Mom-Day Adventure: Thetis Lake Park; Plus a Wee Shop

Welcome back, my friends! Get ready for another Mom-Day adventure, plus I stopped at WIN on the way home and found a few treasures.

Carrying on with this weird, off-kilter week, our plans to visit Francis/King Park went awry, and we ended up at Thetis Lake Park instead.

August 18th is coincidentally the date that both of my grandfathers died: Mom's dad and my asshole Grampa J (Dad's dad). It's 25 years today since we lost my Grandad, and Mom had fond memories of taking him and her Mom/my Gram on the Elsie King accessible trail. 

Unfortunately, there's construction on a road leading to the park, so although we tried two separate ways to get there, we were stymied. But, since we were in the neighbourhood, we decided to give Thetis Lake a try. 

Hot temps are here! And I am wearing Hawaiian cotton. 

I adore this wonderful vintage dress. 

• Dress - Malia, vintage 70s, consignment; first seen here in July 2021 for a Mom-Day visit and my 2nd jab
• Shoes - Born, consignment; last seen here in August 2021 with leggings and a kimono dress

I knew it would be in the high 20s today, so time to start breaking out the hot weather dresses. 

Although I've worn this dress for Mom before, I tried to style it differently.

Doing gold and black accessories.

I had these sandals re-heeled last summer, but it hasn't really been hot enough to wear them this year.

Masked up. 

I sunblocked my arms, expecting to be under dappled shade. 

Incognito.

I looked very different than most of the people I saw today.

Accoutrements: 

The usual.

• Hat - Heart's Content
• Mask - by Mom

The stuff: 

These are the only pair of shoes I've ever had that I can bear going between my toes. I've had them for close to a decade! I've never found better sandals, period. 

Gold and black bling: 

Some bold gold, and shark teeth! Rar!

• Belt - vintage, consignment
• Shark cuff - Tom Binns, 2012, consignment
• Acrylic cuff - vintage fair
• Earrings - Biko, consignment
• Smoky topaz ring - Anneli Neuman, Sweden, vintage mall
• Hematite ring - thrifted

Mom was very colourful today! 

Posing in front of our ginormous fuchsia bush. 

Mom had brought a painting of hers that she did from a photo she'd taken when she, her mom and dad had gone to Francis/King Park a few years before they both passed away (both in 1997).

That's a very popular view - there are tons of pics of that fallen tree on the interwebz. I love the moss on the trees in this painting.

But here's where we ended up, at Thetis Lake. About it here (all links 'cause I love, of course). 

I amused to discover that some young boys in 1972 claimed to have seen the Thetis Lake Monster emerging from the lake! It turned out to be a hoax (about it here), as their description of the creature matched the monster in an old horror movie that had aired locally a few days before. 

It's a huge park, but Mom and I only were able to do a tiny portion (the orange dots at the bottom, near the "You are here").

When I was a kid, we canoed here (pick up floating beer bottles), and also did the full hike around both Lower and Upper Thetis many times. 

We had smooth going at first. 

Wonderful ginormous trees. 

We approached the beach. 

This is a very popular weekend spot for picnics and swimming, although there is a big algae bloom right now. 

People were still swimming in it. 

We also saw some paddle-boarders and folks with dinghies and canoes. 

This straggly tree has been here for decades. 

The water here is quite shallow. 

When we couldn't go very far on the right, we came back across the beach to the left side.

Unfortunately, the trails here are very hilly, for moderate hiking. 

Didn't work for Mom. 

We strolled back to a big empty picnic area.

And sat in the semi-shade for a while, just chatting. 

It was pretty busy, even for a Thursday.

"Take my picture, Mom!"

"You look so small," said Mom. 

We were starting to get hungry, so we walked back to the parking lot. 

Can you see the mountains in the distance? That's the USA, Washington state. Fort Rodd Hill (last week's adventure) is straight ahead - there's a bridge with a section of the Up-Island Highway in the middle. We could hear the roar of the traffic most of the time. 

We went to the Six Mile Pub for lunch.

It was so yummy! Thanks so much, Mom! I love you! 

I bussed back to town, and had a quick poke in the big Women in Need (WIN) store. What's in the accessories section?

This wide elastic belt, that's what! 

It needs some of the elastic trimmed off, but look at that amazing buckle! 

For $1.95? Get in my basket! I've been looking for a wide red belt. 

They were in the middle of doing a ton of 50% markdowns, so I had a good poke through to see if any good stuff leapt out.

Hello, this is a nice white top, with just enough special detail sto ring my bell. 

Ruffled neck, tassel ties. 

Covered buttons, and machine washable (it's 100% polyester). I need my white blouses to be washable! 

The cuffs also have elasticated ruffles. 

It's by Nanette Lepore and was marked down to $7.50. Add a zero to that for retail! I will wear this a ton! 

I think by know y'all know I adore roses, embroidery and anything fancy. 

That's a black mesh top, fully embroidered with all those flowers and leaves, and it has a matching black tank. One shoulder of the tank is tacked to the shoulder - the other has come off - so I'll probably remove it and wear my own black camis with this. 

Look at that ginormous bell sleeve! Think of all the soup I can sop up with that, ha ha! 

The embroidery on the mesh is REALLY beautifully done - there are no threads skipping from section to section (I hate that, dealbreaker). 

This is the reverse side of the embroidery.

That is impressively clean work! That means that's expensive fabric. 

I have an embroidered moto jacket (Flashbacked here) by Frank Lyman that I paid $177 for (minus gift cards), so I know this brand isn't cheap. 

Half price for $10.00! Seeing that "Made in Canada" made me bump up my estimate of its original retail - a much less elaborate mesh/embroidered top is here for $185.

This was the big treasure, though! MINE!

It's a cape! In plaid boucle (boo-CLAY!) wool, in black and cream. I love that loopy neck! 

Look at how nicely it's lined up in the back. 

Perfection! This is fingertip length on me. 

The collar has a button, a snap and a hook so you can snug all that loopy goodness in to keep you warm. 

The blue lines are by me. 

One of the arm-holes needs a slight repair - the hand-stitching of the (likely acetate) lining to the edges has come undone, but it's an easy fix. 

I gave the entire thing a haircut too - it had quite a few loops here and there that were snags, plus a bit of fuzz. 

If that loopy collar reminded you of something else in my closet, you're correct! I have a woven orange skirt by this brand with a hem that has those same loops, here, last worn in February for a Mom-Day. It's by Arola, made in Finland, and the designer is Pirkko Maki. 

From when I bought my skirt, I have this info: 

Pirkko Maki was the daughter of Pirkko Arola who founded the company Arola Kutomo in the 1940s - there's no source for that, just the same phrase over and over. 

Also, reader Maria dug up this:

What I could found (in Finnish) about Arola: it was founded 1948. First wool products were fabrics, scarfs and ties. Starting 1955, they invested new machinery and started to make twinsets(?). From 1960, they started to export the items outside Finland. They had 300 employees at highest. Unfortunately, 1990's depression affected to them also and they did bankruptcy. They were trying to continue with name "Arola Design Oy" but it also bankrupted 2012.In google search, if you try "arola skirt" or "arola villahame", you'll find some pictures of similar clothes.

I think $24.95 is a staggeringly good price for this cape, even with the minor condition issues. It would sell for over $200 second-hand in Vix's shop, for sure. I think it is from the 1960s - thoughts?

One more selfie for the road! 

Despite having our plans change on the go, Mom and I still celebrated Grandad (not so much Grampa J) and had a lovely day together. 

I'm off now for the weekend, my friends - not a lot of plans, but I'll be back on Sunday with tales of adventure. Have a wonderful few days, and thank you so much for stopping by!