the most adorable thrift shop in the world

The cutest thrift store in the world has to be here in Raratonga.

A beach hut on the waterfront with extra friendly staff who showed me plans for the stray dog kennels they have built

Prices are reasonable

and I was happy to find this beautiful silk obi or sash for 25 cents.

Its not my first visit here.

Rental

We have rented a light and breezy beach house in the Cook Islands for a few days.

All mod cons, 

the communal drinking water tap is just one minute down the road.

There are strange fruits in the garden

as well as the family graves.

Cook Islanders like to keep their dearest close by, a tradition I find endearing.

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I usually count on there being a good selection of holiday reading available, but this time the pickings were slim. I read second from left......it would be kinder to say nothing, except it began the the letter " c", and ended with a "p". ( middle letters " r a".)

Stella comes to stay.

Stella is here for a few days, so I persuaded  her to model a couple of scarves.

 My Hermes are overwhelming for her in size and personality. 

She also does not have the confidence to carry off a vintage 1930s Liberty scarf.

1970s Liberty is  closer to her comfort zone.

Cheeky 1950s neckerchief is suiting her quite well....very Roman Holiday.  My favorite movie of all time,  we watched it together last night.

I am off on my travels tomorrow, to the South Seas and New Zealand  .......hope you will join me.

scarf for December

My choice for December is any old Liberty scarf from my collection.

Chosen not because I particularly love it ( though I do ) or wear it more than any other Liberty scarf , but because it happens to be the one I am wearing today.

Its a never ending delight to shove my hand - or arm-  into one of my Liberty scarf boxes and pull out something just right. Always luscious colors, always a pleasing design, always something new to discover.
Plus I don't have to think about wearing anything but black pants and top

I have over 800 Liberty scarves and I don't intend to stop collecting any time soon.

we bit the bullet

We bit the bullet and hired our window washers to string the winter lights on the pine tree in front of our house.

They arrived with a long, expandable  pole that had a hook at the end. It reminded me of "The Lamplighter" , my favorite childhood poem.

Of course, we had an indoor tree as well.  A Fraser pine , one of the best from our local supplier.
" The most beautiful tree in the world" according to its main decorator.

                                                MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE.

from Isabel and Barbara

My good friend Barbara Muir, an artist and teacher, surprised me at the end of a market day by bringing me a huge bag of scarves that belonged to her mother.  Isabel died last year and I know how stressful it is to 'get rid' of things.

Included was this very interesting old silk cravat from Vera...seems to be from 1947 - early 50s judging by the label.

Also 8 ( yes, eight!!) Liberty scarves, some groovy ones from the 1970s

and this one, again 70s, that I have never seen before.

Barbara also gave me Isabel's chic 1950s Persian Lamb jacket. I hung it on the side of the van as I was just packing up.....to our surprise  it sold within minutes. I thought Barbara was going to cry seeing her mums embroidered  initials walking out on a lovely, very happy young woman, I know I was near tears.
I never met Isabel but she obviously was a very snappy dresser and a woman after my own heart.









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701

Checked the magic numbers last night and found I had reached  700 sales in my etsy shop foulardfantastique

Hooray...will blog  and crow in the morning.

 It has not taken me too long from the previous magic number post, or the one before that.

The morning bought another sale.....701.....

777 here I come.
I suspect that will take me quite some time.