Take Me To The Water

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“Then I felt too that I might take this opportunity to tie up a few loose ends, only of course loose ends can never be properly tied, one is always producing new ones. Time, like the sea, unties all knots. Judgements on people are never final, they emerge from summings up which at once suggest the need of a reconsideration. Human arrangements are nothing but loose ends and hazy reckoning, whatever art may otherwise pretend in order to console us.”  

 

 

Extract from The Sea, The Sea by Iris Murdoch, via 1 

 The Outfit:

 

Vintage Crinkle Skirt: passed down from granny Penny

 

Vintage Green Cashmere Cardigan: passed down from granny Penny

 

Blue Striped Jumper, just seen under cardigan: old from H&M

 

Red Tartan Leggings, just seen under skirt: from Ebay

 

Mohair Snood: old from Topshop

 

Black Boots: old from Aldo

 

 

 

The Soundtrack

 

Talking Heads: Once In A Lifetime

 

 

Photographs taken by me, self portraits using the timer on my little digital camera.

Taken at Trebarwith Strand, Cornwall, on an effing cold day in April.

 

I'm delighted to be a part of the next Visible Monday, hosted by the lovely Patti from www.notdeadyetstyle.blogspot.co.uk, click on the website link to see her outfit and those of many others.

Wild Flower Blue Orient

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Into my mirror has walked
A woman who will not talk
Of love or of its subsidiaries,
But who stands there,
Pleased by her own silence.
The weather has worn into her
All seasons known to me,
In one breast she holds
Evidence of forests,
In the other, of seas.

I will ask her nothing yet
Would ask so much
If she gave some sign-

Her shape is common enough,
Enough shape to love.
But what keeps me here
Is what glows beyond her.

I think at times
A boy's body
Would be as easy
To read light into,
I think at times

My own might do.

 

 

Brian Patten, via 1

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 The Outfit:

 

 

Vintage Blue Chinese Tunic: bought from a Chinese store on the left bank of Paris in the late 1990s when I lived there

 

Vintage Turquoise Indian Quilted Skirt: passed down from granny Penny

 

Miniature Vintage Japanese Fan, worn in hair: passed down from granny Penny

 

Pink Brazilian Wedge Sandals: a gift from a friend

 

Vintage Chinese Parasol: passed down from granny Kiki

 

White flower clip, just seen: Accessorize

 

The Soundtrack

 

Patti Smith Group: Wave

 

 

Photographs taken by me, self portraits using the timer on my little digital camera.

 

I'm delighted to be a part of the next Visible Monday, hosted by the lovely Patti from www.notdeadyetstyle.blogspot.co.uk, click on the website link to see her outfit and those of many others.

I've also just linked this post to Shoe Shine, a great new event hosted by the uber-cool Bella of http://www.thecitizenrosebud.com/, click on the website to see her cute shoes and those of many others.

Edwardian Lace

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“We cast a shadow on something wherever we stand, and it is no good moving from place to place to save things; because the shadow always follows. Choose a place where you won't do harm - yes, choose a place where you won't do very much harm, and stand in it for all you are worth, facing the sunshine.”  

 

 

Extract from A Room With A View by E. M. Forster, via 1

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 The Outfit:

 

 

Vintage Edwardian (or is it even Victorian?) lace blouse: my great grandmother's, passed down to me by Kiki

 

Vintage 30s/40s blue silk skirt: made by granny Kiki for Kiki Couture

 

White cotton parasol: from Ebay

 

White/blue gauzy scarf wrapped over parasol: a gift from my aunt in Hong Kong

 

Vintage pearl necklace: passed down from granny Penny

 

Silver vintage look earrings: Accessorize

 

Nude pumps: old, from New Look

 

The Soundtrack:

 

 

Laura Marling: I Speak Because I Can

 

 

 

Photographs taken by me, self portraits using the timer on my little digital camera.

 

 

Happy Beltane!

 

 

Due to the combination of a heavy work load and the glorious spring sunshine, which calls me away from my computer and out into the garden whenever it can, I'm way behind on responding to blog comments. I have time to either keep up to date with your new gorgeous blog posts, or to respond to the comments on mine, but not both, so I will keep commenting on blogs, but sadly commenting on your kind responses to my own posts will have to wait for a while.

I love to receive your comments though, dear peeps, so please do keep them coming! 

 

I'm delighted to be a part of the next Visible Monday, hosted by the lovely Patti from www.notdeadyetstyle.blogspot.co.uk, click on the website link to see her outfit and those of many others.

 

 

Patchwork

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We will survive - you see time heals wounds.

We will meet - light is the same on all...

Alive or dead, sober or drunk -

once again you will be my love.

Like damp grass, like grey-blue air,

like my own dying in my dream,

like the sea shore with the stone cornice

of the wave, like the solitary light at the window.

Like the wind at night loves the bottom of the ravine.

like that camel loves the eye of the needle,

like the body the final shirt

apart from which there is nothing.

And I will come to in the madhouse or the grave,

in this world or the next,

where wings rumpled in handshakes

will close secretly behind your shoulder.

And no, sadness is not a shadow, but a butterfly

of the night, whose flesh the mirrors multiply,

and it bursts the cobweb

and struggles down and floats then

to the cold flower of the table lamp,

and it is no more: the glass has melted.

You will realise that you are alone,

and that you yourself have been talking to yourself for a long time.

 

 

Without Addressee by Katia Kapovich,

from the anthology Poet for Poet edited by Richard McKane.

more from Katia here via 1

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Outfit:

 

Flower panelled dress: from Oxfam online

 

Vintage 70s striped panelled skirt: my mother's

Black wool cardigan: charity shop

Blue belt: very old, from Topshop
 

Bracelets: late granny Penny's

 

Daffodils: from the garden, tight buds outside in the cold, their flowers open when we bring them indoors

 

Patchwork bedspread made from vintage material: made by late granny Kiki for me when she was in her 80s. It includes scraps of material from her couturier days, and also leftover fabric from her own and my mother's wedding dresses.

 

The Soundtrack:

 

Rimsky Korsakov: Scheherazade op.35



Photographs taken by me using the self timer on my little digital camera

Winter Tale: At The Snow Queen's Table

 

 

 

 

 

The snow-flakes grew larger and larger, till at last they looked just like great white fowls. Suddenly they flew on one side; the large sledge stopped, and the person who drove rose up. It was a lady; her cloak and cap were of snow. She was tall and of slender figure, and of a dazzling whiteness. It was the Snow Queen.

"We have travelled fast," said she; "but it is freezingly cold. Come under my bearskin." And she put him in the sledge beside her, wrapped the fur round him, and he felt as though he were sinking in a snow-wreath.

"Are you still cold?" asked she; and then she kissed his forehead. Ah! it was colder than ice; it penetrated to his very heart, which was already almost a frozen lump; it seemed to him as if he were about to die--but a moment more and it was quite congenial to him, and he did not remark the cold that was around him.

 

Extract from The Snow Queen by Hans Christian Anderson

via 1

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Outfit:

White corset: bought in the 90s when I was about 16 from M&S

White long sleeved top: very old from La Redoute

Vintage white lace skirt: by my granny from Kiki Couture

Vintage white fur scarf: from granny Kiki

Vintage white kid leather elbow length gloves: from granny Kiki, passed down from her mother or grandmother

White flower fascinator hat: bought years ago from the high street

 

White woollen scarf tied as a belt: a gift from a friend

 

White mohair scarf wrapped around hair: from H&M years ago

Faux pearl necklace: a gift from a friend

 

Faux pearl bracelets: Accessorize

 

Ponytail hair piece, attached to my hair to make it very long: from H&M years ago

Wellies underneath: Hunter, via ebay

 

 

The Soundtrack

The Caretaker: Patience (After Sebald) 

Photographs taken by my mother and by me, using the self timer on my cheap digital camera.

I'm delighted to be a part of Visible Monday, hosted by the lovely Patti from www.notdeadyetstyle.blogspot.co.uk, click on the website link to see her outfit and those of many others.