Sweet as Candyfloss

 Pale pink and white with a gigantic clown collar all wrapped up in a bow-what could be sweeter? Certainly not the woman wearing it! This is so far out of character for me, I feel like I'm wearing someone else's clothes (okay, technically I am as they're thrfited).  Yes, it was a .49 cent dress, but I still must have momentarily lost my senses when I handed over money for this 80's nightmare. What was I thinking? God only knows.

 I suppose I could go full-50's with a hat and gloves to make this look somewhat deliberately interesting rather than projecting Southern Belle at the church picnic. Congealed lime buttermilk salad, anyone?

Sigh. If I'm doing an 80's dress I'm going to force you to admire my sea-shell and rope belt. Note the scalloped edge on the cardigan. Sometimes (most of the time) my brain frightens me. That makes it a theme and if I look hard enough I can almost call the oversized collar nautical in a Buster Brown sort of way. *Shrug* .

I've been waiting all through the cold winter and early spring to wear my vintage Larks shoes. You know, for larking about. Yes, they hurt but....vintage Larks! I probably need to get out more if the most exciting thing in my life is a pair of pink vintage shoes. *shrugs*.

I took the Scotties out for a walk today. They were going barking mad in a box all winter.

 Outfit Particulars:
80's does 50's dress-Goodwill
Cardigan-Kohl's
Vintage Larks shoes-Goodwill
Vintage straw and wood bag-New Life Thrift
Bangle-Goodwill
Earrings-Thrift World
Brooches-Etsy
80's belt-Can't remember
Fragrance-Jardins de Bagatelle (makes me sneeze...but worth it)


It may look like an innocent plastic bangle but that sucker weighs a tonne. I could use it as self-defence if someone came after me.

I bought this perfectly nice clutch bag several years ago, but I never seem to wear it. I suppose the fact that it isn't flashy, or special in any way does make it a less obvious bag to select when getting dressed. That's the trouble with too much choice-I go for the, "Wow" over the practical.

The 2017 Apricot Olympiad has begun! I picked up our two cases of California apricots today, and they're in the kitchen ripening as I type. We were able to secure a very good price this year, and the fruit was in beautiful condition. I'm always impressed at the care taken in packing the fruit in individual holders within the case and then cushioned with a heavy layer of foam material. Apricots aren't cheap in the United States, and they have a very short season. There's a second crop later on from Colorado, but the fruit is rarely as nice. We'll be busy over the next week or so bottling them up as jam, preserves, chutney, and whatever else Danny decides to make for his State Fair entries. I've largely passed the torch wooden spoon over to my son, though I can still be put to work operating the canner and doing the washing up (jam is sticky work).  As we finished off our last jar of 2016 apricot jam last weekend, the timing on this was perfect. We've taken to calling apricot, "Mother's Day Jam" as most years, that's the weekend when the apricots arrive. 

After a bit we'll have strawberries, cherries, blackberries, and blueberries to bottle, but apricots being the first spring fruit (unless you count rhubarb which I believe is a vegetable) are always the source of much excitement at our home as a sign of warm weather and holidays to come. They're a splurge as they don't grow locally, but the first biscuit (scone) spread with a new batch of apricot jam is a reward for surviving another winter, before the reality of spring severe weather season  arrives. We've been unusually calm storm-wise this year, but I know we still have a way to go before we're largely clear of it. The tornado that hit us on the farm was in June. It seems I'm often canning cherries when the weather alarm goes off.  Anyway, we have our work cut out for us, but what fun work it is.

Do you can/bottle foods at home, or is it something best left to the manufacturing sector?