Bus Rides Early Morning

The bus downtown drives past some pretty heavy hitters in the retail world.  I love the window displays.  This one is Brooks Brothers.  Maybe it's the color I like and the cheeriness first thing in the morning.  Window shopping is a good thing.  There are plenty of windows to look at.  

While I still lived in Wisconsin I would drive down to Chicago for the day maybe once every year and a half.  One occassion it was my birthday, that week before Christmas.  Snow was in all the street gutters.  Everyone bundled in their coats and hats and gloves. All the window displays on State Street were worth standing in the cold biting wind to look at.  I spent hours in the Marshall Field's, after watching the Christmas Story in each of the windows.  The Store itself had qualities of a fine museum.  Just keep looking up.

My brother, the tour guide, took me into a furriers somewhere near Marshall's and told the attendant that we would be trying on some coats.  She was so helpful; she knew full well we weren't buying anything.  She could tell we didn't plan on pouring pig blood on anything either. We all relaxed into the shopping of it.  I spent my time feeling each of the furs, the heaviness of the coats, and the cool silk of the linings.   All three of us had a great time.  My brother tried on full lenght coats.  Men's fur coats are too gorgeous.  He looked damn good.  I have, in my lifetime then, worn a mink coat and a chinchilla jacket.  I probably wore some other animals too, I just can't remember which. (some I don't want to remember, snark!)

Every week day, early in the morning, the bus brings me into downtown.   The actual store in front of me as I get off the bus is a Stetson hat shop.  Some truly interesting windows there.  Maybe it's time to try on some hats.  I'll post that photo next week.  I'm sorry men don't wear hats the way they used to.

Hmmm, men's fur coats and fine hats...I may be living in the wrong era.  More probably, I've seen some fine costuming in the movies.  Thank goodness for the movies.