tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-72113539489672212742024-03-15T08:24:26.573+00:00Crinoline RobotVintage, alternate histories and the world of tomorrow!Mimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01578612522819952936noreply@blogger.comBlogger1093125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7211353948967221274.post-88983953892563038022024-02-04T12:32:00.003+00:002024-02-04T12:32:34.678+00:00Colour Revolution at the Ashmolean MuseumOne of the things I've been doing since 2020 is saying YES to more things. This is partly because lockdown made me realise how much of the stuff I loved I'd set to one side over the years, and partly because after the burnout I slowly reintroduced doing things as I was able to cope with more, and it taught me to spend my energy on things I'm enthusiastic about, not on trying to please everyone Mimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01578612522819952936noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7211353948967221274.post-2785408272525450572024-01-02T17:59:00.002+00:002024-01-02T17:59:10.016+00:00It's the end of the year as we know itHappy New Year!*Looks back*Well, wasn’t I a rubbish blogger last year? Seven posts? I keep thinking I should let this blog go, but I’ve put loads of time into it, and met great people through it, so I’m reluctant to do that. And if I only managed seven posts in 2023, it must be possible to do better in 2024.So, let’s start with a few of the things I did and never got round to telling you about…Mimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01578612522819952936noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7211353948967221274.post-61891765803170816872023-10-21T16:44:00.002+01:002023-10-21T16:44:31.950+01:00Toulouse or not Toulouse? That is the Carcassonne!I really loved the buildings with visible timbers. Because I've been a Bad Blogger for months, I haven't posted about our September trip. After our visit to Maastricht in May, I wanted to go somewhere new to us, but not necessarily challenging – somewhere we'd cope with the language and the lifestyle wouldn't be radically different. Mr Robot's always wanted to visit Carcassonne, flights go Mimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01578612522819952936noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7211353948967221274.post-5957597769576544172023-10-19T09:39:00.001+01:002023-10-19T09:39:32.301+01:00Bloofer lady and gent: Anjelica Huston and Raul Julia"I would die for her. I would kill for her. Either way, what bliss."It is October, and so I have risen from my blogging grave to bring you this year's scream-summoning saucepot. But in compensation for my appalling lapse (I thought I'd been away from you for a month, but it's been several) I am going to give you two horrifying hotties at once. Because who could separate these two, choose one Mimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01578612522819952936noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7211353948967221274.post-55160361107589782792023-06-17T16:17:00.001+01:002023-06-17T16:17:59.062+01:00Wench!I thought I'd blogged about this finished sewing project, but I appear not to have done, so behold my wenchy top. The pattern is Butterick 4685, and the cotton is an embroidered batiste that I got online but the site has since signed out.2020s lockdown had a big effect on me in many ways. Weight gain was one. I also found what I enjoyed wearing shifted a fair bit – without the opinions of other Mimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01578612522819952936noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7211353948967221274.post-38579212426897439062023-06-03T12:24:00.004+01:002023-06-03T12:24:56.730+01:00Maavelous MaastrichtMr Robot inside t'PothuiskeMy husband turned 50 at the start of May, and I'd been planning a very special trip for him for some time. Years ago* we went to Maastricht for the day with his mum, and his aunt and uncle who live in Eindhoven in the Netherlands. He fell in love with the city, and has said every so often ever since that he'd like to go back for longer. As it was a Big Birthday – 50 – Mimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01578612522819952936noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7211353948967221274.post-67204859945737478692023-04-29T15:56:00.003+01:002023-04-29T15:56:57.730+01:00Hobbit-formingBehold, the first selfie I took in 2023. (Yeah, body image issues.) But this was a fun one, taken over the long Easter weekend when we redecorated the dining room.Can you call it redecorating if it's the same colour? Our house is a late Victorian two-up-two-down red brick terraced house, which had an extension put on the back at some point in the 1980s or 1990s, and as a result the dining room Mimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01578612522819952936noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7211353948967221274.post-19307684100419680082023-03-21T09:28:00.000+00:002023-03-21T09:28:04.292+00:00A weekend in DartmouthThe low stone building right on the waterfront is the fortress.I'm a bit late in posting about it, but I thought I'd share some photos from the weekend in Dartmouth Mr Robot took me on for my birthday at the end of February. (My 49th, in case you're curious.) He'd asked me where I wanted to go, and I said either to see Strawberry Hill, Horace Walpole's Georgian gothic house, or the Red House in Mimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01578612522819952936noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7211353948967221274.post-59685708083084748462023-01-30T17:55:00.003+00:002023-01-30T17:55:39.285+00:00It's 2023! In fact, we're a jolly long way into 2023, so I am going to bullet-point this entry otherwise I'll never get round to doing a post. So, what have I been up to?* Been ill. For about a fortnight from New Year's Day, in fact. If people tell you they had their worst-ever cold this winter, believe me they're not joking. Mine got on my chest so I'd wake up coughing up snot every couple of hours Mimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01578612522819952936noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7211353948967221274.post-85147325998057759372022-12-26T14:52:00.005+00:002022-12-26T14:55:06.063+00:00Cosy times and Party SkeletonHalloooooo! Did we all make it through the festivities without getting too stuffed? I admit, we couldn't manage Christmas pudding yesterday, and we made the pudding to Mr Robot's mum's recipe. Still, the good thing about those is that they'll keep. I'm wearing my Big Pressie in this photo – my husband gave me a real Aran jumper from the Aran islands, made of pure wool. (He said he had a panic Mimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01578612522819952936noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7211353948967221274.post-49704929432680875322022-12-24T11:23:00.004+00:002022-12-24T11:23:42.183+00:00Ho ho... who's this?Merry Christmas! I may have been a rubbish blogger of late, but I wasn't going to let the season pass without wishing you well. (Even when I don't get round to coming online, I think of all my blogging friends loads, and hope you're all thriving.) Anyway, here I am in an impromptu elf outfit, which I wore for my last working day. I've had this jumper for over 30 years, and the friend of my mum Mimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01578612522819952936noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7211353948967221274.post-10335755729420258952022-11-05T17:12:00.001+00:002022-11-05T17:28:38.874+00:00Don't feed me, Seymour Hmm... the last time I stuck a photo of myself on this blog, it was in virtually the same outfit. Well, at least you can tell I like it. These are teal velvet jeans and a longsleeved olive top; last time they were navy velvet jeans and a sleeveless lighter olive top, but you'd have to be paying a lot of attention to my wardrobe to spot the difference. I'm not one of these people who wears Mimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01578612522819952936noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7211353948967221274.post-20743874244185357232022-10-24T13:41:00.001+01:002022-10-24T13:41:09.671+01:00Bloofer Gent: Boris KarloffWere there better cheekbones in horror? I think not!Did you think an October would go by without a Bloofer Lady or Gent to haunt your evenings? Fear not! It wouldn’t be Halloween without a proper treat. This year’s spooctacular snacc is someone I can’t quite believe I’ve overlooked – the legendarily luscious Boris Karloff!He was born William Henry Pratt – not the name of a star, it's fair to say.Mimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01578612522819952936noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7211353948967221274.post-90781785410680504132022-10-13T13:14:00.002+01:002022-10-13T13:14:42.751+01:00The Dunwich Horror [film]Yes, it's October, so let's make the first post of the month a horror one! I watched this on Talking Pictures TV, so it's sure to be repeated on there at some point."Is it weird that a single bloke has lingerie in my size in his house? Naaaaah, I'll trust him."Leaving aside all arguments about HP Lovecraft’s merits as a writer (I think he did have some) and a person (definitely a terrible racist)Mimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01578612522819952936noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7211353948967221274.post-34157862553241569662022-09-08T09:34:00.000+01:002022-09-08T09:34:08.491+01:00A finished makeIs this... organisation? Summer's flakiness appears to be wearing off and I'm finally getting my act together (even reading through some blogs this morning, though I didn't leave comments 'cos you'll be thinking 'Hang on, I wrote this in June'). I hadn't realised it had been quite so long since my last post. Could've sworn I did one at the end of August/start of September, but no.Anyway, I got Mimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01578612522819952936noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7211353948967221274.post-27748559537718698732022-08-01T13:59:00.001+01:002022-08-01T13:59:28.095+01:00Some don't like it hotRight, I am not going to apologise for being rubbish at this blogging lark, because apologies are only worth anything if there's a real intention to change, and it's obvious that despite knowing I'm being rubbish I am not changing. I'm trying to catch up with reading everyone's blogs, only Bloglovin' no longer appears to be working, so if anyone can recommend me a blog reader that'd be ace. Mimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01578612522819952936noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7211353948967221274.post-54111584097958479902022-07-13T13:36:00.002+01:002022-07-13T13:36:40.722+01:00They come running just as fast as they can… Suit by Randi Rahm, worn by Billy Porter to the 2019 Golden GlobesErrr... So somehow I missed the whole of June. I hadn't realised it had been that long!I have been getting out and about. On 16 June I met up with Gisela and we went to the V&A to see the exhibition 'Fashioning Masculinities: The Art Of Menswear'. It was a really interesting exhibition, starting with idealised versions ofMimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01578612522819952936noreply@blogger.com14tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7211353948967221274.post-44705655033735480022022-04-27T13:37:00.000+01:002022-04-27T13:37:07.477+01:00Green and white all overA work in progress. We've got a lot of grasses and hostas on order to fill the dirt.We have finally given up trying to maintain our veg patch. The usual cycle would be enthusiasm in spring > early summer growth > ATTACK OF THE WEEDS > pretend we can’t see the veg patch for the rest of the year. And so we’re turning it into a space we’ll use. We have a longish but narrow back garden.Mimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01578612522819952936noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7211353948967221274.post-8016165721182670272022-04-02T14:20:00.002+01:002022-04-02T14:20:53.328+01:00Pottering around in RobotlandGuess what? I'm ill again. I don't think it's anything I picked up in Cardiff – Pete and Lisa were both okay; then again I've no idea where I got it as I hadn't been anywhere else between Cardiff and getting ill. Anyway, I felt appalling and have had awful abdominal cramps, so have been working from home. It's going now, though. And I'll say one thing for ilness, it forces me to take a break, Mimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01578612522819952936noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7211353948967221274.post-8496762286104569202022-03-29T13:57:00.001+01:002022-03-29T13:57:45.557+01:00No More HeroesThe StranglersBack in October 2019 Mr Robot and I went to see Alice Cooper in Cardiff, and one of the support acts, The Stranglers, was so good we said we'd definitely go and see them. And so we booked to see then in 2020.Well, you know how the next bit of the story goes, right?The gig got cancelled and rearranged several times. Sadly, one of the founder members of the band, Dave Greenfield, diedMimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01578612522819952936noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7211353948967221274.post-2652959466786392202022-03-10T13:39:00.003+00:002022-03-10T13:39:51.630+00:00I went to London and all I got was this lousy virusYeaaaah so... I was quiet for the whole of February, which was entirely my fault. Then we went to London for my birthday, which was brilliant, only despite masking on the tube and in museums we caught the 'rona, which is not at all brilliant.So, normal service (ie rubbish) will resume soon. For now, have one (1) photo from Beautiful People: The Boutique In 1960s Counterculture, the exhibition we Mimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01578612522819952936noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7211353948967221274.post-74151738245850491492022-01-31T09:26:00.002+00:002022-01-31T09:26:18.355+00:00Begone, January!So, how are you feeling right now? I'm asking because 1: I like you and 2: I've got one foot back in the burnout zone, and I'm honestly not sure if it's an echo of 2020's burnout (which I thought I'd managed to get over last year), menopause, or just the second January running during a pandemic after nearly two years stuck mostly at home. Are we all feeling like this? At any rate, half the time Mimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01578612522819952936noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7211353948967221274.post-80001151262388858022022-01-14T17:36:00.001+00:002022-01-14T17:36:24.229+00:00Happy new year! (Yes, I'm behind...)Oops, it’s been a while since I posted here. Getting back to work after a fortnight off swamped me a bit. Still, 2022 is definitely starting well, and while we’re a good way into it I should probably wish you a happy new year.My nan’s out of hospital, so instead of being cantankerous on the ward she’s being cantankerous at home. When you’re 95 I guess you can get away with being a bit grumpy.As Mimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01578612522819952936noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7211353948967221274.post-39976973343067310892021-12-29T13:53:00.002+00:002021-12-29T13:53:27.160+00:00Op, op, oppan, Gamgee style!My last post featured my navy velvet jeans – well, here I am the day after Christmas in the teal ones. Mr Robot and I always go all-out for Christmas, and one of my gifts from him this year was a 'Hobbit kit'. Part one was this waistcoat, brown tweed with navy tweed lapels, and part two was a set of really high-end hand tools for gardening. Both parts were especially welcome as I managed to trashMimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01578612522819952936noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7211353948967221274.post-61641631742177812922021-12-24T11:29:00.000+00:002021-12-24T11:29:45.492+00:00No more deadlines!No more in 2021, at least. I finished my final one of the year on the 20th. This December's not been too awful, in truth, even with the short deadline. No longer having a toxic work situation is making such a difference. Anyway, apologies for the blurriness, but here I am in my new navy velvet jeans. I've had both my pairs of tweed trousers for two and a half years and they're getting worn out (Mimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01578612522819952936noreply@blogger.com10