Sunday 27 July 2008

dorian leigh

Dorian Leigh died recently at the fabulous age of 91.
She had a divinely racy, truly colourful life. Her first modelling assignment was based on the condition that she shouldn't pluck her eyebrows. Ha!
Supermodels are generally the playthings of rich playboys, delivered to yachts to look pretty and - well I think we all know what women are prepared to do for handbags and diamonds.
Dorian Leigh bucked that trend. She was a supermodel, yes, but she was the one that had young, beautiful male lovers who were sometimes poor, that she would take along on assignments. How marvellous! She also had a string of wealthy husbands. Of course.
Said to be the inspiration for Holly Golightly, I find her an inspiration and I am about to take her lead and attempt to humbly follow in her footsteps as I go out and taste every moment, savour every delicious experience.
cheerio

Thursday 24 July 2008

gay pride...

It was gay pride here recently. So that's where I've been and what I've been up to. It was delightful.

Here I am at my age... now fully able to.... 'podium dance'.

What a raver! And you'll be pleased to know that of course my apple-catchers stayed at home!

I may need to sleep this week, but oh my, it was worth it. I didn't take the drugs - poppers and ecstacy are not for me. But when I get started on that podium, ooohh me oh my, I felt 18 again.

Thank you to my wonderful gay friends here. I am so happy today.
Will blog properly once recovered!

cheerio

Thursday 10 July 2008

Approaching 100

Oh me oh my. Thank you so much for leaving comments and contacting me via email.

I am THRILLED to hear from you all and so excited that you enjoy my nonsensical waffling! My curious little blog has had nearly 100 reads so far. I wonder who on earth they are?

Today I only have time for a quick little post. At my request Elvis kindly sent me some of her private photos of guerilla knitting. She calls hers, '(sub) urban knitting'. Please all of you do send me your photos as I would love to post them here.

Thank you Elvis for being supportive, indulging me and sending links and tips. I will hopefully be adding the links soon.

Also - thank you to Miss Pen Pen - you've been a delight and I am so utterly thrilled to see you mention me on your blog. I really feel like I'm out here in blog world, fitting in and finding my way. It's such a blast. Please do tell me all about the knittti-fiti-ffiti-ti-ti-ti... event, I want to know all about it and any other similar things.

I'll have more tales from my life this week (a la bathroom sink). Today I have family coming to visit, so there are beds to be aired and apple pie to be baked. But mischief will no doubt rear it's head if I try hard enough... and rest assured I will!

Oh - nearly forgot - one last thing. A silly thing, of course. A challenge for you very fashionable young gals. Now - you may all be wearing thongs as pants. Like flossy cheese-graters that get lost up your gorgeous little backsides. Well, I must say, quite frankly, radically even.. they chaffe. Surely I can't be the only person that thinks that..? Yet still I wear them as my wardrobe dictates. In the privacy of my own home where VPL isn't a problem (visible pantie line), I wear what we in the UK call 'apple-catchers'. In my day as youngsters we would go scrumping - that's nicking apples from the orchards. We'd pull up our big knickers and store the stolen apples in them! But oooh, you don't know what you're missing. COMFORT!! So my challenge to you is - does anyone know of a way to wear huge knickers whilst remaining stylish? As a punky kind of pensioner I pride myself on trying to remain current, edgy and wearing my 'mojo' with pride... but big pants... that's my weaknes... any tips would be so welcome.

Signing off for today.
Cheerio.

Monday 7 July 2008

mentioning the unmentionable...

Well now. I may be old but that also makes me experienced.. and when it comes to romance and erm, hanky-panky well, through the mists of time I've formed some opinions.

So I was talking with my dear friend Pearl this week about the difference between emotional s*x and easy s*x (let's call it 'socks' for now). You know, good old-fashioned girl-talk, chewing the cud about one night stands... what's really empowering for women... all that kind of stuff.

Nowadays men and women are free to 'tiptoe through the tulips' more easily than in my day. That doesn't mean it didn't happen... but it definitely is easier now. My (current) humble opinion is that the only way to be promiscuous and 'empowered', is to always use integrity and to be really bloody honest with yourself about who you are and what really 'honestly' makes you happy.

One night stands are fabulous. Hanky-panky 'arrangements' are fabulous. But I actually think in the end, really deep love will make for the best, most intense... 'socks' and a combination of both. There is of course a place for all of these things and all of them are grrrrreat! One night stands (let's call it 'stunt socks') where you tend to show off all your moves and go buck wild, buck naked. And why not. My only tip here would be to ensure the bathroom sink isn't going to fall off the wall (experience again). Not that I'm suggesting you carry out a conveyancing survey beforehand, of course!

Now the mistake a lot of people make.. is to then be used for it so of course to not be the one in control. Now, a merry old tiptoe through the tulips should never be mistaken for love or affection. It is just a physical act, so frequently a part of love, but not exclusively. In order to really be empowered, you have no better, more powerful tool than your personality. Nobody can ever replicate that, your individuality can never be repeated. That is what will really empower an individual. Their mind, integrity, personality...

My body is old now. But it's a precious map of experience. Men who love me, love my wild mind and all the tales I hold in it. They love the places I've been, the people I've met, the opinions I've formed, the sparkle in my eye and the unpredictability of my nature. And lo and behold.. they do love me and I am still attractive to them. And I can assure you I'm not 18 any more.

As well as Pearl, I've also been discussing socks this week with a beautiful young woman I know who was finding this line between passion and power confusing. She wanted to be in control but quickly realised that stunt socks alone wasn't the key for her. Being desirable and able to choose who she 'sang show tunes' with wasn't enough. It's because she's so bright, vivacious and intelligent.

For women, it's not their privates that are their last line of defence, but their hearts and ultimately the deadly combination of the two. It's not until they can truly differentiate between the two and understand those feelings between passion and love that they can really be empowered. Choosing who visits Cybil Shepherd's Bush or dangling your jingly-janglies around town... isn't empowerment, it's just cheap advertising. Bargain basement. Pound shop. Mass manufacture.

I suppose what this tired old broad is trying to say is that 'empowerment' is nothing to do with 'power'. Just good old-fashioned respect. Which you start by giving yourself and earn from others. I think that's the most you can expect from anyone. And of course, giving respect to other people is nice too.

Cheerio for now.

Wednesday 2 July 2008

knitta please

Well they say there's no fool like and old fool... I certainly am that! I keep on locking myself out of this blog. Keep forgetting my password. So I write it down... and can't remember where... what an old fool I am! But still I refuse to sit at home like a pensioner.. getting all miserable and letting my mind wander off into old age... Surely it's better to let my heart and hands wander...?!
So today I wanted to show some images from knitta please. I think they were one of the first groups (or 'crews') doing knitted graffiti, starting in 2005. It seems the idea came from their frustration at having lots of unfinished knitting projects. Now who in the world can't relate to that?!!
So off they went. All over the world. Even the Great Wall of China!

photograph by Ben Sayeg

These people really warm my heart. They've covered everything, from scooter and car antenna's to railings and stools. And they have a man in their group, which warms my heart another little bit. And old ladies need a lot of warmth, so I get every little bit of pleasure available in any given day.
You can go to their website by clicking on this link (Oh I do hope this works)
And their flickr gallery by clicking on this link

And by the way, if any of you ever feel prompted to go out and do some guerilla knitting or public stitching of your own, do please get in touch with me and share it as I would love so much to hear from you.

Cheerio then.