I hope you are safe and well and STAYING AT HOME! I am very glad to write that I didn't have to go to school today as we only ended up with 10 children coming in on Monday and so the majority were sent home. My Deputy Head changed the rota so I did my shift with the children yesterday afternoon and then I am not due back in for the rest of the fortnight. As I have a long commute with 2 trains, I am mighty glad to be honest with you. Did you see the Doctors talking on the news tonight? One of those was my friend Katie, who I played a concert with 3 weeks ago. She was talking about how they just don't have enough ventilators for patients and they are getting patients in their 20's and 30's who have no underlying conditions who they don't have the facilities for so please, please do your best to stay at home. I don't know what is going to happen with school after these two weeks but I have had a mild cold since Saturday and I've lost my sense of smell and taste since Sunday. Today, I've been feeling a bit tight in the chest but I don't know if that is the weird acidy -reflux feeling I've been having for a while now or something else. Either way, if you are able to, please keep it in prayer that it is just a cold as I originally thought and nothing else. Also, please keep my stepmum (works at a Doctor's surgery), little sister (works at a school where only 3 members of staff are available to come in to look after the kids), big sister and Brother-in-law (police) in prayer for their safety. Please also let me know how I can pray for you.
Anyway, a blogging friend pondered whether one should be posting about frivolous things like outfits in such a time but I definitely think we all need some light relief and some distraction as well as taking it all seriously.
Style Imitating Art is one of my favourite challenges, where we try to use a piece of artwork as an inspiration or starting point for an outfit.
I ABSOLUTELY had to join in with this week's host, Salazar's choice- The Alfioni Portrait by Van Eyck as this is one of my favourite paintings.
I'm sure you know it but do you see the artist has painting himself into the painting in the exquisite mirror behind the couple? He's there as a witness. Look at the luscious colours and quality of light!
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| Image borrowed from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arnolfini_Portrait |
I do actually have a dress in a very similar colour to Mrs Arnolfini but it is a very light summery silk dress and not appropriate for the weather.
Instead, I wore my green sheep dress as the green colour is a nod to her green dress and the white details as a nod to hers.
She has rich blue sleeves emerging from under her gown which I emulated with a short cardigan.
I chose to evoke the mirror in 3 ways. The first through my Labradorite necklace and through my glass and resin brooch- lustre and shape represented.
But where is the third?
As you can see, I wore a pearl headband as a nod to her lacy headdress but I added a pearl and diamante buckle hairclip to it to emulate the shape of the mirror again.
If you'd like to see how everyone else interpreted it, head over to Salazar at 14 shades of Grey blog at some point tomorrow.
Take care of yourselves.
xx
I so agree that we should keep blogging during this - heaven knows the world needs distractions right now!
ReplyDeleteKezzie, please stay home and self-quarantine! Your cold sounds very dangerous, and you should not be around anyone. Stay safe, my dear - sending my best good vibes your way!
Hi Sheila,
DeleteHurrah for cheerful blogging! I am indeed staying at home, as I mentioned in the post above. I didn't realise my taste and smell had gone until Monday night- I then read that it may be a symptom so I have been at home since. Definitely do not want to share any germs with anyone whether they are Covidian or Coldesque.
Happy vibes to you too my friend!x
Oh, and duh, the outfit is awesome! Well done!
ReplyDeleteHa ha, thank you!
DeleteStay safe and healthy, Kezzie! Love the outfit!
ReplyDeleteThanks Salazar! Thanks for choosing my favourite!
DeleteI love this outfit!
ReplyDeleteThere was an incredible documentary about the Arnolfini painting on BBC4 where a team of expert seamstresses recreated that amazing dress - https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b09ll1fx In fact, if you've time to kill the entire series is worth a watch!
What a silly thing to say, now's the time to blog, the share outfits and to spread a little joy to people all around the world.
Hope you feel better soon! xxx
Ooh, I must watch it!!!!
DeleteI think the person who wrote it was worried that people would think they were frivolous for still posting their outfits so they said that. I don't think they were implying nobody should blog outfits! Thanks! I can't wait for my taste and smell to come back- eating and food is one of my favourite things and life is sad without it!
Dear Kezzie, please take care. Loss of smell and taste. plus tightness in the chest are ALL symptoms. You should self isolate now - if it isnt the virus, well hallelujah - but if it IS then you are protecting yourself and others. Praying for your family - you all seem to be involved in important key roles. I ma thanking God for 'zoom' and the fact that we could have a family meeting online yesterday. It was wonderful. Yes we all need laughter and joy to brighten the sadness. Love the outfit. Vix is right, Amber Butchart's series was fabulous![she is a Norfolk girl] Much love to you and yours xxxxxx
ReplyDeleteI mentioned in the post above. I didn't realise my taste and smell had gone until Monday night- I then read that it may be a symptom so I have been at home since. Definitely do not want to share any germs with anyone whether they are Covidian or Coldesque.
DeleteThe chest is ok, not sure if it is just anxiety or indeed a symptom of Cov or a COld but either way, I keep praying about it.
Thank you for your prayers dear friend. How are YOU doing now??xx Glad ZOom was able to help you! I loved my prayer session with Becky and co on Sunday!
I think that we need to see and read lighthearted posts, it'll keep us all sane. There is so much information (some of it not true or helpful) about the current situation that we need an antidote.
ReplyDeleteI love your sheep dress both the colour and the print, it made me smile, so thank you!
Take care of yourself, I do hope that you have 'just' a cold, and I'm sending you healing and positive vibes.
xx
Definitely, I firmly agree!
DeleteThe dress is certainly smile-worthy!
I do hope and pray it is just a cold! I want to be able to do my bit to help out xx
Uh-oh. As others have mentioned, your symptoms are those of the virus. I hope you don't have it and it's just a cold but be careful. We NEED you!
ReplyDeleteI mentioned in the post above. I didn't realise my taste and smell had gone until Monday night- I then read that it may be a symptom so I have been at home since. Definitely do not want to share any germs with anyone whether they are Covidian or Coldesque. I have been sneezing a bit as well, which ISN'T a symptom so holding out hope for that one!
DeleteHow are you getting on? I hear NY has lots of cases- please stay safe Ally.xxx
Oh, I forgot about Style Imitating Art. You look lovely! I think we all need light-hearted and normal posts t get through this. Obviously we should take things seriously, but some nice escapism as a break from the news is also necessary and good for our mental health!
ReplyDeleteI hope you do just have a cold and/or acid reflux. I went to the doctors recently with a cold that I thought was making my reflux worse (and also vice versa) and he confirmed that yes, it absolutely can. The mucus dripping down your throat makes the reflux work and the reflux in turn makes your throat scratchy so the cold symptoms feel worse. Mine was mainly in my nose/head so the doctor agreed he thought it was just a normal cold. I thought it had gone away, but I keep occasionally feeling vaguely "coldy" in the evening but not so I can point at a specific symptom and say "I have this". So annoying. Oh well, I'm not going anywhere anyway. Please look after yourself, get lots of rest, keep hydrated and stay home. Also keep an eye out for a fever.
My mum and brother live in the same house. My mum is a nurse and my brother is asthmatic and supposed to self-isolate for 12 weeks. I'm not sure how that combination is supposed to work :-/
You should join in again! I loved it when you joined in. Esp now stuck at home!
DeleteThanks for your advice re Acid reflux- always nice to know someone else's perspective.
I was wondering about that- households of mixed people!x
Yes to lighthearted and frivolous posts, Kezzie. We need some positivity in these trying times. I love blue and green together, so I'm a big fan of this outfit. Love the sheep dress and that gorgeous pendant and brooch. Do take care of yourself. It's probably just a cold, but you can't be too careful, can you? xxx
ReplyDeleteThank you dear Ann! I hope that you are well and ok. I hope and pray it is just a cold. I wish there was a way of checking!
DeletePlus, I am starting to get wisdom tooth pains- last time that tooth had an infection, it was Christmas eve and I was unable to get to a dentist for 8 days and it was AWFUL! I am worrying that if it does get worse, I can't get to my dentist for antibiotics!
Stay home and stay safe dear. I cannot believe that school hasn't been banned sooner there. When they banned the school two weeks ago, we teachers still had to come to school in case some parents didn't have anywhere to leave the kids and we were instructed to teach virtually from school, but fortunately nobody brought the kids to school and our internet at school crashed (for once we blessed the bad internet connection at school) so we had the excuse to go home and work from home...that was all before the coronavirus arrived to island Hvar, now we all work from home and are in quarantine. We haven't had the school for almost two weeks now, I mean I teach every day but I do it online via programs hosted by ministry of education (at times challenging). It has been stressful working online because the system keeps crashing but at least we have a system, we're building on what we have, logging into and building on existing scientific and academic networks. We use Google classrooms and Micosoft teachers for our virtual classes but we've been banned from video conferences because the system keeps crashing (I heard that commercial programs are much better but only private schools can afford that). If your country decides to organize virtual school, we can get in touch and explain notes. As a language teacher I use a lot of audio in my teaching materials (like you do in your music teaching), something that is not easy to replicate through chat and messages with students, so I'm still figuring it all out. We can compare notes.
ReplyDeleteAnyhow, your dress is wonderful. I love the blue and green combination. I like this picture and I actually taught a lesson around it, there is a whole chapter around it in one of our 6th grade coursebook.
Ivana, thank you so much for your valuable advice re the online teaching. I will get in touch if we do end up having to teach more online. I've been putting material up on my blog- doing the best I can. It's very odd working at home isn't it! Everything takes SOOOO much longer online than actually just teaching thoough, doesn't it! I'm sorry you have had such a stressful time.x
DeleteI'd love to hear your lesson about this painting!