When Did That Happen?

Clothing is something that has come in and out of style in varying stages throughout the centuries. Clothing design is considered somewhat of an art form, though I think that can be highly disputed. I have seen many outfits that were breathtaking, and some that made me want to run screaming to the hills.

Take the Olympics for example. I talked about the opening ceremonies and the amazing and beautiful costumes worn for the show. THOSE were gorgeous, and definitely art.

Some of the contestants, however, leave much to be desired. Obviously, I'm a gymnastics fan. Recently, I've been even more impressed, sort of.

You'll notice that the gymnasts wear pretty modest outfits. They are a bit high cut in the leg for me, but they are modest and usually quite attractive in design and color.

On the other hand, we have the beach vollyball players.

If for some reason you missed the gold medal match, (which was very good) or any of their other matches, you wouldn't know that they are wearing their underwear. For some reason it seems to be acceptable to wear your underwear for sports activities now. First it started with the "sports bra" that suddenly became acceptable to wear to the gym, despite the fact that it was a BRA. Then they made bathing suits skimpier and skimpier until some bikinis could actually be less than underwear!


Okay, I'll get off my soap box now, and get back to the subject at hand -- clothing as art and how they've lost it.

For some reason, if it's an outdoor sport, it's acceptable practice to wear practically nothing. If it's an indoor sport, you wear more. Go figure. Wouldn't you be just as warm inside -- if that was the argument?

In comparison, here's the indoor vollyball uniform.

What's up with that? These are perfectly respectable.

Then you have the pole vault...

Explain to me why it is necessary to dress this way when you are jumping over a pole? I can understand that the clothing should be tight fitting, you don't want anything to catch as your flying over, but this?? sigh.

Needless to say, I am very disappointed in the various Olympic committees that decided these uniforms. I mean, look at the swimming competitions, they have more clothing on than the track and field people! It's just bizarre, and I heard somewhere the statement that there was pressure to make the Olympic games more sexually attractive. Give me a break!! Perhaps we should go back to the original olympics, then, and how they dressed.

When we told our children about that, my daughters were grossed out. My oldest at home says that she can't see this one commercial on TV where they have dramatized the original Olympic games for a energy commercial and show a discuss thrower coming out of a tent with only a loincloth/skirt/kilt? on. She says it grosses her out to think about it.

Well, I guess that goes back to my original thoughts on art and clothing. The ancient Greeks felt the human body was a work of art in and of itself. They had the athletes compete with nothing on. Naked as the day they were born. Personally, I would have a hard time with that -- not to say, one would have thought the participants themselves, but I won't go there.

We are talking art, in the form of the human body and the material covering it. It gives credence to the whole art class thing where they have students sketching/drawing naked bodies for college courses. NOT. I don't see any legitimate reason for that. They can wear the tight swimsuits and get the same muscular shape, in my opinion.

So -- now that I have spouted off in about every direction and possibly offended everyone who could be offended, that's the Olympics for you. Everyone is not ever going to be happy at the same time (unless we're living in Zion) and so we have to deal with what life gives us.

We have all sorts of beauty around us to enjoy or decry -- things to do that create beauty and joy in our lives, or bring us down. It all comes to what our focus is.

Are we seeking for the light and good? Or are we seeking in the dark for 'knowledge'?

I am thankful for the games, in that in some small part they bring us together. But I just wish they didn't promote more unhealthy things for us to have to clarify and try and shield our children from. sigh.

Especially swimsuits...let alone, have to wear one in public -- I scared off enough last week. grin.

I'll leave you with the visions of beauty.



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Housewife's Olympics

As I was contemplating this blog and watching the Olympics, I had to run upstairs a few times to get things ready for dinner. As I did so, it occurred to me that there should be a housewife's olympics! How many things do we accomplish that are physical and graceful everyday?? LOTS!

Unfortunately, only those with children would be allowed to compete -- not that I have anything against those who don't have, can't have or do not want, children -- but only those that do could possibly understand all the nuances of the events.

We'd probably need a separate Olympics for those without children -- they would probably run along the lines of scheduling (hair, nails, work and shopping all within one afternoon, etc. grin)

So anyway, here are the events as I picture them (and I limited several of the events items to families of 4, since the thought of dealing with items more than that seems to send people into wide eyed panic):

Grocery Shopping:
Milk Jug Carry -- (how many jugs of milk can you carry in one trip without dropping and looking graceful at the same time?)

Bag Carry -- (how many plastic vs. cloth (eco friendly) bags in one trip without dropping, cringing, dying, etc.)

Cart Filling (how much you can fit in one cart without dropping, crushing or tipping -- smiling all the time)

Coupon/Bargain Hunting -- (the most coupons used in a shopping trip, the best bargains in the store, etc.)


House Cleaning:
Fastest Dusting (how many rooms can you dust in 30 minutes)

Window Cleaning (inside all -- outside of reachable without ladders)

Vacuuming Queen (all carpeted rooms in 30 minutes or less and adding dance to your event brings even more points)


Laundry:
Quickest Sorting (not just darks and whites, but warm and cold -- items for family of 4)

Quick fold and sort (all clothes out of the drier, folded and sorted to owners -- family of 4)

Sock Match (how many socks can you match together in 5 minutes - family of 4, one weeks worth)

Home Exercise:
Stair Aerobics (how many times up and down stairs in 20 minutes without breathing hard or clinging to the railing)



Garden Stretching (how far can you hoe without over balancing, weeding from your waist)

Leaf Raking (How much can you rake in 30 minutes)

Lawn Mowing (using a push mower, how fast can you mow a slightly sloped hill, 20' x 30' and make it look easy)

Milk Jug Press (how many times can you lift and lower two full jugs of milk in each hand?)


Multi Tasking:
More than one task -- make the team, your female.
More than three, Bronze
More than four, Silver
More than five -- Gold!



Shopping Queen:
Car Parking (how close to the doors can you park?)

Cart Maneuvering (how often do you pick a cart that has a squeaky wheel or turns to one side...how well are you able to dodge other shoppers?)

Store Lapping (how many times do you go around the store?)
Everything in one lap - GOLD!
Two laps, Silver
Three laps, Bronze
Four laps...you have ADHD and need a friend to keep you in line.

Of course, this idea brings sooo many other types of Olympics to mind. We could have the men's Olympics, with sports watching or playing, couch potato sitting, etc., and we could do teenager Olympics, where they compete for how long they sleep, complain, and play the Wii...grin.

I guess competition is an ingrained thing, and the more we compete, generally -- the better we get at whatever we do. My daughter asked why there weren't athletes that competed in more than one thing; such as why they didn't do swimming and track, or gymnastics and something else. I told her that everything was so specialized now, that they trained differently for every single sport.

There are a few crossovers, such as in swimming and diving, but I guess that it's a related aspect and doesn't cause too much problems. I like the idea. I mean, it's kind of like the Gymnastics allaround, isn't it? They compete on more than one apparatus.

I'll bet you can come up with additions to the Housewife's Olympics. I'd love to hear them...



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I've Made the Semis!

Well...since my theme this month is the Olympics, I've got a few items of my own. Remember how I mentioned going to county and state fairs for viewing art and enjoying it for low cost? Well, this week was our county fair, and I entered a painting. It was kind of a last resort -- I felt I'd committed to doing it and the painting was the only one handy. It framed up nice, and everyone commented on it when I turned it in.



My hubby insisted on taking this shot...so now you know what I look like with extremely short hair...lol.

Anyway, I was so excited! I've never had anything go higher than 3rd place. I figure when I enter something that earns a ribbon, I take it to the State fair and see how that goes. I've never gotten anything higher than 6th there...

In watching the Olympics this past week, especially the gymnasts, it has reminded me a lot of where I find myself. There are several semi's that are required for some of the competitions -- especially in swimming and track and field. Gymnastics, on the other hand, kind of starts with the team stuff and then takes off into the other levels.

But on going with the theme of art...I find gymnastics the most amazing of the summer sports. (I've never been into the flag waving stuff, or understood synchronized swimming...what's that all about???) The grace and agility of these athletes are just mind boggling. If you watch it long enough, I'll bet you start pointing your toes as you go down the stairs, splaying your fingers as you bend over, or seeing how high on your toes you can go before using a chair or ladder...grin. They make you want to add grace to your life.

I was able to watch the Gold medals for the all around today (yes, I tape them and then watch later...toooo long in the evenings for me) and was amazed at how well the US gymnasts did.
Of course, remembering that they spend hours everyday doing this stuff, it shouldn't be so awesome, but it is. There are many who do the same thing day after day and still don't make it to the Olympics...so these girls are different.

I also think the whole team had a lot of pressure on them, because as I've mentioned before, there is still politics involved. (Oh...and all photos are from the internet -- probably united press.) The scoring was supposed to be new and keep things from being confusing, but listening to the commentators this morning when they were talking about the scores received for different athletes, I don't think it's helped at all. They were hinting that the judges were being paid by China...yeah...I don't think that's happening, but I don't think they've been doing us any favors either.

It's sad that something so beautiful has to be brought down to a score. A judge has to give opinion on it. I always want to know if the judges were professionals in the sport at one time -- otherwise, how can they qualify to be judges? Or is it a question of those who can't, teach?

What is really astounding, is how they can move this way. This shot (wow, talk about timing) makes it look as if this girl is like a barbie doll and can move her legs any direction she wants without muscles or bones getting in the way!


I remember feeling this way on the way back from the mail box when I was waiting for letters from my would be husband...grin.

But as these games progress, and we see all the different sports that they compete in, there are many chances to observe beauty and appreciate art in the human form and ability. Heavenly Father has created an astounding piece of machinery in the human body. The Olympics simply showcase it.

So...in my own personal Olympics...I'm off to the State fair to enter my talent. I'll let you know how it goes!



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Pageantry, Custom and Art

The whole world is focused on one location, right now. The Olympic games in Bejing, China. Normally, any attention focused on China would not necessarily be a good thing. Many of us have issues with their communist rule.

However, the Olympics have given them an opportunity to show the world they aren’t so bad, and give them a glimpse of the proud past they have known.

The opening ceremonies were a mixture of modern technology with ancient culture and arts. It was amazing watching a painting being created from people doing modern dance. Many of the costumes being worn by the participants were gorgeous and an art form in and of themselves.

I don’t think anyone would disagree that the ancient oriental arts are beautiful. I heard one of the announcers say that the Chinese felt there was no exact art to painting, the artist painted from his soul – so the strokes might not be perfect, or the painting exact, but it would be a representation of his inner self, and therefore; beautiful.

I find that most of the work done in the oriental style is soothing and flowing. My daughter bought a kit that shows how to paint in that way, using the bambo brushes, and I can’t wait to look into it. But I'm getting sidetracked again...

What was fun to see was the rich colors and the carvings, the artwork inherent in just the buildings. The enormous pageantry of the opening ceremonies was enough to astound and take ones breath away.

Take this scene where they have a woman dancing a traditional dance on top of a mat being carried! It's amazing.

There was another scene where they were depicting the ancient boats and how China ruled the seas. They had large oars that were painted and when held in place, was a painting so large it filled the floor of the stadium. Then they moved them in rhythm and synchronized movements that were worthy of professional dancers. It was one more piece of art to the gallery they were presenting.
The technical aspects were mind blowing as well. They had probably the worlds largest LED screen on the floor of the stadium, that they used for various stages of the ceremonies, but was at one point a large unrolled scroll. They used the top edges of the stadium itself to present the lighting of the torch, having a man run along the edges as if he was actually running -- but was being flown by cables -- toward the torch. The torch itself appeared out of nowhere in the last 30 minutes before they were ready to light it. Makes me wonder if it's going to stay there or if it will be dismantled with part of the stadium after the Olympics are over.

There were many dancers and floating lit people filling the air at different times. This shot is hard to see, but it's a woman who was floating through the air with lights.
I've been an avid Olympic fan since they were held in Los Angeles. That was when I was old enough to truly watch and appreciate them. Since that time, I've watched every single minute I could of them, both winter and summer games. It drives my family a little nuts sometimes, but my hubby puts up with it with mostly good humor.

I was able to participate in the opening and closing ceremonies of the 2002 Olympics as a volunteer, and as a result I got to actually attend the closing. It was one of the highlights of my life!

I feel strongly that the Olympics could be such a growing and meaningful thing for our planet, should we grasp the reality of them instead of the commercialism. Too much of it is lost in the costs, and the urgency of winning. I think they should be free, personally, especially to the host nation. It's one thing to be able to watch it on TV, but there's nothing that replaces actually being there and feeling that amazing Olympic spirit.

I remember when I was at the closing games and it was time to extinguish the torch. It was an emotional thing -- none of us wanted it to end. If only it didn't have to in our hearts. If only the feelings and meaning of the Olympics could live in the hearts of the world over -- perhaps we would find peace.

Until then, I will still enjoy the beauty and wonder of each country and glory in their triumphs, feel sad for their losses, and feel in a small way -- part of each of them.

That is the feeling of the Olympics. We are brothers and sisters the world over.

We are one.

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