TREVOR's Hat Parade!
I just plain LOVE hats! I'm very rarely seen without one. I own well over a hundred head coverings. Some are fun and some merely functional, but I love them all.
If you are a close friend or family and can fill in any missing dates or locations below, I'd really appreciate an update. And if you have any photos of me in hats that aren't here (especially my first engineers cap in Webster Groves MO), or if you have better shots of ones that are here, please send them to me via email or my P.O. box and maybe I'll put them in.
So, without further ado, in roughly chronological order, here is TREVOR Hat Parade!:
Ferndale MI
I know that technically, a hood may not count as a hat, but to me it is. Besides that, it's my website — I make the rules. My dad built us a skating rink in our back yard. We spent a lot of time skating. Check out those cool 50's-style double runner skates, too!
Des Plaines IL
My little dutch boy costume. I really liked it a lot. I think of this photo as "My first foray into hats and long hair."
August 1973
Fryeburg ME
One of a long series of denim caps. When this one finally wore out, I started making my own.
1978 or so
Somewhere
Of all the hats I made, this is my favorite. Brown was my favorite color at the time. Corduroy my favorite material. And hats my favorite piece of clothing. What more could I possible ask for? You can see in this close-up that I did a pretty good job, too.
Almont MI
I made this hat out of a the seat of a dead pair of jeans. It was my second "pocket hat". (Notice the pocket on the top.) In November that year, the owner of our local health food store commissioned me to make eight of them for him to give to his nephews as gifts. I'm probably reading science fiction here, but I can't make out the title. I married this woman 16 years later. She loved me then, but I didn't have a clue.
July 1984
Goshen MA
In 1984, I was the Assistant Director in Charge of Programming at 4-H Camp Howe, a two month residential summer camp next to the D.A.R. State Forest in Goshen MA. I wore this Camp Howe paper cap (and a 4-H shirt) the entire time.
May 22, 1986
Red Hill Park, Red Hill PA
This photo was taken at the Advanced Chiropractic client picnic. My brother-in-law booked me to entertain his clients at this great little park near his office. I basically stayed and played games all day as long as there was anyone who wanted to play. I don't wear visors very often, but it was really hot that day. I wanted my eyes shaded but not my head covered. Sounds like visor to me. This one's blue denim.
October 1986
Hadley MA
Back in the early 70's, my little big sister, Laura (as opposed to my big big sister, Jane), made me this way cool Indian headdress. It's based on an authentic design, using mostly authentic materials. (They didn't have felt, but....) And ever since, I'm an Indian for Halloween each year because it's the only time I get to wear it. I also like this picture because it says "GAMES' next to my head. So does the one three photos down. Pretty cool, huh?
Pulaski Park, Northampton MA
For a while there, I was really into bandanas both as head scarves and as headbands. This was part of a Christmas card photo.
Hadley MA
Hartsbrook School May Fair
A standard red bandana. I just like this photo because it says "games" next my head really big. I've got games on my mind! It's even better that it's in the colors that I eventually adopted for my business.
Amherst MA
This one's a fancy head scarf. My mother hated them. I always just wished they had a brim. It's a little hard to see it, but that's the tip end of my juggling stick your viewing end on above my right hand in front of the metal post. It's actually about 2 feet long.
Lost River
N. Woodstock NH
Passaconway NH
Ah! The elf hats! My sister found a pattern for these and made a whole bunch of them, so we all had one. I'm actually related to everybody in this picture. It was Outing Day at camp. We spent the day on the Kancamaugus Scenic Byway (Rte 112) that runs half-way across New Hampshire from Conway to Lincoln. We were walking a nature trail and came around a corner and there — nowhere near anything else — was this exhibit of fire fighting equipment. They've since taken down this exhibit. But notice the metal hard hat right in front of my beard. It's foreshadowing something yet to come.
Christmas 1993 (?)
Sharon MA
This is the same elf hat, but it looks pretty good with a feather. And you don't have to attach it or anything: just stick the shank of the feather into the felt and it stays put just fine.
For some reason, I always wear the yellow version with the edge turned up Robin Hood style.
Fryeburg ME
The FNCA Puzzle Club. On the left is my big big sister, Jane (as opposed to my little big sister, Laura). I really like the colors and pattern on the hat. And this photo really shows it off well. I should lean over and get a picture taken of the top of my head more often.
Hatfield MA
This hat is actually a little too small for me, so I didn't wear it much after I got it. It's basically a black cap with a purple hat band. It's a good shot of the hat band, but not a very good picture of the rest of the hat... but it's the best I can find.
Portsmouth NH
At my friends Greg & Julie's wedding, I was goofing around (figures) "waiting" on my favorite cousin. This hat was reversible. Orange, gold & black pattern on one side, solid black on the other.
Northampton MA
December 1996
Sharon MA
Before moving to Maine a few years ago, my father was a total groupie for the New Black Eagles Jazz Band, a dixieland band in the Boston area. He went to tons of their shows, knew all their songs, bought all their recordings, knew all their musicians, knew all their substitute musicians, knew their wives and children, etc. For his 80th birthday party, I hired the band to play at a party we threw for him in his back yard. He complained bitterly about it for weeks ahead of time. Told us we couldn't have a party, couldn't have it at his house, he wouldn't go, yadda, yadda, yadda. That all stopped the moment the band showed up! My mother made me this authentic black eagle hat in their honor. And I keep it in a place on honor on my dresser.
May 1998
Agawam MA
I have a boodle of standard, all-cotton, solid colored, brimmed caps, but this was one of my favorites because yellow is my favorite color and plain yellow, all-cotton, brimmed caps are so hard to find. This one died when I wore it to a huge bonfire. First it got all sweaty. Then it got all sooty. And then it never got better. I tried everything to get the black out, but to no avail. Now I only wear dark colored hats near fires.
Summer 1998
The Potholes, Shelburne Falls MA
One of my many purple hats. This one is also reversible, although I rarely wear the other side out. Nothing wrong with it, I just like the solid purple side better. The Potholes is a very popular swimming spot. It's really amazing. There's dozens and dozens of naturally-formed potholes like this one throughout the entire area. Plus waterfalls, monster-sized rocks, shallow and deep pools all over the place, jumping spots, sunning spots, and a large, clear pool at the bottom. This particular pothole I'm sitting on the edge of is so wide that I can't touch both sides from the middle. It's also about 15 feet deep. My lovely wife also took some pix of me down inside it, but this one shows the hat better.
Hatfield MA
My hard hat! I love my hard hat. My wife doesn't. This photo was taken at my bachelor party the night before our wedding. I was wearing this hat when I proposed to her three months earlier on the top of "Mount" Jockey Cap in Fryeburg ME. She asked me take to it off when we had a stranger click a photo of us to commemorate the occasion. I picked up this hat at a tag sale for $5. They don't make them like this any more. They're all plastic now. I was wearing it in Maine in August 1998 while canoeing with my lovely wife-to-be. As we approached the Fryeburg town beach, some guy on shore offered me $20 for it. Of course I turned him down: I LOVE MY HARD HAT! And then, at the far end of the beach, some tough guy got all huffy with me. He started wading out towards us yelling, "What are you doing wearing that? Take that off! You have no right to wear that!" He was pretty angry! I yelled back, "I LOVE MY HARD HAT! I'll wear it any time I want! If you don't love your hard hat, maybe you should get a different job!" That cooled him off a bit, but I was glad we were well out of reach the whole time. I still love my hard hat.
October 3, 1998
Bridgewater MA
Our wedding photo. My wedding hat. My lovely wife. Smooch. I just love her. She's the best.
October 1998
St John, U.S. Virgin Islands
We went to St John for our honeymoon. It was simply fabulous. 90+% of the island is a state park, so it's almost completely undeveloped. I carried this hat on the plane because I know I'd need a big beach hat. I got some funny looks in the airport on the New England end, but since when has that ever bothered me? We're going back for our tenth anniversary in October 2008, and I'm taking it with me again.
P.S. This is the hat on the lower right corner of my Wicker Hat Wall 2/29/8
October 1998
St John, U.S. Virgin Islands
Yeah, I know, technically it's not a hat. But like I said near the top: my website, my rules. Snorkeling here was absolutely one of the most awesome things I've ever done. St John has the only underwater self-guided snorkeling tour trail in the world! All the beaches there are very fine, pure white sand because it's all just ground up coral. The water really is that color. And it's warm as toast all the time. That dark stripe across the water just above my flippers is about 30 feet wide and goes from the surface all the way down to the ocean bed. It's solid fish! All sorts of different kinds! Those three birds you can see floating on the surface near them are feeding. There were actually about a dozen of them, but the other nine were all diving when this photo was taken. I had just finished spending about 20 minutes actually swimming around in that stripe of fish! They didn't seem to mind at all. It was stunning to be swimming around in a very, very thick school of fish! They were so, so close all around me, but none of them actually touched me! And I couldn't touch them no matter how hard I tried. They were so close that I kept thinking I could easily just reach my hand out and touch one, but no matter how slow or fast I tried, they never let me get that close!
November 1998
Pennsburg PA
Every November, we go to my sister Laura's for Thanksgiving. This was taken by one of her boys while I was sitting in my truck in their driveway.
.
Christmas 1998
East Burke VT
My mother-in-law (right) gave me this hat. And I gave everyone who was willing to wear it one of these shiny masks. These are the four who dared!
June 1999
Chelsea VT
I believe my darling daughter made this one for me. (She knows what I like.) It's a little itchy, which is why I always wear it above my hairline or with something cotton under it. This is one of my favorite photos of me. It's taken at this really cool lodge out in the middle of nowhere that my parents-in-law used to rent for family weekends a few times a year before they moved to Vermont full-time. By the way, those are three bubbles blown by my life-long friend Shelley Dolley in front of my hat, arm, and the porch deck.
Fall 2000
the Quabbin Reservoir, Belchertown MA
Remember that all-purple hat from the Potholes a few pictures above that I said I rarely wear the other side out? This is the other side.
March 2001 (I think)
Hatfield MA
These paper crown were a birthday gift. We only wore them that day (they're really thin paper!) But she's my queen and I'm her king no matter what!
2004
Webster Groves MO
This is the only time I ever wore this white cap. Something extremely divisive had just happened in my life. I was very sensitive about not being the bad guy so I wore a white hat that weekend! This was at a very wonderful reunion of the people I hung out with in 9th grade in Webster Groves... or Webby Graves, as we often called it. We moved to the East Coast that summer, but most of the rest of my friends all went on to start a commune in the Ozarks after graduation. My next younger brother Ian and I went to visit the summer after they started it. It was fun to see everyone again back then. And then 30 years later, Ian drove from the West Coast, I drove from the East Coast, and we met in the middle. It was terrific! It was just so cool to catch up with my old girl friend and the other five people in my immediate circle of close friends, meet their significant others, and pal around like old times for a weekend. And the funny thing is, the other two guys in our group that are also hat people also wore white hats! We're all good guys!
2000andsomething
Mt Tom State Park, Goat's Peak lookout tower, Holyoke MA
Standard tan brimmed cap with a view.
2000andsomething
Canoeing on the Saco River, Fryeburg ME
2000andsomething
Somewhere
Another standard brimmed cap. Another purple hat.
August 2000andsomething
Fryeburg ME
When my darling daughter was 18, she went to France as an exchange student and brought me back this genuine French wool beret. Oui, oui. Merci beaucoup, ma favori jeune fille! The funny thing was, she went during the summer, so she didn't actually go to school there when she was an exchange student. This photo was taken in my brother's converted Greyhound bus camper the year he drove it across country from the state of Washington. (What year was that, Ian, so I can date this photo?)
2000andsomething
Miss Florence Diner, Northampton MA
This is one of the very few brimmed caps I wear that isn't a solid color.
May 2005 (I think)
Hardwick MA
And once again, a standard brimmed cap. This one is blue. It only got in my Hat Parade because I really like this photo of me with my two favorite ribbon dancers. It's taken at the annual May Pole camp-out weekend that I've been going to for a couple of decades now. I'm walking in the annual Sunday morning May Pole processional . (You can find a photo of lots of us waving ribbon dancers around the May Pole on the Project: Ribbon Dancer page.)
en route to the Northeast Kingdom of VT
My current favorite "every day" hat. In fact, I'm wearing it right now as I type this about a year later. I like this photo a lot, too. I look good! I think of this pic as "My beard may be turning gray, but I've still got my youthful fu manchu!"
The Wicker Hat Wall
My daughter bought me this pagoda hat in Canada. I actually wore it every morning at camp for two weeks on the way to Polar Bear Swim.
Aren't I macho? My plastic construction worker hat is in my Play Room, but not on the dress-up shelf. Nope, this one on the toy tool shelf where it belongs!
March 17, 2008
Sanderson Brook Falls, Chester MA
Today, my lovely wife and I finally got to go on a sunny day hike! We've been wanting to do this for about a month now — ever since my lovely wife (thankfully!) lost her dumb job. This is red and white toque doesn't get worn very often because it's an "emergency hat" that I keep behind the seat of my truck just in case I'm somewhere cold without proper winterware. And this was just such a case. It was pretty warm and most of the snow had melted at our place, but by the time we'd driven the hour to Chester we were surrounded by snow and it was windy and chilly. This red & black flannel overshirt is also "emergency" clothing I keep in my truck. I'm wearing it over my jacket. This stuff has saved my bacon so many times, I'm just glad I'm that organized.
In the distance over my shoulder, you can see the waterfall that was actually our destination. You can see the upper 20' or so of what is actually about 40' of cascades down the cliffside. I was really happy that we could see the falls from the main trail — which was a really easy climb — because the side trail down into the ravine to the base of the falls is only about 12" wide on a very steep hill... and it was covered with ice and snow. Oh yes, plus the access trail itself was not cut level into the hill: at several places it tipped at a big angle down the hillside: kind of treacherous-looking in the ice and snow. So we decided not to chance it — hence the gladness at being able to see the falls from up on the main trail. We'll go back at the end of April or so after all the snow has melted to get a close up view.
Just a ½-minute walk above this view of the falls, we found a big rock in the sun that was a perfect spot for our picnic. The rock had obviously been in the sun for hours because it was actually a little warm to the touch. So we sat on the rock with the sun in our faces and the sound of a roaring waterfall in the background and had a delightful lunch before heading back down the trail. What a great day trip!
Easter Sunday
March 23, 2008
So, besides my Wicker Hat Wall, I store a boodle of my hats on top of my dresser. After we got home from church and lunch at a nice restaurant, I tapped my lovely wife to do another hat photo shoot of just about everything up there. So the next fifteen photos are various hats from the top of my bureau except the sundry brimmed caps from the big pile on the right that already appear somewhere earlier in the Hat Parade.
Be sure not to notice how I sneakily changed shirts between every hat and how we shot each one in a different location in the house so you wouldn't think all these shots were taken on the same day. Don't notice that.
And in case you didn't notice something else, let me point out my black eagle hat at the left on the lower part of my dresser.
That wooden thing in front of it holds my wedding hat, keeping it in shape when I'm not wearing it, which I obviously was at the time of this photo. We had just gotten home from church, and I always wear my wedding hat to church. I think it's somehow totally appropriate to wear my wedding hat to church.
Anyways, I actually found a few items I wanted. But when I went to pay Jenny, she got all amused that I'd picked out this hat. She was so excited that she ran into the house and dragged her grown-up daughter (who was over helping with the tag sale) out to show her how I looked in this hat because it used to be the daughter's hat. They both got a big laugh out of me buying a "girl's hat". Ha, ha, ho, ho hee, hee, hee. Frankly, I couldn't find anything gender specific about it at all, and it keeps my male head warm just fine. Even though it's itchy, I still like it.
This map I'm looking at is a Peter's Projection map. It shows land masses at the poles, at the equator, and everywhere in between with equal area. Plus, it also actually has the equator across the middle of the map. Traditional Mercator maps (the ones we're all used to) expand the land masses at the poles and shrink the one's at the equator so they'll fit into an equal sized grid; but an the Peter's Projection map, the grid gets bigger as you get closer to the equator. The result is that you can look at two different areas on the map and compare actual size.
Peter's Projection maps rock!
My upright bass is my favorite instrument. Period.
This "wicker" cowboy hat actually has wires woven in at select places so that you can shape the hat to your liking. Unfortunately, there's none in the upper part and it's become permanently squished so that it kind of squeezes my head and then if I get too active it comes popping off!
The painting is by my mother. She got into watercolors in the 80's and painted extensively for about 15 years. I have quite a few of her paintings that I really love.
This ratty piece of junk was given to me by a hitch- hiker who believed that if anyone gave you anything, you had a culturalYou can see in the inset above a close up of the work I had to do to make it wearable. I actually enjoyed the work. I'd never done anything like it before, and it was kinda fun to see if I could make it all blend in. I think I had modest success.
So, after all that work, I began wearing this desperate thing that summer. A week later, I tossed it on the floor of my truck. One day later a passenger got his bag caught on it and ripped the other side all apart. And since I wasn't going to spend any more time on it, you get to see this side.
Someone once made me some iron-on decals with my old logo on them for my birthday. They also ironed one onto this hat that's just a little too small for my head. I tried wearing it for a while, but it's just too tight.
May 11, 2008
Island Pond VT
My new "every day" hat is the new River Valley Market cap with an added yellow hat band (from May Day). I've gotten into lots of conversations about our big, new food co-op in Northampton MA because I wear this hat all the time now. People are pretty excited about what we've accomplished together... even the few that have never heard of it before.
I've gotten a lot of positive comments on the hat band, too.
November 18, 2008
My lovely wife's fairy godmother inherited a house and asked Nancy to help clean it up. They discovered that the basement was chock full of tools (like really chock FULL). And since our summer camp put out a plea for tools last season, we decided to go back and get some. So I came out of there with three suitcases FULL of tools and this Greek sailor hat. Pretty good, huh?
"Personally, I'd never want to be a member of any group where you either have to wear a hat or you can't wear a hat." — George Carlin
Still to come: some of my winter hats; various versions of my official gig hat; and more. And like I said at the top: if you know the dates (ever roughly) or locations of any of the ones I don't know, please let me know so I can update this. And if you have any photos of me in hats that aren't here, please send them to me... especially my first engineers cap in Webster Groves MO.
THANK YOU!!