Projects

Sunday, December 13, 2015

Mr. Hopper Lives

So many holiday brooches, so few days left to wear them!


I'm pleased to report that the grasshopper Danny rescued last week is still alive and well, living in his little aquarium and dining on the finest lettuces. As it appears he's going to be with us a while, I named him, Edward Hopper. I can't let Danny name the pets because when we let him, we ended up with a goldfish named, "Shitty." The boys are both sick this week, but if we can nurse a grasshopper back to health, I'm sure they'll survive the viral muck. Probably caught something from the squirrel. I wonder, when we turn the Christmas lights on each evening, do the squirrels gather in the tree to eat Blondin biscuits and watch the light show? Wouldn't that be lovely if they did?


Back in the 80's, my mother started making hair-bows, and sewing them onto clips. I still have two, this red one and a similar style in white. The reason they survived in such good condition is because I wouldn't have been caught dead wearing a hair bow in the 80's, so I just said, "Thank you" and shoved them in a drawer. Fast forward thirty years, and I'm losing my hair in the same spots my mother did, and I understand the appeal of pulling my hair back and securing it with a bow. It looks neat, you can't see the bald spots, and it requires zero styling ability. Mum had a bow to match every colour in her wardrobe-hopefully I won't go quite that far, but I am learning to appreciate a quick hairdo.
 Outfit Particulars:
Jones New York Collection skirt-Goodwill(?)
Designer Originals cardigan-80's, bought it new
Jantzen vintage wool sweater-Thrift World
Vintage handbag-Goodwill
Earrings-Hand-Me-Ups
Necklace-Hand-Me-Ups
Holiday pins-both Hand-Me-Ups
Bracelets-gift from Danny

A very full, goofy waist skirt. What the hell was I thinking? Yeah, this one is getting re-donated.

The saffron buns are baked for St. Lucia day. I made Pulla last week, so we're well-stocked with festive breads. I filled a freezer filled as well, which means I can bring people holiday breads and a jar of jam spur-of-the-moment. I happen to love this time of year, but I understand that many people do not. Sometimes the best thing you can do for people you care about is provide some baked goods, a cup of coffee, and an ear. I'm terrible at knowing what to say, and sometimes there just isn't anything to be said. Forced merriment can be a drag if you're not feeling it. 

Me? Oh I love any reason to bake and decorate. Really, I'll celebrate (almost) anything. We have a big Burns Night party every year because drinking whisky, and reciting poetry to a vegetarian haggis keeps Danny in touch with his Scottish heritage, and it gives me a reason to use the tartan tablecloth. 

This was a good week for rediscovering clothes and accessories that get overlooked. 

I rarely wear this vintage Richmark bag, but I really should. I find hound's-tooth difficult to wear, though it really does go with many things...
...like more hound's-tooth. And another drop-pleat skirt. What is wrong with me lately?! 
Outfit Particulars:
Lurex polo neck-K mart
Vintage late 70's (post '76 by the union label) Anne Klein wool skirt-Goodwill
Tights-Walgreen's
Jacket (part of a suit) by Shomi-Dillards, 2000-ish
Richmark 80's handbag-Goodwill
No perfume because kiddo's asthma kicked-in along with his chest cold. About all I smell like is the vegetable barley soup I've been making and forcing him to eat.  You could smell worse.

Yeah? Well what do you smell like today?
 My photographer has taken ill this week, so I apologise for the blurry photos in the dirty mirror.
 You'd have a silly look on your face too if you were standing on a step-stool contorting, sucking-in your gut, and trying to snap one-handed photos without falling. I think I'm multi-tasking rather well.

 It was time to wear the penguins. When I was a university student an elderly neighbour knit this for me one Christmas.
The expressions on the penguins are priceless. You can keep the "Ugly Christmas sweaters/jumpers" that are manufactured to be kitsch. Nothing beats hand-knit penguins made with love. The woman who knit it is long gone, but she's with us every Christmas through the penguins.

Come Sunday, I like a little sparkle, so I dug out this 80's beaded jacket. Unlike last week's beaded jacket, this one is more sequins than beads which makes it lighter. It is still heavy, but not enough to make my back hurt. 


 Oh look, here's me being dramatic. Acting!


I hope you had a nice weekend, and that the new week treats you well.  


10 comments:

  1. I love that you are a festive type. I, alas, am not. But I'm always up for baked goods and booze. You look very sweet and holiday-esque in your green pleated skirt. And how sweet that someone knitted you a sweater. That is one of the sincerest forms of love. - a handmade something or other. Hope everyone is in the pink again soon.

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  2. Sorry, Goody, your pet penguins are non-starters in the Ugly Sweater contest: they lack the requisite tasteless vulgarity and seasonal stoopidity. Furthermore, despite being handmade, the sweater fits!

    Your houndstooth bag is the only one I've ever seen. That, with the demure jacket, sweater and skirt sets you've assembled puts one in mind of the "little suits" and bags the Chanel brand offered the upscale pret-a-porter market in the late 60s. Coco herself wore a bow as a chignon back in the day. It's a pretty and practical alternative to a hat when simply pulling back the hair is too casual and putting the hair up is too [insert reason].

    This season finds me with several friends for whom a cheery card or invitation would be inappropriate, given their circumstances. Remembering my own years as a care-giver, I heartily endorse your suggestion that dropping off something to eat and drink, or offering a time of listening or even sitting in sympathetic silence, can be the most welcome gift of all.

    I smell like Frankincense because I just placed a new soap in the hall bath. 'Tis the season, and I find most pine scents overpowering and so-called "bayberry" perfumes too cloying.

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  3. @Connie
    I have some homemade blackberry brandy I'm getting ready to open-what time will you be over?

    We need to figure out a way to have a virtual cocktail party for all of us bloggers. Like a group Skype with booze?

    @Beth
    Frankincense soap sounds lovely. I can't handle pine either-I barely tolerate rosemary.

    The sweater has relaxed a bit over the years (or it has grown with me)as it was quite tightly knit in the beginning. It is an acrylic (I'm pretty sure she used Red Heart yarn because it was her favourite)but has held up nicely without pilling. I've known so many nice people through my life-sometimes I need to remember that when I'm faced with horrible people (I think I met all the awful people in Omaha last week-not exaggerating).

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  4. Those St Lucia buns look divine!
    I shall have to mail you some of my home grown Himalayan saffron the next time I visit the US.
    Love that beaded 80's jacket! And I wish I had a neighbor that would knit me penguins sweaters. Or yaks. Or seahorses.
    Drop pleat skirts don't work on a woman of Amazonian stature such as myself either. I tend to look unintentionally gladiatorial or like some sort of aging cheerleader.
    I really don't miss all the hysteria & hyperbole of Xmas in the US.
    Nor my gawd awful relatives either. BAH HUMBUG!

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  5. Ummm...ladies I have a question. I made a new online friend that is quite interesting. It is a man whom is quite a perfumista & an esthete, shall we say. As well as a Givaudan trained chemist. ANYWHO......I should be much hipper having lived in San Francisco for 7 yrs BUT he mentioned he has a fiance in Qingdao. Now I don't want to appear uncouth, but should I assume he is gay because he used the term fiance instead of fiancee? He speaks fluent French (as well as many other languages) so I doubt he'd have mixed the 2 up? No, Bibi is not looking for online romance (HAH! I can't even find my hormones) I just don't want to be a complete boob. He did say his fiance was coming to the US in summer & I replied I hoped he & his fiance were getting married. I also said I recommended marrying someone from another culture as it keeps things 'interesting' & it is difficult to get angry at someone with an adorable accent.
    I am ASSuming referring to someone as your "fiance" implies, 1) you're engaged to be married & 2) that fiance = male.
    Geez, I am soooo out of the loop on modern relationships & the correct terminologies thereof.
    Je suis confuse,
    Bibi

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  6. I like your penguin sweater. There's a whole lot of time and love in a handknit; I bet she'd love to know you still appreciated it. Work is having a Christmas jumper day, but I don't own one and refuse to spend money on one for one day, so they'll have to make do with a Christmas tree diamante brooch.

    Good to know the hopper is still going. (Shitty the goldfish? Hope you never had to take him to the vet.)

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  7. @Bibi
    OK-now I am going to think of you as a gladiator because I cannot get that image out of my head!

    I haven't run across fiance being used for same sex marriage, but it makes sense as it would be correct for men. I would guess after enough conversation it will become apparent if he's talking about a man or a woman.

    @Mim
    Buying a Christmas jumper sort of defeats the intent of wearing horrible things people have gifted to you, so I support your decision to wear a brooch instead!

    Honestly, most of what qualifies as a "Tacky" holiday clothing looks OK to me-but then I have a soft spot for that sort of thing. Reindeer? Snowflakes? Elves? Bring it on!

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  8. Like Connie I'm not a festive type either but did buy a glittery plastic deer with a feather boa from a chazza this morning, he'll stay up all year round.
    Loving the 1980s bolero jacket on you, fab find! xxx

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  9. I would really rather ignore Christmas, but Simon and the kids refuse to allow it. So I do the bits I like (food and drink in abundance), let the kids decorate the tree, buy presents for the bare minimum of folk, and let the rest of it wash over me. Like Connie, I am always happy to partake of someone else's festive baking though, so can I gate crash? I'll bring booze.
    You're looking wonderfully festive yourself though, the red sequin jacket is especially lovely, and I am very keen on that green pleated skirt. I shouldn't love pleats (they do so little for me) but I still do.
    A poorly household? Oh dear, hope they get better and you don't succumb.
    Shitty the goldfish is a brilliant name.
    Thank you thank you for my culottes pattern, I LOVE! If I ever have time for sewing again, I will make them straightaway. Thank you, you're a sweetheart. xxxx

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  10. @Vix
    A feather boa sounds perfectly appropriate for the holiday season.l

    @Curtise
    Come on over-you're just in time for Stollen.
    I'm glad you like them-I thought of you as soon as I spotted them.

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