Daily Prompt: Style Icon

Describe your personal style, however you’d like to interpret that — your clothing style, your communication style, your hair style, your eating style, anything.

Style? Do I have a style? The photo shows my wedding style caught in a moment when i was having a discussion with No. 2 son dressed up to the nines for the occasion of his wedding day. Otherwise you find me in comfort clothes, although I was comfortable in my wedding clothes. I even found a pair of shoes with higher heels that were made for my feet with all their lumps, bumps and irregularities. I managed to walk without having one accident and falling in the false moment.

I have a style for shopping, a style for taking long walks and a style for housework, all according to the season although I am constantly wearing short sleeves. The main theme is comfort. I am now at an age where forcing myself into something that wants to force me into other shapes and sizes is no longer possible. I am expanding and I like my clothes to expand with me. Everything seems to focus on the feet. Comfortable shoes are fashion at the moment and it suits me. As long as they give with the feet, everything is perfect. I remember once we were in Italy buying shoes and in her broken english, the shop assistant was explaining to Mr. Swiss that “Theese are good shoes, they giiiiive with the feet”. Who needs to understand when everything is explained with a touch of Italian.

My communication style is a matter of what language I am speaking and keeping things at a respectable level. At home communication is Swiss German (Bernese-Solothurn style) although I avoid actually writing in German as I make too many grammatical mistakes. It all has to fit, and not growing up in the language, there is always something there to remind me that I am still a legal alien in Switzerland. For this reason I prefer to write in english, although even then it might be that my style is rather strange and accompanied with some spelling mistakes, after all it is human to err and divine to forgive according to the poet Alexander Pope (1643-1733). Actually I just discovered he wrote a few good poems and will now endeavour to read more of his works.

As far as my hair style is concerned, I have learnt over the years that short, comfortable and easy to manage is the idea. My mum never let me grow my hair as a kid. She probably had her reasons, but to this day I do not know what they were. As soon as I was released from the mother complex I naturally rebelled. It was the time of beatnik and so long hair was in, the longer the better although It had its problems. Those favoured with locks of thick hair were lucky. Unfortunately I was favoured with fine hair that rebelled as soon as it grew past the shoulders. It began to create forks at the tips. It took many years, but today it is cropped short according to the brilliant ideas of Heidi my hairdresser. I don’t even have to colour it, the fifty shades of grey are natural, and I still have a few dark hairs at the tips.

Eating style has become anything that agrees. There is no longer a question of what you like to eat, but what your food likes about you. There are just certain things that you have to deal with as a golden oldie, even if you do not want to. I like fruit, but unfortunately over the years fruit has decided it does not like me, according to how my body feels and mostly it does not feel fruity. I can manage OK with bananas, but my sugar system says I should avoid them. Yes diabetes has reared its ugly head. I can no longer drink coffee for the same anti digestive reasons and if I am going on a journey my digestive nervous system rebels before I am on my way. I am quite partial to spicy food and I do not seem to have a problem with it. Having a family, I realise that I am not the only person at the table and cannot only eat my favourites foods, but must choose dishes that the others also like. I love aubergine, but Mr. Swiss is not so keen on aubergine, so if I cook aubergine it is mixed with other vegetables. My autistic son seems to have an aversion to green vegetables (especially broccoli) and feels that I am trying to poison him when I serve mushrooms, so there again I have to somehow compensate by perhaps also cooking some carrots or only applying mushrooms when he is for some reason not at home for a meal. It is basically a fact that when you have a family you have no real opportunity to develop a personal style in the kitchen as you are not alone at the table.

The last part of the prompt says “anything”, but I do not know what “anything” would apply to. Perhaps my love of reading, writing, gardening (with restrictions due to golden oldie ism).