Storm Survivors ... Well, Mostly

Back home again.

Bertie The Cat was my first port of call, I snuggled on the sofa with him for the prerequisite amount of time. 

When I could contain myself no longer, I checked out the garden for storm damage, followed by my omnipresent shadow Bertie. 

 Storm Katie has been the latest of so many storms that have hit us this year.  We were in Southampton when it hit on Sunday.  It seems it hit Sussex more badly than the rest of the south of England and the Channel Islands, so we got off lightly.

I don't know how the island fared, so I wanted to check first hand out in the garden. 

It seems to have survived ... mostly.

The hyacinths are still standing proud

A late-flowering variety of daffodils have come through

Tulips have sprung up in the two weeks we've been away and have survived Katie

Arum Lilies have come through too

But, oh dear, my poor Banana plant has been burned by the wind :-[

That will need some serious cutting back PDQ in order to survive through to summer

No garden fence panels succumbed to Katie's wrath and my decrepit Leaning Sheds of Guernsey are still standing.  So, most of the garden has survived.  Just that poor Banana plant has taken one for the team, brave little soldier that it is.  Fret not, matie, Mummy' s here ...

A La perchoine

Feeling Grateful

Going home!

St Peter Port

  I'm on my way home.  It's time to put my feet up.  This sightseeing stuff is so hard on the feet!

I'm looking so forward to seeing my wonderful family.

Loving family and friends make living fun.

And on that note, here's my Fleetwood Mac tweaking :

Sweet wonderful you

You make me happy with the things you do

Oh, can it be so

This feeling follows me wherever I go

For you make living fun

A La perchoine

(White) Jean's On!

When I wake up in the mornin' light

I pull on my white jeans and I feel alright

Ok, it's a while since I paraphrased, so let's dust down the David Dundas hit and tweak it to how I feel right now.  

For I am itching to pull on my white jeans  ... And feel alright.  

Because White Jeans means summer's here!

Those cheeky white jeans do tend to look less white and more tired after a couple of summers' wear.  Do you find that?  Or is that just me 'fessing up to my bad laundry skills?  Anyway, mine are at that stage, less than sparkly white, so I'm on the hunt for a good replacement. 

I know a longer length should suit my short legs more than crops and that's what I should be shopping.  That's how it should work in theory, longer length then lengthens the leg line. But I am so drawn to white crops, I feel so much more frisky, light and summery in them. 

 So I am torn on which way I should/shall go.  Dressing to my body versus just feeling bloomin' good? My jury's out right now!

Here is my shortlist

From Next

Slim jeans, £ 20

Button fly cigarette jeans, £24

And from M and S

0zone straight leg jeans, £18

As you can see, I'm attempting to stay on-message with the longer length.  Well, for the first round of my search, at least!  And as the "whiteness" tends to grey over time, I don't like to spend too much on white jeans, so price was the key driver in the search, with a healthy amount of elastane coming a close second!

I'd like my look to be something like this

:-)

But the reality is this

:-(

No, this is not me (badly) airbrushing out a bad hair day, it's the way the pic came off the back-up site.

So the search is on.  I'm on the case, maties, and I will hopefully report come back in a few days with some results.

Have you found the perfect white jeans for summer?

Ankle length or crops?

A la perchoine.

The Name and Shame Effect

A big part of why I put myself out in the Blogisphere is to encourage (shame) me to smartening up my act.  The theory is that if I know I'm going to be photographed at some point during the day, then I will think a little about what I am going to put on at the start of it.

Try as I may, I don't quite achieve the "smart" bit a lot of the time, but I am working on it.  Photos show up everything, worts and all.  And I have to be brave enough to post them, in order to learn along the way.

So what have I learned so far on this Blog Journey?  It's time to Name and Shame!

My Scruffy Shoes
I must be one of the world's laziest when it comes to shoe cleaning.  So I love when shoes sort themselves out without my intervention.  Boots like the Gabor Anna do that superbly.  But I have learned from my blog photos that my Gabor nubuck bootees need attention, even if just occasionally.

Let's take a closer look at those boots ...

Pretty Scruffy, huh?

To be fair, these are the only footwear I've brought over on this holiday so it's no surprise they look like this, they have rather taken a pounding from much sightseeing!

My Cat's Hair
I have a fluffy cat.    Meet Bertie.

Bertie sheds hair 12 months of the year.  A lot of it ends up on my clothes.  Or in my suitcase.
Sometimes I make the effort to pick off the hair.  Often I forget. 

Badly-airbrushed catfluff

Here I tried to "airbrush" out some hair after I'd posted the piccie.  The top shows weird marks from my novice airbrushing attempt.  Using the very entry-level software on my Kindle.
I accept that I am not good at it. And that I need more than entry-level anything.  So now I leave that one to the experts.  What you see is what you will certainly get on this blog, unfortunately.  Fluff, dirty boots and all.

So, lessons learned -  step away from the airbrush,  check for Bertie-hair. Always.

My Own Hair
Courtesy of this blog, I have seen that it shows signs of thinning ... or a fringe needs cutting ... or my mop needs re-styling.  Or all three!
I have to admit I'm a bit lost with my hair and I'm afraid I do very little with it.  My hair needs some serious thought.
But in the meantime, I should at the very least check the mirror when I come in from a windy-day walk!

Wind-bedraggled hair

My Neck
I discovered my aging neck before I started the blog.  I should do all I can to hide it.  But do I?  Nah!  I forget.  Then I see glimpses of the exposed neck on the blog.  But hey ho, that's life, that's aging, that's being a pensioner, after all.
I have a neck for scarves.  End of.  So why don't I wear the bloomin' things?!

My Weight
I (naively) hoped that a by-product of seeing myself "on-screen" would sub-consciously trigger something magical that would make me lose weight.  Evidently it hasn't.  Evidently there is no magic.


And Finally, My Short Legs
Yes, they are short.  But just how does The Photographer manage to shorten them even more?!

I understand that one can lengthen the visual appearance of the body by wearing all one colour for top and bottom, to create a column, then adding a shirt, cardi or jacket over those for colour. I believe it works.   But I don't think the best column dressing this side of The Pecos could have helped me in this shot!



So there you have me, worts and all, thanks to the honesty of photography.  By posting pics, I now recognise that I have grooming issues that need just as much smartening up as do my outfits. Some other issues may take longer to fix.

But by being Named and Shamed via this blog, I hope its effect will be that I do something about it - PDQ!


Am I alone in my messiness?
Are there any grooming issues you can share?
What's your approach to dealing with things you want to change?

A la perchoine.

Sticking My Neck Out

I have to say that over the years I pretty much ignored the skin on my neck.  I moisturised it rarely.  I thought it could take care of itself, it always had.

Then, a couple of years ago I was taken out for a top-down spin around Richmond (as you do, I'm told) and we took top's-down-selfies (as you do, I'm told) and - da daa daaahhh ...

I saw that something weird was going on with my neck!
I think it's called "aging".

Well, of course, the damage was already done and I don't think anything but a neck lift can reverse the aging process!  I'm not someone who "lifts" anything.
So that won't be happening.

 I've since moisturised the neck area regularly, but maybe this is too-little, too-late.  This is just making those folds, crevices and wrinkly bits look like well-moisturised folds, crevices and wrinkly bits.
I'm not convinced that a neck-specific cream can do anything more.

Is neck care all about prevention rather than repair?

Since The Richmond Experience I have been endeavouring to follow those known neck coverup tricks, like chunky necklaces and lots of scarfage and the like - but this only works when I remember.
Reaching for a neck coverup isn't yet hard-wired into my daily dressing routine. 
And there is much evidence of my oversight in my post pics!

Have you used a neck-specific cream?

With good results? 

I'd love to hear from you on this.

A la perchoine.

Two Yellow Peas in a Pod

 Good Friday.  Time for a meal with Rellies in Hastings Old town.

 Foyles old stomping ground.

We chose Porters Wine Bar here

I enjoyed ...

A juicy burger with Monterey jack cheese

And a glass of bubbly!

I would like to take a moment to thank you so much for reading my posts.  I am humbled.  I really appreciate the time you give me when you catch up with my day-to-days.  

Cheers, maties!

So, back to today's title.

Where do my two yellow peas fit in to their pod?

Well, here!

Meet Sis. 

Neither of us normally wears yellow, nor did we know that the other owned a yellow cardi.  And even more surprising is that we chose to wear them on the same night.  

That's sisters for you, eh?!! 

The Two Yellow Peas in a Pod.  

Or The Canaries, as Bro sweetly named us.

Sharp yellow M&S bobble cardi (currently in Sale here), yellow Next sleeveless top here, black M&S jeggings and black Clarks court heels.  Black bead necklace made by SD.

I really should cool this infatuation with the bobble button cardi  - they feature in my posts with embarrassing regularity!

A la perchoine.



What a Difference a Day Makes!

Different day, different weather, and it feels like a different season.  

Last week we visited Scotney Castle with SD and DF.  It was freezing cold and gloomy, but the magic of the castle shone through. 

The Sibs had seen their photos posted on FB and really wanted to visit the place for themselves during their visit.  So, oh dear, The Photographer and I had to go back to that magical place again!  No hardship, of course, especially when on this glorious Good Friday the castle's magic stepped several notches, as you will see below. 

Firstly, the medieval castle.

Meet Bro.  We're enjoying a little break in the castle's grounds.

With memories of the recent bitterly cold visit, we took warm coats but carried them round most of the day as this truly was a warm spring day.

I loved the Boat House, it sparked such thought.  

I imagined times gone by when boats would have been returned there - by children having enjoyed hours of Enid Blyton adventures on the moat, by young ladies wooed with evening champagne picnics by moustachioed young men, by more mature couples having fished for the elusive resident pike whilst enjoying the afternoon son a la the delightful pairing of Peter Fonda and Katherine Hepburn, On Golden Pond ...

Three Little Duckies enjoying the warm, sunny, spring day.

And two  bigger Duckies enjoying the day too!

I love the beautiful reflections on the still blue water.

Now, back into the newer Victorian Castle 

for some internal shots

The dining room, set up for a cosy supper for 10!

My favourite of the guest bedrooms, The Bamboo Room.

I love painted furniture and this was painted in a gorgeous jade/turquoise mix.

The Gentleman's Bedroom - dark colours, heavy wood furniture.

The Lady's Bedroom - airy, oriental, gilt and with a hint of cat

(pussycat lavender bag hanging on the right of the bedstead).

The last lady resident loved cats - a collection of cat ornaments adorns her en suite bathroom.

The owners' apartment includes a cosy sitting room with nice homely touches like floral-decorated black painted furniture and tapestry cushions.

I apologise if you are feeling a bit Groundhog Day having seen shots of the castle last week, but I felt I experienced a totally new castle on such a beautiful day and I hope that maybe you feel that way too.  Because, what a difference a day makes!

And look what I found in the grounds ...

Sweet spring primroses nestled by an old tree trunk

And an old jalopy - and I mean the beautifully restored 

and polished old Ford car, and not me!

Here's what I wore.

M&S navy bobble button cardi over a Primark longline navy/white stripe V-neck top, with Next slim jeans and M&S Chelsea boots.  All new!  From my recent shop here.

Worn with an M&S scarf from 2014, white with delicate navy & taupe patterning.

 

 These boots are made for walking!

Here are the Chelsea boots displayed on old banqueting hall flagstone, seeing action for the first time.  I wore them all day and my feet felt absolutely fine right to the end, despite the pounding they took walking miles and miles in new boots.  They passed their Initiation Ceremony with flying colours, so are an excellent sale buy.  Recommended.

Apropos footwear generally, I have found in the last year or so that shoe sizes are all over the place.  I currently fit in a range between 4.5 and 5 (37 and 38, continental).  I was even able to wear a 5.5  (39), albeit with a bit of tissue shoved down in the toe end!!  Yet I had my feet measured by a Clarks lady last week and they are still their old size 5.  What's going on?!

I hope you are having a glorious Easter weekend.

  

A la perchoine.