11 years ago it all started (part 2)

Welcome back to the second installment of my 11 years of blogging (it's a biggie, so bring a cuppa and grab a chair). This was the morning of the 24th of January 2021 taken as I emerged from an early morning swim at Cook's Porth. A morning swim is very life affirming for me, the perfect way to greet another year as I became 63. As always I'll be the first to jump in pointing out my flaws - that long horsey nose, less-than-perfect teeth and so on. However, I do attribute my seemingly fresh looking skin to the restorative powers of an icy dip. 

At the time we were in our third lockdown for Covid19 which meant many of us were furloughed, staying at home to keep the country well. The modern day army that was the NHS were battling away to keep us all safe and alive. This seems like a distant dream now, an absolute nightmare for so many who lost loved ones during that time. I count my blessings that our tiny island was distanced from the epicentre of the outbreak. 

Getting back to the outfit, this colourfest was what I wore on my 63rd birthday, not for any other reason than to capture the day and how I looked. See the full post here. 

Why I swim was a blog post from 2021 explaining this seemingly mad past-time of mine which has been a constant in my life for well over a decade now. Read the backstory of the journey that brought me from illness to adventure here.

By March 2021 Boris had allowed us all to return to the workplace with all of the restrictions and health advice in place to ensure there wasn't another upsurge in infections. Keeping a safe distance and wearing face masks had become our new normal. In the meantime I was having fun mixing colours and styles with this fabulous outfit of the day. Catch the full post here. 

By the summer the nation moved tentatively forward we all tried to establish this different way of living. A July picnic away on our boat to visit an uninhabited island felt safer than ever - see more of that here. 

September 2021 brought A Bit of Hush, a post, once again featuring me in my happy place. 

The end of 2021, and our final Style Not Age challenge of the year. My dress is a fabulous vintage piece styled to the hilt and ready to party or not, as the case may be. Read the full post here as Boris was about to make or break the party season. 

When I'm 64 - that was me in January 2022. Defying convention as always as I wore sequins for a daytime visit to Tresco Abbey Garden for my birthday outing. See the feature here. 

May 2022 heralds my 7 years of blogging, featuring the one and only Johnnie Walker. I was very proud to be considered a friend of both Johnnie and Tiggy Walker who would often visit Tresco to enjoy the escape from their rock 'n' roll lifestyle. Tiggy has continued to holiday here since Johnnie's passing on NYE in 2024. Read the post of my 7 year blogiversary here. 

A height of the summer post next from 2022 and sometimes I do hanker after a time machine to take me back to that place in time - it looked so idyllic! See the feature here. 

Sept 2022 and the Style Not Age challenge was Layered Luxe which, for me, was suitably flamboyant. I wonder when I felt the need to move these trousers on? Aren't they rather fab!

Racing forward now to Jan 2023 and here's another of my birthday posts at 65, but how the heck did that happen? I did enjoy rereading this feature, especially recounting my teenage self and the influences that have formed me. Read that one here. 

March 2023 saw us having a Mother's Day lunch at the Ruin Beach cafe, my favourite eaterie on Tresco. The day was a bit overcast, but we captured a family outing for posterity - see it here.

2023 saw a resurgance of my sewing projects, this time linen dresses were the challenge. This aqua version is the second, meaning I had tweaked the pattern for a better fit - shorter in the body length and longer in the skirt mainly. Showcasing the dress against the backdrop of white sands and aqua sea felt like the obvious place for a photoshoot - see the post here. 

In September of 2023 Sasha and I had a mini break in London to join in the Abba Voyage experiece. I'm such an Abba fan and it really did live up to all of my expectations. The post (see it here) covers my off-island break in London and Cornwall with my sisters. 

The November light in this next post may not be the best, but my fabulous frilled blouse most definitely makes up for that! Call me Sybil features a great mix of old and new pieces brought together to create a super outfit of the day. Catch it here. 

January 2024 was when I turned into an OAP at 67, and goodness, that's a bit of a statement. I won't say that I'm in denial of my age, more that I simply can't believe I've racked up that many years! If society wants to shunt me sideways because of a label, then I'm afraid I'm not going to oblige. This is what an OAP looks like nowadays.

In March 2024 the icon and model Iris Apfel died at the age of 102. In her honour we did a style challenge paying Homage to Iris and you can see it here. I felt a particular affinity to Iris as she had a sense of style that resonated with me, a couldn't-care-less attitude which allowed her to dress purely to please herself, as do I.

At the height of the summer Gallery Tresco was the venue for a fundraiser in aid of the Island Haven. See this July 2024 event in my blog feature here. 

September 2024 was a great month, especially because I was in receipt of some rather special gifts! Catch up on this lovely post - Gifts received with gratitude here.

Christmas cometh was my run-up to the festive season post. Full of island drama and stress, it captures what living on a tiny island is really like - see it here. 

Are you a Lemonader, was a different kind of post from me in Feb 2025, in that I wasn't as ebullient as normal. I'm pleased that I was able to be my true self with you rather than hiding behind a facade of jolliness. Catch the full post here. 

August 2025 and I'm in my element here showcasing a bargain charity shop find - Second Hand Jeans is the post and you can see it here. 

In September 2025 I joined friends in London for a day out and an evening party too. It was a bit of a whistlestop tour but the company made it worth the while and the weather was glorious too. Read the full feature here.  

In November 2025 Claudia Winkleman gave us all lesson in dressing up no matter what the venue during that series of the The Traitors. I was in seventh heaven waiting for each installment keen to mimic her latest outfit. See my post where I copied one of her looks in my own way - here. 

My Festive round up shows a more muted palette than usual for me, but still has a healthy dose of razzle dazzle. Can you believe that was 6 months ago? Catch up on that post here. 

That beautiful Boden suit brings us bang up to date. Featured in March it's one of my most complimented outfits, apart from my Peapod trouser suit that is. If you missed that post see it here. 

Thank you for reading all the way to the end of this mega post. As I previously mentioned I will revisit the two years spanning 2018 and 2019, but maybe you need a break from these long features, so I'll come back to that another time. I've really enjoyed seeing all of these outfits and backdrops again and I really hope that you did too. Please do drop me a comment to let me know if you had a particular favourite post over the years - I do love to have your feedback!

                                                                    Anna x

11 years ago it all started... (part 1)

Hello and welcome to this mega post where I'm celebrating 11 years of blogging. Thank you for being here, no matter if that was right from the start or for joining me along the way, it's been a joy to share my life in photos with you. This first image is from June 2015, a month after the blog started - see the full post here. As I've been gathering images together over the past few days, I've been surprised at all sorts of aspects of myself - it's like seeing myself through the eyes of someone else - and golly there are some fab photos I'd forgotten about as well as proof of my body dysmorphia. Heck, I was positively skinny in some of these shots! And others show me beach-body ready - blimey if only I'd known at the time instead of being so self-critical and believing that I was fat. In the words of Baz Luhrman - In 20 years time you'll look back at yourself and recall in a way you can't grasp now how fabulous you really looked. You are NOT as fat as you imagine.

The perfectionist in me is disappointed that I've lost my hard drive containing a huge volume of photos from those early days, therefore I've had to return to the posts to snatch photos for many of these. Apologies. I'm featuring this image (see the full post here), again from 2015, as it received one of the highest of views throughout the history of the blog (19,373). I expect those were from bots, but feel free to take a look if you're interested.

July 2015 sees me writing about These Arms, and when I return to read it, I have to applaud this 57 year old version of myself for her honesty and as always, the need to draw attention to her flaws before anyone else could. If you have a moment, then please do read this one as it's a lovely post, even though I do say so myself - here it is. 

Moving on to 2016, in February Steve and I went for a cruise which did receive a lot of views so I'm featuring it here in case you'd like to see it. The posts before and after this one show the entire holiday which was pretty wonderful, despite my husband's initial reservations about being stuck with a whole load of people and no chance of escape! For a man who has spent all his working life in the big outdoors, working mainly on his own, he really is perfectly happy with the silence of his own company so you can imagine how challenging he thought it would be to spend a week held captive with over 2000 guests out at sea. Looking back he really did incredibly well.

Please note that I had taken my own advice and was allowing the world to see my imperfect arms without it spoiling my enjoyment of this rather fabulous evening gown. 

In March of 2016 I shared my first Ping Pong Post, an idea I had birthed along with a couple of my blogging friends Ann and Samantha. We ran with this for several months and it did increase my viewing figures accordingly. Do take a peek at this one if you're interested.

In August of 2016 my lovely friend Mel sent me The Travelling Yellow Skirt and that post received over 8000 views! The story of the skirt is worth a read or maybe just look at the blue sky and the desert island on the beautiful summer's day on Scilly. 

In October 2016 I showcased an artist who in turn wanted to showcase me. The post added variety to my blog and I must admit I found the experience to be most exciting, especially as it entailed me dressing up in various outfits to have my photo taken! Read the full post here if you wish. 

March 2017 saw me on staycation so that I could invest some time in myself, namely to improve my swimming. Despite this being a very niche blog post it still had over 3000 views and a healthy number of comments. Stretch, Roll, Popeye can be read here. 

Our summer exhibitions played a large part in my working life prior to Covid and therefore it's only right that I should feature one or two in this mega round-up. The outfit above is from the 5th of August 2017, a typical summer's eve when we laid on the best opening night we could for the artist in attendance - in this case it was for Jenny Ulyatt. Catch the whole feature here. 

This bubbly snap captures the best of my life and my joy in dressing up. It comes from my 2017 round-up which really has to be featured to give a flavour of my life at that time. See My 2017 Highlights here. 

I'm going to skip 2018 and 2019 for the moment and will come back to these years later. Turning 60 was a big deal, not from a number point of view, but because it brought me a series of opportunities the like of which I could never of imagined possible. 

By 2020 life had taken a strange turn with the arrival of Covid into all of our lives. I continued to dress up despite being furloughed as it helped me retain a self of myself. Life was topsy turvy for all of us, but at least I could play with my outfits and derive a sense of pleasure for what was a semblance of normality. Easter Chick was typical of the sunny and wonderfully deceptive sight I conjured up in April. 

By July we were all able to return to work as we attempted to find the new way forward learning to live with this deadly virus. I was keen to get back into the groove which I think was perfectly reflected in my outfit of the day - read about My Signature Colour here. 

September 2020 was a great month for beach days and this shot shows me with a beach body to be proud of - I can say that now with the perspective that only time can give. Heck, not even my lovely husband thought to say how fab I looked in this bikini! At the time I was, as I have been for most of my adult life, under the impression that my figure was too curvy, too flabby, too pale - as ever I was so out of touch with what I really looked like. Sad, but true. Anyway, the post is jolly enough and does capture our idyllic island life perfectly - see it here. 

I was happy to be seen in Scottish national dress in my blog post of December 2020. The outfit was a quirky twist, quite far removed from the notion one might have when the word kilt is mentioned. I loved this look - see the post More Christmas Style Inspiration here. 

I fancy that you may be wilting after this very long feature and therefore I'm going to sign off now and will pick this up again later next week. On Monday it'll be time for our Monthly Style Not Age challenge so if I've not worn you out then perhaps you'll swing by to see what we're up to. Thereafter I'll continue with my 11 years of blogging round-up and I'd love you to join me for that. 

                                                                            Anna x

YAY! My three years of blogging.

Thanks for joining me today as I celebrate three years of blogging. It's been great, made all the more special by your participation, be it with your comments, emails or silent readership - it's all been very welcome, so thank-you!

What finer place is there for me to spend my anniversary than on one of my favourite beaches here on Samson. Everyone loves to get away from it all and this is where Steve and I like to chill.

To be perfectly honest, I wasn't really sure if I'd make it to three years. Blogging is a funny old game, quite lonely at times as you sit facing the screen, wondering what to write that might keep your audience engaged. Sometimes the words flow, especially if there's been something exciting to share, but at other times I really do feel I'm scraping the bottom of the creative barrel.

At those times, I think of my dear friend Carole who lives in Oxford and who used to holiday here on the island for many years. We became friends during that time and still are now. When I get stuck with what to say I think of her and how pleased she is to still have contact with me through the blog; seeing my swimming antics, my colourful outfits and of course, the beautiful island I live on. So this one is for you Carole. As you no doubt know, I've just returned from a dental appointment on the mainland and have had no time to put together a fancy shmansy anniversary post, but I do know you'll be delighted to see this glorious backdrop and the happy memories it evokes of your and Nick's time spent here.

Carole used to holiday with her best friend Teddy and therefore I can't mention one without the other. Teddy laughs that her job entails her wearing scrubs all day and yet how coming home to see the latest from Tresco's fashion scene has her captivated. Not one for dressing up, Teddy still loves to share in the often over the top, flamboyant ensembles that I wear. I think maybe that could be one of the strengths of my blog - we all need a bit of a escapism. 

And if I'm doing name checks today, then I must mention Angela, another long term friend who visits and keeps abreast of things thanks to the blog. Her entire year is a countdown to the next trip for her week's timeshare. These islands have a lure, a heartfelt attraction that keeps her and those like her in this state of addiction. Worry ye not Angela, all is well here and I'm looking forward to seeing you in September!

The outfit seems to have become a secondary feature today - the top was from New Look last summer and the skirt is another ancient piece that has no label to ID it. 

More and more I see the blog as an avenue to build relationships, and all because of my wish to share this island life. Sometimes my life is too hectic and draws me away from the blog, but the way I look at it, is that I'll have something more to talk about when I return. And talking of returning, I have returned from Truro with some new clothes which I'll share with you in due course. Primark came up trumps with a rather fab pair of striped culottes for the summer in a nautical theme. And yes, I did a quick scour of my favourite charity shops too resulting in some fabulous bargains. Be patient my lovelies - you'll see these all soon.

In the meantime, I'll be found (in reality, not on the blog) at our local "Fun Day" on Sunday where I'll be hosting the Cheap Chic stall as I recycle lots of my clothes as well as those from many others on the island. And on Monday it'll be time for the monthly challenge from the Style Not Age collective. I've still to get my offering photographed, so on that note I must leave you.

Thanks again to everyone who reads this and for making my three years of blogging worthwhile.

Anna x