Easy Like Sunday Morning

I've been taking it easy.  A Sunday morning stroll to meet friends for coffee.

A gorgeous autumn day.  So nice.

And look at me!  About to go into November and my jumper stayed slung over my shoulders.

The trees are now shedding their leaves with speed.

9.30am on a super autumn Sunday. 

No wind, warm, plenty sun, a cloudless blue sky.  Just what the doc order to stoke up on vitamin D so that I'm  ready to fight off the winter sniffles.

Peacock grey jeans, Magasin ecru/black linen mix  Breton.  Grey jumper, just as back-up.

The fungi is coming through.  I don't like mushrooms.  Some autumns they don't like me. 

The hedge stalls are starting to wind down for winter.  This one is empty again today :-(.



I love this fun display for free range eggs.  But there were none.  The egg shell was bare.



Finally, some produce. Can I make a meal out of apples, Asian pears ... and fuchsias?

Colour livening up the lanes, thanks to the robust osteospermum.



Who's finger strayed over the lens!

I love the mix of colours in the piles of leaves.

The source of that vibrant russet leafage. 

This fascade is covered in Virginia creeper.  But not for long!

Taking a breather.

A pumpkin stall; we tend to be limited on pumpkin choice, unlike our American cousins.

A sign of the times for honesty stores - honesty cannot always be relied upon.

This cute little fella came in to do a turn for me whilst I sipped my coffee. 

I stopped to look at more ducks on the way back home (ok, it was another breather!)

The ducks are by the edge of the pond.  Honest.

I loved the morning sun spilling through the trees, not quite captured by my pocket camera.

Bernie and Sweet Charlotte enjoying a leisurely breakfast.

Shrubs losing their leaves.

But still the sky is filled with glorious sunshine.  As I enjoy my walk home on this lovely autumn day

There are years when autumn can be magical.  I think this just might be one of them.

Have you been out enjoying the sunshine and the warm autumn days where you are?

Enjoying the last of the warm and sunny days?

Or maybe you're getting nicely warmed up by your Antipodean spring sun

Wherever you are, I wish you happy times.

A la perchoine.







My Reunion with La Reunion

Hi dear reader.  Yesterday I kept my post brief as I knew that today I would be bombarding you with big visuals!

Today I give you my last dinner of Pout Tennerfest Fortnight.

I wore a black Alexon jersey dress.  It is cleverly cut and hangs well.  Discrete little curved shoulder pads.  A sash at the front.  That detail is important, as I read recently that front sashes are big for AW16.  This dress hasn't had an airing for years (it should have been covered in cobwebs!) but I spotted the sash during my recent season switch and thought, wow, so this season! 

And I double wow-ed when I realised that is 20+ years old!  It used to be my go-to for winter business dinners.  It should have been covered in cobwebs!

I bunged it in the washing machine, hung it out to dry and it didn't need even a whiff of the iron.  How good is that?!



I just had to include this selfie!  Because look behind me.  Do you see a pile of cast-aside clothes.  No, you do not.  Because I looked no further when I slipped this baby on. 

Another golden oldie, my recently rediscovered velvet jacket.

And I returned to La Reunion, wearing a 20+ year old dress!

I didn't take many pics the other day here so I snapped all that I wanted to share with you this time round, dear reader.

The restaurant had stylishly fested up for Halloween.

Our Table With A View.

Dusk was falling so we didn't take our aperos out on the terrace.  And no one else did.

And look - again, they knew that I was coming!

For photos done, I began testing out their Pout Wine Cellar.

My date, The Photographer, found the single malt selection to be pretty spiffo too!

Our server for the evening was a charming young gentleman who was knowledgeable, professional and such a pleasure to chat to. And I wish I'd thought to ask his name because he does really deserve a very special mention.  Naughty Pout.

Our nice sea view, even in late October - just imagine this on a beautiful sunny summer's evening ... the sun setting ...

But night quickly began to fall.

And peeps, I have exercised restraint with my food shots this fortnight, so please allow me one grand finale food photo fest on this, my final night of two weeks of gluttony.



Flavoursome chicken and ham terrine.

My handsome dining companion's gin-cured salmon.  I love pickled cucumber and I tasted one of the delicate little curls that garnished his dish.  Devine.

Open Guernsey Chancre (crab) lasagne.

Soft lasagne strips served with a fragrant crab mix and a light tomato concasse.  I was I Pout Heaven.

The selection of cheese was beautifully acidic.  The biscuits were wisps of thin wheaty-nuttiness.  The sweet grapes and soft juicy ribbons of celery were the perfect foil for all this tangy cheese.

Superb food.  Superb service.  Superb décor.  Superb location.  

Off the Richter Scale superb.

A fitting finale to Pout Tennerfest Fortnight!

And now a message to my Guernsey readers or anyone visiting our lovely island.  If you want a very special meal, tennerfest or not, please go there.

My feasting over, it's back to simple food for me now!

A la perchoine.









Pink and Grey Simplicity

Hi my dears, I'm wishing you a glorious weekend  Hope it's going well for you.

I kept this outfit simple, so I thought I'd keep this post simple too.  Sort of give you a break from my endless rantings.   Cos once I get started with you guys, I just cannot stop!

So let's just say that I'm you're having a day off.

I love the pink and grey colour combo.  So I chose it for a easy day of out and aboutings.  And it makes a cheerful change from "posh" black that's dominating this week's OOTDs.

Grey Peacock jeans, Next grey camisole, pink Primark slouch cardi, M&S metallic toe flatties.  Finished off with a pink and grey metal necklace from M&S - why shouldn't I put on jewellery for an at-home day, I thought.  So I did.

And look, handy pockets!

This Primark cardi is so good to wear.  It's quite heavy so it hangs well.  And it is made in a sort of fine silky jersey.  I guess they thought girlie pink deserved girlie treatment - and I did feel nicely girlie in my OOTD!

And you know, late morning I took myself off for a little break, a walk around my hood.  This is all I wore.  The cardi and the cami are both very thin but I wore no jacket.  This weird autumn weather keeps on giving.  As I walked through the lanes I reminded myself that it is nearly November.

Not complaining though.  Nice walk.  Housework.  Errands.  No breakfast and a prawn salad lunch.  All good clean living.  Recompense for tonight.  Because I'm out on my last dinner of my Pout Tennerfest Fortnight.  It's been great to dine out and socialise, but maybe just a little too much in a short space of time. 

How I am looking forward to eating simply from now on - beans on toast, here I come!

A la perchoine.







La Reunion

This post should have been entitled "The Gluttony Continues", for here comes ...
Another day, another meal!

I'm "posh dining" for this second week of "The Pout's Tennerfest Fortnight".

I am a traditional dresser.  I think posh and immediately think black. 

Is black your go-to posh wear too?  Or do you have a modern-day equivalent?

This black M&S skirt has often been a life-saver when I need to go lady-like or posh.  It's an ex-work skirt which has slid so nicely into my winter retirement wardrobe.  Using this skirt as the base for my outfits this week has made dressing easy (well, maybe we should leave it as "easier").  There has been a pile of tops only heaped on the bed when I have left the house!

To meet up with girlfriends during the week, I added a Next jersey asymmetric cowl top and a large pearl drop pendant and earrings.

Topped with my ubiquitous Peacock pleather waterfall jacket and Clarks croc print chunky heels.

This little jacket has turned out to be another little lifesaver, but in so many more contexts.  It goes "posh" to ground an outfit and equally it works to zap up a more casual jeans outfit.  It looks great with dresses too.  I am so pleased I grabbed it when I saw it in the shop.  They disappeared quickly.

I've worn it sooo much so PPW will be plummeting again now that we are in the cover-up season.

I took this little outfit here.  I don't think I've taken you to La Reunion before.  It's a little bit more pricey but the place is very chic and in warmer seasons it is so lovely to enjoy pre-dinner drinks out on the balcony overlooking the bay, where the sun sets so beautifully.  But 6.30pm, October - neither of those things was going to happen during this visit unfortunately.

I meet up with some ex-colleagues on a regular basis.  We bring each other back little souvenirs from trips abroad.  Today was a bit of a bonanza, a bit of a build-up of goodies so I just had to take a shot of all my pressies on display before me

Caramels from France, a make-up bag from Egypt, a soap and little plate from Cyprus, a coaster from Paris, a little silk purse from China (that friend had just returned from a week's business trip there so it was truly "fresh") and a cow bell keyring from Austria which my cheeky French friend secretly hooked to my handbag so that for the rest of the evening there was no mistaking where I was!

And continuing  to exercise due food-shot restraint during this difficult-for-dieters Tennerfest period, I give you just one.  A cheeky little fig and pear crumble ... yummy!

My tummy is now truly feeling the strain of my gluttony, internally and externally.  I stoked up on healthy clean salads yesterday.  That continued during today (the exception being tonight, of course).  It will continue tomorrow and hopefully keep going as far as I possibly can - would Christmas be too much to ask for?  Oh yes it will.  We have our birthdays coming up soon.  It would be rude not to enjoy some nice food and wine as I celebrate another year of still hanging on in there despite my less than decorous living!

I just don't know if I'll be able to fit into any of my clothes by then ...

But back to the now maties.  Tonight I am returning to the same restaurant. And I will also be returning to black but a dress for a change. It's work-in-progress so that invariably means I will be leaving behind a pile of discarded outfits on the bed when the taxi arrives!
And then from tomorrow, it's outings rather than eatings for this yer porky Pout!

A la perchoine.