~clothes~

 

there seems to be a global de-clutter going on right now, so many people i know and through blogging are clearing out their homes and minds following the autumn equinox.

 

millas post made me think about clothes and the clothes i took to the 'tip' (not as rubbish i hasten to add but they have an area set aside to sell on good clothes).

 

i have in the past been an utter fiend for buying clothes...buy, buy buy...then mostly i would wear them for a few months and then they would languish in the wardrobe or my drawers.

 

when we went off in pretty pagan for our trip to the rollrights and then busfest i took loads of clothes with me...reasoning i would need them all.

but i didn't!

 

then when i started to de-clutter i had a long hard look at what i wore, where i bought it, why i bought it and realised i didn't need most of what i had...i really didn't.

 

so i sorted through it all and put aside the things that had not been worn and there was a lot...in fact there is actually still a bit more to go.

 

but then i started to think hard about my clothes and vowed to now only buy things that are good quality and that will wash well and last.

i have a dress i bought two years ago-i think it cost around $50, which is not cheap and cheerful nor hideously expensive.

it is one of the few things that i wear and wear, usually teamed up with leggings or trousers...

 

 

 

not a great picture i am afraid-it is covered in tiny brown/cream flowers and the bottom is a kind of ragged, waterfall design.

 

the one i was wearing the other day with my boots is this one...

 

 

again not cheap but well made and will last

 

then there is this...

 

 

well made and designed to last.

 

the delight of the bottom two are that they are made of a good 'crinkle' cotton so i do not have to worry about ironing!

 

i now have two pairs of leggings, a few pairs of tights and two pairs of trousers to team them up with and a couple of skirts, as well as two men's waistcoats (one is a vintage wool one...just gorgeous!), two long cardigans and one long fleece top with pixie hood.

coat wise i have one long needle cord and one dark brown velvet-both a sort of Edwardian style and one short dark brown corduroy one.

 

and that i think is enough...

enough to mix and match and last.

 

what i love about the clothes i have left is that i feel comfortable in them, i feel like 'me' in them, i don't feel like i am dressing up to project an image...i am just me.

 

looking at my clothes i notice i have a particular colour scheme...

 

browns

greens

oranges

blacks

reds

 

i wonder what that says about me?!

 

 

 

 



~comfort zone~

today is my first hair cut in months...probably the first in about 8-10 months.
i stupidly had it cut to shorter than jaw length last may and it was a huge, really huge mistake.
my face just does not allow me to get away with shorter hair.

so it is now well past my jaw, close to my shoulders...if i pull out the curl it sits on my shoulder.
my plan is to just let it grow...and grow...
so today its just a tidy up, a mm or two off the ends that's it...
but i feel sick and anxious...i always feel like this when it means i am going to have to let people, either mentally, physically or both, into comfort zone.
needless to say i will be a happy bunny after midday!

~*~*~*~

the sun is shining here in the forest so i shall be out taking some photos of my rowan post hair cut.
 i had planned on  doing it over the weekend but i have been fending off a migraine for the last four-five days.
it needs a lot of careful management, and i hate to say it, conventional medicine, to enable me to say out of bed and not throwing up.

i have tried the alternative route with these and it fails miserably.

~*~*~*~

we are also hoping to get Pretty Pagan back this week...possibly today or tomorrow.
she went off to the garage three weeks ago this week when swampy realised his back problems meant he would be able to get the gearbox out and fix it himself.
we had the replacement gearbox delivered to the garage last tuesday, fully expecting her to be ready to bring home a few days later.
unfortunately the garage had neglected to tell us the mechanic doing the work was on leave last week and they had no other mechanic to do the job...
something i fully believe they could have told us the previous week when we spoke with them.

needless to say i was fuming over this lack of foresight while poor swampy remained quietly resigned.

our camping season starts on may so we are wanting her back to put in our new bits and bobs...to say nothing of just getting out and about and getting our own shopping!

well off i go, one last mug of lemon tea before pulling on my 'amelias' and trotting into the village...

•

read: Essi Tolling
taste: egg waffle with smidge of sweet freedom
see: antiques on the tv
hear: bubbles from fish tank
smell: freh air
touch: red and white striped scarf
think: loving my new hair cut
feel: happy

~of soft things & yoga~

now i have been looking for the right shawl/wrap for ages

oh i have lots of scarves~i feel undressed without them~of different sizes and colours and patterns, but what i have been searching for was something huge that i could snuggle into~much like a large thin blanket~but that wasn't a blanket. something i could wear out and it not be obviously seen as a blanket.

in fact when i was in new york a few years ago i had found a wonderful wool paisley wrap in macy's, however when i saw the price tag i sadly walked away.

i have also seen some wonderful vintage ones on a certain online site but they have also been an awful lot of money.

but yesterday i found something soft, beautiful and blanket sized...

i wish you could feel it, it is so soft and the pattern and colour so beautiful~reminds me of the arts and crafts movement

but do you know something?

it's really a largish throw, maybe for artfully draping over a sofa or bed bought in ikea!

however in my mind, after seeing the colour, pattern and feel of it i knew it had to be mine and to be used as a large shawl/wrap.

and it wraps around and hangs beautifully and feels so cosy.

so remember~things can be utilised for use other than that they were designed for!

~*~*~*~

if like me you are somewhat eclectic then you may enjoy hel looks which is a 'street style blog from helsinki'.

when i came across this blog~goodness knows how, but i am glad i did~i think i spent a whole day going through the archives and seeing how much imagination is there on the streets of helsinki.

it made me want to pack my bags and flee to such a wonderfully creative place and sad to say it made me feel somewhat dis-satisfied in that these days, in this country, there are smaller concentrations of the wonderfully, eclectic.

maybe i am getting old but i find myself thinking back to my teens and early twenties when lots of different 'cultures' seemed to exist along with many different styles of music and looking eclectic was almost the 'norm'.

now when i walk through a town or occasionally a city i seem to be surrounded by a boring hegemony (i am not really using this in the right context but i think you know what i mean) and i am sad to say, but the new forest, especially my village, is not a place for the individual, the wild and wacky eclectic~and what few there are are not seen much.

here in the village there are two (not counting me~yes really, two!) people who do not fit into the general conservative mould and stand out like shining beacons of general oddness~one a man who has lived here many a year and has dreadlocks and a lady i passed one day as i was walking out of the village. she was generally dressed like me and maybe because of this our eyes locked and a little message, an acknowledgement of our differentness possibly, passed between us.

~*~*~*~

now there was something else i was going to pass comment on, but you know i have rambled on so much it has clean gone from my mind!

that will teach me for rambling...

solstice dreamer watches Le Tour while trying to remember...

ah i remember!

yoga

tina asked about yoga and i mentioned in comment that i had found a local yoga teacher.

i have been practicing alone for many years.

when i was about 15 or 16 i came across a yoga book of my dad's~a very funky sixties one~and i remember trying to follow the poses, not very well i might add, but fell in love with the whole idea of it.

as the years passed i dipped in and out.

in the late eighties/early nineties i found a book on yoga specifically for the different stages of a woman's life (i have searched my books high and low and cannot find it, i can only think it is with other books at my mum's) and of course then came videos' and following hot on its heels dvd's.

with the onset of m.e my practice wavered, stopped, started, wavered, stopped when my fibro started and then i started again.

slowly and carefully and with a few complete stops.

but yoga has never left my heart and i have always flicked through old copies of my different yoga magazines when the spirit seemed to waver.

recently my practice has become more regular again and with it the urge to find a local teacher and join a group of like minded people.

so i 'googled' once...

now there are plenty of yoga teachers and classes around here, some of them are held at one of two yoga studios in southampton and looking at their websites i have never felt i would be comfortable there.

but yesterday, inspired by my magazine i decided to 'google' twice, this time for 'new forest yoga teachers' and had this moment of serendipity

don't you think this is the most beautiful and welcoming web site?

so i e-mailed the teacher for some more information and so i am now waiting to hear back from her

and do you want to know the funny thing?

not only are all her classes within five miles of my little roundhouse but she lives only moments away from me!

~i feel so excited~