Friday 13 November 2015

Five on Friday














Joining in with Amy and Five on Friday.

1.  The dregs of summer in the garden. Beans and peas and flowers are hanging on in there in this unseasonally warm autumn. I went down to the allotment today and the strawberries are flowering like mad and there are even green berries. Too little too late.

2.  I have changed the photo of me to one with a coat on in deference to the onset of winter. The other one was making me feel cold. The littlest boy is still in shorts though, even for school, which is highly forbidden once the Winter Uniform Decree has been issued.

3. The other half sometimes thinks the boys have too many shoes. But I'm thinking he might really have something to complain about if they were girls. At least their shoes are all functional (and well used). Studded boots for football on grass, bumpy bottomed boots for football on astro turf, trainers for whatever it is they do at school that doesn't involve kicking things and for the street and the park, school shoes for all day every day, walking boots for going up mountains and wellies for muddy stuff. As far as I can tell if you're a girl you need vast amount of ballet pumps in pink, and with flowers on, and covered in silver sequins. Then you need fancy boots for walking down the road and Lelli Kellies for going to parties and cool trainers for hanging out in. It's a whole different ball game.

4. After a conversation with a friend I'm wondering if I can get away with sending the littlest boy to school in an evacuee costume for Tudor Day... I've stretched it to Victorian Day, but I didn't think it would pass as Tudor. It's sludge coloured cotton trousers and a beige shirt. But really, urchins have been dressing like this since time immemorial haven't they? Grubby urchin clothes. And the children themselves don't seem to be entirely clear as to when anything was anyway. It's not as though he'll ever wear an actual Tudor outfit again. It's probably different for girls, I expect they like to skip around in fancy dresses, but there's less scope for dressing in royal blue pantaloons when your day involves climbing trees and kicking brothers footballs. Although the littlest boy does like to wear the evacuee flat cap about the place, along with his cool yellow tiger t-shirt and action shorts. Not everyone can carry off a look like that.

5. Finally a thank you to you all for coming here and reading and commenting and encouraging and allowing me to wax lyrical over a particularly fine acorn and have a favourite firework. Oh, and to moan a bit sometimes. Thank you, you are all cracking, and I'm wishing you a top weekend.

31 comments:

  1. Grubby cabin boy from the Mary Rose?! Isn't it amazing how much there is still flowering in the garden? I'm sure we'll pay for it with a really cold winter! Love the photo of you in that fab coat. Have a great weekend. xx

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  2. I can't believe how mild it is, the grass is still growing and really could do with a cut which is unbelievable in November. Have a wonderful weekend.

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  3. I say go for the pantaloons. It sounds like he'll find a way to wear them :-). Xx

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  4. I think all schools much have a Tudor day, I remember both of mine having to dress up. If I remember right, Daniel wore some cut off trousers, a shirt and a waistcoat. I think it's much easier to put together costumes for girls for these sort of things. I noticed ripe fruit on my alpine strawberry plant in the garden yesterday, it's so mild that the season seems to be going on forever this year.

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  5. Sludge and beige sounds good to me. Say he is a peasant that always goes down well. I have a particularly shapeless outfit that I wear for any time period from Greeks to medieval, my husband always calls it my peasant outfit, even when I thought I looked quite grand....secret is less is best! Have a good weekend. B X.

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  6. ah the perils of school dressing up. The sixth formers were supposed to be in pjamas or onesies today for children in need. K decided she'd rather pay the "fine"...............

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  7. Lovely pictures and an entertaining list for Five on Friday. Number 4 made me laugh and thanks for the thanks in the last one. You too. Flighty xx

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  8. Yay for Friday! I like your coat!

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  9. Your flowers, fruits and vegetables look wonderful dear C.J. especially that pretty white flower in the aqua coloured planter. The schools certainly expect a lot when it comes to dressing up for special days, they don't think about us poor Mums who have to create these costumes...still it is a lot of fun for the children. My children have grown up now but I have had my fair share of costumes for special days and concerts. I can't imagine either of my boys wanting to wear royal blue pantaloons, the urchin outfit for your littlest boy sounds like a good choice.
    Happy weekend!
    xoxoxo ♡

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  10. Doesn't sound like too many shoes to me and you're right about girls, though our daughter never liked pink until she was grown. As to costumes, I'd have loved dressing like an urchin. When I was in school girls weren't allowed to wear pants, just dresses and skirts.

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  11. Lots of shoes indeed however in my opinion it's better too much than too little. I love shoes!!! Lovely Summery photos. We are in Winter here so this made me dream of gardening next Spring. Pretty photos.

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  12. Unless you are going to be dressed as Henry VIII then really I should think that an urchin would be fine, especially for a boy!! Far more fun for them. As for the shoes, well, I have loads more than my husbands and I am sure that girls are no different! Great new photo of you! You look really good. Thank you for joining Five On Friday. I hope that you have a great weekend! xx

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  13. So much colour in the garden even in late November. Yep, I reckon those shoes for boys are about right (unless you have a tomboy daughter like mine and then she has the same shoes as the boys used to have including running shoes etc - it did make it useful for passing shoes down whenever possible). Sometimes when they were growing I felt I went to a shoe shop/sports shop every week to buy a new pair! Yes, my daughter was also supposed to wear pyjamas today for school - I'd hate to do that myself, and she cheated with track suit bottoms and football tops! Wishing you a good weekend too!
    Caz xx

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  14. Thanks for a very entertaining five, I did enjoy them. You don't really need a school uniform you seem to have so many odd days to contend with. All good fun though. :-)

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  15. One day [when my husband was in charge of our children's shoes, or perhaps in my denial of responsibilty is how I remember it] our youngest daughter arrived at school with mis-matched shoes...a trauma that is yet to be lived down some 26 years later..... xx

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  16. It really is unseasonably warm for November, shorts are still being worn here and yesterday I picked runner beans, raspberries and anemones. I hate to say this CJ but in my experience sporty boys need loads more specialist shoes than sporty/dancing girls. I have no idea why but it may be because boys' feet just keep on growing whereas my daughter's stopped at size 4. I have to say I almost fell over when she arrived home during her first term at university in a rather fetching pair of DMs.

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  17. You have Tudor Day there? Why, oh, why was I not born in that country instead of this one? How cool! I love urchins, they're heartwarming. I just planted a lavender like yours in the photo a few weeks ago. I had a huge old French one that died a spectacular death over the past year, becoming so ugly and generally making the whole front yard look like an abandoned lot. The new one is doing well so far and I pray it survives the winter. Have a good weekend!

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  18. We have pea pods too but will they swell?

    I think you need to get out the satin and lace :-)

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  19. I can't imagine the little boys dressing in royal blue pantaloons for Tudor Day! So it's dress-up day honoring that historical period....would be hard for the girls to dress in the costumes as well, I would think. But how COOL! :-) Your photos of your garden "hanging on" are just beautiful!!!

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  20. Amazing how much is still flowering /growing in the garden ...and it sounds like your littlest has great style!

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  21. Amazing photos CJ, we too have Tudor day coming up for a boy who does not like to dress up!!! The shoes.....my 6 year old would have a collection a Kardashian would be proud, if she were given the chance!!! Big boy is trainers, wellies, snow boots and school shoes, plimsolls etc xx

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  22. It's wonderful to read your prose poetry about the simplest of things. Glad to be reminded to look and listen.

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  23. It's wonderful to read your prose poetry about the simplest of things. Glad to be reminded to look and listen.

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  24. Lovely photos of the remains of summer in your garden. There is so much choice for children these days and so many great shoes to own. When we were small it was heavy shoes for winter, sandals for summer, plimpsoles for PE and wellies for snow. Hope the Tudor days goes well:)

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  25. My daughter would love to have more shoes than her brothers. She thinks you can't have too many shoes. We used to have a mountain of shoes in our hallway until we had a load of shelves built to store them. Now we have a wall of shoes. The urchin-look sounds the way to go. Sam x

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  26. When our boys were young they had soccer shoes, cowboy boots and sneakers. Not much more than that! Today kids have way more. Oh.. and thank YOU for being you and bringing fun and humor to my life. ((hugs)), Teresa :-)

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  27. Oh yes! Tell hubby he is super lucky to have boys and their boots!. My two girls had flats, low heels, mid heels, high heels. platforms, flip flops, slides, track shoes, running shoes (?), tennis shoes, not to mention the boots!
    When the oldest was in college, we helped her move apartments, and I'm pretty certain there were 40 pairs of 'foot wear' in her closet. The boys averaged three or four wearable pair each!

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  28. oh how I laughed at your husband's comments. yes, he has no idea what would be involved if you had girls! and teenage girls then adult girls!!! many, many non-functional shoes. I speak from experience.
    can you put your little boy in a white outfit with black or dark brown ribbons senn on to form stripes and angles - a la tudor framed architecture?!

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  29. These pictures transport me to your garden, but I'm wondering what time of day it is? I'm thinking perhaps morning or midday after some rain. I love hearing the stories about your boys. And yes, even my 4 month old daughter has tons of shoes! She has sparkly ones, warm boots, two pairs of sandals and moccasins. People love giving babies shoes I suppose!

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  30. I can't imagine the mother of a girl or any child in a place with multiple seasons. My son said he only needs 2 pairs of shoes. One pair of cleats for the game and one pair of sneakers for school and city puttering. If we ever get a "rainy season" again, he said he'd consider two pairs of tennis shoes, or trainers as I think you call them.

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