In which I feed a little herd of seals - also known as one of the best days of my life!

Outfit details

Blue and white bandana: eBay
Red plastic rose earrings: Claire's
Red plastic vintage necklace: Gift with online purchase years ago
Plaid shirt: Warehouse One
Burgundy lace trimmed camisole: Fairweather
Vintage reproduction green knit bolero: Miss Beta Knits
Vintage white, blue and red enamel anchor brooch: (probably) eBay
Side button 1940s style jeans: Freddies of Pinewood
Blue and white plastic stretch bracelets: Both thrifted
Red cross body mini satchel bag: eBay
Black and white saddle shoes: eBay
Lip colour: MAC Russian Red


Photography by Tony Cangiano

♥ ♥ ♥

The past four months have flown by nearly at the speed of light. A mixture of marvelous holidays, poor health, bursts of productivity, powerful snow storms, and the start of 2015. Some days it feels like a rather long time since we were on Vancouver Island and yet there are also moments when it's almost as though we're still there. Those two weeks were the one of the biggest highlights of the past year for both Tony and I, who adore traveling to no end, so the latter point comes as no surprise to me.

Ill health and equally poor weather has not made for the best of conditions when it comes to taking photos around these parts lately, so before January wraps up entirely, I wanted to share at least one outfit post with you this month and thus I'm dipping into the Victoria trip vault and pulling out these snaps from what was truly an incredibly fun afternoon.

You may remember from my post 10 highlights from our awesome trip to Vancouver Island, that I chatted about the rainy day on which we had the immense joy of feeding a small herd of harbour seals at the wharf in Victoria.

Seals have been one of my favourite animals for as far back as I have memories, but never before that day had I gotten the chance to get anywhere near that close to them - let alone help to give them a free lunch! :)

The seals that congregate at the wharf there know that tourists and locals alike want nothing more than to provide them with freshly caught fish (which one purchases from a small fish monger's shop a few feet from the water's edge), but even if they're used to interacting with humans, that doesn't mean that they're not still entirely wild. They most certainly are and it's important to keep that in mind if you're interacting with these darling creatures.

Known, entirely affectionately, to locals as Rock Sausages, the seals are a hearty, friendly bunch, each with their own distinct personalities. It was fascinating to kneel down on the dock, heavy raindrop all but landing with a thud around me, and gingerly hand fish to these beautiful marine mammals. Their behaviour struck both Tony and I instantly of being incredibly dog-like and indeed, one of the sweetest of the bunch reminded us a great deal of our own dog, Annie.

It doesn't take long to feed a hungry pack of harbour seals a small plate of fish, so once we had (and after we'd taken no shortage of photographs of them), Tony and I ventured a little further down the wharf to a walkway that runs between the rows of vibrantly coloured floating homes that also reside in this corner of the mighty Pacific Ocean.

Knowing this was going to be a rugged sort of outdoors-y day, I'd dressed the part in an outfit centered my beloved Freddies of Pinewood 1940s style side button jeans and a truly fantastic bespoke pine green knit bolero that my dear friend Beta from Miss Beta Knits created for me as an incredibly kind review gift last year.

Beta, a passionate knitter, mother, wife, and fellow vintage loving lady resides in Portugal and is truly one of the kindest and sweetest people you could ever cross paths with. Her charming Etsy shop is filled with a carefully curated selection of knits that she creates using genuine mid-century patterns, such as scarves, gloves, berets, and boleros akin to the one I'm wearing in these photos. Beta also takes custom orders, so if there's a knit project you've been hankering to have made she may very well be the gal for the job.

This is the second product that I've received and review from Beta (the first was one of her fabulous Miss Marple scarves) and I truly hope that it's not the last that I'm able to add to my wardrobe from her talented knitting needles, because both are extremely well made, comfortable, soft, and delightfully vintage appropriate.

I have sported this dark green knit bolero more than any other sweater of cardigan in my wardrobe this fall and winter (especially during Christmas time, when its holiday tree hue was especially fitting) and I absolute love it to bits. It's chunky and cozy and as every bit as sweet as those precious harbour seals were.

Though four months have passed since we left for our two week holiday to Vancouver Island, the memories of that adventure packed fortnight are crystal clear in my mind still and I know that many of them, especially those of the day we fed a little heard of uber adorable seals will stay with me always. A dear and beautiful reminder of just how special Mother Nature and all her wild children are - not to mention how much they adore being handed platefuls of their favourite food!

Bar none, this was/is one of my favourite days in my whole life and I'm so happy to that we captured it on camera. You can bet your last smelt that I'll be down at the dock tossing fish to the seals the next - and all future - time(s) I'm in the majestically lovely city of Victoria and should you happen to be there yourself, I can't recommend doing so highly enough. It really is one of the more enjoyable experiences that you could ever have!

One last wintry vintage look before that famous Okanagan summer weather returns

Outfit details

Red and cream hair scarf: Claire's  Red plastic rose stud earrings: Claire's
1930s/40s style knit aqua scarf: Miss Beta Knits
Black dolman sleeve cardigan: Freddies of Pinewood
Fitted red top: Urban Planet (I think - bought it years ago now)
Vintage style side button jeans: Freddies of Pinewood
Vintage red knit gloves: etsy seller Stylish Light
Black crochet handbag: Thrifted (Value Village)
Black vintage-y looking lace-up winter boots: Tender Tootsies (bought this year at Walmart)
Lipstick colour: MAC Russian Red


Photography by Tony Cangiano

♥ ♥ ♥

We're spoiled and I know it. Compared to a lot of the country, we usually see spring weeks before many folks do, so when it (winter, that is) decides to hunker down, strap itself in, and stubbornly refuse to budge, we scarcely have a leg to stand on in the complaint department. Well into early April, there were still signs of the frosty half of the year here, though now, many rain showers later and with a few jittery stops and starts, spring has returned, in full, at long last (or so one says with as much confidence on that front as they ever can in Canada).

Towards the end of March, on a day that was sitting mighty close to freezing still, Tony and I ventured out to a wee indoor flea market in the nearby tiny of Oliver (a location which I chatted about a little earlier this year here). It's an ongoing event that happens most weekends, and while there is rarely little genuine vintage, especially in the categories that interest either of us (yes, my dear chap fancies certain yesteryear items, too), as it's only about 40 minutes away, it is worth checking out every now and then just in case some marvelous treasure is waiting for us to unearth.

No dice that day, really. I say "really", because I didn't walk away completely empty handed. At one of the first stalls upon entering, I found a tiny slip (it's much, much smaller dimensionally and page count wise than most vintage or current ones) of a vintage yearbook from 1933 hailing from a high school in the province of Saskatchewan. Between my love of vintage yearbooks and the fact that I have family ties to Saskatchewan, which naturally makes me feel an affinity for anything related to it all the more, I knew it had to be mine. The seller was asking six dollars, I offered four, and she took it on the spot. I smiled gleefully all day over this sweet little find, which while not big in size, is jam packed with marvelous early 30s quaintness and fun.

Between dodgy bursts of rain that threatened to turn into snow, we headed a bit further south to Osoyoos and pulled over at one of Tony's favourite fishing spots, an immensely pretty corner of the Southern Okanagan called, I kid you not, Solana Bay (pronounced and spelled just like Solanah of Vixen Vintage's name, minus the letter "h" at the end of the word). Naturally it is impossible for me to visit this beautiful and deeply tranquil location without thinking of one Solanah herself each time we’re there.

That day I also very much had the darling aqua hued 1930s/40s reproduction knit scarf that I'm sporting in these photos on my mind. This scarf was very kindly made and sent to me by tremendously talented Portuguese craftswoman named Beta, whom I've had the truly beautiful pleasure of becoming friends with in recent months. She sells this scarf, as well as number other hand knit accessories and fashions in her etsy shop, Miss Beta Knits.

Called, so very charmingly, The Miss Marple Scarf (named after the famous Agatha Christie character), this classic neck warmer is is such a sweet, easy to style piece. In fact, as soon as it arrived a few weeks prior, it instantly became the scarf that I wore more often throughout the remainder of the winter than any other. I love that it's not bulky, that's it's cheerfully hued, excellently well made, and just plain cute to boot! As well, it can be styled to work for multiple decades, from the 1930s (perhaps even the 20s) to the early 60s, just depending on what you partner with it.

As well, the Miss Marple retails for a very reasonable $25.55 US, which an extremely good price for a piece that it knit from scratch. Beta lists various colours of this scarf in her shop, and can also make others, depending on the colours of wool she has on hand or can get a hold of. She is a sheer delight to work with, so if you'd like a scarf in a colour that isn't listed, just give her a shout on etsy and I'm sure she'd be delighted to try and help make the piece you're envisioning a reality.

Here, on this day of flea market visiting and errand running, not to mention dog park visiting, I took it in a 1940s direction and partnered its punchy aqua hue with red, black and dark denim (care of my super beloved Freddies side button jeans, natch). Layers and thick materials like denim were still a most on that nippy day and between them and Miss Beta's splendid scarf, I was able to keep the chill rising off of the water - if you'll pardon a someone obvious pun - at bay.

This is the first of two absolutely wonderful vintage inspired knits that Beta is very sweetly and generously making for me to review. The second will be arriving a touch later in the year and will be the star of its own vintage outfit post when it does. I feel blessed to have received this timelessly pretty aqua hued mid-century style accessory and look forward to many more chilly seasons to come of wearing it.




After all, if there's one thing you can be assured of in this northerly country, it's that winter will return again with a vengeance quicker than you can say "where's my Miss Beta Knits scarf?".