycling