On shyness...

painting - Catrin Welz-Stein

So many people are shut up tight inside themselves like boxes,

yet they would open up,

unfolding quite wonderfully,

if only you were interested in them.

- Sylvia Plath

found on - imgur.com

Pamela Zagarenski...

The beautiful paintings and illustrations of Pamela Zagarenski

winner of several awards for the illustration of children's books

more of her work can be found at www.pzagarenski.com or www.sacredbee.com

      

Find me these slippers!...

These are my dainty trotters feet...

and those tartan / plaid pom pom things on my feet are slippers.

I've been wearing the same slippers since I was about eighteen

well not these actual slippers obviously!

I mean the same style of slippers

(except for a couple of years when I defected to some plain black Japanese looking ones)

anyway...

When I was younger I liked being a bit kooky wearing what were basically 'old ladies' slippers

(that 's fashion students for you)

but they were / are also really comfortable

so much so that I often wore them driving to pick up my son after a late night out

(usually wearing pyjamas as well but we'll not go there)

In fact... I've been wearing these style of slippers indoors and outdoors for mumble mumble years

and have bought so many pairs I must have practically kept them in business

Obviously not! because they've stopped making the dam things! 

What am I going to wear now?

these slippers are part of my life history I kid you not!

so much so, that when a couple of weeks ago we were watching films of my son's christening and birthdays which I'd recently had transferred onto dvds, the man and son were in fits of laughter, as all you ever saw of me were shots from the slippers to the waist, (usually in a dressing gown on Christmas morning) wandering into shot asking if anyone wanted a cup of tea.
It was like watching one of those fantastic Tom and Jerry cartoons they showed at 6pm every evening before the news years ago, remember that?

and I had the part of 'Mammy Two Shoes' (no I didn't know that was her name either - thank you wikipedia) the maid who you only saw from her slippers to her large bosoms, bustling around the house shouting "Jaaaasper!"

  

The slippers are / were made by Pirelli and have gone through a few changes, this well loved pair found online from jowaterhouse.blogspot.co.uk is how they looked for years, with little eyelet fastenings.  

Below are the incarnation I own at the moment, note the removal of the eyelets, what's that in aid of? trying to save costs, or perhaps the ridiculous 'health and safety' brigade we have in this country declared they were dangerous as we might swallow them? yes of course I often sit watching television with one foot in my mouth chewing my slippers! 

After finding out Pirelli aren't making them any more I've tried desperately to find a new pair, a search online brought up these horrible copies and even those were marked 'sold out'

So here's the deal...
FIND ME SOME OF MY SLIPPERS  PLEASE
(obviously these are only going to be found in the UK)
There have to be a few old fashioned shoe shops left out there with a couple of dusty boxes of size 6 'old lady slippers' tucked away on a shelf somewhere

photo - http://www.shaggybevo.com/
 If you know where there are some or find any can you please let me know? x
    

Red sky at night...

After the rain tonight's sky was spectacular

    

Is it a bird? is it a plane?...

photo - teamconfetti.nl

Black dog treasury...

all items from etsy - storm clouds - AnaPontesPhotography / hand - LupenGrainne / girls face - carydrexl / window - next2hector / shadowed girl - unknown / blurred girl - jenipenni / water - GordanaPhoto / man - RetrogradeAmnesia / girl - EmmainWonderland / pills - TKDART / hand - TheBrightHeart / phone - SeaLilyStudio  / pendant - lyricallady / figure - 1000crows / sunrise - observingnature / doll in hand - MonkEyGstudio

Sashiko stitch...

Sashiko... meaning literally little stabs, is a Japanese form of simple decorative stitching traditionally used to repair cloth, but often used for purely decorative purposes in quilting and embroidery.

photo - from Mai on Flickr.com