Friday Five: February

Happy day, reader dear!

This week I am really feeling the love for Friday and am shamelessly borrowing this “I don’t have a blog post” strategy from the lovely Gail at Is This Mutton. Last week, I spent the better part of Wednesday and Thursday sitting about at doctor’s offices with various family members due to injuries and scheduled adventures. When a funeral popped up for Friday, I gave up. It was obviously a week I was supposed to get almost nothing done! This week I’ve been busy chasing my tail and trying to get caught up, so Gail’s Five is getting a try.

I also need to thank Gail for featuring me (and my story about making the transition to grey) in her blog post this past Wednesday! If you are interested, here’s the link… Many thanks, Gail!

Gail’s Five for Friyay is all about what she’s been reading, hearing, and watching. So I thought I’d try the same. Is any of all this reading, hearing and watching style related? Possibly. If I stretch for it. Let’s see how that goes!

All the opinions expressed here are my own. I have received no remuneration (Such a fun word!) for featuring anything shared in this post. I have been enjoying them, and thought I’d share. So grab a cup of something warm (Northern Hemisphere) or cold (Southern) and read on…

Reading

What was I thinking? I picked up this volume/tome (465 pages not including the glossary of persons and index) at a second hand bookstore when we visited Asheville at the beginning of January. Darling Monster is a vastly entertaining collection of letters from a mother to her beloved son during a fabulously interesting, and often grim, time in history. The style connection? She frequently shares what she and others wore to events and adventures… Milking a cow in a fur coat is top of my list!

Lady Diana Cooper flew in the most rarified strata of diplomacy and society, had an eagle eye, wicked wit, and a lively way with words. She says appalling things about others and herself to make you laugh out loud. Some of her language is cringeworthy by today’s standards, but the vocabulary she uses (particulary during WWII) about and referring to the various Axis countries, their leaders, and flunkies is to be expected. Especially in private correspondence. Thank you, John Julius, for the copious footnotes!

Hearing

I’m a relative newcomer to the world of podcast abuse. Here are the top three I’ve been cycling through…What can I say? The foodie in me LOVES The Splendid Table. I’ve always loved the (public radio) program and Francis Lam giggles. What can I say? My husband giggles; our sons giggle. I like a man who giggles. The variety of guests and food topics is fascinating, and the manner in which they weave it all together is broadcast magic. Have a listen. But maybe not on an empty stomach! The style connection? Slim to none. Unless you count the fact that fabulous food is always stylish!

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I’m not sure how I found sidedoor by the Smithsonian, but I am bliss-i-fied! Sidedoor features fascinating stories about items in the Smithsonian archives and collections that you or I will probably never see on display. They take deep dives into the history and stories of items both unusual and ordinary, reminding us that the ordinary is extraordinary. If you, like I, are a museum hound, this is a must listen! Style? I’m waiting… For an item from the costume collections!

My latest obsession (The ‘cast premiered in January) is Food, We Need to Talk. I love the age play between hosts Juna Gjata and Dr. Eddie Phillips. They tackle all kind of information about food, physiology, exercise, brain science, willpower, and all the stuff that makes gaining weight so easy, and losing it so hard. Lots of science. Uncomfortable truth, but delivered in an easygoing and easy to digest package.

Watching

Watching is hard. Mostly because I really don’t watch much TV, regardless of platform, but I have been pottering about on Netflix. I can’t be the only one; although I totally missed the Call the Midwife boat during its broadcast seasons, I made up for that in the last few months of the year by watching an episode or two a week from Season 1 through Season 8. Now I am impatiently waiting for Season 9 to release to Netflix. I love the characters, costumes, music, and plain old fetish the BBC has for historical accuracy. Instant style connection! Costumes.

I clearly have a thing for history and historical fiction, because after CtM, I watched The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie and Society, (Here it is in its original book form.) and am partway through the documentary Bombshell: The Hedy Lamarr Story. She was a facinating woman. Complicated. A brilliant (Not only in the Hollywood shining star way…) scientist. And maker of poor choices. (Aren’t we all?)

It turns out there are certainly more than five here, unless you count the podcasts as one. So how about you? Do you have any recommendations for me? What should be on my Reading/Hearing/Watching radar? Please let me know in the comments below… I so love to hear from you!

Stylishly yours,

PS:

Drinking