Wish I was still here

One of the sights that seers into your psyche is that of the huge flowering agapanthus profiled against the blue of the St Ives sky.
I also love sneaking a peek into the backyards on bin day!

Some of the gardens are very lush and of course this being England very green.

And laden with fruit, I was soo tempted.

The colours when the sun finally emerges all be it very briefly create stunning images.

Something Stripy for the Weekend?

The first in an occasional series clearly featuring the most wonderful of patterns, Stripes. I have always had a bit of a thing about stripes, I can remember iconic knitwear from when I was a teenager featuring 'hoops' as someone once described them. Later I particularly loved a grey marle/blue combination and one particularly treasured item was a jumper knitted by Margaret Howell's sister which I wished I had kept to pass on to Kitty, who too loves stripes to bits.

So I decided to photograph all my stripes on and off, the first few will be from the holiday, before effortlessly moving into more winter modes. Some people bring back a stick of rock from their holiday, my treat to myself was this fisherman's smock, purchased from a fisherman's co-operative on the quayside of St Ives harbour, I love it, clearly not great in town but each and every year it will will be lovingly worn back in the town of its birth. And best of all it only cost £15! a bargain, and very comfy too.
Worn here with some cut off shorts, I live in shorts on holiday, nothing better than some brown pins, sadly no one gets to see them once I come home as it is bloody freezing now.

Just say NO

Out of the Bag calls it wardrobe equilibrium, I call it having WAY too much stuff.

Us academics...well I try to be one, it sounds more learned than plain old teacher, so yes, us academics generally see the year differently to most. My New Year is actually September, this is when I try to turn over some new leaves, maybe try and make a little time for some painting, or make the effort to make my biannual marking schedule a little more frequent.
Also it's the time when checking the bank balance that the cheap staycation suddenly is not so cheap, add to this heady mix new shoes for the kids, well kid,as the others are no longer school bound, but yes, all the shit they need, plus the pain of a new travel card and my poor bank balance is already weepingly overdrawn. So after a particularly profligate bout of retail therapy in COS and then a brutal wardobe shuffle, I wrote down the following notes.

NO MORE INTERNET SHOPPING

The thing is you can't get a sense of scale or quality, and yes, I may have scored some occasional hits, I do wonder that without the hassle or filling in a return slip whether I would have even made tit o the till with most of my mail order purchases, so that has got to stop.

NO MORE MAGAZINES

Yes, yes, yes I know I have bleated on and on about this before, but I have once again become increasingly disengaged from periodicals, I hauled a shed load to St Ives and barely looked at them, and as for my stupid weak willed attitude to Grazia, that HAS to stop too, it's not like I don't have enough books to read.

STOP BUYING JEWELLERY BECAUSE IT'S CHEAP

Notice the very subtle caveat there, so it's fine if it costs a lot.. well actually I've found if it does it's generally more versatile and looks worth the money, recent cheapies look just that, and 4 cheapies are not that cheap. So no more crapola.

NO MORE SKIRTS

And if I really, really have to, (+J) then it cannot be below the kneee. Two of my poorest choices this year were narrow skirts that sit on my calf, when I photographed them FRUMP is all I saw, no ironic post Mad Men look for me, no sireee.

NO GREEN ANYTHING

I don't know why but I've always thought I liked this colour, but on reflection I've decided that blue is a better colour.

NO MORE BLUE

When you pick up a dress in blue because the only other two colours it comes in are puce and putrid obviously you will embrace the blue, but really, ask yourself this, if it came in black what colour would you choose? Yes, I thought so. So NO to blue. Unless it's soooo lovely and I just can't say no.

DO YOU NEED THAT CARDIE? DO YOU?

No, I thought not, is it black? do you have 10 already? Put it down.

STRIPES

Come ON really, is there not a combination you don't posses? Don't answer that as I could be a serial stripy purchaser, but now summer is over I must rein myself in. (I have a small series featuring stripes starting on Friday.)

SORRY HOW MANY BLACK TROUSERS DO YOU OWN?

OK 10 plus which may not seem much but that is just the ones in the wardrobe, there are another 10 waiting in the wings.

So yes, I guess we have 'wardrobe equilibrium', but the minute I say "no" I crave, so in order to assuage that feeling I have decided to focus on the following:
Dresses,
They all work for me, those that fit may be thin on the ground but they are must have in my wardrobe.
Jumpers
On the rise, my love of these negates the stress of trying to co-ordinate a top, although at this time of year the layered look works best, especially with the odd hot flush, but jumpers are green lit.
Scarves
They must not crease and they must look lovely, but scarves too get the green light
Can I do it until Christmas? A half term spent in Istanbul will help I hope, and there is little opportunity to gallivant up town, so watch this space!

I heart Jil Sander

Well of course I can really only afford +J Uniqlo and of course Jil Sander no longer designs for...Jil Sander, so in fact for the last few years the collections she has produced for Uniqlo have been the nearest thing you can get to her.
I love what she does, it is a severe dress code and not one I could probably stick too, yet it has much to recommend. Sadly my shoulders have been a little meaty for her designs, but I have acquired some trousers and skirts in the sale that have all been very successful, and my black rain coat I can't imagine ever not owning, so if you can, do invest.

On my wish list from her grand finale are these two divine pieces, neither available just yet, but hopefully I will be successful if they go on line soon. They of course break all my new years resolutions, more of them tomorrow. But what are resolutions for if not to break?

This scrummy coat will go online at 1am tomorrow, but I would struggle to justify the price tag, and will regret doing so if it snows continuously from October onwards.

These trousers are being worn today, reduced by 70% they are so lovely, if a little roomy, they have the perfect cuffed bottom as well as a seam down the back which makes the fit superb.

You can read more about the collection here

Finally getting it right.

I had one pleasurable day last week going through my wardrobe. The weather has changed dramatically and I don't really hold out much hope for an Indian Summer, so back went all those light airy pieces that saw me successfully through the 3 days of summer and back out came the darker tones.
Without a doubt the most influential piece I have posted this summer was the Joan Burstein images. Those photographs of what she wore have seared themselves onto my brain and has had, by far and away the most dramatic influence on the way I put outfits together.
So since my return to work I have outfit wise been riding the crest of a wave.

(Work shows no signs of becoming even remotely enjoyable, the mantra is to entertain and enthuse the students whilst we are bullied into submission. Someone is not seeing the bigger picture here and the ride is no fun either. That is all I will say on the matter as this blog is to keep me uplifted and sane.)

So let me firstly introduce you to one of two summer bargains. I know it is impossible to photograph black successfully, but these are the most gorgeous black trousers purchased for a song from the Uniqlo sale, they are +J, and cut to perfection. I love them particularly for the high waist which corsets me securely. They are pleated around the knee so very flattering especially with a range of COS tops of which this is one.

Second up was this grey marle top bought from would you believe, St Ives, I was covered in sand in full holiday mode when I spied this in a boutique along the harbour front. I had to dig deep to think if I was not duplicating a work top, but risked it, with these jersey trousers it was the perfect way to ease into work mode, and perfect day to night wear.

I met my sister to see a production at the National Theatre of Arnold Wesker's The Kitchen, I studied Wesker at school but despite the best efforts of the actors this play has not aged well and needs serious updating. The first half was excellent, but the second half was gauche and laboured to the point of embarrassing, so I doubt the reviews will be good. It was lovely to see little sis' though.

And layered with a cardie it still looks great, you can just see an impulse buy, it was a gilt necklace that is a tad scratchy, but very lovely. I waited all summer for it to be reduced in the Jigsaw sale, and lo, it came down to £19..SOLD

Barbara Hepworth's Studio

The view from here

Well yes I am still here, but I have now lost all my reading glasses and so sit typing like a myopic mole, neither attractive or efficient.

I have had two of the crappiest days back at work EVER , we have a new leader who is stamping his will down on our heads leaving me feeling like a branded steer. My migraine started yesterday and shows no sign of abating. ON & ON the paper work comes...
I never did sort out the garden, but I have, on a more positive note purchased a strimmer, plus extra blades for the lawn mower, whilst being locked out last night (long story) so I will be wading through the mire of dog shit this weekend in an effort to locate a lawn. That does not sound quite right, I will of course pick the dog shit up and not try to strim it, the vision of which is not pleasant!
I do have a couple of confessions to keep you going. I escorted Kitty to her place of employment on Tuesday, I had a cunning plan that backfire so perfectly i doubted myself as a mother. The plan was for her to learn an easier route to work, instead of catching a train to London bridge and then getting the tube to bank, I decided her life would be easier if she in fact caught the train straight to cannon Street and then walked the 5 min's to work, thus removing a busy tube journey. STUPID STUPID ME
What I failed to factor in was that she is dyslexic, and a dyslexic reading a fast moving dot matrix sign at the station is in fact not a good idea, so of course the next day she ends up in Charing Cross and has to navigate her way back to London Bridge and was thus 20 min's late for work.
She will in time learn, but for now will stick to what works.
So after dropping her off I went to COS, yes I know I should not but the loss of THAT cardie still burns so I decided in my infinite wisdom that they will surely do that style again and yes my size will be swinging from a hanger. And do you know what? It wasn't, but I spied an orange version and when I broke down and begged them for one in black the sales assistant behind me magically produced one...Oh happy days are here again. Yes, I did buy a jumper and yes, I did buy a stripy top. More on both later, when a) I shake off this monumental headache and b) I go buy some more glasses because the lack of is not helping my headache at all.
Catch up next week bloguettes!