Time was when "the place to go" on the north side of Indianapolis for party dresses and wedding gowns was Stenzdale's in Broad Ripple. It was popular for selling only the most beautiful of special occasion finery.

You would try on the gown in a dressing room and step out into a showroom lined with mirrors to assess the total effect. The most unique service happened at prom time. Each dress sold was recorded by the buyer's high school so that no two girls would show up at their prom looking alike. Wow, what we valued as important in the '50's and '60s!

With coffee in hand in the backyard, I marvel at how lucky the creatures of nature are because they do not have these concerns. They dress in the plumage given them. Take the chickadee, black-capped, gray and white or the soft mousy gray of the titmouse with hints of peach. The male cardinals are decked in vibrant red which seems to seer the white winter landscape.

A saying comes to mind about the animal kingdom that I once read: "A golden retriever walks into a room and never wishes it were a bulldog, schnauzer, or terrier." I don't think a cardinal ever wishes it were a sparrow, nor a sparrow wishes it were a woodpecker. If we humans could be as content and comfortable in our own skin, this would be a different world.