22 Feb 2014

tale of two heroines

 

On a hot summer afternoon, after I’ve done an honest morning’s labour in the vegie garden, I love nothing more than to relax with a cup of tea (yes, even on a hot day) and something to read. Magazines are my weakness, whether something full of pretty dresses, or envy-inducing interiors, or I-want-one-like-that-now gardens.
But sometimes one requires more substantial reading, so this summer I started re-reading the Phryne Fisher novels. Granted, Miss Fisher is not War and Peace, but I enjoy being swept away to a world full of the silky clothes, deeply perfumed baths, treacherous situations and, it must be confessed, handsome lovers that Phryne surrounds herself with.
My friend B, who first put me onto the novels, has theorised that Phryne’s vamp life is the perfect antidote for our modern-day grind. While fiercely independent and inspiringly self-sufficient, Phryne also knows the essential restorative powers of a good hot dinner and steamy bath full of pine salts … provided by her loyal hired helps. After one scrap or another, there’s always someone to serve a substantial salade russe or scrub one’s back in the bath. Admit it, isn’t that your end-of-day fantasy? Someone to spoil and cosset you a little?
Glamourous Phryne, who applies perfume before sleep, wears lobelia-coloured gowns, and understands (and calculates) the devastating effect she has on all before her:
‘No, find me the Chanel — no, a dress. Something light and springy — the azure one and a light wrap. That Kashmir shawl, and the silver shoes. I am feeling like a siren, today.’
When was the last time you felt like a siren? It’s something worth pondering when you get dressed tomorrow.
I also read — okay, looked at the pictures in — British gardener Alys Fowler’s book ‘The Edible Garden’. Google for images of Alys and I hardly need tell you that she’s English, do I? All wild red curls like a Rosetti, vintage floral frocks and hand-knitted granny cardigans, looking distinctly feminine in a cottage-y can-do kind of way.
Just as Phryne never surrenders her femininity while solving murders, Alys maintains her sweet girliness while wearing gumboots and digging in the compost. I wouldn’t have a clue what her gardening philosophy is — as I said, I merely looked at the wonderful pictures of chooks running amok in a rambling vegie patch — but her lovely style is just as inspiring as Phryne’s, if totally the opposite.
Yes, it’s practical to wear old Relay for Life shirts and trackpants while gardening, but where is the joy in that? If I’m going to be amongst blue larkspurs and lazy bumblebees and yellow zucchini flowers for a few hours, why not dab on a little lipgloss and look the part? And if getting dirty (and perhaps a little smelly) is on the cards, wouldn’t a printed frock be sweeter armour instead of King Gees with holes in the knees and paint splatters elsewhere?
I will say, a pretty sundress requires more sunblock, and sometimes an overshirt is essential to protect one’s arms against scratchy bushes. But it’s quite cooling and comfy to wear a skirt while gardening. And it does look rather fetching when one’s ensemble is completed by thick socks and blunnies. It’s a sort of don’t-let-these-sweet-looks-deceive-you outfit — I can dig out sheep poo with the best of ’em.
So this summer I have been flitting between who I want to be when I grow up: mysterious dazzling Phryne and sweetly earthy Alys. I can tell who I’m more likely to turn out like – who you’re more likely to find Chez Dig In! A girl can — and should — have heroines to aspire to.

16 comments:

  1. Great post e, very entertaining! I have to admit it has been a while since I dressed like a siren...something light and springy, that sounds perfect! During the week when I am gardening and cooking and wrangling children I opt for sturdy shorts or jeans but always a bright 'workshirt' from RB Sellars.

    Happy reading and gardening, enjoy the rest of the weekend x

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    1. thank you jane! i imagine child-wrangling requires something much sturdier than a floaty dress ;-) but i agree - light and springy, this summer, is very perfect. i'm already thinking that come winter time, i'll adopt stout old-lady tweeds.
      i hope you have a lovely weekend too!

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  2. Oh your day sounds lovely. I'd love a day spent in the garden and then an afternoon reading xxx

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    1. followed by a nanna nap, perhaps? thank you carla :-)

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  3. What an enchanting post, Elizabeth! So nice that you've had so much time in your garden! Here in Canberra, we're seeing the cool chill of the morning, which heralds that Autumn is just around the corner. This means that the days will be less like furnaces and, so, Peter and I can get outside to potter a little more. : )

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    1. thank you for your lovely words lizzy. we too are feeling that autumnal morning chill - having to pull on another layer first up. but the days are beautiful, especially, as you say, for pottering about the garden!

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  4. So true. You have inspired me today to up the anti for my gardening outfit. Actually I don't think I've ever said that before, my old tatty work out gear and daggy t-shirts not being worthy of the term 'outfit'.
    I love Phryne Fisher and have the whole series in my book collection, for those times when a little escapism is in order. Whenever I read them I wish I lived by the beach in St Kilda and had a wardrobe full of Erte gowns. I also highly recommend Georgette Heyer's detective novels if you like mysteries.
    Alys Fowler is great, isn't she. I love her op-shop, cottage garden, slightly nanna-hipster style.
    A lovely post. Thanks.

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    1. oh, thank you bek, it seems we both have the same heroines! no excuses, we shall now be very glamourous in our gardening ensembles ...perhaps we should ask "what would phyrne - or alys - wear?" ;-)
      and thanks for the GH rec.

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  5. Great post, thanks.

    You've motivated me to glam up my gardening outfit for they day. Thanks.

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    1. no, thank you to Misses Fisher and Fowler!
      and welcome to Dig In :-)

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  6. Oh yes please! I would love to wear a wide brimmed hat tied with scarfe, some sparkly earrings to catch the sun and since it is a fantasy, I am also wearing a vintage lace gown. Beneath my hooped petticoat are thick black explorer socks and dirty brown blunnies. But best of all E, is the handsome lover to spoil and cosset me in style. Yep...that'll do me just fine! xx

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    1. you'd need to be careful that hooped petticoat doesn'get caught on your tomato stakes...i am picturing scarlet in 'gone with the wind'. fiddle-de-dee, SB!

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  7. I really enjoyed this post Elizabeth, your best yet. This style of clever writing is where you excel.
    D

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    1. thankyou! it was fun to write... and fun to dream about being fabulous Miss Fisher and just as fantastic Miss Fowler.

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  8. Gardening and reading - two lovely pastimes. Now, down to frock business. Not sure i could garden in a frock … shorts, boots and shirt are my typical veggie patch attire. But each to their own. Lovely post - a great evening read x

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    1. thank you FS! the boots are a given, no matter what the rest of the outfit is.

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