Weekend visitor and some rummaging...

Everything charity shopped except the boots which were a present from my daughter.

Can't remember where any of the garments came from but the trousers from Next actually have a plaid pattern; Prince of Wales . The top is by Wallis and the jacket is quite Chanel like which is why I like it. It's also one of those really useful items that goes with a lot of my clothes.

All jewellery charity shopped.

That's the bag of shame behind me waiting to be put in the car.

Well, my walk last Wednesday was a great success! I had 56 participants and the weather was lovely; bright, sunny but cold.  56 walkers is an awful lot and it's quite difficult to manage such a large group; they get strung out  and when it comes to stiles it can take a good 10 minutes or longer for everyone to get over! By which time the first over the stile people are 10 minutes walk away! How I manage it is to stop along the walk every so often and let the rear catch up. It's wonderful so many people want to join the Rambler walks but we need to find a solution; parking for walks is a major issue.

In the afternoon I visited my local Daycare Hospice shop which is in the grounds of the Hospice. They had a special offer on books so I bought the entire collection (bar the latest one which I have on reserve from the library) of Elizabeth Strout books for 50p each. I also bought a near as dammit, denim look dress for 4.00 and a black and white maxi dress for 5.00. I tried on a 1980s pleated, belted dress in a lovely geometric print but I looked like a sack of potatoes tied in the middle so it went back on the rail!

I've started the Hydrangea Stripe blanket #2. Seaside colours. If I get this one finished in time I might give this one to Hilary instead. Her living room is decorated in seaside colours...

This was Thursday's outfit. The dress is by Mudd and Water and was 50p at the final car boot sale in Milton Ernest. I have a tunic by Mudd and Water that I use as walking gear in the summer. The boiled wool jacket was 2.00 in the Willen Hospice shop in Newport Pagnell last year. Boots bought online last year. I think I bought this brooch when I used to volunteer at the Red Cross charity shop. The shape is very reminiscent of the 1950s/1960s, I think.

All jewellery charity shopped.

I went swimming on Friday and swam 26 lengths. The pool was quite crowded but the chlorine in the water made my eyes so red and sore. That's not happened since I was a kid and would stay in the pool for hours and hours! I hope it will be okay the next time I swim. Otherwise I will have to invest in a pair of goggles and I don't fancy wearing goggles...

On Saturday I got up early and went for a walk but it lashed down and I only managed 4 miles. OH and I decided to go for a rummage to Northampton in the afternoon, as it's been about a year since we last were there. On the way we stopped at my Barnardos and the Keech Hospice shop in Great Denham as OH hadn't been to either for ages.

I wore this Oliver Bonas dress that I bought  in the Daycare Hospice in Kempston some weeks back for 6.50. The leggings are by M&S and were charity shopped; boots online retail.

The jacket was bought  in a Donegal charity shop for 3 euros. I bought it last year but haven't worn it before.

Head scarf and all jewellery charity shopped, The necklace was bought in Huntingdon on our last trip there. The earrings are the ones I customised and wrote about in my last post HERE.

I bought a lot of stuff on our rummage. On the 50p rail in my Barnardo's I bought a jacket, a tunic and a pair of 'cropped'  striped trousers. In Northampton, I bought an animal print woollen dress (hurray, I've been looking for one as I left the one I have in the caravan; along with two of my berets and two of my watches...) for 4.50; a pair of Hotter t bar shoes for summer in green, for 3.50; a necklace and a pair of earrings for 1.00 each;  what I thought was a long, striped cardigan from Gap for 2.95, but which I now think is a dressing gown!  It is! And finally, a geometric print dress from H&M for 2.00. Since writing this I've tried the animal print dress on and it's actually a tunic - too short (for me) to be a dress - damn!

These photos were taken in the Guildhall, Northampton where they feature well known Northampton/Northamptonshire people. To the left is John Clare known as the peasant poet. He was a member of the rural working class and spent a lot of time in an asylum. The woman on the right was the first ever female Cabinet minister; Margaret Bondfield, a Labour politician, Trade Union and Women's Rights activist.

It was a pretty chilly day so I wore long navy leather gloves - charity shopped of course! I took the boots I'm wearing to the Timpson's in our Sainsbury's store to be re-heeled whilst I did my food shopping, last Thursday. When I paid for them they cost 15.95! I shan't be going there again; the Timpson's in town charges about 12.00. I wouldn't mind, but the boots were only about 20.00 online!

The remote gadget for my tripod died so I missed taking photos for a few days until I found a replacement.

On Monday, I volunteered at the charity shop. Our 50p rail was reduced to 20p! I picked up a couple of items for OH and eldest grandson and a jacket (yes, really a jacket for 20p by M&Co) for me. On Tuesday, I took  my youngest Grandson back to Addenbrooke's hospital in Cambridge for an emergency appointment. His implant had become infected after he got hit in the head at basketball. It was bad news; the implant will have to be removed and the opening/scar will need several months to heal. My poor wee boy - another operation. He is a very brave child though and takes it all in his stride. Children can be so resilient sometimes; they put us adults to shame whinging about minor things....

On Wednesday, I walked with the group. We walked from Harrold Country Park via Santa Pod (racetrack for cars) to Odell Great Wood, through Odell village back to Harrold. It was a cold and sunny; the walk was lovely but very muddy in places. Above is Harrold Church and below one of the beautiful autumnal trees we passed on the walk of 6.5 miles. I keep seeing trees in the most glorious colours and want to stop and take photos as the colours are unbelievable. Unfortunately, I'm usually driving and can't always stop! Look blue sky!

I brought my cheque book with me to pay for my Christmas lunch next month only to discover that I was too late;  all the places were taken! 90 places were available but had all been taken. I was very disappointed as I've been for the past 5 years and we always have a good meal and sing a range of carols before we eat. I love carol singing and this was the only opportunity I got to do it. I need to get in there early next year. It's a new venue this year too; our old venue was a pub in village of Northill  which could only accommodate 70 places, but the new one can accommodate 90. We have lots of new members so I suppose they booked their places early. We are discussing having a Christmas meal with the Barnardo's staff and volunteers but haven't decided a venue as yet - we'd better get our skates on or there'll be no where left to book!

I went to town to run some errands and go to the library when I got back from the walk. I'd left my library card at home as I didn't bring my purse with me; just loose change in my bag so I couldn't take any books out. I'm wearing a maxi dress (no label) I bought in the Daycare Hospice shop last week for 5.00; with a 50p Next top underneath from the 50p rail at my Barnardo's. Boots charity shopped in Oxfam; also 5.00. The jacket was bought in a Donegal charity shop; it's by 100 Idees (?) and was 5 euros.

I've got charity shopped leggings on underneath!

All jewellery charity shopped. I took these photos in my study to see if the light is better. I think it is.

On Thursday I was back in Barnardo's doing an extra volunteering session as it was the Christmas launch. Lots of stuff that had been previously packed away especially for Christmas (gifts) was brought out and displayed; the Manager put the Christmas decorations up and dressed the window with - of course you've guessed it -  a Christmas theme!  I picked up a wrought iron fire screen for our fuel burner whilst I was there. Someone had donated two. It was a busy day and when I finished at 1.30. I then did the weekly food shop. I wore this:

Dress by H&M bought for 2.00 in the Keech Hospice shop last week with a Next charity shopped blouse and brown ankle boots; charity shopped in Newport Pagnell for 5.00.

Tights; online retail and all jewellery and scarf charity shopped. The earrings are ones I picked up on our Northampton rummage.

There was a laundry basket and a plastic tub filled with jewellery at the shop and I took it home with me to sort out and bag up. In total I spent 8.5 hours sorting it all out between Thursday evening and Sunday evening; I took it all back to the shop on Monday where I sold a couple of bags of necklaces almost immediately!

On Friday, I was very much looking forward to my weekend visitor; Hilary, my best friend of 53 years. It's always so good to catch up face to face rather than by phone and email and text. She loved the original Hydrangea Stripe blanket I made for her and preferred it to the Seaside colours one. I was glad as it took the pressure off me to finish the other one quickly so she could take it back with her! I managed to get a swim in before Hilary arrived and did 24 lengths and luckily; no red, sore eyes. I can only assume there was too much chlorine in the water last week...

We went for a rummage on Saturday to St. Neots and to Huntingdon. Hilary pops in and out of her local charity shops but hadn't spent a whole day rummaging since I last visited her in June! We stopped for tea and cake in St. Neots before we headed off to Huntingdon.

The quality of these photos is awful; apologies. the light in my bedroom is just not good enough but I couldn't access my study when I was taking these where the light is so much better.

I wore this Tu denim look dress; charity shopped in the Daycare Hospice shop for 4.00 with a M&S charity shopped kimono.

The tights which have birds on them (!) were a Christmas present from my lovely daughter and the boots were bought online. All jewellery charity shopped. You might just be able to make out above my head a rack with hooks on it. I bought this in St. Neot's in The Dog's Trust for 3.00 and it's for my ever growing collection of necklaces.  Here I had just balanced it on top of the existing one to see if it fitted the door width. It did and it will hold more than the existing one; because as as well as the hooks it has a bar on which I can hang even more necklaces!

My legs are short and stumpy but this is a (slightly) better view of the tights complete with flowers and birds. This was their first outing and I loved them, but it was actually very cold on Saturday and I wished I'd worn leggings or trousers instead! On the rummage I also bought a new duvet set for the spare bedroom; some salad servers for my daughter (special request from her) and I bought a red top from the 99p rail in the Salvation Army for myself and a couple of books. I bought NO jewellery! Wasn't I good? Hilary bought a kimono, a book and quite a few games and jigsaws for her grandchildren. We were both very satisfied with our haul and got home with a couple of hours to chill before we headed out  again...

....for an early birthday celebration for brother Tony (top left and right). I hadn't seen my brothers since before I went to Ireland and I missed them. They hadn't seen Hilary since my mum's funeral ten years ago and they were all delighted to see each other again. We had a lovely Thai meal and  a lovely evening. It was unfortunately a filthy night - weather wise. Heavy rain there and back; Kettering is 25 miles from Bedford. I drove there and OH drove back. Julian couldn't make it as he has started rehearsals for the bands 50th anniversary tour and was down in Hastings... if you want see a bit more about the band and to see if you can spot my brother visit here!

Day 1

Hilary went back to Devon on Sunday and among the many things I did on Sunday was to sort out my dresses and organise them a little better. The problem is I have too many and I haven't enough room left in the wardrobe where I store them. I have 22 dresses; not including maxi dresses; which I store in another place. Having so many dresses got me thinking; I could a wear a different dress every day for 3 weeks, so I thought I'd set myself a challenge to see if I could do it and share it with you all! On Monday, I started with dress No.1 which I wore on Saturday as well;  but as it was my most recent acquisition and because I like it I wore it  again to volunteer at Barnardo's, this time with a different jacket and accessories.

 Dress by Tu; charity shopped in the Daycare Hospice shop for 4.00. Floral tights charity shopped last year somewhere; boots as above. Jacket from Donegal charity shop; 3.00.

All jewellery charity shopped.

Just looking back at this post and the outfits; I've worn 5 different dresses already including 1 maxi dress. I will wear these again in my challenge as I'll make sure I wear different accessories with them.

Day 2

Everything charity shopped except the boots; online retail.
 Woollen dress M&S; charity shopped in Barnardo's, Ampthill from the 99p rail.

Cardigan by Joseph A; can't remember. All jewellery, scarf and tights charity shopped.

I wore this charity shopped Susan Bristol knitted coat/jacket and kept it on in the Food Bank warehouse as it was freezing!


So, do you like a clothes challenge?