Here Comes Summer

We've finally got heat and sunshine!

On Wednesday, for a day mostly spent gardening, I wore this me-made dress I made from a vintage 1970s Kenzo dressmaking pattern and some Grace Sullivan Treetops screen printed curtains (which originally retailed in hip London store Heal's in the 1960). I can't believe I made this nine years ago. Where does the time go?

Despite starting off sunny, Thursday ended up being disappointingly gloomy and overcast although thankfully, still warm. I donned my cowgirl gear (my me-made Western skirt and a 1960s suede waistcoat Liz bought for my birthday 14 years ago) to walk into town to collect a parcel.

It was a day spent sorting out the rest of our Glastonbury health and safety stuff - completing our online safety inductions, updating risk assessments, wet weather plans and fire safety questionnaires.  

No matter how mundane the activity, I always feel I perform better when I'm dressed up.

This Australian cowboy hat was part of a mixed lot I bought from the relative of a hat collector. They were all fabulous & I was very restrained by just keeping one (the rest are all heading to Glastonbury!)

I did have a sari wrap blouse over this dress when we went to the baths this morning but it was stripped off and shoved in my bag on the walk home later. Unlike the outfits I'd worn the previous couple of days, this maxi wasn't made by me, its a 1970s India Imports of Rhode Island, but I've taken up the hem so many times in the seven years that I've owned it that beginning to feel like it was! 

 

 I've future-proofed my beloved Teva granny square crochet flatforms by buying a replacement pair - this style is now discontinued and I was lucky to find them reduced by 75% online. I'm still wearing my original pair but I'm prepared! 

The nails are still looking good despite a day of gardening!

My glamorous friend Dawn tipped me off about a new charity shop that had opened in town when we bumped into her after swimming on Tuesday. We popped in this morning and I bought a brand new  lipliner and two necklaces, spending a total of £3. This yellow pendant was one of my buys. I didn't like the beaded necklace it was attached to so remade it using one of my vintage Lamani dowry necklaces bought in India decades ago. It's a great match with these butter quartz earrings, isn't it?  

This week we finished Season 4 of Yellowstone and also watched co-director, Taylor Sheridan's Oscar winning Neo-Western Hell and High Water so I'm more obsessed than ever with cowboy shit. 

I nearly died when these boots popped up on Vinted's Recommended for You a few days ago. They're handmade in Mexico and retailed at £499 - mine for £25!!!

We're currently binge watching the excellent BBC second series of The Gold, the story behind the Brink's Mat robbery and, much to my excitement both the Spanish and British Virgin Islands scenes are filmed in and around North Tenerife. I'm glad we've already booked our flights for my birthday celebrations as I have a feeling that once everyone sees just how gorgeous it is the prices will go through the roof! 

Right...it's Friday, it's rum o'clock and I have a pressing date with Jack Lowden. See you soon! 

Shelling Out

 

We have an injured tortoise! I won't traumatise you with the details but the vet reckons poor Jacob has probably been attacked by a rat. After a series of antibiotic injections administered by the amazing Vets 4 Pets team and daily baths and veterinary grade manuka honey ointment administered at home by Jon, he's gradually getting better and should be outside and in his pen after ten days of being housebound very soon.

My grandparents bought him for me in 1975 - that's me, Mum & Marcus admiring him outside Stonecroft (the house we live in now) when I first got him. 

The vet's bill ran in to a few hundred quid but when you think that he cost 50p from a pet shop in The Cotswolds and has never had to visit a vet in the fifty years I've owned him, he's been pretty good value.

Tortoise crisis aside, our week - so far - hasn't been particularly dramatic. On Sunday morning we went swimming and after a visit from Liz & Al who stopped off for coffee mid-cycle ride, we spent the rest of the day doing festival prep. Remember the wildflower meadow we planted during lockdown? It's looking pretty good after 5 years! Our neighbours love it. 

Already vintage when I bought it, this Pakistani block printed kaftan is now in its eighth year of my ownership.  

The Indian kantha bag was from the Singh family's haberdashery stall on the indoor market.

On Monday morning, with the majority of our prep done, as a reward we took ourselves charity shopping. 

Although the temperature was hardly what I'd call tropical, I wore my All About Audrey (via Vinted) crushed velvet wrap dress without a coat over the top. A lady came over to chat, telling me that she knew I'd be worth talking to as anyone who dressed like me was guaranteed to be an interesting person. 

In amongst the ferns in my garden I'm almost invisible! 

We found some decent vintage bits and pieces, now laundered and in the stockroom. Jon found this huge guitar book for £4 which is selling online for $120! Not that it'll be going anywhere. 

I was starting to run dangerously low on books. These were 2 for £1 and should keep me occupied for the next few weeks. £3 well spent! 

We went swimming this morning and, contrary to the weather forecast, got absolutely soaked on our walk into town. But, by mid-morning, it was glorious.

The Yucca was pulled out of the bins at Glastonbury in 2022, he's called Bruce in honour of Springsteen who appeared on stage with Paul McCartney the previous evening.

 

 

I spotted this tee shirt on a chazza shop £1 rail yesterday. I normally recoil from this fast fashion label like a vampire does from sunlight but you know how I love a bit of cowgirl chic! I'm sure the fashion police would be outraged by a 58-and-a-half-year old woman walking around the town in a crop top but I've got a six pack and I'm not gonna hide it....

My iconic Frye Campus boots were an eBay find in 2017, they were new in their original box with the £335 label - I paid £35. They're my go-to boot for our stall build and break-up as they're so sturdy. 

After a bit more festival prep I shed my clothes and spent the rest of the afternoon in my bikini. 

Better dash, the second half of England Vs Senegal friendly has just started. Speak soon! 

On The Shelf

 Hello! Remember this amazing vintage dress I found for £2.99 in a local charity shop a couple of months ago? I've been wearing on repeat since I got back from Marmaris. Living in a proudly ethnically diverse town such as ours it's not unusual to find Asian textiles in charity shops but they're usually saris, kurtas and salwar kameez suits, not vintage dresses like this, made for the export market in the 1960s & 1970s. 

 With my India via Walsall dress I'm wearing a Rajasthani bangle I bought in Jodhpur and my Ottoman rings from Türkiye.

I bought my silver and coral pendant from Tibetan traders in India and the earrings are Kuchi bought from a charity which raises funds for displaced Afghan people.

My Moroccan leather bag was £8 from Vinted.

We arrived back from our travels just in time to see the first Oriental poppy bloom and this time I didn't cheat by helping it out of its fuzzy coat!

 I snaffled this black cotton off the shoulder top from a charity shop on my way home from our swim yesterday. It's just what I was looking for to go with my All About Audrey skirt, not that I charity shop with a wish list, that's behaviour bordering on the crazy!

Turkey changed its name to Türkiye in 2021 making this unworn top at least four years old. 

My friends G'n'T bought me this Nepali necklace many years ago. The agate cuff (originally Traidcraft) is an ancient chazza shop find.

  The Afghan turquoise & silver earrings (Vinted) and the Kuchi cuff (eBay) are more recent finds.

For the first time in my life the colour of my toenails don't match my fingernails. I'm such a rebel! I did Google Lens my nails to see if I could find a similar paint but all I got was heritage tomatoes... 

By bizarre coincidence we had some in the fridge and they are a near perfect match!

Since the demise of Wilko we've started shopping at B&M for household essentials and, like Wilko, its virtually impossible to stick to a shopping list. On Monday we went in for bird food and came out with these retro inspired plant holders!

 

They weren't a totally frivolous purchase, after a reshuffle the hearth in the lounge was looking decidedly empty.

 

The previous day I'd come up with one of my great ideas, suggesting to Jon that he build a shelf under the bay window in the lounge. As luck would have it we had the perfect bit of wood, part of an Edwardian skirting board we'd liberated from a skip ages ago. The cast iron Singer brackets were leftover from our Lockdown kitchen makeover. 

I love how the peeling paint on the shelf matches the existing window ...minimalists call it scruffy, we vintage fiends call it patina!

  

Another addition to our ever-evolving home is what's hanging on the wall above the vinyl cupboard...

Another charity shop find on the way home yesterday. It's a framed ceramic tile decorated with an image of an antique chair. It cost £2.99, the same price as my white dress!