Lost in a magical wonderland

Last week we were treated to some long overdue gorgeous late Summer weather, chilly in the mornings but warming up towards midday, and with lots of life affirming sunshine.

In spite of all that, I was having an off-week, feeling generally blah and slightly out of kilter.

Experience has learned me that the best thing to do is not to resist the feeling, while not giving in to the spiral of negativity at the same time, to treat myself kindly, and to wait for it to pass.

A daily dose of colour does wonders for the soul, so I dressed in my most colourful attire, like this cobalt blue long-sleeved dress, its print a full blown flower garden providing a veritable explosion of colour. There are Chinese pagodas as well, which normally aren't my thing, but they rather pale into insignificance here.

The bright green buttons prompted my choice of accessories: a green vinyl belt and string of beads.

My bright pink cardigan picked up the pinks in the dress, and I added a purple daisy brooch for good measure.

Being out and about is another way of trying to abate the feeling of unease, so on Saturday we decided to combine our usual charity shopping trip with a walk in the park.

It was looking particularly lovely out there, with Autumn's bright colours slowly emerging and a scattering of dainty pale pink Cyclamen under the trees.

More colour was provided by a couple of lingering flowers, the abundance of rosehips and the outlandish berry spikes of phytolacca (pokeberry), while pillows of fluffy seed heads provided textural interest.

The weather was mild enough for short sleeves - double ones in this case!
This frock was shouting the loudest when I was standing in front of my wardrobe deciding what to wear. I picked it up at Blender Vintage Shop - sadly no longer trading - last year.

It's got everything I love: a lovely bottle green colour sprinkled with flowers (tulips, I know, not really the season for them!) and contrasting red rick rack at the hem and sleeves.

The double, rick-racked butterfly sleeves almost deserve a post of their own!

The brooch is 1950s, and my necklace, a multi-layered string of tiny red flowers, is vintage as well and found at a flea market. Although the dress has a self-fabric belt, I preferred to contrast it with a red vinyl one with an interesting buckle.

It was too chilly to leave the house without any cover up, so I wore a yellow cardie, to which I pinned a brooch featuring a row of tiny Russian matryoshka dolls, a flea market find.

I also wore my beloved jeans jacket, which I soon discarded, with a felted flower brooch bought in Narberth, Pembrokeshire while on holiday a couple of years back.

Short yellow boots and one of my tapestry handbags completed my outfit.

I'd bought a cheap fish-eye lens for my phone's camera during the week, and we had a lot of fun experimenting, creating some magical, Alice in Wonderland effects.

We hit the local charity shop before we went to the park, and one of the first things that caught my eye was this bag which, at the silly price of € 2, I simply couldn't leave behind.

As soon as Jos laid eyes on it, though, he claimed it as his own ...

He is clearly getting more and more adventurous in his attire, and he's actually not looking too bad for a man who's celebrating a milestone birthday today!

It's a good thing I found another bag, then. Look at the colours of this gorgeous raffia one, which is lined in red fabric and closes with a drawstring.

It somehow makes me think of those 1970s raffia trivets, still very much in use at Dove Cottage!

Other finds were two more cardigans. Three actually, as they had a buy two, get one free sale on. You'll get to see the third cardie in one of my next posts.

Then there's this new to me yellow cotton polo neck.

Several of you advised to wear my recently bought halterneck frock with a polo neck underneath and, as I know a good idea when I see one, I went in search of some cotton polo necks I was sure I had.

Had is the correct word, though, as I couldn't find them anywhere. I might have given them to charity but there's still a chance they will turn up, shoved at the back of a drawer.

I just knew the charity shops would come up trumps again, and I am very pleased with the result, so thanks for the tip, girls!