July's ups and downs

Apologies to those of you who have come here expecting to see another installment of my travelogue!

I'm putting the final couple of days of our holiday on the back burner for now in favour of a another July catch-up. After all, I'd barely even scratched the month's surface in my penultimate post.

Ok, I admit: I'm procrastinating, as I'm fully expecting to feel somewhat bereft once it's all done.

So, into the time machine we go, setting the controls for Saturday the 6th of July!

The day's mix of grey skies and sunny spells, with highs of around 23°C, provided the perfect conditions for wearing this vintage puff-sleeved dress patterned with red swirls and dots.

For all intents and purposes it should have taken pride of place on my flea market rail if Inez hadn't persuaded me to at least give it another go. So I wasted no time in wearing it right away to decide upon its fate and I'm happy to say that it's back in my wardrobe. A Regret-me-Not, as Sheila would say.

I opted for black as the main colour for my accessories, which included a vintage black and pearly grey geometrical brooch. One of the oldest in my collection in terms of ownership, my memory draws a blank as to its origins. 

Although still a tiny bit wary, Bess had sufficiently recovered from her ironing board trauma to insist on making up for lost lap-time ... and making sure to let us know who is boss by attacking Jos's denim jacket, which he'd left lying on the bed!

I spent the morning pricing the rest of the clothes for the flea market. As you can see there was quite a lot of stuff to go through.

Then I walked into town to run an errand and go for a browse at bargain shop Zeeman, where I found a pink stretchy belt for my burgeoning collection.

We were treated to grey skies once more on Sunday, and as the day's highs of  20°C came accompanied with a blustery wind I felt the need to add a lightweight three-quarter sleeved cardigan to my outfit.

The skirt with its palms and waterlilies print is by Belgian designer Nathalie Vleeschouwer. It came to me by way of a charity shop in March 2021. The necklace, green suede ankle boots and pink and white 1980s cap-sleeved jumper were charity shopped as well, while the enamelled brooch I pinned to my cardigan was a flea market find. Only the belt was bought brand new on the high street.

After a morning of aimless pottering, we took the car and drove to the massive garden centre at the edge of town. Although they obviously stock lots of plants, these do tend to take a backseat compared to the mind-boggling array of mostly overpriced and often tacky decorations. We generally avoid it like the plague but were in need of an outdoor carpet to spruce up our flea market stall, which I'm pleased to say we found at a surprisingly affordable price.

Monday saw a continuation of Sunday's weather, and consequently I decided to repeat its outfit as well.

The run-of-the-mill and rather quiet-ish office day was pleasantly interrupted by a cappuccino-fuelled catch-up with Inez at the Think Twice coffee shop. Such is our friendship that, even though we'd only seen each other on Friday, we still found lots to talk about. 

In order to limit our caffeine intake, and because it would have been silly not to, we did a quick round of the shop. I didn't leave it empty-handed either, finding a floral Diolen frock and a huge scarf with the funkiest of patterns.

The dotty cobalt blue, orange and white dress also came from Think Twice. I found it during one of my lunch breaks the other week, but forgot to show it to you. I've also included the pink stretchy belt from Zeeman for good measure!

If we had a chilly start to the day on Tuesday, the mercury had climbed to a sweltering 30°C by lunch time, only to make a nosedive again after a massive thunderstorm with some gale-force winds in the early evening. Thankfully, it was only short-lived and no damages were sustained, which unfortunately wasn't the case elsewhere in Belgium, and not all that far from Dove Cottage either!

Due to the stormy weather conditions and the premature darkness, no outfit photos were taken. Nor did we take any on Wednesday, even if it was for completely different reasons.

A visit to my GP that morning had somewhat knocked me for six. As suggested by my ophthalmologist I needed to get a radiology referral from my GP. As there's quite a big difference between both eyes, the Low-Tension Glaucoma limiting itself to my left eye for the time being, we needed to make sure that there wasn't any blockage of the carotid arteries in my neck. If there was, I would need surgery, which I wasn't exactly looking forward to. Anyway, an appointment with a local radiologist was scheduled for Monday the 15th.

Although I wouldn't be able to put things out of my mind until after the test, I was feeling somewhat better on Thursday, when I was wearing a vintage dress I'd picked up in Shrewsbury in June. Oops, I've just realized I've still got to tell you all about it in that elusive final episode of the travelogue!

Then Friday, and an extra long weekend rolled along, as I'd taken Monday off as well. 

With our flea market coming up on Sunday, we kept an eye on the weather forecast, which had been insisting all week that it would be a dry and warm-ish day. Obviously, we were more than just a bit sceptical about this, particularly as it rained quite heavily all day on Friday.

With a woeful look at my rail of Summer frocks, I decided they were a definite no-no, as the mercury climbed to only 16°C.

What did make it out of my wardrobe was this red, white and blue combo. The skirt is vintage and was a Think Twice sales bargain back in March 2023, while the blouse, which is Morris & Co x H&M, was charity shopped in June 2022. They were happily married by the the blue stretchy belt with its Celtic knot buckle, which I picked up from an outlet shop last Autumn.

My necklace and brooch were either charity shop or flea market finds. Although my memory fails me again here, I know exactly where I found the shoes, which was in a charity shop in Ypres during one of our September sojourns in Belgium's west country. I'd forgotten all about them until they leapt at me while preparing for the flea market.

The ring, which was a fast fashion buy, is a bit of an oddity, with dried flowers encased in clear plastic.

The rain had upped and left on Saturday, but had left a dull and overcast day in its wake, its highs of around 17°C still not much to write home about.

We did some final flea market prep, after which I joined Bess on the sofa with my current read.

Oh, and I wore one of my favourite Diolen frocks, featuring a white, light green, yellow and pink floral print on a teal background. I made use of most of the print's colours for my accessories, which included a yellow beaded necklace I'd snatched from the flea market stock as it matched the colour of my belt almost exactly.

And then Sunday the 14th of July dawned. As our street was already a hive of activity at 6 am, you can take this quite literally. Contrary to most of the other stall holders, we just needed to step out of our front door, so we took our time getting ready and only started setting up our stall at 8 am.

Inez joined us around 9 am, by which time I'd already made my first sale to a Dutch lady who bought all my remaining vintage Barbie clothing sets and a couple of frocks.

The day brought a mixture of sunshine and clouds, but thankfully mostly the former, with the temperature a perfect 23°C. 

My best client, a vintage-loving lady called Patricia who lives in the village, came and bought armfuls  of stuff as usual.

We also had a visit from Jos's daughter An, bringing along her friend Sofie, who recognized me from the tram and fell head over heels with our kitchen. 

It was a fun day and we sold a reasonable amount of stuff, but somehow my heart wasn't in it as I was worrying about Monday's radiology appointment. By now, of course, I was convinced something was wrong ...

Both wearing colourful vintage dresses, Inez and I were living advertisements for the clothes on our stall and we were regularly complemented by would-be punters and mere passers-by alike.

My maxi dress was charity shopped in June 2022 and accompanied me to Shropshire later that month, where I wore for a day at Attingham Park. I thought it was time it came out of the closet again.

Obviously I went for a quick round of the stalls as well, finding this new-to-me grooviliciously patterned maxi dress. I also picked up a vintage cotton frock for a pittance, which you'll get to see once I've fixed its issues, as well as some cards of vintage buttons. 

We weren't the only ones who were exhausted at the end of the day. What with all the comings and goings of the day, Bess again spent most of it hiding under the sofa again, but was quick to re-join us once the dust had settled.

We were lucky to be able to sleep in on Monday, although for obvious reasons I'd lain awake for hours that night worrying about the test.

As the appointment was for 3.30 pm only, I needed to keep myself busy to take my mind off things. This I did by putting away most of remaining flea market stuff and filling another bag for charity.

At 25°C, it was a warm and humid day, culminating in a thunderstorm late afternoon. By then I'd had my ultrasound at the radiologist, and was reassured that all was OK! I'm sure you can imagine my relief!

I'm ending this post with a look at what I was wearing, starting with a big smile upon my face.

My button-through cotton flower patterned and rick-rack trimmed skirt was an old Think Twice find, with the belt, cat brooch and top charity shopped, the latter from a shop in Ludlow in June 2019.

I'll be back with the final episode of my travelogue in a couple of days. See you soon!