Turn around, ask yourself

How I love the school holidays!

I don't love the snotty cold I have at the moment, but I am highly appreciative of the lie-ins, the lack of schedule and homework, and the general lazy arse-ness of it all. 

I am taking full advantage.

Hurray for vintage maxi dresses and my Favourite Best Ever Sandals. 

(Art Company, bought online and half price 4 years ago, and worth every penny.)

1970s After Eight by Lerose dress - Ebay

Shirt and bangles - charity shopped

Sandals and sunglasses- retail (sale)

Necklace - gift

1960s Sherman maxi dress - Ebay

Sheer jacket and bangles - charity shopped

1960s necklace - flea market

I went on a bit of a chazzathon with my mate Sue on Monday - we had daughters in tow, who did pretty well out of it.

Is there any doubt of the benefits of charity shopping?

Our haul of a Reiss skirt; dresses from Cos and Mango; Melissa, Clarks and Vans shoes; and sundry other bits and bobs (including a vintage Spirograph set), with no greater price tag than £4, would surely convince anyone of the benefits of secondhand shopping.

What else have I been doing?

Pegging out the washing to take advantage of the weather; 

doing the pub quiz with my darlings of the Ladies Purse (don't ask; any quiz where the winner only scores 11 out of 20 is clearly Too Fucking Hard); 

and meeting up with old friends for a debrief about the vagaries and perils of Life.

1988-9; I lived with Sal and Claire; we are still friends. We reminisced about parties, relationships, snogging rashes, twin tubs, and music.

Rings and first bangle - charity shopped

Second bangle - gift

This is such a lovely time of year; the blossom on my ornamental cherry tree only lasts about 2 weeks, but I do love it when it comes.

  Blue sky, white blossom, green leaves...

 easy to see where the inspiration for this outfit came from.

I hope everyone has a great Easter weekend.

I'll leave you with a favourite musical memory from 1989.

xxx

                                                       

You light my morning sky with burning love

 

I was very touched by the thoughtful, caring and wise responses to my previous post.

I rarely hesitate in writing or publishing my blog posts, but I did wonder whether writing about my friend's death was a misstep. However, I generally write about what's is on my mind, and that was most definitely on my mind, so it ended up in a post.

Thank you for reading and commenting, and not running a mile in the opposite direction! You are a grand lot.

Yeah, yeah, the legs are out again, and wearing those boots again too.

 

I'm enjoying shorter lengths + tights + boots at the moment.

 

 

This dress...

 

Oh, I go back and forth with it. 

I like it, despite not being the biggest fan of tartan.

It's 1960s, lightweight wool, it's well-made, lined, in great condition.

 

But...

I think the colours are a little dull. And I worry that the schoolgirl/pinafore vibe is too would-be Lolita for an almost-50 year old. It's really not like me to fret about age-appropriateness, and I'm not even sure that's the most significant element of my dissatisfaction.

 

It's also a tad too big, but I just don't love the dress enough to go to the effort of taking it in.

I suspect she'll eventually make her way back to Ebay, from whence she came (for a pittance, as I recall). I've had plenty of wear out of it, so perhaps it is time for her to find another owner.

 

 

 

 

 This week has been one of sunshine, showers, and rainbows;

 

 

 

signs of Spring;

curious creatures;

 

(tiny 1960-70s glass goose - charity shopped)

 

and great big laughs with friends. 

The text exchange with Vix in which we pondered whether it was seemly to fancy the entire panel of The Voice (oh alright, that was just me) and imagined Kylie, Sir Tom Jones, Ricky Wilson and Will.i.am joining us on a blogger day out in Walsall really tickled me. 

We reckoned Tom would fit right in with the randy pensioners in Wetherspoons.

 

Connie made me guffaw out loud with her assumption that Martin (with me in the photo from 1989 in my last post) was my partner and the father of my kids. Just to clarify, in case his wife is reading; he isn't. Mate didn't mean we had mated, in this case. Just so you know. 

And I spent today with Joanne putting up posters in our local area for the upcoming school jumble sale, with a bit of chazzing and a couple of coffees thrown in, just to keep us going. Oh and we talked twerking and saucy photo shoots, sang some Elvis, pulled faces (me again) and generally mucked about. 

 

Perfect therapy.

 

 

I find old postcards hard to resist.

This made me smile too;

 

the poster (not made by me) requesting donations for our jumble sale could easily be a picture of my bedroom, complete with hanging rail, vintage finery, cats, and plenty of mess. I'd wear that orange dress and red coat in a heartbeat!

 

I've got my friend Patsy coming to stay tomorrow and we'll be out and about on Saturday, the kids have broken up for half term, and all is well.

1960s dress and 1970s blouse - Ebay

Denim jacket, scarf, beret, tights and bracelets - charity shopped

Boots - retail

 

Take care - and thanks again for being so brilliant!

xxxxx

Modelly

Perhaps Spring is finally here.

I walked to school this afternoon without a coat on!

 

 

All the better to show off this beautiful dress, which my dear friend Vanessa sent to me, along with assorted other goodies.

 

Green beads, a peacock brooch, handmade card, and two Woman's Weekly books.

The dress was one of Vanessa's own favourite frocks - it is time for it to start a new adventure, she wrote, and I am so happy she entrusted this fabulous 1970s dress to me, it fits me perfectly and I adore everything about it.

I did start the day with a jacket.

I like the fact that this outfit exists because of blogging.

 

 The dress and bag are gifts from bloggers, and the boots were bought with Vix at the legendary Second to None in Walsall, which I would never have visited if not for blogging.

 

I can't tell you how much this delights me!

Velvet jacket, necklaces and bangles - charity shopped

1970s midi dress - gift from sweetest squirrel Vanessa

1970s suede bag - gift from soon-to-be-mum Kelly

1980s boots - Second to None

Brooch - car boot

Sunglasses - vintage shop

In other news, the flea market proved interesting this week. No clothes, but all manner of other treasures came home with me.

I have been on the look out for a globe lamp for ages and finally found one; four early Ladybird books; and my first cardigan clips (the stall holder from whom I bought them seemed impressed that I knew what they were!)

Fabulous 1966 Boyfriend annual.

And these;

Magic lantern slides.

There was a little pile of six (they were tricky to photograph and 2 of the pics were unclear) and I just thought they were beautiful. 

 

No idea what to do with them... I wonder if they could be fixed in a frame somehow and displayed with a light behind them? Any suggestions? They are about 3" square. And how old do you think they might be?

Can I say again how much I love this frock?

 

(The greens in the print are actually quite vivid, the sunshine has bleached out the colours somewhat.)

Thank you, Vanessa, I'll treasure her.

 

 

Here you go, vintage label whores!

 

 

 

I'm all Modelly!

There are jumble sales and vintage markets to go to this weekend, the kids will be here, there and everywhere doing various activities with various friends, and there's a bottle of wine with my name on it in the fridge.

Hope you have fun this weekend!

xxxx

Spring, sunshine and cotton

A proper Spring day, complete with blue skies and sunshine, requires a proper Spring frock.

This 1970s English-made Mackerness cotton maxi dress will be perfect for summer, but for now, a little cardi cover-up is still necessary.

 

It's an Ebay purchase for 99p; even adding the postage, it still only cost £4. I love the fact that while some items attract ridiculously huge bids, others seem to sneak under the radar, just waiting for me!

1970s cotton maxi dress - Ebay

Mohair tie-front cardigan - flea market

Office black patent leather shoes and bangles - charity shopped

Necklace - gift from my sister

 

It's fitting that I  am wearing a cotton dress today, especially one made in England.

My mum and eldest sister visited yesterday, and we headed into Derbyshire to Cromford Mill, a World Heritage site. 

 

It is the birthplace of the factory system, where Richard Arkwright built the first water-powered cotton spinning mill in 1771. In doing so, he changed cotton manufacture from a cottage industry to a factory-based one, and increased output dramatically to meet the demands of a growing population and export markets.

All that, right on our doorstep, and I had never been before!

 

 

The history of the cotton industry is fascinating, involving as it does imperialism, slavery, the Industrial Revolution, and significant changes in politics, manufacturing and fashion.

 

I love social, cultural and industrial history - can you tell? The kings'n'queens type of history is all well and good, but I find the movements, events and inventions that affected people's everyday lives more interesting.

 

A canal was built to transport the raw cotton from the Liverpool docks to rural Derbyshire, and take the finished product back again for export to the British colonies.

 

 

The kids were imagining how they would feel if they had been mill workers!

 

Children between the ages of 7 and 15 worked 12 hour shifts, 6 days a week, and had 2 days holiday a year. 

 

Arkwright was considered a reasonably enlightened employer by 18th century standards - he built cottages for the families who worked in his mill, and a Sunday school for the children. 

 

So their one day off a week was spent predominantly in church... Bet they loved that, poor little buggers!

Seldom Seen, contemplating his fate, had he been born 200 years earlier; and Littlest with my mum, who has just celebrated her 89th birthday. Peas in a pod, they are (anyone else thinking Don't Look Now is forgiven, I thought so too!)

 

 

And in case you are feeling sorry for the kids, being dragged round sites of significant industrial history and having no fun...

 

 

 

 

...we had been for a lovely lunch in Matlock first, a stroll by the river, and had a play on the little boating lake!

 

That's my sister in the black coat and hat with Littlest - I will have to get some better pics of her sometime, we are quite alike.

 

 

 

 

 

I want to head back to Matlock for a rummage in the chazzas (there are 5 or 6) and the vintage/antique shops. 

But for now, it is perfectly pleasant to potter in the garden with Littlest and the cats, finally enjoying some finer weather.

 

Hope the sun has been shining where you are!

    xxxx