Two-Fer: Snow Day Sweater and Evening at Hermann's; Raging and Needing Sunshine

My apologies for the absence, my friends - we had a major snowstorm! 

View from our deck on Tuesday night of the street below

It snowed 30 cm (about 1 foot) of snow over night on Tuesday. I read a good metaphor for Victoria's weather - it's like dog years, where -4 here is like -30 anywhere else, and a foot of snow is like 6 feet in other parts of the country. That's about right. Snow and cold is rare here.

The trees outside the house were starting to coat with the white stuff.

The streetlamp was growing icicles.

And the snow was coming down sideways!

So on Wednesday, I bundled up for a Snow Day. All schools and the university were shut down. People were advised not to drive.

Now, it's not a secret that I am 52 and starting to go through menopause, but I have been having intense hot flashes this week and to add to my grief, my hormones have decided that "Rage" is my default emotion. Little things have been frustrating me.

Like the lack of keys in that picture. Sigh. I locked myself out and had to go down these stairs and buzz up to L to let me in (thank goodness he was still home).

I did get a good shot of the Castle, covered in snow.

I love how spooky it looks - you can see it from all over town.

Anyway, due to the -4 temperatures, I layered up.

Maybe too many layers.

• Sweater - Banana Republic, thrifted; last worn here (2nd outfit) for an October 2019 brunch
• Turtleneck (under) - Bossini, thrifted; last seen here in December 2019 for our Dots marathon
• Flocked velvet jeans - L'Wren Scott for Banana Republic, thrifted; last worn here (2nd outfit) in December 2019 to see Matt Patershuk
• Boots - Prepare Steady, Fluevog; last seen here (3rd outfit) for brunch with Simona in December 2019

I roasted in this, absolutely died. I was so hot, I took the light grey sweater off and just wore the dark grey turtleneck all day.

 The scarf didn't even last an hour.

There was hardly anyone in the office - maybe 20 people (out of 250) in the morning, and up to 50 by afternoon.

As L and I had concert plans that night, I had planned to look relatively chic in my Unsafe Ocelot and Doc Martens (consignment, not tracked but literally worn hundreds of times).

I was sweating buckets in this, walking to and from work, despite the low temperatures. I ended up changing to my Donna Karan down coat (this one, last worn here for Christmas 2019) but didn't have time to take a picture.

• Fur toque/scarf - Danier
• Gloves - Cejon, thrifted

The stuff:

It's not much - I was feeling the Rage. I did not want to go to work.

• Scarf - thrifted
• Earrings - gift from Mom

My walk to town in the morning was slow and careful.

Dear L was up at 6am, shoveling our front sidewalk. The street is entirely under snow.

I was only the second person to walk on this sidewalk.

On the right is a major artery into town. Road? What road?

This is also purportedly a sidewalk.

It was slippery and side-y. My legs were aching from the babysteps and muscle tenseness and fear of falling. It took me nearly twice a long to get to work as normal (a 20 minute walk).

After a frustrating day at work, I hiked home in melting snow (hurray!) but also very high winds, cursing and sweating and really not feeling like going to a concert. I so wanted to stay home and hide from the world.

But L and I trudged down the shoveled and unshoveled (grrr! Rage!) sidewalks, back to town to see David Francey (link here, 'cause I love) at Hermann's Jazz Club, a Victoria institution (link here).

That's David in the middle and those are our water bottles in the foreground - we were close!

We met up with our dear friend Casey and his teen daughters Jacquie and Maddie, and enjoyed dinner before the show. We arrived just in time to catch David doing his sound check, which is when I took these few pictures.

I didn't catch the names of either of the local gents who accompanied him on fiddle and acoustic guitar, but L's review will be up shortly on his blog (here). David is a folk singer, born in Scotland, grew up in Canada. His songs are short and simple, but full of emotion - he has a very gravely voice. You can listen to his full albums on his site here (I love his sound).

After the show and the visit with Casey, both of which were lovely and helped the Rage subside, we walked home. By then, it had warmed up, creating massive puddles - and winds gusting 90 km/hour! I'd slipped and fallen on our street on the way downtown (it was another Rage incident), and sprained my wrist slightly, so I slept poorly last night. More Rage. RAR.

I threw a few things together before bed that I knew would work.

I know better than to tax my "getting dressed" brain and awaken the Rage further.

• Sweater - Artisan de Luxe, consignment; last worn here (4th outfit) to visit my family in October 2019
• Goldenrod skirt - handmade, vintage, thrifted; last seen here in March with pixelated print
• Shoes - Camper; purchased here for $75.00
• Coat (below) - Apparence, vintage 80s, thrifted; last worn here for brunch last weekend

I could have done a jammy dress, but what I really needed was some sunshine. If the weather doesn't cooperate, wear your own! 

I had a couple of people at work today tell me how much they liked seeing my yellow - it really is important for me not to pack away all bright colours for the winter.

I also had oodles of fans of this "patchwork" sweater.

It made me realize that the light grey one above is not in the same league - I'm going to move it into my "wear around the house" category of clothes.

I wore a support brace on my wrist for the day at work - L had it from when he had physiotherapy a few years ago - and that helped. I told folks at work about my Rage - they need to know!

But I what I really, REALLY need is a weekend. I am done.

Outerwear - the Unsafe Polar Bear is a snuggly friend. That deep V opening helps me control my temperature and it is not as thick as the Unsafe Ocelot.

L is wearing long underwear with his suit and snow pants

• Toque - Danier, thrifted
• Scarf - V. Fraas, thrifted
• Gloves - Parkhurst

The stuff:

My feet were very happy in these shoes all day, and they had several admirers (the shoes did, not my feet).

Plain bling:

A few solid pieces.

• Leather/steel cuff - Rimanchik
• Earrings - Tania Gleave, Vancouver
• Lapis lazuli ring - Wendy Brandes

By the end of the day, there were patches of blue sky, and although there's still a lot of snow out there, it's rapidly melting. There was even a bit of real sunshine!

And...I've made it. The Rage has calmed a bit. My wrist is sore, but it's nothing major. The weekend is nearly here, and the couch (and a kitty) is calling. Thank you for listening - I don't usually have a Major Rant here but it's just been a rough couple of days. I'll be back on Sunday, so until then, a very happy weekend to you all.