Zoom Theater of The Absurd

 
I promised you a sparkly brooch as big as my face, but my fancy took me in a totally different direction this morning.

 
 
 
As I got dressed for the day — which was to include a board meeting and a couple of meetings requiring tact and decorum — I felt that it was time to debut a silk flower as big as my face.
To every thing there is a season; that includes a season for floral brooches as big as my face

I am not sure that my torso provides enough real estate to carry a 12″ floral brooch, but one exists
 
 
 
I’ve loved the idea of a giant silk flower pin since I saw Sarah Jessica Parker wearing one on Sex and the City. A few weeks into the pandemic, I bought one from M&S Schmalberg in New York. But I hadn’t worn it until today.
 
This brooch is 6″ across. My face is also 6″ across.
 
M&S Schmalberg sells even larger flower-pins. But the size of my face, at this point in life, is pretty well fixed.

 
 
It looks pretty jaunty pinned to my vest, don’t you think?
 
I found this vest on The RealReal while looking for Gentleman Jack-like attire to wear with my Lilian Asterfield cravats. It was new with tags . . . from 2005. Perfectly preserved.
 
After putting on the plastic pants, a white blouse, the jaunty vest and the absurd pin, I felt something was missing. That the look needed just a little bit more.
Finding this vest was all luck, no skill

 
A necklace was needed, that’s what.
 
Ahhh. Just right.
 
I call this look “Steampunk Isolation.”
Now I can buckle down and get to work

 
 
I’ll tell you a secret.
 
When you wear a brooch this ridiculous to a meeting, you don’t have to say anything.
I let the brooch speak for me

 
 
 
Listen to the brooch.
 
What’s it saying?
It’s saying, Be bold. Go bigger.

 
 
For those wondering about the necklace, you’ve seen it before.
But here’s a closer view.
Tiny sterling beads inside a plexiglass (or glass?) pendant

 
To see more of the wonders of M&S Schmalberg and learn how they make these exquisite things, visit their website.
 
If you are looking for bright news and haven’t seen NASA’s short videos on the Perseverance landing on Mars, take 15 minutes to watch them. One video explains the technology and the other is actual footage from several vantage points on the landing craft and rover itself. The accomplishment is extraordinary and the enthusiasm and excitement of the NASA employees you’ll see is infectious. Note: They are all wearing NASA polos. Perhaps after this debacle in 2014, someone suggested that employees at ground control should wear a uniform . . .
 
Big Sparkle next week!

9 thoughts on “Zoom Theater of The Absurd”

  1. Looks amazing! I wish people could look a little bit like that on my Teams-meetings, but…no… You are such an inspiration and I look forward to your every post!

    Reply
  2. I love this. It struck me first as “modern day Enola Holmes” and if that isn’t the same spirit as Steampunk Isolation, what is??

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  3. A boy I used to date in HS, is the engineer responsible for the main camera on the Mars Rover! I couldn’t help but feel a little proud – how absurd and funny – but I do come from a very small town in Canada…

    The flower is BOLD. And so are you. Thank you!

    Reply
  4. The Directrice has impeccable judgement. If she can wear the plate-sized flower and evoke tact and decorum, I’m asking myself what can I wear to my next difficult meeting?

    Reply
  5. It’s worth noting that the JPL slogan, “Dare Mighty Things,” was encoded into Perseverance’s parachute–which kind of looks like Tory’s brooch.

    Reply

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