Hurrah for picnic time!

Hi there! I don't know about you, but we've not had much of a summer here. On Friday however, we had a scorcher of a day, something I'd been watching on the weather forecasts for days and had primed Steve that if it delivered, then we'd be mad not to get out for a picnic. And so, at 11am we bundled said picnic fare, beach towels and all the other necessary accoutrements and off we went in seach of our spot. 

We ended up landing on this tiny cove on the uninhabited island of Tean, opting for a two person beach in the hope that we'd not have to share our spot. I know it sounds terribly antisocial, but we do like to have private time together in the midst of the busy season. The little beach was perfect and was tucked in out of the wind making it a real sun trap. 

By early afternoon, picnic eaten, bottles of beer now empty and skin suitably crisped, we were ready to head off home, but not before I'd captured the moment for posterity. 

Yes, it's time for the Mermaid coat outing! Once a year I love to bring out my dazzling sequin coat, preferably on the beach, and swish about in a cloud of self delusional beauty and joy. Here's a link to a previous session. I'm not sure when this became a thing, but I do like to have these references to previous picnics in different locations. Here's another one. 

I featured this shot on my Instagram feed (see here) yesterday. It does make me smile to regard myself as an OAP in bikini and sequins - who'd think you'd find those three words in the same sentence? Another year on and my tummy is a bit rounder as are my hips and thighs too as age creeps up on me but I'll not succumb to comparisons with those who might undermine my self confidence. This is me as I am now, full stop.

The rustling sound of the sequins as the coat billows out in the wind is a delight to me - one that feeds my imagination, ramping up the glamour factor to the max. Mock me all you like, but it's a heavenly sensation!

The sun behind me gives the illusion of a deep tan and flawless body so of course I'll keep this one for posterity too. 

What a perfect backdrop for the Mermaid coat! I honestly can't believe my luck - this is my real life, not just a holiday snap. Steve and I talked a lot about how fortunate we are and have been to spend our days on these islands able to work in jobs that we are passionate about and have the ablilty to island hop in our downtime to relax in these beautiful surroundings.

The last shot and it was time to pack up and go. We'd had a glorious day on the beach, enjoying each others company and counting our blessings . Posts like these are so valuable to me to refer back to in the long winter months. A reminder that summer will come again and my Mermaid coat with always have another outing!

                                                                Anna x

September razzle dazzle

Summer wouldn't be complete without a post featuring this fabulous shimmering coat on the beach. I may be totally bonkers in this need of mine, but there's nothing finer than swishing about on the sand in this glorious sequinned duster. My ever tolerant husband did the honours when I pulled it out of my backpack (not unlike a magician with his white rabbit), during our recent picnic on the uninhabited island of Northwethel. Two outfits for a beach picnic? Why ever not?

The rustling, shell-sounding coat was made for swishing and swooping and generally showing off. I was in my element, gadding about in the sunshine believing my own hype of how totally fabulous I was! (Well at least for 5 minutes anyway).

The coat is many years old now, but came from Topshop when new. It was a Christmas present and yet has been worn mostly in the summer rather than during the festive party season.

If I could get away with it, I'd swoosh about in this at least once a week. But realistically, I'd look like a bit of a loony if I did. (Please feel free to send me wake-up message if I ever drift that way.)

The coat holds magical powers over me - behold how beautiful I feel, and therefore I am! Be dazzled by my shining presence! Oh what fun!

The stark reality of my pot belly and cellulite thighs all melt away as I muse over my marvellousness!

My glittering necklace is by Charlie Dodge, a jeweller we represent at Gallery Tresco. 

Rings are preloved, but still rather lovely. And note how the pattern on my swimsuit echoes the shapes of the sequins...

One final, glamorous swoosh and I'm gone!

Anna x

September beach outfit

Oh wow, what a beautiful day we had yesterday! Luckily I had the day off and by lunchtime I managed to persuade Steve to sneak a half day off too so that we could skip off-island to a remote beach. As we motored off in our boat, it felt like it might be the last chance for a summer picnic this year. And we weren't the only ones making a break for it - the sea was teaming with small boats like ours, all hoping to find a secluded spot to claim for themselves. Our favourite beaches over on the Eastern Isles were already occupied so we turned back to Tean (no), then St Helen's (full of kayaks) and then finally across to Northwethel before we could claim our own island for the day.

I'd taken a couple of outfits for my beach romp. I'm sure I've shown these cover-up trousers before as they're my go-to piece for picnic days on the beach. I found them in an Op shop in New Zealand when Steve and I went touring over there in a camper-van. Oh happy, carefree pre-Covid days!

 

The multi-coloured swimsuit is by Boden, gifted from a friend. The very nature of being strapless means it's well constructed with lots of inner support as well as stretch. I haven't worn it for swimming, but I fancy it would withstand the normal rigours of a dip in the pool, if not the sea.

I was very pleased with the impromptu picnic I pulled together at short notice; I made Steve a couple of sandwiches of french baguette filled with mashed avocado, crisp fried bacon, sliced fresh tomato and a sweep of mayo. I had tuna, tomato, avocado and beetroot salad and we both had some sweet baby tomatoes from our greenhouse followed by banana icecream made by yours truly. 

It's ridiculous how quickly this summer seems to have shot past us, don't you think? Indoor and outdoor life aka beach life for me has felt much more normal than last year when we were all quite jittery about the pandemic. Our guests on the island seem much more relaxed too, although this has meant that we have a rising number of cases of the virus being reported on the Isles of Scilly of late which is inevitable. The easing of rules was always going to result in numbers rising. However, the upside is that the local economy has thrived with the influx of cruise ships as well as almost every bed on Scilly being fully booked for the entire season. It's been a great year.

My necklace is by Charlie Dodge, rings are both pre-loved and sunglasses by Quay Australia. Thanks for dropping by. I'll show you my second beach outfit in my next post, so please do swing by again for another dose of sunshine on the beautiful Isles of Scilly. 

Another picnic and another day to count our blessings for our life here.

Anna x

Summertime picnic

Hello lovelies!

Yes, this was our Friday escape. Steve and I had an awayday motoring off in our little boat to the Eastern Isles for a day of eating, drinking and splashing about in the sea. We've both been working hard, putting in long hours to keep up with things and this was our reward.

This is our favourite uninhabited island giving a Robinson Crusoe feel to our day. As we landed on the tiny spit of sand the flock of gulls took flight leaving us to set up camp on the white brow of the island. Our needs were simply to sit down and enjoy the view. Taking time away from home was long overdue and we talked and talked and talked. We've both been on a loop of eat, work, sleep for weeks and this was such a treat.

The pale turquoise strip of sand is where a beautiful sandbar reveals itself on the low tide. I was hoping we could get onto the sandbar before we went home and kept my eye on things as the day progressed.

And I wasn't the only one to be drawn to the lure of Ganilly sandbar.

Kayaks and boats arrived spilling the beach lovers onto the silky smooth sand as it revealed itself more and more. Steve and I bided our time, waiting until the last visitor left before we headed across.

The water was deliciously warm around the edges of the sandbar, ideal for wee paddle.

Messing about in boats, a picnic and splashing about in the water - that's my idea of a fun way to spend a day off!

Here's an update for you late readers -

I sent this photo into BBC Breakfast programme last Sunday just as I was writing this blog post. They had asked for viewers to send in photos of how they were managing to keep cool in the heatwave. Much to my amazement, and only 5 minutes later this appeared on my screen.

Some of my Instagram followers saw it on TV and sent me messages too! 

Anna 

September beach day

Apologies if you're waiting to see the next summer jacket installment as promised, but I just wanted to share this beach day before it seemed out of context. September has been a great month for picnics - Steve and I have managed to get off in our boat most weekends to escape to another island for a change of scenery. Last weekend we went to Great Bay on St Martin's. 

We plonked ourselves in the middle of Great Bay Beach and drank in the glorious view which included the ghostly outline of mainland Cornwall in the far distance.

I'd taken three beach outfits with me, not knowing which would be the one to wear depending on the weather. This ornate Ganesha top was a gift from a blogging friend many years ago and yes, surprise, surprise I've never worn it before. I wonder why on earth not as it's orange with sequins and beads and it's lovely and bright and colourful and fabulous and summery and goodness, what's wrong with me sometimes?

Anyway, this seems to be the year for showcasing all of these unseen gems so this is another one for the blog. Underneath is a bikini of sorts. Top from one, bottom from another, but they somehow seem to work. The different colours of trim are the only thing to give it away that they're not a pair.

I do wonder if you'd have noticed that this wasn't all one and the same bikini? I've no idea what make these are as I've had them for years. Every summer I check in with myself as to whether I'll brave the belly-exposing bikini scene again and then I get over it. When I visited my friend Bo in Portugal where she lives I was greatly heartened at the sight of every woman on the beach, regardless of shape, size or age, wearing a bikini. The beach culture there is all about catching some rays and the best way to do that is in a bikini. Lots of suncream and skimpy bikinis was the norm - I like that mindset.

The final variation on my beachwear outfits is this pair of pyjama trousers that I bought in New Zealand. In fact the whole ensemble is very southern hemisphere as the top is from Hong Kong. I totally love these trousers, both for the beach and for slouching around at home over the weekends. They tie at the front, are loose and cool - perfect easy summer wear.

Could this be my favourite beach outfit of all time? I do think so. All I need is a frisbee and  we're talking a perfect day on the beach.

This will be one of those heckling from the sidelines shots. Good old Steve for keeping me in line when I was talking too much, generally bossing him about and being gobby!

And this is the boating outfit - not in the least bit glamorous, but very practical for slipping my sandals off and jumping into the dingy. Well, I say practical, when in fact the shirt tails did end up trailing behind me in the sea at one stage. I suffered damp derriere for most of the day! The gorgeous shirt is heavy cheesecloth, a fabulous vintage find destined for Steve who refused to wear such an outrageous colour. It's now my go-to boating shirt, hurrah!

Bidding farewell to St Martin's. We'll be back again, but maybe not until next year! By next month Steve will be bringing our boat up before the winter storms arrive. 

The shots below are from the previous day, Saturday last weekend, when Fiona and I had done a wetsuit swim, the first one for both of us in a whole year. We swam from the beach below the Ruin Beach Cafe at Raven's Porth along the shoreline past the Blockhouse and Cook's Porth, Cradle Porth, along Rushy Porth finishing at the far end of Pentle Bay. If we were serious wild swimmers one of us would surely have a fancy gadget to measure how far our swim actually was. Sufficient for us was the fact that we swam for 55 minutes and still felt full of energy by the end.

This is us, two joyful, happy bunnies full of gratitude for being able to swim in such beautiful clear water. These are always pinch me moments - how very lucky we feel to live here!

                                                                                          Anna x