A Belated Friday Five About Clothes Because It Looked Like Fun

1. Are you a hoarder, or are you good at sorting and clearing?
I'm pretty good and clearing out stuff, but being a guy I don't have nearly as much to sort and clear as Beloved. When you consider that I've been wearing a brown pair and black pair of the Docs pictured left as my basic 'dress' shoes for almost ten years, it's easy to see I keep things pretty uncomplicated and try to find stuff that will last.

2. What is the oddest garment you possess and why?
Probably my cow tie. When I was in pep band at Nebraska in the 1990s, our basketball coach, Danny Nee, was known for his unusual ties (I think he even developed his own line at some point). So every now and then the band would have a tie night and we'd all find the goofiest ties we could find. I found a red-white vertically striped tie with cows and thought it was perfect. Don't think I've worn it in fifteen years, but I can't bring myself to throw it out just yet.

3. Do you have a favourite look/ colour?
I like simple and classic stuff that will last - see the Doc Martens above. At the same time, I like funny t-shirts; at the moment I'm wearing one with the chemical formula for caffeine printed on the front. Summer is t-shirt, shorts and sandals; fall will bring more polos, blue jeans and khakis, while winter is sweaters. The one thing on which I almost always insist is wearing a proper suit for formal occasions such as funerals.

4. Thrift/ Charity shops, love them or hate them?
For kids clothes, they're wonderful. At my age, I tend to wear out my clothes, but for those of an age to outgrow clothing, brand new stuff can be an obscene waste of money. We have several lovely consignment shops in town and we frequent them all for the girls. Man, they're gonna hate us when school comes around. :-)

5. Money is no object, what one item would you buy?
The recently announced 1962 throwback jerseys for the University of Nebraska football team's upcoming celebration of its 300th consecutive sellout. I don't know if they're going to sell replica jerseys or not, but the actual uniforms used that night will be auctioned for charity. Bidding starts at $500 - I wonder if you have to pay more to get them laundered, or unlaundered?