Dashboard

I love the word "dashboard". Besides our blogging engine room here, it is that fine stretch beneath the windscreen which forms the bottom of the frame of all things lovely and long distance.

Recently I took another eleven-plus hour road trip with the pup and a dear friend. Here are some of the lovely sights we found along the way:

If one little church isn't enough,

why it just makes sense to build another church about the same size right beside it.

Car graveyard. Such lovely old beauties.

Matching signage. How gorgeous!

Everything here was just as we had imagined.

And of course something sweet for the trip home.

Write and tell me what you have been doing!

xx

Weekend Away

Sometimes, when a girl is all alone, she has to take her initiative for a drive.

A few weekends ago, that is just what I did.

After a little research into a providore and wine region just a few hours away I chose one of my favourite dresses, a flower for my hair, and planned my day away.

As I mentioned in a previous entry, a girl dresses twice: once secretly, and once overtly. As you know, by clicking on "Lingerie" on the list on the right hand side of my blog, I take my secret dressing very seriously. As my deportment teacher told me when I was just a girl "a woman must have good foundation garments that are both comfortable and beautiful". This is a tenet I still hold true.

I always like to match my pretty underthings to my outerwear. But since you couldn't spend the day with me, I thought I could share the simple, beautiful things with you here.

This is one of my most favourite vintage dresses. I have lifted it a little so you can see my layered pink petticoat which holds it out to its best advantage:

These are my delicate foundation garments. They always remind me of a Nick Cave song, Nobody's Baby Now:
"This is her dress that I loved best
With the blue quilted violets across the breast"

The stockings I chose were seamed and cuban heeled. In this skin tone you can just see the detail, with its gorgeous Art Deco-like stepped design. I do love the subtle beauty of them.

And a girl does like to be corseted in.

My touring revealed a little out-of the-way place which hosted the most sumptuous lunch for me, even though I strolled in at a languid 2:00pm. With their signature Pinot Noir, a delicious dessert, and coffee over a Pinter play, it was difficult to leave this lovely tranquil place with the most divine view.

Next time won't you please come with me?
xx

Underlying Intentions

In my last post I had something to show you. Something absolutely delicious and desirous. It was a fabulously overwhelming gift from the friend I mentioned.

It was one of those rare and treasured  occasions when a girl is surprised by something she could have only dreamt of calling her own. I had not mentioned my preferences to anyone, and it was only vaguely referenced here in my blog, so it was a wonderful surprise. What makes my dear endowerer even more incredible is that the selected sizing was impeccably accurate.

Most of you are familiar with my preference for many of the delightful items at What Katie Did. For a few years now I have been secretly lusting over a particular design in their corset range. What a very lucky girl I am to be able to cinch myself with the gorgeous Morticia.



If you have ever received a parcel from this gorgeous boutique, you will know how the pleasure begins as you unwrap your delicate items from the volumes of black tissue, which has been carefully beribboned and subtly marked for posting. Their corsets also come in lavish satin bags for safe keeping.

You can imagine how overwhelmed a girl could be to learn that her divine friend had been busily sourcing both the US and UK collections for such an indulgence. More than this, it was to be a part of an entire lavish ensemble!

After examining it on-screen so often, one would think that I would know the items in my favourite What Katie Did range by touch. But with my eyes averted and my fingers feeling those lines of stitching, soft satin and powermesh I could not believe my lingerie fantasies were being realised. I am entirely enamoured with so many of the items in the delectable Maitresse range. Can you believe what gorgeous things I found?

The Maitresse Bullet Bra

An essential item in a vintage girl's wardrobe

The Maitresse Knickers

Tasteful and glamourous

The most perfect Fully Fashioned Stockings

Authentic, specially made on rare machines, and with a keyhole welt.

and to hold that beauty in place

The Maitresse Girdlette

with six very fine quality garter tabs for a sure grip.

What a very fortunate girl I am. However, at the moment they are being admired in my drawers as I wait patiently for a visit from my very generous gifter.

A girl shouldn't wear them for just anyone.

xx

Serendipity

Recently, I travelled some distance to break the monotony for a dear friend who had been stationed in isolation.

Our first morning began with a beautiful breakfast and stash of travel goodies before ensconcing ourselves in the black beast which found its way to a quaint country town a few hours east.

On the outskirts of the town is a disused mill which houses a weekend market. We purchased locally made cinnamon rolls and date scones, and perused the wooden and woollen handicrafts before cruising into town.

We found a lolly shop filled with all those favourites synonymous with sunny memories as children. Dusty second hand stores were stuffed with unwanted oddments; a discarded collection of other people's lives.

Along the main street is an old restored courthouse staffed by a local lady, who told us how she made butter as a girl and rode, three to a horse, to school.

And then there was the Motor Museum housing some of the regular regional favourites, and a few absolutely astounding unique vehicles. One was a Chevrolet Eldorado Biarritz of which there were only several hundred made. There are reputedly only 20 left. She is a hard top convertible who puts her roof up when it rains even if you are not there. You really must see the photos:

We then had a local lunch where I accidentally spilt my malted milkshake across the lap of my trusted driver just before we departed. I found this disaster in vanilla incredibly amusing because of the poker face, (and thankfully the grace) of my travel companion. After many tea-towels and some surreptitious sponging we rejoined the beast for a roundabout return along the country roads. (Which was punctuated with my bursts of giggling in recollection of the incident, much to my driver's chagrin ...)

The way home was as beautiful as the roads we had taken to come. Fields of canola crops coloured our journey home (as did sour worm lollies and ginger biscuits).

In retrospect I found our day filled with all the things I loved.

My spontaneous visit to cheer a dear friend four thousand kilometres away was also a wonderful weekend for me.

xx

A Little House Warming Present

As you know, I am soon to be moving to a lovely little house all of my own. I am leaving behind an established life for one more austere, but one more imperatively self-determined.

This also enables me to have a few small flourishes of my own. As my funds will be quite restricted for the next six months or so, these indulgences also have to be delightfully thrifty.

My new kitchen is teeny tiny. Without my pantry or the oodles of cupboards I am used to, I decided to use my bench space more functionally. A girl does love a decent aesthetic, and after a little research and nifty bidding I have secured these kitchenette delights.

This is the seller's photo, and I am very excited to be picking up my babies tomorrow. Can you see their gorgeous font? So many suffer the fate of the (quite rare I believe) salt cellar, and lose their lettering. But not these. I have been looking at some of their cousins, and although this set is sans-Coffee, I don't mind, as these days coffee is usually kept in the freezer.

Don't you love their standard colours? Flour is usually red; Sugar, grey or cream; Rice, teal; Tea, pale green and Coffee usually a browny-orange.

I can't wait to fill them all up. And then you can come for tea from the tea canister, and I shall make cakes from the flour canister. Then, after prattling through the afternoon, you can stay on to an early dinner and we shall have something nice with rice and a pinch of salt from the salt cellar. Then we can take an evening stroll in the 50 acre park near my home, then come back for something cozy.

Come by.

xx

Legitimate Lingerie

Fine lingerie is just not complete without the appropriate accessories, and so I believe beautiful stockings and tights are an essential component of a girl's lingerie wardrobe.

As I am with all lingerie, so am I absolutely desirous of stockings and tights. As hosiery patterning seems to change seasonally, I have found myself eagerly stocking up on quaint styles regardless of room permitting in bedside drawers.

Recently I found three gorgeous little numbers which I would love to share with you. The first is like a fine fishnet with art nouveau flowers around the thigh;

http://www.voodoohosiery.com.au/fashion

the second, was a subtle design which I do not yet have a photo for; and third, was my beloved, luxurious cuban heel seamed stockings. These traditionally come in a chisel ended style, but my favorite is the Deco-esque stepped finish which seems a little more elusive.

The following photo shows generic versions of heeled stockings. I do love the Manhattan.

 

(What incredible colours they have!)

I also prefer the traditional keyhole welt in the garter of my stockings when I can get them. Which fortunately I can at What Katie Did.  Some of their range are still made on the traditional machines. (Because a girl has to love that devotion to an authentic aesthetic.)

Here, for your perusal, is a little stocking anatomy:

These, from What Katie Did, are my stock in stockings:

Now, all I need is a little night out ...

xx

Tail Fins and Chrome

If you love your cars as I do, you will understand why I cannot write anything in this posting besides "please, click on this link".

http://www.youtube.com/watch_popup?v=WbN_BAn55a4&pop_ads=null

Sweet Holiday Dreams

We are coming to that time of year when many of us are taking holidays and enjoying the opportunity to spend luxurious hours with those dearest to them. These happy little events are usually combined with fine victuals and infusions, and often a few little wrapped surprises.

This year I have started a little early, flitting over to the farthermost city of our fair country to visit and to venture through places I remember, and others I have heard lauded.

And what a piquant little time it was. One of the most surprising days was spent in a small university town outside of the city. Design, unusual stationery which incorporated themes and images from children’s books, and sweet little cafes tucked into tiny facades were inspiring and delightful. This was also a dream-come-true place of pristine vintage books in tiny stores with friendly prices. Bookish owners who were happy to discuss details of strange literacy histories and hearsay. Dark and dusty shops with vinyl records which you thought had disappeared for ever, or did not know existed, which rest heavily on others which have acquired a kitch, quaint or quirky presence as all our years seemed to have passed them by. There were, of course, others which would make you feel queasy if they made it to the turntable, but on the shelves simply seemed amusing. How exciting it was to walk out of the store with one of those slim square plastic bags made just for records. Shall I tell you what I made mine?

Greg Dear and the Beautiful Losers “lover/saint” and Nina Simone “forbidden fruit” as LPs. (Doesn’t 'LP' sounds so K-Tel!), the Bamboos “Virginia” b/w “Snuff” and the very exciting Partridge Family “I Think I Love You” b/w “Somebody Wants to Love You” on 7”. I also got a little Tubeway Army single for a dear friend.

And like surprises, friends are what make travel so worthwhile. I was fortunate to enjoy both on my glorious first day. There was sunshine, a big black beast of a vehicle, and beaches. We swam in that rollicking surf and stretched out on the sand to dry.  The twilight generously gave us extra hours to explore a park with small pools, rolling lawns, unfamiliar flowers and plants and wading water birds. And there was the most perfect present for me to remember the time we had.

But sometimes a girl cannot spend enough time with her oldest and dearest friend, and I am afraid it was often compromised. Although I later ventured with others south into vineyards to discover delicious things, pristine seashores that extended to the horizons, and beautiful art and architecture, I missed the quiet time I would have liked to have had together to catch up on the little things which seem to make the most sense in this busy old world.