Mom-Day Adventure: Elk Lake Fungi in a Capelet; a Wee Shop

Mom-Day Adventure time! 

Although Mom was feeling fatigued, she still had enough energy for a stroll at Elk Lake. We visited the section near the Victoria City Rowing Club (link here, all links 'cause I love), where Canada's Olympic rowing team trained for decades. We last visited Elk Lake here in October 2022.

As I didn't know where we were going until 20 minutes before Mom picked me up, I dressed for All The Weather. 

As you can see, it was a little gusty out, plus overall cold - and it's supposed to get colder! 

• Sweater - Ralph Lauren, consignment; first worn here in November 2022 with gold velvet
• Skirt - Kelco Leather, vintage 70s, thrifted; last seen here in December 2022 for brunch and a Book Club dinner
• Boots - Aldo, consignment; last worn here with dragonscale in October 2022
• Capelet (below) - consignment; last seen here in October 2022

This mohair-blend sweater is snuggly warm - I have a long-sleeved vintage silk thermal under it to ameliorate any itchiness. 

You can see a bit of the thermal peeking out on my cuff. 

I only had my capelet off while we had brunch at Floyd's Diner. 

I love plaid, and this sweater is such a good mix of colours. 

Masked up.

When I'm inside. 

Ready to walk! 

I also went for a wee shop at the big WIN store downtown afterwards - the last time I was there, I found a fur coat! 

This was a surprisingly warm outfit.

Only my hands were a little cold at times. 

Showing off the awesome split at the back of the capelet that allows me to do a cross-body purse. 

It also has a full back section so I'm not exposed.

Accoutrements: 

Some classy faves - all bought for a fraction of their cost new! 

• Purse - Ted Lapidus, vintage 90s, vintage fair
• Scarf - Pierre Balmain, vintage 80s, thrifted
• Gloves - Ralph Lauren, consignment
• Mask - by Mom

The stuff: 

I wore thick socks over my fleece-lined tights. With no zip on them, these boots are a commitment, but I love them. So badass.

Brass bling: 

Mom liked seeing her stuff, and I like wearing it. 

• Brass/leather cuff - vintage 70s, Mom's
• Poe quote cuff - Jezebel Charms, gift from L
• Bronze ring - vintage mall
• Spinner ring - Twang & Pearl
• Earrings - LA Express, 1994
• Necklace - Mexican, vintage 70s, Mom's

The last time we visited Elk Lake, we started near the beach on the far side. 

This time, we headed to the left and followed some of the path near the water for a bit. 

Just an out-and-back. 

The rowing club - there's always lots of activity here, and often boats out on the water. 

Are you ready for lots of pictures of enticing paths? 

And stark winter light?

Cold and damp vistas. 

The main highway is on the middle-left, with cars and trucks zipping along. 

We could hear the highway until we hit an invisible boundary and it completely disappeared. 

We were alone in the silence, although several groups and dog walkers passed us. 

An old culvert to keep the path dry when the lake floods. 

It's really rusted! 

We had very few views of the lake, and only because so few of the trees were in leaf. 

I went off-path for this! 

Bullrushes.

You can walk all the way around Elk-Beaver Lake - I've done it many times. It's 7 kilometers around. 

An attractive winding path. 

Some walks I see a lot of wildlife and birds. 

Sometimes it's flowers. 

But being solidly in winter, it was a lot of brown. I like the ivy climbing up that cedar stump.

This giant tree used to be two that grew together. 

Its mate has fallen and is left to rot and be food for new growth. 

This walk, we saw so much fungi! Kezzie, this is for you! 

That is not a flower! 

This is an orange jelly fungus (link here).

Everything was damp - water is dripping from it. 

These ones looked like frisbees stuck in this tree.

They were lightly speckled on top. 

Ooh, lovely spores.

Pretty. 

These ones were faintly pink and look like delicious confections. 

Never eat unidentified mushrooms! 

A glimpse of lake. 

I see the island that is at the neck between Beaver and Elk Lake. 

Time to turn around. Mom, what's that?

"Salal!" Salal is filler in flower bouquets, the big shiny leaves around the outside. 

More cool fungi. These ones look like chocolate eclairs to me. 

The tree on the right is being ravaged by woodpeckers. 

Tiny orange mushrooms.

Way up high. 

This path is so winding! 

We were lucky it wasn't too muddy. 

These mushrooms look like pearls. 

Very delicate. That moss is very soft. 

The vegetation here is wild, not groomed. 

Trees are trimmed so that they don't block the path, but otherwise they go back to the earth. 

The one bird I spotted. 

Do you see him? 

And we're back! 

The roar of cars washed over us. 

Mom at Floyd's Diner. 

Very cool sweater, Mom, I approve! 

Aw, selfie time! 

Thanks so much for the lovely day, Mom! I love you! 

From lunch, I bussed to town and had a good browse through the Women In Need (WIN) store on Pandora. I was happy to see a full turnover - I only recognized a couple of things. 

I found a couple of beautiful scarves. 

This one is a very soft silk, printed with swirling paisleys in brown and black against a cream background. 

Gold border, and hand-rolled edges. 

I love the level of detail in the print. 

I was disappointed not to find a name or tag on it, but it's obviously very good quality. 

All scarves were 50% off, so for $1.97 I wasn't going to say no! 

This scarf caught my eye due to the pattern - you know I'm a sucker for equestrian! A very minimal print, with four whips (!), boots, a saddle, riding helmets and a horse, surrounded by connected straps. 

It's a silk twill, and the edges are hand-rolled. From the tight folds in it, I'd guess it was never worn. It's in perfect condition. 

When I buy scarves with images on them, I always check how well they are printed. 

That's a very good crisp print. 

Then I flip the fabric over.

To see how well done it REALLY is. That's...very good. 

Because I recognized the name Celine and I thought this must be a fake. Should there be an accent there? Apparently they just removed the accent recently as a nod to the logo in the 1960s where they often didn't use it (article here). You can also see a wide variety of fonts and do-we/don't-we accents here.

I can only conclude...I have a real Celine scarf, but I have no idea how old it is. And with the half price discount, I paid 97 cents for this. I spied similar scarves on resale sites for $200+, and silk twill bandanas on the Celine site NEW is $385.00. 

I found this lovely sweater in with the vintage clothes. 

I'm a fan of this dusty rose colour and this is a good shape of sweater on me. 

I can tell it's wool by feel, although the previous owner has removed the content tags. It's by Jonathan Saunders for Escada Sport - I found this 2011 article here from Vogue about his collaboration with Escada (note that the shirt/skirt there are $450 and $575). I paid $10.95.

My sweater is Pre-Fall 2012 - picture of it here - and I am sure that this would have retailed for around $350 at least, if not more. It's in good condition, despite a tiny bit of fuzz on the front. 

Okay, yes, this is a Granny Skirt. 

I promise I won't wear saggy tights and a floral sweater with this! 

It's a lovely steel blue and grey plaid. 

Big box pleats on the front and back - it's quite kicky on. 

Have a better look. 

Lovely! 

It's made in Finland. 

It's 90% wool, 10% polyamide, lined in acetate. Don't even think about washing it! 

Another Arola! And it was only $9.95. 

There was a matching cardigan but it was riddled with moth-holes. 

I had a browse in the book section and spent $5.00 total on three books. 

I haven't read that David Sedaris, but I love his humour, L.R. Wright is a west coast Canada mystery writer, and "The Thoughtful Dresser" is a non-fiction and is right up my alley. 

Vizzini, what was your favourite of my purchases? 

"The scarves, obviously."

He likes to sleep on silk, including my scarves (not encouraged!) and L's ties (indulged). 

And now, my friends, I'm off for the weekend! I hope you all have joyful times, and I'll be back on Sunday with tales of adventure! Thank you so much for stopping by!