Midwinter Swimming

Boxing Day morning and still with the festive spirit alive and kicking, I donned my fave Christmas hat yet one more time this holiday. 

(Christmas Day photo, with makeup!)

It’s such a cosy and floppy fur hat - and warm.

And I needed warmth as I was going for a swim.  Yes, in December!

Under my quilted parka I was dressed only in my bathers (swimming cosi).

The parka and furry boots stayed on till the last possible moment, when we were called to the start line.  

There are no photos of me in the water -

- perhaps because of the hundreds of bods all splashing about together, or perhaps because of the minor tsunami I created when diving (flopping) into the sea!

And back home, dry but bedraggled and still without makeup , I enjoyed the pampering laid on me by The Photographer for being so brave.  And I pretty much milked it all day!

This is a fun swim held each year down at our local beach, Cobo Bay. 

Last year I agree with my GD that we’d swim it in 2019.  So we did. 

And this old granny’s heart swelled with pride that she braved the cold - she continues to surprise me and I was thrilled to share this step outside our comfort zones together. 

The coldest bit was not the sea, which was really no colder than in early summer.  The coldest (and perhaps most embarrassing) bit was standing at the front of the line of hundreds of swimmers dressed only in my cosi (a black tankini set from Bravissimo, if you’re interested).

And the coldest part of my body?  My feet, enduring a few minutes of cold sand. 

Now, this ain’t no biggie in the wider scheme of things.

Many swim all year round, like the lovely Anna in Tresco and my Instamate

Laura.

And I get that now.  Swimming in cold sea is exhilarating any time of the year and one comes out feeling reinvigorated.  Fact.   And from my experience on BD it was definitely a case of colder out than in, because the minute or so wait at the start line was the only bad. 

So yes, I now totally get the swimming all year round thing. 

But, baby steps eh.  Let’s start with a seasonal fun swim and see how it goes. 

The conditions were not good this Boxing Day.  Cold, blowing a hoolie and with rain imminent.  So I figured this is pretty much as bad as it gets for winter swimming. 

Would I do it again?

Oh YESSS!

And so exhilarating was the experience that I put together a little fun trailer for you - it’s sub 1 minute so please watch it.


Is all-year sea swimming something you do?

A la perchoine,

Mary x.

A Flock of Seagulls

Dear people, sometimes I think you need a break from my clothes and face.  So today I share with you my L'Ancresse beach walk of a few days ago.  

I was uplifted to watch the seagulls resting, enjoying the warmth of the autumn sun, playfully jumping over the breaking waves just like the kiddies do.   

So here I share my studies of A Flock of Seagulls.

Mostly A Flock of Seagulls.

Definitely A Flock of Seagulls.

Most definitely A Flock of Seagulls.

And an alternative Flock of Seagulls.

Check out those 80s hairstyles!!I

And check out my skin care essentials, coming soon.

Wishing you a serenely wonderful weekend.

A la perchoine,

Mary.

Breakfast in Bordeaux

I am just not tiring of our glorious summer.

It inspires me to enjoy life's simple pleasures.

Like breakfast on the beach.

Throwing on bathers, shorts and top.

Filling water bottles with fruity shakes and a flask with coffee.  Piling them and us in the car and pointing it in the general direction of the sea.

A dip in the sea afterwards.  Is there better way to start the day?

Checking what my hair looks like in sunlight. 

It's grey (no surprise there!) but it's starting to look less skunk-like, and that pleases me.

To grey or not to grey?  Which way have you gone?

Bordeaux.

Are you giving yourself al fresco meal treats?

Early morning swims?

I'd love to hear.

And why not give yourself another treat by subscribing or following me?!

A la perchoine.

Last Chance Salon Success

Hellooo.  Hope all goes well with you, my ether friends.

I've been out enjoying our sunny start to Spring.  Just a couple of days after our Siberian freeze, I was out on the beach enjoying temps that had moved from -5c to 7c.   Who would have thought? But it was still chilly at 7c.

So I wrapped up warmly and headed for the beach.

Look who's got old lady eyes!

This was a good opportunity to show you a success from my Last Chance Salon (See HERE)

I was considering dumping this jumper, then gave it the Last Chance Salon treatment (See HERE).

Well, the good news is that I've worn this jumper at least once every week throughout the whole winter.  Turns out it's a go-to for jumper and jeans days (and there are many!), so it's not a dumper jumper after all.  Success!

It was a bit blowy on the headland but this infinity scarf kept snuggly in place.

The scarf was thoughtfully knitted for me by a dear friend.

The grey jeans are from the M&S sale, £8.  I didn't like them because they felt thick and clumpy on the back of my thighs.  Claustrophic.  I think they are what Anna of Mutton Style describes as Farmers' Jeans.  You know, thick work-wear rigid denim that you struggle to move in.   

I washed them but that didn't affect the thickness and that feeling of being hemmed in.  

Too thick for our winters thought I (not knowing what was lurking in the east ...).

But hey, only £8 and too much faff to return to M&S so I kept them even though I suspected they'd end up as dumpers.  

Then last week, when it was really cold and warmth around the legs was suddenly a pleasing thought, I gave them their LCS opportunity.

Well, I've worn them 3 times in the last week and I don't know if it's the wear the fabric is getting or it's me not bothering about them so much, but you know, I'm starting to like them.

So I really do recommend taking a LCS approach to items of clothing you are feeling iffy about.  Give them that last chance.

So tell me, has your snow disappeared?  From the Northern Hemisphere's readers' comments I think this transitional period is all over the place, with temperatures swinging 10-15 degrees within a few days.  It's still snowing heavily in parts of northern Britain, yet here we're about to hit 12c. 

Oh, enough of this weather talk, Pout!  

I'll let you lovely readers go about your busy days/evenings.

I'm working on some outfit posts

 so please pop back and check out what I'm wearing now that Spring is popping in on Chez Pout, and hear about some of my plans for this exciting season.

A la perchoine.

When August Bank Holiday and Perfect Meet

It doesn't get much better than yesterday, peeps!

UK bank holidays are known to be wet.   But yesterday we were blessed with a Bank Holiday Monday which recorded the hottest temperature for a bank holiday since 1962!  Oh what a good time I must have had with my family back in '62, probably playing on the beach, frolicking in the refreshing sea.

And know what?  That's what I did on our hot August Bank Holiday Monday, 2017!

OK, this may seem a bit groundhog day following on from the previous post, but what can I say?
I went to the beach.  This is a beach outfit.

Yes, you guys didn't baulk when I showed you my recent Scruffy Pout look.

So I figured you could take more.

But this time with white shorts.  A subtle difference.

What do you wear for the beach? I'd love to hear.

I tried the camo hat trick, for I was sans maquilliage.

But you know, I figure you can handle scruff and you can handle barefaced me by now too.  It was a beach day, after all, so a bare face is de rigueur for sea swimming.

OK, maybe sunglasses are needed for the general public.

Besides, they make me feel a bit Jackie O!

I couldn't resist showing you this wall.

"We've" been working on this over the weekend.  This wall was piled high and wide with rampant osteospermum and ivy.  That's now in a 1 ton bag and we have reclaimed about 4-5 feet of drive!

Of course, we now have to decide what to replant with, something that doesn't go completely crazy.  But plenty time to think about that on cold winter nights, eh.  Not to deliberate over on a precious hot Bank Holiday Monday.

Now what did I tell you in Twilight-Picnic recently?  In that post I showed you that we had the beach to ourselves, almost.  Well, this is what the same beach is like at high tide.  We Guerns are suckers for the beach at high tide.

It was difficult to find spaces to park cars near this beach on such a busy day.  One poor lady had parked at a very precarious angle, half the car in a ditch.   Half an hour later, she was walking along the beach, asking each group if they owned the Suzuki parked next to her, which had to be moved for the recovery truck to be able to haul her out of the ditch.  Poor lady, there were an awful lot of people on the beach that she needed to ask ...

Then news quickly spread around the beach that the recovery truck had ripped the bumper off a nearby new mini whilst on the job.  

Not a good day!

But disasters apart, we had an absolutely fantastic day on the beach.

We met up with my lovely little family and friends of theirs with their children, whom we know.

We spent hours in the sea with the kiddies, sometimes swimming, sometimes tugging or swim-pushing them in an inflatable dinghy.  It was so so sooooooooo enjoyable.

After playing around like a born-again child, then sitting around chatting with the adults, I washed the sand off and went home.  Totally happy with my lot.

Then at teatime we met with friends at one of the beach restaurants down the road.

It was still hot!  All I could handle was a layer of loose linen.

Keeping the middle nice and cool.

Do you opt for loose shapes when the weather gets hot?

This yellow floral dress from Next was just perfect for the hot walk down to the coast.



Flatties, of course, I've already done the blisters thing for this summer, thank you.

But believe me, once we met with our friends at the restaurant, despite sitting by an open window and fanning myself for ages with a menu, I could not cool down.

Readers tell me of their 110F temperatures.  I do not know how they cope.  Our temp was a lesser 29c and I was H.O.T.!

Even horses were cooling down in the sea!  

Then as I sipped on a cooling Sauvignon

and fanned myself with a reservation slip, the menu fan no longer to hand,

I watched the hot sun set.  Well done, Sun, you did us proud on a beautiful bank holiday!

Then later, back home, we had coffee in the garden with our friends, garden lights a-twinklin' and candle flames a-flickerin'.

Living on an island, there is usually a little flutter of night breeze, at the very least.  But last night was so still so coffee al fresco rounded off perfectly a pretty darn perfect August Bank Holiday.

If you are in the UK, I hope you had a fantastic bank holiday too.  Didn't we luck out with the weather this year!

I hope all readers enjoyed their weekends, wherever they spent them, and I hope the week ahead brings you joy.

And if you are in Texas right now, I hope that you are keeping safe and dry.  My thoughts are with you all.

 A la perchoine.



Such a Perfect Day

Such a Perfect Day
A coffee, a lunch on a whim,
Then later the beach and a swim,
And then go home.

 

Yesterday was one of those Perfect Days.
 

 

It started out with this outfit.  A meet up with my Cruisin' Cousins over coffee,

 

 

here at The Urban Kitchen

 

We discussed plans for our forthcoming mini cruise and, of course, what to pack.  I passed on the great tips you lovely readers have given me and we will take those on board (pun started out unintentionally but how I like it now!).

The cardi was superfluous by the time I parked the car, such a beautifully warm day.

Meanwhile, TP had walked home through pretty lanes from the paper shop where I dropped him off.  He sat in his favourite armchair and sudokued and crossworded peacefully and to his heart's content.

TP and I then met up for lunch with friends.  We walked to a nice beachside restaurant,  getting in our daily dose of exercise.
 

 

And by this time, it was too hot for even a slip of colourful silk around my neck.

 

The shoes had been changed for some good walkers, these Clarks flatties and the scarf had been stylishly tied to my handbag, a Jones bag, as in this older photo.  NB: This bag was again admired at coffee.  It's really old but it receives compliments nearly every time I wear it ... even after all these years!

The beachside restaurant can look like this in bad weather.

 

Fortunately, in August it looks like this!  A Perfect Day.

 

 

Serene

 

 

Romantic.

 

 

And during the day, the glorious sun shines through the glass doors, so this is the best view I could give you from my table.

 

Scallops wrapped in bacon.

 

We had an invigorating walk back home.  I walked briskly, to work off some lunch calories.

Then, back home, a lovely surprise.  Voicemail from Son.  A meet up at tea time down at the beach.

Oh what a smashing time we had.

We swam lots with the GKs.  We frolicked in the water, played games at the water's edge.

We caught up with family news whilst lolling around, our bathers (swimsuits) drying on us in the sun as sandwiches and yummy home made biscuits were nibbled.

So perfect.

A v. old Next kaftan, with nice beaded detail on the neckline.  I usually wear it on poolside holidays only.  I don't go on many of those.  So it's v. old but still v. new!

 

Under my kaftan I wore my brown bathers from Bravissimo.  Great for swimming,  dry in a flash.  V. old and still like new, even though worn loads, in salt and chlorine water every single year, for the past 10 or so.

 We returned home, my hair looking like that of a surfer girl granny after so much swimming in salty sea water.

And The Photographer said "Today has been a Perfect Day.  This feels like retirement."

Such a Perfect Day, I'm glad I shared it with you. 

Have you had a Perfect Day this summer?  Maybe you've had many.

What is a Perfect Day to you?  Do you have the elements of a Perfect Day in mind? 

Or do days just surprise you by being unexpectedly Perfect?

Perhaps there just isn't a prescription for a Perfect Day ...

A la perchoine.