I love the comedian Eddie Izzard, and one of his routines (older routine) involves the grim reaper, grandmothers and hopscotch. As I approached this mystical number — 70 — I thought of that routine and laughed. One of the bits is that when women reach a certain stage of life they get the “gran coat” and wear a “cake on their heads.” (Think Queen Elizabeth.) That always cracked me up because I grew up in an era where grown up ladies wore fancy hats.
Yesterday, as my friends and I proceeded on the legendary “doing of Del Norte,” of song and story, we passed a general store/antique shop/thrift shop and in the window of that shop was a hat tree and on that hat tree were — cakes! I mean gran hats.
Anyway, it was an awesome birthday full of sweet surprises and friendship. I appreciate everyone’s good wishes here! The dreaded day couldn’t have been better. It included a video call with my step-family in Indiana during which we discovered we could do cool things with our phones. Afterward my step-daughter-in-law put together this “card.”
I wouldn’t say I’m starting out a new year with a clean slate since I have a lot of projects hanging fire, but I’m glad the “milestone” is behind me.
Women's Wilderness Legend “Summer is the season of inferior sledding” - Inuit proverb 
He is such a good comedian!!!
I love him. My favorite is probably Noah’s Ark where Noah tells his son to load all the animals and at the end of the day there’s nothing left but two tigers. 😀
Haha…I need to go back and watch his specials! High rewatchability for sure!
I have many many hats, most of ’em the baseball type, but not all. It’s kinda like my daughter and her shoes. When she was a kid, we called her “Imelda.”
Ha ha ha! I have a lot of snow boots. Well, four pairs
Many Happy Returns. May you never wear a cake hat! I love Eddie X
I think we’re going to go back in April (my friend’s 70th) and if the store is open, we’re all getting cake hats. 😀
😂 Oh no! Hahaha! OK then, fair enough x
I also liked Eddie Izzard’s “Tyranny of Flags” and his Talking Ducks. The guy is an incredible talent,
Happy birthday! You’re now a septuagenarian.
Yep. I’m pretty grateful, actually. Not everyone gets this chance.
I like Monkeys with Guns, too.
So many hats I wore growing up, for church, in school, in Scouts. Probably why I became a ‘no hat’ kinda gal later in life. So glad you had fun on your birthday.
It was a great birthday. I will wear a straw cowboy hat in summer.
Belated Happy Birthday!! I remember those hats. One in particular of my grandmother that was teal coloured, that looked like a bunch of flower petals and most definitely the shape and size of a two layered cake. She was 4 foot nothing and it probably added at least a foot to her height. She wore it and a matching dress to my brother’s wedding. I actually love all those old cake hats, not that I have ever worn one.
I loved those cake hats, too. It was something to look at in church, too.
😄So true.
Hehe! My great grandmother and my grandmother and even my mother wore hats every Sunday to church!! And my Great grandmother had “cake” hats! Her big secret was that being Methodist, she wasn’t supposed to wear make-up. So she’d wet one of the rose petals on her hat and color her lips! Such scandal if she was ever found out!!
😀
I remember my grandma wearing hats with veils. I don’t remember my mom’s hats as clearly, but I do remember dressing up to go downtown. For mom that always meant gloves.
Yep. Gloves and hats for a while then they switched to only gloves and then they went to the mall. 😀
Maybe you should go back for cake? I associate hats like that with writers and artists, and Queens. How’s that for a sweeping generalisation?
We’re going to in April when Karen turns 70 🙂 If they are open, we’ll each get one. It will be awesome, regal, artistic and divine.
A boa will be necessary too, but absolutely no gran coat.
No gran coat.
Happy birthday and healthy year, Martha! Love that card!!!
Me too! We had so much fun — the kids even got over being shy. 😀
After watching Izzard, I understand why I’m still going strong as I approach 70 (and male). I played hopscotch and skipped rope as a child. Maybe I have the Grim Reaper fooled (for now).
One of the most reasonable explanations for longevity. Like a lot of femalesI, too, played hopscotch and jumped rope