Birthday outfit

Good Evening!
Thank you for those of you that left encouraging messages on my last post. I really appreciate your thoughts. I arrived at school this morning and as I walked to the other building, my dear headteacher said, "They're coming to see you first lesson in year 1!".  As usual, OFSTED come and see me with LITTLE people, they never come to KS2- sigh!  The inspector did indeed come- for 5 minutes...
I then was told in the afternoon, that they were going to come and see me teach music to year 5 ("HURRRAH, I cried!" - FINALLY someone comes to see me with older children!!)- They didn't come. I was sorely disappointed! Please see me do what I do best where I can show what skills I have built up over the years of teaching! But no, yet again, no!! Ah well!
I don't know what judgement they make and I can't share it on here even when I do until the report is published (and then I shall have forgotten about it)

Onto the main reason for this post.  I thought I'd share an outfit.  I wore this on Sunday to go to my niece's 10th birthday tea for the family. My sister does this every year and it's the one time I see my Mum, Dad, Stepmum, Sisters together, niece, Uncle, cousin and I like it!!! Of course, it is a party so I saw it as an opportunity to wear a dress! Why wear jeans and a top to a party- boring!

 OOOf, doesn't it look gloomy in the garden!!! So dour and gloomy!
I wore this pretty floral dress from Closet London which I bought from a much beloved shop that closed down near my childhood home- I have quite a few Closet dresses. They have pockets ladies and I know their dresses fit me well! I added my lovely blue leather boots purchased in Florence this Summer. Did I tell you about these?  It was a miserable rainy day in Florence, we had one umbrella between 3 of us- CBC, myself and his brother's partner went to some gardens together. We were eventually joined by his brother and we progressed to meet the rest of the family but myself and M, the partner, were dragging behind and I was glancing wistfully into a shoe shop window and M (who is a wonderful Taiwanese Economist suddenly noticed a beautiful pair of bright blue moccasins!  He gleefully exclaimed, "OOOH!" at the appearance and price and we both disappeared off inside.  He bought blue suede shoes, I bought blue leather boots! CBC and WKWTTG came in to haul as out but conceded there were excellent shoes in the shop!

The final item (apart from boring leggings which we don't need to talk about) was this wonderful black vintage mac with grey wool edging.  I bought this when shopping with Sophie and Hazel in Ipswich. We went to the Cancer Research shop where everything is £1, £2 or £3.  It's a bit hit or miss in there but as we mooched around- I saw this hanging high on a peg. I stretched up to reach up and get it down to try on. I absolutely loved it but wasn't sure if it was a bit big for me especially as its label said Size 14.
Sophie and Hazel both told me it looked lovely and I had to get it- so I did! For £3, why not! It's definitely vintage but there's no indication of the brand.

 So, what do you think of this outfit?  Last time I wore this dress on the blog was before 2015! Shocking it hasn't been shared since!

I feel like I tempted fate when I picked this book to read...

As I was emptying my bag last night, weary, at midnight, after lots of preparation, I picked this book out which I had put in my bag to read! Oh how appropriate.
Look how frazzled I look.  Yes, they came today, they are there tomorrow...
I didn't get observed on day 1 (my first OFSTED without!) but I expect they'll come tomorrow when I have year 1...because OFSTED ALWAYS come when I have the younger children, never the older ones who I definitely prefer teaching!  I praise the Lord though, that they DIDN'T come when I had the horror class....

TARDIS Tuesday- Sarah Jane Adventures- The Revenge of the Judoon

Hey there!

How are you? Well, I hope.  Last week,  a lot of you enjoyed the masculine styling of my 4th Doctor-inspired outfit so I thought I'd attempt another outfit I've had in mind for a while to do.

It is one worn by actress Elisabeth Sladen in Doctor Who Spin-off, The Sarah Jane Adventures in an episode called The Revenge of the Judoon. I've seen this episode but I didn't remember the outfit until I was looking for a picture a month ago or so for my first Sarah Jane cosplay from Invasion of the Bane. I saw this picture which she wears on the DVD cover as well as for this episode. I knew I had nearly all the elements necessary to have a go at this outfit.

You can see the garments here in a Bonhams picture and in the images below:

Image borrowed from Ali Express

Image borrowed from
https://www.leathersclub.com/sarah-jane-smith-the-sarah-jane-adventures-jacket.html

Image borrowed from
http://basementrejects.com/review/the-sarah-jane-adventures-season-3/ 

As you can see, she is wearing a masculine tailored outfit with a bright orange open-collared shirt, brown waistcoat, black skinny trousers, high black boots and a brown leather jacket (it looks brown to me but seems to be grey in other pictures.

And here is my attempt at it:

Let me talk you through my outfit.  

I started with this lovely orange Karen Millen blouse I originally bought second-hand on eBay for a Clara Oswald outfit- I intended to paint it with eyes for her Into The Dalek outfit but couldn't bring myself to ruin it...yet!

I added a pair of ASOS black trousers which were charity-shopped last year in Great Dunmow on a very arduous visit to a Luther to get CBC's cello fixed. Next, I added my River Island brown leather Jacket which is a screen accurate Clara item from Into the Dalek, also bought second-hand and used for several cosplays...hey I just realised, I wore these two items together for the same cosplay HERE.  Very similar....
Next, I added my Ralph Lauren boots which were a birthday present to myself from myself around 5 years ago from TK Maxx.

The last item was the only recently acquired item and it was the brown corduroy waistcoat I bought for £1.50 with Hazel and Sophie on our recent charity shop trip- it was bought with a different cosplay in mind but I realised how appropriate it was!

A very comfy look and I do like the masculine styling of a waistcoat worn over a shirt with trousers. Not sure how keen CBC is on this type of look but I like it!!!

Edited to include a link to the lovely Anna who has some similar top half colour inspiration to me with this outfit with her gorgeous tribute to Ralph Lauren HERE, especially as I am wearing Ralph Lauren boots!!!!

What do you think?

x

A really lovely Secret Santa idea

For quite a few years at school, I was inveigled into organising Secret Santa at school. It happened that one year, I offered to organise it last minute as people asked for it and somehow, for several subsequent years, people would say, "Oh Kerenza, are you doing Secret Santa this year? Go on!"  I would sigh and somehow end up doing it.  For two years on the trot, somehow someone hadn't bought someone a present and as organizer, I had bought some spares just in case and they ended up getting used which was annoying- how did people not buy for their chosen person?? So the year we moved house, I decided to do it a different way and I picked partners and emailed people to let them know whose theirs was so I could check up on who hadn't actually done it. That year, since I was DUE to be moving house (didn't actually happen), I elected not to take part myself as I didn't want any stuff. It was actually really cool as I got to see reactions and know who had got them the thing which was cool.  The next year, when the usual, "Kezzie are you doing it?" came around, I was definitely in the position of moving house this time so I didn't take part again. I liked choosing for someone but I didn't want anything!  Last year, I felt a bit Scrooge-ish not taking part but I was really trying to buy less STUFF and I seem to get so many presents anyway from kids that I just didn't want anything else unnecessary, and I also said I didn't want to organise it so luckily someone else took it over.  I should also point out, that even when I didn't take part, some kind spirit ended up buying me a surprise gift which was kind but again, defeated the NO more stuff issue!

This year,  work colleague asked me if was going to organise it. I replied in the negative.

But instead, our school is doing a wonderful thing which I thought I'd share in the hope/thought that it might inspire others to do something better with their money.

My head announced that what they'd like to do instead was for staff to use the Secret Santa money instead to buy items to make up some hampers for families who we know are in need or in difficult financial/housing situations to try and help out and select one family in need from each class.  They'd organise a list of things to go in the hampers and we would all tick anonymously for which items/item we would buy.  I can't help but think what a much nicer idea this is/was.  I think it comes from last year, where we discovered there were one or two families who were in difficult situations that we heard of and my head asked if anyone could buy some items to make up some food bags for them.  It was offered to those families saying that they'd been chosen for this prize. We didn't, by the way, get to know which families were in need, as this was confidential, but it was so nice to do. I loved this last year, it was so nice buying items in the supermarket knowing it was for someone we knew in need.  The reaction from the families in question was stunned, humble and overwhelmingly grateful.

Perhaps this is a nicer way to 'do secret Santa' - perhaps for a food bank or for folks in sheltered housing (my home group at church did this for a hostel around 6 years ago)- I thought I'd share it in case you felt this would be an idea you'd love as much as I do!

I've not seen the list of items which the Head and Safeguarding lead have put together but I decided to order 10 bamboo toothbrushes today to add to those boxes (in card boxes) as I would like to include something environmentally friendly to the hampers as lot of the requested items will be packaged in plastic.

I hope that someone, somewhere finds inspiration in this post! And I am sorry to be talking about Christmas in November but since this is something that requires preparation, it seemed prudent to share it asap!

What do you think? Would you embrace this alternative to Secret Santa?

xx

Ecothings- Looking at the A Swap a Day May challenge- 5-6 Reusable cup/bottle and Clingfilm

Here's my next installment of A Swap A Day- trying to swap waste and packaging heavy items for more eco-friendly, less wasteful alternatives. As always, these are here to inspire you, give you ideas and just allow me to waffle. If you budget means things are prohibitive, things are harder to swap and you may not be able to  It was lovely to receive your responses on the previous post of this regarding Swaps 1&2.

The next Eco-swap is a great one though one that has not been without pitfalls:

View this post on Instagram

I'm already behind but I will be joining this #swapaday insta thing. Although we did a swap a month to really get habits changed we have now done nearly all of these so can share! Now to catch up... #sustainableliving #sustainablelivingonabudget #zerowastejourney #goingzerowaste #plasticfree #plasticfreejourney

A post shared by Sustainable living (@sustainablelivingonabudget) on May 2, 2019 at 11:29am PDT

6.  Reusable cups/Bottled water:
The reusable cup and water bottle change is one of the easiest swaps that one can do.  I have reused a water bottle for many, many years now but I made a conscious decision not to buy bottled water at all a few years ago (which is why I found it maddening in Italy where a bottle was brought to your table and opened and put onto the table in a restaurant or where they told you they COULDN'T/DON'T/WOULDN'T serve tap water even when you were ordering a 3 course meal for 8 and were ordering other drinks anyway). 
I've had my glass water bottle for at least 4-5 years (bought in TK Maxx) and various other water bottles before that. My pretty metal bottle has been with me at least 3 years, if not more (Also TK Maxx) and I brought back WOMOTM's reusable water bottles from his flat when we cleared out his flat so we had spares to use for a long trip or to offer other people.  Buying bottled water in a country with clean, fresh water on tap is, to me, capitalist consumerism gone bad.  Why pay for something you have anyway at such a mark up? 
Every morning, I fill up my stainless steel bottle and put it in my bag and drink it on the train.  I posted about the refill station at Shenfield station so even if you are waiting at this main train station, you can refill your bottle- you just need to get into the habit of carrying it.  It is completely habit now, I am used to carrying it so there is no issue.

Reusable cups:   I've been using reusable cups for at least 4-5 years now and used Thermoses (Thermi???) for the car journeys to Northumberland before that.  Consciously, I made a decision back in around December 2017 that I would NOT get a throw-away cup for drink EVEN if I was desperate and I would have to make sure I ALWAYS carried a cup with me.  This has worked out pretty well- even with a train journey to Italy this Summer.  An insulated cup lives in my handbag now. I carry a fairly large bag (well, rucksack) but you can get fold-up ones so it is possible to have one in a smaller bag. I really like those Infographics that show you 365 paper cups compared to one Reusable cup to show a year's usage if you need to drink on the go.  Or wait until you get to house/building with a real ceramic mug?
I've had slightly cunning conversations with builders in the queue at Greggs about reusable cups- I've noticed those in the building trade carrying several paper cups with plastic lids and I always make sure I have a conversation about being glad I remembered my reusable mug. It may not plant a seed but I hope it might....at some point!

7.  Clingfilm:
I'll be honest with you. I LOATHE clingfilm and always have- I have NEVER grasped how to pull a piece of the stuff and CBC banned me from using it as I kept wrecking them (I'll be honest, I only ever used it if someone asked me to use it for something, not voluntarily.)
Instead, I will use a box with a lid, some of my lovely beeswax wraps made by the lovely Ang and my Bassoon friend Mary, a bowl with a lid, a plate but never cling-film.  It's horrid, awkward stuff!

There are countless other ways to store things such as elasticated lids, even foil I'd prefer but I'd prefer not to use single-use materials.
I've got several glass Pyrex dishes with lids- these seem a good idea and now, I even bought a cute fabric sandwich bag with velcro to store in my rucksack at a recent Eco-fair. I've kept snacks in here too!

What have you managed to do on these swap front?  If you haven't, would you consider swapping?

Kxx

TARDIS Tuesday: From the archives: Tom Baker- style inspiration

I haven't had time to think about TARDIS Tuesday this week so I thought I'd dip into my archive again to see if I can share an outfit from the past.  This was probably my second EVER Doctor Who outfit (pre-TARDIS Tuesday) which I wore on the blog. It came about because my dear blog friend Melanie decided to make an outfit inspired by a few of the Doctors. As a long-term Who fan, I LOVED this idea and so I joined in with her. Even if you are not au fait with modern era Doctor Who, you can bet you've seen and recognize this outfit inspiration.
Here's the original url. I thought I'd share the original comments too because it's always nice to see who was around first time round. This was from November 2012, some 7 years ago.
http://kerenzaallin-garner.blogspot.com/2012/11/style-inspiration-tom-baker-doctor-who.html

Style Inspiration: Tom Baker (Doctor Who)

Hello there! Continuing with the lovely Mel at Folly Bird blog's Doctor Who style inspiration, I thought I'd try my hand at the most iconic of all the Doctor WHo costumes! In my mind anyway. You wear ONE long stripy scarf and everyone thinks of him instantly!  TOM Baker, the voice of Little Britain, Puddleglum in the BBC adaptation of The Silver Chair and er- some sort of evil wizard in one of the Sinbad films (they creep me out!  They're like  nasty Indonesian horror serials that always seemed to be on when I rarely watched TV in Indonesia featuring vampiric character- urgh, can't abide with vampire thingies!)

The key features of his look I see as:

• Three quarter length Frock-coat:  IN a range of Autumnal colours: tweed, red, brown
• THE stripy scarf (did you know, he wore a variety of different patterned ones as well as a different red shade one!)
• Waistcoat
• Cream shirt with lapels out!
• Tweedy trousers
• Brogue style shoes (actually I am just guessing this one!  Brogues seem appropriate!)

And....................


DA NAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


Do you like the attempt at Tom Baker boggly eyes (he has REALLY boggly eyes.  I sometimes wonder if they would pop out!) in the right-hand shot?

So....the outfit:
Yes, in case you are wondering, the scarf IS 10-foot long!  It is one of the best Christmas presents I ever received.  A dear family friend, in fact the one who supervised and almost lynched me making my dalek costume, made it for me when I was about 15, knowing how much I adored Doctor Who. It must have taken her hours- it's really wide as well. At the time, I remember thinking, "OH NO, it's not the correct colours- there's too much pink!" but now, it's good to be different!


The coat is from the Petite Range at Debenhams- despite being 5ft 8" plus, I have realllllly narrow shoulders and so many coats look ridiculous on me because they swamp me! It's actually dark but vivid purple but the horrid inside light renders it dull and generic!

Thought I'd give you a look under the coat (ooo-er!) featuring Per Una floral cream shirt, La Redoute waistcoat, thrifted Next tailored trousers and tan brogues.

 I did feel a bit like Sue Perkins in this get-up and felt rather smart at school! Once again, my deputy called me Diane Keaton in this outfit- I indignantly retorted, "NOOOOOOO, TOM BAKER!!!!!!!"

 Oh and thought I'd wear some pocket watch type jewelley (Both Alice in Wonderland- both from Asos, one Tom Binns at Disney) since Tom Baker spent a lot of time hunting for the key to time (which looked like bits of quartz crystal in geometric formations, not like a pocket watch incidently).  I'm saving my real pocket watch for when I tackle my beloved Paul McGann!

So, what do you reckon?  Would YOU have guessed who I was channelling with this outfit?

Don't forget to pay Mel a visit, though she hasn't tackled Tom's outfit yet, she WAS practising her boggly-eyed stare here when wearing her Jon Pertwee outfit!

"Loook into my eyeeeeeeeeeeeeees, you are feeling sleeeeeeeeeeeepy.  Now, leave me lots of comments!"

Previous Doctor Who style inspiration outfits:

 William Hartnell - Doctor No. 1

sdsdsdsd

Style Imitating Art: French embroidery Part 2

Hi there,

Yesterday, I shared with you my first outfit, from the archives, for this week's Style Imitating Art Challenge.

The inspiration piece was this beautiful Embroidery sample from the late 18th to early 19th century by Jean-Francois Bony, a French embroiderer and silk manufacturer who was famous for being the fabric designer for those famous historical figures of France, Marie Antoinette and Napoleon!

It looks beautiful- gorgeously intricate floral embroidery on a black background and made of silk and wool. I'm not too sure whether that background is just shiny or it is stripy!

Source: https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/223036

I am wearing a beautiful embroidered ASOS dress with a black velvet Kangol beret (both charity-shopped).  These are teamed with black leggings and my black Clara boots (secondhand) The embroidery is self-explanatory I hope and the black accessories are a nod to the background.

When I saw this inspiration, I knew exactly what I was going to wear for the challenge. Last year, I shared a blog post featuring this beautiful ASOS intricately embroidered floral dress which I found in the charity shop with original tags still on.  The embroidery really reminded me of that dress so I knew I could fulfil the challenge but would I remember to wear the outfit AND have an occasion to wear it?  As it happens, the answer to both were YES.  I was heading up to London on Friday night to London to go and see Hamilton, the musical with CBC, his brother, sister and mum.  A nice smart dress was perfect for the theatre.  I headed off to school that day with the dress packed in my suitcase along with my overnight things to stay at his brother's flat in London and my flute and concert dress for Saturday as I was heading to the Fairfield Halls in Croydon to perform Belchazzer's feast with Forest Philharmonic Orchestra and the Lewisham Chorus.

But... I was really tired and running out of time on Friday so I headed up to London without changing, thinking I could change at the theatre.  I arrived to Victoria at 6.20pm but the others didn't arrive till at least 20minutes later and they had the tickets. They informed us they had headed in. 

CBC and I headed to the theatre which was flanked by hoards of people in a queue to go in.  When we got to the front of the queue, the doorman told me that the cloakroom didn't usually accept suitcases and most people left them at the Left Luggage Place between Platform 3-4 at Victoria Station. I wasn't best pleased at this. It seemed that we wouldn't be able to get in until we'd disposed of the suitcase. When I got there, I was outraged to discover that leaving the tiny suitcase would cost £7.50 for 3 hours and the cost hiked up to £12.50 after 3 hours (and it was then a flat fee for 24hours). Would the show be finished by 22:06 meaning my charge would only be £7.50?  Of course, in all this brouhaha, I completely forgot to take out my embroidered dress to change into AND my very expensive flute which was in my suitcase.  Cue anxiety later in the theatre when I realised.  

When we got back to the queue, a woman in front of us had a suitcase 3 times the size of mine and seemed to be going in with it.  We'd paid £100 a piece for our tickets.  Why were we penalized?  As I saw the same doorlady, I said, "She's got a suitcase too," but for some reason, she was waved in with it. Cue a feeling of more outrage.  When we got to the ticket office, CBC said the name for us because the tickets had been left for us by Brother and Mum.  We separated ours off from his sister's one (who hadn't arrived yet) and then were told off by the ticket person saying, "You're supposed to all come at once!".  I replied, with a slight edge, that I had arrived before everyone and it wasn't my idea that they had headed in before calling us and that we didn't know that they were going to go in before us.   We headed in and met the two who were already in.  They'd got drinks for us and I noticed that they were all served in plastic cups which displeased me.  At which point, CBC mentioned that Hamilton was all rap. I didn't know this and I don't like rap.  It wasn't turning out to be a success so far...  Finally, we headed into our seats. 

In the interval, I headed with my own cup to get some tea but was told I couldn't use my own cup as 'it wouldn't work' with my cup, and would have to have a cardboard cup so I said I wouldn't be getting one.  

The show finished at 10:25 so I ended up paying the £12.50 and having to stand in an epic queue to retrive it- humph!

What was the show like?  Well, I think it was extremely clever and the performers were very talented and it is an excellent way to educate young people and indeed anyone on the story of Alexander Hamilton, one of the founding fathers of the American constitution- they were very energetic, talented and had great stamina.  Luckily, it didn't turn out to be all rap- they sang so it wasn't just rap music (which is what I thought when CBC said that) and dancing, singing, visuals and the wordsmithery were all very clever and well conceived and I am glad to have seen it but I think that it wasn't my cup of tea- there was very little silence and I felt it was all a bit too relentless- I do prefer more light and shade in my choice of musicals. It doesn't detract from the performers at all they were amazing and it is worth seeing but it just isn't my thing. 

We ended up staying at WKWTTG's flat again on Saturday night so the embroidered dress turned out to be my only clean clothing to wear on Sunday so I took a photo of my outfit when I got home.  Bit fancy for a lazy Sunday mostly spent travelling home from London- got to love Engineering works- NOT!

What do you think of the outfit?  It’s not too late if you wanted to join in with SIA. Send an outfit picture or a flatlay to livingoutsidethestacks@gmail.com.

xx

Style Imitating Art: French Embroidery Part 1

I've not taken part in the Style Imitating Art Challenge for a while as I have kept forgetting to take an outfit picture for it.

This week, the inspiration piece was chosen by Daenel and it is an embroidery sample in the style of Jean-Francois Bony, a French embroiderer and silk manufacturer from the late 18th to early 19th century, who was famous for being the fabric designer for those famous historical figures of France, Marie Antoinette and Napoleon!
It looks beautiful- gorgeously intricate floral embroidery on a black background and made of silk and wool. I'm not too sure whether that background is just shiny or it is stripy!

Source: https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/223036

As you may have noticed, I've been having a little look at my blog archive recently- actually, mainly by randomly clicking on links at the side and labels and I happened upon this blog post where I was wearing a beautiful black dress which was covered in floral embroidery and thought how apt it was for the challenge.  So, even though the post was from 2012, I thought I'd submit this picture to Daenel for the challenge.

The original post was a bit silly- it was all about me wearing the colour turquoise in various forms for a week after seeing an outfit by SJP: http://kerenzaallin-garner.blogspot.com/2012/02/futures-bright-futures-turquoise.html.  My outfit looked nothing like SJP's!

I remember wearing this outfit- somehow, I had managed to do my hair in a way I really liked and I felt the whole outfit went really nicely together.  We were performing for the Essex Beekeepers, Braintee division's annual dinner so needed to look smart!  The dress was so pretty and so intricate with its embroidery all over. I was quite sad when I discovered it didn't fit me last year or so!





Oh well, I thought I'd give it another opportunity to be seen as one of my two submissions for the SIA challenge this week. Head back for outfit number two tomorrow!

And, if you feel inspired, why not join in with the challenge this week- you need to submit a photo of you wearing an outfit or do a flatlay of the garments and send them to Daenel at Livingoutsidethestacks@gmail.com by Tuesday evening. Head over to Daenel's blog to see how everyone else wore it!

Kezzie xx

From the archives: Nice work if you can get it

Greetings friend. Here's another archive post from the past I thought I would share from August the 1st 2013, a week before I got married and moved home! Enjoy.

Nice work if you can get it

 Hello there! I've had a really productive day working with my mother in the garden! Usually, I am a lazy hopeless slob case when it comes gardening, though occasionally, I have attacks of dilligence when the neighbour's overhanging canopy of immense proportions irritate me or there are cosmos plants to be grown! My darling Mummsy came over at 9.30am to come and sort the garden after I begged her to do it help me do it since I would like some photos in the garden before the wedding as my house is NOT remotely tidy photo territory! She arrived and we worked together (me still in my pjs!) for about 3 hours and 45 minutes! It was incredibly satisfying what we achieved and it was SUCH a nice time for me and my Mum to spend together. As I near having to move from my childhood home, I feel all these bittersweet 'last' feelings, even though I am excited at moving with CBC. When I move, it will finally be sold and that will be the end of an era. Aside from a year in central London and a year in Bali, I have always lived here since the age of 6 and I am now 32. It was nice to have this sort of final 'Mother and daughter' working time in this garden which has meant so much to us over the years, a beautiful haven in the urban jungle live in, a place that holds so many memories, dear and funny. This place my mother has worked so hard on over the years, made a beautiful place from the blank canvas of mud and beaten earth left by the previous owners and their rottweillers in 1988. I remember laying the turf, planting the Reverend Wilks apple tree, my own patch of corn on the cobs, the wildflower meadow bit. The pond with its frogs, tadpoles, sticklebacks and into which my friend Sarah fell, aged 14. I confess, as I type, to shedding a tear for the loss of this. I'm so excited and yet, there will always be that young girl in me that never wants anything to change. Even over the last 6 years, where I have lived here alone, I have loved this home, despite its idiosyncrasies- no central heating, faulty boiler, a recent mouse-problem, big mess of all my things. I love its high ceilings, its open-plan feel, the ramshackle conservatory, the easiest landline number to remember in the world, its tiny rabbit-hutch proportions, my miniscule old bedroom with no curtains or curtain-rail after a cat pulled the whole lot off the wall after climbing in the window and getting tangled in the net curtains and panicking, the place my sister and I made our own, rearranging it, her painting it and putting up the red,white,black and grey border which still is up, the airing cupboard with the top door coming off, the wallpaper falling of the ceiling. The Laura Ashley poppy tiles in the kitchen, the massive stairwell with the ceiling-mounted rack to hang clothes which I was supposed to pull up to be out of the way everytime I hung washing and yet I've left hanging down low so you are greeted with a Chinese-laundry feel as you come up the stairs. The top landing where the old wardrobe once stood, full of coats which my sister and I would put on, my always loving the inherited rabbit fur coat (sorry, contraversial but I did love it).I love it and will miss it. I must stop these reminiscences. That wasn't what I came here to type and yet the words fell out with the tears. I wish I had taken before shots! Mum first mowed the lawn and edged it. Meanwhile, I cleared up all the rampant weeds that were growing on the edge of the patio, between the fences and behind the lavender, rosemary and lemon-balm  We have 3 apple trees, two cherry trees (one self-seeded behind the shed!, a fig tree and a Victoria Plum which were really overgrown for our small garden and needed a summer pruning. Mum and I worked for an hour cutting off the growth and then cutting into small piece in the compost bin.  Next, I trimmed back my neighbours, shrubs jungles over the wall nearest ot the house. it's like the Seeds of Doom from Doctor Who. I honestly don't think the landlord has done a thing to the garden for 3 years which is why my garden has to contend against the most immense canopy overshadowing it. He doesn't live there, just a load of tennants in different rooms and there is no front door bell so not sure how to get hold of him. The privet hedge in the front garden is taking up half my drive and is taking up half the pavement!!! Any ideas what to do about it?! I threw all the offcuts over the fence since clearly nobody uses the garden and hopefully if they have a problem with it, they will come and speak to me and I can ask them to cut it themselves!  Mum emptied a compost bin of ready compost onto the flower beds and we filled it up to the absolute maximum with foliage and weeds.  After picking up all the debris from under the trees, I weeded all around the bench which was good until I scratched my arms with twigs and scraped my cheek on a cut branch! Nice look for the wedding  Here is the newly pruned Victoria Plum which I did the majority of (mum did the apple trees). Believe me, a LOT has gone!  We weeded this flower bed and then replanted the rosemary offcuts which have taken!  The Buddlea was taking over the garden so Mum trimmed it back, but not loads because the butterflies adore it! We saw a Comma, Peacock, Meadow Brown, Cabbage White and another one I forgot!  Above the collection of stones, broken china and Celtic Cross is a dense canopy of ivy. To my shame, the last time I got furious with it and hacked at it, I had just left the pile of debris so by now, it was brown and horrid and needed moving. I chopped it into tiny pieces and then removed all the brown ivy leaves which wasn't easy as there are evil brambles amongst the ivy too which kept spiking me! We then moved the bay tree which was in the front garden to here as someone apparently tried to steal it at 1am on Sunday evening according to my neighbour who shouted out the window and stopped them!  Mum picked some delicious cherries from my tree which was a Christmas present from my Grandad 10 years ago. I will miss my own special tree  Re the wildflowers- sadly, my cosmos in the trough are the only plants that grew from my seeds and I have only had about 8 flowers so far so sadly, unless we have miraculous growth in a week, they won't be featuring in my wedding. It's been fun to have them to care for though. However, I did find an unexpected delightful present when I discovered this double daisy plant had appeared from nowhere! I didn't plant it so it must have been a bird! Thanks bird!x  When my Mum left, after some delicious apple amber from the freezer (from previous Reverend Wilks apple harvest), I finally had a shower and got dressed! Promptly to get hot and sticky again when I went to go and saw up a load of mouldy cardboard boxes that I lazily left festering on my patio for a while and bin them!  I'm still trying to get on with cleaning and tidying as I try to comprehend the task of packing up 26 years worth of stuff! I shall do it cheerfully as I reflect on a happy day and understand that life moves on   Loving one who loves you, and then taking that vow. Nice work if you can get it and you can get it if you try!