We went to our favourite restaurant in London, Dinner by Heston. It's at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel overlooking Hyde Park. We've been here several times for birthdays and anniversaries. Although it's Michelin-starred, it's not stuffy or pretentious.
Coincidentally I had a new t-shirt from Kettlewell that's called Tutti Frutti. I love the colours of this: cream background and stripes in shocking pink, canary yellow and apple green. I'm wearing it with the skirt I rediscovered -see last week's post - which also came from Kettlewell, in 2013. Apart from the t-shirt, everything was shopped from my wardrobe: belt from Madeleine, necklace from Boden, sandals from Topshop, bag from Cambridge Satchel Co.
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Dear friends. Amazing to think we are already nearly at the halfway point of the year. I've decided to change the format of this post, so instead of covering each day of the month and what I did, I'm summarizing and grouping the activities, and adding my fashion buys.
It was a fairly quiet month in terms of outings. The weather was very mixed, a few sunny days but also quite a few cloudy days with showers.
There were two meetings with Kettlewell Colour Club members: the second gathering of the Colourful Croydon Coffee Club (below), and the first meeting of the Kent women, near Maidstone. As I discussed in this post, these meet-ups are a wonderful way for midlife women to meet and connect.
And here are the shoes I wore with my jewel blue and teal outfit. They're from Embassy London and come in a rainbow of colours. Socks from Boden (old).
I went with Meet Up for a walk along the local canal, down to the Walthamstow Wetlands where some of us had lunch. The plan was to visit the William Morris Gallery as well, but unfortunately it was closed, so that's been rearranged for later in June.
John's daughter and son-in-law had their first baby, Olive Ree. I now have two step granddaughters. We will see a lot of Olive because they live very close to us.
April and May are my favourite times in the garden - the garden springs back to life and the bulbs shoot forth, while in May the roses are in their full glory, along with the other cottage garden plants. I had a couple of sorties to the garden centre. I've now planted several containers and squeezed a few more plants into the border.
Trying Auriculus
A few years ago I bought a plant theatre with a view to having auriculas, the wonderfully complex primulas. They look as if they are works of art. I did once use the theatre for a display of purple polyanthus, but I've never had any auriculas until now.
I bought four, and now think I've bitten off more than I can chew. They like very specific conditions and are ideally displayed in vintage terracotta pots. I haven't yet got to grips with it. But I have started following auricula growers on Instagram for their tips and pictures.
Below: the roses at the front of our house in May. I got rid of three which were in the middle row because there was too much over crowding. It's much easier now for me to get into the bed and tackle the weeds. There are two varieties of rose, Gertrude Jekyll and Scepter'd Isle. They're both repeat flowerers. I will feed them after the first flush and they'll give another display in September.
I rediscovered Pilates, and thanks to an excellent teacher, am keen to start taking regular classes. My legs are often a bit achey, and one of the knees "pops out" during the night, which is very uncomfortable. But after one class with this teacher, my aches and pains had gone, temporarily.
I probably did fewer walks in May because I was fed up with the weather. But I saw the longhorns a few times - a group of them stayed out all through winter, because the weather was fairly mild.
Meanwhile Yates Meadow, which is a steep climb, now has a new bench at the top of the climb.
Getting Well Armed
I'm on a mission to tone my arms and shoulders ready for a beach holiday in Greece. I've been doing several different exercises and following a YouTube workout by Caroline Girvan.
One thing that has made a huge difference to my arms is retinol. I've been using Lixirskin Universal Emulsion mixed with their Night Shot Retinol (not gifted). They recommend using it on your arms, hands and decolletage as well. Well, the difference is amazing. The crepey skin that we older women get on the "bingo wings" has more or less disappeared. I buy Lixirskin directly from the brand because they usually include a few samples.
New Clothes and Jewellery
I keep a record of all the clothes I buy, mainly because with my Kettlewell collection it's useful to have a list of what I've got and the exact colour names.
I bought a skirt in the Kettlewell sale, the Millie in pink leopard. I don't normally "do" animal print but the shape and length of the skirt is perfect for a gamine, and the colour goes well with my other winter pinks, hot pink and fuchsia (shown in a different print and colour).
I also bought a silver sequinned skirt from French Connection, reduced in price at Asos, (sold out) and a beautiful hot pink dress with a roll collar from The Pretty Dress Company, which I'll wear on a couple of big occasions that are coming up. It needs taking up about four centimetres.
In May I bought a few necklaces - Georgian collet style, for layering. There are two shops on Etsy where I buy them: Lynn's Gem Creations (UK) and Sacred Cake (US). They're quite pricey when bought to layer up, as Anna Wintour does, but they are heirloom pieces.
Dear friends. I wrote a few months ago about the challenges of meeting new friends in midlife, particularly when you've lived in many places and your friends live a long way away. Well, since then I have become immersed in a wonderful organic initiative, built around colour, that has introduced me to many wonderful women.
