Wednesday 19 January 2011

Bright Days

Today was my day off, so I took myself into town for lunch with a friend and my god-daughter. It was such a lovely day that I decided to walk home, and I am so glad I did! The January sun was so dazzlingly bright, I really needed sunglasses! I love it when the air is crisp and the sun seems to make the air almost brittle.

On my way home, I visited the Vintage shop (Truly Madly Vintage) and came out with a pretty chiffon scarf...it is the colour of a very pale lilac crocus, and printed with pretty flowers and a lilac border. I also found a little pile of magazines, amongst which was a little booklet called 'Helen Temple's Guide To Summer Beauty'. I had to have it...Helen Temple offers beauty advice in a great many of my vintage magazines from the 50's. When it gets a bit warmer and springlike, I will share some of her beauty tips with you!

Do any of you read Making magazine? I bought the first and second issue, but my interest was not as caught as it could be, so I did not buy any more. A friend at work lent me issue 3, which had a vintage theme, and it was wonderful! I am now in a dilemma though...there was an article on making pretty headbands, and the model had a really pretty fringe. My side swept fringe is almost grown out now, so I am thinking 'to fringe or not to fringe?!'

On the morning news, I heard about a community whose library was threatened with closure, so the residents went in and borrowed every single book on the shelves! While a little part of me thinks that if they had used their library a bit more often it may not have been threatened with closure, I do think it is a wonderfully subversive and genteel way to make a protest! A bit like the elderly residents of a village who protested about a lot of traffic being routed through their village by taking it in turns to press the traffic light button all day long!

Talking of villages...I am a big fan of the Village series by Rebecca Shaw, set in the fictional and wonderful village of Turnham Malpas. I was really pleased when the latest installment arrived at the library for me, and devoured it, finishing it this morning. I was a little tiny bit disappointed though....they are generally very cosy happy novels, but in this one there was a bank robber, a murder and the rector behaved in a thoroughly unlike-himself manner. (He is usually compassionate and wise and generally wonderful, but instead behaved like a spoiled child!). I will carry on reading, and look forward to the next one, but I do hope they return to the more familiar pattern soon!

Oooh, and before I go, have you seen the new range of shoes in Marks and Spencer? I bought a beautiful pair this morning, low heeled court shoes in black patent, and a bow on each toe, for under £30!

I hope that the sun is shining on you just as brightly as it is me this afternoon!

2 comments:

Dinahsoar said...

Sounds like you had a fabulous day off. It was dark, gray and dreary here in my part of the world. I spent the afternoon making valentine bunting--that was a lot of fun.

I'm not familiar with the book series you mentioned, but it makes me think of a series I love by Jan Karon about a village named Mitford.

Kate said...

I had to google "bunting", it's a word from the 17th century. Hey, but now know what it is, I learned something today. I have a confession to make, I'm the polar opposite of vintage, but I love reading about it.