We’re In This Together

Hello my lovelies.

Just a quickie today as it’s a gorgeous day and I’m going out!

I’m allowing myself a day a week to take a car trip for a walk away further afield. 

My local  hood gives me a good blast of exercise, fresh air and I’m getting to know the people we meet on the walks.  

But it is a nice treat to take an outing in the car to see that there is life happening further than my little patch. 

Last week we drove to the north of the island and I’ll be posting on that soon.

I saw for the first time for myself the stone towers families are building along the coast. 

The message is strong. 

You are not alone. 

.

We’re in this together and we’ll come out of this together. .

.

A la perchoine,

Mary x

#guernseytogether #guernseytogether🌈 #theworldtogether

What I've Been Wearing Lately

Hello my lovelies! 

And here we are, already into the second week of the new year.  Christmas has been despatched to the garden (tree) and loft (decorations) and I've taken things easy after the busy months of November (our birthdays) and December (Jesús' birthday).

I've finally found the time to fire up the old laptop and catch up with you guys.  I hope your December was a lovely month of cosiness, get togethers and joy. 

So I give you a quick recap of what I've been wearing lately, then I will get to work on the 12+ drafts I'm working on for future blogs.  Thanks for your continued support of my blog, I've been fairly quiet on it over the holidays and I guess you wouldn't have had the time or the inclination to read lots of my blogs anyway, so I think it's worked out well for both of us, eh?!

This is the V neck version of the cashmere mix cosy jumpers from Next.  I've worn both this and the funnel neck version sooo much over Christmas.

I enjoyed relaxed drinks with neighbours (#1) in a cashmere asymmetric jumper and berry coated leggings.

More relading on a day doing goodness knows what in the same leggings and a black jumper.

This seems ages ago now.  My poor photobomber was not feeling well, wasn't eating and was half his former self.  A couple of shots from the vet and he's now eating like a proverbial pig, is back to his normal self and will soon be out partying to celebrate this 19th birthday!

This pearl sweater from Zara has become an instant posh-up and was perfect for a Christmas lunch with my golfing buddies.  Here I teamed it with coated bikers and called it my posh edgy look.  The coated bikers went down well as the guys think the jeans are leather and we all know what that does to a bloke eh ladies?!!

Think this must have been another lunch (there were many*), wearing an ivory blouse under a cashmere cardi.  And if you find yourself looking at black jeans a lot on this page, it is because these skinnes from M&S are absolutely delightful to wear and are like a second skin.  I apologise now for the repetition.

*  with all the lunches and mince pie eating I was afraid to step on the scales.  However, I had my quarterly medical check up, my doc stood me on the scales and I'm pleased to report I've stayed stable over the party months!

I managed to ditch the black jeans and wore a sweater dress for a carol service in our town church.

My Christmas day outfit was a richly printed pussy bow blouse from Zara, with berry coated leggings.  Uber comfy for playing games and scrambling round on the floor looking at toys and fooling with the family dog.

Boxing day was kept simple with a black jersey and chiffon top and yes, the black jeans were back in service.  However, to break up the black I accessorised with an elf leg.  As you do.

I am spoiled.  Last year I received the cute leoprint bag which holds my essentials of phone, purse, a hankie or two and a lip balm.  This year I have been spoiled again with a beautiful black leather/suede tote to carry the rest of the paraphernalia, like notepad, hat, scarf and mitts and all the other stuff that's been secreted in coat pockets.  It's going to be nice having the choice of light load or heavier for whatever the occasion brings.

For a walk on the beach I pulled out a little leather and fur beanie hat which I bought in New Zealand 18 years ago - it's got a quilted lining and keeps my head beautifully warm.

Hey, see what it says on the pinni?  Sprout Pout!!!  What a great Christmas pressie and one which I pulled out for my family party cooking.  I wore the Boxing day outfit again, so comfy for a party.

And here I decided to wear a skirt for coffee with my golfing boys.  I thought a ladylike skirt would please them. They asked for me to wear the leather again next time!

Drinks with neighbours #2.  I wore a Primark boho top.

And here's one I prepared earier!  You can actually see the blouse in this pic.

Realising skirts needed to come back into my life I wore a leoprint one with black top and cardi.  Fortunately I wasn't meeting the golfing guys!

This is such a cosy look.  A cashmere merino button neck jumper with all the woolly trimmings.   And the black skinnies.

So that's circled wagons on what I've been wearing lately.  I'm guessing you may have been donning things pretty similar to mine, but if not, perhaps I've provided a little bit of inspo for what to go out of the house wearing in the colder weeks to come.  I hope so.

And now I'm going to circle some more wagons on all those drafts I've been putting together over these busy holiday weeks when there's been time for the odd jot down but not enough to take nice photos or get truly stuck into the editorial.  But I'm not going to beat myself up about that - I've had my post-Christmas relax and I'm ready to report back for duty!

See you very soon,

a la perchoine

Mary X.

Dressing For Friday, Not Sunday

Brr.  Our temp has dropped by 12-13 degrees in the last 36 hours.  Our never-ending Indian Summer has, actually, ended.  With a thump.  We had no transition period.  On Friday 5th I was standing in the garden watching fireworks at 10pm wearing a thin jersey top.  No jacket.  No cardi.  No scarf. 

On Sunday I went for a beach walk, dressed totally inappropriately, as it turned out. 

Dressed for Friday, not Sunday.

This is how I dressed for what I believed would be yet another day of my endless Indian Summer.

Next (thin) linen mix v neck, Peacock (thin) jeans and scarf, Clarks ankle boots.

For the walk, I donned my Zara jac-ardi.  Fortunately I grabbed a back-up scarf as I left the house.

I snugged myself as much as I possibly could with my afterthought Next animal print thick scarf. And still I absolutely froze!  The ice-cold wind found its way through my thin clothing and through every gap in the jacardi.

Moments after this pic, I wrapped myself up in the scarf, blanket-style.  And still I froze.  The jacardi's not good for 7c temps.  It looks like it's a jacket but it's a cardi, with a cardi's warmth only.  Wearers need to know this.

During the walk, he kept reminding me that I should have worn this ...

Like I needed reminding during the bitterly cold beach walk  I kept seeing images of this Uniqlo Lightweight Down puffa coat, hanging on the cloak-rail back home. The image of it seemed to pervade every cold bone, muscle and inch of flesh making up my freezing body.  I imagined myself cocooned in its snug warmth. 

I was experiencing mirages of it.  Hallucinations were but a puff of icy wind away.

How I wished I had dressed for Sunday instead of Friday.

Have you had a nice gentle transitional change of temperatures from autumn to winter?

Or have you experienced a short, sharp shock like me?

 You know, I'd really love to hear.  It would make my wintry cold day.

 A la perchoine.