Keeping Going

 Just checking in to make sure this blog is still functioning!

Reasons to go MIA

 Hello my lovelies,

This is just a quick post to tell you I’ll be posting spasmodically for the next week or so as I become embroiled in garden projects, a new conservatory roof and  not least of all, the days-long celebrations to mark our 80th year of liberation from wartime occupation.  It’s a big celebration, as is 80th VE Day on 8th May which is also being celebrated all week. 

Here are some “vintage” Lib Day pics. 

With my Guernsey flag bunting. 

A 1940s style dress. 

Wearing red and blue, and the white is my gnashers! 

I hope to posts pics of this year’s 9 May celebrations in town a few days later, and post on the other projects in due course. 

Please bear with me and if you’re subscribed you’ll get a notification of posts anyway, but please don’t fret if you find me MIA. 

 Please don’t forget to leave a comment (if you can think of something to say about this MIA notification!), and if you haven’t already subscribed then please please please do!

A la perchoine,

Mary x

What I Wore in April

 Hello my lovelies!

Well, if the title is a question, then the answer is definitely not a lot, as you will see my paultry offerings today.

Yep, Pout here with a roundup of April’s meagre offerings.  

I’m just an everyday old lady wearing everyday clothes.  As is proved perfectly in this post!  For there is not a lot to show, and what outfits I did manage to put together are definitely not insta worthy, but ok for this chummy blog!

But that’s life eh.  The month had been spent working inside and outside, planning, meetings, walking, meeting up for very casual dates … you get my drift, not many outfits opportunities there!

In fact I wore more outfits on this try-on day than I did the whole month of April!  That’s proof that it was a verrrrry relaxed month. 

Sage, striped, long sleeve tee, gilet, and what you can’t see is a pair of chinos and a pair of sketchers. Job done, an everyday for a retired lady, IMHO.

Navy jumper worn over striped shirt and lightweight jeans.  White gilet for out and about.

In the pic you can see some cream loafers, they’re over 20 years old so pretty tatty of course.  I spruced them up with a cream, which has quite frankly rejuvenated them ready for yet another summer.

Here’s the link , find this leather rejuvenating cream HERE.

Embarrassingly, I had to steal this outfit from Pinterest. Who would believe that I need to have inspo to throw this lot together!

Jeans, striped tee and white gilet. White loafers, which are around 15 years old and apparently back on trend, like I care!

Navy jumper, chinos and a fave summer scarf.  Loafers again. 

Wearing “colourful” at a funeral always gets me challenged to the max.  Black is black.  You know where you stand with black.  

I thought duck egg blue was the funeral Goldilocks, pitched just right, colourful yet respectful for the nicely pitched funeral that it was. 

The cashmere cardi is Jones of New York, bought in Arizona 2009 for USD17!  

Top tip: a desert region is a good place to pick up woolly bargains!

The blouse adds more colour and the cut skims the tum area.

I’ve hangered this combo for a good-to repeat performance as it felt fresh and spring like. 

And that, dear readers, was it for April. I wore few outfits and little make up, but fortunately the house and garden have benefitted from that!

 Please don’t forget to leave a comment, and if you haven’t already subscribed then please please please do!

A la perchoine,

Mary x

Pergola Licks And Promises

 Hello my lovelies!

It’s that time of year when the outdoor structures and furniture are getting a lick and a promise as I focus more on plantings in the big garden the gardeners have rediscovered for me. 

What a difference a few weeks makes in nature. 

The old grapevine is showing signs of life.  Phew!  I did cut it back rather hard earlier in the year and it’s always an anxious time waiting for signs of life after I’ve scalped it. 

(Please excuse the patio mayhem and TP’s bottom - all works in progress!)

Just a month ago the pergola was devoid of any signs of life.

And now the pergola is brimming with life and joy. 

The wisteria and clematis are great buddies.

Living in perfect harmony together. 

I’m itching to tidy up the pergola area but it’s an out of bounds for me right now, whilst TP spruces up woodwork with a new coat of stain as the wood is looking rather tired.  In fact the whole area needs a lick and a promise, the flooring, the furniture, the mangled vines. 

He’s going to have to paint around the clusters!

But it’s quick fix to tide us over for a few years. 

I’ll post pics when the area has been licked beyond recognition!

And until then, nature is flowering things up nicely to take my eye away from the scruffy garden furniture and dangerously rotten decking. 

This 20 year old scruffy picnic table will be reincarnated as a utility table.  I only throw things away when they cannot serve any imaginable purpose. Are you the same?

And the decking in this area is so rotten that I daren’t climb on a step ladder to cut back the mess of clematis and wisteria on the struts above. 

The decking will be replaced with slabs when the garden firm can find a slot to put down a new patio at Chez Pout.  I guess I’ll have to work with what I have for a few months until then.  Give the whole area a lick and a promise.  But I’m happy with that.  My creative juices positively gush at the challenge of making a silk purse out of a sow’s ear, in the garden, the house, and the most challenging sow’s ear - ME!

We work with what we’ve got eh. 

Is that  generational thing?

Right ladies, let’s hear how your outside space is doing.

Does it need b lots of attention, like mine?

Or are you totally on top of things, with well maintained hard structures and organized plantings?

I’d love I’m to hear. 

 Please don’t forget to leave a comment, and if you haven’t already subscribed then please please please do!

A la perchoine,

Mary x

When AI and AC Meet

Hi my lovely ladies!

Something a little different today.

You may call me weird, but I have recently developed a strange obsession. 

I have found myself drawn to AI generated Pinterest pics of mature ladies.  There, I’ve said it, I’ve come out of the closet!

Weird, yes, but I’ve finally worked out why. 

Amazingly these clever AI bods must have researched what regular mature ladies wear on a day-to-day basis, not the stuff you see on Instagram or in YouTube videos but plain simple day-to-day wear.  

#atrendfreezone

And you know me, I love a style steal, so that’s what I’ve been doing.  Stealing.  Putting together outfits prescribed by AI with stuff already either in my current accidental capsule or grabbing items taking a rest in my upstairs wardrobe.  

So today I’m re-creating for you a few of my favourite drawn-to outfits.  Using blogger’s license, of course, as the body face and hair the clothes are draped around them aren’t a perfect match to the pics, for AI is a perfect world.   But you get my drift, this is an easy way to put an outfit together and one that we can wear in the lives that we now lead. Because sometimes I do get a little brain fog when thinking of what to take from the capsule each day, so this gives me the jolt I need.  Painting by numbers I always liken it to when doing a style steal, no need for thought or any particular skill.

Let’s get cracking with some AI steals!

AI Assumptions

Our base is turned up jeans and a white cami. 

Barefooting is commonplace.  

We mostly sport a scruffy updo.   

Our accessories are a glass of wine or a coffee mug, cute dogs and even cuter children. 

  Looks like that is our stereotype. 

Look #1

A print blouse in red hues

Seems we spend our days sipping something. 

The first try on was not a win. The white cami showed through the very fine silk chiffon. So this one won’t be happening again sadly.

But I’ve previously worn this diaphanous blouse with a pale blue cami and jeans, so maybe I won’t abandon this look quite yet.

Look #2

Double denim and lace 

This one was an exception to the prescribed “uniform”, switching the simple cami for a fancier lacy top. 

Now TP liked this look, so this will be a repeat. 

I added some dangly earrings as my hair was up. 

I then switched back to the cami for,

Look #3

Beige linen baggy shirt. 

This look requires drinking yet more wine.  And a dog.

I had the wine. 

Though these days it’s usually alcohol free.

(Yet another casualty of the aging process)

This is definitely something I wear through the summer, and you too probably?

Look #4

Baggy khaki linen shirt

(Seems we like linen and we need baggy!)

I had no small children to use as props for this outfit. 

So I used a coffee cup. 

Again, this is something I do wear throughout most of the year, though possibly in a little more of an ironed state!

You won’t be able to see this but I switched to green earrings. 

The style skims over the lumps and bumps and hides things when they need to be hidden so I can see how AI would’ve chosen this as it’s something we ladies wear a lot, n’est pas?

Look #4

A taupe cardi. 

I did think to grab next door’s dog for the shot, but TP persuaded me to just stick with the coffee cup.

An empty coffee mug is essential posing kit. 

And how many times do we mature ladies sling on this retirement uniform eh?

Look #6

Ivory v neck jumper

Well, still no dog prop on the scene, and crossed legged was a step (or an injury!) too far. 

So I stood.  I added chunky pearl earrings as I thought the look was a little posher than the others and needed some form of pearlage. 

Conclusion

A1 certainly gets us mature ladies.  These are all things I wear on the daily and feel comfortable in. Though not all of us have the cute dogs and small children accessories. 

There are still many other combos I want to try out and I certainly will do as we go through this sometimes challenging transition into summer.  Dressing this retired lady just got a whole lot easier!

Is copying A1 outfits something you’ve done or something that you quite like the idea of doing?

 Please don’t forget to leave a comment, and if you haven’t already subscribed then please please please do!

 

A la perchoine,

Mary x

Summerhouse Stalling

Hello, my lovies !

It’s Easter Monday as I write this, it’s sunny and warm, and this would be an ideal time to be hanging out around the summer house. Unfortunately that’s not going to happen, we’re a little behind with the programme this year.

Let’s see why. 

 The Summerhouse

This is how it started out in 2019.

I obviously used it a lot as I was forever posing for Instagram photographs here. 

But time moves on.

This wooden garden furniture is no longer around.  Well, I say no longer, it’s piled up in the wood pile currently so it is still around!  However, it lasted just under 20 years so I mustn’t complain.

This garden furniture, however, is holding up well, no doubt because I store it in the summer house every winter.

And there lies the problem. 

We’re waiting for the deck to be repainted so currently the garden furniture is still stored in that summer house.  Piled up to the gunnels.   And so we can’t use it. 

As I’m in a state of summerhouse stall, I had to remind myself of how in looks inside when not cluttered, so I read this post HERE.

Very inviting.  I want to be in there, sipping a G&T, or writing my best selling novel!

But on a positive note, the stall does give me thinking time, so I’ve been thinking about how to repaint the summer house which after six years of weather sorely needs it. I’ve come up with a few ideas on my Pinterest mood board.

I need to go from this mess. 

To maybe this, a putty colour. 

With an interior I can use. 

Greens are calling me. 

Maybe a pale grey. 

Decisions, decisions.

All I am sure about is this is where I am want to be very soon!

So I’m going to need to make a decision soon before the gardeners turn up at 7.30am with their eager beaver attitudes, armed with paint brushes and no paint to dip them in!  And believe me I am panicking with decision paralysis.  

The easy option is to just repaint it black.  What do you think?  Is that a cop out?

Take the easy road with just a spruce up in black?  Or should I go for something cutesy and pretty?

I’d love to hear which direction you think this summerhouse should go.

Maybe you have a summerhouse.   If you do, I’d love to know what you’ve done with yours. 

 Please don’t forget to leave a comment, and if you haven’t already subscribed then please please please do! 

A la perchoine,

Mary x