Thursday 16 March 2017

Sketch the trees and the daffodils

For the last couple of weeks, charity shopping trips had proved to be disappointing. A clue to the reason why there wasn't anything remotely vintage to be found were the posters plastered all over the shops.



Yes, it was that time of the year again! Last Saturday it was "retrodag" (no points for guessing that it means "retro day"), which takes place at charity shops all over Belgium every March.

Although my sentiments about this event are ambivalent, as they're keeping all the nice things behind for it, and up their prices on the day itself, it is still worth going. If you don't mind the crowds, that is. It seems that all of a sudden everybody wants to be (and buy) "retro"!

We usually make a day of it, doing the rounds of several shops and taking a picnic.


Our first port of call was quite a disappointment. Instead of the huge selection of vintage china, which usually yields a couple of missing pieces, they now had a large selection of vintage comics.

After a quick browse in the textile department, finding two dresses I'll be showing you later, we stopped off at the nearby park for a stroll. It was such a balmy Spring day that it would have been a shame to let it go to waste.



We were headed towards the bridge crossing the pond for some outfit photos, when we came across this little seat carved out of a tree trunk, which of course I had to try out.







It was so mild that I could comfortably pose in just my dress. Bliss!

I'd bought the dress I'm wearing at Think Twice the other week, so this was its first wear.

The dress is in lightweight Trevira polyester and fully lined, and the rows of trailing flowers are interrupted by a wide horizontal band of ferny flower baskets near the hem.










Even Mr. S. willingly posed for some photographs. I guess he secretly wanted to show off the beard he is growing. I keep telling him he looks like one of the "bearded ones" or Emperors' Heads, which grace the railings of the Sheldonian Theatre in Oxford!




Slowly, a hint of green is appearing all over the park, and Spring flowers are emerging everywhere.




I loved the patches of daffodils carpeting the park's mulchy floor, their cheerful yellow trumpets heralding the magic of Spring.



In fact, I was wearing some daffs as well! The flower brooch, sadly missing part of its stalk, came from the Brooch Lady, while I bought the cute little Welsh landscape brooch, complete with fluffy clouds, daffodils and tiny sheep, at Cardigan Castle's gift shop.




We then returned to our car and continued to our next port of call. This particular shop always has a nice selection of vintage clothing. Dresses were € 6 each, which wasn't bad at all, so I tried on an armful and bought three dresses and a skirt. I even had to undress one of the dummies to get my hands on one of the dresses ...



Here's a little taster of what I found, including the two dresses from shop no. 1.




Jos did not come home empty handed either!



At shop no. 2, he found a Bakelite Philips radio, dating from the second half of the 1950s. It is not in working order, but it'll be a great little project for him and a friend to tinker with.




Childhood nostalgia prompted him to buy this picture album based on De Witte, a classic Flemish novel published in 1920. The album itself dates from the late 1940s and was issued by chocolate manufacturer Meurisse, prompting children to save the pictures which came with every bar of chocolate. Someone back then must have eaten a lot of chocolate, as the album is complete with all its pictures!




At the final shop, the one in our hometown, I came across these Sylvac sad dog salt and pepper shakers. An unusual find as I don't think they were ever sold in Belgium.

For some reason, the beastly things were quite hard to photograph!


On our way to the till, we passed a box full of cheap modern plastic jewellery. My beady eyes were immediately drawn to the odd one out, an ivory coloured carved Bakelite bangle. It wasn't priced, but the shop attendant asked me if € 0,25 was alright.

Even if compared with last year's haul, this year's pickings were rather meagre, we still had a fun day browsing through what was on offer.

All that's left for me to do now is making some space in my wardrobe ...


32 comments:

  1. Yay! You did very well! I particularly love the maxi (you knew I'd say that!), the Sylvac cruet dogs, the yellow and green square print shift and Jos's radio.
    The promo posters for Retro week are really cool. You need to pinch a couple of those.
    Love the dress you wore on your Spring walk, very folksy. Jos looks very theatrical and dapper in his hat.
    We had Spring yesterday, no coats required! it's gone now....boo hoo! xxxx

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    1. Thanks Vix, and of course I knew you were going to say that! Spring has gone from here too, alas ... xxx

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  2. Jos reminds me of Terry Pratchett in those pictures 😊

    I love his radio, that's gorgeous! Your dresses are fab too and Sylvac, so cute! We have a heron vase xxx

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    1. I'd love to see your Sylvac heron vase, Melanie. Knowing me, I will now be on the lookout for more Sylvac pieces, I'm afraid ... xxx

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    2. I believe I showed it just recently on my blog :)
      It's here - http://follybird.blogspot.co.uk/2016/12/the-pretty-precious-things.html xxx

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    3. Of course, Melanie, I remember now. I even commented on it at the time. It's a fabulous piece to own. xxx

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  3. Now that is a bargain bakelite bangle! The carved ones sell for quite a bit.

    How cute is that tree-stump chair? I feel inspired to make some for the garden.

    Jos looks very nicely attired in that hat. I don't know why more men don't wear hats.

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    1. They are adding lots of natural elements like this tree-stump chair in that park. I really love that kind of thing. Oh, and I'd like to see more men wearing hats, too. Maybe you can persuade Mr. ETB to wear one? xxx

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  4. There's quite a lot of your stash I like Ann. Your outing sounds like the ones I have trawling round Todmorden. You really suit the maxi dress, it was a great find.
    I'd like the dress you wore for your day out and the tights please this week haha.
    Can't make my mind up if the retro day is a good or bad thing for exactly the same reasons as you.
    Have a great weekend and I think Mr S suits his beard
    Lynn xx

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    1. I'd love to have day out in Todmorden, which I guess is much more fun than the retro day. Mr. S says thanks! xxx

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  5. You call it a meagre haul, but I'm thinking, "Wow, Ann got some great finds there." That green dress with the square neckline is a real winner.

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    1. Don't get me wrong Mim, I'm very happy with my haul, but we found so much more last year that I was a little bit disappointed at first. We're now trawling the rest of the chazzas for leftovers ... xxx

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  6. What a great idea! Perhaps we should have something similar in the UK, then it might draw a few more people into the charity shops. I can't believe the price you got that Bakelite bangle for, what an absolute bargain!

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    1. That bangle was a lucky find. Someone obviously didn't do their homework ... xxx

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  7. bakelite for 25 cents! goods bless the clueless shop staff :-)
    you wore such a pretty folk style dress that day! and jos is looking very gentlemen with beard & hat! totally stylish couple! <3
    this salt&pepper dogs are so bizarre - who designs such stuff?? crazy. and the green swirly dress caught my eye - interesting design!
    happy weekend - my dear! xxxxx

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    1. I had a feeling you'd like that dress, Beate. I actually quite like the sad salt and pepper dogs ... yes I know I'm weird ;-) xxx

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  8. Goodness you did do well , the bangle reminds me of daffodils too. I love the brooch you bought in Wales too very cute and quirky.

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    1. You're right, Gisela, they actually could be daffodils! xxx

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  9. What a great idea retro week is, the bakelite bangle was such a bargain. Those dresses for €6 are fab too. It's great to start seeing the spring flowers, it looked like spring here earlier in the week but it was short lived!xx

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    1. Unfortunately, Spring was short lived here too, Sally. Oh well, it will come eventually. I hope ;-) xxx

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  10. You still managed very well! Those European thrift prices are substantially better than what we pay in Canada.

    Your bright patterned dresses have me drooling.

    How I envy your signs of Spring. We got snow this past week.

    bisous
    Suzanne

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    1. Hope you didn't have too much of the white stuff. I guess we are lucky to get our first signs of Spring a little bit sooner. Dresses are usually € 4 at the charity shop, they actually up their prices for the retro event ... xxx

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  11. Not bad at all I say, even though you thought it was meagre. Lovely frock haul, especially the maxi and the Philips radio is super...I hope Jos manages to get it up and running. Btw I like his beard, it makes him even more suave!(...as long as he doesn't grow it into one of those long Edwardian beards that all the hipster's have...vile!) x

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    1. Obviously, I'm really happy with my frock haul, Fiona. I was just a little disappointed since we had such a big haul last year, including missing pieces of china. Mr S a hipster? Never! Vile, indeed! xxx

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  12. Not bad at all! The maxi is fab. And what a steal that bangle was. Well done xx

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    1. Thank you! Having seen the prices online, I can't get over what a steal that bangle was! xxx

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  13. Glad that you found all those fabulous things, even if Retrodag looked unpromising!.
    All those dresses look amazing, so many prints and colors, delightful!!
    And love your bakelite bangle, that's really a great purchase! a real bargain!
    besos

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    1. I'm very happy with my "Retrodag" dresses, and I actually found some more last weekend at another shop, which were "leftovers" from the event. Now I need to free up some space in my wardrobe ... xxx

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  14. Wow, you found some lovely things. I love the maxi. Don't you get annoyed that they hike up the prices for one day? It's shocking really.
    I love it when the daffs come up and signal that spring is coming. The weather is glorious today - a proper spring day, but we have had some awful windy and rainy days recently.

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    1. I do get annoyed, actually. Dresses are usually € 4 and at some of the shops they double the price, which is quite shocking. We've had a proper spring day here too today, but unfortunately I couldn't enjoy it properly as I had to work ... xxx

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  15. Bakelite bangle for 0,25E?!!?!? I've always kept my eye out for a Bakelite bangle but never seen one sadly, not even at a vintage sale!
    Your dress is beautiful in the first picture- I love the border print and the other ones too.
    What pretty Spring brooches too- love both the scene and daff!
    Mr S looks like Terry Pratchett in those pictures!!

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    1. You're the second one to remark that Mr. S looks like Terry Pratchett, so there must be some truth in it ... I still can't quite believe I found that bangle! xxx

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