09 December 2008

Massachusetts in the Early Winter

Menotomy Rocks Park in Arlington, Massachusetts.
Clean, crisp air. Temperatures in the mid 30's.
Beautiful!
The Frozen Pond


The mixture of bare trees and evergreens



Bean Boots in "the wild"

The boy in a red toggle coat with a plaid lining. I'm jealous of that coat.

1 Million Daddy points for me.

Since this blog was intended to be about my cheap clothes, let me mention the $29.50 down vest from Lands End, the perfect under layer to the trusty Barbour jacket.

I wear my Barbour jacket pretty much everyday this time of year. Inside it has a row of snaps that accept a winter lining. When I went to purchase the lining to go with this coat, I discovered that Barbour had switched to a zip out lining years ago, and that the snap version was no longer available. This cheap down vest is light weight and comfortable. It fits well beneath the coat and keeps me warm, besides providing me with a pair of extra deep pockets, big enough to hold a pair of gloves or a digital camera. It gets the "Affordable Wardrobe New Clothes Seal of Approval".

But I digress. The weather, the trees and my boy were a perfectly wonderful combination today. Unemployment definitely has its moments.

16 comments:

heavy tweed jacket said...

Excellent outdoors traditional. I've been wearing my old LLB vest under the hunting coat lately.

ms. mindless said...

your son is adorable! i am jealous of his coat too!

trip said...

Keep an eye out on Ebay for the Barbour button-in liners. It may take a while, but they do show up every now and then. My brother and I both managed to score them eventually.

DAM said...

Good Morning Sir -

A buddy of mine was in a similar predicament when he bought his vintage barbour with snap in liner as well. Turns out he was able to find several options on ebay that would work with the Beaufort.

Happy Hunting -

DAM

Anonymous said...

the snap in liners are still widely available for the "international" here in the UK. perhaps they will fit (im guessing that their maybe a bit short given that the beaufort is a longer coat)

http://www.barbour.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=products.view&ProductID=17124&PCategoryID=6&RangeID=1

Andrew M. said...

I've been thinking of getting a down vest to go under my wool peacoat on those super cold days. Looks good.

Anonymous said...

I have the Lands End vest, and it indeed is nice (and a good value).

FYI, the old style snap-in Barbour liners still are available from Fishing The Cape (fishingthecape.com). I purchased a Barbour and liner from them last year. I'm not sure if this link will work, but they are on the site listed under "accessories."


http://www.fishingthecape.com/cpoint201/category.htm?categoryId=17989&productId=23745&catalogStyleId=706

Jean Martha said...

Those pictures are making me homesick for Mass.

Laguna Beach Fogey said...

Great post. It reminds me of my childhood. Barbour jackets are very useful garments, perfect for layering.

I miss the cold weather, though I understand that mid-30s isn't very cold. I can recall seeing, when I was a boy in our Darien (CT) and New Canaan (CT) houses, turtles swimming under the ice in our local ponds during the winter!

In the 1970s and '80s, down vests and patch madras trousers were all the rage at Darien Sport Shop and Bob's in New Canaan.

Pitboss12 said...

Guiseppe: What is your suit jacket size?

Giuseppe said...

Eveyone,

Thanks for the advice on where to find the snap in liners.

Laguna,

Down and patch madras? You just don't see that kind of over-the-top crazy preppy fad anymore.

Renovation Therapy,

Massachusetts is only hours away by car from upstae New York. Why not make a winter road trip?

Pitboss 12,

40 or 38, regular or short, depending on the coat. However, if the holiday season doesn't end soon, I'm likely to lose abutton or two.

Jean Martha said...

We do, often. I'm from Mass. originally (Berkshires) so we go back to visit family quite often. Still, those pics are making me itch to hop in the car now! LOL

Pitboss12 said...

Guiseppe:

This may be outside the normal realm of trad wear but would you like a Filson tincloth packer jacket with wool liner? I picked it up off of E-bay and it is a 38. I'm a little larger than a 38. I just want to find a home for it.

Giuseppe said...

Email me, Pitboss.

Adam said...

I've the exact same LLB vest in identical color. Nice blog.

Albert Akashi said...

Giuseppe,

Stumbled on your blog a few weeks ago and I am playing catch-up on your earlier posts. I like what you are doing.

That aside, I saw some pictures on The Sartorialist's blog recently where people would wear their vests over their jacket. Is that for a more fashionable look? jacket has a fit too tight to wear the vest underneath? What are your thoughts?

Keep up the good work!