Wednesday 3 August 2016

A-Tisket, A-Tasket

... I found a yellow basket! I am paraphrasing Ella Fitzgerald and signing along with her popular 1938 rendition of the nursery rhyme, but as I am quite tone deaf, I strongly suggest you plug your ears!


The song lodged itself into my head during Saturday's charity shopping expedition, when I made a final mad dash through the aisle which I'd skipped at the beginning as it was too crowded. There it was: a big, old-fashioned, yellow plastic shopping basket! At € 2, it obviously had to be mine.

We managed to find a few other things too. This particular charity shop has several shelves dedicated to little (and not so little) odds and ends. We love browsing through the assorted array of holiday dolls and souvenirs, Lourdes memorabilia, battered crucifixes, kitsch figurines, candlesticks and so on, as well as a shelf full of miscellaneous things they obviously didn't know what to do with.



First up was this brown 1970s Emsa rack for storing herbs, which we found a green version of at our local flea market two weeks ago. We already have several items of the same series in brown which compliments the blue of our kitchen walls, all picked up cheaply at flea markets and charity shops.


As the green rack was only € 1 and still contained all the - thankfully empty! - herb pots, we bought it anyway, knowing we'd find the brown version at some point, which we now did. The brown rack was also € 1, but without the pots, which is still a good price as these Emsa items appeal to what I call "the retro crowd" and tend to command much higher prices at vintage markets and online.


From the same shelves we plucked this shiny barometer to go with Jos's collection. We are slowly running out of wall space to accomodate them all. Now, if only they'd tell us the weather will be fine ...

This little wooden souvenir bowl from Nice is particularly poignant in view of the tragic happenings on July 14th, as it depicts the ill-fated Promenade des Anglais.



On a more positive note, these two cute little dogs make me smile whenever I look at them. Although I am more of a cat person, with their cheeky faces they were quite impossible to resist.  They are just the right way of kitsch!


Two belts and a scarf also came home with me. A girl can never have enough of those, can she?


Oh, and this is what I wore on Saturday: a white crimplene dress with a crazy pattern in browns and grey, with a shiny brown vinyl belt at the waist.










Even though I love brown, and in spite of the in-your-face pattern, it did look a bit boring at first, so I accessorized it with some blue and turquoise.


Only the plastic beads are vintage. The chunky ring and bracelets were picked up cheaply in the high street and the shoes are from a local village shop. I found the blue birds brooch in a lovely shop in Cardigan, called Mundos, a couple of years ago. I have it in green as well.


I chose a small burgundy brown handbag which was just big enough to hold my weekend essentials.


The brooch adorning the lapel of my short-sleeved turquoise crimplene jacket also came from Cardigan, where it was charity-shopped this year.


Although it was quite cloudy, it was still warm enough for an outside picnic and a short stroll through the park.



We hadn't been there for several months and the planting was quite lush and colourful, especially around the water garden.

Yellow Inula helenium, which has been planted here in abundance, is a magnet for a multitude of bees.

Look at the gorgeous colour of this red and yellow daylily (Hemerocallis), whose blooms sadly only last a day,


There were several varieties of Hydrangeas, but I was particularly taken by this timidly blushing one..

The dog rose bloom was lying virtually intact in the middle of the path. I wonder what happened to it.
Some of the dog rose bushes were carrying quite a few rosehips already.

At least the park was not inundated with smartphone carrying, Pokémon hunting individuals, so that we were able to enjoy our picnic in peace.

Last week, police had to close off traffic in one of Antwerp's shopping streets due to overcrowding caused by the game.

It's a mad world, no?

24 comments:

  1. What a great idea to accessorize the brown print with turquoise blue! I will take a cue from you ~

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  2. I love that brown dress, and the blue jacket just makes it all the more lovely. I would have thought the bird brooch was vintage-it is a very good reproduction.

    I remember those shoppers-ours was always lined with a paper sack to keep things from falling through (I think it was only used to visit the produce market). What's fun is that I never would have remembered that without your sharing the find-aren't blogs the greatest at jogging the memory?

    In our climate we won't see rosehips until September, possibly October. Of course this year, everything seems messed-up, and we'll probably still have flowers in the wintertime.

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    1. I agree, Goody, blogging is the best for jogging the memory and picking up ideas! Here, we usually don't see rosehips until September either. In our garden, we have a winter-flowering Clematis which is in flower right now, so everything seems to be messed up indeed. xxx

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  3. A really lovely outfit you're wearing there Ann and the turquoise accessories gives the brown a lift. Totally love your yellow basket. Funnily enough I was looking at some modern version last week, but they're not as good as your original one xx

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    1. I have often seen modern versions of those baskets, but was never tempted to buy one. I somehow knew I had to hold out for a vintage one. xxx

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  4. totally mad!
    :-)
    you know what suits you best! cool colors! i use the same trick of accessorizing with cool tones when i want to wear a warm hued dress.
    i´m in love with your yellow basket! and that ella f. song is stamped in my brain because it was the song i walked a catwalk back in teen days - modeling a designers evening collection several times in several places - dumdi dumdi dum pling.....
    this kind of farm style kitchenware like emsa were hip in the 70s GDR too - but of cause not available - so the dads handcrafted the little shelfes etc. from wood and the moms painted them with "bauernmalerei" - ours were red painted with pink & green roses - a big shelf for spices/herbs, a coffee filter holder and a antique coffee grounder too painted over and with the rose design by mom.....
    and yes - scarfs and belt are never enough!
    you´r stylish picnickers!
    xxxxxx

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    1. Well, well, walking on a catwalk indeed, so that's where you get your "poise" from ;-) Emsa kitchenware was actually made in (West) Germany, but I'm sure there were some real gems among the dad-made ones as well! Hugs xxx

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    2. yes i know - emsa is a west german label! but east germans could not go shopping for it - iron curtain - ya´know?! :-)
      big hugs! xxxxx

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  5. Congrats on finally finding the spice rack - things do turn up eventually, it just takes time. What will you do with the green one, keep it or set it free to find a new home?

    Blue is the perfect complement to your Crimplene dress.

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    1. I guess I will "set it free", Mim, I'm keeping it aside for selling at a future flea market. xxx

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  6. A mad world and a small one. I used to supply Mundos when I was in business. It's run by a guy called Rod. When we were at college we used to call him Hot Rod!! :) I love your yellow basket and your folkloric painted wooden items, so very pretty. I think you are absolutely right with the brown and turquoise combo, I always love it. Such beautiful flowers everywhere at the moment. This Pokemon go thing has caused quite a stir! Xxx

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    1. It's a small world indeed. We always go into Mundos when we're in Cardigan. It's a lovely shop. We have talked to the owner, although we didn't know his name was Rod, as we were staying in nearby St Dogmaels, and they were about to move there. xxx

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  7. Oh I love that Emsa stuff. I've never really seen it before but it has quite a 1930s feel about it. Well done for finding all those fabulous pieces at such good prices.
    I love the contrasting turquoise blue against your brown and white dress. It's such a gorgeous colour combination and one I hadn't considered before. Ooo, I'll make a mental note of that! xx

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    1. I found the eggcups at Oxfam, not knowing anything about them. Since then, we kept finding Emsa stuff, and before we knew it, we had a collection. That colour combination came about at the spur of the moment, but it seemed to work. I'm glad you like it. xxx

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  8. Ireally love the dog figurine

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    1. I was actually thinking of you when I saw it in the shop ;-) xxx

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  9. Fantastic outfit! I adore light blue and rich, cocoa-y brown partnered together (ditto for teal and brown) like this. It's stylish, earthy and fun at the same time. I'd love to find a vintage suit in either shade, as I just know it would get a ton of wardrobe play.
    Congratulations on all of your splendid finds. I especially like the darling scottie dogs and your cheerful yellow basket. You pick up the best vintage items!

    xoxo ♥ Jessica

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    1. Thanks Jessica. Your comment reminded me of the fact that I have some suits I have yet to wear, which I will probably do in late summer/autumn. I've had years of practice in browsing charity shops and flea markets and I think I have developed a good eye. There are "barren" times as well, though. xxx

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  10. I have an Emsa flour cannister I keep the bird food in, it's so pretty and at 25p I couldn't say no! Love your collection.
    The brown and turquoise is a gorgeous look on you, those colours work so well together.
    I used a basket similar to yours when I was in Sixth Form - lined with a Chelsea Girl carrier bag to stop me loosing anything on the walk to school. I love the sunny yellow! xxx

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    1. I wouldn't have said no to that Emsa flour canister either ... I did have a similar basket, but smaller, in the late 1970s, which I used as my handbag. Not very practical, though ... xxx

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  11. I love brown and turquoise/duck egg blue together, they look lovely together, the curtains in our bedroom our this colour, they have a bit of a fifties vibe to them.

    And now, because I am so behind, and because blogger thinks I'm a robot, I will have to go through the proving I'm not a robot hoo hah by trying to guess what the words mean, hehe! Are they written in Flemish?

    xxx

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    1. Yes, they should be in Flemish, Melanie. Sorry about that. But that robot thing happened to me too after I came back from my hols and was catching up on my commenting. I never knew why, but now I do ... xxx

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  12. Yes, they should be in Flemish, Melanie. Sorry about that. But that robot thing happened to me too after I came back from my hols and was catching up on my commenting. I never knew why, but now I do ... xxx

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