Taking Labels for Granted

Here's our website:  tedium.co - it answers my question about putting our clothes on front-ways is easy because of the labels on the back.   The answer is unusual:  the roots of modern clothing labels start with unions.  At the turn of the 20th century, union labels were used by a variety of labor groups, both inside and outside of garments. In fact, the first example of such labels came from cigar-makers in 1874, who used it as a way to highlight the higher product quality compared with products made elsewhere. But the most famous use of this tactic came from clothing-makers, particularly the International Ladies Garment Workers’ Union (ILGWU), which used the tags almost as a branding strategy for the union. In fact, the union became noted in the ’70s and early ’80s for its television commercials, in which members of the union sing a ditty called “Look for the Union Label.” Now labels convey many things - place or origin, materials, warnings for hazardous materials.  And there are labels on everything - remember when bananas didn't need to have a label on them?  Labels are now regulated requirements.   The internet covers labels today in various ways:  Ways to remove clothing labels, get custom clothing labels made, get name stickers for your kids, how to sew a label into a garment, and so on.  Tomorrow we'll explore more things we take for granted - things that make our everyday activities easy and efficient. Our pictures today are the front garden - taken yesterday.  I am always amused to see vertical perennials in the front garden tilting - they do whatever the wind tells them.  There is definitely a southern wind here on Sunnylea Crescent.

Space on the Front Porch

What's the news on the front porch? "Two members of the International Space Station’s Expedition 48 crew stepped outside the orbital complex to install a new “front porch”. The nearly six-hour long spacewalk started at 7:04 a.m. CDT (12:04 GMT) Aug. 19 with a goal to install International Docking Adapter-2 (IDA-2) to the forward end of the station. Read more at http://www.spaceflightinsider.com/missions/iss/new-front-porch-added-international-space-station/#UhAIEIcdBgcakPmC.99" I was observing the front entrances of the 1950's and 1960's houses in my neighbourhood.  Some of  the front doors have steps the width of the door so one can just 'step in'.  There seems to be an absence of a front porch - that structure that was at the entrance of the house to keep one free of the elements.  A century ago, it was large enough to be an outdoor room.   "Nobody thought much about the front porch when most Americans had them and used them. The great American front porch was just there, open and sociable, an unassigned part of the house that belonged to everyone and no one, a place for family and friends to pass the time." --Rochlin, The Front Porch, in Home, Sweet Home So I find out that the decline of the front porch happened with the automobile after the second world war. Car noise and exhaust fumes ruined the street as a place of relaxation.  Air conditioning furthered the decline. Finally, the television inside the house was the source of entertainment.  Our pictures today show the bright yellows of August in the garden.

Are you aging?

There were birthdays this week at exercise class. Janet turned 79 and says she doesn't feel that old, so I asked her how old she feels.  Her answer:  Feels like 35.  I responded that I feel older than Janet - that was thirty years ago for me - a different time in society, in my activities and work, and in my interests. So I wondered:  make a chart that has rows and columns.  Put the decades along the top row (Age 10,20,30,40,50,60, etc), and the major life areas and interests along the left column, then fill in the cells. What would be the same and what would be different over the decades? Or could we take an age test that showed similarities and differences between age groups and find our place? You can take 'age tests' - here's one: Age Test - a caution that the tests don't explain the results. Here's a Guardian article asking people what age they feel they are in How old do you feel? And there is research being done in the area at the website Changing Age. For today's picture's we are looking at my conservatory in the garden. I took some video pictures of my gardens yesterday so that when I redo things in the fall and spring, I know what's where for moving, etc. I realized that I had forgotten to photograph the garden on tour days this summer - it was so busy and so many tours - so many times I've forgotten.  I realized this when I went to show the hydrangeas at the greenhouse in July compared to yesterday. All the blooms are finished except for two pink ones. They still look lovely with their lime green floppy heads.