Life, actually

For once, the weather gods were on their best behaviour at the start of March's penultimate week, when we were treated to a handful of sunny days, with temperatures ranging between 15 and 18°C. Wasn't it just our luck, though, that these occurred in my working week rather than at the weekend?

So, how come that I was able to pose for outfit photos in the garden in the middle of the day on Tuesday?

Well, I'd taken the day off as I had a dental appointment smack dab in the middle of it. 

Due to a traumatic dental experience in my twenties, going to the dentist has always been a big deal for me, and I'm the first to admit I'd been a bit remiss in my visits lately. To make matters worse, my dentist has semi-retired, closing her practice in the village last Spring. Apart from the near-impossibility to register with another one as the far majority doesn't take any new patients, there's the not unimportant issue of finding a dentist that gets me and whom I feel comfortable with.

So, when one of my molars started playing up back in February, and I had unsuccessfully tried to contact a number of practices in the area, I called my former dentist in desperation. Much to my relief, she was happy to tell me that she was still working two days a week in a group practice in a nearby town. The catch was that I had to wait six weeks for an appointment. 

I'm now without an upper molar, the one at the very back on the left side which, much to my surprise, turned out to be a wisdom tooth I didn't even know I had. Anyway, good riddance to the pesky tooth!

As for obvious reasons I wasn't feeling too inspired that morning, I thanked the fact that I'd had the forethought to assemble a couple of outfits during the weekend, and opted for this symphony of grey, black, lilac and a dash of fuchsia.

My grey and white wallpaper print dress - yet another Think Twice find - is brightened with splashes of  turquoise and fuchsia on its collar and hem. I echoed the latter with my beaded necklace, and then layered a lilac cardigan on top. The white and grey plastic swallow brooch I pinned to it is vintage and an old flea market find. 

My opaques were matching the grey of the dress's pattern, while I added a black stretchy belt at my waist for contrast.

As the afternoon was my own, I took a leisurely stroll into the village, running an errand and going for a browse at Zeeman, a Dutch chain store selling mainly textiles at bargain prices. Most of the stuff they sell is surprisingly good quality, but nevertheless my friend Inez and I insist on dubbing the shop L' Homme de la Mer to give it that certain je ne sais quoi!

After the day's ordeal, I thought I deserved a treat, so this chunky cream cardigan embroidered with tiny flowers and leaves came home with me.

In spite of the less than perfect weather, the jungle garden is doing extremely well. At least these days of endless rain have been good for something!

After offering just a handful of its heart-shaped flowers in its first year, the Dicentra spectabilis a.k.a. Bleeding Heart in the passageway border is now making up for lost time (top left), while our ancient white current bush is promising a more than decent crop (bottom left) by early Summer. Never mind that most of the juicy fruits will probably be pilfered by the resident wood pigeons ...

Almost engulfed by an encroaching army of ivy, one very daring snake's head fritillary (Fritillaria meleagris) is proudly displaying its chequered bell-shaped flower.

It was back to the office on Wednesday, which turned out to be the last in the row of Springlike days, the weather reverting to its usual grey and rainy self on Thursday.

Tired of being in a rut, we booked a couple of days of pampering at our favourite B&B in Beernem near Bruges in the third week of April (not long now). In order to get ourselves into the mood, out came the walking maps and guide books, although I've got a feeling that Bess wasn't exactly sharing our enthusiasm! 

Saturday brought four seasons in one day, with a mixture of short-lived sunny spells and showers. We were even treated to a smattering of hail stones, while the temperature took another dive below 10°C.

In a moment of madness, I decided to wear ordinary nylons instead of my trusted opaques, which I rectified when I repeated the outfit for work the next week.

To make up for the general lack of blue skies, I donned this sky-blue dress, which is sprinkled with white flowers. Apart from a wide pleated skirt, it comes with a tie collar which rather annoyingly obscures the buckle of the belt I was wearing.

I added the sparkly peacock brooch found at the indoor flea market to secure the tie's knot, and I'm sure you'll recognize the chunky cardigan I picked up from 'L Homme de la Mer the other day!

The morning was spent pottering aimlessly and keeping an eye on the weather forecast to see if it would allow us to go for a walk. It didn't, so we went charity shopping instead.

The result of my rummage was a handmade black needlecord skirt with an eye-catching abstract white, tan, teal and turquoise pattern ....

... and a pair of greyish green shoes by Think! label, a sustainable Austrian label established in 1991.  A quick visit to their website revealed that similar pairs retail at € 150 and above, so I'm quite happy with the € 5,90 I paid for them.

My final find was this multi-coloured beaded necklace, for which I had to rob a shop dummy!

Sunday was chilly, grey and rainy, with highs of about 8°C, so again no chance of any outdoor activities.

As we thought our garden could do with a colour injection, we hopped into our car and drove to the garden centre after breakfast. 

We brought home a boxful of Spring flowers to be planted in the pots and baskets which live under the awning outside our back door. My initial intention was to already make a start with this, but the weather had turned even worse by the time we got back, so that we just dumped the box in the passageway instead. But not before having been subjected to a thorough quality control, obviously!

Now for a look at my outfit of that day!

My blue and tan plaid skirt was a charity shop find a couple of weeks ago. The blouse I paired it with, and which is from the former Belgian label Wow To Go, was part of a haul from an outlet shop in November 2022. 

Both the necklace and brooch are vintage and were picked up from our favourite indoor flea market at various times, while my King Louise cardigan and Massimo Dutti belt were supplied by the charity shops.

I'll be back with our Easter weekend adventures in a couple of days, as obviously I need to make sure to be all caught up before our little getaway ... 

Hope to see you soon!