Taking a rain check

The mini-heatwave of the last week of June has come and gone and left much cooler weather in its wake, with no shortage of showers and a tempestuous wind.

By Tuesday before last, Summer had done a disappearing act and, quite worryingly, had taken along a good chunk of my positivity, leaving me with a bit of a wobble. Monday's office day had been rather hectic and, in spite of a good night's sleep, I was still feeling tired in the morning. On top of that, the merest thing seemed to cause tiny tears to flow.

I'm happy to say that my mood improved greatly during the day. Still, I ended up looking red-eyed and puffy-faced in most of the outfit photos we took, so it isn't a coincidence that I'm not facing the camera in the photos I selected for this post.

My Diolen frock might have been a great help in cheering me up that day, with its joyful red, lime green and sky blue floral print. I bought it several years ago from a delightful shop in Antwerp called Vintage Styling, which sadly stopped trading in 2016. Incidentally, the beads I'm wearing came from another shop which closed down around the same time. Losing those two shops within only a couple of months was a real blow to the system back then!

Both the C&A polka dot cardigan and the sky blue double-pronged belt were charity shopped while the dragonfly brooch was a flea market find. 

The grey and rainy day was briefly interrupted by a sunny episode. Still not much in the mood for anything at all, I walked into the garden and spotted a flash of orange on one of the Echinacea flowers. Intrigued, I tiptoed closer and was met with the sight of a beautiful spotty butterfly with exquisitely scalloped wings. I turned heel and ran inside for my camera, fully expecting it to be gone upon my return. But it wasn't, and what's more, it willingly posed for a series of snaps, even allowing me to come really close.

Not knowing the first thing about butterflies, I found an online butterfly identification guide which told me it was a Comma (Polygonia c-album).

The encounter with the Comma had made me feel somewhat better, but unfortunately any further garden explorations were cut short by the arrival of more rain.

After lunch, I pottered around upstairs, reorganizing some of my stuff and trying to come up with better storage solutions. Apart from my wardrobes (note the plural!) and a chest of drawers, I have several vintage suitcases, beauty cases and baskets which hold smaller items like socks, tights, belts and underwear. My vintage slips and half slips live in a small suitcase, but as I wanted easier access to the ones I'm using the most, I was looking for a handy bag or basket, some of which are stored in yet another suitcase.

I soon found a suitable bag, a tapestry one with cats, which I forgot to photograph, but here are some of the others I came across, some of which I'm ashamed to admit I'd completely forgotten about.

These are just part of my collection of baskets. All but one were charity shopped (the top left one from a shop in Bridgnorth, Shropshire). The vintage basket on the bottom right came from one of the shops which closed down in 2016.

These bags and purses were all from Think Twice, except for the red one with the raffia flowers on the bottom right, which was a fairly recent charity shop find from just before lockdown.

Again, three of these beauties are Think Twice finds. The one on the bottom right, however, is rather special, as it was a gift from Vix. 

I think it's high time I give it another outing. In fact, all but a handful of baskets, totes and handbags are in current use, as I simply don't have that many places to take them to.

If my memory serves me right, the blue and pink bamboo-handled bag was also from one of those long-gone vintage shops. The elongated wicker handbag on the top right was a charity shop find. We picked up the green, pink and cream raffia bag from one of our favourite flea market sellers, while the small black crocheted bag was yet again from Think Twice.

Wednesday's office day was a veritable washout of a day, with non-stop rain from dawn until late afternoon. I was at my desk at 7.30 as I needed to take time off around lunch break to go to the hairdresser's. It's such a relief to be able to go for regular cuts again. 

A sunny start of the day on Thursday and I'm happy say I was in a much sunnier frame of mind by now.

Browsing through my dresses, I was drawn to the gorgeous blue colour of this Diolen dress with its sprinkling of yellow, orange and white flowers. I have its twin in 

I was debating whether to add a belt or not, in the end opting for a zebra print one, a retail bargain back in November last year. Trawling through my blog, I was quite amazed at how many time it has been worn already.

The vintage daisy brooch was from the Brooch Lady, while the bangle and bracelet were both charity shop finds. I can't remember where the beads, which always remind me of bubble gum balls, came from, but it might again be from one those closed down vintage shops.

The morning was spent doing some well-needed deadheading and tidying up in the garden. 

I'd been eyeing the Nasturtium seeds I'd sown in empty loo rolls back in May, as a safety net in case the ones I'd sown directly into the garden didn't materialize.They had all come up so it was about time I did something with the poor loo roll plants. Casting around for a suitable receptacle I hit upon the idea of planting them in a leaking watering can which was wasting away in the passageway. As the bottom had split, drainage was assured!

I hardly had time to finish the job before it starting pelting down again.

When I mentioned Jos's gooseberry jam in a blog post the other week, Suzy commented that she thought it would be yummy on scones. Never known to dismiss a good idea, we added self-raising flour to Jos's shopping list for that day, as the bag lurking a the back of our store cupboard turned out to be well past its use-by date. We should really make an effort to do more baking, as we actually both love it.

Although we are in possession of a food processor, inherited from my Dad, we opted to make the dough by hand. We've been using the same tried and tested recipe for years and it has never once let us down. They might look what we call a bit "rustic" but I can assure you they're delicious.

We had a lovely tea-time treat two days running, putting generous dollops of cream on top of the jam. As we always make far too many, we put the rest of the scones in the freezer for a rainy day.

The weather continued to thwart our gardening plans for the rest of the weekend.

If you've got proper Summer weather where you are, please do send some our way!

I'll be back in a couple of days as usual, but in the meantime, do stay safe and sane!