Turquoise and Black

 

An older photo today of a turquoise top that I recently found in the back of my wardrobe and a black work skirt. I had forgotten about the top and have not worn it for at least two years so in a way my "find" is like a new item of clothing. You can tell that the photo is a few years old as my hair is a lot lighter than it is now!

 

The skirt cost me £3.50 and is a straight knee length black skirt which I wear regularly to the office during the summer with a white blouse. Now that the weather has really warmed up at last in the UK, my black trousers have been replaced by black skirts.

 

Hopefully, I will have some new charity shop bargains to post about next week.

Casual Top

A more casual look this week. I bought this top for 50p. It was in a bargain bin in my local charity shop. They put items in there which have not sold for six weeks before they go for recycling. It is in good condition and will be ideal for wearing in warmer weather and on holiday. For 50p you can't go wrong!

I am not certain about the trousers however. I have been looking for some more casual, lightweight trousers for the summer - you will remember I don't wear denim jeans. However trousers are a tighter fit than I am used to and I would be very self conscious if I wore them in public. If I did wear them in public I would wear a longer top or tunic to cover my rear to preserve my modesty standards.

I am not sure if I should keep them or donate them back to the charity shop and I would welcome your thoughts.

Turquoise Tunic - and my 100th Post!

I notice that this is my 100th post and I thought it would be appropriate to show you my turquoise tunic.

I recently managed to buy this for £2.00 in a charity shop. It is actually a size too large for me but I think the looser fit still looks OK on me. Turquoise is one of my favourite colours which helped me to decide to buy it.

I wear tunics or similar long tops a lot when I wear trousers as I am still self conscious of showing my bottom in public. Although I have been wearing trousers for well over two years now I still can't overcome this problem. Do other ladies feel this way? No doubt it is due to maintaining my modest style of dress which I feel is important.

Green Top

My latest charity shop find is this top in a pastel shade of green. It is still too cold to wear it like this outside and I soon put a jumper on when Hannah had finished taking the photos. The top cost me £1.00 on a reduced rail and it is in nearly new condition.

The skirt was a charity shop purchase some time ago. I put it in the wardrobe and forgot about it until I was having a tidy session a few weeks ago. It is of a length I prefer as I like my skirts to be knee length of longer where possible. It has an unusual pattern of little brown squares which get darker in colour towards the bottom of the skirt. I think it goes well with the top and I hope that this outfit will get plenty of wear if we get some decent weather this summer.

Work is still hectic and getting me down but at least we have a long weekend with the May Day Bank Holiday. I have been busy in the garden and I find some physical work outdoors in my vegetable patch somehow makes me feel better and helps to release the pressure which had built up during the week.

The Pressure of Work

I have been having a difficult time at work since our holiday. It is the end of the 2015/16 financial year and our clients are all keen for their accounts to be finalised as soon as possible. I have had to work extra hours and the stress is beginning to tell. Being in charge of a section, the buck stops with me! I am not sleeping well and I am getting ratty with the children for no particular reason.

 

I am still escaping for the odd half hour by reading my friends latest blog posts but I am longing to spend a day in the garden now that the weather is improving or going for a long walk with my family in the countryside to unwind completely.

 

If my job continues to affect my health I will have to give serious thought to making some changes to my career. My husband has told me that my health and happiness is far more important than money.

 

Even my charity shop searches have taken a back seat recently but I did manage to find a short sleeved shirt for work for £1.00 on a bargain rail. It is cotton and slightly unusual with black buttons. There is no label so I don't know the original manufacturer.

Ireland

We crossed the Irish Sea to Belfast after three nights in Scotland. I hadn't been to Ireland for at least 15 years and it was the first visit for Hannah and Henry.

My outfit is another warm woolly jumper. It was quite blustery and we did get some heavy showers so warm clothes were essential. This jumper was a charity shop purchase a while ago and no doubt cost me about £3.50. I have not worn it that much but I do like the vibrant pattern. Maybe I should have worn green when in Ireland but I do not have any green jumpers!

In Belfast we went on a Titanic trail as Hannah has been studying the story of the ship at school. This is the original memorial to Belfast residents outside City Hall who lost their lives in 1912.

This memorial was added nearby to commemorate the centenary and contains the names of all those who perished. It was very moving looking at all the names.

We then visited the Titanic Experience - a state of the art museum dedicated to the Titanic built in the shape of the bows of the ship - adjacent to the dry dock which was used to construct the ship. It is on four floors with interactive displays and traces the story of the ship from construction to diving on the wreck. We spent about three hours in the museum - it was so fascinating! You could even feel the heat of the furnaces when going through the story of the ship building with the noise of hammering. There were cheering crowds during the launch and the disaster was tastefully portrayed with recordings of the survivors telling of their experiences.

The marker posts show the postion of the dry dock where the Titanic was built.

The launch of the ship - just like we were there!

 

 

A cabin with films of two passengers which gave the impression they were actually there - bringing the display to life!

After we left Belfast we took a coastal route south towards Dublin. The gorse bushes were just starting to flower giving a yellow glow.

 

The centre of Dublin was closed to traffic on Easter Sunday for large scale celebrations so we visited this castle at Malahide instead. It is in the process of being restored and is set in many acres of public grounds.

 

We caught the ferry from Dublin back to England bringing our adventures to an end.

 

I hope that you were not too bored looking at our photos!

 

Our Easter Adventures - Part 2

Our second day in Scotland was drier but very windy. I wore this dark red jumper which, you guessed it was a charity shop find some time ago, over a navy shirt. Please don't look at my hair - it was a bad hair day due to the wind.

We had hoped to catch a ferry over to the remoter islands but the ferries were disrupted due to the weather conditions so we headed north west into the Highlands instead. The scenery was stunning and the colours changed dramatically when the sun broke through the cloud cover.

We saw several large herds of wild red deer but it was difficult to see them in photographs as they were so well camouflaged. Apart from some very isolated crofts there were no houses for miles and although we were travelling on an A class road we hardly saw any other traffic. It was so tranquil and such a change from the normal pace of life!

We passed the ruins of Ardvreck Castle which was destroyed by lightning many years ago and was the scene of the grizzly murder of the Marquis of Montrose in 1650!

A typical rural Scottish cottage - such a lovely setting by a stream crossed by an ancient stone bridge.

The hillsides are mainly devoid of trees but there were groups of silver birches in the glens.

Our trip ended by the sea at this lovely little fishing port of Lochinver where we enjoyed a home cooked meal in a little family owned cafe.