All The Leaves Are Brown....

It was chucking it down on Thursday but unseasonably mild so I didn't bother with a coat when I went out charity shopping. It remained murky and depressingly gloomy all day but my block printed Dilli Grey dress, vintage Janet Wood for Monsoon Afghan waistcoat and Aldo fedora (all secondhand) succeeded in bringing some colour to my fellow shopper's lives, or so several of them told me. 

Pickings were slim but we found a few bits.....

Clockwise from top left: Superdry "Black Hawk" motorcycle jacket; Mint Velvet zip utility jacket; Billabong snow jacket; Beaded earrings; Clarks Victorian-style leather knee-high boots; 1960s Harrods gents dressing gown; Schott NYC recycled polyester snorkel; 1980s Domino batwing jumper.

Halloween isn't my thing and I absolutely loathe all that plastic themed tat that'll doubtlessly end up in landfill on 1st November but I couldn't resist this Liberty Hera print fabric pumpkin, handmade to raise funds for a local charity for the visually impaired. 

Named after the Greek goddess whose sacred animal was the peacock, Hera has adorned Liberty designs ever since the mid-1890s. Keeping it classy, that's me!

Without much to occupy me in the clearance chazza I had a look through the denim rails. These Levis jeans grabbed my attention as they looked like they'd never been worn. Labelled Superior Quality and priced at £2 I thought they were worth a punt, if they didn't suit me they could go on eBay. Back at home I did some research on the 311 "Shaping Skinny" label which claims to Slim tummy and contour curves. Features an innovative tummy-slimming panel. Lifts seat and lengthens legs. Despite the fact that my tummy doesn't need flattening or my seat lifting - that's what exercise is for - I love them! I wore them to walk down to the baths on Friday morning for the second of our twice-weekly swims. They retail at £80 and I'm not surprised, they feel wonderful.

With them I wore a Miss Selfridge Victorian-style ruffled cotton blouse, my River Island olive green velvet boots and a vintage tooled leather belt with a lion's head buckle (all charity shopped) along with a vintage Indian block printed waistcoat Liz bought me and a sari silk tote bag bought from a festival neighbour at Beautiful Days. 

We've been watching Ivalo (Arctic Circle) a subtitled Finnish thriller on Walter Presents. As is not always the case, the cast are all likeable and it's been compulsive viewing over several nights. 

I haven't photographed them recently but we're still getting great value from the Lidl £1.50 Waste Not boxes. The contents of last week's included two punnets of English button mushrooms of which Jon used a handful for Saturday morning's breakfast along with sun-dried tomatoes, poached eggs, wholemeal sourdough and a generous sprinkling of oregano seeds from George's parents' garden on Rhodes.

This denim boiler-suit has become my Saturday staple. Bought from a chazza at the beginning of the Summer for £2, with a long-sleeved top underneath, my Nordic socks and Clarks Orinoco Club boots (eBay find) I'm cosy and comfy for all my tasks. I spent the day pottering around, listing stuff on eBay, gardening, reading and baking....if I was married you could almost call me a proper little housewife!

There were two bunches of bananas in the Lidl box so I made a vegan banana loaf - half of which I wrapped up ready to send off with Tony and Marcus to keep them going on their early morning flight to Malta. 

I also made another tray of vegan flapjacks. No medjool dates this time, I used some sultanas left over from our chutney making earlier in the month.

The previous day Gisela (who blogs at Miss Magpie's Musings HERE) messaged me to ask what size shoe I took. Someone she knew was helping her 94 year old mother have a clear out and she'd seen a pair of boots she thought I'd like....as luck would have it, me and the lady were both size 7 and these 1960s suede beauties arrived on Saturday. Was there ever a boot more perfect?

On Sunday Jon was up at the crack of dawn to take the boys to Birmingham Airport although, with the clocks going back at hour, it wasn't quite as early as he'd originally thought. After breakfast we nipped over to the clearance chazza.

Needless to say, I wore my new old boots with my vintage Ritu Kumar for Monsoon block printed midi dress. 

In Greece, Lord Jon often fondles the linen shirts by Greek label, Moraitis but is reluctant to splash out £80 on one so he was really excited when we found one of their granddad shirts for £3. 

We also came back with a Y2K Topshop shift dress in a very groovy Mid-Century print ( I bought this the first time round!); a Topshop crochet top (new with tags); a pair of 1990s Flower Power ankle boots by Picnic; a 1980s "Poppy" bejewelled batwing jumper and some snake print workout leggings. The printed 100% pima cotton jacket is by Peruvian Collection and originally retailed at £395! 

Using more of the Lidl mushrooms and some of our home-grown potato crop, Lord Jon knockered up a  delicious Punjabi style tikka.

After a cup of tea and a catch-up with Liz, I spent the afternoon working on eBay whilst Jon booked a cheeky European getaway for next year. We love having a trip to look forward to! Later we watched the compelling Netflix documentary Tinder Swindler. Last week we'd watched Trainwreck, Woodstock '99 and are still utterly gobsmacked by it.... and we thought our experience at Truck (HERE) was bad! Many years ago I had the privilege of meeting the late great Michael Lang, what on earth was he thinking?

As a perpetual early riser it was lovely to see a bit of daylight whilst I got myself ready this morning, thanks to the clock change. I wore my vintage block printed kaftan (from our mates, Old's Cool Traders) along with a charity-shopped Monsoon beret and Accessorize leather belt. I did wear a coat but after our half-mile swim I was glowing and had to carry it home.

This afternoon will mainly be spent sweeping up the carpet of Autumn leaves and then bolting the gates to keep out any Trick or Treaters - bah, humbug! 

See you soon!