Practical Fashion

Occasionally a woman has a fashion accessory that defines her.  Queen Elizabeth and the Royal women of England wear hats, Elizabeth Taylor has diamonds, and Paris Hilton has her little Chihuahua. Not to be outdone, Maggie McDonald has her scarves.

You may have noticed in all of the posted pictures, Maggie is wearing a cotton scarf around her neck. It has a practical basis – that is to catch all the secretions from her trach – but it has become a fashion statement.  We take care to either match or compliment her scarf with whatever outfit Maggie is wearing. We have amassed several over the three years she has had the trach and the scarves have become Maggie’s signature. When I was folding the laundry yesterday I counted 30 of them in the basket. Those are pictured below. There are at least another 20 either in the drawer or in the hamper. We need a bunch of them because Maggie goes through at least 10 a day.  .

Maggie’s scarf collection includes every color of the rainbow and several different types of designs. The only requirement is that the scarves be cotton (the understanding that “cotton breathes” is highly significant in this case) and big enough to go around her neck without strangling her. The most common is the “kerchief” style. Whenever I see them, I buy a few, especially if they are available in interesting colors. Some of her best scarves were presents from my brother Pat and his wife Julie. They gave her a Ferrari scarf from Italy, a fish scarf from Tahoe and a scarf with survival tips on it just before she started high school. Our friend Lexi gave her a couple with topographical maps of Yellowstone National park. Her teacher Ms. Taylor dyed and 

embellished a couple of them to match her prom dress and the formality of the evening.

I am always interested in growing the collection or replacing those worn out soldiers who have given all of their fibers in the interest of fashion and health. If you know of interesting cotton scarves available, please send me a link. The kerchief are available everywhere, I’m looking for the more unusual scarves so that Maggie can set herself apart from the normal scarf wearing teenager.

 Maggie is not the only one sporting a scarf in this house. Recently we added a scarf to another member of the family. We have a "guard duck" named Shirley.  She is made of stone and guards our front door. Shirley the duck has been on our huge front porch for 24 years. (That's the "porch" in the picture She was a wedding present for Steve and I from a woman named Shirley, so naturally we named the duck after her.  Age and weather are taking their toll on Shirley the duck. A piece of her neck simply fell off her and onto the front porch. Steve glued it, but it did not look good.  No problem. I grabbed one of Maggie scarves and tied it around her neck. Now she guards and looks fashionable.