Welcome to the Deep Freeze

It's been a bit of a week, starting with a brief but hectic visit from my bosses and followed by the onset of the mother of all colds which has kept me confined to the sofa for most of the weekend so far.

Consequently, this post will be short and sweet, just an update of what's been happening since I signed off on Monday.

Oh, and did I mention that the weather has entered the Deep Freeze stage?

The mercury, which had dropped slightly below zero overnight, only climbed to 2°C on Friday 9 December. This made me reach for knits and layers once more, opting to wear the combination of skirt and jumper last seen modelled by Angelica in a previous post.

Both the skirt, which is vintage and from Bleyle, a quality German brand, and the jumper disguised as a cardigan, which is deadstock from the Belgian Wow To Go label, were recent finds. They were supplied by Think Twice and a charity shop respectively.

Apart from my beret, which almost exactly matches the sugar pink colour of my jumper, I opted for shades of green, both for the long-sleeved t-shirt I layered underneath, and my accessories. These included a charity shopped necklace and a glass ring and Miracle brooch, which were flea market finds.

I dug out my bag of knitted and fleece-lined tights, and selected a greyish-blue one sprinkled with rose buds. These were a gift from Kezzie so, on our way back from the charity shop - it was Friday after all! - I made a selfie of my legs and sent it to her by WhatsApp. 

The eagle-eyed among you might have spotted the difference in footwear between this and the post's opening photo. I actually changed into my latest charity shop find, a pair of caramel suede lace-up ankle boots, the minute I got home. They are the most comfortable ever, easily living up to their No Stress label, and the side zippers make it a doddle to pull them on and off.

We always go our separate ways in the charity shops and by the time I'd finished trawling the aisles, my only find being the boots, Jos had ensconced himself in the cafetaria with a Wiener coffee and a book he'd plucked from the shelves and which we ended up taking home.

While queueing at the till, I rummaged in a bin full of tacky Christmas decorations and unearthed a bag full of these things. They are about 8 centimeters long and we haven't got the slightest clue what they are. Nevertheless, we happily handed over € 1,50 for them, as we knew they would be the perfect toys for Bess. She just loves playing with empty spools, which unfortunately keep getting lost under and behind furniture. In fact, while I was photographing them, she already got hold of one and started playing with it immediately.

Whatever they are - and if someone could point us in the right direction, I'd be very much obliged - they couldn't be a more perfect gift for our little rascal!

With the temperature once again playing tag with the freezing point, we had no inclination of leaving Dove Cottage's confines on Saturday.

With positively Baltic temperatures forecasted for the week ahead, I thought it was time my fur-collared and hemmed Princess coat came out of the closet, ready for use. I also pulled out my warmest woollen jumpers and some thermal vests, which would be very much needed in the days to come.

Saturday's outfit was built around this riotously patterned wool-blend dress, which was an old Think Twice find. In spite of this being one of my warmest dresses, I was wearing a thermal camisole, a thin, long-sleeved t-shirt and a full slip underneath. I think my episode of hot flushes must be over, as lately I've been craving the warmth of jumpers and the like, the thought of which would have been enough for me to break out in a sweat only a year or two ago.

You can just catch a glimpse of my fleecy orange tights in the single outfit photo. Once again, they were gifted to me by Kezzie, who sent them to me when she was staying in Ghent a couple of years ago. Sadly, they are on their last legs ...

I added more orange with my chunky knit cardigan, necklace and ring, all of which were charity shop finds, as was the moss green suede belt. The Bambi brooch came from a long-gone vintage shop.

If you think you might have spotted fairy lights twinkling in the window behind me, your eyes certainly weren't deceiving you. We did put up the faux fir that day!

We'd bought a smaller one for the sitting room last year, but due to its prickly needles and Bess's habit of biting the branches and dislodging the ornaments, I donated it to the office. This year, we decided to use our old, taller and more softly needled one in the dining room instead. And of course, Bess insisted on helping.

Now, we were fully expecting her to play with the ornaments, which is why we made sure we only used non-breakable ones and removed all metal hooks, replacing them with twine.

What we hadn't bargained for was that she would actually climb into the tree, so that she's not just dislodging ornaments but whole branches this time. I told you she was a little rascal!  Ah, but isn't she cute and looking as if butter wouldn't melt?

Sunday was another cold and grey day, the mercury having taken a dive to -5°C overnight, and with highs of barely above freezing point. This time, however, we had reason to leave the house, as there was another edition of our favourite indoor flea market, Bras, at the edge of the town of Mechelen.

We know from experience that heating is almost non-existent in this venue, and with energy prices being this steep, we expected it to be even worse this time around.

The perfect opportunity to wear one of those woollen jumpers, a purple vintage one with embroidered pink and blue flowers at the yoke and shoulders. This too was an old Think Twice find.

My grey, black and white checked skirt is vintage as well, bought from another long-gone shop. It's a lined wool-blend and very heavy, which made it perfect to combat the freezing temperatures. 

I gave up on finding a brooch to compete with the embroidered flowers and just added a pale blue necklace, originally from H&M but found in a charity shop. The pale pink plastic ring came from the high street.

Our first impression was that the flea market wasn't as huge as last time, but apparently we were fooled as it took us ages to walk up and down the aisles. Although there was the usual mix of stalls selling everything including the kitchen sink, there were lots of above-average ones selling vintage and bric-à-brac, not to mention the odd quirky item.

I was determined to take more than just the odd photo and this time I persevered, snapping anything that caught my eye. 

We always have lunch at the cafetaria, sharing a baguette washed down with cups of coffee. While Jos was queueing at the bar, I made a selfie showing you my outerwear, which consisted of a fudge coloured Astrakhan jacket charity shopped in December 2020, a charity shopped yellow woolly beret and a purple scarf crocheted by my friend Inneke. 

The brooch I pinned to the jacket's collar is actually a fur clip, and was a gift from my bosses, bought at an antiques market in their hometown of Miami back in 2019. I lost count of all the compliments I received for it.

It almost goes without saying that we didn't go home empty handed, so here's a little tableaux of our finds, which included no less than nine brooches! I'll show you everything in more detail in my next post, when the fog in my head has lifted.

But I couldn't possibly leave you without a glimpse at our favourite and most exciting find: an exquisite Art Nouveau lamp! It was love a first sight and resistance was futile.

So, that's it for now. After I pushed publish, I'll retreat to the sofa once more. 

See you next time!