Cats and bees

Back in late August, CBC and I headed off to rural Essex to attend a friend's 50th birthday party.  It was really sweet that they actually asked us to check two dates before they announced the dates because they wanted us to be there.

They have a lovely house and beautiful gardens with a proper set of 'rooms' in the garden.  We all brought food along for the barbecue and accompaniments and stayed till quite late.  It was a really pleasant occasion.

For that party, I decided I wanted to wear a Summer dress that I hadn't worn at all this year or last (hoping and praying it still fitted as it is an 8!).  Luckily because it has a sheered back, it still fits perfectly.

It was bought for me by my Mum as an unexpected present in 2016. She rarely buys me clothes as she thinks I have too many but she saw this beautiful Bee dress from British Retro and bought it as a random present. It came with matching headband and is a full circle skirt in cotton sateen.

I teamed it with a cobweb, linen, lace Monsoon cardigan (charity shopped).

For the 'stuff' I added my bee and daisy necklace from Alex Monroe (40th birthday present from Dad and Stepmum) and wore, for the first time (as I had misplaced them!) these Monsoon embroidered espadrilles (charity shopped)

It was the perfect setting to wear the dress in their paradisiacal gardens.

As CBC took these photos, their cat, Slim Shady came along.  He waited by me. He then sniffed me.  In the 3rd picture below, I noticed him as he patted me with his tail. 

In the 4th, he placed a gentle paw on my calf.  I reached down and he reared up like a dog for his head to be stroked and in the final picture, he leaned over.  He's such a cutie!

They have a beautiful Rabbit ears plant, so I decided to accessorise with a couple of leaves!

Ah, I shall miss it when it grows to cold to wear such garments!

xxx
 

Something beginning with 'S'

CBC informed me a few weeks ago that we had been invited to his colleague's 30th birthday party and brilliantly, it was being held in our home town!  The theme of the party was 'S'

I knew I didn't want to buy anything specially really (when I say that, I mean, I don't want to buy a complete, ready-made costume.  Small, reusable items or little additions to make a costume would be ok if necessary), I had a think about some ideas  could be achieved using things that I already had:


Sailor:

Worn in In the Navy blog post.

Sarah Jane Smith

Worn in TARDIS Tuesday The Sarah Jane Adventures:Invasion of the Bane

Star-gazer

Worn in New Year's Swing Fling

Perhaps a bit tenuous, this one, but I could wear my wedding dress which is covered in stars, together with my working telescope necklace. I have star hairslides, star earrings and star necklaces.

Snow Queen:

This featured in my recent post on World Book Day ideas

Stripes:
I have many striped outfits- but this top and skirt from this cosplay would go fine together (along with some stripy tights!)

From my TARDIS Tuesday Romana outfit

Sequins:

Worn in Eurovision Revisited

As well as this sequinned skirt- I have sequinned jumpers, tops and a nice little shrug and even a sequin necklace! Oh and sequinned shoes and even a sequinned beret.

Silver:
I bought a silver sparkly jacket/cardie in the charity shop and I also have silver sparkly leggings and shoes!

Worn in TARDIS Tuesday:Zoe Herriot Charity shop cosplay post

Sparkly:
Same as the above

Sleepy:

Worn in TARDIS Tuesday Clara and the TARDIS

Could wear any of my Pjs really!

Sleeping Bag:
I don't have any in a picture but could have worn my sleeping bag!
Would also have been easy.

Space:
Could resurrect my Space outfit from Science Week last year.

Image comes from Science week, Space girl outfit

Long John SILVER:

Image comes from my World Book Day Post.

Could wear any of our pirate costumes.  Wish CBC hadn't got rid of the parrot, eye-patch and hoop earring!


Oh, so here is a list I have made, from what I can remember, of what people wore to the party.

Costumes at the party (that I can remember...):
Shrimp
Strawberry
Sherlock Holmes
Scottish
Space
Solar System
Shark
Shark and Swimmer
Scuber Diver
Snorkeller
Safari
Sims
Spartan
Star
Satan
Snow White
Skeleton
Spice Girls (all of them!)
and many more I have already forgotten.


So...what did I decide to wear...?

Well, I will share my costume in the next blogpost!!!

In the meantime, can you guess which one I wore? If you know already, don't give it away!
Which of my ideas would you have chosen if you were the one choosing?

xxx

Photo an Hour September 2015

I have forgotten about Photo an Hour for months so this time, I saved it to my email calendar and put a reminder in my phone.   I also have a little problem because I don't wear a watch and what I was doing yesterday meant I didn't have my bag and thus phone to hand for exact times- thus there may be approximations in times.

 8.30(ish)am - zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.   Oh dear, CBC was downstairs making a tart for the birthday party we were going to today and I was zonking in bed!   Think I'll go back to sleep!

 9.30amish- Dashed downstairs to see what CBC was up to before the shower.  There is the finished tart.  Blackberry and walnut French crumble tart.  It comes from a great French recipe book. The previous night, I went out in the relative dark to pick blackberries and then we had to go hunting through all the supermarkets to try and find more.  We located the last two punnets in town!

 Oh and bonus photo- CBC made some star pastry biscuits with the remaining pastry and walnuts.

 10.30am(ish) - On the train to London. CBC is marking work with his cello crammed beside him whilst I sit and read Georgette Heyer and eat a ham and tomato roll.  My viola is on the floor.

 11.30(ish): LATE! I spent the day following that cello! We rock up to Pimlico Academy for a party which starts with a string orchestra rehearsal.

 12.30pm(ish)- Playing my viola. Bloomin heck, my left wrist and arm are in agony! Muscles I haven't used for ages were getting a workout on Brahms, Scottish folk songs and Piazzola.  The reason we were there was for the conductor of our orchestra's 40th birthday party- he was having a massive fun day.  I usually play flute for him but he's one of the people who remembers the secret that I play the viola. At one point, he turned round and grinned at me and said, "Ha!! How is it?!".
"Awful!" I responded.  He then ended up sitting in front of me during the folk tunes and turned round and grinned at me as I was playing tremolo loudly!

 1.30pm(ish)- performing to the other guests who had arrived.  Here, T, the conductor is introducing the next part of the proceedings.

 and here's the final piece- Piazzola, Libertango arranged for String orchestra and pan pipes. Oh my!!! The pan-pipe player, Michele Tirabosco,  is a professional from Geneva and he was INCREDIBLE!!!! I have never heard anything like it!!  Here's a performance from him from Youtube! Amazing!

 My friend's toddler was loving my gold sequined Toms shoes!!

 And another friend has snapped his Achilles-tendon.  Check out this Pirate Peg contraption for enabling him to walk! What bad timing to damage his leg like this when his wife is due to give birth in 6 weeks!

 2.30pm :  Mmmmm, enjoying the delectable assortment of dishes everyone bought along. It was like  'bring and share' concept- everyone bought something along,enough for 6 people so there was a huge selection! This cabbage was delicious and I adored the sweet potato skewers best too!

 3.30pm  We're in the middle of a gospel choir singing workshop with Ken Burton which T booked as he thought it would be would be a great experience for classical musicians, dancers, ballerinas and classical singers who would be at the party! It was amazing! He is a brilliant leader!

 4.30pm- We are in the middle of the second half of the workshop. You can see the smiles on the faces of my neighbours.  We were divided into groups here and improvised our own riffs

I seemed to miss 5.30 through chatting!

 6.30pm(ish) Leaving Pimlico academy. Bizarrely, there was a suit of armour in the entrance of this otherwise incredibly modern school!

 7.30pm(ish):  STILL not anywhere near home.  Oxford Circus station was closed so we couldn't change to the Central Line to get to Liverpool Street so we changed at Green Park to get the Piccadilly line to Holborn. But at Holborn, there were massive delays and we were literally standstill in the corridors of the station so we climbed up to surface level and hopped on the 8 bus to Liverpool Street.

 Passing St Paul's Cathedral.

8.30pm(ish) watching the Rugby at our friend's house. I eventually got bored and walked home to watch Doctor Who.

9.30
10.30
11.30
Hmmm, forgot to take photos from then on! Sufficed to say, I ate crisps, watched Doctor Who and read a book, had a shower etc! All fairly mundane!

Linking up with Jane and Louisa with Photo a Day!

What a weekend!

Actually that post title makes it sound like it all went wrong!  It didn't- I just couldn't think of a post title!

I've had an interesting weekend which has been enjoyable!

Friday night:


The Gamelan concert went really well on the whole!  Short ride in a fast machine by John Adams was the main piece I was playing in (hence the music stands- you don't usually use music stands for gamelan as it is learnt by ear and played from memory!  It went fairly well although my hand totally seized up about 2 pages into it and I was worried I wouldn't be able to continue- it was going so fast (140 beats a minute!).

I adore my friend's necklace!  She got it made at Tatty Devine! Isn't it the best!

CBC and I enjoyed a lovely Malaysian meal afterwards- a great Singapore Laksa with even too much for me to finish!


Saturday morning we went swimming which was a good idea as I was in SUCH a grump, I was tired and headachy!  Poor CBC!


Saturday afternoon we visited a lovely French patisserie we hope will make our wedding cake to moon over cake pictures and to eat goats-cheese baguettes and exquisite chocolate mousses (micce??)

In the evening we headed to the coast for a leaving do for a work colleague of CBC's.
Anticipating the cold but wanting to still try and be a little glam (but covered up!) I wore a black velvet skater dress (from local Boutique Kush) with an Edwardian-style high-necked wool jumper underneath with tights and Hush puppies!  It was just right as it was not warm in the venue!




There was lots of delicious food (Katie, there was a house-sized strawberry mille-feuille!!!!! Why oh why I didn't take a photo!) a great band comprising of teachers and we had a nice time analysing the lazer-light patterns on the walls!






Sunday, I am ashamed that I woke up late so I missed the Palm Sunday parade from the clock tower in my 'town?' and had to chase it down the street to church.  SUCH an interesting sermon and approach to the service.  We didn't have communion, because on Palm Sunday Jesus had not instituted Holy Communion and we symbolically ripped pieces of cloth from the cross to represent our ripping apart Jesus with all the ways we have done hurtful, sinful and wrong actions against him which we then bound to the cross to represent being healed- like sheets were ripped up and used to bind and stem wounds in World War 1.




The afternoon has been most jolly spent dancing around the house to Django Reinhardt!!!!

How has your weekend been?

xx



Linking to Claire Justine oxo

RIP RSVP?

When I was little, it was the done thing to send a message saying whether you could come to a party or not or some other function.  I always remember wondering what RSVP meant (and why is it we use the French? Is it because PR (please reply) is an already used acronym?).



When CBC, sent out written invitations (and Facebook and e-mails and text messages) for his robot party, he became increasingly frustrated that he could not yield replies to his party. People who he asked by word of mouth said at first, that yes, they would come.   Then, gradually, one by one, other things came up. One person, on the Friday said they couldn't come.  Several on the day said they couldn't come.  Others (due to family birth- could only drop in.  Yet, it took me sending a text message on the day, checking they were still actually coming, for them to say, they could only come for a half an hour.). 
He had spent a long while buying and creating decorations, planning food, ordering cakes from the French bakery.  A lot of money was spent on ingredients.  A lot.  Because CBC likes to cook nice dishes from scratch, find nice food, not just your Iceland frozen bits (which incidently, still add up!).  And yet he had no idea who was coming.

Why do we find it so hard to commit to things nowadays?  Why can we not decide, "I am going to do this, I want to do it.  Come hail or fire, I will be there. "

Even text message.  Frequently, I send text messages to friends (and e-mails) asking them if they'd like to come to a concert I am giving.  Invariably, I get one or two replies to the myriad messages I have sent and no other response (Incidently, usually in the negative)
Facebook- impersonal medium.  It can be easy to feel that because we have been invited by a computer, rather than a telephone call, that there's no need to reply.  However, if everyone thought that, then there would be no one at the party.    And it is a cheap way to contact your friends.  Phoning or posting each one can add up, I understand it is a useful way of contacting.
I don't talk her as someone who is righteous and always replies- the party has made me have a good look at my own conduct in the invitation stakes as I am as guilty as the next person at this.  I only say it to gain opinions and provoke thought and discussion.  For example, a wonderful singer friend recently sent me a text message asking me to come to a concert she was giving in Hackney.  I talked to CBC about it and fully intended to go to it if he was also free. (because Hackney is scary at night and I didn't want to go there alone!)  However, I didn't send her a message, JUST in case.  Why?  Because I was worried that I might feel exhausted and not want to go. Because- well, I wasn't sure?  Because, I was too lazy? Because I just didn't get around to it? Well, in retrospect, having analysed my conduct, I feel a shoddy friend.
As it turned out- right up to the last minute, we were planning to go, but CBC didn't get out of work till late so there was no way we could get there in time.  I didn't send her a message, because I hadn't said I was going.  Again, I should have.  It was rude of me, and I should have made the effort to.  It would be free, would make her know I had acknowledged it and was thinking of her. 

What changed? When did I start forgetting my manners and not replying to invitations? Being scatty and disorganised as I am is no excuse that I want to accept from myself

I will try to ensure that no matter HOW the invitation comes to me, that I will respond to it.  Even if I think that I am an afterthought, not important, I will treat it like I am a really integral part of the experience.  I won't worry about hurting someone's feeling saying I can't come.  Eitther, I must make a decision that yes I am going to come or I will say instantly or as soon as possible, that I am unable to come.

What's your opinion on the 'demise' of the RSVP?


(Post written ages ago, but still relevant, even though forgotten about) CBC's robot party had recently put the thought into my mind, the demise of the RSVP, replying to let someone know you are coming to something.

Exterminate!

It's Tuesday and I am totally excited to be sharing this costume with you!
CBC had a robot party on Saturday night and I wanted to make a Dalek costume!  I've wanted to make a dalek costume for a while, well since I was 14, but especialy ever since I started wearing 50's dresses with big petticoats!  Because, that's like the shape of the bottom of dalek!   So when CBC, said he was having one, I knew it was my opportunity!
When I did a google search, I came across loads of girls with the same idea.  I've been checking out this blog called Dalek of the Day - there are tons of posted pictures of dalek outfits!

How did I put the costume together?

I went to town to find a suitable dress that went out at the bottom in either black, white, silver, gold .  I didn't find anything suitable in any charity shop so I finally found this white dress in Primark - a Skater-dress that was made of pretty sturdy material.  I then decided to be an Imperial dalek (from Sylvester McCoy era) but didn't manage to find suitable coloured material etc.

 Went to my family friend's house where she helped me create the dalek head grid bit as a sort of bandeau to go across the chest with Hobbycraft silver ribbon and silver material.  I braved the sewing machine and used poppers so it can be washed easily and used on other dress if needed.

 Matt-silver Christmas baubles found in Poundland with the aid of local Poundshop safety pins pinned to the inside of my skirt, formed the Dalek baubles. Old white ballet tights of my Mum's.



 Silver sequinned ballet pumps for £5 from a local  independent shoe shop.

 £1.50 silver belt from charity-shop

Added a black skirt of slightly longer length to make the black dalek base

Head dress consisted of a thin metal silver headband that had lost it's decoration from Primark which I got them to reduce to 50p for the lost gem.  I then stuck two adhesive LED spotlights (also Poundland)  to the top of the headband (forgot batteries!)

Dalek gun= Local poundshop whisk
Dalek er- plunger = Local poundshop plunger

and TAH DAH, we have party dalek





CBC put a huge amount of effort into the food AND decorations.

All around the house, he compiled a 'family photo  gallery' of robots.

 Each one had its own recycled photo frame, crafted from old cardboard boxes.   Who is this?

 Love this one! Who?

 And this?

 And this?

 R2D2 -phew, one I know!

 Clever use of an Old Dyson box for this one...

 Short circuit!  Though Johnny 5 is alive!

 ?

 From Futurama!

 K9!

 My grandfather...

 Here's the bulk of the food.  CBC is a great cook!  He also bought amazing little cakes from a French patisserie

 The drinks are guarded by Daleks!

 Check out the DJ's (one of the guests) t-shirt.  It's a SOund-sensitive t-shirt! With tumble-drier arms!

Christmas lights- tasteful ones!

Oh, and what about CBC's costume I hear you ask?  He decided he wanted to be the Moonlander module.

His costume is WAY more impressive than mine!  He made it all himself!

And here we are together!  Heinous USA pants courtesy of Primark!

Ceiling decorations were partly my idea.  Disco balls and nuts and bolts bunting!
Funky lightbulb that changes colour!

Foam latters on the TV.  I tried to make into a necklace, but they were too fiddly! (Thanks to T for the letters!)

It was great fun! I eventually got there after a concert in London and enjoyed it!

Oh, but one word of advice.  Never fall asleep on an arm chair when there are girl-daleks around...

Since CBC looks a little like a cross between Matt Smith and David Tennant (at least I think so)- DESTROY THE DOCTOR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I am linking up to the lovely Annie the Felt Fairy's Make a month with this since I actually did some sewing! Yay,a make that isn't a card!

Linking up to Lakota's Tah Dah Tuesday whenever she does her next one! Boo hoo! I can pretend this is what I wore today!

Also linking up to Patti's Visible Monday (a little late!) because this is the most visible thing I have worn in a long time!!!!