This and That

A week or so ago we had a bit of this.

 

I dressed up like a baglady, it was so cold. I am wearing 4 jumpers in this pic, no kidding.

I realised I had to put in place a winter warmth strategy. Comforting soups and casseroles? Hot water bottles? Wooly hats? Thermal underwear? Thick socks?

NO! Instead I bought this. Obvious, really. Nothing better than a silk scarf to keep out the cold.

 

It's Hermes Groenland, who could resist a scarf with husky pups and polar bear pups on it?

 

 

Study this pic carefully.  Do you see the tiny rip in the sofa cover? I know, it's hard to spot.

Someone who shall remain nameless, MONTY DOG, did that.

 

With all the cold I am dreaming of summer and this.

From here

 

And I have been trying out this, very woody and exotic, love it.

Tom Ford, Bois Marocain

 

I am going to be Talitha Getty in Marrakesh, but without the youth, good looks, money and the sad ending. Or indeed Marrakesh.  I expect we will go to Bournemouth.

The best exotic North African perfume I have tried is this. Divine.  What about you?  Tell me your perfume secrets!

Andy Tauer, L'Air du Desert Marocain

Last night we finished watching Series 5 of this.

What a ride! And I now know the French for a "grass" which I am sure will come in useful. 

Look!

That is what my sweet husband gave me for Valentine's Day.

This is what I gave him. That man is a saint to put up with me.

In my defence it does look just like Monty Dog.
 

And that, as they say, is that. Or this?

Lately

Lately we have been wearing our new harness-lead combo in cranberry.

Lately we are the dog du choix of the celebrity.

Jo Malone's Border Terrier, from her Twitter account

Bella Freud's Border Terrier

This one has quite the media profile

Will Young and his BT

Lately we have been catching up with our friends

With my bestie Alfie the Wheaten Terrier

Living the dream with my blonde beauties

Mabel, fashionista and party girl

Lately we have been giving our girlfriends little tokens of our love

Gave this brooch to Mabel's owner, from the Cancer Research charity gift shop

Lately we have been expressing our wild side via our hairstyle

Spending time giving your dog a Mowhawk is a sign you need to get a job

Lately we have been enjoying some relaxing music

And inhaling some calming pheromones

It's working well. Mummy remains calm while I go outside and bark up a frenzy.

Lately walks have become colder and it's harder to chat to new friends

 

Lately during our sniffing we have spotted signs of spring.

What have you been up to lately?

Hairy Maclary and Other Clothes

Cold today.  Plus the Apple logo appears to be floating over my garden.

Luckily I am prepared, as have found a fashion blogger in Alaska

copyright High Latitude Style

 

It's a fascinating blog, fashion plus a insight into life in a very different place - things we never think about here, like how cars often just won't work when the temp drops below minus 40; the skill of driving when bundled up in coat and gloves and snowboots; the high cost of goods as most things are imported and many companies won't deliver to Alaska.  Plus it came in handy when Boy2 had to do a homework on a cold environment.   It may be the first time a geography project has been lifted from a fashion blog. A refreshing change from the old Wikipedia cut and paste.  Might need to prune the paragraphs on layering while maintaining a slim silhouette...

Already had to rein Boy2, as he was very taken with the "non-contiguous state of the US" thing and so launched into a description of the other non-contig state, Hawaii.  I am not an expert on climate but possibly Hawaii was not what the geography teacher had in mind. But don't worry, Boy2 is irrepressible and, deprived of his exposition on Hawaii, he bounced back with facts and photos on polar bears.

And the actual caption Boy2 used: "These 2 polar bears have developed a very good sense of smell so they can find food in the cold climate"  Just these lucky 2 bears, no others!

Another fashion blogger I discovered recently  is Silk Path Diary

She is so cute, elegant and well-dressed, with an amazing collection of vintage Hermes bags, scarves and some beautiful classic coats.

copyright Silk Path Diary

 Inspired by her I bought this on eBay.  At the bargainous price of 40 pounds.

Jigsaw, wool and cashmere, ideal for muddy dog walks. I am totally on message re buying clothes for your real, not your imaginary, lifestyle.  

 

But then I went off piste and bought this.  Hairy Maclary.  A bargain at 4 pounds and real suede and Mongolian whatnot.

But really, what was I thinking?

To wear this you need to be 

a) Kate Moss; 

b) at Woodstock in the 1970s;

c) in The Gruffalo: the Musical; or
d) all of the above.

Should I give it a deep conditioning treatment or comb for nits?

I don't know whether to take it to the hairdressers or the dog groomers, I have tried smoothing it down and rearranging it but ended up with an unflattering centre parting...

copyright Lynley Dodd

In other news,  a friend posted a link about Mikhail Baryshnikov on Facebook (thanks M) and that sent me off down memory lane.  Did you ever see this?

  I love seeing classically trained dancers cut lose and dance more modern styles. Misha is such a great dancer, such charisma. And may I must add, PHWOARRRRRRR! Thank you, just needed to do that.



 Has any one read this? 

  I really want to read it.  Gelsey partnered with Misha, back in the day, on and off stage.

Memory lane again : a 1000 years ago Grandma Whacker and I saw old Nureyev dance Romeo and Juliet at Covent Garden, then hung around the stagedoor as he swept past in fur hat with ballerina in tow. "Not tonight" he exclaimed imperiously to the autograph hunters.

Right, now I have ended up in Memory Lane it's time to embrace the present.  Maybe I'll take Hairy Maclary to the vets for his injections.

2015: A Retrospective

No, that's NOT a typo. I mean 2015.

I have had consultants in who advise that I need to "refresh the Blighty blog offering, while at the same time capturing the Zeitgeist."  I can't afford to ask them what that means but have decided to do "something what like the other bloggers do but different."

I notice lots of blogs do "The best outfits of 2014" or "The best books read in 2014."

So here we are:
 Blighty 2015 - A Look Back.

It's been an eventful year.

Boy 1 dressed up in his new ski gear and burst into Grandma Whacker's room at 9pm. As Grandma commented drily: "It's a good job I don't have a heart condition."

Having clocked up 3000 hours on the Xbox over the hols, Boy 2 put on his new daygo hockey boots and went to hockey practice. Hello outside world, hello long pale atrophied things which are my legs. 

Mr B went back to the drafting factory to compose new and even more intricate laws (but still refusing to pop in that clause about the Blightys not needing to pay tax ever again  - I really question his contribution to our relationship, I mean, it's not much to ask, is it?)

River police investigate drafting irregularities at Westminster

(photo copyright Daily Record)

 Grandma de-camped to Casa Whacker, relieved to have some peace and quiet and not be pounced on by adolescents in ski-gear. Below, pic of the village in the Cotswolds where Grandma resides

Under the clock is the entrance to the offshoot of the Oxford Ashmolean Museum.

(photo copyright kev 747 flicker)

Monty Dog staged a disappearing act.  He was gone for around an hour and a half, provoking a major search operation.  Eventually we had a call from a nice lady who had found him in her garden. She spent 20 mins trying to catch him.  He told me he had a lovely time, a super game of chase, and licked her kitchen floor and dishwasher by way of thanks.

And as for me, I have made my debut on the Scarf of the Day thread of the Purse Forum...yes there is such a thing. It's a group where you post photos of your scarves according to a weekly theme set by the Scarf Mistress (I may be getting carried away with the names but it's all broadly true).  All the ladies are lovely and very appreciative of each others'  scarves.  It is very civilised and a nice refuge from teen world and dog days. I did notice in my Scarf Forum account details there is a category for "Infractions".  This is currently at zero.  I do wonder what exactly I will have to do to commit an infraction and how long it will be before I get thrown off the forum - posting rude jokes or vulgar double entendres?  I like a challenge.

This is me posing with my chin up high to minimise chin sag.  I am not going to post on the Scarf Forum too often otherwise I will get RSI to my neck.

As the ladies are so nice, I  wonder if there is a parallel  "Dorian Gray painting in the attic" Scarf Forum for the Cruellas and other mean ladies of this world:

"Darling, don't take this the wrong way but that rag round your neck really brings out the colour of your eyes - red"

"Girlfriend's looking a bit haggard today" etc.

Read the above book - excellent psychological thriller, highly recommended - stick with it, a bit slow at start, author has to lay the groundwork, the pay off is worth it.   My friend S put me onto it, she always knows the best books to read. S is herself a published author as blogged previously.  If you haven't already read her book (below), get on with it!  There will be a test later...

Talking of books, have just been to see Tess Gerritsen give a talk to promote her latest  Rizzoli and Isles book, Die Again.  She was an excellent speaker, super intelligent, funny, amusing anecdotes - including how she started as a romance author but decided to change direction when her editors pointed out that the body count for her debut romance novel stood at 13! Here's Tess in action.

So that's 2015 all wrapped up, wonder what 2016 will bring?

What We Did in Our Christmas Hols

We went to see Paddington the Movie.  We all loved it except Boy1 who is teenage and only likes films with explosions.

I got a sprout thrown at me at 7am on Christmas morning.  Nice.

Monty Dog grew huge blonde eye brows.  For warmth I suppose.  We are thinking of getting him a hat and duffel coat, then he would look just like Paddington

I gave Mr B some posh eau de toilette, I thought Encre Noire (black ink) sounded suitable for a parliamentary draftsman, hope it won't drive his female colleagues wild with desire. Of course now the office is modernised and last week stopped using quill pens, it should be called Beige Keyboard. 

Mr B gave me a lovely MaiTai scarf ring.  The colour is "prune." French for plum.  No Mr B, please no prune jokes.

And a Hermes scarf.

Of course I actually bought them months ago....in our house spontaneous gifting has to be carefully orchestrated.

The scarf is La Femme Aux Semelles de Vent.  Woman with Wind under her Soles.   Mr B says it's the Brussel sprouts.  That man has the soul of a poet.  Spike Milligan. Or Purple Ronnie.

 The scarf features the explorer Alexandra David-Neel, depicted on the scarf approaching Lhasa in Tibet. I had never heard of her before but I expect she is big in France.  Like  a French Kate Adie but without the pearl earrings.

Boy1 was given a basket ball hoop.  It only took Mr B 7 and half hours to put up.

Boy2 was given various gamey gizmos and some hockey boots.

Grandma was in residence and only managed to watch about 87 films and clock about 5000 hours quality TV time.

We played games like Perudo and Uno and Bananagrams, all of which involve shouting key words at certain times, to be on the safe side I now shout "Dudo Uno Peel Split Dump" every 5 minutes whether we are playing a game or not.  And Banangrams which involves making up words has been most educational, I had no idea that a 12 year old knew so many rude words.  And so many linked to basket ball hoop construction.

Mr B and I have started watching The Code, an Australian drama, like The Bridge what with political cover ups and slimy bureaucrats and an eccentric genius and dum -di - dum di -dum music as each episode draws to a conclusion, but with heat and dust.  It came highly recommended by Mrs Peabody,  check out her blog for some cracking crime reads and viewing ideas.

I am reading this.  Again heat and dust instead of the usual Nordic noir.

And I have been trying out Caron's Nuit de Noel, I wanted something  Christmas piney and resin-y.  It's really nice and green, but I think I might prefer Serge Lutens La Fille en Aiguilles which is supposed to be a pine forest in summer.  But oh la la, the price! Les Senteurs is good for perfume samples though if you live in the UK.

Right, time for another meal. It's at least 15 minutes since we last ate so things are getting desperate.

Peel!