Ephemera

Hello, my friends! It's been a lovely chill weekend, full of sun, fun and naps. This post is true to its name: BIGASS. Warning, lot of pictures!

Here's Friday's jumpsuit, as promised.

This is a warm olive green with a lot of yellow in it, so I accessorized with chartreuse and other shades of green and yellow.

This is my entry for "Visible Monday" over at Patti's Not Dead Yet Style - get over there and check it out!

Jumpsuit - Gina Tricot, thrifted; purchased here last weekend for $28.95
Shoes - Eject; last worn here in June with my Dries van Noten top

I'm wearing a black cami underneath for armhole, cleavage and back slit coverage. As you can see, the jumpsuit has pockets! I like the drapey line of the pants, too - they puddle nicely at the foot.

I enjoyed wearing this and it was not too arduous to go to the bathroom in it - there is a little single button at the top of the slit (easy) and a big zipper on the side under the arm.

The obi had to be removed, of course, but I just hung it on the top of the stall at work.

The back waist is dropped a bit, and there is lots of room in the crotchal region. I cut off the thread loops for the self-belt, because no one tells me where my waist is!

I bloused the back a bit to hide the puckering where I cinched it with the obi.

I had my hair cut after work (it's been nearly 9 weeks!) and then met L for dinner afterwards.

He was all in blue - we were a very stylin' couple!

The stuff:

I love these shoes. They are super comfy, and have been an excellent summer shoe.

Green bling:

I bought this obi at the same time as the blue one here that I wore last week - they were $2.00 each in a thrift store a few years ago.

Obi - handmade, thrifted
Earrings - Le Chateau, c. 2007
Cuff -thrifted
Leaf ring - Fossil, thrifted
Amber ring - c. 1997

L and I hung out and drank wine and played board games on Friday night. We had a good crowd for Ultimate Frisbee on Saturday morning, and it was a lovely sunny day with just a bit of a breeze.

The seagulls on the neighbour's roof are squawking away at me.

Dress - All Saints, consignment; last worn here (2nd outfit) in July (exact same outfit, down to the earrings!)
Shoes - Franco Sarto, consignment; last seen here (2nd outfit) with a giant Hawaiian dress

I have a vintage navy blue slip on under this for coverage (the dress has really wide side slits).

The silk breathes really well and is very much needed after running around in the sun for 2 hours!

Outerwear:

Hat and sunglasses, plus a ton of sunblock.

The stuff:

My shoes were getting rather dirty, so I ran a cotton ball with facial astringent over them and it cleaned them up quite nicely. They're white again!

Earrings - Lazy Susan's

We went for brunch and a quick grocery shop after the game, then walked home, heavily laden with all our gear and groceries. Nap time! Vizzini spent the afternoon sleeping with us or out on the deck in the sun.

"It's a very busy life."

His fur is so warm.

"One more pat, then leave me be, Woman."

He was happy to have us home Saturday night, as we stayed in and played more board games. I had to get up early today/Sunday, though, because Mom and I had a date.

We went to a flower farm with some other people from her art group, to do some painting/drawing. I wanted to look artsy, but also be able to handle any terrain.

Blouse - Guess, consignment; first worn here for a short work day and dentist trip in June
Jeans - Levi Strauss, thrifted; last seen here (3rd outfit) in July for a very casual Winesday
Shoes - Karl Lagerfeld; first worn here in August with the Spanish ladies dress
Capelet (below) - Floating Gold Iceberg, consignment; last worn here a few weeks ago with my Lady Garden of Delight skirt

This ended up being perfect - we were walking along dirt paths and pushing between rows of plants. Mom and I also went for lunch after, so I still looked presentable.

I love this blouse even better with the dark bottoms.

These "bike commuter" jeans were great, although with direct sun on them, they did get hot.

I wore a hat for cover as well as my little capelet.

I like the mix of purple, yellow and aqua.

The stuff:

A bit of a rub with a soft cloth and all the dust was off my shoes.

Stone bling:

I'd forgotten about this bracelet - L bought it for me for Christmas several years ago.

Bracelet - handmade, gift from L
Earrings - Mango's
Turquoise ring - local
Amber ring - c. 1997

It's too big on me, and doesn't stay done up. I came up with a solution: I used a wired red twist-tie!

That's me, always klassy. You can see the nice semi-precious stones in this - moonstone, pearls, turquoise, and lots of others I don't know the names of. I want to wear this special piece more.

As an added bonus, Mom brought over my single malt scotch! She had picked it up for us, as we don't currently have a car.

Back in 2006, when I was a member of the Victoria Single Malt Club, I paid $97.00 for a share in a cask, along with many other members of the club.

Three bottles in one carton; six in the other.

It's been aging for 10 years in its barrel, and in the past 3 weeks, I've paid up my portion of the shipping, taxes and duties on it (approx. $500). That may seem like a lot, but I got 9 bottles as my share!

Here it is, the Kilchoman Cask Strength.

It's an Islay whisky, which I expect to have some nice peaty notes in it. No, I haven't opened a bottle yet! I will tonight!

This batch has customized labels for the VSMC, noting that it's a Single Cask Release,and a private cask. The valuation per bottle is between $135 to $266, so we have a good savings on it. It's not often you get to buy scotch in bulk!

This is from the 56th cask, was casked in an ex-bourbon barrel (that means it will have some bourbon sweetness in the scotch, leached out of the wooden barrel while maturing), was distilled on Feb 28th, 2007, and bottled on April 13th, 2017.

Non chill filtered is a good thing - chill filtering removes some of the oils/flavour from whiskies.

Every bottle is numbered by hand. This one is 235/242.

This one is 57.1% alcohol, so will be powerful stuff (it's a sipping drink!). We're giving a few of these away to special people, but will keep the rest for ourselves. It should last us many years! The last time we did a cask-share was about 10 years ago - we got 14 bottles, and still have one (we gave more away that time).

Much as I wanted to taste the scotch, Mom and I had some art to do! Off we went to Sol Farms (Facebook link here), a many-acred spread of sunflowers, berries and herbs. They don't use any pesticides, yay!

It's not generally open to the public for wandering through - they made an exception for us as we were a small group.

I hope you like sunflowers! I took a lot of flower pictures.

There is an apiary on the farm, so lots of fat, happy bees were buzzing about, feeding on the flowers.

The sunflowers are just reaching their peak - most of the stalks were over my head.

On the other side of those evergreens is the highway - only a few minutes away, and I never knew this place existed!

Rows upon rows.

Some of the flowers had paper bags over them, to collect the seeds for next year's planting.

Way up...

...towering over my head.

Looking back towards town.

It was slightly hazy and overcast, but still bright and sunny.

The blackberries are in season.

They were just falling off the canes - I ate a bunch of these.

Looking through the fencing at another field.

In addition to blackberries, there were fat loganberries. I also ate some of those!

Such a riot of colour.

I count 3 bees on that flower.

There were lots of variations in colouring.

I love the deep rust and browns in this one.

Mom walking through one of the fields.

We all took tons of pictures before we set up our chairs and tables/easels.

This seems obvious now, but I didn't know that sunflowers turn their heads to follow the sun during the day.

As it was morning, they were all facing east. Did you know that?

The petals on this one are more ragged-looking. I see a bee!

There's one of the bagged heads in the background too.

Look at this pretty wine shade.

Makes me want to touch it.

I did a selfie with this big flower.

It's as big as my head!

Another dark red one.

Love that rich colour.

Two different kinds facing each other.

They look like they are having a discussion.

These ones look like they are listening to me.

Except that one on the right - hey, pay attention!

This yellow just makes my heart sing.

Another bee! The bees left us completely alone - why bother us when they have a plethora of blooms to visit? We also saw dragonflies, hummingbirds and a big flock of red-winged blackbirds came through.

More dark red ones.