An old Zen question asks; how many “Real Men” does it take to change a light bulb?” The answer; NONE, “Real Men” are not afraid of the dark! (For the sake of this blog, all comments about men not changing the toilet paper roll or being too lazy to do either, will be ignored!)

The new Zen question will be; when are “Real Men” interested in women’s fashion? Answer; only when it’s about camouflage!

Today, while reading the Providence Journal, I came across this headline; “Print Designer Lilly Pulitzer dies at 81.” Two things intrigued me; 1. As a writer, I wondered if there was any relation to the Pulitzer family. There was, she married into the family. 2. Always being interested in manufacturing, I wondered if there was any connection to the Cranston Print Works, which had been around since the industrial revolution. There was no connection.

Lilly was the woman credited with designing the tropical print dresses that became a women’s fashion classic. It was variations of these very same dresses that my brothers and I would tease my sister about. When she would excitingly hold up a new dress at a birthday party that her husband had given her, we would say “Wow, great pattern; are those new curtains for the RV camper?” Hey, we’re her brothers, what did you expect?

Meanwhile, back to the story; it turns out the reason she designed the dresses was not for fashion, but to hide any orange juice stains she spilled on herself working at her home-made roadside orange juice stand; apparently, a hazard of all excessively wealthy woman whose husbands own large orange groves…..or not.

Suddenly, she’s a kindred “Real Woman!” All men are interested in camouflage; not the kind for hunting, but the kind that hides stains from stuff they spill on themselves now and then…….OK, OK, all the time!

I can’t decide if my next designer suit should be “soy sauce black”or “barbecued wing orange?”