sunny uniform

Anthropologie Field Scout skirt, Old Navy checked blouse, Aldo flats, handbag from Dear Golden Vintage

I swear, everytime I go to get dressed on weekends lately the dayglo orange Anthropologie Field Scout skirt is the first thing to come to mind.  I recently wore it for Easter dinner, with a striped shirt and vintage pink Vera scarf, and last Sunday's warm sun (20 degrees! or uh, 68 fahrenheit...) brought it out again, with a tan checked shirt from Old Navy.  I swear I wear other colours too...some other OOTD from the week to come...

Needing a huge dose of vitamin D after those long dark winter months, manfriend and I went on a walking excursion out to a nearish 'Dawn of the Dead' zombie mall (home of Winners aka TJ Maxx) and to our local Value Village around the corner.  Dinner was a plate of mixed vegetable curries at a fabulous hole-in-the-wall joint.  yum.

Actual Dawn of the Dead zombies

Dawn of the Dead is one of my favourite movies- it's a horror film, yes, but with a stinging indictment of 70's consumer culture and, well, of  humanity.  George A. Romero's zombies are never the greatest threat to living people- it's the suspicion, cowardice and greed of humans that will ultimately bring down civilization when a threat is introduced.  An interesting article on the growth and demise of mall cultures can be read at Design Observer, and if you haven't seen the original Night of the Living Dead and Dawn of the Dead, well, I highly recommend them!  Fun AND tragic!

This walk reminded me of what strange things urban neighbourhoods are too- across the street from our place becomes a beautiful tree-y land of brick mansions and leafy parks.  However, take off to the left, and you're bounded by a highway, walking through mixed neighbourhoods of duplexes and industrial buildings.  This used to be a very residential neighbourhood, but the sunken highway was put in during wild growth plans for the city in the sixties and entire communities were displaced.  I don't think it ever recovered any sort of organic sense of place- the roadway just cuts straight through, defining the neighbourhood as a throughway.