Traditions: Texan Homecoming Mums

When I read a blog, I usually read for the long term. Jezebel is a prime example, as I've been a faithful reader going on seven years. It's an interesting mix of political posts, women's issues, along with fashion and other pop culture tidbits. The past year or so the quality has been going downhill but many of the stories featured are still well worth the read. Today I was reading about a tradition native to Texas: the Homecoming Mum.

What started off as a simple corsage to wear to your school's Homecoming dance, mums as they're known are made of either fresh or fake flowers and are personalized. Ribbons cascade to the floor in your school's colors, while various paraphernalia of your activities (megaphones for cheerleaders, music notes for the choir members, etc.) are affixed in various ways. 

Different schools have different rules and traditions surrounding their mums. The large decorative mums may only be worn to the pep rally and Homecoming game while smaller ones are worn to the dance. Some schools limit the colors that certain classes may wear, i.e. freshman are only limited to the school colors while seniors can use whatever shade they choose.

Even the gentlemen wear mums, usually as garters on their arms. 

Mums date back several decades, and many people still have theirs from the high school days. 

Texas and other parts of the South have introduced a number of trends, and I think the Homecoming Mum would do well here. Other interesting trends introduced from the South? May I present to you the painted cooler:

 

Beautiful Plaid Skirts from Tuckernuck

Plaid Silk Floor Length Skirt, $198  |  Social Ball Skirt, $378 

I'm still thinking about the plaid skirts I posted not too long ago. While I love the fullness of the skirt on the right, I adore the colors of the tartan on the Just Madras skirt on the left.While the skirt lives on the dressier side of your closet, the right shirt or sweater with appropriate accessories will look wonderful to even a more casual affair.

If you're like me and are tall enough to play center for the Cleveland Cavaliers, I recommend wearing flats with either of these skirts. A floor length skirt should reach your instep if you're wearing heels or otherwise your look won't pull together.

Ashland, KY: Paramount Festival of Trees

Thanksgiving with my family is a wondrously simple affair. We watch the Macy's Thanksgiving Parade and then the Purina Dog Show. By the time the dog show is over, dinner is ready. We barely take half an hour to eat, and are usually in our PJs. We nap, and then we head over to Ashland, Kentucky's Paramount Theater for their annual Festival of Trees.

Please excuse the quality of the pictures, I took them on my iPhone because I can't remember to charge the battery in my camera.

 A tree inspired by the movie Miracle on 34th Street.

 The Paramount Theatre is nationally known for the murals in the building.
This is a close-up of some detailing around an exit.

 One of the murals on the walls. I've been enchanted by them ever since I was a child.

 A recent but very welcomed newcomer to the Festival is the massive and elaborate model train exhibit. You can see more of the murals on the wall in the background.

 The coal industry is always kept in mind. Even the ceiling has a mural.

 A close-up of the school in the train display. The swing set to the right of the school was actually moving, a nice touch.

 It was hard to get a good shot of the trees due to amount of people walking around.

 My mother's favorite tree. She's been collecting nutcrackers for over 40 years.

 Trees in all shapes, sizes, colors, and themes.

 There are wreathes and other decorative displays in the entrance to the theatre.
I really loved this idea as a wreath!

Unfortunately, the event has already ended for this year and I'm just now getting around to posting because I only had it saved as a draft. Oops.  However, Ashland, KY, has always had myriad of Christmas events, with the most notable being the light display in downtown's Central Park. I consider Ashland to be one of the prettiest towns in Appalachia, with a beautiful and active downtown area that's well worth the visit. The Kentucky Highlands Museum is hardly two blocks from the Paramount, and right across the street is the Pendleton Arts Center with a wide array of artisans.

A Look at Tattersall, 1974

I came across (and shamelessly stole) this photo on The Wide Wale. This is what a true prep wears:

Then again, I lived in and remember the '80s.

There are a few details that do date the outfit, such as the wide lapel on the button down, the acrylic jewelry, and the high-waisted pant. The camera equipment can obviously date this picture, but for all we know she could be a hipster sitting in Brooklyn somewhere. 

But she's too well-dressed for that. 

I also now miss my days in the darkroom during college. 

John says this ad is from 1974. What makes this an actual honest-to-goodness preppy outfit is because this outfit would have worked in 1984, 1994, 2004, and would still look great in 2014. 

Here's an idea of what this outfit would look like today:

A tattersall shirt, bright blue shirt underneath. A good midrise pant, braided leather belt, and classic tortoiseshell frames. The chunky cutout heels add some fun to an otherwise somewhat serious outfit.

I didn't add a turtleneck because the neckline on the button down is too narrow to accommodate a turtleneck and no one likes to feel like their being choked. The pant could have been khaki but I love the style in the picture too much and I find the brownish-grey color elegant. 

Another aspect that adds preppiness to this outfit is that it would appropriate for so many occasions. Going to a PTA meeting, grabbing a casual lunch with a friend, browsing the farmer's market on the weekend.

A good casual outfit, both 40 years ago and today.

Finally Made It: King Tunnel

In a previous post, I discussed some of the abandoned tunnels in the general-ish Athens, OH, area. I've been to Moonville --along with everyone else in the area-- and the Haydenville clay tunnel.  I knew there were other tunnels in the area, one being off limits due to a strict property owner but the other(s) I simply had no information on. I figure this is mostly due to the fact they're not known as being haunted, like the previously mentioned tunnels. My little sister was able to get some information on finding King's Tunnel and so we set off to find it yesterday.

My sister had directions from a website called Hidden Hocking but I had the coordinates from a geocaching website. Seeing as I'm from Ohio and am therefore a bad driver, I chose to plug the coordinates into my GPS so I could focus on driving and not reading street signs. When I did that, getting to the tunnel was pretty easy. I took 33 West from Nelsonville to 56 South and then took a sharp turn onto 356. If you use a GPS it will yell "recalculating!" as you turn onto 356 but just ignore it. While on 356 the GPS suddenly announced that we were at our location. At the time, our location was somewhere deep in the Southeastern Ohio woods so my sister and I were a bit confused by this. The GPS was correct, we were at our location, on top of it actually. 356 is on the side of a hollow and if you look down you'll see what appears to be an ATV trail. That's the trail you take to get to the tunnel.  Keep going down the road and you'll see Rock Creek Road to your left.  There's some parking space around the intersection and when you turn back to face 356 there's an old concrete bridge that is the start of the trail.

My little sister threatened to hack into this blog and post unflattering pictures of me if I put her picture up so I boxed her out. I was standing on the concrete bridge when I took this. 

The trail to the tunnel isn't long at all, less than ten minutes. 

Welcome to King's Tunnel, also known as King's Hollow Tunnel or the Mineral Tunnel.  This tunnel and the Moonville tunnel both belonged to the Marietta-Cincinnati railroad and are thought to have been built around the same time. No one seems to know why this tunnel was built with timbers instead of concrete or rock (maybe because it's already in a giant rock?).

A better view of the boulder/hill/rock the tunnel where the tunnel is set.  The tunnel was much longer than I thought, it's roughly 355 feet long.

Each of these timbers were huge and while I didn't measure I'd estimate they were at least 12x12.

I'm pretty sure it says 1955 but I could be wrong.

Refreshingly there was little graffiti. If you look up above the nose of the dog, you can see where the boards are starting to warp and buckle.

The beams at the top of the tunnel.

A  few of the seams were starting to split.

It's always nice to see the light at the end of the tunnel.

The tunnel was originally built in the mid-1850s but with only a timber skeleton.  The walls were added at some later point. The tunnel was taken out of service in the 1980s and CSX took the rails out. There are rumors of joining the Moonville and King's Tunnels with a bike/riding path which would be a great attraction for the area. As always, if you plan on going let someone know because there is no cell phone reception at the tunnel and it may be days before someone finds you.

King's Tunnel is located in Lake Hope State Park, lovely but little known. The Moonville tunnel isn't too far, add a picnic and a spot of hiking and you have a nice way of spending a late fall day in Ohio.

"In Huntington, West Virginia, there is a river..."

On November 14th, 1970, Southern Airways Flight 932 crashed on a hill just short of the runway at Huntington Tri-State Airport in Huntington, WV.  On board were 75 members of the Marshall Thundering Herd football team, coaches, staff, and fans.  The team had just lost 17-14 against the Pirates of Eastern Carolina University.  After the crash, the president of Marshall University, Donald Dedmon, almost shut down the football program until students and fans rallied to keep it alive. Dedmon hired Jack Lengyel as the new head coach and the rest of the story has gone into cinematic history as the movie We Are Marshall. 

My family has several friends that lost loved ones to that hillside on Flight 932. Most of them won't talk about the crash, or the surrounding time. People just seem to think that 42 years later, enough time has passed and it's time to move on. People in these parts, Appalachians, just don't up and forget their folk no matter how long ago they passed over. Ever year, on November 14th at noon, there's a ceremony on Marshall's campus behind the student center where Memorial Fountain stands (as seen in the picture above). There's a brief ceremony and the fountain is turned off. Many students make it a point to be there, it's part of the Marshall experience. You can see them stop and say a quick prayer on their way to class. Most 20 year olds don't give much thought to the past, but there's something powerful in seeing them remember their fellow schoolmates who never got to finish their journey between the East End and Downtown Huntington.

For more information, I can't recommend enough the documentary Marshall University: From Ashes to Glory. 






*It should be noted the Ohio River doesn't flow through the middle of Huntington. If it did, Southern Ohio would wake up to find itself annexed which I doubt they'd enjoy.

Plaid Skirts

Source: Classy Girls Wear Pearls

I can't say how much I adore this look. Beautiful plaid skirts with a simple OCBD or a sweater. It's very easy to recreate this look and said look is perfect for any number of occasions throughout winter.

Kohl's, $50

Land's End, $24 in a variety of sizes

 

 

Brooks Brothers, $165

 

Zappos, $71

 

Limited, $35

 

 

 

 

Ralph Lauren Closing Neo-Prep Line Rugby

The Ralph Lauren brand Rugby was launched in 2004 to attract younger buyers into the preppy style.  It did so in an almost comical fashion, with patches on everything that were the size of an actual rugby ball.  The line also had a fascination with the skull and crossbones motif, which appeared on a large majority of the clothes and accessories.  In 2004, an ultra-preppy yet albeit costume-ish store was a good bet, as the popular stores of the time, Abercrombie & Fitch (an original preppy brand) and Hollister Co. were working hard to bring faux-prep into mainstream. Yes, this was the era of the ironic popped collar.  Ralph Lauren saw the sales opportunity and ran with it.

Although the brand was aimed at college students those not of that age really got into the brand which I believe helped keep the brand afloat.  It was strange to see people dressed in same clothes they would have worn as a "dead preppy" for Halloween in the 1980's. Alas, the the line hasn't been profitable and will close up shop on February 2, 2013.  Until then the handful of stores and the website will remain up and running.

While doing some research for this post, I had the thought that pieces from the Rugby store may soon become "hipster" items for preps.  That is, it will become fashionable to flout the pieces because they are no longer accessible to others.  Exclusivity, a trademark prep attribute. 

Seein' the Light at the End of the Moonville Tunnel

I'm thinking with this weekend's expected temperatures to be very comfortable to get out with my kid sister and see the sights.  Some of the best sights in Southeastern Ohio are a bit off the beaten path, such as the Moonville Tunnel:

Although said to be haunted by the spirit of a railroad brakeman, I didn't see any such specter.  However, if you go during the summer the tunnel is haunted by mosquitoes large enough to file flights plans.  You can ride a horse through the tunnel, do some biking, or take in a viewing of the gallery of graffiti:

The tunnel is located in Lake Hope State Park, which is a little-known but beautiful place.  As I was with my little sister, I don't remember the exact directions to getting to the tunnel.  Obviously it was a tad tricky getting out there due to rough roads.  I was rather surprised during my jaunt to find there were quite a few other people heading to the tunnel as well.  There were several people riding horses and some other looky-loos.  The trail to the tunnel is maybe half a mile but there's a difficult to climb hill at the end to get up to the tunnel.

There's a lot of industrial ruins from the old coal and iron boom days within easy driving distance.  One of the most notable ones I've been itching to set eye on is San Toy. There's not much there other than some foundations but it's this one piece from the past that's urging me to go:

 Source: Forgotten OH

It's hard to tell, but this is an old traffic light from the 1920s and from what I last heard it was there as of early this spring. However the spring and summer bring an ample greenness to Ohio that hides most of the structural artifacts forcing me to wait until the weather is chilly and otherwise unpleasant.  This weekend 'Ol Sol will be shining and and the temperature enjoyable without being too cold or too hot.
Also worth a look:

 Source: Forgotten OH

If you continue down 33 past Athens and then Nelsonville, on the left side of the road you'll see a sign welcoming you to Haydenville.  It's well worth the time to swing off the road and take in the town.  Again, this is the last company-owned town in Ohio and the well-maintained homes showcase the unique brick that is prevalent in the area.  The church above is built of these bricks and is stunning in real life.  Thankfully, there's a wooden pallet manufacturer located in the town who has graciously donated much-needed funds to help maintain this beautiful building. 

Probably the most well-known attraction in Hyadenville is the tunnel.  Whereas the Moonville tunnel was for the railroad, the Haydenville tunnel was constructed to move clay from the mines to the brick ovens. The road to the tunnel is the second road on the right after turning into the town.  The road takes you to the top of the hill where there's a small cemetery and you can climb down the hill to the tunnel.  Or, right after you first turn on the road, take the first left.  It starts off as a gravel road that turns into dirt and then turns into weeds.  If your car is low to the ground, you will lose your catalytic converter.  The road leads right up to the tunnel.  The Haydenville Tunnel is extremely dangerous.  You can stand in the entryway but all you'll see is a giant pile of rubble.  And yes, you can climb over it but you're only asking for trouble.  The wood used to construct the tunnel is rotten beyond belief and a complete cave-in is always possible.  I've heard the local law is okay with you standing outside taking pictures but if they catch you physically in the tunnel they'll ask you to leave. 

 Source: The Athens Conservatory

 

The King's Tunnel (also known as the Mineral tunnel) is only a few miles from the Moonville tunnel and is easily accessible.  I haven't been here yet but I'm hoping to make the trip on my way to San Toy.   Nowhere near as dangerous as Haydenville, considerably less mosquitoes than Moonville, but there is a musty smell that can be smelled someways back.  

If you decide to visit any of these tunnels, do let someone you're coming and when you expect to be back.  Cell phone reception is horrible up around Moonville and Haydenville if you're lucky enough to get it.  Don't go alone, if someone does get hurt and you can't make a call, someone can go get help. Don't forget to take pictures and have fun.

 

Yet Another Preppy Blog...

I had to say it myself, so I know you're saying it-

            Not another preppy blog! Why must you torment the world with yet another preppy blog?

Yes, I will admit there is many a prep blog out there, but each of them has their flavor usually based on their location.  There are a ton of Southern preppy/preppy-ish blogs, a few from the Northeast, and one or two out of the Midwest.  I live in Appalachian Ohio, neither a Yankee nor a Rebel.  Too many hills to be considered Midwestern; more coal mines than corn fields.  I spent the first twenty-five years of my life convinced I'd never have a life inside these mountains and the past two convinced I needed to stay.

Each region of the U.S. got seasoned a bit differently, the South taking much of that cane sugar sweetness, the Nor'easters taking the richness of maple syrup, the earthy wheat from the middle of the continent.  Appalachia got seasoned a bit differently.  The Good Lord may have taken the other sections of the country seriously but He peppered us with humor and Allium tricoccum--otherwise known as the ramp.  A ramp smells like garlic but tastes like an onion, an acquired taste (and smell) just like life in Appalachia. 

While this is is a preppy style blog, it's styled with a practical eye.  Most men in these parts only wear suits to church and even that's becoming rare these days as the clergy welcome casual dress in an effort to encourage church attendance.  More people prefer to spend their weekends hiking or working around the house rather than running out in heels for brunch.  There's not much shopping choice around here (unless you're in the market for Carhartt), and the most popular clothing retailer is Fashion Bug. 

I feel Appalachia is a prime place to aim a preppy style blog because it's a style that works well for the area.  It doesn't take much effort or time to put together a great look and is a timeless style.  People are willing to pay for clothes provided they're not going to have to replace them soon, one the key selling points of preppy style. 

Come join me by the bonfire, it's getting chilly out.  I've got stories to share and moonshine to drink.  No ramps, though.  They're an early spring crop.