MY DAD & MY FASHION BLOG

When I started blogging a year ago, I didn’t expect my father to become one of my readers. I still can’t believe how supportive and caring he has been about my blog.   He even sent me an email yesterday to congratulate me on my blog's 1st anniversary! I didn't tell him - he saw it on my blog. How sweet was that?!

My dad doesn’t read my blog because he likes fashion. He doesn’t like it.  Most of his everyday clothes are stuff he has had for ages.  When my sister and I buy him something new, it goes in the “special clothes” pile. It’s usually a sweater or a shirt - very casual -but he will wear it only on special occasions such as Christmas or for a birthday dinner. I always tease him about that.  I tell him: "Are the clothes in the special closet because you want to be sure they go out of style before wearing them every day?" 
On the other hand, he has a very wide variety of outdoor clothes. He walks 5 miles every day– even if it’s raining buckets or is -5 F. His motto is: “You need the proper clothes if you want to love the outdoors – especially in our country!” His outdoor clothes are high tech and he has something for every temperature – light rain, heavy rain, cold, colder, North Pole cold, hot, windy, humid with mosquitoes, etc. – and don’t get me started on hiking boots! In clothes, he sees usefulness instead of beauty.

 

My sister and my dad bond over their mutual love of science and outdoors – she is studying ecology and he is a semi-retired electrical engineering teacher. They hike together when she visits – they did a 10.5 miles hike which took 6 hours last summer. I would have died after 0.5 mile! They always try to convince me to go with them but I want to respect their special bond – and there is also the fact that I would not last more than 30 minutes on a hike! They always have great stories to tell me when they come back.

Soon, it will be time for me to start taking outfits pictures again. Right now, the grass is still grey and there are a few patches of dirty snow left here and there. There are also a lot of dead leaves from last fall. It would be a very depressing background for a picture. So I wait. I usually go at my dad’s to take my pictures because his neighbours are less curious than mine and because he helps me a lot with the camera. He was so patient with me last year, following all my directions – I can get very bossy. But he seems to like it because he self-proclaimed himself the official photographer of my blog - even if he took just a few.

Our relationship hasn’t always been as good as it is now. We had our awkward phase - like so many daughters and fathers go through during the teenage years. There was also the fact that when my mother was living with us, I think he felt that my sister and I were more comfortable with her. Now that she is gone, he has really stepped up and is so supportive of my sister and me.

You may wonder what the conversation is like around our kitchen table. For as long as I can remember, we had very animated conversations  My sister talks about her insects, her lab rats – literally –  and her herbarium. I talk about my blog, my wonderful readers and about my dream of writing for a living. My father listens to us carefully, asks questions, gives advices and loves us for who we are.
- Marie