Here comes the summer

The days after our visit to the Atomium, the perfect summer weather continued. However, there was a chill in the air in the mornings, requiring a light jacket or cardigan, and my early morning walk to the bus stop gave me goosebumps on my bare legs, making me think that I should have worn tights. But no, there's plenty of time for those yet!

As soon as the sun had warmed up the earth, cardigan or jacket were discarded and so would have been the tights if I had worn them.

As I always forget to have outfit pictures taken on weekdays, you will have to make do with these two dresses, which I wore that week, displayed on hangers.

My lunch breaks were spent walking the city streets to top up the Vitamin B levels for the barren times to come, but the end of the sales at Think Twice, when everything is being sold at € 2 and then € 1, lured me into their shops for a browse. For me, nothing beats a good browse during lunch hour to clear the head!

I came away with these two items, both costing € 1, but which I somehow hope I won't be wearing any time soon.

This jacket, made from Irish Tweed, will be perfect to wear on mild winter days.

The pretty dressing gown, made from quilted nylon, with its embroidered flowers on the bodice and sleeves, is quite a flattering shape, and I wouldn't mind opening the front door to early morning callers wearing it.

Typically, the weather forecast for the weekend was pretty dire, with rain and wind predicted, especially on Sunday.

Saturday at least turned out to be quite alright.

I chose a multi-coloured flowery Diolen dress, which was actually made in Belgium! The silhouette has a 1940s feel, with its slightly puffy sleeves, its upturned cuffs finished with a button and its buttoned bodice with wide lapels. Its original belt was missing, so I added a green leather one. In fact, I was spoilt for choice, as I could have chosen any of the many colours in the dress's cheerful print.

The short-sleeved cardi was bought many years ago at New Look (of all places) and the brooch with its purple stone was charity shopped in Wales.

The green shoes, with their bows, are a favourite pair, bought at a cheap village shop called Lovely Shoes.












To begin with, we went charity shopping, starting at a newish shop which we hadn't visited before. It turned out to be only a small shop and I thought its layout, compared to other shops, was a little confusing, but we still managed to find some things.

I'd been looking for a nice dark denim dress for ages. This one fits perfectly and is a nice dark colour.

I also wanted to experiment with a hair scarf, 1940s landgirl style, but I'm not so sure. Jos said I looked like a cleaning lady and I was very tempted to pose with a vintage carpet cleaner. But didn't.

I have, in fact, owned several denim dresses at various stages of my life.

This photo of me with Jos's youngest daughter (then 14), wearing almost identical dresses, was taken in 1995.

Our other finds were a small 1970s style carpet (which as yet has to find a destination, but only cost € 0,50) and two small IKEA display cases, still in their unopened packaging, which will come in handy one day to display yet another motley collection of who knows what.

When we left the shop, it dawned on us that we were quite close to Blender Vintage Shop, a shop we have been visiting at least once a month for years. Unfortunately, they will soon be closing down (they will have closed down by the time you read this), so we thought we'd go and and have a look before they draw the final curtain.

Oh, how we will miss that shop, as well as its lovely owner, Fanny.

As we have never left this shop empty-handed, we certainly didn't now, so here is what we bought on our final visit:

Two hats, modelled here by Twiggy, who came from the same shop. Actually, modelling hats used to be her job there ... She isn't retiring just yet!

A blue and pink crocheted, bamboo handled bag and three scarves.

Two empty cutlery boxes for storing my brooches.

They will not remain empty for long, as I also bought a lot of six brooches (they were € 2 each, or € 10 for six!).

Oh, and another Lourdes souvenir.

I know, I know ...












We had plans to go to a flea market on Sunday but these were thwarted by the weather. What we did instead and more specifically, what we found, will be the subject of my next post.

Oh, the suspense! I bet you can't wait ...