Dreaming of Vintage Treasures

  Ahh, the yellow brick road! Wherever was it leading to? Home, of course! Other than going to work, indeed I have been staying at home. This week, some lockdown restrictions have eased and we are now allowed to visit shops, restaurants and personal care businesses within 25km of our home. I'm not in too much of a rush to go anywhere. Wasn't it Dorothy who said, "there's no place like home"? Speaking of Dorothy, I dressed up as her for Book Week! I was debating whether to go as her or Cleopatra (I collect vintage snake jewellery so it would've been a no-brainer), but figured my students would be more familiar with Dorothy. They had such a fun time dressing up and got a kick out of seeing me playing the character of Dorothy. All day I was saying, "Now Toto the dog is looking to see who works quietly" and "Toto has never read this book before. Can you please read it to him?"  Source: Pinterest Rather than spending silly money on a last minute...

Have you ever read The Catcher in the Rye ? It's one hell of a book.  I discovered it when I was doing a writing course, before I became a teacher. I was the youngest uni student in the class and felt a bit inadequate as I hadn't read many of the great classics that my teacher spoke about with tremendous revere. So what I did was, I'd note the books she mentioned  and then I got around to reading some of them. On that list was The Catcher in the Rye and now it's easily one of my favourite books. I pulled out my old J.D Salinger related books after reading Catcher . As one of the most infamous writers of the 20th century, he has often been portrayed as a reclusive, bizarre person. In these two books, his daughter and ex-girlfriend mostly paint him in a negative light which is always disappointing for a reader. Although, I think you have to be a bit unorthodox to write a book like this. Certainly you have to be a bit mad to understand let alone enjoy this book. If you...

Thanks for your well wishes in my last post, dear blogging friends. After an entire term of teaching my students remotely, I was a ball of nervous and excited energy returning to work last week. I hadn't been around so many people in a long time, so that's why I was nervous but I was very happy to see my clever students again. And it's been a great week, like I never left! Also, thank you for letting me know that my blog photos were not visible in my last post . I've since fixed it. I'm sure they were there when I first posted last week but somehow they disappeared. The new Blogger format must be playing tricks on me! Anyway, I have a fab outfit to share, from last August no less! I was looking through some old photos and found files that I never got around to posting. Rather than disposing of them, I'm going to post them over the new few weeks as the outfits are just too cute not to share!   On this particular day, my sister needed a lift to her theatre group m...

I'm so glad these backyard blossoms got captured on camera at the beginning of spring. They lasted for about a week and then some strong winds blew them all away. Ah, it was beautiful while it lasted! The garden is glorious at the moment. Roses are blooming, the orchids burst open and the greens are abundant. About twice a week, I pick enough greens to fill this colander and we've been throwing them into soups or pasta. These bluebells are so gorgeous. Last year, when I was at my dedo's (grandad's) house, I commented on how beautiful they are. All of a sudden, he pulled out a whole bunch and gave them to me to take home. You've got to be careful what you say around him! Last weekend, when we were checking in on him, I asked if I could pick a few of his lavender flowers and then he brought out a knife and insisted on cutting about 50 more so I had a huge bunch to take home. I love all of my grandparents and he is no exception.   Even my sunflowers are growing! Earli...

'Tis the season to have picnics! And thank goodness for that as Covid-19 restrictions ever so slightly eased last Sunday. Outdoor gatherings of 5 people from 2 different households are now permitted. Taking advantage of the sunny weather and this change in restrictions, my sister, mum and I had a nice day out earlier this week. We ventured to a local park to go for a walk, with face-masks and sunglasses for extra protection. We packed a picnic lunch so that we could have a bit of a rest in between walking. We took some quick outfit photos and promptly put our face masks back on. Don't you just love my mum's gingham dress? It's perfect for picnics and she made it herself! After a bit of a walk we sat in a field and had tuna and potato salad for lunch. Delicious! It was also lovely to be surrounded by a beautiful field dotted with daisies. There were only a few people picnicking so we practically had the field to ourselves. When some giant bull-ants threatened to take ove...