Betwixt and Between

Hello! Hope you've survived the festering festive season with your sanity intact. Here's what we've been up to since I last posted.

Remember me mentioning that Jon was redecorating the utility room? It's finally finished. It's goodbye to plain white walls and the boring 1950s wall-mounted cupboard...

And hello to marvellously moody jungle vibes...

As soon as I spotted this leopard and cheetah wallpaper in B&Q I knew we had to have it. It's textured, ideal for disguising our wonky 275 year old walls. 

The wall-mounted shelf is the top of Jon's grandparents Welsh dresser, previously painted white but now, on our friend Lynn's suggestion, a dramatic aubergine (matching some of the elements of the wallpaper).

The existing tiles, salvaged from a Edwardian washstand, sit more harmoniously alongside the wallpaper than the previously clinically white walls. 

The cast iron brackets (made locally in the Black Country!) are supporting shelves Jon made using the wood from the old cupboard. The mirror above the sink used to be attached to my old dressing table.

If you've been reading my blog for a while you'll have seen my drying dolly Jon made using a cot he bought at a car boot sale and some broom handles from off the market. Eagle-eyed readers may also recognise my new broom cupboard doors, they're from the 1940s wardrobe in the spare room. I rarely closed it so it made more sense for Jon to use them downstairs. 

 I'd rather celebrate the Winter Solstice (and the return to the light) than Xmas but we're always happy to throw a party and with Tony & my brother, Marcus, both off work, once again we hosted the Dead Relatives Society festive bash on 25th December.

I wore this 1960s poppy print velvet maxi dress by John Marks which I bought from a vintage stall back in the 2000s when Liz and I used to go to the Clothes Show Live at Birmingham's NEC. The Kuchi headpiece was a gift from Jon a few years ago.

 When I was laying the table on Xmas morning, I remembered that I'd used our usual table covering to make a skirt so dragged out this vintage velvet curtain. I made the crackers using a kit I found in a charity shop the previous week (filled with bespoke presents rather than useless plastic tat). 

The starters: Melon with Iberian ham for the boys and Cheshire cheese infused with cranberries for me, drizzled with balsamic vinegar. The plates are Denby's Arabesque, one of my parents' wedding presents in 1966.

Jon made chicken and chorizo pies for the meat eaters and a mushroom and leek pie for me, with which we served roast parsnips, honey roasted carrot batons and German-style sweet and sour cabbage. My years of corporate hospitality, managing million pound budgets stood me in good stead, the portion sizes were perfect and there was no waste!

Pudding was my brother's homemade brandy butter, a Yule log, cherry liquors and Polish gingerbread but it was devoured before I could take any photos.

Entertainment was a 1980s themed quiz, retro tunes, a Cold War Steve jigsaw puzzle and William jumping on the table halfway through our dinner, high on Trump's catnip. After the guests left Jon and I retired to the lounge with the rest of the wine  and watched Spike Lee's superb BlackkKlansman on the BBC i-player.

Not Gordon enjoyed his Iberico ham, William enjoyed savaging Trump (last year's Xmas present).

On Boxing Day I wore a vintage gold crochet maxi dress bought from a car boot sale in 2007 and spent the day listening to music,

Reading....Liz bought me Janina Ramirez's Femina for my birthday. It's superb! 

But any attempts to crack on with my Cold War Steve jigsaw puzzle were thwarted...

Our evening entertainment was a couple more films, the chilling Zone of Interest and unlikely heist movie, The Mastermind.

On Saturday I wore this 1960s velvet maxi dress by Samuel Sherman - another car boot find from the 2000s. After I'd dropped off some Vinted parcels off at the corner shop I spent the rest of the day reading. During the evening we watched Spike Lee's latest, the thrilling Highest 2 Lowest.

On Sunday we packed some sandwiches, filled the flask and headed to Staffordshire for a wander around one of our favourite National Trust properties. Dressed in a bastard massive sheepskin hat, vintage Hindu Kush Afghan dress & coat I stuck out like a sore thumb amongst the waxed jackets and puffa coats and was inundated with compliments. (Blog to follow!) 

 After catching up with the festive Pottery Throwdown, Sunday night's film was the superb Good Vibrations, the true story of Terri Hooley, a record shop owner who was instrumental in developing Belfast's punk scene during the Troubles. (Currently on the BBC i-player.)

I was starting to get very twitchy with the pool closed for Xmas and was beyond excited to pop down this morning for my swimming fix this morning.The necklace Liz bought me for my birthday seemed an appropriate choice along with the vintage lurex maxi skirt Ann and Jos gave me in 2022 (and I usually only ever wear at festivals).

I'm way behind on blog reading. Thanks so much for leaving comments on my last couple of posts and please accept my apologies for not replying, normal service shall be resumed soon!