Hi, everyone! I am so pleased to be back writing on the blog. A combination of severe health issues, a bad psychological reaction to a medical procedure, and very hot weather made it impossible for me to post on here. Now I am feeling a lot better and am trying to write my posts on the days when it is not too hot to think straight.
While I was away from the blog, we had a quick visit from Younger Son, who we hadn’t seen since Christmas. It was lovely to be able to spend a little time with him. I am hoping that he will visit again in September for Lovely Husband’s 70th birthday!
Anyway, today I have another earring purchase to show you. You may have read my post about the gorgeous selection available on the Chalk Jewellery website and how I found it after I saw a photo of the Duchess of Cambridge wearing their beautiful earrings. As I looked through the site, I thought about the dress that I recently purchased from Marks and Spencer:
Dress by Marks and Spencer
I was thrilled when I saw these earrings:
Sipho earrings by Chalk Jewellery
The pink colours are a very close match and I am waiting for an occasion to wear the dress with the earrings. Here is a quick modelling photo with my other Marks and Spencer summer dress:
Sipho earrings by Chalk Jewellery
I think I will definitely be visiting the Chalk Jewellery site again!
Hi! I don’t usually post on a Sunday evening, but I just want to let you know that I am taking a break from the blog for at least a week. This is due to several issues, mainly to do with my poor health. I simply don’t have the brain power to do the blog justice.
When I come back, I will have plenty to write about, I am sure!
This week, I have actually been out twice! On Tuesday for a hospital appointment and today for a much needed haircut. More about the haircut later on.
As I leave the house so rarely, it is fun and distracting to plan my outfits carefully. I probably end up overdressing, but my opportunities for wearing my lovely clothes and accessories are very limited these days. The weather has been warm this week, but I was able to wear two of my gorgeous Hermès scarves.
I decided to work around an idea: what if I based my two outfits around my main “neutral” colours in my wardrobe? Specifically navy blue? I thought that it would be interesting to demonstrate what a difference well chosen accessories can make.
Here are four navy pieces:
Clothing in navy blue
Clockwise from the top left: linen mix trousers by Isle Clothing, cotton vest by Lands’ End, linen mix skirt by Isle Clothing, cotton t-shirt by Tu at Sainsburys. As you can see, all of these items are in a basic plain navy and are inexpensive.
For Tuesday’s hospital visit, I chose accessories in orange, white and navy, and wore the t-shirt and skirt:
Outfit of the day 05/07/22 with Hermès’ Hermès Tea Time scarf
The Hermès scarf is a 70cm called Hermès Tea Time, the bangles are by Halcyon Days, the handbag by Massaccesi, shoes by Hotter, and earrings from Etsy.
Let’s have a closer look at that lovely scarf:
Hermès Tea Time by Jonathan Burton for Hermès
Today, I have been to the hairdresser’s at last! I am so pleased that my messy hair has been tamed. This time I have gone for a much shorter cut, especially around my ears. This is so that I can show off my new earrings!
Anyway, here are the before and after shots. I am sorry that the two photos don’t match up very well…
Before and after haircut 08/07/22
Right, now for the outfit. You can see that I am wearing the Lands’ End vest in navy today. I am also dressed in the Isle Collection linen trousers.
Here are the accessories:
Outfit of the day 08/07/22 with Hermès’ A l’Ombre des Pivoines scarf
The beautiful Hermès scarf is A L’Ombre des Pivoines, tied in a necklace knot with a gold scarf ring by MaiTai. I also wore a navy and gold Halcyon Days bangle, blue topaz earrings, navy sandals and my lovely Massaccesi handbag.
I will show you a larger image of the scarf:
A L’Ombre des Pivoines by Octave Marsal/Théo de Gueltzl for Hermès
Phew! That’s been a long and complicated post today. I hope that you have enjoyed reading it as much as I have enjoyed creating and building it!
Happy weekend to you all!
Love and best wishes,
Anne
💕💗💖💗💕
P.S. Younger Son is coming to stay for the weekend. Hooray!!!!!
This is going to be a very short post today. I have been going through various medical procedures and am feeling rather upset and traumatised. Because of all this, I have been unable to concentrate on my reading and I am definitely incapable of writing one of my Reading Roundup posts as they take quite a lot of time to construct on the WordPress platform.
So, I apologise for not writing a proper post today, but I hope that all will be fine by next week.
Welcome to a new week on my blog. I had planned a post to show you a new purchase, but it hasn’t yet arrived. Never mind, I have been busy this afternoon and am feeling very tired indeed. Tomorrow is yet another hospital appointment day, so I’m rather worried about that. I will leave you with this lovely image that I saw on Twitter:
Welcome to Friday’s post and the final one of the week.
This week I have had two medical appointments to attend, so, for once, I had to get properly dressed! I am suffering from a form of agoraphobia these days and feel very nervous and frightened when I leave the safety of my bedroom, so planning and wearing a nice outfit helps with that a little.
Yesterday, we had to travel to a large hospital and, once parked, had a long walk through the maze of buildings. This was extremely tiring for both of us. This was my chosen outfit:
Outfit of the day 30/06/22
I have made a collage to go with this:
Outfit of the day 30/06/22 – with Liberty of London Aurora scarf
The enamel and gold earrings and bangles are by Halcyon Days; the enamel and rose gold pendant necklace is Ianthe by Liberty of London; the small blue and white scarf (which I tied on the Massaccesi handbag) is Aurora by Liberty of London; and the blue and white kimono jacket is by One Hundred Stars. In the collage above, the colours of the jacket appear much too dull. They are brighter in real life, as you can see in the modelling photo.
I wore these with a simple white cotton vest by Lands’ End and a navy linen mix midi skirt by Isle Collection. Links to all of these sources can be found in the sidebar.
So, today I had another appointment, this time at our local surgery. Here is the outfit:
Outfit of the day 01/07/22
This time I chose a turquoise, teal and navy theme with my Liberty of London chiffon scarf in the lovely Hera pattern. I wore a turquoise t-shirt and navy linen trousers and carried my gorgeous Massaccesi bag in a metallic navy leather. My earrings were in teal, the Halcyon Days bangle was a turquoise enamel giraffe print and my sandals were navy. I think the whole outfit worked well and it was very comfortable.
Here is another collage showing my accessories today:
Outfit of the Day 01/07/22 with Liberty of London Hera chiffon scarf
I actually have two more appointments next week, so I will, once again, distract myself from worrying by planning nice outfits to wear. Now, what colours should I choose and should I wear Hermès scarves this time?
Hello and welcome to this week’s Reading Roundup post: the last one in June. At the end of last week’s post, I said that my next book was by a new-to-me author. Oh, my memory is so awful! In fact I had already read a couple of books by her and really enjoyed them. Here is the latest…
Reputation by Sarah Vaughan
The book was Reputation by Sarah Vaughan. This is the blurb:
“The bestselling author of Anatomy of a Scandal returns with a new psychological thriller about a politician whose less-than-perfect personal life is thrust into the spotlight when a body is discovered in her home.
As a politician, Emma has sacrificed a great deal for her career–including her marriage and her relationship with her daughter, Flora. A former teacher, she finds the glare of the spotlight unnerving, particularly when it leads to countless insults, threats, and trolling as she tries to work in the public eye. As a woman, she knows her reputation is worth its weight in gold, but as a politician, she discovers it only takes one slip-up to destroy it completely.
Fourteen-year-old Flora is learning the same hard lessons at school as she encounters heartless bullying. When another teenager takes her own life, Emma lobbies for a new law to protect women and girls from the effects of online abuse. Now, Emma and Flora find their personal lives uncomfortably intersected–but then the unthinkable happens: A man is found dead in Emma’s home, a man she had every reason to be afraid of and to want gone. Fighting to protect her reputation, and determined to protect her family at all costs, Emma is pushed to the limits as the worst happens and her life is torn apart.”
I really enjoyed reading this book and awarded it four stars on Goodreads. Here is my response from that website:
This was an interesting psychological thriller with plenty of twists in the plot. Told from the point of view of a woman Labour MP, struggling to maintain her reputation amidst online abuse, sexist colleagues and personal issues. There are gripping court scenes and a plot that seems to curl back on itself several times. Just when the reader feels as if everything is coming to a suitable ending, our certainties are overturned!
Oh and it was interesting that some of the timeline dates corresponded to the real time that I was reading the book!
My next book was recommended to me by a dear friend. I am so glad that she did!
The Goblin Emperor by Katherine Addison
The recommended book, and series, was the Goblin Emperor by Katherine Addison. Let’s look at the blurb:
“Maia, the youngest, half-goblin son of the Emperor has lived his entire life in exile, distant from the Imperial Court and the deadly intrigue that suffuses it. But when his father and three sons in line for the throne are killed in an “accident,” he has no choice but to take his place as the only surviving rightful heir.
Entirely unschooled in the art of court politics, he has no friends, no advisors, and the sure knowledge that whoever assassinated his father and brothers could make an attempt on his life at any moment.
Surrounded by sycophants eager to curry favour with the naïve new emperor, and overwhelmed by the burdens of his new life, he can trust nobody. Amid the swirl of plots to depose him, offers of arranged marriages, and the spectre of the unknown conspirators who lurk in the shadows, he must quickly adjust to life as the Goblin Emperor.”
Once again, I urge you to read a range of reviews about any book that I mention on here. Anyway, this is mine:
I was recommended this book by a dear friend and I thank her for doing so. This was an interesting and absorbing read for me with a well-drawn main character. The story intrigued me with its tale of sudden elevation to a high position, lack of preparation, confusing rules and the difficulty of knowing who to trust.
Like other readers, I found the naming system very difficult to deal with and it did detract from the plot at times as I couldn’t always remember who was being written about! This was not helpful to the reader and so I removed one star.
I am, nevertheless, going straight on to read the second book!
As you can read above, I have already moved on to the sequel, The Witness for the Dead, and have purchased the next book also: The Grief of Stones. Maybe I will have worked out the naming system by the end of the third book!
Well, that is all for this week. Happy Reading to you all!
Hello, everyone, and welcome to my first post of the week!
Well, people who know me well may be rather surprised by parts of today’s post. I have mentioned The Purse Forum on here loads of times, listing the many threads that I follow, mainly centred on scarves. In addition, I am also interested in clothes and jewellery, not necessarily the most fashionable or expensive, but the beautiful and striking pieces. For those, I follow some of the threads about celebrities and “royals”. Now, I am not a monarchist when it comes to our own Royal Family, but I do like to see what some of the women wear.
So, with those points in mind, this image caught my eye last week…
Duchess of Cambridge
This photo of Catherine is so lovely, but what really got my attention were the gorgeous earrings! Luckily, the clever women on The Purse Forum had identified them. I decided to go to the Chalk Jewellery website straight away…
On arrival, I quickly realised three things: 1) the website was under huge pressure from the large number of visitors doing exactly the same as me, and 2) loads of items were sold out or in other people’s baskets, but 3) the jewellery was definitely affordable for someone like me! What to do?
Well, like any good librarian I know how to search for what I want! I had a look around and found some of the Chalk Jewellery items on a very unexpected website. It turns out that the design of Catherine’s earrings is based on some of the architectural elements of the Royal Opera’s building. Furthermore, some of the jewellery can be found in their shop! Eventually, I chose earrings that were similar but smaller, for, obvious reasons.
Here they are…
Marisa Stud Earrings – Regency by Chalk Jewellery
The earrings are very cleverly constructed from wood, tiny mirrors and resin and are so light and easy to wear. I tried them on as soon as they arrived and laughed aloud when I realised that the pale green matched one of my newish nightdresses! There are other colourways of these earrings and matching or similar necklaces and bracelets available.
My modelling attempt…
Marisa Stud Earrings – Regency by Chalk Jewellery
Well, I am a little embarrassed to have put my photo in the same blog post as Catherine and, OK, I know I desperately need a haircut! I am going to try and make an appointment (and keep it). Er….. soon.
Right, I think that is enough for now. Wednesday’s post will be the usual Reading Roundup and I might have another purchase to show you on Friday, all being well.
Happy Friday! Welcome to the final post of the week.
Hot weather really knocks me out and I have spent most of the week in bed with a large fan moving the air around. It’s very noisy and only slightly effective. On the couple of times that I managed to get dressed, I wore the recently purchased blue and white dress from Marks and Spencer. It is very comfortable and skims over my lumps and bumps. Here is a reminder…
Dress by Marks and Spencer
The dress looked nice with this “teatime” jewellery from Pixie Wing…
High Tea necklace by Pixie Wing
High Tea earrings by Pixie Wing
If you hasten over to the Pixie Wing site, they have similar versions of this necklace and earrings in their sale in silver with both blue and green colourways!
I have always loved earrings in a huge range of styles, so when I saw a very famous person wearing some gorgeous and very affordable ones this week, I had to investigate further. I will tell you more next week…
Welcome to this week’s Reading Roundup! These Wednesday posts are about the books that I have finished reading since the previous week’s Roundup. I am a member of Goodreads, where I have been tracking my reading for a few years. For these posts, I include each book’s blurb and my review from Goodreads. Usually, I expand a bit on my review. Since I had a stroke in September 2019, I have to read ebooks as my eyesight was affected. Also memory issues mean that I have to write my reviews very soon after finishing each book as I often forget what I have just read! Apologies for the brevity of my reviews, but you can usually find much more detailed ones on Goodreads and other such sites. Mine are usually quick responses to the book and are not always in tune with other people’s!
Right, let’s begin…
The Vor Game by Lois McMaster Bujold
OK, so I swamped you all with the first three Vorkosigan Saga books in last week’s post! I have to admit that I read a fourth before tearing myself away from this brilliant series. This one is The Vor Game by Lois McMaster Bujold, #06 Vorkosigan Saga.
Here is the blurb:
“Together, they can get into a lot of trouble. Trouble only the combined forces of the Free Dendarii Mercenaries can get them out of. At least, that’s what they’re hoping…
In this latest adventure with the galaxy’s craftiest mercenary leader Miles, starts out by so shaking up the High Command on his home planet of Barrayar that he is sent to the other side of the galaxy – where who should he run into but his old pals the Free Dendarii Mercenaries. And a good thing too, because it turns out that Miles’ childhood chum, that’s Emperor Gregor to you, has been the victim of foul play, and only Miles – with a little Dendarii muscle – can save him. This is very important to Miles; because if Gregor dies, the only person who could become the new emperor is Miles himself – and that he regards as a fate worse than death.”
Another great read in a great series. I love the ingenious solutions to complicated situations and the sneaky humour of the whole book. Miles is such a great character and very unusual for the time that the book was written.
My only negative is that I really missed Cordelia, Miles’s mother. The first two books that I read were based on her and I really grew to love her. Now that we have moved on to the next generation, it is a shame that such an interesting and strong character is sidelined.
I am sure that I will return to the series very soon. For my next book I went to one of my other favourite series…
The Nameless Ones by John Connolly
The Nameless Ones is the 19th book in John Connolly’s Charlie Parker series. I think that I have read the entire series to date, but will have to check (checked and, yes, I have read them all). This is the blurb:
“From the international and instant New York Times bestselling author of The Dirty South, the white-knuckled Charlie Parker series returns with this heart-pounding race to hunt down the deadliest of war criminals.
In Amsterdam, four people are butchered in a canal house, their remains arranged around the crucified form of their patriarch, De Jaager: fixer, go-between, and confidante of the assassin named Louis. The men responsible for the murders are Serbian war criminals. They believe they can escape retribution by retreating to their homeland.
They are wrong.
For Louis has come to Europe to hunt them down: five killers to be found and punished before they can vanish into the east.
There is only one problem.
The sixth.”
Once again, my response might be considered to be unexpected:
I am struggling more and more with this series. It used to be one of my favourites and I found the characters and events intriguing and interesting. It was always pretty gory, but now the bloodletting seems gratuitous in the extreme.
Parts of the book were exciting and gripping, but the whole idea of concentrating on Louis and Angel, with Charlie Parker only having a bit-part was disappointing. I remember the war in the Balkans quite well, but found the explanations of this became very repetitive. The worst aspect for me was the constant and almost salacious mentions of rape. In all of the bloodshed and horror this was a step too far.
So, this leaves me very unsure about reading any further books in the series, which is a shame because Connolly is such an excellent writer. This is a real dilemma!
Former professional school librarian, now retired through chronic illness. Trying to keep cheerful by reading, drinking lots of tea, blogging my new life, and my love of bling!
The Librain
The Librain......retired 
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