Welcome to my island home

View across Old Grimsby bay to Blockhouse Castle.

Blockhouse cottages are nestled below. I lived here with my husband when we were first married 34 years ago, and I have fond memories of those days.

This new development, the Sea Garden cottages, has replaced the Island Hotel at Old Grimsby.

Looking towards St Martin's from the vantage point of the Blockhouse Castle.

Same vantage point, but looking towards the Eastern Isles.

The cows were a favourite subject for my artist friend, Kathy Todd, when she lived here.

This little chap was keen to have a look at me looking at him.

I live here at the foot of the hill with this idyllic view across New Grimsby bay to Bryher.

Here comes the inter island freight launch delivering all the goods.

And this is the view from outside my house.

It's 6 months since I started my blog and I thought it might be nice to show you all some of the sights around my home. I travelled to the Scilly Isles in 1978 as a backpacker looking for a summer job, and never left. I love living on an island, and can't imagine not being within striking distance of the sea. We Brits seem to be obsessed with the weather, but that's nothing compared to what it's like if you live on an island. If it's foggy the planes might not fly or if it's blowing a gale then the ship might not sail. Conversely when the sun shines, we rave about how lucky we are, and seeing the sunset above, you can surely understand why. We have a boat instead of a car, and the rush hour comprises of a mix of tractors, bikes and golf buggies, with a jet boat bringing the children across from Bryher for the school run. 

The Isles of Scilly are a popular tourist resort drawing people from not only the West Country, but all over the UK and also from Europe and beyond. Our mild climate benefits from the warm waters of the Gulf stream, but as a hardened sea swimmer, I never seem to find that particular drift myself when I'm splashing about out there! The islands have very little pollution meaning that the quality of light here is extraordinarily clear, therefore is a real draw for artists and photographers alike. We also have a huge influx of bird watchers come here in the autumn to chase a rare specimen which has been blown off course from another country. 

These islands seem to weave their magic around our visitors with a very high percentage returning year after year. Accommodation gets booked up by regulars who re-book mostly before they've even left. Island life is community spirited, and we work for a common aim - to make our little islands thrive. It's a privilege to live and work here and a joy to have such a beautiful, healthy environment to raise a family in. My children are all grown up now, but they benefited from a close-knit upbringing, where their schooling was on the islands amongst life long friends. Island life is a blessing, and those of you who also live this kind of life will echo my sentiments, I'm sure.

Zebra print tights

I have to say that going into autumn is never an easy time for me. I suffer a touch of S.A.D. and the winter months loom large. We, in the Northern hemisphere,watch the sun heading South and for many it's a journey we wish we could take too. In February of this year Steve and I travelled to New Zealand to visit friends and it was such a wonderful bonus to find ourselves slap, bang in the middle of summer. To feel the sun on your back relaxes all of those muscles that have been hunched up against the cold all winter, and the warmth of the rays on the face has the same soothing effect. Small wonder we all look so damned good in our holiday snaps!

I've found a new backdrop today as the sea is starting to look a bit grey rather than the twinkly temptation it was during the summer months. Also, this pampas grass is great to offset my zebra print tights. I bought these in a bundle from eBay a couple of years ago, but today is the first time I've worn them. I love this textured pencil skirt, but thought it might look a bit boring, so enter stage left these amazing tights, swiftly followed by my rose gold brogues (I still get a little thrill just mentioning rose gold and brogues all in the same sentence). I think this fluffy jumper is a great zingy colour and I must admit I'm a sucker for fluffy numbers as you'll no doubt see over the forthcoming months. The jacket was a recent charity shop find, and just needed some new buttons to bring it back into life. Suede jackets like this used to be called "car coats", but I have no idea why. Do you? Please let me know if you do.

Jacket: charity shop. Skirt: charity shop. Sweater: Tesco. Blouse: charity shop. Tights: eBay. Shoes: TK Maxx. Cream flower ring: charity shop; Tan flower ring: Dorothy Perkins. Handbag: charity shop.

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The poncho

As we reach progress further in autumn, I'm having to concede that an extra layer is a necessity rather than an option, sadly. I suppose it does give me the chance to bring out all of my winter woollies including this fluffy poncho which can't really make it's mind up. Is it just a big jumper or a fully fledged poncho? Whichever, it's very snuggly and was a cosy buffer against the onshore wind during our early morning photo shoot.  I've paired it up with these rather lovely tweed trousers which have a sleek satin lining, again a little protection from the chilly weather. They were my bargain of day when I was last shopping at TK Maxx. The label price was £415 with a reduction down to £59.99 - oh, how I love a bargain! With a mid rise and slouchy pockets, they pretty much ticked all the boxes and when I tried them on the leg length was ideal for me too. The deal was done!

I've worn them today with my two tone heeled brogues which have been waiting in the wings for their blog debut. The extra height is just what I needed to stop the trousers looking a bit heavy, even chunky on my less than lithesome thighs. Another debut piece is the extra long necklace which is in perfect proportion with the oversized jumper/poncho. Thanks go to my sister Dianne for this, and its matching bracelet, yet to be shown. And the finishing flourish had to be the vintage leather handbag, a recent charity shop find which is a real classic. Autumn is upon us and I'm good to go.

Poncho: TK Maxx. Trousers: No 21 (TK Maxx). Tee shirt: M&S. Shoes: New Look. Pendant: gift. Handbag: charity shop. Brown stone ring: East. Diamante ring: charity shop.

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Not dead yet style Visible Monday
Kremb de la Kremb

Paisley print skirt and blue biker

Apologies to those of you who are tiring of this biker jacket and its claim to fame. But if I were a jacket, I would be this jacket. Never have I been quite so besotted. My favourite of the moment is usually my latest purchase, but this has endured being superseded and is still holding strong.  I love testing it out to see what else in my wardrobe I can pair it with. And this surely must be a good thing; to recycle what's here rather than become bored and feel the need to shop again. I know that this sentiment will strike a chord with other kindred shoppers out there. To have a lure in the wardrobe rather than in the shop window can only be good.

I've had this paisley print pencil skirt for a couple of years and it was in danger of becoming one of my invisible items in the cupboard. You know what I mean, when you have loads of clothes, but so many of them don't capture your attention as you're blind to their existence. Sometimes you skim over them for a reason - it no longer fits or is a bit faded, bobbled or the colour isn't easy to marry up. Well this skirt had become a bit loose around the waist meaning that I always dismissed it, but today I decided to add a wide belt to overcome the problem - et voila!

The pussy bow blouse is making another appearance after resting since June when it was featured here. And seemingly this is our latest must-have for this winter season - so wasn't it grand that I had the foresight to buy mine early before the rush! I swear that if you hang on to them long enough every piece of clothing you own will come back into style again. This must be one of the major benefits of getting older and having a slight hoarding tendency. 

Jacket: TK Maxx. Skirt: H&H. Blouse: eBay. Belt: H&M. Shoes: Portugal. Tights: Dorothy Perkins. Rings: charity shop. Sunglasses: Quay Australia.

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Philip Treacy hat

Last winter I was idly browsing through the hat offerings on eBay and came across this Philip Treacy number. How exciting! An original from the hat maker to Royalty and the stars was too good to pass. After some strategic bidding it was mine for the grand sum of £21, yippee! A few days later it arrived and was not a disappointment - quality, provenance, colour - all were as described. But the only problem was the size. It kinda swamps me. I set to, and added a bit of elastic to the inside to pull it in (sacrilege, I know). But it still overwhelms me. From time to time it has an outing, and the bright autumn sunshine along with no wind to cause extra problems made me think this might be the ideal opportunity to try it out again. Maybe you wouldn't have known if I didn't tell you? Terminal honesty is my downfall.

Anyway, I do think the hat adds to today's ensemble regardless of the fit. It's months since I wore this little jacket (previously seen here) and I do love it. It will be great for injecting some colour into my AW wardrobe and works really well with my yellow and brown Boden brogues too. I seem to have had problems matching these dapper shoes with many outfits so this was a success today. The chocolate brown chiffon blouse was a charity shop purchase as were the skinny jeans (my, oh my, how skinny are they!) and as long as I didn't try to breathe I was fine. Bending, stretching, lifting and carrying at work were all postponed until another day when I had more practical trousers on. Suffering for your art I think it's called...

Jacket: charity shop. Hat: eBay. Blouse: charity shop. Trousers: (H&M) charity shop. Shoes: Boden. Socks: H&M. Yellow ring: Martin James. Brown ring: East.

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Not dead yet style

Vintage handbag

I featured this fab vintage handbag in my very first post in May when I launched my blog as seen here and have neglected to show it again. So here I am putting that to rights. My regular readers will know I'm a big fan of colour and today relies completely on the bag to inject some brightness to the post. I'm always trying to mix things up and not be too predictable, and what could be better than a monochrome palette to ring the changes?

I'm currently catching up on other fashion bloggers in my spare time and Patti of Not Dead Yet Style (see here ) had recently put a post up about a similar monochrome theme. In this particular post all of her clothes were thrifted (or from charity shops depending which side of the pond you live on), so were obviously of great interest to me. I'm aware I do harp on about charity shopping and that's because I'm a bit of a late starter with this lark. My eldest sister Sandra, however, has been an avid charity shopper all her adult life and has come across some beautiful clothes in her time. I'm afraid I have to admit I was a tad snooty about charity shopping when I was younger - shame on me! I equated charity shopping with smelly, stained clothes and thought there was little chance of finding anything of worth. I also thought anyone dressed in second-hand clothes would be instantly recognisable from 50 paces. Well, here I am eating my words now! I'd like to think that I'm not parading around looking like a bag lady every day though...

And so back to today's ensemble. The blouse, skirt, belt and handbag are all pre-loved (aaaahaa). I particularly like the skirt with its black trim as it's a versatile piece thanks to the colour. The check blouse is having its first outing and was nearly paired up with a pair of silky trousers, until I remembered I've been posting quite a few pairs of trousers lately. I could have gone down the line of thick tights and flats of some sort (er, do you mean brogues? I hear you say), but I'm really trying to pull away from my default setting. So instead I decided on these fab heels which are sadly not very practical, but do look lovely. I managed to wear them until lunchtime, and then changed into silver pumps with little bows (I'll need to feature these another time as they're quite cute). And the silver necklace was a Christmas purchase many moons ago but didn't work with the silver dress I had planned. Today it's perfect for adding a bit of glitz to what may have been a slightly dull outfit. 

What do you think? Is the handbag the star of the show? Do you have a monochrome moment you'd like to share? I'd love to hear from you.

Blouse: charity shop. Skirt: charity shop. Belt: charity shop. Handbag: charity shop. Shoes: TK Maxx. Necklace: old. Rings: charity shop. Sunglasses: Quay Australia


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Not dressed as lamb