February, quite contrary

One of the woes of being a working girl is the distinct lack of blogging material during the week. I'm sure my office days would illicit more than just a yawn and, as apart from a quick dash to the shops for essentials, I haven't been out much during my lunch breaks, there isn't any content to be gleaned from these either.

To add insult to injury, there's the lack of daylight which prevents me from showing you my daily outfits in Winter.  Help is on its way, however, as I've noticed with more than just a modicum of delight that the days are finally lengthening. For now, though, it'll be mostly weekend outfits and outings here.

Consequently, there isn't all that much I can tell you about the second week of February. Except perhaps that Think Twice's sales were in full swing and that I made it to one of their shops on Thursday, which happened to be a € 4 day. For those of you who are not familiar with the concept, it means that every item in the shop sells for € 4! I might even have made a purchase, but I'm asking you to bear with me. You'll get to see me wearing my find later in this post!

Meanwhile, my weekends are still starting a day early, as I continue to be able to take Fridays off. Long may it last as the mere thought of working a full 5-day week leaves me quite exhausted.

In spite of our best intentions, we'd slept late-ish on Friday the 11th of February, so that the morning was quite advanced before we could make a start with our weekly round of the charity shops. 

My outfit was a repeat of one I wore to work earlier that week. With the thermometer stuck at 8°C, I was glad of my dress's wool content. The dress in question, which is vintage, its label proudly proclaiming it was made in Belgium, was a charity shop find many years ago. In fact, it was my friend Inez, whom I was shopping with that day, who pointed me into its direction.

I'm loving its pattern of pink and purple flowers floating down towards the hem on a criss-cross patterned background. It came with a rather gorgeous Bakelite buckled belt , which this time I replaced with a bottle green leather one.

Layered on top was a chunky knit cardigan in a similar shade of green. I also sneaked in yet another wear of my beloved tall green boots which, like everything else in my outfit except for my tights, socks and underwear, were second-hand finds.

The metal and enamel green butterfly brooch was one of my very first vintage brooches, picked up in a posh, overpriced second-hand shop in Antwerp before I knew any better.

Our first port of call that Friday was the Oxfam shop in Wilrijk, where the dregs of the Winter clothes were going half-price. There wasn't anything that tickled my fancy, so we left empty-handed.

We fared better in our local charity shop, where we stopped on our way home. Browsing the bookshelves, these three landed in my shopping basket.

Chaos reigned in the clothing aisles as apparently they were doing a seasonal changeover here as well. In spite of this, I still managed to snaffle a green and white striped vintage blouse of Swedish origin and a caramel cardigan with a silky front panel endorsed by women's magazine Libelle. 

Back at home, it was time for some chores after lunch. These included cleaning the bathroom and, as the initial clouds had made way for some unexpected sunshine, finally sweeping up the leaves which had been accumulating on the garden path since Autumn. 

We woke up to some light frost on Saturday. The mercury would climb to just 7°C, but with the continuation of Friday afternoon's sunshine it felt glorious and almost Springlike outside.

In fact, the weather was just perfect for wearing my latest Think Twice find! 

It was love at first sight for this wool and acrylic blend vintage C&A dress. Isn't it a stunner?

The red chevron pattern on a rich teal background made me swoon, and that's before I spied its frilly neckline and cuffs! The lining made it comfortable to wear, although I did have to combat some minor itchiness on my arms by layering a long-sleeved tee-shirt in a matching teal underneath.

Although the dress came with a teal tie belt, this was instantly ditched and replaced with a wide leather belt in a delicious reddish brown. In order to keep the collar on its best behaviour I pinned it down with a red-hearted brooch. A vintage carved celluloid brooch featuring a threesome of Summer flowers was pinned to the dress's bodice. Finally, a red plastic ring and red opaques completed my outfit.

It would have been downright shameful not to go for a walk on such a gorgeous day, so we decided to top up our Vitamin D levels in Walenhoek, which is yet another local nature reserve established on the site of former clay pits.

At just over 10 kilometers from our front door, it's the perfect choice if we want to go for a slightly longer walk but do not want to stray too far from home. 

The last time we were here was on New Year's Day, when there were only two other cars in the reserve's car park.

It was quite a bit busier now! We'd just parked our car and I was exchanging my boots for my walking ones, when a car stopped next to ours, disgorging two mothers with a gaggle of extremely loud and boisterous kids.

We gritted our teeth and waited until they were out of sight and, more importantly, out of earshot. Much to our relief, they took the path leading off to the right, whereas we wanted to take the one to the left as usual.

Finally, peace and quiet reigned again, and as we were walking in our chosen direction, we spotted some people walking on a paralell path on the opposite side of the pond to our right. 

In the Summer months, this path would be completely hidden from view by lush vegetation, and in fact, it was the very first time since we've been coming here that we actually noticed there was one at all. 

We decided to investigate and soon spotted the path in question, leading off into the direction we'd come from and meandering between the two ponds which were both on the verge of flooding it.

Negotiating some muddy patches, we enjoyed the sun on our backs and the unmistakable scent of approaching Spring in the air.

 

While the shady pond on our right still sported a gossamer layer of ice in places, the expanse of blue sky with its wispy clouds was reflected in the mirror-like surface of the one on our left.

Soon the path merged with one we'd frequented countless times before, although we usually walk into the opposite direction. Nevertheless, we marvelled at the fact at how different it all looked, as if it was all brand new territory.

We kept meeting fellow walkers at regular intervals, all of them giving us the time of day, even the ones walking in larger groups. The noisy family, however, seemed to have vanished into thin air.

I squealed with delight when I noticed that our favourite bench, sitting on a spit of land jutting out into the largest of the ponds, was ours for the taking. 

Here we rested our weary feet for a while, enjoying the cakes we'd brought while bathing in the sun's mild and wholesome rays.

A soft breeze had joined the sun, rippling the water with hypnotizing sparkles, which we sat and watched for a while. 

If all goes well, you can enjoy them with me ...

We would be in for a couple of sunny days before being battered by pesky Dudley, Eunice and Franklin.

But that, my dears, will be for my next post.