Hi, hello and how's your weekend going? I had a day off work yesterday and managed to fit in a visit to the beach in the morning. Steve and I both had chores to do, but it was too lovely not to take a stroll out together and combine it with a quick photo shoot. This location is on the bank above Pentle Bay showing the island of St Martin's behind me.
From an aesthetic point of view, this beach looks more attractive on the high tide, but even on low water it's still pretty. See it later in all its turquoise glory.
I found this lovely crisp linen shirt in a charity shop while I was in Truro recently and this is the first time I've worn it. The colourway just says summer doesn't it? Turquoise and fuchsia pop beautifully when paired together making a great impact in this floral pattern. The brand is Tina Taylor and it only cost me £7. I'm often asked how I manage to find these super bargains and really it's very simple - I search each and every charity shop thoroughly, scouring the racks regardless of the sizes they claim to be. I try things on in the shop to avoid bringing home bad buys too. But all of this takes time and dedication which is where most of us falter. We're all so busy nowadays, that devoting a whole day to browsing in this very undefined way might seem like a dreadful squandering of a day off. I think my successes fuel me to have patience with these searches. It's not for everyone, this time consuming hobby, but I love the surprises and the bargains, plus the fact that I often find a new brand that's a bit unusual in design, like today. The frilled trim on the sleeves and down the front of the blouse make it stand out from your ordinary high street linen shirt.
When I got it home I was rather pleased to discover that the pink of the shirt was the same shade as my Boden chinos which I'd bought in the sale in the spring (see more of them here). The trousers have an element of stretch in them helping reduce creasing and adding to their practicality. The brocade mules aren't new, in fact I think I may have had them since last year, or maybe the year before. I bought them in TK Maxx and the brand is Red Kiss. My blogging friend Sheila of Ephemera featured her similar pair a couple of weeks ago which is what reminded me about these lovelies of mine. Thanks Sheila!
I had to include this shot purely for the crazy bird that looks like a flying mini-submarine! Your help in identifying this bizarre creature would be much appreciated. Oh goodness, Steve has just taken a look and tells me that it's probably a bee, not a bird. Doh!
My double heart silver Tiffany necklace was another charity shop buy, this time from many years ago when I was in Ireland. It's a great memento of that trip with my two sisters when we drove around the lush green countryside of county Cork. The silver ring is pre-loved too and the pink ring, (isn't it a great match) was a gift from my friend Maggie.
The silver and pink bangle was also a gift from another friend and the terribly cute handbag was a charity shop scoop. The flowery sunglasses were from Sainsburys a couple of years ago.
It was so lovely on the beach that Steve and I went back home and waited for the tide to flood so that we could go off in our boat for an off-island picnic, however the weather took a turn for the worse, bringing heavy cloud and rain with stronger winds. On the other hand it did mean that the chores got done after all!
Just a little addition to this post, with the tenuous link of Pentle Bay. My friend Fiona and I had a day off together a couple of weeks ago and set ourselves the task of having a longer swim than usual. We swam from Blockhouse Point to Pentle Bay in brilliant sunshine, encountering a few jellyfish, the occasional swimmer and the odd sailing boat along the way. Fiona is in training for the inter-island swim which I did a few years ago and as you may already know I'm hoping to circumnavigate the whole of Tresco in one day - both of us are lined up to do this in September which seems to be coming around rather quickly!
Flushed with success at Pentle Bay. We sat and admired the view for a while, had a drink and bite to eat and congratulated each other on how well we had done. Since then work, bad weather and bad tides have interrupted our flow, but we hope to still get a good few miles in between now and the events. Wish us luck!
Anna x
