August, continued

In spite of my best intentions, it turns out that I seriously failed in wrapping up the month of August before we're off on our September holiday. Life, and in particular, work, has got a bit in the way this week, so that you'll have to do with just the one post instead of the two I kind of promised you. 

It'll be mainly outfits you'll get to see too, which I'm quite sure you won't mind. After all, back in the mist of time - about eight and a half years ago, to be exactly - this blog was started as a vintage and second-hand clothing inspired one!

There will be no less than eight outfits in this post, so do sit back, grab a drink and perhaps a little snack, and enjoy the ride.

We were blessed with some gorgeously sunny days and highs of 25°C in the first week of August, with the exception of Tuesday when the weather gods cranked up the heating to a sweltering 30°C.

I managed to stay relatively cool courtesy of a wildflower meadow and plenty of ice cream.

In a crisp floral cotton adorned with two fuchsia pink crocheted lace strips at the hem, the maxi skirt - a cheeky C&A buy in May 2022, is exactly the right length for me and an absolute joy to wear. It was joined by the green ice cream cone patterned Only t-shirt I charity shopped earlier this year.

A wide fuchsia pink suede belt (last year's Summer sale bargain) and charity shopped necklace and straw flower brooch completed my outfit.

Almost as certain as night follows day, a thunderstorm often follows in the wake of a hot Summer's day.

The rain continued into Wednesday morning before the sun did away with the clouds and warmed things up again to around 24°C.

The dress I was wearing that day is a bit of an oddity. In fact, it is more like a glorified apron than a dress, but just look at those details. I fell in love with its printed cotton fabric edged with red piping and that's before I noticed that it's got real pockets! 

However, its fabric was quite stiff, as it was probably starched within an inch of its life, so that wearing it felt like wearing a dress made of sandpaper. Nothing a spin in the washing machine couldn't rectify though!

Its accessories were mostly of the red variety to tie in with the red piping, although I did add a splash of blue by way of the vintage swallow brooch I found on that flea market in Middelburg at the end of July.

My red and cream slingback shoes had many admirers. They have been in my wardrobe for many years and although I know they were bought in the Summer sales, I actually don't remember where or when, which makes me think that it was pre-blog.

Friday was the start of another one of my three-day weekends, which have been nothing short of a blessing. Whenever I close the office door behind me of a Thursday evening, I'm glad that I finally took the plunge to apply for a so-called landing job, which enables employees to work only 4 days a week from age 60 onwards until they retire, with an additional bonus from the government for the 5th day.

Anyway, back to Friday the 9th of August, when I wore this skirt, which could very well end up being my most worn this Summer. Picked up from the Green Ice outlet shop near my office back in February, it accompanied me to Shropshire where I wore it twice, and it has now been added to next week's travelling wardrobe as well.

I found the brooch at the April edition of the indoor flea market, the necklace was a charity shop find, and the stretchy belt, one of the latest additions to my collection, came from a high street shop's closing down sale.

As our neighbour had received another delivery of building materials and we were expecting yet another round of neighbourly noise over the weekend, we plotted our escape.

Creatures of habit that we are, Saturday saw us driving over the border to Middelburg again. This time, though, we took a picnic as our plans involved going for a walk along the town's former defence bastions known as the bolwerken. But not before sampling a glass of that delicious non-alcoholic Trappist beer on the terrace of our favourite café!

It was while we are sitting there that Jos lamented the fact that he'd omitted to bring his jacket, which was still in the car. 

Rather than making another round trip to pick it up, we went to have a look in the gentlemen's outlet shop across the street, where we were overjoyed to find a fabulous blue, white striped linen-blend jacket from a high end label at a steeply reduced price. Happens to be that, after the demise of his charity shopped linen-blend H&M jacket we had been looking for something similar for absolutely ages!

Armed with the jacket as well as our picnic, we made our way towards the bolwerken, now filled with greenery and an oasis of calm and forming a green star around the town.

These elevated fortifications date from the 16th century and at the time provide a good view over the city in times of trouble. Around 1845, they were converted into a city park in English landscape style. With a total distance of 4 kilometres, it is one of the longest parks in the Netherlands. 

En route, we passed the Seismolen, a corn mill dating from 1728, which was actually working at the time of our visit, possibly in honour of the food truck festival which taking place nearby.

The path also skirted a Jewish cemetery, with a Jugendstil cleansing house dating from 1900. 

We left the bolwerken before reaching the end, preferring to make our way into the town centre via the Koepoort (Cow Gate) dating from 1735, the only surviving one of Middelburg's original eight town gates.

Before ending up at our favourite tearoom for cappuccinos and cakes, we briefly visited the Oostkerk

(East Church). Built in 1648, it is a prime example of Protestant Baroque architecture. The church has a distinctive octagonal shape and a domed tower. Nowadays, it is used for concerts, lectures and exhibitions.

After Saturday's intermezzo, it's back to more outfits. 

Sunday's was a viscose floral maxi skirt and striped frilly-sleeved top combo, both of which were supplied by the charity shops. The top is by high end label Essentiel Antwerp.

With its highs of 35°C, Monday was the hottest day of the year. As only the flimsiest of layers would do, I grabbed the recently charity shopped lightweight cotton Grace & Mila frock from its hanger. The necessary ventilation was provided by its floaty butterfly sleeves while supplying some coverage from the sun while on my way home.

It was still hot on Tuesday, although at 32°C slightly less so than on Monday. By the end of the day, I was feeling quite nauseous and the all-day aircon at the office had left both of my eyes dry and irritated, which no amount of lubricating eye drops was able to soothe. Consequently I wasn't in the mood for outfit photos and I actually haven't got the faintest idea what I was wearing that day.

Courtesy of an overnight thunderstorm it had cooled down to a more bearable 27°C on Wednesday, although I was still not feeling my best. 

I escaped the airconditioned office during lunch break for the usual mid-week cappuccinos with Inez at Think Twice's coffee corner.  Apparently, they'd repainted some of the walls in a moody charcoal grey, which I quite liked, but Inez didn't. The comfy chairs beneath the Billie Holiday lookalike with her vinyl hairdo is where we usually sit.

We had a whirlwind look at the rails and then walked to one of their other shops, which is virtually around the corner. Here I pounced upon a King Louie blouse, which you'll get to see in a minute.

The dress with its squiggly green stripes and solid white collar and cuffs was a Think Twice find in July 2023 and for once I didn't replace the self-fabric belt it came with. 

I'm a big lover of pink and green so the beaded necklace and plastic ring were no-brainers. As was the flower-embroidered brooch (this one) which I found in a Shrewsbury antiques centre in June 2019.

If you are wondering what Bess is looking at, this is where her food bowls usually are. We briefly removed them for the photos, which got her all confused.

Picking up the photo-bombing minx so that Jos could take a photo of the two of us wasn't much to madam's liking ...

Now you see us ...

... now you don't!

I absolutely love our new outfit photo spot in front of our vintage kitchen cupboard and I wonder why we didn't think of this before.

My final outfit dates from Thursday the 15th of August, which is a public holiday in Belgium, meaning that I had an extra day off.

Blue and green is another favourite combo of mine. Both colours come together in the King Louie pussy-bow blouse I found at Think Twice on Wednesday. The cotton Paisley print skirt was charity shopped last year, while the belt was a retail buy between Lockdowns in 2020. Can't get my head around the fact that this was four years ago already!

And now, if you'll excuse me, I've got packing to finish. The eternal dilemma on what to take!

Take care, and I'll see you on the other side!