This morning, it being a really warm sunny spring day, my hubby suggested an outing. Apart from church, and the odd lunch out here and there, I have hardly been out for months, so we decided to go to Totnes to do some shopping and have lunch. It is one of my favourite places to shop, with all the ethnic and alternative (hippie!) shops at the top of town, so we started there and worked our way down.
I wasn’t going to buy any clothes… honest, I wasn’t, yer honour… but it’s a very hard temptation to resist in such a place! And my hubby didn’t help – there he was, encouraging me to buy stuff – and I ended up buying quite a few things, including a pair of dungarees which I was convinced made me look fat, but both my hubby and the lovely lady in the shop reassured me that that wasn’t the case!
Not getting out shopping except once in a blue moon, it’s fun to stock up when I get the opportunity, and not everything is easily obtained online because you can’t see it “in the flesh.” I stocked up on some make-up supplies at Superdrug at the bottom of town just before we departed to go home.
Here are my purchases.
Last summer I had to throw out two pairs of sandals because the soles had started to disintegrate and they were not repairable. I was really cross because I liked them both a lot, and the tops were absolutely fine. I am pleased to have got a new pair today, along with the other stuff.
The dungarees. I love the applique on the legs. Since my hubby was the one who persuaded me to buy these, he said he’d give them to me for my birthday!
A really pretty soft lacy top with ribbon embroidery decoration. It is double (lined), and looks really lovely on.
A pair of soft wide ethnic patchwork trousers. I find I can never have enough pairs of these.
Finally managed to find myself a plain black pair, which will be useful.
In that same shop, I treated myself to a beautiful Indian necklace with matching earrings.
New make-up.
Finally, an irresistible pair of purple felt slippers with gorgeous felt balls on them – I feel like adding some embroidery to those!
We also visited the wholefood shop and picked up a few bits and pieces, but the main reason for the visit was to give them my excess kefir grains which they were very grateful for last time. If I had thought ahead, I would have taken in my spare kombucha scobys too – I asked if they’d had any enquiries for those and she said yes, so next time my hubby is going, he said he’d drop them in for me. I don’t want them to go to waste, and like the kefir grains, being alive, they do grow and multiply!
Where we had lunch, they had a basket with several pieces of knitting in it, and a note saying they were knitting squares for blankets for charity, and if you wanted to do a bit while waiting for your meal, you were welcome to do so. I knitted three rows of one square! I thought this was a brilliant idea, and how great it would be if they introduced it into doctors’ waiting rooms etc. They said a lot of people would pick it up and do a bit, and it soon mounted up.
All in all, a very satisfactory day and a lot of fun. Nothing like a bit of retail therapy, especially after I’ve been poorly and stuck in the house. I so rarely go shopping so it’s a real treat – I think the last time I did any clothes shopping was last summer.
Yesterday my hubby took me back to Teignmouth, this time for a shopping trip. It was a bit frustrating on Tuesday, having to rush around because of the car, and I’d seen several shops I was keen to visit.
I rarely get the opportunity to go shopping, and I always really enjoy it when I get the chance! It was time my clothes budget got an airing because it’s a while since I had anything new, and I’ve had to get rid of quite a bit of stuff because since losing weight, it no longer fits me.
We had a lovely day out, in beautiful hot sunny weather, and I spotted quite a few shops and little nooks and crannies in the town that had escaped my notice a couple of days previously.
A shop full of vintage sewing machines.
A wonderfully ornate old machine, and just look at that glorious case…
A miniature iron, in what looks like its original box.
A couple of tiny miniature sewing machines, both by Singer.
The shopping streets are narrow and picturesque.
The shop fronts are very pretty, and it’s interesting looking up above to see the architecture of the buildings.
Gorgeous hand-made leather shoes. Very much my style, but too pricey for my budget.
We came across a busker playing gorgeous American Blues music on a variety of instruments – a guitar, a 3-string cigar box guitar and a 3-string biscuit tin guitar! He played pick and slide style. We had a very interesting conversation with him, and I saw him again later on, on his way home. (Left-handed guitarist like Paul McCartney.)
His cigar-box guitar. I love the fact that the volume control knobs are made of bottle tops!!
He was very happy for me to video him.
He explained that much of this music originated from the slave and ex-slave communities and being very poor, they had to make their musical instruments from whatever they had handy. I love this mentality which shows great inventiveness, and which today has ben developed into the recycling and upcycling culture we are all familiar with. (Think of my hubby’s excellent pedestal for our new sundial! We’d never have ended up with this unique pedestal if we’d had the money to go and buy a proper one.) There’s so much satisfaction in making something useful and/or beautiful from what most people would consider rubbish, which driven by need, produces something often unique and quite unexpected. It means so much more. I loved the vintage look of the cigar box and biscuit tin guitars, with the scuffs and dents, and the general patina of age. Paul said that these all added to the tone of the instrument. I am reminded of the itinerant Klezmer musicians of the old Ashkenazi Jewish world, travelling from village to village and playing for weddings etc., carrying their instruments on their backs and living as best they could.
Now for my purchases. We went back to the jewellery shop – I was keen to revisit Teignmouth this week, because their sale was due to end at the end of this week. I bought two more of the gorgeous necklaces and also a very pretty ring. You wouldn’t believe how cheap everything was – they weren’t over-priced to start with, but at half marked price, you couldn’t go wrong.
Here are the two I bought on Tuesday, for comparison.
I bought a few items in the Pound Shop, mostly stuff to use in the studio.
I visited a shop which sold some lovely unusual ethnic style clothes, scarves, gifts etc. and bought a skirt and almost matching scarf in there.
We also found the ethnic shop I found it so hard to tear myself away from the other day! Their stuff was also incredibly cheap – ethnic and boho-style clothes usually are, and they are generally quite unusual and you don’t see hordes of other people wearing exactly the same stuff. I really stocked up in there.
When we got home we were both pretty hot and tired, so I made us a nice cold drink – lemonade with basil, a recipe I found quickly online, made from fresh lemons mashed up with basil leaves – gorgeous flavour and so refreshing on a hot day!
I then had fun trying it all on and mixing and matching the items with each other and with stuff I already had. Here’s a mini-fashion show starring Shoshi complete with mirror and phone!! (I wasn’t sure how else to take the photos.)
Here’s the skirt and scarf I bought in the first shop, teamed with my navy embroidered waistcoat and red t-shirt to complement the red border around the hem.
Now the stuff from the ethnic shop.
A fun pair of patchwork dungarees. Dungarees always make me look fat but somehow I couldn’t resist this pair!
(Sorry about the bad quality – the sun was streaming in through the window and it was hard to get the photos right.)
I thought the dungarees looked more flattering with one of the scarves I bought at the same time.
I bought a pair of patchwork trousers which are made of heavy-ish cotton. They are much too long so will have to be taken up.
They had a rack of fabulous silk dresses and skirts with elasticated tops and uneven hems with points, which could be worn in a variety of ways. I bought one of the dresses and a skirt. This is the purple dress. It has ties to make shoulder straps but you don’t have to use them if you don’t want to.
You can wear it as a skirt.
Without the straps, and pulled down a bit to make a low waisted dress.
The skirt is greenish-blue.
I thought I could have some fun with this and wear it in all sorts of different ways! Here it is as a head scarf. I hope the length of it down the back doesn’t look too nun-ish! It reminded me somewhat of the Vermeer picture, “Girl with a Pearl Earring.”
As a poncho. I like the way the elasticated waist becomes cowl-like.
The other scarf I bought in that shop. I love big square scarves because they are lovely for tying your hair up in.
After taking these photos, I realised that in most of them I’ve got a really grim expression! I was concentrating on getting the best view possible with the phone camera, and also I was feeling pretty tired after our busy day shopping, and finding it a bit uncomfortable, all the standing to do the photos.
Finally, a pair of green suede sandals with ankle ties.
Recently I had to throw away two fabulous pairs of sandals that had long been favourites – absolutely nothing wrong with the tops, but the soles, made of synthetic rubber of some kind, had completely deteriorated and were crumbling away, and there was no way they could be repaired. This sort of thing makes me sick. I really liked those shoes but they were clearly not made to last. I expect my favourite shoes to last for many years, and at least to be repairable if they wear out!
Anyway, I think you’ll agree I had quite a spree! These clothes may not be to everyone’s taste but I’ve always loved the alternative look and tended to make my own fashion – part of my creative spirit, I suppose!
I haven’t made anything new on my desk this week because I’ve been very busy with other things, but there has been some stuff on it. I make no apology for a staged desk this time because it’s just new stash really.
Last Saturday it was the village fete where we used to live, and we always go back for that. It’s fun to see old friends again, and there’s lots to see and do. I got the usual haul of second hand books and this year I got a few DVDs too. In the picture above are the things that most relate to my studio.
A lovely tin with a clear lid and a small clear box like a trunk – I’ve put a few things in that but not sure what I shall use either of these for yet. A mug tree for 10p! I think it is Margaret on WOYWW who has a mug tree for her tapes – I saw it somewhere on WOYWW and thought it was a good idea. It has a smaller footprint than the little rack I’ve been using so I’m giving it a try for a bit. A nice little black zipped bag – also don’t know what to use this for yet but couldn’t resist it – I’m a sucker for what my Scottish grandmother would call “wee baggies.” A couple of fabric jewellery bags – the large one is shot blue and purple and absolutely gorgeous – the shimmering colours really don’t show up in the photo – this will be cut up and used in embroidery projects. The ziplock baggies have junk jewellery – more later on this. The book on making things from cardboard has some great ideas in it but on closer examination I didn’t like the somewhat unfinished look of the corrugated cardboard – I’ll probably use some of the ideas and adapt them, and pass the book on again to another worthy cause.
I make a beeline for the white elephant/bric-a-brac stall at the fete, which is always the best stall in the show. – this is where I got most of the above stuff. This time it was even bigger than usual, because most of the stuff seemed to have been given by us – my hubby loaded up the car to the roof with stuff sorted out from Mum’s flat. It’s weird, but when we were clearing it out I didn’t have any particular feelings about most of it except to associate the things with Mum in a cerebral sort of way, but as soon as I saw it all on the tables at the fete I started to get all sentimental and emotional about it!! I hardened my heart and told myself you can’t keep everything, and I’ve got photos of various things that I didn’t want to forget, even if I didn’t like them all that much. It was lovely to see a lady buying Mum’s old work basket and going off with it with a smile on her face – I told her it had been Mum’s and I was glad it was going to a good home, and she was so happy to hear that.
I always make straight for the junk jewellery because there are always marvellous pickings there for pennies, that you can take apart and make art with, and sometimes there are wearable necklaces etc. Here’s my haul for this year.
I haven’t decided whether to keep and wear one or two promising pieces yet but most of it can be taken apart for other things. The daisy necklace has quite a lot of stones missing. There are lots of length of chain which are always useful and some useful jewellery findings.
The most amazing thing happened at the fete. Several months ago I was looking high and low for a beautiful little soft leather Jewish Prayer Book that had been given to me by the cantor of a local synagogue, and when I couldn’t find it, I wondered if it could have been amongst a lot of stuff I got rid of when we moved house, thinking that I already had another one and probably didn’t need it, and being ruthless, gave it away or something. I was annoyed with myself because I really wanted it. At the end of the fete everything on the bric-a-brac was going for 10p and I wandered back to look, and there on the table was a seemingly identical little book, so I picked it up and said I’d have it. I was amazed that there could be an identical one, just waiting for me to claim it, as I’d never seen another one like it. I flipped through it, and out fell a little card my hubby had written for me! It was my own book after all! I must have given it to the lady who runs the stall every year, that summer when we were clearing things ready to move. I can’t get over what has happened, and that I’ve got it back again, and in such a strange way! I could so easily have missed it.
God is good. Life is good.
Talking of jewellery, yesterday we went on an outing to Teignmouth (which you can read about here) and we found a shop selling loads of fabulous ethnic jewellery, everything at half marked price! They were so incredibly cheap that I couldn’t resist. The sale is only on till the end of the week and my hubby says he’ll take me back either later today or on Friday – we found another shop as well, selling absolutely gorgeous ethnic boho-style clothing which is definitely my style and which I haven’t been able to shop for for ages. We didn’t have enough time today because we had to go back for the car, and it as most frustrating having to walk away without even going in. I hope I’ll have some photos of further purchases to show you soon!
Here are the two necklaces I bought yesterday.
I’ve also been doing some knitting this week, working on an unfinished scarf from when I was having my chemo 3 years ago – one of my famous UFOs (UnFinished Objects) and there’s not much more to do now. Forgot to photograph it but there will be photos next time, or when it’s finished.
Our garden
This year’s sweet peas are now starting to flower, in the tubs along the garage wall where we always grow them. I adore sweet peas.
My hubby has finished painting the pedestal of the new sundial with sand and cement wash, and has also painted it with a coat of yoghurt which he says will encourage lichens etc. to grow on it and age it a bit. It’s looking lovely now, if a bit pale, and the kitties thought the yoghurt was a good idea too, and started licking it off!
I’ve turned the sundial so it now reads the correct time. Our friend yesterday said that he expected my hubby would be getting up in the night to check the time… haw haw haw!!!
Bread
I made some more sourdough bread this week, and used my new bannetons complete with their fabric liners for the final proving (which I got on Ebay this week).
Unfortunately the bread came out like two flying saucers this time. It always spreads quite a lot when I tip it onto the baking sheet, and I think the dough is too wet. More experimenting is required.
Kitties
More fun and games from Lily and Ruby.
Evidence of their first kill?
Feathers all over the lawn… Lily had a distinctly wild and furtive look, tinged with guilt. Ruby looked her usual sunny self. So we think we know who the culprit was. No evidence indoors, thank goodness.
They’ve been trying out new places to sleep, most of which look pretty uncomfortable to me. After the microwave in the flat, which is now out of favour, came my hubby’s desk.
Waking up?
Noooo… back to sleep again. (Lily really is a little dormouse…) Ruby on top of her as usual.
Ruby says, “I do love my sister!” She often washes Lily, who rarely repays the compliment. Lily is definitely Alpha Cat.
Relaxing again. Ruby says, “These lumpy things are really quite comfortable to lie on.” Really?
The favourite place of the moment is definitely my upstairs trolley. My hubby has christened them the Trolley Dollies. Here they are again.
When they really go off to sleep, bits start to hang over the edge – various legs and tails etc. I wonder if anyone is old enough to remember that Esso petrol advert in the 1960s, “I’ve got a tiger in my tank”? There was a craze at school for the free tiger tails you could get at the petrol station, and we all hung them on our school bags. They hung down limply, and our kitties’ tails are just like that – lift them up and drop them, and they are completely lifeless! We’ve never had such laid back and relaxed kitties. “I’ve got two tigers on my trolley.”
I have to disturb them every night when I go up because I need my trolley to push my stuff along to the bedroom. I get squeaks of protest, but a little cuddle always elicits a purr, however grudgingly. They are very forgiving!
Finally, they were out all day again the other day (as usual) and it rained. Ruby managed to get her back half really wet but the front was completely dry – I can’t imagine what she was doing! I wonder if she fell in the fountain.
Their fur is almost white underneath. The stripes are all on the surface.
Today it is wet. We’ve left the back door open (although they do know how to use the cat flap) to give them the option to come in if they want. They are both sitting outside the back door – it’s as if they don’t like being wet, but on the other hand they can’t bear to come in because they love the garden so much!
Have a great week everybody. I’m hoping this frenetic busy-ness will end soon because I’m desperate to get back in the studio and start playing again.
Today we went with some friends for a day out in Teignmouth. My hubby and I have been before on more than one occasion, and have just walked along the sea front, which is lovely, but today we explored some of the little town itself, which was a delight.
There is are some lovely buildings in the town. I love seaside architecture – it’s so light-hearted and fun, and immediately makes one think of holidays.
We sat under the flags to have some mid-morning refreshment.
Looking back along the sea front at the different styles of houses.
The railway runs along beside the sea.
The church is most unusual, and looks as if it’s made of gingerbread! Note the rope-like arch in the apex of the roof. It makes me think it might have been built as a fishermen’s chapel.
We had a delicious lunch in an Italian restaurant, and then set forth to explore the town.
Narrow winding streets full of fascinating little shops.
I loved this covered veranda running the full length of this little terrace of cottages.
Along the street was a house where they’d blocked off one of the windows with board a few inches behind the glass, and made this beautiful 3-D seascape complete with shimmering fish and real shells. I wish the photo did it justice.
Beautiful balconies throughout the town.
We came across this cake shop with the most brilliant display of unusual cakes!
Here are some detail shots of my favourite ones. Incredibly realistic!
Barbecue cake.
Baked potato cake.
Burger and chips cake.
Finally, one especially for Zsuzsa: Oreo cake!
A shop full of lovely little seaside ornaments – I love this stuff.
A mosaic outside a community shop.
In a shop full of wooden things, I particularly liked this little tree. This could be made with card, cut on the cutting machine. It’s a simple cross cut assembly made of only 2 pieces slotted together.
A baby seagull, piping plaintively for his mum! He looked so cute, tail-less, with such big feet. Pity they grow up to become such a menace.
We loved all the tiles on this house. No doubt as to what number house it is in the street!
A place to chill out, on the boat slipway looking across to the bridge that goes over to Shaldon.
Finally, the two necklaces I bought in a shop that was selling tons of fabulous necklaces at half the marked price. They were so cheap I just couldn’t resist. My hubby says he’ll take me back before the end of the week when the sale ends – too good to miss! We were a bit short of time because of having to rescue the car, which was a bit frustrating. There were so many quirky and unusual shops and I can’t wait to go back and have a good wander around.
It was a simply marvellous day out. I think I could happily live in Teignmouth!
