Hello There, 2018-Where's Your Sweater?

Like Shackleton, except I got home in better shape, and didn't lose all my booze on an ice floe.

You can see all the ducks and geese gathered at the only open spot of water in the ice for miles.

Twas cold, but I brought provisions.

I hope everyone had a nice New Year's. Ours was lovely, if a bit on the cold side. I had been complaining that most years, I never get to wear my heavy sweaters. Ooops. Do you know the expression, "From my mouth to god's ears?" That's okay, a good old fashioned freeze gives the kids something to talk about in old age.

This sweater is a Dale of Norway that was made for the Olympics at Lake Placid. It has a wind-blocking lining that works rather well, and was enough to wear without a coat in -10 degree cold with only an acrylic polo neck beneath. They're great sweaters, Expensive, yes-but durable, well made, and ultimately like buying a coat. The investment seems less dramatic if you think of it as outerwear. I own three, because my father was a compulsive sweater purchaser 😏.

Danny is wearing another of my dad's purchases. Hand knit in Ireland, it was my reward for enduring a very choppy two hour boat excursion on a very cold March day that saw people barfing over the side of the boat as my dad sat reading a newspaper and eating a bag of popcorn like it was a pleasure cruise in the tropics. I'd be lying if I said pushing him overboard didn't cross my mind. After landing, I was so frozen he bought me the sweater in the first shop he could find. That was 25 years ago, and I haven't been on a boat since, nor do I plan to ever again. Anyway, the sweater fits Danny perfectly, so now it is his.

This sweater combination is another cashmere polo neck from my collection, and an acrylic cardigan from the 70's. Sometimes less bulky layers work just as well, particularly if I plan to wear a coat. The thistle brooch (and I don't know why they are inverted, but that's how the pinback was placed) came from one of the local thrift shops but for the life of me, I can't remember where. It was recent too.

 Yeah, that was really miserable. The following night was -19 but if felt worse as the wind was blowing.

My Geiger cardigans? No help, at all. Not even up to the task of keeping me warm, inside. At the rate we're going here, maybe I can wear them in summer.

I do have a cardigan I wear at home, and sometimes as a bed jacket, but it is so ugly, I won't show it to you! It is old, stretched out, grey and green and from Northern Reflections. That should tell you all you need to know. It even has twee little pewter buttons shaped like cabins. yeah, I know. I don't think I'm the target audience for Northern Reflections clothing, but that cardigan is such a guilty pleasure, I can't let it go. Like a well-worn pair of jeans that only become comfortable once they begin falling apart, I sincerely love that ratty old sweater. I still won't show it to you.

I expect you'll be seeing plenty of woolens here for a bit. My New Year's Eve Gold lame skirt and top were quickly replaced with unicorn leggings and the already described Northern Reflections sweater.

I hope your 2018 will be wonderful. And warm. But not too warm.