Escape into the shade

Languishing at the bottom of my mending basket was this gorgeous cotton piqué Summer dress.

It had been there for many months and, all but forgotten, it was starting to feel quite sorry for itself.

I'd found it on a rail at a flea market back in April: when I spied its blowsy green flowers and bottle green flower buttons, I couldn't hand over my € 2 fast enough. Needless to say that I was somewhat put out when I tried it on at home and found it to be a bit wide on top.

I pinned it this way and that but, without any proper sewing skills I was at a loss as how to make it fit. I wasn't ready to admit defeat, though, as it was really a rather lovely frock!

Enter the heatwave. In my struggle to find things to wear, I was suddenly reminded of the poor frock, which must have felt like a voodoo doll by now, what with all the pins. As I thought it would be perfect for the kind of weather we were having, I dug it out and put my thinking cap on. No mean feat, as I was feeling as if I was having one giant hot flush, which was rather counterproductive for my already muddled brain.

But, Eureka! What if I just moved the buttons a bit more to the left? As it's already closing asymmetrically, nobody would be any the wiser, surely!

After putting my plan into action, I am happy to say that my efforts have paid off.

By now it was Saturday (I'm lagging behind, so I'm talking about two and a half weeks ago here), and we had a brief respite from the heat. It was still warm enough to wear the dress but thankfully the temperature had dropped to below 30 degrees. Time to go for a little walk!

The park was looking decidedly past its best by now, its lawns all dried up, with hardly a blade of green to be found, and with most of the summer flowers in the herbaceous borders already on their last legs.

A gusty wind had brought some much needed oxygen in its wake, so I was feeling a bit giddy.

Walking into the direction of the little wooden bridge, the resident geese starting honking for a handout, so Jos went back to our car to get the leftovers from our picnic. They're quite greedy buggers!

Any excuse for a spot of charity shopping, especially as one of our favourite shops is only a two minute walk up the road from the park.

I pounced upon these navy and white shoes, as I used to own a pair of these before, found at a flea market back in May 2016 and worn until they fell apart.

Then there was a whole armful of bangles, and a huge wooden fish brooch.

Finally, these two new-to-me skirts, both already worn in the hot days which were still to come.

The green and blue one on the left looks like it was handmade, while the wide skirt in browns with a hint of orange on the right is by Roberto Collina and made in Italy. I'd never heard of the brand before, but some quick googling revealed that it must have retailed at well over € 100,-  Somebody must have had money to burn!

Here are some of the other outfits I wore to combat the heat.

Would you believe it was the first time I wore this gorgeous sleeveless blue and white maxi, which I picked up for a song at Think Twice about a year ago?  I'm wearing two of the bangles from our charity shopping trip on Saturday, while the belt was previously found at the same shop. Orange was my colour of choice for the rest of my accessories: a necklace which came from a defunct vintage shop, and a brooch and ring from various flea markets.

This 1980s does 1950s frock is a long time favourite and with its wide, swishy skirt, such a joy to wear, particularly on a hot Summer day. I'm wearing the same belt as above, and opted for turquoise and red accessories. You can catch a glimpse of my new red Gabor sandals, a recent sales bargain and super comfortable.

I've got some catching up to do, so fast forward to the next weekend. With the temperature cruising towards the low thirties again, we went in search of some shade.

I dressed in this sky blue cotton Seasalt frock, bought in Wales several years ago. Its sailing boat print never fails so cheer me up. Lovely as it is, it does have a downside, which prevents me from wearing it more often: it is an absolute nightmare to iron.

The celluloid seagull was one of the first brooches I bought from the Brooch Lady. It's quite delicate, so it only comes out to play once in a blue moon.

The straw bag, with its blue flower appliqué, came from Think Twice and was all mine for € 2.

The shade we were after was found in the municipal park of a nearby town. Landscaped between the wars, it's got several so-called French pools, which are connected by rills. It was quite disconcerting to see that the majority of them were completely dried up.

The resident waterfowl had congregated in the heart of the park, where some water was still to be found, even though here too it wasn't exactly plentiful.

We'd brought a picnic, which we ate sitting on a pyramid of tree stumps in the play area.

Sufficiently cooled down, we visited one or two charity shops on our way home.

We didn't expect much, but still came away with another head plaque for our wall of heads, two gravy boats from one of the Boch series we are collecting (priced at € 0,25 each!) and some more new-to-me tops, all costing € 3 or € 4.

Oh, and I might have bought this vintage dress as well!

My next post will be the last one in my series of travelogues. I hope you'll join me again then.