10E2625: SKIDA

Commonly known for floral inspired shell hats perfectly weighted for Nordic skiing, Vermont's SKIDA has been a staple of bright eyed outdoors types for a decade. 

"As a ski racer, [Corinne] Prevot started Skida while at Burke Mountain Academy and Middlebury College, both in Vermont, making and selling the headwear to teammates and at ski races. In 2013, Prevot opened Skida headquarters in Burlington, Vermont’s south end arts district. The newly introduced Cashmere Collection is made exclusively for Skida in Nepal." - via SkiVermont

Anyhow - they also do triangular neckwarmers, in flannel/fleece (as well as SKIDA cloth microfiber), like a bandana tied round the neck but with velcro.  On a chilly day outside whether on the slopes or not, I am converted.

 

Get 'em online or if you are stopping by the fantastic JJHapgood store or WildWings X-C ski center in Peru, VT.

Chili on the stove at WWXC. Eeeesential stealth lunch stop.

10E2624: In Praise of Hot Water Bottles

Hot-water bottles are never going to be fashionable. Even to talk about them is to invite a smirk from your audience. And yet would anyone turn down the offer of a hot-water bottle in this weather? Cheaper and greener than leaving the heating on all night, a bottle is a portable comfort. With a little planning, it heats up the bed before you clamber in. With an adequate cover (and would you seriously consider a naked rubber bottle?), it keeps you warm into the small hours. And then there is the attendant ritual of decanting a boiled kettle... ...a hot-water bottle is the kind of prosaic comfort that is easy to overlook and yet somehow makes life so much better. In fashion? Never. A must-have? Absolutely.  - via The Guardian.

100%. Can't really say more. De riguer during the winter months. Hot water bottle covers are the iPhone case of the 19th century too. Different sizes and types abound. Cashmere is good, flannel great. Tweed no. Protip - jam your pjs by the bottle too before you get changed so they are all heated up.  What's next- slippers?? Hell yes.

10E2623: Queen Victoria's "Journal of a life in the Highlands"

 

The Journal of a Life in the Highlands by Queen Victoria covers years 1862-1882 (the period of Victoria's ensconcement at Balmoral in Scotland after the death of her husband Prince Albert) - includes all day to day activities and the closeness with her Highland attendant Mr. Brown.  Better than most lifestyle blogs, probably because not aspirational...      You can read the whole thing courtesy of the InternetArchive.  Abbreviated versions are in print as well.

If you have not seen the fantastic film Mrs Brown (as Victoria became colloquially known due to this close relation with Mr Brown) starring Judy Dench as Victoria and Billy Connolly practically inhabiting the role of Brown... get it on your list. Anglophilia sure - but great stuff. The movie was directed by John Madden who immediately followed up with Shakespeare in Love - another 90s classic ("that woman - is A WOMAN!" etc...) where Dench reprises as a monarch this time with cameo as Elizabeth I and a knockout line.

The Mrs Brown trailers are horrendous... just go rent it.  Read some first though...