Day 12: Fabulous fashionistas and booty

I've found something else on YouTube to get excited about - an English documentary called Fabulous Fashionistas, which is about ageing, style and living life. 

It features six women with an average age of 80, each with a distinct sense of style and an interesting, unconventional life. They pay no heed whatsoever to what society expects old ladies to wear or do. One recently bought a pair of Doc Martins. Another says "Beige is the colour of death".  

I first heard about Fabulous Fashionistas a few months ago via a Twitter link to this Guardian article, and then somewhere I found more photos and quotes from the women, which had me completely charmed. I might not have loved their look, but I adored their attitude. The documentary isn't available to view here,  but it's on YouTube. Wooh!

'Dressing your age' is something I think about every now and then, especially since I turned 40. I look younger than I am (people tell me so; I'm not being vain), which allows me to 'dress young', but how long will I able to get away with wearing a denim skirt and Nike high-tops, and wearing my hair in a quiff? I'm getting to the point where I think the answer is FOR AS LONG AS I DAMN WELL WANT! 

The reason I mention this today is because I had a conversation with a friend about how we're at an in-between age fashion-wise, which caused me to revisit the Guardian story. 

Boot booty

The boots I bought on sale on Tuesday arrived today. I like them and they fit perfectly. The forecast for the rest of this week is for cool weather (boo) so I should have a chance to wear them (yay).

Tax booty

I got my tax return too. It's gone straight to my savings account. 

Little bits of perfect

I bought new pyjama pants. They were $10. They fit me perfectly.

My shopping buddy and I arrived at DFO in the drizzle, but emerged into a perfect sunny afternoon.

We ate dinner at a Greek restaurant in the Docklands. Mmmm, lamb. It was cooked to perfection.

Thunder! Rain! Leaf! Skirt!

I woke up this morning to thunder and rain. Eureka Tower had its head in the clouds when I left for work and there was another thunderstorm in the afternoon. The lights at work flickered and my computer turned off. I had my fingers crossed for a black out so we could go home, but no such luck. Oh well. The rain was great. We still badly need it.

Still alive

The new leaf on my almost-dead deiffenbachia is unfurling verrrrrrrry slooooowwwwly. I thought its resurrection might have stalled mid-furl, but no - every day it unravels a tiny bit. It looks healthy.

New

I wore a new skirt to work today. It's nice having something different to wear instead of the same work clothes. Also, it only cost me $10 at the new South Wharf DFO.

Easter epic - Part II

Well, Easter's just about over and done with for another year. I've had an eggcellent (sorry!) loooooong weekend.

On Saturday, I met my friend Paul for brunch at Gluttony on Smith Street in Collingwood. A couple sitting near us had a tiny and adorable Maltese/Shitzu puppy which seemed to take a liking to me, or more likely to the aroma of bacon coming from my plate (I know, what diet?). Lots of people passing by stopped to gush over the pup and pat it.

It was an overcast morning, but in the afternoon the sun came out and it was warm. I wandered up to Brunswick Street and poked about the book stores and clothes shops. I didn't buy any books but I did buy a T-shirt (below). They had one with 'Far out brussels sprout' on it too which I got excited about but I couldn't find one in my size. Dang!

I walked back in to the city via Gertrude Street where I could see the sun setting behind the dome of the Exhibition Building and illuminating the arched windows with golden light.

When I got to the city, I jumped on the City Circle tram for a spin through the docklands and then I walked home from Flinders Street, arriving in the dark.

On Sunday, I spent the afternoon and early evening at my Dad's. My brother, whom I haven't seen in over 12 months, was over from Adelaide and it was good to see him. We had a yummy roast lunch, and ate lots of Easter treats (including the truffles and chocolate spiders I made).

Sunday

Today I slept in, chatted to a friend on the phone and walked into the city in the warm sunshine and went to the gym. Yep, again! Three times in nine days. Just got to keep it up now...

I walked home again afterwards and nipped into the Botanic Gardens to enjoy the late afternoon sun (along with a horde of other people) and to take some macro shots of flowers. When I was crouching down to take one shot, a little boy with his face painted like Spiderman stopped to talk to me. He spotted the black and white stripey feather I'd picked up along the river bank and said he thought it was from a peacock.

At last!

Oh, and tonight I FINALLY finished the book I have been labouring over for about two months now - The End of Food by Paul Roberts. It's really put me behind in my goal to read 40 books this year but I'm glad I got through it and please to be able to start on a new book.

I would have abandoned the book, but it was really interesting - I wanted to finish it. It was just that it was so large and fat and I only managed to knock over a few pages a night before bed because my brain was too tired to concentrate.

One thing in the book I loved was the description of an alternative, sustainable, closed-loop method of rice farming in Japan which substitutes peckish ducklings for chemical pesticides.

"Each June, Takao Furuno releases hundreds of ducklings into his newly planted rice paddies, the ducklings ignore the seedlings (which contain too much of the mineral silica for their liking) but gobble up insects and weeds. Their waste fertilizes the rice, while their contant churning of the paddy bed stimulates the roots of the rice plants to grow faster...In the fall, Furuno removes the ducks (who would otherwise eat the mature rice) to a barn, where they produce eggs and grow to market weight..."

He sells the rice and the ducks and the eggs. How cool is that? Remarkably, his paddies produce about as much rice as his neighbours' paddies, which are more conventionally farmed.

Speaking of ducks, check out this duck I saw on the Yarra today. Usually I just see brown ones.

In praise of woolly socks and Billy Idol

I got caught in the rain without an umbrella today. By the time I got home the damp had soaked through my sneakers and into my socks. My jeans were very soggy along the bottom third of each leg.

It was nice to change into dry clothes when I got home. I especially enjoyed pulling on a pair of new, thick socks. After months of thong (flip flop) weather, it's nice to have my toes cosy in woolly socks and to rug up just a little when I go out. I'm looking forward to wearing my new gloves and boots.

I'm confident my enthusiasm for extra layers will wane once winter arrives, however.

Thank you, Billy

I went back the gym yesterday after a (cough) six month absence. I wasn't as unfit as I expected and I even managed to run for a bit, but I owe some of that to Billy Idol. Let me explain...

You see, whenever I listen to To Be a Lover, I can run like the wind, even after six months of no running, even after a bunch of lunges that left my quads feeling like noodles (even if it was only for five minutes!). That song is magic for me. I have other high-energy songs on my iPod, but they just don't do it for me like To Be a Lover. I'm going to listen to it on repeat during every gym visit.

I don't think it has anything to do with the fact I was mad about Billy Idol in my teen years...that sneer...the pelvic thrusts...the leather...the bare chest...I listened to his greatest hits all the way home too. (Yes, I have them on my iPod. What of it?)

PS The not-so-gleeful bit is that today I could barely roll over in bed, much less get out of it. I've been waddling about like an arthritic penguin. (I probably wouldn't have got so damp in the rain if I'd been able to walk at my usual cracking pace.) But it's good pain. Good. Pain. *grimaces*