TARDIS Tuesday- Mummy on the Orient Express flapper dress

Hello there,

Today, for TARDIS Tuesday, I thought I'd go back to a favourite glam Clara look.

Here it is:

Image borrowed from 
https://claraoswaldcosplay.com 

In Mummy on the Orient express, Clara wears this wonderful bronze-beaded flapper dress from a brand called Leluxe. It must have taken absolutely ages to intricately embroider all those beads and sequins onto it.

I've done a few permutations of this look and today, I'm updating the look a little bit and wearing an alternative dress.

I am a bit sad that I WAS going to wear this for my concert in London on Saturday but I chickened out of it because I was worried my flute might get caught on the beads in a quick page turn after a rest but I WANTED to wear it!

This dress was bought second hand from eBay.  They sell this type of dress by the dozen from Chinese sellers but someone obviously bought one and it didn't fit so I ended up with it for £8.  It's less accurate in terms of shape and detail than my other Mummy dresses but this one is the best colour!

My shoes are from Clarks and my gloves are from Accessorize and both were worn on another occasion when I did this look.

This time, I decided to add a little pearl hairgrip (she wears more of  Rhinestone clip)  and added 2 beaded bracelets which I've had a long time (both gifts) and a wine glass as a prop.

I just did this side by side photo but realise that she's not wearing her gloves here and has a phone in her hand so maybe have to try this again!

The concert went really well on Saturday and we had a really big audience which surprised us all! My audience of Deputy Head and SENCO really enjoyed it.  The soloist, Eleanor Corr, was really amazing good and our Mendelssohn was really exciting, especially the Saltarello (have a listen to the Philharmonia play it below!) 

The only downside of the day was the horrendously busy Central line train on the way home- uhrgh, it was so packed!

Yesterday, both CBC and I were really tired after getting home so late but I did a few things like dig up my Jerusalem artichokes.  I had two big tubs full of them and I picked 3 bouquets of flowers which I took into school to share with colleagues today.  I also made some fruit amber out of some rhubarb from the garden, a tub of blackberries I picked and 3 large cooking apples from a 'Help yourself' box plus some honey from a friend's bees.

I hope all is well with you!

x

Gatsby Lady

 Here we go again when it's a new week and I STILL haven't caught up on blogs and blogging. I am just so resistant to getting on the computer at the moment which is a shame as I have lots I could talk about.

First up, I had to share my lovely new dress!!

Vix posted that she had bought this dress as stock for her vintage shop, Kinky Melon, and I loved it!  I remembered she had admired a 70's stripy frock of mine and cheekily, half-jokingly suggested a swap!  Happily, she agreed and we sent them to each other.  I am very happy to say I love mine and it fits well! I love a 20's look and it has both a 20's flapper AND a Grecian look to it, two of my favourite styles of dress!

I wore it on Friday for CBC's work colleague party.  I survived it and we didn't kill each other during the prep (though it was a close thing), nor did I find it as daunting as I felt it would be talking to his colleagues, especially the young, lairy, extrovert flirtatious one that I feel awkward around. Lots of admiration from the guests. Worn here with my Clarks Somerset T-bar shoes (recently charity-shopped) and my Jenny Packham headdress worn for my wedding.

Vix very kindly included some extra bits in my parcel and sent me these two marvellous big straw hats which I adore and a cute retro Cherry brooch.  Such a nice thing to do!

It's been a fairly quiet weekend.  After the big clean up operation on Friday night, we were quite knackered so of course I woke up before 7am on Saturday morning.

We  had a fairly lazy day except that I got a bit bored of being inside so I walked into town to fetch a prescription, have a quick look in the charity shop and then go for a walk round the horse fields

Ended up buying one or two bits in the charity shop- a little tiny vase with a thin neck, the sort that holds one bloom but I wanted it to try regrowing basil plants from the supermarket basil plant that CBC bought for the party.  I have heard that you can put a Basil stalk in water that has no leaves on it and it will grow new leaves and roots so I am giving it a try.  There's also a Strawberry Mint cutting in the vase AND a Lime Mint one too as I want to grow some new herbs for the planters in the quandrangle at school as our lovely gardening lady, B, my friend, has sort of given it up, esp as her husband has been ill.  I've been doing a little bit of work in there and have planted Nasturtiums in the hanging baskets (which are now growing!) and volunteer tomato plants too.  On the same subject, I actually bet B last Tuesday evening for an ice-cream Sundae at the Harvester near school so she could give me some Spinach plants. It was a really nice thing to do and I was happy to see her.

Also in the charity shop, bought a fake leather jacket for £3 and 2 Dodie Smith books I've not read before as well as a Ted Baker shirt for CBC which he doesn't like.

We've been eating up excess food  and drink from the party all weekend which has been quite nice thought I'm a bit fed up of Pimms! CBC always overcaters.

This morning, I got up at 7.45am (ouch!) to catch the (even earlier than last week!) train to church in the town where CBC and I first lived when we got married. It was SO nice to go to church there two weeks running as I was asked if I would come and play flute for the two weeks as Ian, a lovely man, decided to fill in the gaps when the regular band weren't available and wanted to have more instrumentalists.  It has been SO nice playing my flute for the worship at church- it really was so nice to play and do that as it is such an important part of church for me and was so nice to see my friends AND just to play my flute! 

When I got back, CBC had only just gone out cycling (he'd had an epic lie-in. I did try waking him up) so he got back fairly late. I've done some gardening, picking out the side shoots and suckers from my tomato plants, taking out an overgrown spinach plant and replacing it with the new plants from B and picking fruit. I picked 87 strawberries yesterday and already picked a load earlier in the week and there's lots more that are ready. I also picked some rhubarb, spinach, masses of Rocket, scapes from my Welsh onions.   I can see embryo cucumbers on my plants and even some tomatoes. The cucumbers take so long though.

Black fly on the Green Bean plants. I have been spraying them with washing up liquid water and was gleeful when I found a ladybird in the garden today- went and put it over on the blackfly but it wasn't there later....hope it has started munching! 

My first Dahlias, planted from Tubers from Wilko, have flowered and look really lovely and my Cosmos Sensation are developing lots of foliage- hopefully flowers soon!

I've been watching Sweet Tooth on Netflix after Ally's recommendation as well as rewatching The Good Place.

Hope all is well with you!

xx

TARDIS Tuesday- Clara's 1920's outfit from Mummy on the Orient Express

 Hello there!

Greetings folks. How are you?
It's been 2 weeks since I did a proper TARDIS Tuesday. Somehow, times have been busy and I have failed to think carefully about what I could wear that is summery for TARDIS Tuesday but this weekend, I had a think about it as I had a bit time.

This week's outfit is one of the most glamorous in Clara Oswald's wardrobe.  It is her Great Gatsby look from a brilliant episode entitled Mummy on the Orient Express.

It featured this eye-wateringly expensive beaded 1920's style dress from Leluxe which retailed at $379.99.  Wow!
Here is my picture of it from the Doctor Who experience.

Here you can see Clara in it.    She wore it with some Clarks T-bar black suede shoes and a bobbed wig.

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

Add to the mix some black satin gloves, a silver hairgrip nad some sparkly bracelets and you have the perfect Charleston outfit.

IMage borrowed from ja.whotwi.com

And here is my version of it.

I have wanted a beaded/sequin flapper dress for those Charleston-themed nights at our Swing Dance society's events and when I found this one which had a similar sort of shape, hem and beading on eBay, but for 10% of the price, it seemed a good opportunity. It's a burgundy colour but it's close enough for me!

My dress is unfortunately too  big- not sure how easy it is to adjust a beaded and sequinned dress but the effect is there!

I tied my hair back loosely and pinned it up to give the effect of a faux-bob.

My black satin gloves were some I picked up from the Monsoon 70% off sale yeeeeeeeeears ago as a useful item for dressing up and costume parties

The shoes are also Clarks like Clara's and look very similar to the real screen accurate ones, even if they are not the ones, not sure to be honest.  I wear them for my concerts nowadays as a useful stylish pair of shoes. 

If we ever make it to another Charleston night, I will be sure to wear this but hopefully have it adjusted.  In the silly Charleston pose below, you can see how big it is for me, under the arms!

What do you think of this look?  Are you a big fan of the Gatsby look like me?

xx

Goodnight Sweetheart

I write this with greatly aching muscles almost 24 hours after CBC and I left Goodnight Sweetheart, our swing dance weekend.  I don't have masses of amazing photos, the quality is pretty rough particularly as many were from the evenings but I thought I'd write about our experiences.

CBC picked me up from school on Friday evening and having had an awful headache all day, I was really in no mood for dancing, travelling or anything other than collapsing in an exhausted heap.  We travelled to Watford, getting caught in pretty dismal traffic so it took a long time.  Eventually we arrived, found some parking and headed off to Beachgrove to the Baptist church which was the venue.  The church building is incredible, they have SUCH good facilities there.  We signed in and received our wristbands and programmes for our Intermediate ability group and headed off across town to a gym for our first taster dance.  This was a Balboa class, which is a faster form of swing dance that was developed when the dance floors got too crowded for lindy and for fast tracks. It is danced in a closer hold than Lindy and involves smaller steps. We did some work on moving around the floor.  It was quite a small room so it was lucky there weren't too many of us.  Jon and Jenna who were our teachers,from Nashville, were fantastic, really clear, informative and great fun in their teaching style.

After the class, we headed off to the church to get changed for the evening opening dance. It was a bit yucky having to get ready without a shower, a distinct disadvantage of not staying in Watford but driving home each evening.  Eventually, at 9pm, the party began.  The theme was 1920's and there was a great band, The Last Chance Ragtime Band.


Dodgy photo quality (phone as battery ran out on camera) but this is what I wore-a modern drop-waisted dress bought from some dodgy shop at some point plus charity shop pearl necklaces, gloves from Accessorize ages ago and a primark silk scarf plus an amazing vintage beaded bag J bought for me.

The dancing was great fun although I did have a headache still so didn't do loads.
The teachers were all introduced. The thing I like about JiveSwing and Joseph, the director of the dance group is how family and friendly they are.
 Finally, we left at about midnight to drive home (an hour), feeling hideously exhausted, getting to bed at 1.30am.

The next day, we set off at about 9.30am, feeling  absolute wrecks. We decided to skip the taster class and headed off for porridge and tea in a trendy artisan coffee house who gave me an egg timer with my tea! CBC, ever the romantic, had demanded we bring along a book of love poems we'd got from my Grandad's collection, so he could write my Valentines card (we were yet to write them)

I should point out that we ate very well that weekend. Delicious vegetarian fettucine in Ask on Saturday lunchtime, more wonderfulness at Wagamamas in the evening on both days.

Saturday's first class was in a really crowded room and I felt really dreadful and to my horror, started to cry in the class,so I had to take 5 minutes outside.  The first lesson with Jenna and John again was good though was mostly about technique rather than learning new steps. CBC really liked them. I liked them but would have liked to learn something new.

After a lunch break of 3 hours in which we moved the car, went to Ask and bought some things in Tiger (a new umbrella and a picture frame)  we headed off to our next class withDave Madison from San Fransisco, who is a blues teacher. He did some work with us on Musicality and listening to the music to form your lindy moves.  It was useful and in a better room.  After this was the best class of the day with Fabien Vrillon from France and Lisa Clarke from the UK.  They taught us 3 really cool Lindy moves which we added to our repertoire.  I thought they had a really cool and gentle dance teaching style and were my favourite teachers of the day.

The final class was a Performance class with Alison Marsh.  We were learning a choreographed routine to 'Love me or leave me' with elements we had to decide on ourselves. This was great fun and had the added bonus/terror of our having to perform it in front of the whole of the GNSH audience on Sunday night.  I love learning routines so it was a great end to the lessons.

After a brief trip to Primark to buy some much needed clean socks, a hand towel (and some tartans shorts to wear under my dress- we'd forgotten things) we had meal in Wagamamas with some other dancers from the Southend class we used to go to.

Again, we really felt like a shower would be lovely after all the sweating of the day but had to be content with washing faces in the toilets and the wonders of cleansing wipes!

The evening ball kicked off at 9pm again. I wore the Lindybop green dress CBC had bought me for Christmas (featured before but only the bottom half was visible) together with a Crown and glory silver heart bandeau. Pity you can't see it properly as it is enormous! It was ideally 1940's night but I don't have anything that I could dance in of that era/inspiration.



I was accompanied by my very own Matt Smith Doctor Who in Bow tie (Bow ties are cool) and tweed suit (and I am linking him up to TARDIS Tuesday for that reason!).  He did look handsome!

We had a few dances and danced a few with some other people. I had a bit of a crisis of confidence about my dancing. I wish I had the bravery to ask more people to dance but I was in a bit of a spiral of 'I am terrible, nobody wants to dance with me, I must avoid eye contact so they don't have to dance with me if they don't want to" which I know is stupid but since I had been feeling unwell and was still tired, this was to be expected.  The teachers cabaret was amazing! Those teachers are so talented! There was also a great Andrews sisters-style group called the Polka Dot Dolls.  Finally, we headed home at about 12.40am feeling very very tired!

The next morning, we headed off to Watford at 9.30 for a rehearsal for our performance group. It was at this point, I was volunteered for a central role by our teacher who loved what I did for the 'Blue, blue, blue' bit of the song and was made to stand in the middle and do my over-exaggerated looking miserable for that part.  Apparently I had everyone in fits of laughter and people were coming up to me all day saying they loved it.  The dance evolved from a routine to a staged and polished performance with rotation of partners and stage positions. There was one cool moment where we made a roueda with our partners and rotated like a wheel between partners. The whole process of putting the dance together over the hour yesterday and this day was hideously fun and a great bonding experience.   We went straight into a Lindy class with Joseoh Sewell which was originally about improving some basic moves but we learnt a cool move called the Pop which involved some fast spinning (which usually means me careering off to the right)- I am not so good at double spinning and ended up treading on many toes and accidentally punching one partner in the face!

After a chilled lunch, we headed to  more lindy classes with Jon/Jenna and Lisa/Fabien,both fun.  I definitely preferred the one with Lisa and Fabien where we learnt some impressive looking Charleston variation moves.

The final class was a taster class in Blues with Dave Madison again.Blues was a dance form that came before Lindy and is much slower.  We did some basic moves and getting the basic technique which is a lot more chilled than Lindy.

The final night was 'casual dress' although everyone really made an effort. I wore my Cath Kidston comic strip dress (sorry forgot to take photos), put on a simple heartprint Crown and Glory headscarf and didn't bother with the make-up!

I feel a lot more confident tonight, perhaps it was people being so nice about the routine? Anyway, I asked a few guys to dance which worked out well and fun. I had a couple of really fun dances particularly with a guy from my class and a guy from Hamburg who I had chatted to earlier.

We sat down to watch the Euro Jack and Jill Lindy competition. This is basically a competition where people enter individually.  They then have to social dance to the music that is played and then dance with three different partners. Since they have not rehearsed together (as they don't know who they will be matched with), nor can do they know which music will be played, they are being judged purely on their following or leading skills. It is incredible to watch!!!

There was also a solo Jazz competition, where the competitors dance alone. The winner was this amazing crazy, quirky girl who won it last year. She's the one in the boiler suit below.

The next item was the Authentic Jazz performance (they were a set of people doing this exclusively all weekend) which was very impressive, then it was time for our routine!

You can see some pictures below of us in action. That's me in the navy polka dot dress (these are from the rehearsal)













It went well and people were very complimentary.  A teacher from Essex said if she started a performance group in Essex, she wanted us to be in it. I was a bit scared at that- I can do comedy but I am no performing dancer!

The band was my favourite one- the Pete Long Swing Band, who featured guitars, double bass, piano, clarinet and vibraphone. They were really virtuosic.

We had a few more dances and even headed off to the Blues room a bit later. Finally set off for home at about 1.45am ahrgh, which was rather late and it was extremely foggy. Somehow made it home alive, achy but very happy.  I'm so glad we decided to go to this camp, it was remarkable fun and I would love to do it again. I'd definitely stay there next time though- the driving wasn't too fun! As I said before, I love the way that Joseph runs Jive Swing, it does feel very inclusive, friendly and like the Jive Swing groups from all around Essex and Hertfordshire are one family. It takes a special group of people to do that.

Sorry this was a bit long but I really wanted to record how I felt about it!

xxx

Linking to TARDIS Tuesday with Maricel

Read it, loved it!

Hello there,  greetings from a quiet Northumbrian living room.  CBC is transcribing music, J is snoozing, WOMOTM is reading a book about maths equations and I am flitting I haven't done a book post for such a long time!  I kept meaning to write down what I'd read and it gradually got too long a list and I am quite sure there are an absolute wealth of books that I've forgotten about.  As I draw near the end of the year, I a pleased to discover I have read more than one a week, including a couple of weighty tomes!

I've read a couple of books recently that I have found rather brilliant and gripping!

48.Claude Izner Murder on the Eiffel Tower
49.Clause Izner The Montmatre Investigation

A Poirot-esque mystery set in 1889 Paris, during the Great Universal Exposition, but a bit more risque than Christie!  Our hero and detective is a Victor Legris who is a bookseller.  Romantic interest is provided in suspicious artist, Tasha.   He has his only family mysteries and background that are integral to the plot.  His colleague and practically Father, Kenji seems implicated as Victor dashes all over the city.  The author provides some nice colour and description of the time and setting but not too much to be at all obstrusive to the plot.  The second book was also interesting visiting another spot we tourists know- the Moulin Rouge! These are worth a read.  Sorry, not really a review, I can't seem to say anything interesting, I just wanted to put them down on the list as an interesting possible read for any of you!
 
50.  Carola Dunn Die lauging
 Once again, Daisy stumbles on a crime- she's lovable and really wants the best for people,s o she always, to the chagrin of Scotland Yard, manages to get in on the detecting action!  Great fun as usual and hurrah, true to form, I guessed who the murderer was!!!

51.  Carola Dunn Damsel in Distress
It's always distressing when you lose a book when you're just about to reach the denouement- so irritating- have no idea where this disappeared to- it was good though!  This definitely had a real Enid Blyton feel to this- namely, Five fall into adventure- with a kidnapping, searching in a forest for the victim, sub-plots and treachery- great, but I'd love to know how it ends.


An old work colleague used to go on and on about the Chalet school series, she adored them and was always trying to collect first editions of them.  I always remember seeing them in my local library but sadly, did not read them when there was a wealth of them available- alas, why did I not realise they are exactly like Malory Towers and St Claire's, only better!!!  I was lucky enough to find these three books in a charity shop and consumed them instantly!!!

52.  Peggy of the Chalet School
In this book, the Chalet school has moved to St Briavel's and Peggy is head-girl. It has the usual school story formula of disgruntled pupil who must be reformed- great fun and an enjoyable read.  If you love Enid Blyton, you'll love this!
 
53. Jo Returns to the Chalet School
The heroine in this book totally reminds me of Darerel from the Malory Towers series, she's fun and intelligent and cares passionately about her school- I loved reading the setting of this bok out in Austria- you get a real sense of coldness of the setting, I found myself really drawn into this story!
 
54. The Rivals of the Chalet School
 I love a good bit of school rivalry!  This book was as good as the other 3, except there was a rather dramatic amount of adventure in here with cracking ice and desperate escapes across snowy mountain passes!  Well worth a read!
55. C.S. Lewis Voyage to Venus
 If you read my review below of Out of the silent planet you will know about book 1 in C.S. Lewis's Sci-fi trilogy of books.  When I first read them, I always preferred the first book.  However, on the second reading, I find I enjoyed Voyage to Venus or Perelandra much more.  It tells the tale of Dr Ransom, hero of the first book who is called to travel to Venus to witness the beginning of life on that planet and to help keep the influence of the evil Eldil Oyarsa of Thulcandra (our planet) from corrupting a new Eve.  The story once again has absolutely wonderful description, I long, oh how I long, to experience the floating islands of Perelandra- islands that ripple with the waves they flow over, delicious gourd fruits and bubble trees that burst and refresh you like you've had a shower of fragrant morning dew.  I found the dialogue between the corrupted Weston and Ransom to be really interesting and thought-provoking and found myself once again, very anxious to find out the result of it- what would Eve do- surprisingly, I'd forgotten a lot of this story!  A reallly lovely read!

Here are my reviews for the three Blogging good read books in case you missed them!

 

45.  Markus Zusak The Book thief
The Book Thief for me was an utter joy to read: in a bittersweet way. It tells the tale of a young girl, Liesl Meminger who is fostered by a family in Molching, Nazi Germany in 1939, after her Mother cannot afford to keep her (and though we don’t learn of her fate, we suspect she gives her up partially because the Nazis have something against her and she ends up dead, ‘off-stage’ as it were) and how the power of words in a book ultimately saves and nurtures her life.


I consider a good sign that a book evokes strong emotions in me, one that engages your emotions and makes you care about the fate of the characters deeply. I confess to crying several times reading this book (3 times embarrassingly in a single Tube journey!) - I fretted over the ending of this book before I reached it, I was that drawn into the story and I cared about each and every character deeply! The story constantly kept up the sense of suspense as to their fate. The Narrator as Death was clever and he was a witty raconteur. A really special part of the book is the relationship development between Liesl and the various characters she meets, her foster father, her best friend Rudy, a hidden Jew, the latter particularly beautifully develops. The stories within the story (the books which are thieved!) are rather poignant too.

The description and vocabulary was something striking for me about this book, the imagery used- it was clever, witty and highly original- phrases like bullet-proof eyes, and the shop was white and cold and bloodless (p51) had me laughing in delight at the originality as did the creative and unusual verb choices. The story was just the right length- despite its 580 pages, the pace was constantly moving and there was always something to learn or something happening. Honestly, I know I say this about most books I read, but you really have to read this - it is utterly beautiful and though a multitude of tales exist written about this era, this really is something Other with that capital O! There is nothing I can say that I did not like about it apart from the fact I wish things ended differently for certain characters!
 
46. A Tale of Time City by Diana Wynne Jones

Interestingly, when I started this, I noticed that all 3 books we read were written or set in 1938-9! On the whole I liked this book. It had a great Dr Who-esque sense of adventure in the quest to find who was causing Time City to become Unstable and unhinged from time with interesting and creative ideas of what might happen in future Earth history and the type of technological advancements.

The plot took a while to get going, there were moments of hiatus where we had some more description of Time City (or at least that was my impression) and then it got moving again. I wanted it to keep up the pace! I liked the main character Vivian although I find the two leading boys rather annoying. It had an Enid Blytonesque element, which seems ubiquitous to most children’s stories, with lots of talk of food which I found strangely annoying, unusual for me. I usually love a bit of food description!

The ending was a bit abrupt, confused and unresolved- I wasn’t quite sure exactly what was happening to Vivian - and the final denouement was a bit of a let-down: I thought, “Oh is that it?” I may have raised some negative points but on the whole though, I enjoyed this tale- I always enjoy a quest and I would certainly recommend this to some of my kids at school to read (I think I’ll donate my copy of this to the school library) because I think it has all the ingredients that boys and girls alike would alike.


47.  Out of the Silent Planet by C.S Lewis

I think it is an extraordinary book that more people should know about. I first read it about 6 years ago, (not read it since), and I don’t know anyone personally who has read it, so I really wanted to hear what other people think of it! For me, I was most excited at views of what space, planets, space-ships and extra-terrestial life-forms in an author pre-space travel, pre-Moon landing! This was the first book I had read in which the author has not been saturated by a myriad of different films, TV programmes and books with their images and thoughts of alien-life, so it was refreshing and beautiful. I adored hearing about a spherical space ship with its own centre of gravity and the strange landscape and life-forms on the beautiful planet of Malacandra. C.S. Lewis has a beautiful method of description and the second book in this trilogy has the same delightfully original description. I like the subtle allegorical message involved- it’s not too in your face!

Out on the briny, with the moon big and shiny.

Hello there stranger! How goes it with you?

 If you've been reading this blog for over a year or even a while, you have probably registered my love of sailor-dresses and sailor items.  I remain smitten by them and it all stems from a rather lovely musical called Meet Me in St Louis.  It's a lovely film if you ever get to see the Judy Garland film and the stage show is also lovely, though a little different.  When I was 11, I auditioned to play Agnes, the second youngest daughter in a local Amateur Dramatics stage production.  At that point, I had never played a main-part with any big lines to learn- I'd been in Finnian's rainbow with one line: "Round a little yellow seat,"  and in that, we'd had one costume and we ended up bringing out own dresses to wear for the bit where the town gets rich! 

However, when I got that part, ending up being in various scenes throughout the play, I ended up with 6-8 costumes I believe!  It was really exciting for this eleven year old, to have real proper nice outfits like in a film- in my dancing shows, our costumes always LOOKED costumey (and I'd probably not chose to wear any of them in real life except for my sister's The World is a circle costume (oh how I MISS that dress!).   The first costume I wore, was a white sailor dress.  It really suited me in fact it was perfect for me and everyone including me acknowledged this- in the past, I'd never really particularly thought about anything suiting me or being bothered by clothing. It was after that that I did get interested in clothes.  Somewhere, there is a picture of me wearing that sailor dress, looking worried, with a slight wonky eye from the show, but I still loved that show. 

Long after the show, I remembered that dress, remembered feeling pretty in it, remembered the enjoyment of being a member of the main cast, being in the principals' dressing room, being included in the grown-ups, though treated still as a child, the joy of being in that team, enjoying that acting. And those costumes. I don't remember all the costumes in detail but I do remember the long, white, pretty cotton nightgown I had to wear for the party-scene (I've always had a penchant for long white cotton items since that time and always wanted a long white night gown) and I remember the dress I wore for the final scene where the family celebrates at the St Louis Purchase exposition: It was a peachy floral dress with a darling little collar, worn with a white frilly hat (sounds remiscent of all the vintage dresses I love nowadays and the hat thing..), all my favourite seem to stem from that time.  But most of all, I remember that white sailor dress.

In recent years, when I have acquired sailor-items, it has been in my subconscious, in fact whenever I go onto certain websites, ASOS, Ebay, Etsy, I always searched for sailor-dress. 

Therefore, in the summer, when I first saw this Jaeger Boutique dress, I was smitten.  Truly smitten.  It reminded me so much of that beloved dress, even though it had a slightly different skirt I believe- still it reminded me. I ummed and ahed about it for ages, it was really expensive, even though it was in the sale, more than I'd ever spend on anything.  By the time, after months, I still thought of it, it seemed that we were not to be together- anything in size 8 or 10 was sold-out.  Finally, after a while, I found at John Lewis.com that there was a size 6 left and hedged my bets. 

 When it arrived, it fitted, well it even seemed a bit too big, but I was happy.  And this Sunday, when I wore it, then, just then, I began to feel like Agnes again.

 You'd think I'd style it a bit better (and take those wretched hairbands of my wrist!)  but I liked it just as it is.

 Coupled with simple sailor ballet-pumps.

 and my Alex-Munroe-style Bee necklace, which I'd also wanted for a long time.

To this day, I wish, oh I wish, that I had taken part in more musicals, more plays, more drama.  To a certain extent, I have enjoyed some fun opportunities in those musicals and operas I have taken part in, playing Maria in the Sound of Music,  last year, Luciana in The boys from Syracuse the year before and other odd parts and chorus over the years, always sporadic, but there is something wonderful about treading the boards and I would love to be able to do it better.  I don't look the part for a lot of things, and I am just not sure about my voice, it's hard to know what you sound like, I'm not very 'Lovey' and the sort of 'Showbiz' female, but it would be nice to try!

Is there a dress that you own or a style that you love, that emanates from a childhood memory like mine?  Do you have any regrets about things you have, or haven't done, or have only done to a certain extent?

Let them eat hats 31- 1920's style cloche!

Around 2 years ago, when CBC and I first started going out, we went to Marylebone High Street for the afternoon.  We came across a handmade market in the grounds of St Marylebone's and I found a hat stall by a designed called Orizu.  They were beautifully made, in a wonderful 1920's quirky style with a corsage of your choice.  When I debated colour, the maker suggested, when I said I had a purple coat (pictured- Debenhams Petite collection- only Petite fits my shoulder despite being a tall lass!) , that I buy a green one with the purple flower.  They're not cheap- mine cost £45 (I couldn't believe I spent so much on it) but they are so fun. 

These photos don't do the hat justice, but check out these Orizu hats of the same type on Etsy.  They look so nice here!

If you really like this and you would like to buy one from Orizu, they are on Etsy, here is my exact hat!

Was it money well spent or am I totally crazy!?

Ballet and beasts

Suddenly aware that since it is the new year, I should finally publish this book review blog that I have been prevaricating about since the beginning of December, adding the final reads of the year!   There are one or two real corkers here that have been an absolute pleasure to read.  And then some Dickens...

58.  Lorna Hill Rosanna joins the Wells

Once again, I find myself being lured into reading kiddie books.  Helen my friend has slowly been bringing these to orchestra for me to borrow.  I loved the start of this book, set in Italy in a lovely village- I could just sense the heat and beauty of the old place- Ms Hill writes wonderfully evocative setting descriptions that warm the very reaches of your heart.  There was an interesting sort of Cinderella perspective to this book as Rosanna, Italian girl who has just begun to learn to dance and discovers she is good, gets sent to live in the North of England due to the death of the priest who was her guardian.  We meet old favourite characters from Hill's previous 8 Wells books, including the now-exiled King of Slavonia who unexpectedly met Ella Rosetti- heroine of the previous book and now is following her to pursue her in love.  Again, you can kind of guess how this book is going to end, but I am a creature of habit and I like formulas!

59.   Lorna Hill Principal Role

Aha, the younger sister of the King of Slavonia begins this book, in exile staying in Switzerland whilst there are threats against her life from republican elements who fear a return of the royal family to Slavonia.  It transpires she is good at dance and because of her Brother's love for Ella Rosetti (unrequited), she is sent to the Wells school to study.  So basically, a Princess at the Wells. There is certainly a sad ending to this book but one that is refreshingly surprising, except that if anyone knows my views on Phantom of the Opera, this is an ending that does ultimately make me cross!

60.  Philip Ridley Krindlekrax
Aha, this book is brilliant!  It's the book I've been reading with my top-group for Guided reading at School.  I've managed to get across to them, and helped them to recognise, be able to explain and identify examples of the following:  Suspense, (through the use of grammar- short sentences, paragraphing and the holding back of information, Cliffhangers, Idiosyncrasies, and be able to analyse how exactly the writer achieves the effect of writing excitingly.  This story is a sort of modern-day David and Goliath type idea- where Ruskin, a red-haired, scrawny with dreams of being an actor, faces the trials of Elvis, a bullying, violent thug.  However, in order to become a hero and defeat Elvis, it is only through his conquering of a fearsome giant lizard that lurks in the sewer called Krindlekrax with his friend Corky, the caretaker, that he can achieve this.  It deals with the issues of friendship, bullying, anti-social behaviour, consequences of actions and trying to be popular, not judging a book by its cover  It deals with death of characters in a sensitive way also.  As a teacher, (or parent also, if you're keen), it is a wonderful book for drawing out the assessment focuses in reading. I might actually put up my questions for guided reading up here sometime if anyone might want to use them? Parent or teacher? Let me know in the comments)

61.  Sally Odgers and John Bennett Timothy Whuffenpuffen
This book regards beast of the more friendlier variety.  The named character is in fact an inherited dragon belonging to a family.  Marcus, the main character, is a bit of a wuss, dominated by a bossy girl who lives near by who wants him to be her friend.  He lives with his Mum in a nasty old flat with a mean landlord and bully son.  When Marcus inherits Timothy from his enigmatic Uncle who runs a circus, it appears his uncle is dead- but all is not as it seems and Marcus, reluctant hero, goes off with a strange young lady who is supposedly the Uncle's fiance to find him.  Bit of a cliched story considering, but a harmless enough book for kids to read!

62.  Angela Brazil  The Jolliest term on record.
 When I went to Hay-on-Wye during August, CBC and I were most excited to find a 1920's first edition of this book.  It's totally Jolly Hockey sticks and of the Malory towers ilk but I adored this public boarding school book and can't wait to read more of Angela Brazil's books! Trouble is, they're rather expensive!!!! It tells the story of 2 sisters who end up at a rather lovely boarding school.  If you've read any Enid Blyton school book, you know what to expect! This book is special to CBC and I! 
(It's at CBC's house, so I hope http://www.stellabooks.com/ doesn't mind using their image- they seem to have loads of Angela Brazil books so go there if you want to buy one!)

63.  Charles Dickens  The Christmas books:  A Christmas carol, The Chimes, The cricket on the hearth
Like Gemma, I wanted to read some Christmas books and with the exception of a Christmas Carol, I've never read any Dickens and this edition had been on my shelf for years (like since Penguin did their £1 classics- bought in my 2nd year at Uni!)  So I persevered with these.  I've not met anyone else who has read the latter two stories, everyone looks bemused when I mention them.  Have you read them?  All of them have a moral tale at the Christmas time and show the plight of poor people .   The Chimes, follows the tale of a Porter called Trotty who lives with his daughter Meg.  The Church bells ring every day of his life and after being drawn by their ringing to the church cellar soon after Christmas, fairies take him to discover the fate of his family in the future!  The cricket on the hearth was hard going at first.  I had no idea what the point of the story was and found it rather dull until somewhere near the end, it suddenly clicked and a lovely message came from the book.  Again, it involves fairies and showing people how things really are and I confess to shedding a tear at the end (in Durham cathedral!).  I don't want to say more otherwise I ruin it, but they are worth a read as they're not too long although don't be despondent at the start, they get more interesting towards the end!

64.  Carola Dunn Death at Wentwater court

I bought CBC's mother these for Christmas last year as they seemed like fun looking books she might enjoy.  I didn't think any more of it until I read Dino-Princess Char's review of one of the Daisy Dalyrimple books a while back and suddenly realised I would LOVE to read that type of book and I knew someone who had 7 of them!!!!  So, rather inwardly sheepishly, I asked to borrow them this Christmas whilst we were up there!  Oh and what a GREAT range of books they are!  I adore both Enid Blyton and Agatha Christie and these are like a combination of the two.  There's a mystery to solve, lovely 1920's references, rather cracking Blyton-esque exclamations and a touch of romance! This first in the series tells of a murder that seems to involve an early morning ice-skating accident to a rather nasty piece of work!  Of course, it doesn't pan out like that and the Honourable Miss Daisy Dalyrimple, newspaper reporter and photographer is on the chase, much to the reluctant yet admiring attempts by a Scotland yard inspector!

65.  Carola Dunn The winter garden mystery.

I demolished this one on the train journey home- Daisy is off to write another article but visits a real battleaxe who is the mother of an old school friend.  Death soons shows its face as Daisy discovers a boy in the flower beds and has to track back to find out who the murderer is!  Wonderful again, all I could think is, "WHY oh why haven't you interrogated that person!!!!"

66. Carola Dunn Requiem for a mezzo.

Another wonderful Daisy Dalyrimple book- we see the relationship developing between her and Chief-inspector Alec Fletcher. I liked the musical setting of this one at the Royal Albert Hall and Verdi's requiem!  I quite like poisonings in murder books- they are always very exciting working out who could have done what and I guessed right!!!!! Hurrah!!!

 

67. Keri Smith How to be an Explorer of the World

I actually finished this after midnight on New year's eve (A party animal me-ya?) but since I'd read the majority before Big Ben chimed, I counted it as a 2011 book!  CBC received this for Christmas from his sister and it is a book that TOTALLY could have been written by me (in the sense that I've done lots of the tasks involved - not that I am clever like Ms Smith).  It is a book full of tasks to get you to look at the world in a different way- to scrutinize, ponder, organise, appreciate, draw, write, classify.  It involves thinking skills and awe and wonder.  Each task offers you the chance to be an artist in some way- to look at things you have never noticed before- to slow down and regard the mundane as something enchanting!  Adults who are young at heart and kids will appreciate this.  The tasks include something like finding 30 found objects on your way to work/school/somewhere- classify them- describe them, describe differences; draw a sound map of all the sounds in relation to you as you sit on a park bench; collect pebbles and lay them out in formations; make a sculpture from materials you find; draw character profiles of people around you and much more!  This is the type of thing that I love to spend time doing.  A lovely book!

Have you read any of these?  Have I tempted you in any way?!!!