The Drunken Hat Attack

Aaaand, following on from my last post and the picture of my plain old white fisherman's hat,

Here it is in all its new glory -

Now, don't be distracted by the wine, which I'm grasping tightly as if my life depended on it. On Thanksgiving weekend I went to a few wineries with my mother, sister and nieces. It was very cold, but of course we had a great time!

It's funny how just taking sips at a wine tasting can leave you feeling tipsy and laughing uncontrollably.

Or maybe I had the bottle opened so I could taste it more easily.

Here are a couple more shots of the hat, something with a little decorum to link up with Hat Attack over at the Style Crone.

I just loosely sewed pieces of that beautiful fabric over the hat, using a slightly gathered piece to go around it, and then some more pieces to fashion a little flower/bow. Because I left the edges frayed and did the whole thing sort of ragged, it wasn't difficult.

Come check out the other hats and fascinators at Style Crone!

Val

Dec. 6 - Did someone say brandy and roasted almonds? I'm heading over to Patti's for Visible Monday!

All the Languages I Know

Sounds like I'm a polylinguist, huh? I'm not really, but I do enjoy learning about languages and words, and I like having more than one version of English at my disposal.

 

Although our move back to Great Britain is months away, I'm already immersing myself in all things British. I've been watching "The Great British Baking Show" (called "The Great British Bake Off" in Britain, and two seasons ahead of us in the US) and I can't miss a single episode. It's lovely, and they do bake some absolutely scrummy treats!

Source - PBS

Speaking of lovely, I've been following a British florist on Instagram, Swallows and Damsons. Check out their website, it's simply stunning.

Source - Swallows and Damsons

 Swoon, n'est-ce pas?

From the sublime to the ridiculous, we're also watching the original British "The Office" on DVD, which is so much more raw and cringe-making than the American version (I love it, especially Gareth!).

Thanks to a link Patti posted on Facebook to a British newspaper article, I've been able to brush up on my Danish. (Joking - my dad's parents spoke Danish at home in Nebraska, but I only know a few words.) And now everyone is learning about hygge, that esoteric state of happiness in comfort. I must reclaim my Danish roots!

Saturday morning hygge

I would like to learn Danish, although it isn't the prettiest of languages. The word for "beautiful" is smuk, after all.

If only I had a chance to use Italian or French, the languages of art and food and love, but my recall of those mellifluous tongues is fast disappearing. And I'll let you in on a little secret - the next language I'm going to learn is Welsh. Ni fydd yn cael hwyl?

Val

Thanks for reminding me!

The lovely Maricel was kind enough to nominate me for a Liebster award - and I forgot about it.

This is my second Liebster (no brag, just fact), and I'm sure most of you have heard of the Liebsters by now - answer 11 questions, nominate 11 bloggers, pose 11 questions for them. I think the part that tripped me up is nominating others, because it seems a lot of them have already been nominated recently!

Patti was also nominated by Maricel, and she responded in her recent post. That reminded me that Maricel had some very clever "questions" so I wanted to do my best. Here we go!

1.  I see … my very lovely, new home office, which I'm probably going to move out of.

This is the dining room, which is open to the hallway, my husband's workspace, and the family room/kitchen. Since Mr. S also works from home, and he does multimedia production, I think I'm going to need a quieter space. That means optimizing (cleaning!) my Craft Cave to make room in here where I can close the door.

Wish me luck.

2. I find … that my husband and I get a little fractious with each other now that we're together all the time!

3. I have … one baby tooth still.

4. I wish … I could play the saxophone.

Teresa Cunningham

5. I miss … my friends and my brother who live in other places.

6. I fear … loss of autonomy.

7. I feel …like I'm in limbo. Unemployed? Self-employed? Pre-retired?

8. I crave … solitude.

an unidentified old photo my mother has, probably from Denmark

9. I search … for answers in my dreams.

10. I wonder … where I'll be living in five years.

Prats de Mollo in southern France

11. I regret ... not training to be a French translator when I was 19. I really considered it, but I couldn't buckle down to studying. So short-sighted.

So, now it's your turn. Patti nominated all her readers, and I'm going to do the same. You're all Liebsters (beloved)! Now answer me this - you're going out on a special evening where you can have all your favorite things. What car are you taking? Where are you going? What are you eating and drinking? Who else is at the table?

Val

Days of Wine and Roses and Instagram

Ah, the wine...

On our Memorial Day holiday, I went out to one of our favorite wineries with my mom and sister.

A friend of ours, Inoke, was entertaining. This time he wasn't solo - he had two women with him. Inoke is a good performer - deep, soulful voice and an engaging and friendly manner - but these women stole the show!

Teresa Cunningham sang a little, but mostly she rocked the sax.

And Vilma Halstead was totally working the congas.
 

Fortunately, they're playing together a lot this summer, so I hope to see more of them.


Here are the roses - in my top.

I wore this a couple of weeks ago and stockpiled a few photos. I haven't been taking as many selfies lately. I guess I was feeling a little bored with it, so we'll see how things go from here.

 
The necklace is a little locket I was given by my parents when I was about 12. It's brushed gold and engraved with a V, but I've rubbed it so much it's more shiny than brushed!

What AM I looking at?

The skirt is from Christopher and Banks, and you've seen it before, many times. The top and belt are secondhand, so I'm linking up with Secondhand First at Citizen Rosebud.

When I met Bella and Joni in Seattle, they both said I should get on Instagram. You have to have a smart phone, and my phone is not too bright, so I signed up using my husband's phone. Then I went to my PC to see my account, but I could only view - I couldn't comment or add pictures. I did some Googling and found out how to run the Instagram app on my PC, so I asked my personal tech guy (Mr. S) to help me - I knew it wouldn't be straightforward.

Here's what we had to do:

We downloaded and installed Bluestacks, the platform to run apps on a PC. But before we could make it fully functional we had to install NET Frame. But before we could install NET Frame we had to scan for malware. We did that, we installed NET Frame, we installed Bluestacks, but then all we got was a black screen within the Bluestacks frame. Mr. S did some more Googling to find out how to get rid of the black screen and found out we needed to update the video card, NVIDIA. But to do that, first we needed to update Java!

One hour and five different programs later (!) I had Instagram functioning on my PC. I followed a few people and left a few comments, then signed out because, quite frankly, I was tired of being on the computer by that time! I only went back to see Instagram the other day.

I opened Bluestacks to access Instagram, but to use it now they say I have to purchase their App Player Premium (it's only $2, but still) or download their sponsored apps.

To be honest, I don't think I'll be doing Instagram, at least not until I get a smart phone. The weather is good, and I don't want to be spending that much more time online. I'd rather be outside drinking wine!

scarf was a gift from Bella

Are you on Instagram? Do you use it a lot?

Linking up also with Visible Monday. Which picture to use...

Val

Black and white and red all over

It occurred to me this year that I've had major things happen in my life in years that end in 4 – it's been 50 years since my first big overseas trip, 40 years since I graduated from high school, 20 years since I met my husband.

So, of course I'm going to mark these anniversaries here on Muse Fondue. I'm kind of excited about this, and I've been getting ahead of myself writing posts and scanning pictures for these future dates (I can get away with a little skiving at work). But I had nothing ready for this post - no theme, no cute little story. I'm just winging it.

I did take some photos of a recent outfit that I really liked. It was so simple I don't know why I hadn't worn this before.

The skirt (Fresh Produce, resale) has one large pleat on the side to give it a little swing and fullness. I didn't wear tights or boots because we've actually had some nice weather lately! It feels like a trick, but I'm hoping it's Spring.

Snow leopard cardi - retail; belt - thrifted; snooty face - I was born with it.

The shoes are Cliff's White Mountain. I think I bought them at TJ Maxx a few years ago. They were plain black, but they were too boring - so I blinged them up. Another shoe transformation!

with veins

I painted the cross strap thingy and added some sparkles on the large buttons.

without veins

I won a prize from Bella at The Citizen Rosebud! I didn't even know it was a contest - I just commented as usual and she pulled my name out of one of her amazing hats, and sent me this package of red delight!

Just what a post-menopausal woman needs - my very own Vinnie's Giant Roller Coaster Period Chart & Journal Sticker Book, and Tampon Case!

Um, yeah, I won't go so far as to say that I wish I was still having periods, but you might as well make them fun. The cool gingham bag is mine, but I'll find another home for Vinnie and his helpful journal ("Really works!") and tampon case.

Visible Monday is on this week, so you know I'll be there with Patti and the gang.

Tuesday it will be time for a Shoe Shine at The Citizen Rosebud, so I'll be hoofing it over there, too.

Have a great week!

Val

The Doc Marten Dilemma

Did you see Patti's post about wanting to buy Doc Marten's but holding back? I said I wanted some, too, and asked what we're waiting for. So now I guess I'm some kind of shoe pusher, because I think Patti is about to buy her dream 1460s. And she published a picture of us with our skirts in the air.

All very tasteful, of course.

 

From Patti's post - not sure where she got it.

Well, here's my story. I saw these Doc Marten Evans at a very well stocked local shoe store.

Source

I didn't buy them that day, and when I went back with a hankering in my heart, I didn't see them. I ended up buying some red Dexter loafers (seen here) and some cherry Tom's wedges (seen in this post and here).

As I was leaving the store I saw the Docs - they had been moved to another place! Damn! But I'd just bought two other pairs of shoes, and one of them was a cherry color, so I thought I was cool.

I've also done some additional shopping - everything in this outfit is new within the last few weeks - the Tom's wedges, the skirt (resale), the top and scarf (JCP on sale), and the jacket (thrifted).

Here are some close-ups of the jacket, which is very sleek and trim. I assume it's wool, but most of the tags are gone. I'm not sure how much I love it, but I'll see how it goes.

Harve Benard, by Benard Holzman. The color is deep purple, like the picture above

Anyway, since I've been buying a lot lately - even though everything was either on sale, resale, or thrifted - I sort of feel guilty about running out to buy some Docs just because Patti said I could.

And with our weather right now I'd just as soon stay home.

So for now, my Doc dreams on are hold. If I do buy some I want to try them on and buy local, so I'll wait until I can visit Shoe-A-Holic again and see if they still have some of those dotted Evans - but maybe in blue instead!

Linking up with Tres Chic Style Bits at Searching the Inner Me.

And I'll be heading over to Patti's for Visible Monday. I can't wait to see if she bought her Docs!

Have you got a dream purchase you're holding back on?

Val