Saturday 10 February 2018

Take a picture here, take a souvenir

There's something to be said for weekends which meander along nicely, without too much previous planning.
After all, even the best laid plans can go pear-shaped, while having none at all depends on spontaneous, spur-of-the-moment action!

Last weekend started early, as I'd treated myself to the afternoon off on Friday. It had been raining heavily all day so, when the sun finally decided to grace us with her presence, we rushed outside to take outfit photos.


I was wearing a burnt orange polyester dress, closing with a zip at the front. The zip pull is missing, but I can't be bothered to replace the zip, especially as it's still in good working in order. I was going to replace the zip pull, and even bought one from a haberdashery shop, but there's so little of the original one left that I have as yet find a way to attach it.

The dress's print has bottle green in it, so I piled on the green accessories. I was wearing bottle green tights (a present from my friend Ingrid) as well as a charity shopped cardigan in the same colour. The butterfly brooch was part of my last flea market haul.

If you're interested, this is how I wore the dress back in November 2016.


While we were in the garden, Jos took the opportunity to feed the five thousand or, rather, the birds who treat our garden as a free fast food restaurant. We have several feeders as well as a small bird house (a.k.a. the log cabin) at the back of our garden. Daily visitors are blue tits (Belgium's most frequent garden visitors at a recent count), but we have a resident robin and the occasional wren as well. The one in the middle of the top row was kind enough to pose for me.  

Greedy doves often make short shrift with the log cabin's content, leaving the small fry high and dry, so Jos is trying to find a way to keep them out, although his attempts have not been too successful so far. 


From time to time, a gang of long-tailed tits pay a noisy visit. They don't sit still for a second, so I was lucky to catch one on camera. The red-berried shrub it's posing in is Cotoneaster, a huge and unruly shrub inherited with the garden. At this time of year, the blackbirds have usually eaten all of the berries, but the deadly Usutu virus has decimated their numbers, and we have hardly seen any blackbirds in our garden for months.


On Saturday, after a leisurely breakfast and some pottering around the house, we were ready to hit the charity shops. In view of the Modish Matron posts from my dear friends Beate, Natalia and Tina, I was determined to wear red.

Out came this dress, its model almost a carbon copy of the dress I was wearing on Friday.  After experimenting with several belts, I decided upon a cream textured one, with a mottled plastic buckle and a small dangling plastic fish. This prompted my choice of brooch, a mother of pearl fish, a vintage souvenir brooch from Ostend.


The tights I'm wearing, in a colour called Valerian, are Falke and were picked up in the January sales. As I usually wear cheap 'n cheerful tights, I certainly noticed a difference in quality, although I won't be forking out for full-priced Falke ones any time soon.

I added a chunkly purple necklace and purple-stoned ring.

On top, a comfortable charcoal grey wrap cardie found at Oxfam, originally from H&M. The red poppy in the carved early plastic brooch is picking up the red in the dress again.



I simply had to wear my new coat, even if it was slightly too thin for the start of the cold snap we were having. But, helped with the burgundy faux fur wrap and the double knit woolly hat, I didn't feel the cold too much. I was also wearing my new hot pink gloves!




If you look closely, you will detect some fish in my handbag's clasp as well.

We spent a happy few hours visiting three different shops.

In our most local one, we spotted these colourful 1970s Tupperware mugs, complete with lids, which can also be used as coasters. I'm surprised they weren't kept aside for the Retro Day. Somebody has not been doing their jobs ...


Don't they look cheerful, though? As we are avid picnickers, they will certainly come in handy. 




Talking of coming in handy, I couldn't have come across these two scarves at a better moment. As we are in the middle of a cold snap, they have been on constant rotation this week.


I found some great jewellery as well. 

While we were waiting at the till in one of the shops, I spotted this gorgeous necklace, combining green and black beads with rows of felt circles.


These two brooches were hiding in a display cabinet in another shop. I've found great stuff there before, so I always make a beeline for it when entering the shop. 

The large oval brooch is enamel and marked "made in West Germany", while the smaller one, which is unmarked and more recent, is ceramic. They were € 0,50 each.


Our final find of the day was this vintage souvenir clog from Bruges (Brugge in Flemish). It proudly displays the beautiful city's tall belfry. 

These clogs are typical souvenirs, with a pincushion and space for a thimble. As was to be expected, it was missing its thimble, but I replaced it with one which used to belong to my grandmother. 

After sticking some red-headed pins into the pincushion, it is now ready to join our little collection of delightfully kitsch souvenir items.

By now, the weekend was still only half way, but what we did on Sunday, and more specifically, which treasures we found, will be for a next post! 

Meanwhile, I'm linking to Patti's Visible Monday at Not Dead Yet Style, as usual.

41 comments:

  1. Loving the green and orange outfit, the red dress and that smashing coat. Is there enough room on the dodgy zip to thread a ribbon or maybe even a chain necklace through? It would be easier than a new zip (my pet hate!)
    Those scarves and the Tupperware are great finds.
    Good for you feeding your feathered visitors, ours are empty, it's top of my list for Monday morning! xxx

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    1. There's hardly any room, that's the problem. I was thinking of a pull ring, but need to find something to attach it with. Even if it doesn't work out, I'm certainly not going to replace the zip, it's just not worth it ... xxx

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  2. You’ve been luckier than us Ann, our weather is atrocious and today we’ve not moved out.
    I do love a burnt orange dress and that one is one for my pile xxx

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    1. We now have no option but build an extension to keep your pile in, Lynn! xxx

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  3. You have the best collection of pins I've ever seen. Love that butterfly brooch.

    You were lucky to get out and have a bit of sunshine. It has been snowing here for three days and first thing this morning I had to shovel a spot for the pug to walk in the backyard. We are getting dumped on this year.

    Suzanne

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    1. Thank you Suzanne! But poor you, I should think you'd have had enough snow by now ... xxx

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  4. Your new coat is lovely-the detail at the back is so clever, Rust and red-are there better colours?!
    Luxury tights do tend to last forever at least.

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    1. You're probably right about the luxury tights, Goody, but the bargain ones from the market are such good quality they last for years ... xxx

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  5. burnt orange is so gorgeous on you - especially with green! but you look fab in the red version too - thanks for taking part at modish matrons! <3
    love the fish theme!
    here we have lots of blackbirds - should i send you some? ;-)
    fun camping mugs! i started to collect "practical" kitchenware from fleas for our VW van and the road trips we want to do one day......
    the scarves have both gorgeous colors!
    its frosty here too!
    hugses!! xxxxx

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    1. Hope you'll be able to go on a road trip soon. I have the perfect destination: Belgium! But please don't bring any blackbirds, they might get the virus too! xxx

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  6. I love long tailed tits, they're ridiculously cute. They like to make a racket in the hydrangea outside the bedroom window. Although I love all garden birds, bar birds of prey, blackbirds are my favourites ❤ our most frequent visitors to our table are greedy wood pigeons, but I have to my delight seen magpies feed there. I absolutely adore them, but don't count them as a garden bird as here they're often chased off so are frequently shy to come to tables. Where we last lived, rooks came to our feeder which made me quite giddy with excitement!

    I absolutely love your coat! It looks wonderful with the collar.

    Keep warm, it's perishing here, I all but froze when I saw Andy off this morning, but then a nylon peignoir set isn't February doorstep attire 😁

    xxx

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    1. I love long tailed tits too, Melanie, and they can indeed make quite a racket. They always come in a little gang, and it's a joy to watch their antics! xxx

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  7. Both of your dresses are gorgeous colours, I like the colour combinations of those tupperware sets too and they are fab retro.
    We feed the birds too, they're eating so much we may have to ration it, it's costing a fortune in fat balls and seeds! I love watching them in the garden though, so it's worth it.
    It's been dismally grey and raining here today, I've dressed up brightly too, to liven it up a bit! xxx

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    1. Oh, I know! We try to ration too, but then again watching them gives us so much pleasure. We're always telling each other that they depend on us, as they can't go to the shops ... xxx

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  8. I absolutely love the orange dress, Ann! You've styled it beautifully with the green cardi and green accessories to complement the green in the dress. Speaking of green, I love your new green and black beaded necklace! The red dress is gorgeous too and I love the fish belt, brooch and detailing on your handbag! I love how you have such a fabulous flair for tying everything together, Ann! I love the pics of the sweet little birdies, too. XXX

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    1. Thank you Sasha! I was quite pleased with my new necklace, it's such a gorgeous green ... xxx

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  9. Ann I love you in the red dress! Good that the sun come to visit you after rain. To much weekends are rainy this winter. And yet it's cold.
    These tupperware mugs are great and I love your other findings too.
    We have only one shy blackbird in our praxis garden to feed.
    I send you many greetings from Thailand an a big hug, Tina

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    1. At least you get to escape some of the rain and cold, Tina! Lucky you! xxx

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  10. Lovely Tupperware picnic mugs and I'd have snapped up the pincushion too....I couldn't believe how tall that belfry was! xxx

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    1. I thought of you when I saw the pincushion! Mr S. and I are thinking of a long weekend in Bruges ... xxx

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  11. I love both dresses, but my favourite is the red one! I like those tupperware mugs, gorgeous colours! But my absolute favourite is the clog pincushion. XXX

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    1. Thank you Linda! That pincushion's cute, isn't it? xxx

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  12. As usual, your outfits have brought a great deal of cheer to my computer screen! I really like a faux fur collar, yours is fab - and snap, I recently acquired a pair of hot pink gloves. Something bright is essential in this weather!

    I'm so pleased to see your active birdlife in your garden, I was just given a bird-feeding kit from my parents and I've been excitedly watching out of the windows all week.
    xx

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    1. That faux fur collar must be one of my best buys. That, and the hot pink gloves, obviously! We've been feeding the birds here for years. They seem to flock to our little garden, as nobody else here is feeding them ... xxx

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  13. I like that green and orange combo - really nice.

    I hadn't heard of the blackbird disease. Birds being mobile creatures, I wonder if we've got it over here? There was stuff on the news last week about a tree virus, but nothing on birds.

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    1. I don't think you've got the virus in the UK. We'd heard about it on the news, and then started noticing there were no blackbirds at all. We usually have quite a few visiting our garden and now nothing, which is really sad. xxx

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  14. I love both dresses, and obviously love both outfits too!, that orange and Green color combo rocks, and all the accessorizing, and I'm loving your new coat and cute faux fur wrap! gorgeous!
    Loving all your finds, particularly those (colorful) mugs and the scarves!, so practical!
    besos

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    1. Thank you Monica! I knew you'd understand the need to have scarves in different colours! We need them to survive winter, don't we? xxx

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  15. Both vintage dresses are fab, Ann, and of course I adore the scarf and gloves. The birds are charming; i miss our cottage where we had a variety and they woke us up every morning. xo

    -Patti
    http://notdeadyetstyle.com

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    1. Thank you Patti. I so love waking up to a dawn chorus! xxx

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  16. I just love how you build up layers in your outfits, Ann - so much wonderful attention to detail (a fish theme? YES). I like getting a glimpse of your bird-life too. We have finches here, lots of robins, starlings, red-wing blackbirds (a very distinctive sound, but mostly in more boggy areas), tons of crows, ravens and seagulls. Sometimes we see bald eagles and hawks here, but they're rarer.

    Those Tuppy mugs bring back memories! I think my mom had that entire set in the 70s!

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    1. Thank you, Sheila! You sure have a lot of different birds over there. We did have a family of finches a couple of years back. So cute! xxx

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  17. Isn't it wonderful when you can get away with wearing a pretty, but thin, coat so long as you layer appropriately? Ooh, your dresses are so pretty! I love how you combine them with cardis and jewellery and tights.

    Hee, tits :)

    Happy thrifting ;)

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    1. Thank you! I've learned the uses of layering over the years. Especially with hot flushes into the equation! xxx

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  18. You look smashing on your dresses, my dear Ann! I love the new coat with the new fur :) - such an elegant look! Still no energy to read texts, sorry, but I wanted to stop by to say hello.

    Lots of love!

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    1. Thank you for dropping by, even when you're feeling ill. That coat was a great buy, I'm sure I'll be wearing it lots once the weather starts to get a bit warmer. xxx

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  19. Oh, those scarves are just gorgeous colours, I particularly love the mustard. It's so rich! The Tupperware mugs are just so cool and they remind me of my mum's containers from when I was young. She had a whole set of Tupperware ones ranging from small to really large and all of the lids looked just like the ones on your mugs. xx

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    1. We have one of those Tupperware containers too! My Mum had the pastel 1960s range, and weirdly enough, one of my first memories is of my Mum having a Tupperware party! xxx

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  20. I saw a dress today (cobalt blue with a small pattern size 14) which had your name written all over it, Ann. If I knew your size I would have bought it and posted it to you. So, I had to pass it by.

    I loved your orange dress and it looks fabulous with both greens cardigans and accessories. I also really like the red dress and the beautifully co ordinated accessories including the fish detail on the handbag! Such attention to detail.

    What excellent finds; I remember those tupperware beakers so well and the brooches were a brilliant find at 50 cents each. I like those sort of prices!!

    Hope your week hasn't been too cold...
    xxx

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    1. Oh, how sweet of you to think of me, Veronica. Incidentally that size 14 should have fit me ... That fish theme sort of just happened, by the way. xxx

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