Hi everyone
Before I start what about a photo to gladden the heart?
You can see that there is an Admiral butterfly fluttering around the bank at the back of my flat, where I’ve put pots of native geraniums (as in, not the bright red ones) and several foxgloves. This is the view I have every morning as I wake up and pull back the curtains of my bedroom. Butterflies and moths need long grass and space to lay their eggs, and this area facing north is strimmed maybe once every two years. In the early morning and late afternoon when the sun has passed by the bees alight on the foxgloves for nectar – it’s a delightful sight.
The weather continues to be above average for June but the high temperatures (for the UK) we’ve had recently seem to be over. Good, as we Brits don’t have the infrastructure or the stamina (well I don’t) for hot weather. We swelter in our un-airconditioned homes. But I don’t think we should go down the air con way. We just need to build homes that keep out the sun and heat, and adapt all the housing stock not only for keeping warm, but keeping out the sun.
Anyway, enough of my interest (which we should all have) about climate change, yesterday we went to an art gallery in outer London. Yay! And I met with a friend who I’ve known for 60 years!!!!
It was quite a quick tour of the Dulwich Picture Gallery as there were 3 rooms and the artist wasn’t totally to my taste. This was Rachel Jones’ first contemporary solo show. She is apparently renowned for her use of colour and her mostly large scale paintings of shapes and form. That’s my friend’s husband, Phil, standing there in front of one of the paintings so you can get the size and scale of them. As I said, not totally to my liking but, they were striking!
What was important was that I was actually at an art gallery, because ‘looking at stuff’ is my favourite occupation!
So even though I couldn’t warm to the artist and her paintings, I was interested, and that is the whole point – to be provoked and to think, now what is this, and do I like it or admire it?
I think I admired her technique more than anything else.
I really enjoyed myself as I was in my element.
Now as to what I wore. I always believe in dressing up for a trip to an art gallery so I wore a black skirt from Zara that I bought new 2 years ago, a white tee shirt, and a black linen jacket bought last year from the dress agency I use. You can’t see them but I wore white trainers also bought last year, and they looked good and were comfortable!
I accessorised with a charity shop bag bought some years ago and bold jewellery, all of them were from family. I wore a beautiful gold necklace left to me by my mother, plus a lovely bold gold necklace from my daughter. The bracelet is very old and was my grandmother’s bought I believe in India.
I wore two necklaces as I was influenced by Rod Stewart, yes that one, of Sailing and Maggie May fame! I watched all of his set at Glastonbury on the tv, and for an 80-yr-old he was incredibly energetic and sprightly bouncing around the stage. His voice btw, was what you would expect, raspy to the extreme, but what a showman. Plus he changed what he wore several times and I really liked that with one costume change he wore about 5 or 6 white, pearl, and silver necklaces. So, I thought, yeh, I want to copy that! I shall look out for a longer (faux) gold necklace now.
See, always look to do what you fancy with clothes and accessories because, basically, even if you don’t like the word ‘fashion’ and say, I don’t follow it, you can still be stylish in so many ways!
Note that I can see I should be wearing eye makeup, that will happen in a couple of weeks time. It’s not the putting on the eye makeup, it’s the rigorous removing of it that I need to avoid for a few more weeks as superficially the eye is healed, but not yet completely.
The thing is I can see my eyes are no longer heavy lidded as the skin above the eye is nearly over the eye now – caused I think by all the hot masks I have to put over my eyes for blepharitis, but there are techniques to do the eye makeup in a certain way to counter this hooding of the eyes which I shall be experimenting with shortly. But three cheers, it is 3 weeks and 2 days since my 2nd cataract op and I have begun to wear my CC creme, which covers the yellow sun spots and smoothes out my complexion, and I have started colouring in my eyebrows.
That’s all for now, I shall be packing next week for our first holiday since last September – we really need it. It’s just to a self-catering cottage in Aldeburgh, Suffolk, but we are 30 seconds from the High Street, and turning the other way we are 30 seconds away from the promenade and the beach.
I nearly always pack the wrong things but it looks as though it will be warm weather without rain for the whole week. So there might be another blog before the holiday or possibly not.
Until the next blog, with love, Penny.
I’m glad to know you are making a good recovery from your cataract op. Enjoy your holiday!
Lovely to see you getting back into your stride Penny. You look great. I watched a bit of Glastonbury last night: wonderful to see Rod Stewart (80), Lulu (77) and Ronnie Wood (78) on guitar all having a ball. Have a perfect holiday: you deserve it❤️
I know! That set was amazing. Actually I read two reviews that were very grumpy about Rod, especially his voice,, but for an 80-yr-old I thought he was remarkable – and great fun!
Thanks for your good wishes, Christine 😊
I am recovering well, and yes, we’re looking forward to our stay in Suffolk.
Thanks Penny 😊
Penny, I hope your optician stocks Blephacare products to help with this annoying condition, which might mean you don’t need hot compresses etc. They are also available online, of course!
Great that you are out and about again. Aldeburgh will be lovely (just before the schools break up!). If you have seen David Attenborough’s Ocean, you won’t want ever to eat fish again unless you can buy it fresh from a fisherman, which I imagine you can in Aldeburgh.
Hi – yes I use those products all the time and have a rigorous approach to keeping the blepharitis at bay. But when one pops up (or out) that’s when I have to use the hot mask and it really does ruin the eye lid area.
Yes, Ocean was a brilliant and yet devastating watch – the bottom trawlers were ghastly. Actually I adore the fish and chips at Aldeburgh. We like to buy the fish and chips at lunch and eat it on the beach!
Thanks Victoria 😊
Enjoy Aldeburgh. It’s a good part of the world. I also love Woodbridge which is, I think, quite like Lewes.
Your hair is looking good!
I tint my eyebrows myself which saves me having to paint them.
I am also a convert to Nars tinted moisturiser, which is factor 30 and subtle.
Glad to hear the eyes are healing. I had cancer (BCC) removed from my lower eyelid so have lost some lid and half my lower eyelashes but stronger slap on the top lids makes it almost unnoticeable. Thank god for makeup. I’m 71 by the way, right behind you!
Oh yes, we too like Woodbridge and up to now have always stayed there and done the self-catering cottage. But this time, for the first time, we are staying in Aldeburgh. It will be a different feel to it, I expect.
I’ve got very bushy eyebrows that have to be tamed or I would get them growing like Dennis Healey’s eyebrows! But I’m going to a beautician next Monday and I am going to talk to her about various treatments including eyebrows. Can’t wait as I intend to do a lot with her – she’s very good and I think I need a bit of pampering!
Indeed, thank god for makeup. I have begun wearing tinted CC cream and doing the eyebrows, but still haven’t put on the slap on the eyes. I feel rather undressed without it!!!
And great to be 71 – I was very fit when I was 71!!! Aiming to get back at least some of my fitness!
Thanks much Rose – here’s to us 70yr-olds! Oh wait a minute I’m in my 80th year!!! 😁
Hi Penny, How nice to see you looking so well and happy after the last few months of feeling poorly. These things go in cycles that we have very little control over as we get older. There is a French saying “ Au fil de l’Eau “ which I am told means “Go with the flow “ which I think we have to do ,and not struggle to do things which are impossible. I don’t mean give up completely but learn to tolerate some things which we never would have in the past. At my age of 86 and husband 88 we don’t have many huge ambitions but sitting in the sun together with a delicious coffee and looking at the sea is bliss.
A quick note on removing eye makeup gently . I have had cataracts in both eyes and detached retinas as well. But when your eyes are completely better you could try Clinique facial soap. I have used it forever just a light lather with both hands , with warm water all over your face, including eyemake up. Rinse well and use a facecloth to remove the residue . It doesn’t sting and you don’t have to rub hard. It’s a bit expensive £20 I think , but a bar lasts easily 3-4 months. Best wishes Judy from Brighton.
Oh Judy you are full of good sense and advice – love it. It’s so good to hear and share these things. I will go with the flow and am even thinking I might get a 3-wheel, with handles, type of walking aid. I’m kind of reluctant to quite yet as I don’t have a diagnosis but anything to get me out of the flat on my own. I shall discuss this with an NHS physio in August.
But I totally get the enjoying the coffee while looking at the sea. Hope to do a lot of that in Suffolk – maybe with some fish and chips too!
I have quite a rigorous approach to removing the eye makeup. I begin with Simple Eye makeup remover to remove the eye makeup, and then some micellar water for the rest of the face. Then with a very good quality mild soap I wash my face and eyelids and that way I am doing what my optician calls ‘lid hygiene. But I can’t do that quite yet. Another week or so and then I can return to this routine. Then of course after the soap and water, I use a gentle toner, and finally a moisturiser. Phew, I am absolutely a high maintenance girl and I admit to taking my time in the bathroom!!
Thanks so much Judy – I so appreciate and love your comments 😊
Hi Penny,
Always a pleasure to read your latest blog.
Enjoy your time in Aldeburgh, hoping the weather will be beautiful.
It will be great to go to Suffolk which is a place we really like to go to. I believe the weather is going to be good.
Thank you Cindy 😊
Hope the Rod Stewart influence doesn’t extend to your hair ! Seriously. It’s good to see you having an excursion & especially being able to meet up with old friends . Old friends are very valuable . Suffolk is a lovely unspoilt county & Aldborough is quite atmospheric – good fish& chips when I was there too . It looks like our summer weather is continuing , albeit not the red hot temperatures of late , thank goodness. I really couldn’t live in a very hot country having to hide indoors from the sun . Have a lovely time .
As a country we think we like hot weather but when it arrives it really isn’t all that pleasant especially if it is humid as well. Thankfully today here in Sussex, it’s really quite nice what with a cool breeze and mild sunny weather. Rain tomorrow and that’s good for the garden so I am not complaining.
Yes, I am really looking forward to going to Suffolk – we haven’t been for a couple of years. I see Zepherine (see below) has said that things are changing and Suffolk isn’t as unspoilt as it used to be. We will be very interested in this as we’ve been going to Suffolk for decades as my parents moved there in 1973.
Thank you for the good wishes for the holiday – much appreciated 😊
You look so fantastic in the black outfit! I love that you’re going to use Rod Stewart as a fashion inspiration! This outfit could stand up to several pearls and gold necklaces and still be fabulous! I’m not into contemporary art, either. But, it has you thinking which is part of the point, I think. I do love the bold strokes and colors. What a treat to meet up with friends, too!
I hope your eyes heal enough so you can go back to wearing makeup. I’ve had my first IPL session and have two more. Hopefully, that will take care of it.
https://marshainthemiddle.com/
The multiple necklaces were an eye opener to me and I shall definitely follow Rod’s example 😁 Actually I do like most contemporary art but somehow this artist just didn’t quite meet my ideas and thoughts about this type of art, which is almost a first. But the bright boldness and her technique I did appreciate.
Can’t wait to restart wearing eye makeup.
Thanks so much Marsha 😊
Penny, you will love Woodbridge! Lots of charity shops and a nice bookshop for starters. One tip: mornings are usually busy but trade tails off after lunch and the main street is all but deserted and the shops closed by 5pm sharp.
We recently spent an interesting week in that area and loved it, but were appalled by the vast extent this beautiful area is being carved up, literally, with huge crisscrossing swathes of countryside already stripped bare – to establish multiple projects for both Sizewell C nuclear power station and proposed installations connected to offshore wind farms and interconnector projects. I understand the need for alternative energy but this sledgehammer approach smacks of a complete lack of consideration of its impact on the area in general and its Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, Site of Special Scientific Interest , RSPB Minsmere and general tourism and thus, the economy, in general. It really needs to be seen to be believed.
So enjoy your time there while this most pleasant county while some of it is still au naturel because the rest is already razed to the ground, with an attendant loss of precious farmland and irreversible damage to wildlife and daily living.
Sorry if I seem to be raining in your holiday parade, Penny. That’s not my intention, but reading where you are heading offered the chance to let more people know what’s going on: we certainly had no idea until we visited. I truly believe this huge combined project will change the look of this part of the country, and not in the best way. Once done, it will be irreversible. Wicked.
But despite all that, have a lovely, restful time, both of you – you deserve it! And I’m so pleased that you’re improving!
Take care
Zepherine x
That’s so sad Zepherine . Some places are best remembered as they used to be .
How absolutely fascinating to read your comment, Zepherine.
I’ve been going to Suffolk since the 1970s as my parents moved to Felixstowe in 1973 and we went up to see them several times a years. Then when they died, we went up to Suffolk ourselves as the place seemed so familiar. We’ve stayed in Woodbridge several times (the last time in 2021) and I love that town, but this time we thought let’s go to somewhere different and chose Aldeburgh. Actually we can remember when Southwold was a scruffy town and had junk shops not antique shops or worse vintage shops with 70s crockery at £20 a plate! It’s now far too gentile and twee for our taste! Aldeburgh also to a certain extent, but I do like the shops and the fish and chips! I can also say I remember when Snape Maltings was derelict and that again is far too much in a way, so over-restored, as in very much a money trap rather than the lovely slightly ruined place it once was. Felixstowe port of course (which my dad was much involved in during its early days) is just enormous, and we go there sometimes to watch the humungeous number of containers piled up at the docks, but the town itself hasn’t changed all that much, as it’s too much a working port. Orford too, we have loved and stayed in too.
But I haven’t been back since 2021, so eeek, I shall be soooo interested to see what has changed.
Wow, thanks so much Zepherine 😊 we’re agog at the thought of exploring these changes!
I really enjoyed your post today! I cannot imagine living in our house in the US without AC but that is due mostly to how the house are built here. Shutters are decorative and not real here! I miss our apartments and houses in France with shutters that gave us shade. We do have blinds and curtains that help but it’s not the same. Plus house here are not built the same so very inefficient. Anyhow, I enjoyed the pictures of the gallery and glad your eyes are healing.
http://www.chezmireillefashiontravelmom.com
Oh yes, Mireille, we all need shutters outside like France and other European countries do. They’ve managed for centuries without air conditioning by using shutters, having small windows and creating dark houses during the daylight hours. Our friend who lives in Toulouse has controlled electronic shutters which come down at the press of a button and we’ve experienced these and they’re just perfect. Our housing stock is still advertising that they let in lots of light – it’s so wrong. No one is thinking of the future – it’s so wrong!!!
Anyway enough of that – it was great to go to this art gallery!
Thank Mireille 😊
I was so pleased you enjoyed your visit to the art gallery and connecting with long time friends . I fully agree that you dont necessarily have to like the art per se but it challenges our thinking. I did like your choice of outfit , black and art galleries just seem to be a perfect match.
Glad to know you are recovering well from the cataract op and will soon be back to your eye makeup.
Enjoy your break away.
Hi Jill, it was great to go once again to an art gallery and think now what is this saying? And do I like it? And yes, that is the point, it doesn’t matter whether I like it or not, it’s the experience I go for every time. And the dressing up!
Yay roll on a couple of weeks and I shall be back to wearing eye makeup. I do feel almost undressed without it!
Thanks as ever, 😊
Hello Penny, I grew up not far from Dulwich and I’m sure it didn’t have an Ary Gallery then – I’m 71 and left that part of London to move when I was 5. But then I know Dulwich has become very trendy now as I still have a cousin living there who is an artist.
I thought the art on show was very interesting and love the use of shape and colour.
Enjoy your well deserved holiday, sounds a perfect spot.
The Dulwich Picture Gallery looks as though it’s quite a contemporary building but it was actually opened in 1817! So it was there when you were 5, but I expect your parents thought it wasn’t what a 5-yr-old would like! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dulwich_Picture_Gallery#:~:text=Dulwich%20Picture%20Gallery%20is%20an,illumination%20for%20viewing%20the%20art.
The shape and colour of the paintings was outstanding – very vibrant and satisfying to look at. But I just didn’t quite get it. Which is a first for me. But the experience of going was great – my favourite occupation really. And Dulwich itself is very trendy. Lots of very beautiful houses worth a fortune,I expect!
Thanks so much, Linda, for the good wishes for our coming holiday 😊
Glad you had such an enjoyable trip. I often go to exhibitions where I don’t much care for the artist, but want to learn more and be provoked. I like to dress up at art galleries too.
I’m drawn to black at the moment although I haven’t been wearing it. Such a timeless colour.
Oh we think along he same lines, Gail, it’s the experience I go for, not just the artist, and anyway, I was also meeting a very old friend, so a double bonus.
Black and white is very good for clothes, whatever the season, I think. Currently I am looking for a black dress – my July buy!
Thanks Gail 😊
It’s great to see a pic of you again. Have a fab time. I look forward to seeing what you wore.
PS in your favourite milieu!
😁
Yes, will take lots of pics on my holiday.
Thank so much Jen 😊
What a lovely view to awaken to. I have a small garden on my back patio, a few geraniums and a lot of herbs. I say for cooking but his is mostly aspirational. I constantly have to keep the homeowners association from spraying pesticide on my little plot. a losing battle. these days there are far fewer birds, no more dawn chorus and very few fireflies at night. I used to sit on my patio and watch them in the evenings. I do have air conditioning, or AC as we call it. I try to minimize my use of it. I am heartsick that this country has abandoned doing anything about climate. and so much more but I will stop there.
So good to see you out at the gallery. And even though I can see that the artist’s work might not bee your taste I find that controversial art, both visual and literary can spark the most interesting discussions. The outfit is perfect, especially the accessories which make you stand out. Your hair is beautiful. Right now I am having my usual fight with myself as to whether or not to get my hair cut . I will probably wake up one morning and not be able to do anything with it and go in for a trim.
My eyes continue to be blurry and my doctor has put me on yet another eye drop. I have not been wearing eye makeup since the Winter really. Probably the new normal. Just my CC cream, some color in my cheeks, touch up my brows and a bright lip.
Right now my focus is on the upcoming trip to Chincoteague Island at the end of the month. As usual going with my daughter and son in law. making my packing list. It is a very causal place but we are going to a few nice restaurants in the evenings so will pack a couple of dresses and perhaps a pair of linen pants . As I write this is the the morning of the 4th of July, our American holiday. I will spend it at the barn in New Jersey with the pony , maybe take a little ride. I used to do more but at least I do this. getting grubby and not caring about what I am wearing. coming home to a quiet dinner with Asher the cat. ignoring the fireworks as best we can. And in spite of my discontent over situations over which I have no control, grateful that I do have so much good in my life.
Love from New York, Darby
Oh yes, Happy Independence Day to you Darby! What a great way to celebrate it with a pony in New Jersey. And how lovely that you are going to your favourite place for a holiday soon. It sounds rather like my favourite place, Dungeness, which is unique and very natural.
At least our ‘gardeners’ don’t use pesticides, but I put them in quotation marks because they don’t really garden they strim every living thing they can see and cut the grass in the hot weather when the grass should be left as it is. All to make the place look ‘tidy’. I have banned them from the bank to the side of our flat and getting my gardener (a real one!) to strim lightly around the native plants I’ve planted. If I let these Housing Association gardeners anywhere near the bank the flowers would be cut to ribbons along with the grass!
It was good to go to this art gallery. Even if I didn’t warm to this artist, I like to see paintings like that – just because , really. It’s hard to explain, but I like to see and look and think about the art produced by people. Mind you, the boards put up in each room with the artist explaining her motivation were near to laugh out loud, kind of pretentious nonsense. Well, that’s we all thought, anyway! 😂
Sorry to hear about the blurriness in your eyes, hope the new drops work.
And thank you for the kind words about my hair. I too am thinking about a slight cut – nothing drastic. But during the recent hot and humid weather the hair was so hot around my neck. I am trying to restrain myself and not get it cut for a bit though. But I know exactly what you mean about the dilemma – shall I get it cut, or shall I not???
Thanks as ever Darby 😊
I have never been to Aldeburgh but heard that it is very lovely there. And it sounds you have a perfect place to stay. Great art gallery, I love modern art.