I really like the pith helmet, Frank but shouldn't it be a British naval officer's cap for shore parties on the island?
Actually, sir, there's a story behind the bush helmet, and I actually have two of them, and wear them.
One of them allegedly belonged to Lord Baring when he was governor of British East Africa in the 1950s; a friend who was in London went to an antique store and saw it; that's what he was told about it. But at any rate, it's been identified as a
bona fide bush helmet from the British colonial services of the 1950s.
The other one's about three years old; I got that brand-new.
Because of skin cancer which was ultimately declared "gone" (after ten years, in 2007), I'm compelled to wear things that protect the skin out in the burning blistering torridly hot sun of the Sandhills of Nebraska.
Cowboy hats--real ones, not
faux ones--were of course designed for just that purpose, and they work.
However.
franksolich looks really stupid in a cowboy hat. About as stupid as the Bostonian Drunkard in a "cowboy" hat, but not quite as stupid as Chief S itting Bull, the bird-smacking stoned red-faced primitive, in his "cowboy" hat.
But for some mysterious reason, franksolich was considered (by others) "aesthetic" and "natural" in a bush-helmet, along with the other sorts of garb Lord Baring wore way back then. And yes, I felt eminently comfortable in such things; they suited me just fine.
Given that the terrain of the roof of Nebraska strongly resembles British East Africa (Kenya, Uganda, Tanganyika), no one around here considers franksolich "odd" because of the attire; I blend right into the background, nothing irregular about me at all.