Red, White, and Floral for Independence Day
Let me start this post by wishing my American friends a very happy Independence Day! This year, our nation is celebrating its 250th birthday. This federal holiday commemorates the adoption of the Declaration of Independence which officially established the United States of America as its own sovereign nation, independent of British colonial rule, on July 4, 1776.
In yesterday’s post, I shared a photograph from our country’s bicentennial celebration in 1976. I was two years old so I posed for the picture in my colonial costume without really understanding any of it. Fifty years later, I am here for another milestone American birthday, our semiquincentennial celebration. Hopefully, I’ll still be around for our tercentennial anniversary in 2076. I will be 102 by then and might not know what’s going on but it would still be cool. Heck, the way things are going on around here in recent years, hopefully our country will still be our country in 2076. All governments eventually fall, I’m just hoping ours doesn’t in my lifetime. Or my children’s lifetime. Or their children’s.
But let’s not dwell on the sad things that could happen. Let’s celebrate the good things that have happened! We are the land of the free and the home of the brave and there are still hundreds of millions of really good people living in America. Sure, there are some really bad folks here, but there are really bad folks everywhere. And if good is to win over evil, the good people really need to stick together!
The day before yesterday, I shared a red and white outfit for Canada Day. Living so near the border (less than 30 miles away), I wanted to celebrate my northern neighbors and the anniversary of the Canadian Confederation which united three separate colonies in one single dominion on July 1, 1867.
I took my red and white Canada Day outfit and easily transitioned it to a Fourth of July outfit by changing my robe and my hat. I could have easily added a blue topper for a traditional patriotic look in red, white, and blue but I’m not very traditional. So I decided instead of a blue topper, I would add a floral print that has a little bit of blue in it.
The first time I wore this thrifted duster, I layered it over a bright blue dress, which also would have worked for a patriotic outfit. But I really love the way this robe looks with red after wearing it with these same red pants and a black tee shirt for the Oogie’s Ice Cream 20th Anniversary Celebration in May.
I could have kept the same white hat from my Canada Day outfit, but my yellow hat with its colorful band was just so much better even if it’s not in the red, white, and blue patriotic color palette.
This outfit is lightweight and breezy, cute and colorful, and doesn’t look like a patriotic costume, making it perfect for any summertime celebration!
I hope you all enjoy the weekend whether you are celebrating something or not. Stay cool, let your light shine bright, and be kind to your neighbors!
Keeping it on the edge,
Shelbee
shelbeeontheedge@gmail.com
I am a midlife woman, wife, and stay-at-home mother of 2 boys and 2 cats. I have a passion for helping other women feel fabulous in the midst of this crazy, beautiful life.
4 Comments
Nancy
And now I still don’t know how you will celebrate independence day! Lol. I bought red trousers weeks ago and they are my favourite, can you imagine! Great look! Have a fab weekend.
shelbeeontheedge@gmail.com
Hahahahaha, thanks, Nancy! We are going to our friends’ house for lunch to celebrate today. I know we usually host the big celebration events, but it’s a nice change to just be a guest!
xoxo
Shelbee
Marsha Banks
You are like me…I don’t like to wear “in your face” red, white, and blue! I think that looks too much like a costume! I love how you stuck with a red column and then added a duster with red, white, and blue and other colors. I graduated from high school in 1976, and we had the most horrendous gowns! They were mainly one of the three colors with the side sash-like things alternating blocks of the other two colors. They were truly awful. Needless to say I didn’t keep it. My hometown planted a time capsule then and opened it over the weekend. I wish I had been there to see it. While I don’t like much of what happens there, I surely do miss the small community as opposed to a large suburb. I, too, would like to see the tercentennial, but I will be 118! I suppose it could happen, and I would enjoy it as long as I’m in my right mind and relatively mobile. I also hope we still have a country then as well as in the coming years. I can’t help but think most people living in the States feel the same way…good people who love their country, but maybe not the way it’s being run right now…from both sides of the aisle.
https://marshainthemiddle.com/
shelbeeontheedge@gmail.com
Thanks, Marsha! Sometimes I like to wear a costumey outfit but most times I do not! This is the way to go, I think. Oh, I bet the 1976 graduation gowns were awful. All polyester and synthetics! LOL I have to share my sister’s Independence Day post because she remembers the whole day of July 4, 1976, just like I knew she would!
From my sister:
“Fifty years ago, I was a 7-year-old little girl, completely caught up in the excitement of America’s Bicentennial. Like so many across the country, I spent that summer surrounded by parades, flags, history, and a patriotic spirit that seemed to be everywhere.
I distinctly remember my mom telling us the next celebration this big wouldn’t happen until 2026. To my 7-year-old brain in 1976, that year was impossible to imagine. She smiled and said I’d be a grown woman by then.
Our mom was an incredibly talented seamstress and made beautiful colonial dresses for me and my younger sisters. We wore them to the 1776 Jubilee at Meuser Park in Wilson and even walked across the bandshell stage during the ceremony.
Back then, everyone seemed to get into the spirit. Fire hydrants were painted red, white, and blue. The little footbridge in Avona was patriotic too. Everywhere you looked, America was celebrating turning 200.
Now, 50 years later, the painted hydrants and bridge are long gone, and there aren’t many colonial costumes in sight. But one thing Mom got absolutely right—I most definitely grew up!
And wow… there are SO MANY FIREWORKS! 🇺🇸
Happy 250th Birthday, America! ❤️🤍💙
See you in 2076!”
xoxo
Shelbee