A Simple Market

I miss simple markets, the grocery stores of my youth. Spotless linoleum floors, artful displays of canned foods, hanging produce scales, turquoise, buttery yellow and cream as accent colors, paper bags, spacious aisles and checkout lanes, those charming hand-written signs in the butcher and produce departments. Blue Chip or S & H Green stamps--- weren't they fun!

When I want to walk down memory lane (aisle), I just take a visit in my mental shopping cart and "check out" www.pleasantfamilyshopping.blogspot.com. Fabulous and fun site. This fella also has a fantastic flickr page.

I Gush Over . . .

I am currently enamored with chocolate browns, creams, pale dusty blues, suedes, tweeds, silks, all plush and lush ---- these things make me gush!

Whatever Happened to Handsome Men?

I have been wanting to post my thoughts on this question for a very, very long time. Last night, I had a dream. I was on a bus, got off for my stop, and it was a town, a village, where only handsome, dapper, elegant businessmen lived and worked. I got off at the stop and said to myself, "I'm in Heaven!"

That was a dream. The reality is, I'm living in a world where looking like a convict (shaved head, tattoos, t-shirts and jeans, flab, fat, or overdone muscles) are the norm.

Last summer, my daughter and I went to the county fair. We live in a nice area, and the majority of men in attendance (either with girlfriends, family, you name it) looked like this ex-con/prison inmate type. Yucky!

Now, yes, I am the type who judges a book by it's cover. I've said it, so there. I know these rough-around-the-edges types can/could be/are "nice guys," but that is not the type I prefer to look at or be with, not my style. And yes, the nice guy part does tale precedence over the appearance.

I am just like the fellow who posted on imdb.com message boards and said he does not like women who look like Bratz dolls. He longed for the retrun of Gene Tierney/Ava Gardner types.

So my question is, Whatever Happened to Handsome Men? Men like Robert Mitchum, Victor Mature, Richard Conte? Men who were rugged and sophisticated, could wear a suit and a hat and also casual wear but not look like slobs when doing so. Although, I must say, I don't know any movie where Richard Conte is in casual wear, thank god!

Today, who could compare to these men? In terms of physicality, I can only think of Chris Noth, Jon Hamn, Clive Owen, Rupert Everett, and I'll think of some more later.

If the men today (in films/entertainment or real, not reel life) do not look like ex-cons, then they have a boyish/teenage quality that never seems to go away. Man-boys in reel life that I think of are: Michael J. Fox, Jon Cryer, Leonardo DiCaprio (he still has not matured in my eyes, just put on some weight). I laughed when I thought of and saw him as Howard Hughes. That was a reeeeeeeeeeeeel stretch to me.

When did handsome men fade away? Why? I'm dying for your comments, ladies and gentlemen!