In Loving Memory

 

It's been a truly horrible week. On Monday night, after becoming seriously ill at the weekend, we had to say goodbye to our beautiful boy, Frank. He had a tough start in life and the five short years we shared with him were full of love and happiness. We're utterly heartbroken. 

The card the emergency animal hospital gave us was signed with Frank's paw print, which completely destroyed me. 

We've been grateful for our garden. Being outside, sweeping up the never-ending cascades of leaves, planting bulbs and tidying up the pot plants, has been a welcome distraction although it's not the same without the ever-watchful green eyes of our precious boy, Stonecroft's unofficial supervisor.

 Jon drilled drainage holes in some of the souvenir clogs we'd acquired from charity shops & attached plate hooks to their backs and I planted them up with stuff dug up from elsewhere in the garden; Mexican fleabane, houseleeks and succulents. 

Being inside the house feels almost unbearable, we both keep catching a glimpse of Frank out of the corner of our eye, his presence is everywhere. Wandering around the charity shops for a couple of hours was another welcome distraction.

This week we've acquired a sage green poncho, a 1940s gents belted wool overcoat, a 1960s St Michael pyjama top, a 1980s Thai silk shirt, a 1980s Mandy Marsh midi dress, a 1970s lurex hooded disco top, a gents 1980s Versace-inspired shirt and a 1980s cotton casual shirt.

This lichen-coloured 1940s coat by Montague Burton came from the same home as the belted woollen overcoat and fits Jon a treat but he's got more coats than he knows what to do with so off to the Kinky Shed it goes. 

Reading is a wonderful way of keeping the sad thoughts away. I devoured this thriller in a matter of hours.

This pile of historical novels were all from the same shop and, no doubt, donated by the same person. I've been looking for Hilary Mantel's Bring Up The Bodies since it came out.

Talking of all things cultural, we saw The French Dispatch last Friday and it didn't disappoint. We went to the matinee performance at a depressingly ugly multiplex cinema chain in Dudley and only had to share the auditorium with six other people. Living in the hipster-free Black Country has its advantages.

We finally watched Tarantino's Once Upon a Time in Hollywood (which lived up to the hype) and started on Wolf Hall which we missed when it was first shown on the BBC back in 2015 as we were in India. We've finished the Scandi-Noir series When The Dust Settles, binge-watched the BBC's gripping crime drama Showtrial and are loving The Outlaws. 

The daily ritual of getting dressed continued. As mentioned in my last post, I don't have a seasonally specific wardrobe, I just layer up my trusty cotton dresses. I seem to be reaching for this 1960s suede coat, which I found in a charity shop three years ago, on a near-daily basis (I'd make a terrible fashion blogger). On Wednesday I wore it with a 1970s Ritu Kumar for Monsoon midi dress & Reiss wool fedora (both eBay), my 1960s-does-Edwardian leather lace-up boots (bought from a car boot sale over a decade ago) and an inherited silver pendant which my Grandma had made from one of her mother's silver buttons. The button's silver marks tell me that it was made by AJ Zimmerman of Birmingham in 1900.

Here's that coat again, this time worn over the Wyse, London dress I found in a charity shop a couple of months ago and my Toast cowboy boots (from eBay) when I went to the cinema last week - I also wore a scarf as the air-con can be ferocious in those places.

Although I've not been commenting, reading what my virtual (and real-life) blog friends have been up to has been a real comfort. Sheila and Goody dressed up spooktacularly for Halloween, Betty carved an amazing pumpkin and Claire shared some scary stories & photos. Mim wrote about the original Bram Stoker's Dracula film, Jem went for an Autumnal ramble and Kezzie, once again, proves she's the queen of Dr Who cosplay. Sam wrote a touching post to mark her daughter's 31st birthday and Cherie and Aril attended gorgeously quirky weddings. Monica , Beate, Vronni, Jill and Ann wowed me with their wardrobes, Ratnamurti shared her thoughts on Springtime chic and Ivana returned to Blogland after taking a break. Lulu shared photos of her gorgeous Cornish garden, Lynn visited an incredible textile exhibition in a stately home and Jayne's weather watchers photo was shown on the BBC lunchtime news. 

Another of my favourite bloggers, Cheapchick, died on 22nd October after an 18 month battle with pancreatic cancer (which also claimed my Mum). Although we'd never met, we'd bonded over our love of travel, followed each other's blogs for years and chatted regularly on Facebook. Before we went to Rhodes she'd asked me to have a Greek Salad and Mythos on her behalf (she and Dave loved their time in Greece) and I was able to message her & tell her that we did just that.  The picture above was the last thing she posted on Facebook and despite her terminal diagnosis, I know she made the most of every minute. A truly inspirational woman. RIP Tammy.

If you're wondering about this fella, 16-year-old Stephen Squirrel, he doesn't seem to have noticed that he's now Stonecroft's sole feline, he's still terrorising any dog that passes the house, rounding up the postman and scrapping with Kitty, Frank's pretty girlfriend from next-door. 

See you soon. x