Wearing, walking and wardrobe additions

First of all, apologies to those of you who were expecting to find the first installment of a brand new travelogue here. 

Since coming home to an ecstatic Bess on Sunday, we've been catching up on cuddles and, in the rare moments my lap wasn't claimed by a loudly purring feline, I've had the mother of all catch-ups with blogland. The photos of our travels have all been uploaded and I'm raring to start writing about our adventures. 

However, for the sake of continuity, there's a batch of outfit and other photos dating from those final August weeks to go through. What with its late start - remember those cold and rainy June days - Summer has been short enough as it is, so a two-week gap definitely wouldn't do. My mind being a bit of a blank after all this time, however, I was definitely in need of a helping hand from my diary.

 

It appears that I left you on Thursday the15th of August at the end of my last post. As this was a public holiday in Belgium, I briefly went into the office on Friday to deal with some urgent matters, followed by running a couple of errands since I was in Antwerp anyway. No photos were taken that day, so the above is what I was wearing on Saturday.

I've been sadly neglecting this dress, which I bought at a sample sale of the Belgian label Who's That Girl and its big sister Wow To Go back in 2013, if I remember correctly. I was quite obsessed with both labels at the time, resulting in many purchases, not all of which are still gracing my wardrobe.

On this day of sunny spells and highs of 25°C it was absolutely perfect. For its companions, I made use of the brown bits in its pattern. The brooch and belt were charity shopped, while the magnificent Lucite necklace was a flea market find.

We decided to drive over to Mechelen for our weekly fix of charity shopping, but left the shop empty handed. 

On our way back we stopped off at the small charity shop in the neighbouring village of Reet, where I found a pale green flower patterned needlecord jacket. There's a matching skirt which sadly doesn't fit me. The vintage green and tan patterned dagger-collared shirt came home with me as well. I also found a replacement in the proper size of this wrap skirt, originally charity shopped in 2022 and a tiny bit too tight on me.

Sunday brought a bit of a moody day, on which it felt that rain was imminent. At around 23°C, it was quite warm-ish so, after tossing around some head-clearing options, we settled on a walk in Fort 5 in the next village to ours. Those of you who have been following my blog for a while have accompanied me here many a time over the years.

Part of a ring of eight identical forts around the city of Antwerp, and dating from the 1860s, it has long ago been turned into a nature reserve and recreational area. The domain is criss-crossed by a myriad of paths, the most popular one circumnavigating the moat. This we took on our way back after having a mooch around the atmospheric old fort itself.

No close-ups were taken of my outfit, which consisted of a flower sprinkled cotton H&M skirt, a zig-zag patterned t-shirt and my favourite haori to at least protect my upper arms from any voracious insects. Everything except from my ancient Clarks Cloudsteppers was supplied by the charity shops.

I sorely neglected my blogging duties in August's penultimate week, only making the effort to take outfit photos on two occasions, on both of which I was wearing 1970s Diolen frocks. I can't remember where or when I obtained the floral, butterfly-sleeved delight on the left, but the blue and white tile patterned one on the right was found at Think Twice in July 2023.

My diligently kept diary tells me it was a week of sunny spells and showers, with temperatures ranging between 21 and 24°C, which I suppose wasn't too bad.

With Think Twice's latest sales being in full swing, and prices descending into single figures per item, there are no prizes for guessing how I spent my lunch breaks. The spoils of two consecutive days included two long-sleeved dresses - which I can't wait to wear once the weather's into single figures -and a skirt whose first outing might very well be imminent as I type.

The neither here nor there weather continued into the weekend, culminating in a moody yet sweltering 29°C day on Saturday, which ended in an almighty thunderstorm.

Again, no outfit photos were taken that day, but I can offer you Friday's red and black zig-zaggy dress, which is Mexx by way of a charity shop. Apparently, I last wore it in 2020, so it was another one which was well overdue an outing. I absolutely loved wearing it which puts paid to the advice of the fashion police to get rid of anything you haven't worn in a year. What utter rubbish!

Our rummaging urges were satisfied by a trip to the charity shops on both Friday and Saturday.

A lightweight green cotton kaftan style dress and a long-sleeved maxi with a gold detail Art Deco style pattern ended up in my cart. 

As did a pair of red canvas Tamaris wedges and a pair of denim blue Mary Jane-style Jana shoes. The latter have already been worn and approved. Any pair which can be worn on bare feet without causing blisters deserves its place in my shoe wardrobe.

Saturday's thunderstorm had brought down the temperature to a much cooler 22°C on Sunday.

I spent the morning assembling some essentials to be packed for our upcoming trip, then, after lunch, we drove down to Den Brandt for a walk. 

There seemed to be some kind of children's birthday party going on in the picking garden, so we soon made our escape by climbing the steps into the park proper. But not before making our way to the Gautam Buddha to have a look at the offerings he'd received. We were glad to see they were plentiful and even more so that he'd been returned to his perch. The poor thing had been sitting in the grass at the time of our last two visits.

The fenced-in giant tree Jos is standing in front of is the famous weeping beech (Fagus sylvatica pendula), with its nearly 200 years one of the veterans of the park. One could easily have a party - birthday or otherwise - under its canopy if it weren't fenced in to protect its delicate root system.

Nearby is a reproduction of Michelangelo's David (above, bottom left) purchased by the city at the 1910 World Fair in Brussels. 

I was wearing one of the latest Diolen frocks to join my collection, on its first outing although I purchased it back in April. I might have somewhat gone off my Diolen Delights lately, but this one is definitely a keeper. My faithful denim jacket kept it company.

We were delighted to see that the park's folly, a gingerbread English-style cottage which was still under renovation last time we visited, had now been fully restored to its former glory. It looked particularly fairy-tale like amid its miniature cottage garden, although I was rather glad to find its door firmly closed, fully expecting to find the wolf masquerading as Little Red Riding Hood's grandmother inside.

I left Jos resting his feet on a shady bench, walking across a little bridge and around the corner to admire the vista towards the late classical wedding cake castle at the heart of the park.

Only one outfit was photographed during the month's final working week.

Wednesday the 28th of August was sunny and hot, the mercury effortlessly climbing to 30°C. I briefly escaped the airconditioned office for a hairdresser's appointment during my lunch break.

Just look at that sky of the purest azure blue framing the tower of the baroque Sint-Carolus Borromeus church!

My vintage cotton button through skirt was joined by a charity shopped River Woods top. The beads were charity shopped as well, while I picked up the little hat brooch at a flea market. The belt is the one which was all but ruined by that pesky t-shirt but which I managed to save by vigorously scrubbing the top with a soapy cloth to remove most of the red residue. It's hardly noticeable unless one knows where to look.

And then it was Friday, and officially the start of my holiday. It's hard to get my head around the fact that today is its final day and I'm due back at the office tomorrow ...

I'll be back with my travel adventures soon, but wanted to show you Friday's outfit before I go. Both the 1980s style pleated skirt (by Jacqueline de Yong, a sub-division of the Danish Only label) and the petrol coloured top (by Essentiel Antwerp) were charity shopped on the same day in July. A match made in heaven, don't you agree? 

I was also wearing an umbrella brooch to try and ward off any rain coming our way. Did I succeed? You'll read all about it in my upcoming travelogue!