October Outfits

Hello! I've fallen out of the habit of photographing my daily outfits over the last few months, so here's what I've been wearing recently (and what I've done when wearing them). 

 

For a rainy 7am walk down to the pool this morning I wore a vintage Panache Indian cotton midi dress (£5!! They're still out there!) with a 1970s needlecord waistcoat and a vintage silk screen printed scarf. 

Good things come to those who wait! I fell in love with these Ten Points Pandora boots on a website four years ago but, at £161.95, they remained a distant dream. Last week a pair (new and unworn) popped up on Vinted for £20, I can honestly say that even with my horribly arthritic feet, they are the most comfortable boots I've ever worn! 

On Tuesday, for a day mostly spent gardening, I wore a Naked Generation dress I'd bought from Ebay in 2022 and my recently charity-shopped Adidas Handball Spezial trainers.

On Monday, another swimming day, I wore an All About Audrey kaftan (bought new back in April) with a vintage velvet waistcoat and a 1970s Sheffield Steel choker. This was swapped for a bikini for an afternoon labouring in the garden. Sunshine plays havoc with my photos but it feeds my soul!

On Sunday, to walk down to the Lidl lockers before stripping off and spending the day gardening, I wore a vintage Oasis Trading block printed maxi skirt, a 1970s Falmers denim jacket and an All About Audrey wrap top bought from their website in 2017. 

On Saturday for a trip to buy some Spring bulbs, I dressed in an All About Audrey recycled cotton sari top and a block printed wrap skirt (both bought in 2024) also by All About Audrey - I'm not sponsored, I just love their clothes! 

On Friday I wore an All About Audrey dress (bought in November, 2024) along with a vintage block printed Indian cotton waistcoat and a 1920s Liberty scarf I bought from a car boot sale in 2009. I also wore some Missoni x Converse, bought for a song on Vinted earlier this year.  We went swimming, had breakfast in Spoons and then drove over to the dentist for our bi-annual NHS check-up (all good!) followed by an afternoon reading in the sunshine. 

Thursday was mostly spent at home but we popped out to Argos to pick up a new kitchen bin after the bottom fell out of our old one - so not a frivolous purchase! I wore an Amanda Palmer Y2K tour tee with a vintage Forbidden Fruit cheesecloth maxi skirt. The Mexican leather belt, which is tooled all along the length with the word, charro (cowboy), was a recent charity shop find. 

What have I found in the charity shops this week? At 2 for £1 the bookshelves in the clearance chazza are always worth a browse and of the four I bought I've already read three of them. White Lightning (a man who returns to his native South Africa and embarks on a voyage of self-discovery), White Eagles Over Serbia (Lawrence Durrell's gripping tale of a British spy on a covert mission within Tito's Yugoslavia) and The Litten Path (set in a pit village in 1984, a family fall apart during the dark days of the Miner's Strike). 

Nunslinger sounds mad, the story of a nun who, in 1864, whilst making her way west to the promise of a new life in California, gets falsely accused of murder and goes on the run with a couple of outlaws. I shall crack on with reading it once I've caught up with the blogosphere. 

Whilst there's been nothing of interest in the chazzas vintage-wise, these three modern garments caught my eye, a cotton maxi dress from Urban Outfitters (£2.99), a H&M alpaca and wool jumper with the original tags still attached (£3) and a cotton & linen embroidered blouse from Next (£2). Our charity shops are still great value for money!

Remember me putting my spider plants outside during the first heatwave? Well, I've finally brought them indoors, repotting all of them as they've gone crazy. Some of the spiderlings had even taken root in the borders so I'm leaving them to do their thing. 

For the last eight years we've gone away just after End of the Road so it's been quite odd being at home for most of September, the garden has been tamed, the house is looking reasonably tidy, the Kinky Shed is no longer scary and we've finally got around to putting up a retractable line up outside the kitchen door, making it easier to rescue the washing when it rains. (We bought the washing line from Wilko, our store shut down in 2022!)

Don't worry, we do have a trip coming up very soon. I did intend to pack my bag whilst Jon was out this afternoon but ended up blogging instead...ah well, there's always tomorrow!

Thanks for reading, see you soon! 

Recent Buys and a Cultural Day Out

Wanna see what I bought at End of the Road? 

There's these amazing Mexican silver and turquoise earrings from Shilpa Silver (who trade online as Silver Bubble). Once I laid eyes on them I knew I couldn't live without them!

And here are my purchases from Edava Botanics. The frankincence, calendula and geranium moisturiser replaces the Dr. Organics Rose Otto moisturiser I've been using for a while, whilst I love my usual moisturiser, the frankincense in Dylan's formula feels a lot more luxurious. I'd never used a toner before, this is great for refreshing my face during the day and it makes my cream blusher go on (and stay on) really well. Although it's actualy a lip balm, Dylan recommended Jon use this on an annoying patch of facial eczema. It contains bee propalyis, a natural anti-immflamatory, and it really has helped to calm it down. 

My post End of the Road purchase were two pairs of varifocals from Specsavers. A couple of months ago I'd realised that I was only using one eye to read and my annual check-up revealed my vision had deteriorated and that I needed new glasses - hence my excuse for being so lax on the blogging front!  To Jon's amazement, rather than going for my usual big and over-the-top style, I chose these 1970s-inspired metal frames. 

I've found myself a few gems in the charity shops. This halterneck embellished Indian cotton top (originally from Zara) goes a treat with my beloved Anokhi maxi dress. My ongoing issues with Hallux Rigidus mean that other than Teva sandals I can only wear trainers so I was excited to spot these Adidas Originals Handball Spezials in faux leopard for a very reasonable £15. I found the 1970s suit by Jackerew, London in Oxfam yesterday, I'll probably move the skirt on but the quilted jacket is definitely a keeper.

I treat Vinted like a charity shop, rarely searching for anything specific instead clicking on "Search All" and seeing what the algorithm chucks at me. Last week these organic denim Lee jeans popped up and at £5, I thought they might be worth a try. They're a real departure from anything I'd normally choose but the high-waisted, wide legged fit is so feminine and I absolutely love the cowgirl vibe. 

 

Back in July I fell madly in love with a dress Liz and I saw in Monsoon, it was part of their X Victoria collection and had my name writen all over it but, sadly , it was the best part of £200. Happily good things come to those who wait. It was massively reduced in their Summer sale and I managed to snaffle one. 

I wore it when I visited Liz's exhibition back in August and it had another outing yesterday when we took a road trip to Herefordshire with Lynn and Brendan.

We had lunch at The Duke's Head in Leominster, the former post office. Needless to say, it's a Wetherspoons. Check out the carpet.

Suitably refreshed we spent the afternoon exploring the many charity shops and antique centres dotted around the town centre. 

Next we headed to Pembridge, noted for its historic timber-framed buildings and the 12th century parish church, St Mary's. 

Pembridge is one of several Herefordshire parishes whose belltower stands separate from the church. All but the base is timber-framed. The tower was built early in the 13th century, rebuilt with the addition of an ambulatory in the 15th or 16th century and further remodelled in the 17th century when its spire was added.

Spot the cat! 

Although freestone carved effigies are fairly common in churches, those in St Mary's are unusual in that they don't represent knights or clergy, instead dedicated to Nicholas Gour and his son John. One was a Sergeant-at-Law and the other was a steward for the Mortimer Family, the powerful noble Anglo-Norman dynasty who dominated the Welsh Marches from the 11th - 15th Century. Typical of the period, there is no record of the Gour's wives' names. 

Although only separated by a generation, the couple's clothes are markedly different. Nicholas and his wife wear long flowing gowns, coif and wimple, whilst son John and his wife are in tightly buttoned, close fitting gowns and far more elaborate hats.

The dog carved at their feet represents loyalty. 

 The timber-framed Market Hall c.1520

The New Inn dates to the 17th Century.

 

These almshouses were founded by Jeffrey Duppa in 1661. 

We popped into the King's House for a drink, expecting a traditional pub and were knocked sideways by the gloriously bohemian decor and the landlord's warm welcome. 

After a very generous glass of wine, Lynn and I left the chaps in the pub and headed up the road to Pembridge parish hall where we'd got a date with best-selling author, Ann O'Brien. 

Ann, who has published twenty historical novels and has sold over a million books, was a joy to listen to, speaking for over an hour about four of her favourite Medieval women, Elizabeth Mortimer, Cecily Neville, Joan de Geneville and Elizabeth of Lancaster. The subsidised bar meant it would have been rude not to partake in yet another glass of wine. 

In the Q&A session afterwards Lynn asked who Ann was planning to write about next. Rather than give any secrets away she told us who she wouldn't be writing about, the women who were well-behaved, apolitical, god-fearing, obedient wives and devoted mothers. Those women, virtuous as they may have been, make for very dull reading! Both Lynn and I purchased books, which Ann signed for us. 

ALL IS FAIR IN LOVE AND WAR…

The Welsh Marches, 1301

Heiress Joan de Geneville is married to Roger Mortimer, son and heir of the notable Marcher Lord family. Yet what appears to be a successful marriage soon sees Roger Mortimer in flight into exile and Joan forced into lengthy captivity.

Roger’s return brings no respite. Joan finds herself swept up into a world of treacherous court politics and dangerous secrets as her husband deposes Edward II and rules England with Queen Isabella.

When Roger is accused of treason, she must survive catastrophic events in her fight for justice – with her life, and the lives of her children, hanging in the balance…
Will she pay for her husband’s outrageous ambitions, or will she manage to escape from a terrible fate?

Thanks for reading, see you soon!