A waterlogged walk

The weather, as well as my mood, had its ups and downs in the first week of March. Although the temperature was reasonably well-behaved and kept flitting around the double digits, the weather gods were in one of their moods again. They were sulking for no apparent reason and sending us sunshine one day and all-day rain the next.

The weather's continuing fickleness has been affecting my mood and both my mental wellbeing and my energy levels have been suffering as a result. Still, I've been trying to find a slice of happiness in the small things, which that week included the sight of some cheerful golden daffodils during Wednesday's lunchtime stroll to the Botanical Garden.

That same day, on my way back to the office, I couldn't resist taking a photo of a shop selling Antwerpse Handjes, the famous hand-shaped biscuits referring to the legend of Brabo and Antigoon. 

According to said legend, Antigoon was an evil giant who demanded tolls from people wanting to cross the river and cut off the hands of those who refused to pay. After slaying the giant, Brabo - a brave Roman soldier - gave him a taste of his own medicine by cutting off his hand and throwing it into the river Scheldt. As per popular belief, the city's name - Antwerpen - is derived from the act of Brabo throwing the hand, which is 'handwerpen" in Flemish. Whether there is any truth in it or not, the hand became a symbol of Antwerp, appearing on the city seal as early as the thirteenth century.

The little hand-shaped biscuits were developed in 1934, and are therefore celebrating their 90th anniversary this year. If you look closely  you'll be able to see that the celebratory 90 is entirely made up of these iconic biscuits!

Another source of happiness is of course our little monster, Bess, who was celebrating an anniversary of her own that week. The 4th of March marks the third anniversary of that fateful day that she came to live at Dove Cottage back in 2021. 

It's nothing short of heart-warming that she welcomes me home in the evening by jumping onto my lap the minute I sit down. She often cannot wait until I have taken off my coat and boots!

And finally, there's my current read, which has me entirely in its grip, although admittedly I'm often too tired after work to read more than just a couple of paragraphs. Looking on the bright side, however, my slower progress will allow me to savour it just that little bit longer!

Work had been busy and stressful, so I was more than glad to be able close the office door behind me on Thursday afternoon, having opted to sacrifice another day of my holiday quota to take Friday off. 

We slept until about 7.30, when a crew of workmen arrived to repair the sinkhole in the gutter between our house and our neighbour's, caused by the digging up of our pavement to lay fast fibre back in September. The fibre crew's notorious inefficiency has been causing problems left, right and centre, in our case resulting in a burst sewer pipe. Discovered early November, it took a crazy amount of phonecalls from Jos to the local council - the last one containing a threat to involve the local TV news station - until finally something was done about it. 

The black floral Mae Scott frock was part of a Think Twice birthday haul in September 2020. 

I picked up the orange in its pattern using various shades of orange with my vinyl and elastic belt - an ancient retail buy - a charity shopped tiled necklace and an orange and green mottled brooch picked up from a flea market.

One of my heart-patterned King Louie cardigans - in teal this time - was layered on top, with a vintage orange flower brooch pinned to it. Emerald green opaques and a pair of charity shopped pine green ankle boots completed my outfit.

Although it was a sunny day, a nippy wind made it feel a lot colder than the alleged highs of 10°C, and didn't exactly put us in the mood for a walk. Neither did we care much for a rummage at the charity shops. What with Saturday's Retro Day event, it would have been nothing short of frustrating to see all the cordoned off overpriced vintage stuff which people would be gullible enough to buy the next day.

Instead, Jos vacuumed and I pottered - I know, exciting! - in the end only leaving the house to run a couple of errands in the afternoon. These included picking up some felt sheets from a haberdashery shop which I needed to line yet more of those wooden brooch drawers gifted by Jos's friend.

On Saturday - we were the 9th of March by now - we'd been promised a springlike day with temperatures of up to 15°C, so I'm sure you can imagine our disappointment we were initially greeted by a solid grey sky.

Still, we were determined to make up for lost time and go for a walk a bit further afield. However, I was having an off-day, which was made worse by the lack of sunshine, so that I had to drag myself off the sofa and gear myself up into walking mode.

The further afield plans were ditched but, bored silly with our strolls in the local parks, we decided to drive down to Walenhoek, a nature reserve about 10 kilometers from Dove Cottage, in the village of Niel. 

But lo and behold: as I was putting on my coat, the sun had decided to make an appearance after all, which instantly boosted my mood!

By the time we'd parked our car, whole gaps had appeared in the blanket of grey which was soon replaced by a bright blue sky filled with wisps of white clouds.

Our previous visit here, which I was incredulous to note dated from April 2023, was marred by roadworks and the presence of a whole community of illegal fishermen who'd set up their tents at the edge of the reserve's plethora of ponds.

But although there was no longer any sign of road diversions, it soon became apparent that those pesky fishermen hadn't upped and left during our absence.

It also soon became clear that the incessant rains of the last six months or so had left the highest water levels we'd ever seen here, with quite a few flooded areas as a result.

The tree on the top left, which now had its feet firmly planted into the pond, is the same one Jos is standing in front of on the top right (November 2020). On the bottom right, you can see it in its full Summer regalia (July 2020), while on the bottom left I am posing between its multiple trunks in January 2022.

We should have known it would be tempting fate to take the narrow reed-lined path running between two ponds (below, top left), and indeed we were soon halted in our tracks at a spot where the two ponds had joined forces to seriously flood the path.

There was nothing for it but to turn left onto the semi-flooded and muddy path (below, top right) and end up again on the path we'd originally started from.

This wasn't much of a hardship, though, particularly when we spotted the cormorant who, in spite of  giving us the side-eye, willingly posed for me and another photographer. 

Thinking on my feet, I announced to Jos that I was going to make our walk circular by taking a right turn and then a left. This would take us to a fishing club's pond and then away from the wetlands through a stretch of woodland.

However, my first attempt failed miserably as the right turn I'd confidently taken turned out to be the wrong one, dead-ending at the edge of another pond.

With no fellow walkers to disturb us, we declared this the perfect spot for outfit photos. The weather was balmy enough to take off my coat and scarf and show you what I was wearing underneath. There was even a tree at hand which turned out to the perfect coat stand!

The sky blue dress with its intriguing geometrical print was long overdue an outing. It was bought at Episode, part of a Dutch chain of vintage shops, in 2015.

For obvious reasons, I always seem to pair it with oodles of yellow, in this case in the form of my opaques, necklace and charity shopped Who's That Girl cardigan with its white and two-tone blue chevron pattern. To the latter, I pinned a blue flower corsage found on a flea market. 

You'd be forgiven for thinking that the blue fabric belt came with the dress, but it didn't. It used to belong to dress which is no longer in my wardrobe, but which I sold without the belt as I'd forgotten its existence.

Finally on the right track by taking the correct right turning, we were faced with another hurdle when we tried to find the left turning we needed. As in normal circumstances this path narrowly bridges two ponds, it had almost disappeared. Spurred on by a young couple who were walking in front of us and who eventually gave us the all-clear, we decided to brave it. On the top left, you can see Jos negotiating the narrow stretch of mud between the trees, which was all that was left of the path.

The views left and right to the ponds were nothing short of magical! 

By the time we made it past the fishing club's pond and into the woods, the sun was hiding behind a layer of grey again. 

Thankfully, the inevitable rain had the decency to hold off until long after we got back home!

The weekend still had one more trick up its sleeve, as we had the March edition of the indoor flea market to look forward to on Sunday.

But that, my friends, will be for next time!