Acts of Beauty

Sitting in the light of the sunset after frolicking outside to showcase more of my ethical clothing findings, this time the white ruffle shirt dress is NEW from People Tree (fairtrade dedicated shop) designed by Richard Nichol.  The belt is from a pile of old things in the house. 

Here’s the frolicking around bit:

The coat is from a charity shop and the hat is a present from a vintage collector friend.

I recommend tree climbing for health and happiness

There are baby stripy cows in this magical nook,

with furry faces, looking cuddleable

this is me running away when I realised they weren’t cows but bullocks, and when Puffalicious started making mooing noises to attract them over,

so there you have it!

So, after I visited the geese we walked along the frozen canal,

the ice had cracked, shifted and then refrozen, making wonderful patterns all along the canal – it’s amazing to see how ice naturally breaks – in geometric shapes like a Kandinsky, and then in beautiful sweeping curves and arcs,

The wet weather made these twigs look like a rainforest, some sides were wet and black, some were dry and pale green, with every shade in between,

It’s always nice to finish with a rusty fence and some moss – my favourite thing

beauty EVERYWHERE!!!

Continuing my ethical fashion parade! 
I bought the ridiculous blue housecoat thing in a charity shop, mostly for the fabric to turn into a dress.  The hat is also from a charity shop.  The velvet ribbon I found in my boyfriends flat (and have worn nearly every day since).  The furry black jumper I found in a bin bag in the garage, the blue t-shirt (underneath) is a fairtrade gift from a friend, the socks I plundered from the parental sock drawer (thank you!).  

The necklace I MADE IT!!!!! From vintage buttons (but unvintage wire – will have to work on that but at least it’s not plastic), 

and this most marvellous venetian glass curtain tassel from the 1920’s, from an antique shop in Haverfordwest.  It has copper leaves and the most amazing colours. 

It’s fun getting all dressed up!  I highly recommend it.

Photos by the inimitable Puffalicious

I’ve just started reading How to be Free by Tom Hodgekinson which is about anarchy, and living a life of idle, beautiful merriment.  It’s been giving me a spring in my step. 

“Career is just posh slavery.  Career is an institutionalized putting-off, a paradise deferred”

That’s how I’ve been feeling this year – that I’ve been putting off feeling like I’ve arrived, paradise deferred.  His point is not to strive for some Puritan ideal of self-betterment, but to just keep on engaging in something that brings you joy.  Basically there is no ‘there’ to arrive at, you can just do the thing you love and be happy.  Sod the ‘career’.

An icy walk along the canal yesterday brought a meeting with some geese.  I tried to creep along to get close enough to say hello, and they didn’t seem to mind me too much…

then a dog came a-woofing along and they all flew away 

they skidded onto the frozen canal where their feet must’ve been colder,

turned around to say “OI!”

and then stood around looking a bit disgruntled.  They were standing on one leg and kept changing feet – it must’ve been seriously cold standing naked on the ice, so we left them alone to find warmer climes.

But it was so lovely to see them!  Hurrah for wildlife on your doorstep! 

I’ve been making some jewellery after being given some new vintage buttons.  This is the first one.  Will be finished soon.  I’m dreaming in buttons at the moment.  I have to stop myself from spending hours arranging and rearranging buttons into different piles.  It’s the best part!

Clearing out everything, finding things I’d forgotten about,

It’s so pretty broken, I might not mend it.  The feeling of beads falling off string is like the feeling of losing control.