So tired (of waiting)

For once, I'm counting my blessings that my blog is forever lagging behind the times and I've got a small stash of outfits and outings to fall back on it. If I hadn't, my blog would soon be coming to a grinding halt. What with the chronic lack of decent weather and our current self-isolating regime, nothing much of note has been happening in our lives lately. Plus, we are both tired. Tired of this waiting game which is putting our lives on hold, which in its turn, and combined with the continuing under-par weather, is making us physically tired and inclined to spend far too much time practising a bit of shut-eye on the sofa.

But enough already, as I'm sure you haven't come here to listen to my moaning. So, without further ado, let's have a dip in that stash of outfits and outings. Or, in this case: outing, singular!

February went off to a promising start by treating us to a sunny day on Saturday the 1st. After a frosty start, it eventually warmed up to around 6°C, making it the kind of day which was just begging us to go for a walk. 

Before we go though, why don't we step outside into the passageway and have a look at my outfit? Careful, though, as we're being watched ... the eagle-eyed among you might have noticed the feline photobomber casting a critical eye on proceedings from her perch on top of her scratching post. 

My blog tells me that this heavy-weight knit polyester dress was a charity shop find in October 2019.  In spite of its pinkish overall look, its pattern is actually red and white stripes and chevrons, with a tiny bit of grey thrown in the weave. 

I was wearing the wooden, flower painted brooch pinned to its bodice but it was mostly hidden beneath my sage green fluffy cardigan. It's from the Antwerp based fashion label Thelma & Louise but found its way into my wardrobe via the charity shops. The knitted flower corsage I enhanced it with was an old retail buy, as were both the green stretchy belt with its faux tortoiseshell buckle and the green beaded necklace.

The afternoon's outing took us to Middelheim once more. Spanning an impressive 30 hectares, with six different zones and no less than nine entrances to choose from, there's more than enough variation on offer to cater for frequent visits.

This time, we parked on the large car park near one of the entrances to Middelheim-Laag, the northern side of the park, taking in some of the familiar sculptures who live in the Human Nature zone. 

This part of the park also incorporates the formal Hortiflora, a former show garden where hedges, paths and lawns structured the landscape. Here, one of the tiny round ponds still bore its layer of ice provided by the overnight frost, trapping the leaves which had been swept into it by the ever-present wind.

We'd hardly walked through the gate when my eyes were drawn to a flash of yellow in the distance. Could it the Witch Hazel (Hammamelis) we first spotted here back in 2023? Tiptoeing closer, we saw that it was, and that we were weren't the only ones who were mesmerized by the sight of the shrub's spidery yellow, red-hearted flowers. A welcome sight indeed on a Winter's day.

I took my time taking photos, when I was joined by one of the park wardens, who helpfully pointed out the red-flowered variety in the back. It was too far away for a close-up, and as I wasn't allowed to step into the flower bed I was only able to admire it from afar.

The Mahonia on the bottom left was one of the other early flowering shrubs, proudly displaying its spiky blooms.

Instead of making our usual circuit of this part of the sculpture park, we walked right out of it by way of one of the other entrances and crossed the cobbled avenue running between Middelheim and its neighbouring park, Vogelzang. They are both part of the same cluster of parks collectively and delightfully called Nachtegalenpark (transl. Nightingale Park). 

Just before the avenue, we spotted the artwork on the bottom right. It hadn't been completely installed yet and was cordoned off by unsightly red and white tape, so that I was obliged to cut off its bottom part in my photo. It's called Tower of Silence (dating from 1960-63) and it's by the Chilean sculptor Marta Covin (1907-1995).

In 1952 Marta met Henry Moore, who encouraged her to look to the beauty of Chile and its rich heritage, which made her move away from a realistic approach to an abstract art of great expressive force. Her work was characterized by its commitment to American indigenous pre-Columbian cultures. 

We hadn't been to Vogelzang for a mind-boggling two years. This is actually the oldest of the cluster of parks which, apart from Middelheim, also comprises Den Brandt. There used to be a small castle here as early as 1457, but it was not until the 17th century that a park estate was added. The current park, laid out in typical English landscape style, dates from 1850, offering an alternation of sweeping lawns and parkland. 

The majestic old trees lining this path must be from that era. Looking up, their canopies seemed almost to be touching the sky.

I was wearing a different coat for once, but unfortunately we forgot to make photos of my outerwear. Generally not a fan of Desigual, this coat nevertheless ticked all my boxes when I met it in a charity shop in March 2023. I'm shamelessly repeating the collage I posted at the time ...

We circuited the whale-shaped pond which is the park's focal point, then crossed it by way of a decorative white painted cast iron bridge. The latter's almost perfect reflection in the pond was slightly marred by the presence of a cormorant patiently waiting for its order of food.

Steering clear of the ever-popular children's playground at the heart of the park, we made our way back to Middelheim-Laag. 

Obviously, I couldn't possibly leave without trying to hitch a ride in Welsh artist Richard Deacon's spaceship called Never Mind.  Sadly, no seats were available that day. Oh well, never mind!

And look what we have here! It's Henry Moore's (1898-1986) King and Queen! Dating from 1952, the year he met and inspired Marta Covin, it was first exhibited at the Second Biennial for Sculpture at Middelheim Park in 1953 and was subsequently bought by the city of Antwerp for the museum. 

The sculpture was positively gleaming in the sunshine, looking as if it was recently polished.

Next day's weather (we were Sunday 2 February by now) was almost a carbon copy of Saturday's.

The household chores we'd been putting off were awaiting, so the morning was spent cleaning, while in the afternoon we drove down to the garden centre for bird food to feed the hungry masses flocking to the junkyard jungle.

I've nothing to show you but my outfit. The grey and pink floral velvet skirt was a charity shop find in February 2021. It's perfect in every way, as it even has pockets, my only gripe being that they're quite tiny!

I'm almost repeating its companions on its first outing four years ago when I wore it with the same green polo neck, one of my stretchy zig-zag belts and a1960s style silver tone necklace.

The brooch I was wearing is a different one, though, incidentally also charity shopped in February 2021. This heavy silver plated one by Sidney Carron, a contemporary Paris jeweller, set me back the princely sum of € 1,50.

I'm the first to admit I've been a bit remiss in visiting your blogs but I promise I'll be mending my ways soon. 

I just blame it on being 

I knew this pin would one day come in handy when I handed over € 0,10 for it on a flea market!

See you soon!

She's not there

This post should have reached you by the magic of scheduled posting while we were living it up in the lap of luxury at B&B Het Soetewater in Beernem near Bruges. But I'm not there, I'm here, sat behind my desk in Dove cottage's spare room, where I've pushed the publish button in real time just a couple of minutes ago.

As last weekend Jos wasn't feeling well and ultimately woke up with severe nausea in the early hours on Sunday, we made the heart-wrenching decision to cancel the little getaway which we'd planned to celebrate our 30th Anniversary. 

At the time of writing Jos is feeling well again. However, what with people succumbing to the flu left, right and centre, we don't want to run the risk of Jos falling ill ahead of his surgery, which is planned for end of the month. So, we will kind of self-isolate as much as we can until then.

Obviously, we will be making up for lost time in the next couple of months!

For now, let's return to the matter in hand, which is how life has been treating us in the last few days of that seemingly endless month of January.

On Sunday the 26th we woke up to sunny spells, which filled our hearts with gladness. But clouds soon gathered once more and a blustery, bone-chilling wind made the air frigid so that the wind chill temperature was quite a bit colder than the 7°C forecasted for the day.

My outfit was one I'd prepared a couple of weeks ago but hadn't got around to wearing yet. The vintage polyester tie-collar dress, which is from the Finnish Marketta label, was a Think Twice find in October 2022. I picked up the green in its pattern with my opaques and belt, and paid tribute to the lilac bits by wearing the purple Western-style ankle boots I snaffled from an outlet shop back in December.

I tamed the rather unwieldy tie with a scarf clip featuring a posy of pansies and forget-me-nots. I'm also treating you to a close-up of the dress's pattern and its delightful flower-shaped black buttons.

With Saturday's raindrops still glittering on the sodden plants in our jungle junkyard of a garden, I'm proudly showing you the Hellebore (Helleborus sternii) whose clusters of nodding pink-flushed flowers are currently brightening up the passageway. 

The rain having kept us cooped up inside for most of the weekend, we decided to make the most of the cold but mercifully dry day by going for a walk in the park in nearby Duffel.

As we were nearing the pond, we were met by the sound of honking and quacking and, sure enough, looking down from the bridge we spotted a paddling of ducks who seemed to be chairing the quarterly meeting of the park's waterfowl.

 

For once, there was no sign of the screeching gulls who are usually trying - but failing miserably - to masquerade as ducks in the hope of a handout. At the other side of the bridge, a single, disgruntled sounding moorhen whose invitation had apparently got lost in the post. Carrier pigeons these days!

The wind was making my eyes sting and water but we doggedly plodded on, our booted feet squelching on the muddy and partially flooded paths.

The landscape was at its bleakest under the canopy of whitish grey,, the leafless trees with their clusters of twigs and gnarled and twisted branches meeting their reflections in the overflowing ponds.

And Jos was meeting his reflection too, standing still for just long enough for me to take a photo until I too negotiated that whopper of a puddle.

And what have we got here? Forget about snowdrops, it's Hellebores - and quite a variety of them too - which are the harbingers of Spring here. Aren't they a sight for sore eyes?

I've been wearing this coat on repeat these last couple of months so I guess it's my current favourite, although in all honesty I've been too preoccupied to drag any alternatives from my full-to-bursting and not very accessible coats wardrobe. The others must feel quite neglected, I'm sure.

My orange scarf and yellow woolly hat are making another appearance as well, but that's purely coincidental.

January's final week was a quiet one at the office as our Chinese business associates were celebrating Lunar New Year, entering the Year of the Snake.

When lovely Andrea of 50 Looks of Love T. wrote about this event a couple of weeks ago, she referenced Kaa, the snake in Jungle Book, the stories originally written by Rudyard Kipling and published in 1894. In the book and many of its screen adaptations, Kaa is an ally of protagonist Mowgli, acting as a friend alongside Bagheera the black panther and Baloo the bear.

Andrea's post definitely took me on a trip down memory lane! When I was six, Disney's 1967 version of Jungle Book was the very first film I saw in the cinema. I've only got the vaguest memories of it though, apart from my Dad taking me on the bus to Antwerp on a Sunday afternoon and taking our seats in the darkened cinema near the end of the previous screening.

Cashing in on the success of the film, coffee brand Rombouts issued a set of  felt animals which could be saved for by cutting coupons which came with their packets of coffee. My parents must have consumed a lot of coffee as I managed to collect them all! In hindsight, I guess they must have got some help from my grandparents.

They were displayed in my room, where they lived on the shelves of the desk unit built by my carpenter Dad. And there's Kaa! I added a yellow arrow to help you spot him!

Sadly, most of the animals haven't survived after being inherited by my much younger siblings, but when we were clearing the parental home after my Dad passed away in 2016, I managed to salvage the two remaining ones, one of them being Kaa! He's usually stored in tissue paper but he got a rare outing to feature on the blog.

After this brief trip in the time machine, let's go back to those final January days!

Mostly grey and often windy, with highs nudging 10°C, Monday the 27th was the only sunny exception.

After tackling the usual onslaught of emails awaiting me after my three-day weekends, I treated myself to a walk to Antwerp's Botanic Garden during lunch break.

Things were still a bit bare, but my heart made a little leap at spotting a clump of winter aconites (Eranthis hyemalis) which looked as if they were just about to open their buttercup blooms.

And look, there were some Hellebores too.  How delightful is this double-flowered one!

Thursday was a dismal day with almost non-stop rain. To make matters worse, I was obliged to make use of public transport to get to the office, as Jos had a pre-op appointment at the hospital, followed by another catheter change.

We'd both been bundles of nerves for days but everything went well, all things considered. Still, it was a relief to get to the end of the day and the beginning of another weekend.

Friday was - you guessed it! - another day of endless grey skies, which did nothing to enhance the highs of 6 °C.

I pottered upstairs after breakfast and paid a visit to blogland while we were waiting for a technician to come and service our gas heaters. Then, after lunch, we did the weekly food shop, followed by more pottering and some reading.

For that day's outfit, I mixed different patterns in similar colours. In fact, for once, the outfit I'd created in my head turned out to be just as good in real life!

My black needlecord skirt with its cloud-like pattern was charity shopped last Spring. The heart-patterned cardigan worn as a jumper is Diane von Furstenberg. This too was a charity shop find. I snapped it up for a mere € 5,90 in December 2021.

The belt was picked up in a long-gone vintage shop, while both the turquoise plastic beads and the peacock brooch were yet again charity shop finds, the latter found on a whirlwind visit to Llangollen (Wales) in June 2019.

And now, how about some biscuits to go with your tea or coffee?

See you next time!

Wintering

February already, but in this parallel universe called blogland I've only just made it past mid-January. And what a miserable, sorry excuse of a month it had been so far! Either wet and windy or - much more appropriately for the first month of the year - bitterly cold, the common denominator was a chronic lack of sunshine, with the sky an endless dome of dullest grey.

As the weather forecast had us brainwashed into thinking it would be sunny on Sunday 19 January,  we'd pinned our hopes on going for a walk that day. Instead, we were faced with yet another grey day with temperatures just below freezing point.

Now, what to do? We briefly toyed with the idea of going to the indoor flea market - which would be our first time since Spring - but our hearts weren't really in it as our cotton wool-filled heads were craving a bit of fresh air.

But first things first, as I still owe you that cliffhanger final find from Saturday's rummage at the charity shop!

I know, it's another coat I didn't actually need and honestly, I wasn't even looking. It just winked at me as I walked from A to B through the XL aisle. A splash of green among the rail of predominantly shapeless black coats, it clamoured for my attention. As you can see it fits me perfectly, so what was it doing in the XL aisle anyway? It's vintage and tailor-made and all it needs is a bit of steam to get it back into shape.

My outfit that day was a mix of new and new-to-me, with a gifted item thrown in for good measure.

The chevron patterned plaid skirt in browns, oranges and a dash of white was wrestled off a charity shop dummy in January 2022 and swiftly established itself as one of my favourites. See here, here and here for some of its previous incarnations. However, it was the first time I combined it with my old purple polo neck

My accessories were predominantly of the orange variety:

Wooden beaded necklace: charity shopped.

Massive suede belt: sales bargain from haberdashery and accessories shop Veritas in January last year.

Faux-Léa Stein cat brooch: gift from Kezzie when she visited Antwerp in February 2022.

In spite of initial misgivings, we persevered and went for a short but freezing cold walk in the sculpture park after lunch. 

We parked near the main entrance to Middelheim-Hoog, where we were greeted by red lettering on the back of one the coach houses belonging to the former castle. It reads: IJZER & GOUD IN DE LUCHT, STUIFMEEL & ROOK OP DE GROND in Dutch, followed by the English translation: IRON & GOLD IN THE AIR, DUST & SMOKE ON THE GROUND. I would have translated stuifmeel as pollen and not dust, though, but perhaps I'm being a bit pedantic :-)

I guess you won't be surprised that this is a work of art. Dating from 1995, its creator the American artist Lawrence Weiner (1942-2021), who worked with language and the viewer’s imagination. In his words, the artwork is created in our minds, and once we “see” it, we take it with us forever. Apparently, the work's subtitle, Wind & The Willows, refers to Kenneth Grahame's children's book, The Wind in the Willows, published in 1908.

We were wondering whether the unearthly colour of the water in the moat was part of the artwork as well, but I couldn't find any reference to it.

We wandered and meandered at will, following our noses until eventually we ended up at the Open-Air Depot. I still find it sad that so many works of art are parked here, some of them ostensibly for restoration purposes, while others are - in the exact words on the museum's website - removed from the outdoor sculpture display for other reasons. I for one would like to know what reasons there can be for treating these works so disrespectfully, while there's plenty of space for them in the park.

I always make a point of visiting one of my favourites, Colonne (1975), the reflective column by Belgian sculptor Félix Roulin (1931): a polished metal column enclosing a human figure - or perhaps it's more than one - trapped inside. Through holes in the column different body parts can be seen.

And speaking of body parts, there are more than just a few missing ones in the corner reserved for side-lined and retired sculptures which in their prime used to grace Antwerp's squares and parks. Case in point is poor Beethoven (above, top right), who has to make do without a hand and upper arm! 

A prominent position is taken up by the statue dedicated to Leopold de Wael (1823-1892) , who was mayor of Antwerp from 1872 until his death in 1892. 

The statue was unveiled in 1897 and remained in place on one of Antwerp's squares until it had to make way for traffic in the early 1950s. It was then moved a couple of times to different locations until it ended up spending its retirement at Middelheim.

Contrary to those parked works of art which constitute the bulk of the Open-Air Depot, I've got a soft spot for this motley collection of old and time-worn sculptures, most of which have been permanently residing in this corner of the park since god knows when and seem to be rubbing along just fine.

And, finally, here is yours truly crossing the Bridge Without A Name (2012). It was created by Chinese artist Ai Weiwei (°1957), who recycled an existing little bridge for his project, replacing the bridge's original deck with planks that form the contours of his homeland China.

I layered a chunky cardigan on top of my polo neck and bundled up in a fudge coloured Astrakhan jacket charity shopped in December 2020. My ears were kept toasty with my velvet turban from Think Twice, insulated with a knitted headband for extra warmth. The scarf was a recent emergency purchase on a day when the one I left the house with wasn't a match for the cold East wind.

I soon regretted just wearing fingerless gloves, though!

Back at home, we defrosted with mugs of hot chocolate and the company of Bess, who's got the right idea by perfecting the art of hibernation.

January's penultimate week was one of two halves, with a continuation of Sunday's weather on both Monday and Tuesday and a return to highs of 8°C with the inevitable rain on Wednesday and Thursday.

No cappuccino catch-up with Inez that Wednesday as she was otherwise engaged, so I went for a walk instead, capturing a handful of Antwerp's treasures before scuttling back inside when the first drops of rain started to fall.

The rain continued on Friday 24 January. In fact, it was quite torrential, with lots of wind - the dregs of storm Éowyn - which made the day's highs of 9°C feel quite chilly indeed.

Other than doing the weekly food shop, some aimless pottering and a bit of mending, they day was spent not doing very much at all, and answering the siren call of the sofa for most of the afternoon.

The lack of proper daylight wasn't conductive to photographing my outfit, so I made Angelica wear it all again on Saturday.

Outfit particulars:

Cord skirt from the Green Ice outlet shop near my office.

Necklace: sales bargain from Veritas in the Summer of 2023.

Brooch doubling as a scarf clip (see detail below): flea market find

Belt: charity shopped back in December

Blouse: Think Twice, sorely neglected, last worn on the blog in May 2017!

More rain on Saturday, which put us off any plans we might have had for the day.

In a fit of madness, I decided to tick off a rather cumbersome task on my to-do list, and one I had been procrastinating on ever since reading about Vix's mishap doing the same: cleaning the chandelier in our bedroom. I'm glad to report that both the chandelier and myself emerged unscathed.

Miracles do happen, as not only did it finally stop raining mid-afternoon, we were even treated to a couple of random rays of sunshine. I quickly grabbed my bag, donned my coat, and walked into town to run a couple of errands.

But not before showing you what I was wearing that day!

One of my Diolen Delights made it out of my wardrobe that day. Found at Think Twice - where else - in January 2023, it made its debut a month later when I met up with Kezzie in Bruges. As she said its pattern made her think of Tardises, it has been known as the Tardis dress ever since!

The diagonally striped orange and burgundy Zoë Loveborn cardigan was a charity shop find, while my necklace is a vintage one found in an antiques centre during a wet Welsh holiday in June 2017.

My brooch came from Rita's stall at the indoor flea market. I guess she and our other favourite stallholders must be wondering what happened to us ...

Before I bid you goodbye once more, let me share my latest read with you. Based on a scandalous divorce case that gripped England in 1864, Emma Donoghue's The Sealed Letter is a chilling tale of  friends, lovers and divorce, Victorian style. Definitely one which cements Emma Donoghue as one of my favourite authors!

We'll be going away for a couple of days next week but I'll try to squeeze in another post before that. If not, see you on the other side!

Being boring

When we woke up to a foggy and murky day on Saturday 11 January, we were glad we'd had the presence of mind to go for that spur-of-the-moment walk in park Den Brandt on Friday. Without the previous day's copious amounts of sunshine, the temperature, which remained stuck around 0°C, didn't offer any incentive to leave Dove Cottage's warm and cozy confines.

What's more, I wasn't feeling too clever, as it appeared as if a stomach bug had me in its grips. Not known for sitting still for long, though, I still managed to clean the bathroom, resew a loose button on a dress and write a blog post. As daylight was almost non-existent and the world outside wasn't my ally, we skipped making outfit photos that day. Consequently, I have no idea what I was wearing.

This, however, was what I was wearing on Sunday!

For some unfathomable reason, the forest green button-through wool blend dress my eyes alighted on that morning hadn't made it out of my wardrobe for many years. Bought from a gem of a shop called Vintage Styling, which sadly stopped trading back in 2016, it used to be one of my go-to dresses when the temperatures started dropping towards freezing point. Here I am wearing it topped with a faux fur capelet in January 2017.

I was originally wearing the tan mock croc belt in lieu of the dress's original self-fabric tie belt, but transferred it to the chunky mustard cardigan when I layered on top. The necklace is part of a set which also includes the ring I was wearing that day and which, same as the Léa Stein lookalike cat brooch, was a flea market find.

Thankfully, my alleged stomach bug had upped and left, and even the weather gods had mended their ways by raising the temperature to 4°C and surprising us with an unexpected sunny spell in the afternoon.

Too late in the day to go a bit further afield, we decided to go for a stroll in a local park which is almost literally on our doorstep.

Altena park is part of a domain which used to belong to an order of nuns, but which was acquired by the local council in the 1980s.

The big chapel on the top right, built in neo-Gothic style at the end of the 19th century, has been turned into a venue for concerts and exhibitions.

While the park itself was private property during my childhood, the adjacent large playground, opened in 1961, and run by the nuns, was a major attraction which put our otherwise sleepy village on the tourist map during the Summer months. They even had there own picture postcards!

Admittedly, some of the playground attractions - and in particular the vertiginous slide, which you can catch a glimpse of in the top right photo on the postcard  - wouldn't pass health and safety regulations nowadays. Sadly, the playground is no more as it finally closed down in 1986.

As we ventured into yet another working week, the weather continued being the same old boring grey affair. Except for Monday, that is, when after a frosty start the sun managed to warm things up to 4°C.

Technical problems which lasted all day threw a spanner in the works at the office, and I could only despair at the avalanche of emails which would almost certainly await me on Tuesday.

My lunch break brought some relief by walking to one of the Think Twice shops and indulging in a spot of bargainous vintage shopping therapy. 

Sales prices had gone down to € 6 by now and I was lucky enough to find treasure in the form of a teal cable-knit cardigan with the most delightful buttons.

Stripes a-plenty with a zig-zag striped brown jumper and a blue and yellow striped polo neck.

Both the cardigan and the zig-zaggy jumper have already had their first outing. Sadly, both were worn on weekdays, when the lack of daylight after work as well as my lack of selfie-taking skills ruled out the possibility of photographing my outfits.

There's always room for more accessories in my collection, so this green beaded necklace and painted wooden brooch, grabbed from a tray at the till, came home with me as well.

Although by Wednesday the mercury had climbed to 7°C, the sun had once again taken leave of absence. It was an utterly dismal day on which a pea-souper fog refused to budge, robbing the view of Antwerp's cathedral from our office windows. For comparison, here's the same aspect sans fog, and with the cathedral basking in early morning sunshine.

As it was Wednesday, a cappuccino catch-up with my friend Inez was on the menu. Always a bright spot in the week, taking place in Think Twice's coffee shop it usually combines a caffeine hit with a rummage fix. With prices down to € 4, Inez snapped up a peasant-style dress and found me another tank top for my modest collection. 

Skipping Thursday for being the usual uneventful and dare I say boring office day, we've now arrived on Friday 17 January.  No rest for the wicked, though, as I had a hairdresser's appointment, for which Jos kindly drove me all the way to Antwerp.

The chocolate brown 1970s does 1940s frock is yet another one which seemed to have escaped my attention of a while. A search on my blog has thus far remained fruitless which obviously doesn't mean that it wasn't worn in all of the almost nine since I published my first post!

The fluffy burnt orange cardigan was very much needed on this gloomy day with highs of barely 2°C.

There's no rhyme or reason to my accessories, I just played around with them until I was satisfied with the final result. They included an agate brooch, which was a flea market find about a year ago, a charity shopped chunky wooden beaded necklace and a stretchy belt with a leopard print buckle. The latter was last Summer's high street sales bargain.

Back from Michel, who has been my hairdresser since 1995, we booked our UK holiday cottage for June. I'll have you know that we have exchanged the cow shed we have been staying in for the last couple of  years for a stable :-) Still a long way off and a couple of hurdles to jump, though.

Yet another gloomy day awaited us on Saturday, the mercury abandoning all efforts to climb above freezing point. As the weather forecast kept insisting we'd get to see some sunshine on Sunday, we ticked the downstairs cleaning off our to-do list, leaving Sunday free for any spur-of-the-moment outings.

A rummage in my wardrobe unearthed the patterned velvet maxi skirt I snapped up at Think Twice in September 2023, its companion a charity shopped Norwegian style H&M jumper.

The eagle-eyed among you may have spotted the brooch I found at Think Twice earlier that week.

I opted for wine red for the rest of my accessories to pick up the pops of red in both the skirt and the jumper. The wooden beads were another charity find while the elasticated belt with its mock croc front panel and massive square buckle was picked up on the high street.

With the weather not being conductive for any outdoor activities, we decided that a charity shop rummage was in order. And about time too, as it would be our first one this year! Oh dear, we are really letting standards slip!

The gods of the charity shops welcomed us back with open arms and rewarded us with plenty of finds. 

These two blouses soon found their way into my basket: the floral pussy-bow one is vintage, while the shirt with its stunning blue, cream and orange Art Deco style pattern is by a French label called Emma & Ella. 

I fell head over heels for the amazing pattern on this King Louie cardigan, so that was a no-brainer. What's more, as this particular chain of charity shops no longer has a separate rail of posh labels they are selling at inflated prices, I just paid the regular price for cardigans of € 5,90. 

There's one final item which came home with me that day, but that'll be for my next post. Leaving you with a bit of a cliffhanger here, but I promise to be back soon!