Gloomy October

I've been counting the days and then the hours until our next little adventure and, finally, we will be off this afternoon. In order to pass the time, which for once seemed to go unbearably slowly, I set myself the task of writing a quick blog post in another attempt to bridge the gap between the past and the present.

It's not that I had a better offer to spend my time last weekend anyway, as it was mostly wet and miserable. In fact, most of the month of October has been particularly gloomy.

One of the headlines in the news on the 1st of November proclaimed that October was the second gloomiest month since records began, with only half as much sunshine as average.

We'd been looking forward to going for walks and enjoy the sensory delights of Autumn, including a good old stint of leaf-kicking, which was something we sorely missed last year when Jos was in hospital. In hindsight, however, we only managed to indulge in this pleasurable pastime twice in the last month ...

Although the days went off to a chilly start at the beginning of the month, it had often warmed up to 18°C and more by the time my lunch break arrived, so that I was able to ditch some of the layers I'd started out with that morning.

I wore this tried-and-tested skirt and blouse combo on Wednesday the 1st of October. 

The blouse, which is from retro brand Zoë Loveborn, was a flea market find in October 2016. I was instantly drawn to it, as I already owned a much-loved dress in the same print, but with red trim and buttons instead of yellow. I think it found its perfect partner in the black vintage skirt printed with a yellow, red, green and blue flower and leaf design. 

A turquoise belt and ring, pale blue cat brooch and orangey red beaded necklace completed my outfit.

Hesitant sunshine bathed Antwerp's cathedral in a short-lived golden glow on the morning of Thursday the 2nd of October. I was just in time to whip out my phone to catch it on camera. Blink, and it was gone!

That morning, I very daringly decided on short sleeves, albeit that they belonged to a fit and flare 1970s does 1940s number in a heavy knit polyester. I'm in two minds whether it was a charity shop or a Think Twice find.

Another wardrobe stalwart, its first appearance on the blog dates from November 2016, almost exactly nine years ago to the day.  

With Think Twice's sales prices being down to € 2 by then, I wasn't really expecting to find anything. In fact I was just about to leave the shop empty-handed when my eyes alighted on this groovilicious polo neck blouse, which I suspect had started life as the top half of a dress. 

Friday started with a mix of clouds and sunny spells accompanied by highs of 17°C. All too soon, however, angry-looking clouds were appearing on the horizon and it didn't take long for them to let go of their liquid load.

Apart from a food shop in the afternoon, I spent most of the day indoors, pottering and repairing the € 2 top, as it had its fair share of split seams and a wonky hem. 

My forest green pleated skirt - a retail buy in between Lockdowns in 2020 - was joined  by a blouse with a groovy yellow, green and brown pattern. It's by the Belgian Wow To Go label, and was charity shopped in the same year. My mind boggles at the fact that the infamous year 2020 is now well over five years ago!

My caramel cardigan and ditto No Stress shoes were charity shop finds as well, while the belt was a fairly recent sales bargain from Think Twice.

I find myself reaching for this necklace, bought from Accessorize many moons ago, quite a lot lately. Finally, in honour of the season, I pinned one of my favourite brooches to my blouse. I fell in love with the duo of enamelled mushrooms at a flea market in February 2024.

I've got a drawer full of Autumn flavoured brooches in my collection. Aren't they delightful? Must make the most of them while the season lasts!

I finally finished the yawn-inducing  The Shoemaker's Wife  and started the much more enjoyable The Strawberry Thief by Joanne Harris. It was only after I'd finished it that I found out that this was the 4th book in the series which started with the award-winning bestseller Chocolat. Published to much acclaim in 1999, I was obviously aware of its existence, but for some reason never got down to reading it.

As I was engrossed by The Strawberry Thief - which, yes, does refer to the famous William Morris design - I did wonder about the fact that chocolate had such a prominent role in this novel as well. Plus, there were quite a few references to the past which weren't elaborated on ... Anyway, I've now got Chocolat in my reading pile and I'm on the lookout for parts 2 and 3 of the series.

We woke up to stormy weather on Saturday the 4th of October, which lasted until late morning, after which we were treated to a couple of sunny spells in the afternoon. At 17°C the temperature was still quite warm for the time of year.

I based my outfit around an ochre, brown and navy wool-blend tartan skirt charity shopped in May 2022, picking up the blue in its pattern with a peasant-style embroidered long-sleeved denim blouse. From Sainsbury's Tu label, I found it new-with-tags in a Shropshire charity shop in June 2024.

My necklace and belt and yes, even my boots, were charity shop finds as well.

After a long overdue thorough vacuum session upstairs, getting rid of the army of dust bunnies which were having a field day in the rooms' nooks and crannies, we went for a rummage in our nearest charity shop.  

My basket was filled with a blouse by the Danish Vila label, an orange beaded necklace, felted flower corsage and pink and green Zara cardi.

My favourite find of the day was this snuggly dark green floral bathrobe.

The bookshelves came up trumps as well, with two brand new books: My Family and Other Animals by Gerald Durrell and Uncommon Arrangements - Seven Marriages in Literary London 1910-1939, by Katie Roiphe. I'm currently finishing the final chapter of the latter.

Another cloudy and mizzly day awaited us on Sunday, with a slight drop in temperature to 15°C.

With Jos's six-monthly check-up at the hospital looming on the horizon, he was feeling a bit down in the dumps with little or no appetite. To put your minds at rest: everything is fine and he doesn't even have to go back again.

My dress, with its turquoise, plum, lavender and orange Paisley-esque pattern, was bought from the Antwerp branch of Dutch vintage chain Episode several years ago. I added a plum coloured velvet covered belt, a matching fake plastic Cameo brooch and turquoise necklace, ring and opaques. 

All accessories charity shopped, except for the floral socks and the cat!

Monday the 6th of October continued along the same vein, the gloom outside my office windows quite incongruous with the day's highs of 17°C.

Highlight of the day was another Cappuccino catch-up with Inez, which we've moved to Mondays as she's started French conversation lessons on Wednesdays.

I was wearing a rust coloured faux-suede paperbag waist skirt - bought at 70% off in the January sales in 2022 - combined with the blouse I found for € 1 at Think Twice back in July.

Fast forward to Thursday - we were the 9th of October by then - when my lunch break found me at Melting Pot, a vintage per kilo shop not all that far from my office.

They had a rail of dresses in, so I bought a striped knit sweater dress and a zip front poly-blend vintage dress for the princely total of € 13,10. Both way too warm for the temperatures we're currently having.

Thursday's outfit is the final one I've got for you this time. 

My turquoise dress with its fuchsia pattern and trim was yet another charity shop find. It's by Froy & Dind, a Belgian label which has been making sustainable fashion since 2011. 

It was way too gloomy to photograph it properly, so I'm adding a close-up to show you its lovely pattern.

The elephant brooch is vintage and was found on one of the charity shops' retro events back in the mists of time.

That's it for now. We'll be off after lunch, and the weather forecast is looking very promising for once. I do hope I haven't jinxed it ... Only time will tell.

See you next week!

What I wore in September - Part 2

Time is marching on relentlessly. In just a matter of days, we'll be turning the calendar's page to the year's penultimate month. Still, no matter how hard I try, my blog keeps running way behind the times, so let me whizz you through the rest of the month of September.

The weather in the week of the 15th of September was a jumble of clouds, sunny spells and showers, with temperatures ranging from 18 to 22°C.

Work continued to be hectic and chaotic, leaving me too tired to do anything else than flop down on the sofa after work. I'd been feeling a bit out of sorts as well, slightly nauseous and headachy, as if one of my migraines was coming on. Consequently, not a single outfit photo was taken.

By the end of the week, the weather gods decided to crank up the thermostat one last time, treating us to highs of 27°C on Friday.

Not having to go into work, I woke up feeling completely revived, a sure sign that all of my ailments were work stress related.

Still, there was no rest for the wicked, as I had a hairdresser's appointment at 10 am. To save me the bother of using public transport, Jos drove me into Antwerp. As I was early, I was ambling around taking a couple of photos - just look at that deep blue sky! - when I was approached by a girl with a camera. She introduced herself as a photography student and asked if she could take my photo.

She told me she was looking for people with individual style and loved what I was wearing.  As you can imagine, this really made my day!

This was my outfit of the day, which wasn't even something all that special in my book.

My skirt was bought brand new on the high street a couple of years ago. The sailor-style short-sleeved jumper is from Belgian retro label Who's That Girl by way of a charity shop, while the green shoes were an adventurous buy from Think Twice in September 2023. The bee brooch I pinned to my jumper was found at the indoor flea market in April 2024 and, finally, the green and yellow beaded necklace - from Les Cordes, one of my favourite brands - was a birthday present from my friend Inneke.

Hair freshly and expertly cut by Michel,  I went for a quick browse in the charity shop near the salon and fell for this brick coloured, ruffled Soaked in Luxury blouse. As the weather had taken a turn for the worse by the time I was ready to photograph it, the colour isn't exactly true to life. Fear not, though, as you'll get to see me wearing it very soon.

Saturday was mostly cloudy but very humid and muggy at around 23°C, with lots of rain in the afternoon.

I dug out one of my Diolen Delights - a Think Twice find in the Spring of 2024 - adding a charity shopped snake print belt at my waist. The silver and gold patterned ankle boots were found in a second-hand pop-up shop in Antwerp in April 2023.

The eagle-eyed among you might have noticed the postcard propped on the shelf in front of the glass-fronted cabinet behind me. It was a lovely surprise found in a recently charity shopped book, where apparently it had been used as a bookmark. The perfect reminder to make another batch of Welsh cakes soon! Go on, do have a try if you like. They're absolutely delicious!

For some reason, nothing felt quite right that day and even going for a rummage wasn't exactly  straightforward. We'd planned to drive to the shop in Mechelen, where we hadn't been for ages, but as this was complicated due to roadworks, we decided to go to the three-floored shop near the park in Duffel instead. Here, however, we found the car park being chock-a-block, so that there was nothing for it but to make a U-turn and driveve back the way we'd come.

We were about to give up and call it a day, when we remembered the charity shop in Reet. This is one of the smaller shops and tends to be a bit hit or miss. However, as if to make up for our thwarted plans, I was in luck this time around. 

First up is the teal retro-style Wow To Go dress on the left. I used to be a big fan of the label, which was considered to be the grown-up sister of the aforementioned Whose That Girl, back in the day. In fact, I even bought this particular dress in one of their sample sales about 12 years ago. Sadly, it had become too small and I'd moved it on, although for some reason I'd kept the belt. A very serendipitous thing to do, as my new acquisition came without one!

The zipper front dress on the right is a King Louie in a thick knit and I've got plans to wear it this Winter with a contrasting pair of opaques.

I also grabbed two blouses: a ruffled one with a lovely leafy pattern (above), which is from a Paris label I'd never heard of called Daphnea ... 

... and a black floral tie-neck one by Zoë Loveborn, which I wore on Sunday the 21st of September. 

I patterned mixed it with a skirt in similar colours and picked up the green bits in both garments with one of my beaded necklaces and a stretchy belt.

And just like that, Summer had come and gone, and we now found ourselves officially in Autumn.

What's more, it was a miserable start to the new season, with granite grey skies, lots of rain and a considerable drop in temperature.

To cheer ourselves up we booked a couple of days at our favourite B&B near Bruges for the first week of November. Not long now!

The weather continued to be cold and miserable, with highs of only 16°C, in the last week of September, when the weather gods presented us with the kind of soul-destroying murky days on which daylight hardly gets a look in.

Work continued to be relentless too, but at least my energy levels were up, so that I was more than happy to show you what I was wearing on the Wednesday of that week.

My dress with its Art Deco style pattern was another King Louie which I found during one of our rare visits to the Oxfam second-hand shop in Wilrijk in June 2021. The long orange cardigan and necklace were charity shop finds, as were the slouchy tan boots.

T2 was having another round of their famous sales and with prices down to € 4 by Wednesday, my weekly cappuccino catch-up with Inez was followed by a rummage, which yielded a green wallpaper patterned short-sleeved dress and a blue and red patterned oatmeal blouse.

I also found a peach coloured vintage slip - these things are rare as hens teeth these days - but the colour didn't photograph well, so that I'm afraid you'll have to use your imagination.

And so we've arrived at September's final weekend, starting with Friday the 26th.

A cold wind was blowing from the East, but had thankfully died down by late afternoon.

I made a start with my wardrobe changeover - always a very daunting and lengthy project - switching around some of my skirts and coats. Unfortunately, I haven't got the space to leave everything out all year round, which would make things a lot easier.

Another King Louie with an Art Deco style pattern, my blouse was charity shopped back in June. Its companion, a green zig-zaggy St. Michael skirt, was a gift from Vix which I keep reaching for time and again. 

A wine red belt, greyish green wooden necklace, multi-coloured glass ring and green squirrel brooch completed my outfit.

We were looking after our neighbours' three cats, Bobby, Billie and Pip, that weekend, so we walked over for final instructions before doing a food shop in the afternoon.

We were treated to the odd sunny spell and highs of 18°C on Saturday, which I guess wasn't too bad for the time of year.

For its first outing, I paired my recently charity shopped Soaked in Luxury blouse with a floral extravaganza of a skirt in shades of burnt orange, blue, pink and fudge on a chocolate brown background. I pinned one of my vintage brooches at the blouse's neck (but might have wrecked it by doing so) and chose a multi-coloured beaded necklace picked up from the charity shop in Poperinge many years ago. The tan leather belt with its unusual buckle was charity shopped earlier this year.

Apart from the pleasurable task of feeding the the cats across the road and playing with youngster Pip, we hadn't chalked in any plans for the day. I continued with my wardrobe changeover and then we dropped off a couple of bags of donations at the charity shop in Mortsel in the afternoon.

In return, these two books came home with me.

We continued to be in the weather gods' good books on Sunday, when we went for a walk in Hof ter Linden after lunch. The castle is still under renovation which seems to be coming along nicely. For some reason, I only took a handful of photos that day - none of them of the castle's progress, alas.

Proof of a lack of rain over Summer is in the puddle (below, bottom right) which was all that was left of the mysterious pool I first laid eyes on back in April ...

Finally, here's a look at the dress I was wearing that day. It's from a Finnish labels called Heikkilä and, although it was a Think Twice find quite a while ago, I believe this was its very first outing.

My necklace, belt and Mephisto boots - which are my preferable footwear for Autumn walks - were all charity shopped at one time or another.

I'll try to squeeze in one more post before we are off on our next adventure. If not, see you on the other side!

What I wore in September - Part 1

I have to admit I've been feeling just a tiny bit bereft now that I've finished this year's September travelogue. Now that the last memories have been virtually committed to paper, our time away seems to be well and truly a thing of the past. 

Fear not, though, as we've got another little trip lined up shortly, which I'm really excited about. 

But first things first: it's time for another attempt at catching up, starting with what we did - and more specifically, what I wore - in the week after we came back.

A sweltering 28°C did accompany us on our way home on Sunday the 7th of September, but by Monday the temperature had taken a couple of steps back to a more moderate 23°C. 

I was glad I'd had the foresight of taking an extra day off to deal with the inevitable flurry of post-holiday chores. To cheer myself up, I was wearing one of my all-time favourite Summer skirts. Instantly smitten with its Missoni-esque pattern, it was a no-brainer when I laid eyes on it in a charity shop in the Summer of 2021.

The lobster print top I paired it with was charity shopped new with tags in May 2019. 

Picking up the yellow zig-zags of the skirt, I accessorized my outfit with a flea market find pleated belt and a bubble-gum beaded necklace from a long-gone vintage shop. The turquoise enamelled fish brooch was bought in Ypres during one of our September holidays and the yellow shoes were a post-dentist charity shop find back in April.

Bess was happy to see us and insisted on lots of lap-time, although she'd had more than her fair share of cuddles while we were away as she'd managed to charm her way into her team of catsitters' affections. When our lovely neighbours Wes and Michèle came back from a night out and spotted her sitting behind our front window, they couldn't resist treating her to some nightcap cuddles!

I finished the final chapter of the book I'd started in our holiday cottage. Compared to both Donna Tartt's The Secret History and Daphne du Maurier's Rebecca - which is a favourite of mine - I had high expectations for Lucie Whitehouse's The House at Midnight which - although an enjoyable read - it didn't exactly live up to.

My next read, Adriana Trigiani's The Shoemaker's Wife, had been in my reading pile for ages before I finally took the plunge. A slow and long-winded love story spanning two continents and two World Wars, I was soon quite bored with this one, but still managed to get to the end of its 475 pages.

It was back to work - and chaos! - on Tuesday, the only positive news being that it continued to be sunny with balmy temperatures into the low twenties.

I still managed to muster the necessary energy for posing for outfit photos after work on Wednesday and Thursday. 

Wednesday's outfit featured the funky short-sleeved vintage shirt by Finnlene and the brown pleated leather belt I found in the Think Twice sales at the end of August. The pleated green and white zig-zag patterned skirt was a charity shop find back in June and must have been one of my most-worn skirts this Summer. My red shoes were charity shopped a couple of years ago, while the necklace was bought brand new from Accessorize when they briefly had a shop in Antwerp.

The skirt I wore on Thursday was a gift from Claire who used to blog as Winter Peach Photography. From its citrussy colours, I picked orange for my short-sleeved jumper, which, same as the green stretchy belt with its bamboo buckle, was found on the high street.

Both the greyish green wooden necklace and the olive green shoes were charity shopped.

After a short but hectic working week, I was glad that Friday and thus the start of another three-day weekend rolled along.

To celebrate my freedom, I wore a vintage peasant-style C&A dress I found at Think Twice in June 2024. Both the green elastic belt and my burgundy ankle boots were old charity shop finds.

On the menu on Saturday the 13th of September was a mix of clouds and sunny spells, with some heavy rain mid-afternoon and highs of 19°C.

The perfect weather for a rummage at the charity shop, methinks! After our disappointing trip to the one in Poperinge, we were amply rewarded by the goddesses of the charity shops in our edge-of-town shop.

No less than three blouses came home with me. From left to right: ruffle-sleeved Summer top by the Polish clothing brand Nife, long-sleeved blue and white Western style blouse from the Spanish Sfera label and high-necked and long-sleeved floral extravaganza by good old H&M.

Seriously, did I need any more skirts? Probably not, but then I fell in love with this one. I couldn't find any evidence of there ever having been a label, so it might very well be someone's handiwork.

As it's almost impossible to find a pair of trainers which do not have those in-your-face white soles - which I don't like at all - I pounced on this lovely pink and navy pair. They're from the Dutch Van Haren chain and I saw an almost identical pair in their shop just a couple of days later. For just € 5,90, these were mine!

The bookshelves didn't disappoint either, with three more books added to my Tower of Pisa reading pile.

The day's outfit was built around this black and white leopard print skirt by posh label Essentiel Antwerp. I couldn't believe its € 5,30 price tag when I spotted it in a charity shop in February 2023.

My magenta short-sleeved knit was charity shopped in Shrewsbury last year. I added pops of green with my suede belt and wood and raffia beaded necklace (both charity shopped) and enamelled butterfly brooch from a posh second-hand shop back in the mists of time.

Sunday looked set to be a dry day with lots of sunny spells, so we wasted no time in going for a much needed head-clearing walk, for which we chose our beloved Middelheim Sculpture Park.

Finding a parking spot wasn't exactly straightforward, but this was soon forgotten at the sight of a sea of cheerful yellow Rudbeckia which greeted us when we entered the Middelheim-Low part of the park.

Signs of impending Autumn were found in pink-flowered Sedum spectabile, which apparently now goes under the new name of Hylotelephium spectabile. Quite a tongue twister, that.

We wandered at will, following our noses until we passed the Pillared Pavillion by Belgian architect Charles Vandehove (1927-2019). This offers shelter to Sibilla (above, bottom left) by Italian sculptor Pericle Fazzini (1913-1987), and Grande Bagnante N°1 (above, top right). The latter is by another Italian sculptor and contemporary of the aforementioned Mr. Fazzini, Emilio Greco (1913-1995).

The picturesque thatched warden's cottage, Aubette, is currently showcasing merchandise created for the museum shop by The Zangles, a collective of female artists, performers and musicians based in Antwerp.

Crossing the street, we entered the Middelheim-High part of the park, where we sat down on a bench facing the dancing sky tubes which make up the artwork called The Pogo Never Stops.

By Dennis Tyfus (°1979), the work is a nod to the artist's punk roots. It is a nonstop dance performance by thirteen sky tubes, which have drawings of faces and T-shirts of noise bands, its other-worldliness enhanced by the mechanical noise of the blowers driving the tubes.

As we sat there, a couple of children were running riot between the tubes, pinning some of them down by sitting on them, while their parents sat watching them disinterestedly. Sadly, none of the museum wardens were in sight, as both children and parents would certainly have received a good talking to. 

Intriguingly, when we visited the park again last week, the installation had gone ...

Oh, how I wish for some aliens to whisk some people away to their planet for due punishment!

I'll finish this post with a final outfit. Again, magenta was the colour of choice for my blouse, another peasant-style one I snapped up in last January's sales. The maxi skirt was charity shopped in June 2022, and has had many admirers since, yours truly obviously among them. 

My belt - the same one I wore in this post's second outfit - came from Think Twice, while my necklace was charity shopped and my brooch picked up in a Shrewsbury antique shop last year.

I'll be back with more September outfits in a couple of days. See you soon!