Feathers

The Thursday issue of the Women's section of my paper is always about fashion. Not something I get excited about. Today there were pictures of hats, some of them with feathers. It seems that hats are making a come back.

Not only do I not wear fur but I don't wear hats and I especially don't wear feathers.

One of my Power Ranger friends is a birdwatcher. Yes, it's fun to tease her about that but, more than birdwatching, she's an active environmentalist.

She understands the balance of nature.

Years ago I did some research for a book on Florida. I discovered that rich northerners loved to kill our exotic birds in order to make hats. In the "hat" heyday, they not only added magnificent plumes to the hats, but often entire birds.

We all know of John James Audubon, the famous ornithologist. He made no secret of the fact that he killed birds in great numbers for his life like paintings. He shot them, skinned them and mounted them on wire frames.

That's one way to get your model to stand still.

Today when we walked our two miles around the lake we saw beautiful birds. But Florida doesn't have nearly as many varieties as we once did.

I hope your new Easter bonnet doesn't have feathers.



***