Nov 12th - Outfit #11 - Nerdy Mission Part 2 (and Some Brooches)

I hope my fellow Canucks are enjoying the waning hours of our long weekend! Ah, so nice. 

Following up on our first Nerdy Mission back in July, this extra day off presented L and I with the perfect opportunity to go scout out more locations for our soon-to-be-customized game of "Arkham Horror" with scenes from around our fair city, Victoria. The game is based on H.P. Lovecraft's writings and the locations on the board are places in his fictional town of Arkham.

But first, lunch.

What's that bright ball of light? Sun!

My lovely tweed suit jacket and slouchy brown suede boots were both last worn here. This is the second wearing of my suede skirt, from Day 1 this month.

As it was somewhat sunny and not too chilly, my jaunty silk vintage scarf and a pair of long brown leather gloves were all I needed to stay toasty.

The boots were good for walking, but they did totally fall into my ankles.

L and I cut through a courtyard at the museum, and I took a photo op on the groovy 60s sculpture. I love the architecture of the building behind it too.

The sculpture is carved out of granite.

Jacket (Pink Tartan, consignment), cami (Mexx, consignment), skirt (Skotts Suede, thrifted), boots (Ilenia P), silk scarf (Remoy d'Urville, thrifted, vintage), brooch (Mystery, gift from Mom), earrings (Plum), gloves (Club Monaco, consignment).

As we were strolling along to one of our sites, L spotted Smoking Lily's sewing studio door:

It says "Post No Bills" and "Pray For Pills."

Spotted this wonderful scene of kids blowing bubbles, and various clusters of people hanging out the windows.

 Hey, wait a minute...

Those are three murals!

The arches are real and part of the building, as are the sills. These would have originally been windows in this building, which have since been bricked up. I love that the owner of the building did this!

One of the places L and I went was to Beacon Hill Park.

L walking up the hill as we look for appropriately woodsy areas.

The parking lot area was full of peacocks.

Do you see the two peahens at the top? Not nearly as pretty as the Mister, although his tailfeathers have all moulted off.

This one's for Megan:

Picture taken at Ross Bay Cemetery

SQUIRREL!

We walked past a vintage shop that was open, so of course we went in. I didn't get to do much shopping, but I did spot one item that came home with me:

Just fabulous! This will be great for costumes or steampunk. It's by North Bound Leather and was made in Canada. It was $36.00, which is a little pricey, but it is leather and it fit me like a glove.

We also spotted this great silk tie for L:

I like that the original price is still on it: $8.50.

Check out the groovy colours and flowers, man! Psychedelic! L wears a suit and tie to work every day and this will go well with his orange and teal shirts. He's rather daring in his colour choices.

I laughed at the label - it's Chanel.

Georges Chanel, that is. I'm sure this tie is from the 60s.

Now, here are some of the locations we took pictures at:

The Museum Archives

I love this 60s architecture.

This is a huge hardware/kitchenware/tool/marine/clothing store:

Capital Iron

It's an iconic business here - the building dates from the Gold Rush era. You can by anything at Capital Iron!

Of course, the cemetery was one of our locations.

Ross Bay Cemetery

It was actually too sunny to get good spooky pictures.

This is my favourite picture:

Seawall, Dallas Road

This is near the Breakwater (picture here, from when we flew over it). You can walk down to this lookout from the road, then there is this set of stairs that leads right down to the ocean. At low tide, you can walk on the beach, but it was very disconcerting to have the stairs go right into the water. Very ominous.

And from spooky pictures to...brooches! Une Femme d'Un Certain Age is asking her readers to Show Me the Brooches! and show off their vintage or inherited brooches. I don't actually have many brooches, but I do love them. 

The full collection (not including today's, which I somehow missed):

Oldest brooches are on the left, and more modern pins and brooches are on the right side.

These are some of my favourites:

Top row: lemon-lime crystal brooch from Grandma J (I have matching earrings), probably from the 60s; mink star with faux pearls/crystals, vintage (50s?)
Middle row: vintage copper burst (50s/60s?); gold leaf pin from L's Grandma W (probably 80s)
Bottom row: Stamped Pastelli from Grandma J (vintage 50s); gold shovel with green stone (Mom's, 70s)

More recent:

Top row: Pin with blue stone from Grandma W (probably 80s), snake pin (gift from Mom & Dad, 1984)
Middle row: lizard pin from Lynne (probably 80s), bug pin (Le Chateau, around 2005)
Bottom row: blue stone pin (Fairweather, 1986), starburst pin (The Bay, 2003)

More newer ones:

Left column: gift from L (Plum, around 2002-2003), bee pin (gift from Megan), crow Scrabble tile (Raven's Roost Studio, Vancouver, 2012), S Scrabble tile (handmade, 2012).
Right: mink flower (consignment, probably recently made).