Purple Haze

The colour Purple. It's all things. It's groovy, it's psychedelic, it's a great book, it can be magical and mysterious,  and it can suit you if you're blonde, red or brunette.  As colours go it covers most bases.

This purple cape/coat/thingymebob came out of our winter stockpile and I just cannot believe that Beatnik could not sell it last year. It is sooo flattering.  This photo does not do it justice, but I must admit that Penelope, the model, wasn't really feeling it. She got a bit sulky and I couldn't get her to strike any different poses to show the coat off to it's full stylish potential. 

A purple wool shawl cape throw around thing (not the technical term)

Slinky sexy eighties dress

Full length seventies fitted tweed coat

Bowie peeking out of a tracky top

Oh my deer that t shirt looks divine

I love this purple jumper, and I love the man's purple turban who just happened to be walking by

A bit of sixties jewellery

Lovely woolen sixties dress

Oh and here's some nature stuff, in purple obviously

If that's got you in a purple kind of mood then sit back for a few minutes and listen to the purple man himself. Enjoy!

Me and My Shadow

Last week it was sunny and my bedroom was filled with warm sunny light and shadows.

I felt inspired to do some shadow play after looking at photos by silverpebble.

I  was also inspired by Katy's shadow stickers, and so

I found some dolls, I could only lay my hands on zombie characters.  I then had me a little shadow play

I found an elephant, I think the zombies are making a bee line for it. Run elephant run! I would like to show you what happened next, but it got cloudy.

To be continued at the next golden opportunity.

"Heroes"

This weekend I went to The Moseley Folk Festival.  It isn't just folk music, there's a bit of everything with a handful of folk artists sprinkled on the top. The festival is very small and this adds to its charm. There are two stages, a handful of stalls, a beer tent, a cocktail bar, one of these,       a small lake, and luckily the sun was shining.


And gasp, swoon, I even saw Neil Hannon from The Divine Comedy. He was stood not far from me and I got stupidly star struck. I really wanted to stare but I forced myself to look casually in the opposite direction. I really wanted to have my photo taken with him but I stopped myself from asking. I really wanted to shake his hand and tell him that his songs have made me laugh and cry but i decided against it. I wanted to tell him that I saw him perform in Belgium with an orchestra and it's one of my top musical moments but I felt a bit silly and well, like I said, star struck.

The Divine Comedy headlined Friday evening. It was brilliant.

Take it away Neil......

It's Not Easy Being Green

As Kermit the frog once lamented, "It's not that easy being green", unless you're a plant , then of course it's very easy. On my recent walks into the forest I've been positively relishing  the still greeness of everything.

A fairy Ring!

I wish for lots of gorgeous green clothes for Beatnik

Guess what .......

Cute Cape

Sixties lacy number

Grrrreen sweatshirt

Polo shirt by Pop

The view from the park opposite the shop

Listening to the Greenberg soundtrack  

and this

and looking forward to this

Thanks Kermit

Undone - the Sweater song

I do not want summer to end

I am not thinking about the leaves turning red yellow and gold.

I am not longing for tasty potatoes baked in the embers of an evening bonfire.

I am not wondering about wellington boots and umbrellas blowing inside out.

I am not talking about the clocks going back.

I am not dreaming about burying myself in the duvet while the rain hammers on my bedroom window.

I am not hoping for morning mists and the sound of geese.

I am not fussed about ducking into a cinema on a wild and windy rainy afternoon to see this magical film.

I am not wishing for apple bobbing and pennies for the guy......

But

But

But

I am starting to think about jumpers and jackets, cardigans and cozy coats for Beatnik.

We've started collecting already........

And just because we have some great knitwear in stock doesn't mean I've said goodbye to summer.

Fever

Oh dear, oh dear. The last couple of days that I've been keeping shop I have felt decidedly ill but have soldiered on regardless, (you can get the violins out now at this point). I stood behind the counter looking and sounding grey. I'm not sure if you can sound grey but that's how I felt. Luckily our customers were as usual on hand to bring a smile to my face, even the first customer of the day who had already been hitting the sauce and strictly speaking wasn't actually a customer, just a drunkard who wanted to regale me with stories of what he used to wear in the eighties and tattoos in dubious places. It still (and I'm not sure how) lifted my spirits , that is once I had managed to kindly but firmly show him the door.
It has been a kind of busy-ish couple of days and there are some new faces, so I'm guessing the students are arriving, hallelujah.  Thank you all students and in fact anybody who pays a visit to our shop, it is a bit out of the way but on the other hand it's a million times more interesting than West Quay shopping Centre.
Talking of interesting, which I sort of was, this very interesting looking girl (I think her name was Penny) was in the shop today and she chose this cute cute cute mustard brown chiffon type fifties dress to wear. It looked like it was made for her. I simply had to take a couple of photos (even though I was still a bit grey) 

Wow Penny you could be a model

This dress reminded me a bit of 'Mad Men' and reminded me that I want one of these

I'm hoping summer hasn't decided to disappear completely but even so Beatnik will be starting to stock up with some warmer wintery bits. Drop by and take a look, but maybe not if you're drunk and have a dodgy tattoo.

Say Hello Wave Goodbye

It has been a busy couple of weeks.  Friends came to visit and my days went into a time stretched blur of everything that is good about summer. It has also been a great excuse to enjoy the local scenery and make time for all those fun days out......

This is the best zoo ever, although I wasn't expecting

to be on the other side of the cage looking out at the visitors!

winding walks to stunning beaches and collecting pebbles for mini stone sculptures

There were fluffy rabbits and

dancing hares

And taking my friend to my most favourite spot in the whole world where the cows and horses roam, peace and tranquility reign.

The soundtrack of the holiday was this,   this,   and surprisingly this.

We really enjoyed watching this documentary

I also spotted the first signs of Autumn

Although I love Autumn I'm willing to put it on hold for a little longer.