Mr Blue Sky's up there waiting

Spending time at my sister's home is always a pleasure, nestling as it does among the Chiltern hills with their beautiful beech woods.

 

 

 

 

Especially when there is plenty of this overhead.

 

 

 

The kids treat it like a holiday.

They made full use of the facilities!

 

Our garden at home may be a poor relation - there's certainly no room for a pool! - but it's nice to be back and taking my outfit pics in my usual spots.

We took Bobbin the dog for a lovely walk through the woods to Coombe Hill.

There are beautiful views across the vale of Aylesbury.

 

The monument commemorates the Buckinghamshire men who died in the Boer War.

 

The chained white swan is on the county's coat of arms.

There's Chequers (bottom left), the Prime Minister's country house.

 

The Camerons weren't at home, there was no security presence to give the game away.

 

1970s maxi dress - Ebay

Sandals - retail (sale)

Belt, hair flowers and bangles - charity shopped

Cream floral bracelet and thin gold bangle - gifts from lovely Tania

Necklace - gift from dearest Leisa

 

Several of you asked whether I bought new shoes for the party - and indeed I did! It took quite an effort to part with the cash, I can tell you, I'm not used to retail prices anymore.

But thankfully these sandals were in the sale and are soooo comfortable (which is a significant consideration these days for my poor middle-aged feet). I wish they had been available in purple, green or orange, but had to content myself with black.

 

That's not one of my cats, by the way - that's Bertie, a stray who visits from time to time.

 

 

But back to Bucks.

 

 

 

Eldest has learnt from her mama, she's pinching my moves.

 

But I'm keeping my eye on her!

We popped into nearby Wendover, a very pretty little market town.

A clock tower, characteristic red brick, flint, whitewashed and timbered buildings with pantiled roofs, and the smallest front door ever. 

 

 

 

 

 

Sadly, it is raining as I type this. The garden will benefit, of course, but having a decent summer with plenty of sunshine has been an unexpected treat.

 

 

 

 

 

Love the square back of this dress.

 I am off to pack a bag for Eldest, who must have made a good impression as she has been invited back to spend a few days with her big girl cousins in Bucks. She is very excited!

Ready to take on the world? I think so!

 

 

 

 

As for me, I'll be linking up with the delightfully hospitable Patti for her usual Visible Monday gathering.

 

 

Hope you are all enjoying the weekend, whatever you're up to!

 

   xxxx

Before it's too late

We have returned from the genteel beauty of Buckinghamshire, and I have a stack of photos, too many for one post.

Where to start?

The party, of course!

Because I am a hopelessly unreliable blogger, this is one of only two photos which include me.

Here I am with my middle sister and my mum.

After head-scratching dilemmas over what to wear, I went with my bias cut 1970s-does-30s maxi dress in glorious jewel colours, a gift from dearest Helga. 

The kids scrubbed up well.

Littlest borrowed a hair flower, and Seldom Seen Kid's bow tie came from a charity shop!

I am such a good mum, loaning my hair adornments to all and sundry, and do I receive gratitude in return?

I do not.

I receive The Look.

Eldest's black lace dress matched her auntie's - but only one of them came from a charity shop!

As you can imagine, there had been major preparations beforehand, all performed with customary efficiency by my eldest sister.

The event took place in the garden of their home in leafy South Buckinghamshire.

When we arrived on Thursday last week, the marquee was in place; this was swiftly followed by tables and chairs, portaloos, fridges, flowers, decorations, all the table settings, glasses, and a large supply of drinks.

The caterers were sorted, and the band set up and rehearsed.

It really did look lovely.

Here are the hosts - my eldest sister and my brother-in-law, who was celebrating his 60th birthday.

These are my gorgeous nieces - beautiful birthday girl on the left, celebrating her 21st, and glamorous younger sis on the right, who had curled my girls' hair earlier in the afternoon (and who they followed around as though she was the Pied Piper, utterly mesmerised and besotted.)

I love this photo of the five cousins.. 

After the Pimms started flowing, I forgot all about taking photos...

...but hastily grabbed a few pics of the assembled gorgeous young things.

Me? I am so sophisticated, my nails matched the portaloos.

Classy, no?

 

After dinner came the band!

That's my brother-in-law on bass guitar; he and the lead guitarist used to be in a band together, so it was a partial reunion gig.

The crowd loved it!

The birthday girl joined them for an encore, she has a great voice.

Now you see that uber-cool dude at the back?

He is not only rather handsome, he obviously has magical powers - he got my mother dancing.

My sisters and I watched open-mouthed as she tore up the dance floor.

We are 58, 53 and 49 respectively, and we have never, ever seen our mum dance.

Which is because she never has before. Ever. And she's 89.

When asked the following day what had made her have a go, she said she thought she had better do it before it was too late, she didn't know when she would get another chance.

A couple of lessons there, I think; it's never too late to try something new, but what are you waiting for?

Middle sis, eldest sis, and younger niece.

So, so beautiful.

Equally beautiful, in a 7 year old way.

A boy who's had enough now and needs his bed...

We danced till 3am, then called it a night.

Remarkably, everyone felt OK in the morning; plenty of tea and bacon butties fuelled the big clear up.

Mind you, by 4 o'clock on Sunday afternoon, everyone left in the house was asleep!

Photos of what else we got up to will be in my next post.

I have been trying to catch up on everything I have missed so please bear with me, I'm coming to see you just as quickly as I can!

xxxxx

Live my days instead of counting my years

I know my blog has a vintage/style theme, it's the hook on which the blog hangs, and of course I love my clothes - and seeing yours!

But what is really fascinating about blogging is that conversations develop, bloggers pick up themes and issues from each other, and explore them in their own way.

Posts, comments, further posts - all these brilliant women talking and sharing their thoughts and experiences, I love it.

It's a great big international chin wag, just pour yourself a glass of something lovely, or make a cuppa, and join in!

We have mulled over what sexy means to us, and had a good old laugh about the usefulness of male strippers, thanks to Melanie.

We've considered modesty with Patti, explored with Jan the possibility of dressing so that our age is irrelevant, and embraced our womanliness with Mrs V.

We've thought about aging with Desiree, and how/whether it impacts on us.

We've looked back at old photos with a wee bit of wistfulness, but acknowledged that the women we are now are pretty damn fine.

Val's and Vix's posts on the subject are fabulous. Touching, thought-provoking, revealing.

Yep, this is why I love blogging.

Kiss Me Kitty leggings - gift from the fabulous Cristi
Black dress, print dress and bangles - charity shopped
Sunglasses - gift from darling Helga
Sandals - retail
Necklace - gift

 Such great leggings - thank you so much, Cristi!

And I love these prints together too.

And here's a kiss for all my blogging friends - you are fabulous!


We're off to my eldest sister's for a few days, which will include the posh Black Tie party to celebrate my brother-in-law's 60th and my niece's 21st birthday.

I think we will all scrub up alright for the occasion. The Man is suited and booted, the kids have their outfits sorted, but me?

Still haven't decided. I've narrowed it down to three dresses. I'm having a shoe crisis. Shall I - outrageous! - buy some new ones?

It's so hard, being me. No one knows what I go through.

I hope to keep track of you all via my iPad while we are away, but forgive any slackness in commenting.

And if I stay sober enough to take lots of pics of the bright young things at the party, not to mention the gorgeous older ones too, I will do so and share them on our return.

Much love!



xxxx