TARDIS Tuesday- Osgood from The Zygon Inversion

Greetings!

I hope that all is well with you!

I was ruminating over whether it was easier to do TARDIS Tuesday in the Winter or Summer and I have concluded, it's easier to do it in the Winter. Summer often gets difficult as a lot of cosplays have layers.

It's fun coming up with new cosplays but I like, just as much, returning to an old favourite. It doesn't matter if it has changed completely or if there is a variation in it.

Today, I thought I'd wear a Winter-appropriate cosplay that I haven't shared since January 2020- that's 3 years ago! It features a 11th and 12th Doctor recurring character called Petronella Osgood.  She works for UNIT and is a big fan of the Doctor- all of them!  She wears outfits inspired by the Doctors. One might say she does cosplays of them!

This outfit is inspired by the 5th and 6th Doctor and is worn by Osgood in The Zygon Inversion.

It features a beige/caramel jumper with brown elbow patches and edging, a white shirt embroidered with ? on the lapels, navy corduroy trousers and dark walking shoes

IMage borrowed from the BBC

Here's a couple of close-ups.

Image borrowed from
http://www.doctorwhotv.co.uk/why-osgood-is-so-popular-77484.htm

Image borrowed from
 https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/profiles/nb0PrNpn29JsBkggCkrytT/osgood

And here's what I wore this time:

I started with the question mark shirt.  The lovely Ang embroidered this for me a very long time ago now and I've owned this shirt since I was a teenager. You can see Ang's handywork below more clearly.

My jumper is from J Crew and I purchased it secondhand mistaking it for Clara's grey merino wool jumper. It's obviously not grey! It is, however, soft and warm.

I have corduroy trousers but I decided to wear these brown trousers instead. No reason other than I prefer the whole chocolatey look rather than the navy with it.

My walking shoes were covered in mud so I decided to just wear some black boots instead. Mainly because they are more suitable for school.

The final touch is these Primark glasses. They're just a fashion accessory rather than functional but I rather like them!

I wore this at the weekend to take daylight photos but the outfit is laid out for Tuesday school.  I'll let you know how it fares for school!

xx

A vague shade of milky coffee?

Happy Weekend to you!

I've not managed to get around to posting this week (Tuesday's post was scheduled on Sunday).

It's been a fairly average week.

Up first, an outfit from last week.

I wore it for going to my Dad and Stepmum's for a Chinese to celebrate her birthday so I wanted to be cosy and comfortable but a little dressed up!

I knew I wanted to wear this Cashmere cardigan. This is one of my best charity shop purchases from last year (actually from ever)- it cost me £5 and is in really good condition.  It feels gorgeous and soft- a bit like wearing a really warm dressing gown! As I wanted to wear this Fatface (also charity shopped) cotton skirt, I needed to keep the top simple so this Whitestuff top was the perfect, simple accompaniment.

Sheepskin, knee high boots keep the cosy under the skirt but my sole came off at the petrol station on the way so my Dad had to glue it back on!

A burrowing into the cupboard under the stairs found this Primark, crocheted beret which I haven't worn for a few years as it matches the cardigan- what shade would you call it? Milky coffee? Biscuit? Weak tea? Beige?  Oatmeal?

Accessory-wise, an turquoise silk scarf that used to belong to my Nan (she died in 1997) kept my neck warm without being bulky.

Can you believe this necklace and earrings aren't a set. One was a present- the other charity-shopped!

I'm trying to remember the last week so this post isn't just a description of my outfit.

I'm very tired as I've got another cold.  Thankfully though, it's a fairly mild version of the awful cold that CBC has had for the last week or so- he was really unwell so he had a couple of days of work and let me tell you that doesn't happen very often. He's not a patient patient so it's been a little hard to look after him!

On Friday night, my niece came over to stay (brought by my sister who stayed for a cup of tea and a chat).  We all went to bed fairly early and then she and I got up around 8am to walk to the station at around 9.15am to catch a train to Colchester as I'd promised K a trip to Waterworld/Leisure World.

I've been there twice before with CBC. Now, post Covid, you have to book a 1.5 hour session, whereas before you could stay as long as you want.

It took us about 2.25 hours to get there in total. If you want to take someone to a fun swimming place in Essex, it is a good place to choose. It cost £9.60 for the session for me and £8.60 for K.  You are allowed in 15minutes before your session starts to get changed.

The main 'pool' area isn't huge- there isn't a rectangular pool but everything is nicely contained and keeps you entertained.  There is a lazy river which also has waves every so often, there are lots of things that fill up with water and suddenly drop or shower you. There's a fun shallow area for little kids with fun things to do and 2 big spa pools.  There's 2 flumes which you climb the stairs up to.  There's also outdoor rapids but they are not currently open due to maintenance.

This morning, I managed to get out of bed at 8.01am, get showered and dressed, cycle to the station and jump on the train for 20mins to go back to my old church to join them for the Team service (all the churches in the team parish). It was so nice to see everyone and be part of such a lovely worship service.  We ended with  the Celtic version of  'Be thou my vision' and it was so powerful and beautiful!

I came home with some delicious bread rolls left over from a local bakery- they were DELICIOUS+ I have eaten 3 of them!!!

I came home and did some tea bag composting from school (only 56 teabags this week as someone chucked about 50 teabags from it midweek when it got too full, before I could decant it) and emptied the compost, took a few TARDIS Tuesday photos and tackled the epic clothes 'slick' (like an oil slick but consisting of clothes) that had erupted over the bedroom floor.

The week had some good elements and some, not so good.

The Year 5's did really well with their Medieval era listening tests, identifying sacred and secular songs, the Year 6's did quite well with their pieces inspired by Baroque Sonatas (and I performed Bach E major flute sonata to them which they were very positive about).

I survived 3 lessons of Year 2 listening to and writing about Handel's Music for the Royal Fireworks and Stravinsky's Fireworks. They were writing- it was hard. Enough said.

The Year 3's listened to and wrote about Samba music- also hard- not usually this hard!

The Year 4's were writing up their own melodies onto the stave- wasn't as painful as it could be! A couple of victories with some new children who managed to do it, despite not having learnt about the stave in their old school!

Choir are doing really well learning our songs for the Royal Albert Hall.  They are excited!

Singing assemblies were all great- I have been doing a Lunar New Year theme and found some really lovely traditional  Percussion music for the KS1 children to watch. (Check out "The Tiger grinds its teeth" on YouTube) which they were really excited by, I played the beautiful Hulusi instrument to the Year 5-6 kids and played a YouTube video of the Erhu to the Year 3-4's.

Next week, I am performing a version of Brahms requiem in Kent with a scratch orchestra and staying over at my Dad's beforehand! I'll have seen them 3 times this month! Hurrah!

Hope all is well with you!

x

TARDIS Tuesday - Closet cosplay of Amy Pond from Victory of the Daleks

Hi there,

I pondered what to wear for TARDIS Tuesday this week and thought I'd try a Closet cosplay of an outfit worn by 11th Doctor companion, Amy Pond as I'd seen my red jumper in the drawer this morning.

I like lots of Amy's outfits except for the fact she wears stupidly short skirts! 

Let's look at the inspiration:

Image borrowed from 
https://badwolfcloset.tumblr.com/post/62435153818/amy-pond-series-5-episode-3-victory-of-the

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00nn8ns/p00nn3kw

• Red scoop neck top
• Navy vest
• Brown aviator jacket
• Sunray brooch
• Gold 'A' initial necklace
• Grey denim mini skirt
• Brown buckle belt
• Brown cowboy boots

I decided to put together a closet cosplay of this- e.g.  I will not specifically seek an items to make the outfit but use what I have.

Here it is:

I started with the red sweater which was given to me by my work colleague when she moved home to Canada.  That was around 2014 I think!  Underneath it, I wore a black vest top- not sure why I didn't dig a bit deeper for my navy one!

Amy wears her red top out but unfortunately, my belt is on the loosest setting above and fits my waist exactly so I had to tuck my red top in so it looks slightly different. My skirt was also given to me by my Canadian colleague when she left. It's not the right colour but it's the shortest, most fitted, plain skirt I own.

I don't have lighter brown cowboy boots so I wore my eYe Boutique brown leather boots which I have had for about 12 years. I had to have the zip replaced in one of them over the Summer as I broke it the last time I wore them!

I LOVE this sheepskin jacket which I got from the Dog's trust charity shop a few years ago- it's not the right colour for Amy's but the look is right

I added a vintage brooch from the charity shop to try and look a bit like Amy's and my K floral initial necklace to finish the look!

I wish PicMonkey was free still so I could 'dye' my hair red with the lipstick function like I did when I did my first Amy Pond cosplay 

I have to say that I could not wear this like this, without leggings but I totally would wear it WITH leggings underneath.

What do you think of this look?

xx

Bird bath

Yesterday, CBC asked me to bring in the bird bath as the water had completely frozen solid and he wanted to make sure the birds had some fresh water. 

I bought it in and after a while, the ice-block was moveable! I picked it up to have a look.

In the bright sun of the day, it looked amazing, especially when you got a bit closer!

There were tiny bubbles coming out from the very edge like sunrays.

Within the middle, was a denser mass which had a cloudy look, rather like trapped clouds.

I really liked the motion of bubbles shooting outwards.

Here it is from a distance!

Fungi #12

Having shared my post on my New Year fungi spottings, I realised I didn't ever share the photos I took on her half-term 3 day holiday to Suffolk.

On our final day, we decided to go to visit Bury-St-Edmunds via Hadleigh.  We parked for an hour, had a brief look in the shops and spent most time walking along the river path.  It was here that we spied a few examples of Fungi.

These ones were really big and obvious from the path, if you see below, they have a really prominent Stipe. I couldn't really get too close to have a look and see if they had true gills underneath.

A little later we saw this selection which had the appearance of Honey Fungus though I'm thinking sliced-banana would a good comparison!

On a fallen log, I spied these minute parasols!  they were so delicate and tiny but hard to snap again.

I live in hope for some really different finds, e.g. colour, shape, size, but all the ones I saw were all very bland colours!

These had very tall stalks and really did look a bit like crab shells with those 'claws sticking out!

 I live in hope for going to some woods to see some interesting fungi again soon!

TARDIS Tuesday - Ace McShane from Classic Who- The Greatest Show in the Galaxy

Hi there! Hope you are well and are having a lovely day. Was there anything different for you today?

I was inspired to look at and wear the following outfit because I wore my black velvet, skater skirt last weekend and remembered thinking this would work better for an Ace outfit I wore on here at some point. I looked back and apparently, I last cosplayed this outfit back in September 2019- didn't realise it was that long!

It is from Classic Who and is worn by Ace (played by Sophie Aldred) in an serial called 'The Greatest Show in the Galaxy'. Unusually, she doesn't wear her ubiquitous Bomber Jacket in much of the story which means we actually get a proper look at her top. Like my much-cosplayed companion, Yaz, she seems to wear this jacket ALL the time so it makes identifying the features of their clothing, particularly tops, very difficult!

Let's look at the original:

Image borrowed from 
The Ultimate Guide to the Fashion of Doctor Who

Image borrowed from The Ultimate Guide to the Fashion of Doctor Who



Breton striped top (with blue edging)

Black skater-skirt with white tag/label

Black leggings/tights with red seams

Black ankle boots

Swing earrings

Black watch.

Here's my version for 2023:

Like Ang, I own a fair few Breton-striped tops (Can't seem to resist them!) so I had a choice of which one to wear.  Last time, I wore one which actually had similar denim/blue cuffs to Ace's BUT its stripes were closer together.  I did consider wearing a blue denim skirt underneath but figured it would be too bulky.  Instead, I wore this H&M kids organic cotton one.  It's my favourite Breton-striped top as the cotton is really soft and gentle!  FYI, I wore my Seasalt one yesterday- it's been a weekend of breton stripes with a black bottom-half!

Next, I added my black velvet Skater skirt (Charity-shopped Topshop).  It works pretty well as a match for Ace's- I think my legs are longer than hers so it looks shorter.

Do you spot my 'label'? That wasn't there last week when I wore it, was it? What do you think I did to modify my skirt?  Decide on your answer now and let me know in the comments what you thought. The answer will be revealed at the bottom!

Ace wears leggings with a red seam on them.  I think it would be very easy to add red embroidery or ric-rac to the side/back of the leggings and they would look really cool!! Hmmm... (I MUST remember to wear them so the seam shows up on the side!). At present though, I have a pair of socks that happen to have a red seam so I wore those. I read my post from last time I put together this outfit and apparently, I could only find ONE of my socks and I just wore one of them with the seam and the other one with a grey seam! Ha! I wonder if anyone noticed!?!?!

I added Clarks black boots- they're not the best choice of boot but I am really suffering with my left foot at the moment- something has gone wrong with my heel and the arch of my foot and I can't step down properly so I need to wear shoes carefully.  Not sure what is wrong with my foot but it got worse this weekend.

I tied my hair up and added a pair of blue drop earrings.  Can't really remember what earrings Ace is wearing- it may be her cartoon Batman ones!

https://olddoctorwho.com/companions/ace-seventh-doctor-companion/

I added a 'prop' in one of the pictures. Ace is renowned for carrying Nitro-9 explosives. I grabbed a bottle of Barkeeper's friend but in retrospect, I really should have grabbed my water carrier as it almost looks identical!

https://tardis.fandom.com/wiki/Nitro-9

And that's the whole look!

So, how did you think I created the label on the skirt?

Well, it really was a hack just for a photo.

I took a receipt from a Children's book shop and folded it in three. I then added my 'Kryptonite' periodic-table pinbadge and pinned the label and pin to the centre of my skirt!

Yes, I am sporting a paper-receipt!

Hope you are having a good day!

xx

All the textures

 Hello!

Ooof, it's been a loooong week - the first full working week is in January always utterly interminable!

That said, I've survived.

Highlights?

The year 6's today who were doing individual research on Baroque composers today, part of which was to sit and listen to YouTube audio recordings of the composers in question. were really keen and appreciative of the lesson.  "I LOVED listening to Franscesca Caccini! She was so beautiful too!", "This was the best lesson ever!"  "I really enjoyed listening to the music, it's so soothing!" were some of the responses.  Another highlight, well,sort of, was the year 6 boy, who was upset about something at the start of the lesson. I asked him if he wanted to talk to me about it, and he said, yes, later.  When I took him outside to talk, he told me it was a friendship issue and said, "I wouldn't usually talk to a teacher about it, but you're my favourite teacher so I don't mind talking about it.".  Favourite?  Awwww!

The sweet year 3-4 choir pupils who I presented with chocolate lollies today to say thank you for their Christmas performance (was ill then had no time...), were super appreciative and one, not known for hugging me usually, hugged me.

A little boy in Year 2, who has multiple older brothers, none of whom, except one, who have been great fans of me, came up and hugged me yesterday and told me I was the best. Not something they would usually do.

Taught 3 model music lessons to Reception classes today. Met the Reception children for the first time today. They were really sweet and seemed to really like the lesson and the teachers were enthusiastic.

Choir just keeps growing.  Drumming club, not so much.

Took a chance on brand-new but very cheap Sonor Alto xylophone on eBay which you didn't get pictures of- arrived today, sounds gorgeous!

Went to see the musical, Cabaret at the Playhouse Theatre in London on Wednesday night with CBC and his work colleagues. The HR manager's son is in the performance. It was brilliant!  They've completed transformed the conventional stage and auditorium into a theatre in the round with a small round stage in the centre, it IS the Kit Kat club of Berlin with little tables and chairs and lamps.  The band are sitting up visible in boxes. They've turned all the bars and areas outside of the stage into the opulent nightclub with interactive appearances from the band and Kitkat boys and girls.  The performers did an amazing job and it was very moving!

Went to Sainsbury's on the way home from school on Thursday and managed to get 3 pots of ricotta-stuffed pepperdew peppers reduced to 73p each from the usual £3.50 price. I absolutely adore them but don't buy very often unless I can get to Waitrose and can bring my own container. But if they're going out of date, I am allowed!

Went to deputize for the 2nd flute part at our Essex-based orchestra on Sunday (sadly, am not in this concert as only 2 flutes, not 3) and had a really lovely time. Izzie, who plays 1st flute plays so delicately and beautifully and it is a pleasure to blend with her on 2nd flute!

Managed to find and buy a hard-to-find Doctor Who cosplay piece very cheaply this week and it arrived!

The downsides?

So, so tired! After Cabaret, we had to get the train back and had to get the C2C train.We ended up on the Tilbury loop line and didn't get home till 1am! I was super tired on Thursday which is my nightmare day and had to walk to the station and to school because I'd had to leave my bike at school because of going to Cabaret

Didn't have the best week in terms of a balanced diet and regular, proper meals.

I think I win!

Last Saturday, we went out for a Thai meal after a day at home. I wanted to dress up!

Da naaaa!  Thought I'd go with the textures!

I started with the black, velvet Topshop shirt (charity shopped).

I added a Primark blue, glittery turtle neck (had this years now and I still love it!)

Black leggings and my Marks & Spencer stretchy velveteen boots

I wore my sheepskin jacket (charity-shopped Dog's Trust) to travel in.

Accessory-wise, I added my black velvet Kangol beret (charity-shopped). I decided to add a Blue vintage brooch (charityshopped) and a lovely black velvet-cord and crystal necklace (Secret Santa from school around 10 years ago). The earrings (charity-shopped vintage) were the final element plus fluffy hair!

The Thai meal was as delicious as normal but I actually deviated from my usual Starter choices and I had a Pork Wonton soup which was tasty! I'm not very good at trying other main dishes because I adore Thai Green Prawn OR Tofu curry so much!

Hope you have a lovely Saturday!

xx

TARDIS Tuesday - Amy Pond- Dinosaurs on a Spaceship

 Hello! 

I hope you are well today! Today, for TARDIS Tuesday, I am sharing a cosplay I tried twice, back in March 2018 and April 2019.    It is worn by Amy Pond in 11th Doctor adventure, Dinosaurs on a Spaceship.

It has changed slightly since last time but not deliberately (e.g. not because I bought a new piece FOR this cosplay) but just because I tried a different garment!

Let's look at the original:

Image borrowed from DoctorWhoCastandCrew blog

She wears a blue and white cotton striped, cable-knit sweater from Reiss, blue skinny jeans, brown brogues AND, I believe, her black heart-shaped 'A' initial necklace as well as a watch. Sadly, we don't see her bottom half in this necklace. 

Let's see it:

I wore this on Saturday for a day at home.  We were in all day and didn't end up going out at all until the evening.  We changed to go out for a Thai meal. I might share that outfit another day!

Let's start with the jumper.  My jumper is the same jumper as Amy's but in a coffee shade instead of the blue.  Reiss makes very good quality clothing and I really like this jumper. It's a good jumper for a day in Winter that isn't too cold.

This time, I added a pair of indigo jeans from ASOS which I wear for a Clara cosplay which work better than any of those I've worn before plus my Clarks men's brogues.

I couldn't find my 'K' initial necklace so I just stuck to a Swarovski heart necklace.

I thought my hair was looking a good length for this cosplay (and I am thinking of having it cut soon!) so it seemed a good time to photograph it.

I will rewear the jumper for school on Monday I think but with an alternative bottom half- perhaps some other trousers! Perhaps some brown ones to match the jumper or some black ones.  Hmmm...

Hope you are well.

xx

Fungi #11

 

It's been a while since I've been out on a forest walk and thus, been able to hunt fungi to ogle at!

We went for a walk in Shoreham in Kent and I spied a few examples as we were walking.

Alas, there was a HUGE mass of white fluffy fungus on the other side of the river which I couldn't get to to look at! I wonder what it was.

These were all minute examples on a fallen log. I wasn't sure what type they might be. Do you have any ideas?

Ah... are they an early form of some sort of Turkey Fantail fungus? Hmmmm, not sure!

These look more like a form of Turkey Fantail fungus but older.

Oooooh, got a bit excited as I think we have some Jelly ears or Wood ears!

Annoyingly they were on a diagonal tree on a very steep bit of ground at the end of someone's property!

How close could I get? The light was most frustrating!

Ear, ear!

My sister spotted this collection further up but they were on the underside of that diagonal tree so there was no way I could see inside the 'ears' no matter how much I contorted myself whilst trying not to fall down the slope!

Aha, I think I spy a tinder hoof fungus- I think they were used to transport smouldering ashes!

Alas, that was all I saw that day but it did remind me that I have a few photos of some fungi from my trip to Suffolk back at half term!

Perhaps I will share those soon!

xx