Twixmas tales - Part 4

 It feels a bit strange still to be blogging about our Twixmas adventures during January's penultimate week. At the same time, however, my constant lagging behind has been a blessing in disguise as I'm not sure there'd be much I could tell you about otherwise. 

Right up until last weekend, we hadn't gone for any walks since the one mentioned in this post and, apart from the briefest of rummages last weekend, trips to the charity shops have been far and few between.  I'm fully aware of the fact that this is very unlike me but, to be honest, my mind's not really in a good place right now. Let's call it a mixture of the January blues, a more than average measure of work-related anxiety and my current lurgy which has turned out to be the gift that keeps on giving.

So, it's with great pleasure that I'm inviting you to take a seat in the time machine and join me on a short trip to the near past: Saturday the 30th of December.

Let's start by having a look at what I was wearing that day! I was adamant to give one of my latest Think Twice finds, the vintage wing-collared orange jumper, its very first outing. I didn't have to think long and hard about its main companion: with the orange stripe in the plaid of this chevron-patterned skirt it was actually a no-brainer! The latter was well worth wrestling off a charity shop dummy in January 2022.

After having been neglected for the better part of last Winter, I've been wearing my green suede calf-length boots quite a lot lately. They are the perfect length for offering a glimpse of my - obviously orange - opaques.

My accessories were a tiger-eye in a nest of gold metal necklace - a flea market find back in January 2019 - and a tiny Léa Stein bird brooch picked up on a trip to Middelburg in August 2022.

As the weather forecast for the Christmas break had been pretty dire, we couldn't have been happier when it turned out the weather gods sent us a parting gift of a handful of dry and sunny days. 

Combined with the 10°C declared by the thermometer, it would have been downright silly not to take advantage of the glorious weather by going for another walk. 

Only 10 minutes up the road, in the neighbouring village of Aartselaar, leafy Solhof Park is the perfect place for a short head-clearing walk. As we walked towards the park's entrance after parking our car, we passed some partially flooded meadows as a result of the relentless rain of the last couple of months.

The narrow paths meandering through the trees in the park itself were relatively mud-free, but I was still glad to have changed out of my suede boots and into my old walking workhorses.

The Wedgwood blue sky offset the starkness of the bare Winter trees and the satisfyingly crunchy deep-pile carpet of leaves at their feet. The wet but relatively mild weather had woken up the first of the catkins while a family of fungi had taken up residence on some of the dead wood scattered on the forest floor.

First outing for the purple and lime coat I charity shopped earlier that week, and which I wore accompanied by my purple mohair beret and my fringed sage green scarf.

Whenever we walk here, our feet lead us into the direction of the gazebo which, at this time of year, is clearly visible on its yew-clad knoll (below, top left). The knoll is home to an old ice house, which is said to be in excellent condition and one of the rare remaining examples in the area. Firmly padlocked, it is now a place of hibernation for a colony of bats.

 

The knoll can be climbed by way of a narrow, yew-hemmed path spiralling up to the top. It's not exactly for the faint-hearted as it's quite eroded in places, and I'm always glad of my walking stick, which helps me keep my balance.

At the very top, the gazebo awaits, its conical roof resting on gnarled and graffitied pillars. There's a view towards the white stuccoed manor house, originally dating from the late 19th Century but now much modernized and turned into a featureless hotel.

Back on solid ground, we continued our walk, taking note of the high water levels in the moat and marvelling at the monumental trees, some of which are at least 100 to 150 years old.

If you go down to the woods today ... be sure to watch your step as there are strange creatures lurking between the trees!

And then the year's final day dawned, which is when we realized we still had a little project lined up.

After we'd brought these two ladies home from the indoor flea market's December edition, they had been patiently awaiting their fate. Now was the time to introduce them to their sisters - and little Mexican brother - on the spare room's mantelpiece! 

The rest of the day was spent not doing much at all and resting up in anticipation of our New Year's Eve get-together with our friend Inez. 

No longer used to staying up after midnight - which is well past our usual bedtime - we were fully expecting to nod off on Inez's sofa before the clock struck 12!

We didn't - if only just - and had a lovely time eating, drinking - alcohol free bubbles and wine - and being merry.

We had Jos's homemade minestrone - which we brought along in our soup maker - as a starter, followed by Inez's main course of mince, feta and spinach filled peppers with new potatoes.

Dessert was a delicious ice cream Bûche de Noël, also supplied by Inez.

We found Inez's frock at Think Twice during one of our cappuccino fuelled catch-ups, while mine was a charity shop find in December 2020.

It's by the German "Ein Fink Model" label, and I'm including a close-up of its fabric of golden yellows and oranges threaded with Lurex. 

The brooch, a white metal scroll with dangly little chains ending in tiny pearls, is one of my oldest in terms of ownership, and may well have kick-started my collection.

We drove home in torrential rain and were in bed by 1.30 am, which of course we had to pay for the next day. In spite of a generous lie-in, I felt out of sorts all day.

There was plenty of Lurex in my New Year's Day dress too, although it isn't very noticeable in the pictures. I picked up this purple and lilac patterned dress for next to nothing in the Think Twice sales back in December 2017 and up-cycled it by changing its buttons. 

My purple pleated belt as well as the chunky orange long-line cardigan are old charity shop finds, while the orange metal flower brooch was a gift from my lovely friend Kezzie last February.

The necklace, with its purple, pink and orange wooden beads was found on the high street back in the mists of time.

Having finished Kate Morton's Homecoming, I selected the year's first book from my TBR pile. For some reason Jonathan Coe's latest offering is making me crave chocolate ...

I'm hopeful that, with a little more time on my hands in the near future, I'll be able to increase the number of books I'm reading. I didn't exactly count them, but it can't have been much more than twenty or so in 2023, which is quite shameful.

I wonder what else will 2024 bring? 

I've no idea, but Bess is looking forward to a future filled with cuddles and treats!