Blue Princess

Last week was the first rehearsal of my most local orchestra.  Unfortunately, the hall where we rehearse had broken heating and last weekend was chilly to say the least.  Luckily, we were warned.

When we arrived, it was really quite funny just how many layers everyone had on!  We survived the rehearsal!

Here's what I decided to wear:

I wore a long-sleeved Cath Kidston stop underneath and then wore this blue Cashmere Edinburgh Woollen Mill polo-neck on top.  I bought this in 2010, the year I broke my wrist and I always remember wearing this on New Year's eve to go to a local pub.

Under the skirt, I wore some leggings and my Ugg Black sheepskin waterproof boots (Charity shop bargain about 7 years ago of £25!)- though you can see my slippers in this picture. Speaking of the skirt, I bought this from Per Una, M&S in about 2004-5 which makes it 20 years old now. I am incredulous to realise this but I don't think I've ever shared it on the blog. It was my absolute favourite garment to wear when I worked at the Royal Academy of Music. There was a lovely Professor there, very shy and introverted, who one day came up to me and bought me a cup of tea and a chocolate cake "Because you look like a Princess in that skirt!" and scuttled off.  It was such a sweet gesture of friendship and I will always remember him and think  of that moment when I wear this. The funny thing is, I genuinely did feel like a princess when I wore this and used to watch it trail down the stairs as I walked wearing it!

On top, I added the black charity-shopped furry gilet. I still don't know if it is real or fake sheepskin but it is so incredibly soft and warm.

The final layer was my Per Una charity-shopped teal coat. I haven't worn this coat so much as I am always worried about it getting wet when cycling (in fact, this is the case with most of my coats) so I try to wear my other ones when we are in the car!  Added my Nan's 'banana slice' necklace and my charity-shopped black, velvet Kangol beret.

This was a week of rehearsals.  On the Tuesday, we had another orchestra rehearsal but as the heating was still broken, our conductor arranged for us to rehearse at his very nice school in the music department which was very warm!!!! Also I had a Balinese Gamelan rehearsal on Thursday which was actually really good.  I hadn't been to Gamelan properly since about April last year. I went once in October and found myself really demoralised learning a new piece and so felt worried about going again but it has been fine. We have a concert at Battersea Arts Centre on the 7th February (tickets available here) if you fancy seeing something a bit different!

xxx
 

Friday (no) blues

Hello!

Hope you are having a lovely week.

My last two weeks have been quite successful on the whole.

School has been busy but positive.

Monday, I started Year 4 recorder club for the first time since March 2020!

Because of Covid, bubbles and then having no hall, I've not been able to do this for 4 years.  Finally, after getting sorted with school and my room and getting our hall decorated (the floor was ruined by the flooring and construction they had to do to turn it into 4 classrooms- the projector also had to be used to replace the one in the dining room which was on its last legs so it took almost a term to get it back.

I have a good number- about 24 in total including two children in year 1-2 who I would NEVER have thought would do this (will still reserve judgement on their longevity of enthusiasm and good behaviour! :-) )

The first session went quite well.  They were a bit rough and ready (and blew their recorders far too hard!) but it was nice to get started and they were super excited!

In all my year 4 lessons this week, they were learning to write out their melodies they had been composing up onto the stave.  I sold it to them as they were going to write up and 'publish' their work in a book for the class book corner (after asking one of recorder club to fetch their lovely new shiny books I had given them).  I was mostly pleasantly surprised with their work...mostly!

One lovely thing has been that some the year 6 children who seem to want to spend all their play and lunchtimes in my room asked last Wednesday if they could come and sit in my room whilst I taught year 2 (they have 45 mins of lunchbreak when year 2 come in).  I agreed as I realised they could earn their keep. We were doing group work and the 3 children brilliantly led groups with great results until they had to leave to go back to class.  They asked if they could come next week and help again.  Since I was doing group work again, but more complicated, I agreed. This week, I arranged it so they could go into lunch immediately.  6 of them turned up at my door so they all had a group each. The year 2 children ADORED having them there and the kids really loved the challenge of having to be 'teachers' for their groups.  They said it was hard work but they enjoyed it and I said to them, "Imagine what it's like doing that without any help!" and they agreed it sounded so hard! The class I had after break (without any helpers) was SO much more difficult.

They came back the next day and helped me with the final year 2 class! They loved challenging themselves and as they'd already taught the activity the previous day, they were able to hone their teaching skills.  My deputy head thought it was brilliant to allow them to do this as it was a chance for them to apply their own learning.

Did I mention that I appointed 2 orchestral managers for our school orchestra. Two very efficient girls (from the above group) wanted to be involved in orchestra but not to play.  I appointed them managers and they are superb- they act as librarians, register takers, they chase people who don't turn up, they help set up and it's so nice to have a way of involving them and giving them 'work experience'.  Today, we had an audience who wanted to come along and see what happened in orchestra!

Our local education authority are holding the first 'regional primary choir of the year competition' which is exciting as it's so nice to have a experience and trip to offer the children for the club though a bit scary!  It was the first choir of the year and I had 30 children including quite a few new ones (as well as loyal returnees). If I can just tackle the noisiness of some of the back row, it should be good!  One of my old university friends is in charge of the festival so it will be really nice to see her again!

Last Thursday was a brilliant day! I had a course at the London Symphony Orchestra's education building, St Luke's, entitled Opera in a Day.  It was enormous fun and great to see Rachel Leach again, the leader of their education programme (she ran my music training in classroom music with the LSO).  I had a lovely lunch of Paella from Whitecross Street market and afterwards I went to swim at the Ironmonger row baths. After some dinner at Wagamamas, I headed off to my Gamelan rehearsal in the city, only a short walk away. 

I had 2 orchestra rehearsals this week with an orchestra I've not played with for over a year. It was nice to be back though the music was not as thrilling as I might have hoped!

Oh, I thought I'd share an outfit from today!

I've put together quite a few pleasing outfits this week (well, new combinations I haven't tried...that worked!) and I quite liked this one.

It features:

Charity-shopped WhiteStuff shirt, 

Lovely glittery, striped skirt I bought in Antwerp or Bruges' Think Twice 3 Euro day

Very old F&F at Tescos cashmere cardie.

Navy leggings from Aldi.

Men's purple Clarks Brogue boots 

Purple Accessorize beret and Lovarzi Doctor Who fairisle scarf

Esoteric London sample sale moon earrings

ASOS purple dangly bead necklace.

I had a discussion with one of my year 6 girls at play as she wanted to know where the items of my outfit were from and she asked why I bought clothes in charity shops and I gave her the usual spiel of 

• More eco-friendly to buy used
• You get nicer clothes than you might be able to afford new
• You can look different and unique compared to everyone else
• Find your own style

She liked that so hopefully, if she had a previously negative view of buying in charity shops, she knows her favourite educational style icon buys from them, and might consider it in her future!

I have very little coat variation at the moment as my Seasalt Janelle coat is perfect for this cold weather!

Hope you are well!

xx

Style Imitating Art- Children at the Beach

It's time for another Style imitating Art outfit. Salazar chose this beautiful watercolour, Children at the beach.

The painting is by Post-Impressionist Maurice Prendergast, “Children at the Beach.

I knew that would begin with my Cath Kidston cloud skirt as this would suit the colours nicely and the literal fact that there are clouds in the sky - well, sort of!


Next, I added my blue charity shopped Karen Millen shirt as it was another jolly shade of blue.  My cotton cardigan is from DKNY and I've had it since I was a teen aged 16 and my Nan was still alive.  My sister gave it to me as a present so it's doing well 21 years on! My second-hand Saltwater sandals seemed perfect for the hot day and since we had a sea scene, I added me Kirsten Stewart fish necklace from the Orkneys. And of course, a silly paddling pose!

What do you think?

Go and see how everyone else interpreted it!

xx

Blue Charity shop chic!

Blogging introduced me to the breadth and variety of vintage clothes that were available. I had long bought second-hand clothing from charityshops and eBay before I blogged (first charity-shop purchase was aged 10! A sequined parrot t-shirt, a vintage TARDIS blue silk blouse and the crysttal droplets from a dismantled chandelier plus a vocal score of The Pirates of Penzance as a gift for me mum) and I'd worn vintage clothing belonging to my Mum and other family friends (I miss those cream flares!) but it wasn't until I got to know Vix, Curtise, Lauren and later, friends like Ann, that I realised utterly beautiful vintage could be found in charity shops in fabrics that I liked! 

I've found two beautiful maxi dresses in charity shops but in Hexham, last week, I made a real find!

This handmade blue floral maxi, perhaps from an old duvet cover, (who knows?), was  £3.50 and it is long enough for me and fits my waist perfectly.  I found, in the same shop, a modern Karen Millen sleeveless blouse that went with it perfectly.  On Saturday evening, we headed out to a lovely Gastropub called The Rat in Anick (no, I don't mean Alnwick, I definitely mean Anick!) and I wore the two together.

With them, I added my tan Mary Jane shoes charity shopped in my local charity shop last Summer plus my Smile and Make Star necklace and I was very happy with my comfy charity shopped chic!

Buying secondhand is much more exciting than buying new- you never know what you might find, not just what the current designers of that shop think is the trend that year!

What do you think?

xx

Style Imitating Art- The Great Wave off Kanagawa

This week's Style Imitating Art inspiration was the wonderful 'The Great Wave of Kanagawa' by Hokusai.  Apparently a film is being made about Hokusai's also artistic daughter, according to SIA host- Salazar

I ended up creating 2 outfits for it in the end.  This first dress has a beautiful cowl back which I thought had a wonderful wave-like flow to it and being in a watery shade. This was a charity shop bargain in July- £1.99! 

How perfect is the wall art in the background in my second picture.

The dress was also £1.99 from the same charity shop. I thought the navy with the small patterns emulated the navy waves of the Hokusai and although it is hard to see, the ruffles on my grey cardigan were rather frothy and wave like.

Head over to Salazar's to see the roundup of everyone's outfits!

This picture was taken in Brighton where I visited at the weekend for a wedding!

I met the hilarious and wonderful Katie at Hook Line and Sink her for tea and cake but failed to take any photos of meeting up! It was lovely to meet her at last!!!

xxx

Rhapsody in Blue

 There is no beauty to compare to the sight of a dell of bluebells. One of the greatest treasures of Spring.

 One of my favourite books, I capture the Castle was adapted for TV and I always remember the line. "Do you smell Bluebells, Rose?"
"I smell heaven!"

 And today, for the first time, my mother and I smelt that scent- who could not, surrounded by all these exquisite flowers!

 They stretched in all directions- beautiful proud, yet humble simultaneously.

 The carpet of blue is just astounding and I felt it was such a privilege to be there to see them. Only the 3rd time in my adult life I have seen such a sight.

 There may be a massive collection of photos here but each flower deserves its chance to shine, to be appreciated, to be swooned over and to enrapture your day.

 Up close, you see their delicate beauty- that exquisite bell shape- a soft ringing in silence.

 And collectively, a carpet of blue fit for a king.

 Enjoy the rest, without my wittering. There is nowhere else in the world that has our English Bluebells and we must protect them.

I love Northumberland

I write this after spending a week there with my family. They are CBC's family originally, of course, but now they are mine too.

When I saw Punkypins selling off this Northumberland necklace super-cheaply as it was their sample for the photos on the website, I pounced instantly. Luckily, there were no casualties as no one else had expressed an interest.

I love going up there to see our family as I've never quite had that sense of going home to somewhere, except for my year in Bali. I went to University in London and I lived at home for 2 years and only spent one year up there- I could reach home in 45mins.  For the years up until my marriage, I lived in my childhood home. My Mum had moved nearby so her home was not my home to return to as it were.  Now, my childhood home is no longer a place for me to return to as it has sold. I work in the area,

Now, Northumberland is that place for me, that I yearn to return to. I don't know it that well, but I love it.

 It is much more underpopulated than most other counties in the UK and less known but it is beautiful. There is so much glorious countryside.
It is rife with castles and Hadrian's wall of course! History is there to see.
It has red squirrels, a rare breed nowadays in the UK.
It has great fresh air and you can get to Scotland easily.
You can get there via East OR West Coast trains.

Family plays a huge part in it of course. But every time, I leave, I long to return.
Bye, bye Northumberland, I hope to come back soon.

I decided to share the necklace with hearts and flowers. Seems appropriate.

Outfit:

Beret- Primark charityshopped.

Heart sweater- Topshop via Charity shop.

Skirt - Primark,

Leggings- not sure.

Northumberland personalised necklace: Punkypins: choose your county here

Swinging in the trees-a sneaky TARDIS Tuesday on a Sunday

 I'm sorry, I try not to post too many outfit pics next to each other but I cannot seem to complete any of the myriad draft posts I have.. Nor can I seem to string any sentences particularly well together.

 So I thought I'd share an unnecessarily excessive amounts of photos of my outfit from today.  I bought this Fat Face dress in a charity shop in January and it fits me unbelievably well. Fat face size 6 seems to work for me! It has pockets too. Comfortably well.

Church on Palm Sunday today was very happy and it was very warm in the church.

 Like yesterday, I teamed it with other comfy items- these Clarks originals wedges are so comfy it is untrue- I don't wear them that often because I always worry about rain with suede.
The black cashmere cardie is an essential for cold concerts in cold churches. I did a concert in December with a choral society (like last night) where there was no heating and the wind players were right at the back by a drafty door- I stuck ALL my regular clothes under my black cardie and rued the consequences of looking like a trussed turkey and was STILL freezing. SO I bought a black cashmere cardie in the Tescos sale that very new year ready for freezing concerts.

 I posed with my Pylones watering can handbag just because it looked a bit boring but then I decided to swap my items into it anyway. I tend to stick with one of my handbags all the time and never use any other ones. Poor neglected ones. I did give away loads when I moved.

 Yes, I tried it. And scraped the skin off my hands.That bark is HARD and rough and I have zero upper body strength!

 Mwa ha ha!

 And because we all love the daft outtakes...

I can't wait till Summer!

Thank God Spring is sort of with us! I like exploring different spots in my garden. This one is quite good and it is a MIRACLE I didn't step in fox poo as I was trekking to and from the tripod as there was some directly in my path which I kept forgetting about. Every time I glanced down and re-remembered it was there, I scrutinized my soles instantly to see if I'd been careless. Luckily not.
Which is odd, since I was dog-poo girl as a child. The one who ALWAYS stepped in poo when wearing new shoes. Sigh...

After church, I spent the time putting away washing, tidying up and emptying the final boxes of books onto the shelves. There are a couple of bags dotted around which need emptying and the dining room table is a tip of miscellanea but I think I've nearly got there. The house is looking RATHER* tidy! Maybe I'm not such an Impossible girl?

Oooh and I put lots of my bigger brooches onto a Brooch board (a heart-shaped memo board picked up from Aldi for a fiver!)

We went out to dinner with our friends too which means I have left over Pizza for lunch tomorrow.

xxx

Linking to Visible Mondays with Patti.
If we were still doing TARDIS Tuesday, this would have a Doctor Who feel to it- do you agree? Or maybe the necklace is too subtle without the TARDIS blue dress?

*I say rather. By MY standards. I expect the Clutter Police would disagree!

Beige

 Beige gets a bad press amongst us who blog clothes on l'internet.  There's a whole anti-beige movement due to the rather bland nature of it and the sense that a certain age you are expected to dress blandly and beigely. I confess, though I haven't openly joined the anti-beige brigade (because some people LIKE it, I'm not going to judge.It SUITS some people), I am not fond of it as it makes me look sallow and washed out and *whispers*, sometimes can make people look like they have no clothes on in it.  But it's ok on this caramelly hat and on the cuffs of this Orla Kiely dress.
I think Julie asked to see the dress as you caught a glimpse in a past 5 brooches!

 I confess, I have ummed and ahed about whether to keep this Orla dress over time- it's not typically and obviously Orla plus it is rather like a sack on me. But the fact it is 100% cotton, very, very comfortable and has a Peter Pan collar has kept it in my wardrobe.

How do you feel about beige?

Dress Orla Keily x Uniglo
Wedges- Clarks originals
Belt and hat- Primark

Blanket cover

 It's been a long time since I wore TARDIS blue overtly.Voila, TARDIS blue in profusion!  I wasn't going to make the mistake I made last Sunday with church being freezing so I pulled out the big guns with this vintage blanket skirt. I wasn't cold. Result.

 And I find it hard to find things to wear these Irregular Choice, Poetic Licence shoes with so a minute bit of yellow was my cue!

 I really enjoyed church this morning.  We had a visitor from the cathedral who talked on going from being a disciple to an apostle.   I think one of my favourite books of the Bible is 2 Timothy which he read from.  It was the source of the first Christian song I wrote and even now, I read it and think of how encouraging its message it is.  Paul was encouraging a young Timothy in his walk with faith in Christ.  Encouragement is something really important to give each other.
Being an apostle is taking that step from following to sharing your message of faith.

It's so easy not to take the time to encourage, whether as a Christian or not.  You doubt your own self and abilities and it can be easy to forget to encourage other people in whatever.  Telling someone they are doing something well, that they can do it, telling them of the good things that have happened to you, and encouraging them in new paths. Telling someone you are praying for them, offering help and time.  A church friend has been a great source of encouragement for me this month in his family's selflessness in offering CBC and I a place to rent.

You here encourage me.  I think the encouragement that we as bloggers can give each other is very important.  Shamu, a regular commenter on this blog, has show through his poetry on his blog, that he has a constant struggle with acceptance and friendship in life (I hope you don't mind me saying that) and frequently shows gratitude for the encouragement he receives. Reciprocally, he is very, very good at encouraging people through comments, kindness and appreciation, even if his tights excitement is a little bit on the edge! :)  Lovely Laura, at Daisychain dream has struggled with eating disorders over the years, and I know as blog friends, the fact she trusts us to tell us of the struggles is an encouragement to us and we should encourage her in her journey.  Ally is finding her path presenting as a female and our encouragement of her in this is so important to building confidence. I've mentioned before, that Ally is a hugely important force of encouragement and good in the blogging world.  I could go on, but I suspect I will lose you. Every one I have come across in blogging needs encouragement. Encouragement to continue, encouragement for energy, for time and for struggles they have encountered. It is a privilege to be able to make a little contribution towards those struggles with a word here or there.

I've met a lovely new blogger this week, Ellie at This Country Girl's journal (I was her first commenter!) please go and say hi and comment on her blog to encourage her in her first month of blogging!

I hope all is well with you. Is there anything you need encouragement for? Or is there anything I can pray for? Just let me know!

xxx

Off to link up with lovely Patti who is the original encourager of beautiful bloggers everywhere with her link Visible Monday. I'm also glad it is Hat Attack with beautiful Judith because I am wearing my favourite Cloche that CBC gave me for Christmas 2 years ago!

Advent Day 7- The hyena, the Christmas tree and the sneaky 70's outfit!

Hello there!

Today's Advent picture is of our Christmas tree!!! CBC was away this weekend in the dreadful floods up north - it took him some 12 hours to reach Northumberland but luckily he made it there ok and came back, arriving with a real Christmas tree and wreath!

It was rather exciting to dress it with our ramshackle assortment of decorations, many of which just generally hang around our house! We didn't put a Christmas tree up last year, so it was exciting to do it this time, particularly as I'd spent most of the weekend cleaning and tidying the house!

 I thought I'd show you a close up of one decoration: the er, most Christmassy animal, the hyena.  This decoration holds some memories for us. When we got married, we planned a treasure hunt around the grounds at Valentines Mansion for our guests.  Many of the clues on the sheet were play on words to get to the location to find a letter but the first clue was this Hyena. The clue was- this is the noise I make!  Guest were given maps of the grounds and hopefully realised they were looking for the ha-ha to find the first clue!  He ended up on our Christmas tree the first year we were married as we didn't really have any decorations and just searched around the house for things to put on it. We've built up a few more!  It was time to Christen the Faberge style eggs which we found at my Grandad's house but obviously didn't use last year!Everyone else has stacks of decorations so didn't want these but I knew we had a decoration deficit so snagged them!

CBC being away, meant I took advantage to wear this 1970's vintage dress.  He doesn't really like it at all, it looks a bit matrony and the first time I wore it, we were going up to London to meet some of his hip friends and of course, I dressed eccentrically just for that reason (not, but that's what I'm sure he thought! Was pure coincidence!)

I teamed it with my Mum's 1969 navy felt floppy hat and a different belt and brooch which you can see tomorrow!

I couldn't believe how mild it was yesterday! I wrapped warmly in this for the Christmas fair with a polo neck underneath, thick tights and boots and roasted most of the day!

Hope all is well with you.

Kezzie xx

Linking with:

Gorgeous Patti with Visible Monday
Judith, the fabulous Style Crone at Hat Attack