Winesday Weekend!

Hello, my friends! It's been a very chill weekend over here, with the one and only highlight being...Winesday! 

I dressed very "event-specific" for this with comfy trousers and lots of layers and good walking shoes, but I also took the opportunity to wear this "shopped from the giveaway" blouse that I'd rashly removed from my closet a few months ago.

• Blouse - Catherine Malandrino, thrifted; "shopped" here, and first worn here in April 2019 with the slouchy pants I also rescued
• Cords - J. Crew, thrifted; last seen here (3rd outfit) in September 2019 with turquoise and floral for brunch
• Shoes - Truths Makena, Fluevog; last worn here with beads and velvet for Valentine's Day in February
• Coat (below) - Lord & Taylor, thrifted; last seen here last weekend
• Sleeveless coat (below) - Only, thrifted; last worn here in March

It's 100% silk and the body is fully-lined with a duplicate of the top layer print, so that it's not as sheer as the sleeves.

I love all the colours of the blouse, but it's tricky due to the overall grey/olive/taupe-y neutrals in the background.

I decided to pair it with these very stretchy fine-wale cords, knowing I'd be sitting for several hours, as well as walking for about 30 minutes each way.

 I love this bright acid yellow.

 Pockets!

We were hoping it would be another warm weekend, but it's been very windy the past few days.

Better wear layers!

That thin coat would definitely not be warm enough.

I added my sleeveless black wool coat over it, plus a cashmere scarf and a pair of fingerless wool gloves.

• Scarf - Portolano, thrifted
• Gloves - Parkhurst

I met up with Cat and we walked together to Beacon Hill Park where we all met last week (here).

I loaded up everything I would need for my "solo picnic" in my trusty backpack. It holds a lot!

The stuff:

These are fabulously comfy shoes for walking. The floral inserts make them just a wee bit more squishy for my old feet.

• White gold earrings - Frances Jewelers, 10th anniversary gift from L

This is what I packed for my evening. Typically, Winesday is an "all sharesies" format, but not in these times.

Barbara's baked Cheez Puffs, a tub of strawberries and grapes (my nod to healthy eating, hee hee), a baggie of Rockets candies, chocolate (two kinds), sour gummies and wine gums (I've been self-medicating with sugar), and a 2L bottle of fizzy water and a 6-pack of Zevia ginger beer (non-alcoholic). My pack was much lighter on the way home - yes, I ate it all. I regret nothing!

I made Cat pose beside this California lilac. 

She's also burdened with all her own picnic goodies, and a folding chair.

We hung out near Yvonne's place, in the same park as last weekend, but in a different corner.

It was really busy when we arrived, around 6:30pm. Behind Cat, on the bleachers, were a group of young guys who lasted till nearly 9pm. Beyond them was a group of musicians - unfortunately, we missed hearing them! There's another group on the left too.

Marian arrived! Her husband and her two kids are in the distance - they dropped her off for a couple of hours, then picked her up later.

Joanne is on the left. We were very good with our distancing!

Joanne and Linda are "bubbled' so sat together.

You can see 3 more groups in the background there. We had dogs, kids throwing Frisbees and a dad/son tossing a football around.

Yvonne in her chair. I used Randall's chair, as I don't have a collapsible chair. Maybe I need one?? Those trees behind Yvonne are where we sat last weekend.

We all had our bags and coolers with our own Winesday goodies. Yvonne did a full charcuterie on her wooden cutting board.

Vero arrived a few minutes later, so we adjusted to get her between Marian (who's poured herself a glass of red wine), and Joanne/Linda. 

It got really chilly as the evening darkened. The puffy coat was needed!

As Joanne and Linda set up, I swapped my shoes for...

Slippers! These were a godsend. My feet were so nice and toasty! I've become that person who brings her slippers everywhere.

Caro cycled over (that's her bike chained up to the sign behind her) and set up beside me.

She wore amazing high-waisted wide-legged jeans, and sat in a "rocker"chair, that supports your back, but is smaller and easier to carry than a full chair.

We were treated to a parade of classic cars!

 They cruised by us, then headed for the waterfront. They came back the same way an hour or so later. 

I love that two-tone truck!

 We stood up and cheered, and hooted and hollered at them, as they tooted their horns at us.

I love this beauty. One of the cars (I missed getting a picture of it) had really high hydraulic shocks and did a two-wheeled turn for us, to much cheering!

We hung out until about 9pm when we couldn't see each other anymore (and had to use the bathroom badly!) and then 3 of us ventured to Yvonne's place.

Caro, Cat and Yvonne - we were very careful and kept our distances, with lots of hand-washing. It's the first time most of us have been in someone else's house since the pandemic lock-down order back in March, so we were being super-cautious.

My province (BC) has had around 2,500 cases of COVID, with 155 deaths, and on Vancouver Island, and fewer than 10 deaths this entire time. We have gone nearly 14 days with no new cases, so we are feeling very positive, but still being vigilant and exercising a lot of care around contact.

We hung out until about midnight, and then Cat and I walked home. L had hosted Randall and Casey for an evening of music (also being super-careful), so he was up when I got home, and we chilled out for a bit before crashing into bed.

Vizzini loved having new people around (so I heard).

"I knew them already, Woman." 

It felt so good to see my friends and have this evening together! Have you had any "solo picnics" with your friends yet?