Fl-awe-tist

 

When I was a student teacher on my PGCE course, I was told by my mentor-teacher, after performing something on the flute to the children, "When you are a teacher, make sure you play your flute to the children.  It's something that will amaze them and they will love it."

I took that on. And I thought I did play my flute to the children regularly.  In KS1 singing assembly, I would play my flute and other instruments to the children as they were coming into assembly.  In a few KS2 singing assemblies, I would play my flute to the children.  I was never sure how impressed they were ...or not.  In a few year 4,5,6 lessons, I would play my flute.  But, this week, I ended up playing my flute to years 5 and 6 as part of their lessons.  In Year 6, I was trying to demonstrate the Harmonic series as part of a lesson on Fanfares- I wanted to prove to them why fanfares are so often based on broken chords. So I performed The Last Post on my flute just using overblown harmonics on the Fundamental- Low C. (essentially, I don't move my fingers to change the pitch- just adjust my embouchure- mouth position). Similarly in my Year 4 lesson, I wanted to demonstrate Benjamin Britten's main theme from The Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra (AKA Henry Purcell's Rondo from Abdelazer)  and then how to create a variation based on the musical motifs.  At the moment I first took my flute out of my case and put it together, there were gasps and excited noises and then rapt applause from the class (and "Can you teach me how to do that?!" from my year 6 boy who is a good flute player).  And I realised- yes, it's all very well playing to them in Assembly occasionally.  But allowing them to be up close and see the instrument and hear it in a small intimate setting- well actually, it is a big deal for them! And it gave me a lovely warm tingle to see their appreciation.  I should play the piano/keyboard less to them and play other instruments more.

 Never underestimate the power of sharing something you love, a skill that you have, with children or people- we don't realise that actually, it is something precious and exciting for them.

Muted softness

 

Hi there,

Ah, if I could travel back in time, it would be to last Sunday when it was beautifully warm and sunny and I was swimming in the sea.  Now, it is cold and Autumnal and my tomatoes all fell off the plant in the high winds and got bruised in the soil.

Here's the outfit I was wearing last Sunday before swimming- all of the outfit is second hand and all items I really am fond of- beautifully soft.

The top is 100% silk from Whistles with tiny polka dots on- It feels really nice on a moderately warm day- I wore it for a recent TARDIS Tuesday.

The trousers are from East and they are made by Artisan block print clothing makers Anokhi, a wonderful Indian brand I learnt about from Vix. I found them in Oxfam, Harrogate and they are the perfect Summer trousers- so soft and comfortable.

The final part of this outfit was this pair of tan leather and bead sandals from Lotus- I bought those second-hand on eBay (but they were actually new!) 

All in all, comfortable and I wish I were wearing this today instead of several jumpers!

Swatch

 What with the all the weird timings and procedures and being all over the place with school at the moment due to Covid measures, I've really needed to be wearing a watch.  

I recently found my Swatch watch which I believe I was bought when I was about 10 or 11- I'd wanted one really badly as a child and one year, my Mum agreed to buy me one for my birthday. We went to the Swatch store on Oxford Street. I'd really wanted this Parrot one I saw someone had but they didn't have it.  I liked this one however with its cats chasing dogs chasing cats chasing dogs and the MEOW strap!

I took it to the local jeweller's on Saturday and asked if it was possible to have a new battery in it, explaining I hadn't probably used it for at least 20 years.

He came out a few minutes later, having cleaned some corrosion around the batteries, he put a battery in and it seemed to work!

It's been really nice to use it again- so easy to put it on with its stretchy strap and a few 'children of the 80's' have looked delightedly at it!

Fungus 2

 I recently shared a post showing all the fungus I had seen over the past few weeks and months.

But, there's more!

Stay tuned for some weird and wonderful fungus!

Anyone for Tiramisu?

Oyster shells?

The Starship Enterprise is under attack!

Yellow and slimy?

The common cold has struck?

Slice of Ham anyone?

False nose or egg shells?

Ah, little and orange!

Do you have a favourite?

TARDIS Tuesday - The Ultimate Guide to Doctor Who outfit

Hi there!

I missed TARDIS Tuesday for a few weeks due to the shock of going back to school but I am back!!

This week, I am wearing an outfit I last wore back in early July 2019 so not that long ago but a good Summery Clara outfit.

Here it is:

Image borowed from this Pinterest

She wears a shimmery oil-slick dress from Yumi, a light straw hat, winged sunglasses and some wedged sandals from Dune.

And here I am:

I haven't changed much about this from last time except that I think I nicked one of CBC's other panamas rather than this vintage Lilywhites one (excellent charity shop purchase)

Oh and this time, I am wearing sandals!

It was an outfit for a sunny day, unfortunately, I decided to change in the end because the fabric wasn't the most breathable for direct sunlight. Evening yes, day, no!

Everything in this outfit was second hand except for the sunglasses which were bought in mainland Greece!

Ah, well....back to the drawing board!

x

 

TARDIS Tuesday- BIll Potts Pilot

View this post on Instagram

This is one of my favourites, this top is by urban outfitters and is usually found under ‘urban outfitters stripe vest’ I’ve noticed these are on the bigger side as they’re a little stretchy! They pop up on depop alot☺️ - #doctorwho #clothes #billpotts #billpottscosplay #cosplay

A post shared by Bill Potts Clothing! (@misspottscosplay) on Aug 16, 2020 at 4:10am PDT

Hello there!

For TARDIS Tuesday this week, I thought I'd share perhaps one of the last Summery outfits (nooooooo!!! I'm hoping for a second sunny spell!).  It is worn by Bill Potts in her debut episode- Pilot.  I last wore this on the blog in September 2018- 2 years ago!

Above, is an image of the outfit worn  by Peal Mackie and below, you can see it again:

Image borrowed from BBC.co.uk

Here's a shot from the Doctor Who exhibition of it. It features this stripy vest-top from Urban Outfitters, loose-fit jeans and she wears high-topped mint- coloured trainers, not pictured.

IMage borrowed from WikiWand.com

Jewellery-wise, she wears a black-cord necklace combined with another necklace featuring a shard gemstone necklace and some Peace sign earrings. 

Image borrowed from Tamsin's website- The Ultimate Guide to the Fashion of Doctor Who

And here's what I wore last Sunday before the sun disappeared and the temperature dropped.

I wore a simple take on it- I wanted to wear navy trousers rather than jeans as they were lighter on a warm day along with the screen accurate top which is from Urban Outfitters.

I didn't go with all the jewellery but I did choose to wear my velvet ribbon round my neck like her black thong necklace.

This was comfortable for doing some light garden work of pruning and the suchlike.

Hope you are well.

x

 

Garden promise

 I realise that I haven't shared loads of posts about my garden this Spring and Summer which is silly as it has been a big highlight of my year. I've shared plenty of pictures on Instagram but I prefer to keep these two mediums separate!

For many, the growing year is drawing to a close, things are starting to fruit and flower less and plants are waiting to be cut down perhaps? I am sad about this though there are lots of things that can grow from Autumn to Winter...I'm going to plant some Cavolo Nero in November and some garlic now.

However, my garden doesn't seem to be giving up.  My tomatoes are a complete mess, taking over the entire raised bed- I am told to cut the foliage off but I am optimistic that they will still grow regardless.

Here are some things that are currently holding promise of things to come...

Peppers!  I germinated these from seed back in April and they've been slow to grow but look at these peppers waiting to turn pink/red! Hurry up my friends!

Another slow-burner was my Patty pan squash plant. Sophie sent me some Pattypan squash seeds last year that she didn't want to plant again as she knew I like them and I planted them in pots in April. Luckily ONE germinated but it has been SOOOOO slow to grow but now, it seems to have found its rhythm...

Look at this new small fluffy embryo!

And this morning, I noticed these two embryos crowned in glory with their exuberant yellow flowers!

There are two of these larger, more formed specimens- I hope they grow!

The runner beans have been prolific over the past few weeks- I even sent my mum home with some! Look at this truss that is growing!

I've picked 3 monster cucumbers this past week but now they've gone, the plant has energy to grow a few more- it doesn't seem to be able to cope with more than three at a time! I bought two plants from the local Londis during early lockdown in April when plants and seeds were hard to obtain.  They had handwritten labels so perhaps someone was being entrepreneurial? 

I've had lots of Black Russian tomatoes and now San Marzano but this plant, which I carried in my rucksack during 35miles of cycling in hot sun in May after finding a free tray of them, is holding lots of scrummy salad tomatoes!

 A recent acquision is the Cucuamelon plants which my Mum obtained from a friend of my Granddad's from Bee-keeping- she gave us a few plants and they grew whilst I was away! I hope for these little mini darlings to grow big enough for picking soon- there's loads but will the weather hold? 

And yet more yellow courgettes on the way.  Mum is deeply jealous of these since she gave me the one plant and it has yielded lots of courgettes so far- I gave her one when she came over. All hers came to nothing, a bit like mine weren't very good last year apart from a few.

Last year, I got dozens of Alpine strawberries until it shrivelled to a crisp after 2 weeks of no watering and a heat wave. It and I didn't give up and it grew some new shoots.  This year, it's been a slow burner and has only occasionally had fruit though recently, there's been quite a few.

I will never fail to be grateful, humbled, excited and gleeful about what grows in my garden and I think that's a good way to be.  Never grow contemptuous of something- always give it the awe and wonder it demands!

Beached

Oh, joyful pleasures need not be long and protracted, they can be short and equally wonderful!

Today, CBC had been on his usual Sunday morning cycle.  He arrived back and lay in the garden awhile, tired from his 60miles of toiling.  I suggested that we go to the beach via the Seafood Shack, which is a little hut alongside a local pub, and buy some food to take to the beach.

We did so, both choosing the weekend special of Alfredo Linguine- his served with prawns, mine with prawn and chicken.  Being a nice independent business and not some chain with 'policies', they were happy to take my plastic containers to put our food in to take out, rather than us have to take their thick cardboard boxes (I also refused a paper bag to put them in).  CBC, when I said that they had cardboard containers, said, that surely it was ok to take their containers since they weren't plastic, but I reiterated that, if you CAN avoid creating any waste, then DO IT! After all, cardboard and paper has a larger Carbon Footprint than Plastic, even if it can be recycled and composted. 

We drove off and headed to the beach- not the touristy one which all the daytrippers in East London come to, but the one further down the track which has no amenities apart from some old loos and the  station is nowhere near the beach.  It is also more traditional looking with beach huts

CBC paid for one hour of parking so this wasn't to be a long treat but we felt SO content, sitting on the pebbles and sand,  the tide was in so the sea was near but there weren't that many people on it.  

The Linguine was plentiful and tasty with garlic bread on top.  I'd remembered my cutlery set- in fact, I have reorganized my bamboo cutlery set into a makeup bag so I have some duplicates in case of a companion who has forgotten/not got any...so in this case, CBC!

The sound of the sea was so soothing.  As there were few people, there were no screaming children to contend with.

Once I'd eaten, I told CBC I was going to change into my swimsuit.  Aghast, he asked, "What, you're really going to swim?"

"Yes, of course I am!" I declared, "No matter how cold it might be, I am SWIMMING!"

It wasn't that cold. It was pleasant and as soon as you swam in it, it felt warm.  As you can see, I didn't have much competition for space.  One older lady was swimming a bay along.  I swam back and forth a few times, lost in my thoughts without worrying about collisions.  After about 20minutes, I decided that I was content to get out.  I wandered up to CBC and wrapped myself in my turkish cotton lightweight towel (a Christmas present from Mum which is brilliant for light packing!) and CBC said we had 15minutes on the car.  5 minutes of reading my book, the Chilbury Ladies Choir, and then we got up ready to go.

Only an hour on the beach, but that was enough to make me content.  Simple pleasures but ones for which I am immensely grateful. I am so glad to have discovered that we can swim and visit a pleasant beach without loads of crowds within 20minutes drive.

When we got home, I went in the shower to wash off the salt, which was another delight- I do love our shower- and then, after a snuggly sit on our swing seat whilst CBC watched the Tour De France medal ceremony and I completed my book, I walked round the corner to go and pick some blackberries from an easy access stash I have discovered.  To my delight, I saw a lady coming out to water the garden from the house where I had picked up some free runner bean plants from. I asked if she was the Runner Bean donater, which she confirmed, and I thanked her and said how well they were doing. She was delighted and said there would be more plants next year and she and her husband sneakily watch out the window when people go past when they put them out, egging on people to take them- they cheer when someone takes some!  That conversation made both of us happy.

I hope you have had a joyous weekend with simple acts of contentment.

xx

 

From the archives: The Bells of London

I was searching for something and I found this post from 2014 which, though starting with an outfit, ended with a little profound statement.   I wore this very dress yesterday, coincidentally, and it is still a much cherished, well-fitting item, despite me being bigger than I was then! Nice to fit into a size 6 occasionally!

The bells of London

This was my Sunday outfit- I admired this River Island dress on Alex Odd socks and Pink-haired Princess Gemma for a long time before I found some kind soul selling their size 6 on EBay for the princely sum of £3 a little while back- it's the perfect size and it now just needs a petticoat and these sunny days to wear it! Enough about it- I do like the London landmarks print. Shame the lighting was terrible for photos!

I overheard part of a really interesting, kind and profound conversation between a busker and a station staff member today as I went to catch my train.  I'm not sure as to the living/financial status of this busker but he appeared at our local stations around about a year ago and every so often, I put some money in his guitar case- he plays Bob Marley a lot of the time and he sings his heart out.  He's got quite a nice voice and he's always got a lovely cheerful face/smile and always says thank you when you put money in.

Anyway, as I approached the ticket machines, he was singing was singing this well known song that 'she goes..' (can't remember any more of it!).  Inwardly, I smiled as I heard him and in my mind, wondered how many girls hear him sing that and feel like he's talking to them or singing about them or something like that (weird thought, but that's what came into my head).  I felt a warm bead of sunshine in my heart as I heard his music. Which was weird as at that moment, he stopped singing and said to the ticket man, like he was continuing a conversation they had been having,

"I just do one little thing.  BUT, I might just change one person's life in a small way and they might then change someone else's life and that person might change someone else's life or day and you never know, they might end up changing my life.  Then it's worth doing, that little thing I do."

and I thought how true, beautiful and profound that is.  We may feel insignificant and feel that the small things we can do for someone don't mean much or couldn't possibly affect someone. But they do. They can impact someone in some amazing way we may never know about.  It's like those random acts of kindness- they could mean something to someone-change their outlook, change a decision they might have taken. It's not always the great big acts that are life-changing: all the small ones can too. Don't ever fail to do something because you think it won't achieve anything- there are many things in heaven and on Earth and we cannot possibly fathom them and know their impact.  "Many drops make an ocean," is one of the many things that Jesus said that I always think about- the small things add up. The small things can have an impact.  Do that one small good thing, try to make that tiny difference.  I did have a random thought of sending a text message to someone totally random- telling them that or something like that.. I haven't yet, but maybe I will.

It was something to think about on the train and it was something lovely.

x

Celebrating Shiny T Tuesday with Jane at Flight Platform living with my happy London dress!

Plaititude

 Hi there!

How's your week going? It's been a hot few days here in Essex and I've been enjoying wearing my Summer clothes as I am the ultimate in BAH HUMBUG when it comes to the social media 'hooray, it's Autumn, let's all fetch our cosy sweaters and pumpkin latte' bandwagon!

I thought I'd feature an outfit from another shot spell a little while back.

I bought this Tu at Sainsbury's dress second hand from a charity shop last Summer and I love it- the material, the fit, the look, is right up my street and despite owning many pretty Summer dresses, it is one I constantly look to.  I own a few Tu at Sainsbury's items, which I mentioned in my Cherry Lane outfit from a few weeks ago, and most of them are secondhand and I love them!

I seem to have not had the time or inclination to plait my hair and put it across my head in 'milkbraid braids' to coin a phrase I've heard describe this look- it's a shame as it keeps my unruly hair out the way most of the day, is comfortable, AND quite cute.  Unfortunately, it doesn't work with a cycling helmet!

Notice the little foxy-pumps!  Do we all remember that I longed for a pair of these for about 3 birthdays and then CBC finally relented and bought me a pair!?

School has been super hot these past few days  but yesterday, I went and took my lunch and sat under a tree on the only bit of green we have, by the school raised beds. It was blissful to sit there quietly and eat in the dappled sunlight, eyeing up what I might pick to eat!  I tend to pick a few things every so often otherwise they just go rotten!  The school caretaker is always pleased I do this as he, like me, gets cross about wastage! Speaking of him not liking to waste things, yesterday, I was teaching Year 5 in their classroom. The second class are in the corner classroom at the front of the school site. J, a nice boy but cheeky and a bit distracted sometimes, was gawping behind him.  D, another boy complained and said that J was trying to get his attention to get him in trouble.  When I asked J to stop, he said, "I wasn't trying to get his attention."

"Oh no?" I rejoined, "Then what were you doing turning round?"

"I was watching the man pick pears off the tree," he retorted.

I made some pithy comment about watching pears being picked not helping him to get a job when he was older, or something off that ilk (actually, it would be good to encourage him into a job outside if he gains a love for the earth, but never mind that..). I realised that this was the caretaker picking pears.  

"Oooooh!" I thought to myself.  "Must ask him if I can have some pears."

40minutes later, I returned to my room to eat my lunch to find a bag of pears on my desk. He'd already thought of me!

It's been a good week so far.  No really awkward customers and most still very enthusiastic about work, although one of the worst behaved chaps from last year did almost have one of his idiosyncractic OTT strops after I told him off for screwing up his piece of work. Luckily, managed to distract him from full scale banging of tables and growling by using the end of Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra.   I've been picking lots of produce from my own garden, which I will do a bit of a post about soon.

Hope you are well.

xx

Returning

 How has it been for you?

School has been rather overwhelming in many senses but I am getting on with it.  In this first week, I taught some 540 pupils since I cover PPA for classes. Did my very best to distance from the children.I've begun with teaching Tudor dance to years 4 as usual but also Year 3, since they usually learn the recorder and I just want to leave it a half term to see how things go before beginning that particular can of worms!

Kids have been adhering to the one way systems around school and generally being fine with each other.

In years 1-2, I did short singing activities and used claves which I then wiped after the children used and touched them- this means that the lessons are shorter than usual because of needing to hand in instruments and clean them and make sure the children have sanitized their hands in and out of the room. In year 5, we were listening to Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra and discussing words to describe the timbres of those instruments. In year 6, we were learning about chords and so I made sure all the glockenspiels and beaters were wiped down between classes.  Because of spacing lunchtimes and playtimes out for different year groups and no assemblies plus shortened lunchbreaks and lunches eaten in the classroom and ending the school day 20mins earlier to ensure the children are all out in positions in bubbles before the parents are let in to collect their children, the mornings feel incredibly long and the afternoons super short for the older children- it was hard to teach year 6 in what was essentially was a 40minute lesson as well as cleaning things!  Most parents are wearing masks/face coverings (like us teachers) when they pick up children though I did spend one day after school politely and nicely asking various adults and teenagers who pick up siblings to wear them tomorrow.  One woman bolshily told me she was exempt from wearing one- I couldn't see why! Shouldn't there be some sort of pass?

Not having any music clubs and assemblies has helped me avoid being too exhausted and run down quickly but it feels strange without them- the children who were in those clubs were asking me when they would start again and I had to explain there would be no clubs for half a term.

The journey to work and back every day has felt very long- doing it every day.  The trains are getting more crowded, especially certain morning and evening ones as there are a lot of kids who commute on the same train as me, but generally, I've not had to sit or stand close to anyone which is a relief- quite often, I have left my bike unfolded to preserve some space beside me.  Generally people are wearing their masks on the trains though I've yet to get on a train where there isn't some twerp who has their nose out, mouth out or is not bothering to wear one.  On the train platform, it's really annoying to see people/teens not wearing their masks- if the rule says wear it on the platform- bloomin do it!

I started to get a sore throat at the end of most days- it's been hard to go back to so much talking! I still need to make sure I'm drinking more water, which I don't always remember/manage to do though on one day when I did- the 1.5 hour long lessons x2 in the morning felt VERY long to wait for the loo!

I've sampled a few more things from the school allotment- chard, beans, Cavolo Nero cabbage since otherwise they will go to waste! I'm not sure if the gardener has been picking them over summer!?

One thing I've felt really sad and bittersweet about is my school music blog. I asked the children who had used the blog and it really felt like no one used it- the most children in any class who said they'd done the work was about 4 in one class. I worked SO SO hard on that blog dilligently pretty much every day through lockdown and returning to work in June and it feels pointless since so many seemed to have no idea it was there (the countless messages sent to parents fell on deaf ears clearly).  I look back and think about how much reading, gardening, making cards, playing my flute, walking I could have done and not wasted my time working my school hours and more- my time feels redundant.  That said, for those who DID access it-I hope it was worth it for the few. 

The thought of Autumn coming is making me gloomy- I do not like Autumn!

The things that have been lovely are how glad lots of the children were to see me and how excited and glad they were that they would be having music lessons.  Actually being able to leave their classrom bubble and come to my room must be a nice change.  All the classes I had worked really well and seemed to really enjoy their lessons- the horrendous Year 4 class from last year have been mixed up with the other two classes and touch wood, I know it was week 1, they seemed much better and less aggressive and winding each other up. They WERE in their classrooms behind desks though!   I was a bit worried about the new year 1's but I am now thankful that I gave up two of my PPA sessions to offer them a music lesson last year as they knew me, had been in my music room before, understood that they weren't to touch things.  They seemed fairly enthusiastic so far.

I've rearranged a few things in my room to maximize on space and to organize things for the children better which is good and introducing masking tape lines on the carpet to ensure they physically distance themselves from each other helped with classroom management as well though one year 6 child, who is a bit of a twit, ripped off and moved his tape to sit right next to his friend. Luckily, before I noticed myself, another child dobbed him in! What an utter idiot! I told him off most severely.

CBC and I have been making a concerted effort to make ourselves lunches for work which is good and necessary with shortened lunchbreaks.  We HAVE been completetely knackered when we get home though and been playing brinkmanship with making dinner- neither of us want to (also, since I have a long journey compared to CBC, it's really annoying how I end up making dinner most of the time) and we end up eating late.

Anyway, I must be off to bed. I hope things are well with you.

xx

Yellow flowers

Hi there! 

I hope you are well! I am fine but extremely tired and getting used to using my voice so much combined with going back to my long travel journeys! 

I was going to write a post about what I have been up to but instead, I think it will take too long and too much concentration for this late on a Thursday evening so I will leave you with an outfit from a week ago or so that I was very pleased with!

 

I picked up this black crinkled maxi-skirt from my local charity shop on the day I came back from performing in town- I had a look in the charity shop and found about 4 things I ended up liking and buying and this skirt was one of them! I've always been fond of flowing maxi-skirts and this one seemed good for a Summer garment for work- except that it wasn't very good to cycle in!

It seemed to go perfectly with my sunflower top from TK Maxx (one of the rare brand new, full-price items I've bought in recent years...

I also realised that it went brilliantly with these new earrings I bought from Lorelai LQ- these earrings are completely made out of reclaimed single-use plastics- carrier bags, straws and other materials have been melted down and reformed into these earrings, helped by a little bit of thread and a bead.  A simple bee necklace completed the look, plus some blue and gold peep toe shoes.  When I took these photos, I thought it would be fun to pose in front of my Emma Bell painting which is now on the wall!

I hope you are well and not too worried about things at the moment! Keep praying!

-Style Imitating Art- There are bugs and they will bite you on your face!

Hi there!

I am very tired after my first 2 full days of teaching in 'Covid-safe' full classes!  More on that soon!

Today, I am taking part in Style Imitating Art with Salazar.  She chose this travel poster for the US National Parks.

https://mymodernmet.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/national-park-review-postcards-amber-share-5.jpg

I knew I was probably not going to be able to think of anything particularly original or noteworthy for this but that I would wear brown and greeen.

Here's what I chose to wear:

I started with this simple green cotton Broderie Anglaise jersey dress from Primark.  They did a whole load of these in different colours around 4 years ago and I really liked them. I bought this one in green. Although the shade wasn't right, it could cover the green foliage.  Also,if you were REALLY being imaginative, you could say that the cut outs are rather like caterpillars have been munching at leaves (rather than my face!) 

I added my Brown F&F leggings for tree trunks and also to go with a very short-dress- I wouldn't wear this without leggings!

Two little brooches joined the throng next- a little snail and a tiny bee.  Blink and you'd miss them in the larger image!

Finally, on the shoe front, I added these Lotus tan and beaded sandals.  More tree-trunk shades and the tiny beads making the diamond patterns could either represent the white letters outlined with black or a whole family of crawling bugs- your choice!

What do you think?

Head over to Salazar's tomorrow to see who else was bitten by bugs on their face!?

Spot the difference!

Here's an outfit I wore in July.  This dress is one that my friend Anne gave me. We'd spent the day, last Summer, out at the charity shops and playing flute duets and I was absolutely boiling in what I chose to wear. Unfortunately, we were going straight onto the Ceilidh club in Southend to play that night and my attire was rather worse for wear after a humid day.  Anne had this dress which didn't fit her properly and she offered it to me.  Made a a simple, light, crepe fabric, it was a good for the day as it didn't have too much excess material and wasn't too low cut! Win, win!

I wore it again for similarly hot days.

This time, I chose to accessorise it with brown and muted shades- a leafy scarf, a pair of charity shopped tan shoes, a Peacock butterfly necklace and some scruffy bunches in my hair!

Ah, look at how pretty the Aquelegia and Clematis were back then! They are no more!  Such transient beauty...