Two weeks in May

Although there is still in tiny little knot in the pit of my stomach, it is with a much lighter heart that I am wrapping up the month of May in this post.

After a hectic final three days at the office this week, I am now officially on vacation, and even if it won't contain the holiday I'd dreamed of, at least I will be released from the shackles of time for the next two weeks. 

Our bags are packed and we'll be on our way to spend some time at one of our happy places tomorrow after lunch. 

We won't have to scrimp and save either, as cancelling our UK holiday won't leave us poor as church mice! Having had the foresight to pay for a cancellation fee when we booked our cottage back in January, we will at least be getting our money back. Not that we are going to spend it with wild abandon, but still ... 

For fear of the last two weeks of May disappearing forever into the mists of time, I thought I'd treat you to a little recap. It will be mostly outfits, though, plus some cat pictures to break the monotony ...

It was at the end of May's penultimate week that my Friday off once again started with a medical appointment. It was time for my biannual check-up with the Ice Queen my ophthalmologist and I can't say I was exactly looking forward to it. But fear not: all was well, or at least as well as could be, with the glaucoma in my left eye thankfully on a status quo. What's more, I've only got to go back end of January!

The weather gods, which had been up to no good all week, had a mixture of clouds, sunny spells, and a bit of rain in store for us that day, the mercury refusing to rise higher than 14°C. It was one of those rare occasions when one of my Diolen delights made it out of my wardrobe. This short-sleeved navy one liberally sprinkled with white, yellow, sky blue and pink naive flowers, never fails to cheer me up. I picked pink for my accessories, including a pink metal dragonfly brooch, which I invited to flit among the flowers.

Saturday was another miserable day, with lots of rain and just 12°C shown on the thermometer. 

Both my floral skirt and striped jumper were charity shopped vintage and were united by the shades of orange and oatmeal in their patterns. At my waist, I added the belt belonging to the spotty oatmeal skirt I found on two separate occasions in two different charity shops back in April.

It was that chilly that I needed to layer up with a thin flowy orange cardigan!

As for the rest of my accessories, they were mostly of the green variety, although there was also a touch of orange in my flower basket brooch (charity shopped in Church Stretton last June) and fused glass ring (artisan market in Bruges several years ago).

Yes, Bess, I know talking about clothes and stuff is boring!

After lunch that day, we abandoned our original plan to go on a charity shopping spree and drove down to our optician's in the nearby town of Mortsel. I wanted to have my previous specs (these ones) reglazed with my latest prescription, so that I've got a spare pair of varifocals.

Back at home, I sorted out my collection of glass rings, as they had been rather neglected. After rediscovering some of my treasures lately, I thought it was a shame they were stored somewhat out of sight. I needed them to be together in one visible place, so that I would be more inclined to reach for them.

They are a mix of charity shop, flea market and high street finds, with a handful picked up from that artisan market in Bruges over the years. 

Initially, there wasn't much of an improvement in the weather on Sunday the 25th of May, with more rain falling from an ominously grey sky. Thankfully, we were treated to sunny spells from mid-afternoon onwards, which warmed things up to 17°C. This was nothing short of a blessing as we were off to a barbecue for grandson Cas's 4th birthday that afternoon! 

By that time, I was able to shed the teal cable-knit cardigan I added on top of my navy and green patterned Diolen dress. Being one of my all-time favourites, it was time it had another outing.

A bottle green mock croc belt was added at my waist, while I pinned a green and gold-tone flower brooch to the dress's bodice. And yes, I picked one of my glass rings for the occasion. Isn't it a perfect match to the dress?

There's nothing much to tell you about the month's final week, the first half of it keeping to get marred by dismal and wet weather.

For Wednesday's cappuccino catch-up with Inez, I was even forced to wear a jumper again, although this one is cotton rather than wool. 

The jumper in question is charity shopped Nathalie Vleeschouwer - a Belgian designer with Antwerp roots - and was mine for € 5,90 in October 2023. It would have retailed at around € 150!

The red and grey tartan circle skirt (with pockets!) was a charity shop find as well. Both the red and white necklace and the white flower brooch are vintage stalwarts from my collection.

Thursday the 29th of May was Ascension Day and a public holiday in Belgium. I was feeling too exhausted to do much else than some gentle pottering that day. 

Thankfully, I was feeling much brighter on Friday, which was a day filled with sunny spells and highs of 25°C. Before I was due at Michel's for a colour and cut at 11 am, I nipped into the office to catch up with a couple of things so that I wouldn't be too overwhelmed with work on Monday.

I found the King Louie pussy-bow blouse at Think Twice in August 2024, while the cotton Paisley print skirt was charity shopped in the Summer of 2023. They were united with a squishy blue belt with green stitching which was a sales bargain from Mango a couple of Summers ago.

I'd removed the necklace at the salon and forgot to put it back on for the outfit photos. No close-up either as I can't remember which one it was :-) My ring - which is neither glass or plastic but metal - matches the belt almost exactly. The brooch with its multi-coloured stones is from my latest indoor flea market haul. 

Back at home, I was still full of energy, which I decided to make the most of by dragging out my iron and ironing board. This is such a rare occasion here at Dove Cottage that it needed a photo!

Meanwhile, Dove Cottage's garden continues to flourish in the face of neglect. We've got two different varieties of red hot poker (Kniphofia). The double red Geum flowers just keep on coming, as does the Red Valerian (Centranthus ruber). And what a delight to discover several flower spikes in the bear's breeches (Acanthus mollis, above, below centre). I must have planted it about three years ago and I'd almost given up hope, but there you are!

But I mentioned cat pictures - plural - so here's one of Bess sleeping the sleep of the innocent. Little does she know that tomorrow we will be leaving her for a week ...

See you on the other side!

Miscellaneous May

Oh dear, it looks as if I'm late for my next date with blogland again! 

Work has been quite relentless these last couple of weeks, which left me with little or no energy to sit in front of my PC of an evening. Add to this the usual pre-holiday prep, so that I won't be returning to utter chaos after my two-week holiday, and I'm sure it's no surprise that cobbling together collages and stringing words into cohesive sentences has been quite beyond me.

And then there's the not unimportant fact that this weekend we were obliged to cancel our longed-for UK getaway ...

Always a bundle of nerves in the weeks leading up to our holiday, Jos was now suffering from full-blown anxiety issues at the thought of having to travel all that way. As a result he once again lost his appetite, which at this moment he is yet to fully regain.

Heart-wrenching though it is to have to cancel - and particularly so this late in the day - we are certain that we've made the right decision. Telling my heart that this is so, however, is another matter altogether. 

In order to soften the blow, we decided to try and find somewhere closer to home, even if only for a couple of days. Enter our beloved September cottage in Poperinge. which by a stroke of luck was still having a six-night vacancy next week. To say that we are looking forward to sitting on its little balcony with a view  in a week's time is a bit of an understatement. 

But let's not be too hasty, as with most of the month of May still having to be written up I've got quite a bit of catching up to do.

The weather gods continued to be on their best behaviour on the day after we got lost in the wilderness. It was Sunday, the 11th of May, and the mercury was on the rise, reaching highs of 25°C. It would have been utter foolishness not to make the most of such glorious weather so, after having dealt with a couple of unavoidable household chores, we drove down to Solhof Park in the neighbouring village of Aartselaar. 

The vintage short-sleeved millefiori dress I'd selected for the occasion was a charity shop find in February 2024. From its multitude of colours I picked blue for my chunky plastic ring, flower embossed leather belt and vintage swallow brooch. There are a couple of blue beads in my necklace as well. Incidentally, the latter came from the charity shop near our west country cottage.

The Clarks Wave Walk shoes, which I'd picked up in a Ludlow charity shop as a replacement for my worn and battered Clarks Cloudsteppers last year, still needed to be broken in, so I decided to give them an outing that day. My feet have given them their thumbs up, but they're currently at the cobbler's as one of the shock-absorbing soles decided to part company with its host. 

Aartselaar's deliciously unkempt municipal park was once part of a castle's pleasure grounds laid out in Capability Brown inspired English landscape style. 

Today, the estate still covers 7.5 hectares and has been protected as a landscape since 1975. 

Its woodland complete with meandering sun-dappled paths and monumental 100 to 150 year old trees is perfect for an impromptu Sunday afternoon stroll. 

One of the park's attractions is the quirky knoll with its gazebo, which is built on top of an abandoned ice house. You can just catch sight of it in the photo on the top left. The ice house, which is claimed to be in excellent condition and one of the rare remaining examples in the area, is now a place of hibernation for a colony of bats.

The knoll can be climbed by way of a narrow, yew-hemmed and increasingly eroded path spiralling up to the top. Not much of a view at this time of year, though, just the merest of glimpses through the tops of the trees of the much modernized 19th Century mansion long ago turned into a hotel, and the last of the Manderley-esque Rhododendrons.

Bess was waiting for us when we got home, impatient for a cuddling session with Jos, who seems to be her current favourite, although I can't for the life of me understand why :-)

And so another weekend had come to an end with the start of a new working week following hot on its heels. And hot it definitely was with the mercury climbing into the high twenties.

My vintage 1970s cotton floral skirt was yet another old Think Twice find, while the green tartan blouse is King Louie by way of a charity shop. My comfortable red Kiarflex shoes were charity shopped too but both the stretchy orange belt and the orange cat brooch (from Katshop!) were retail buys. Not sure where I got the orange beaded necklace from, but it's been in my collection for what feels like an eternity.

Sales prices were down to € 2 at Think Twice on Monday and I couldn't believe my luck when I spotted this vintage watercolour print C&A skirt on the almost depleted rails! Never mind that it had a small tear which I was able to mend almost invisibly.

The gloriously summery weather continued on Tuesday, when I wore a charity shopped lobster print shirt paired with an orange and off-white tiered cotton skirt picked up in the C&A sales in the Summer of 2022. Both the cherry-shaped wooden beads and the lobster brooch were charity shop finds as well while the stretchy belt was found on the high street.

Wednesday's cappuccino catch-up with my friend Inez was followed by quick round of the newly replenished Think Twice rails at the start of their new collection. This dress with its eye-confusing green and pink pattern insisted on coming home with me.

The weather had taken a turn for the worse on Friday, with temperatures down to 18°C, a dismal looking grey sky and lots of wind. 

No sleeping in or leisurely breakfast that day, as I had an appointment with my dentist in the town of Boom, about 10 kilometer away, for a check-up, cleaning and a minor filling. Not fun but needs must.

While I was in the dentist's chair, Jos went for a walk around the block and reported the existence of a brand new charity shop, which obviously we needed to check out before returning home.

Aren't those light fittings fabulous?

The shop, which was immaculately laid out, didn't disappoint, as no less than four items ended up in my basket. I fell in love with a pair of wide legged giant poppy print trousers, a pair of squishy yellow shoes, a grooviliously patterned pleated maxi skirt and a chevron striped V-neck top.

As a result of the dentist's drilling, probing, scraping and polishing (ouch!) I woke up with a full blown headache on Saturday, one which refused to budge all day.

But I felt that I'd definitely earned my stripes, so I dug out a red and white Breton top - an ancient high street find - to wear with my charity shopped vintage floral skirt.

Navy belt: charity shopped

White metal and navy hearted flower brooch: flea market

Red Kiarflex shoes and multi-coloured beaded necklace as before.

After our neighbours Wes and Michèle helped us with applying for our ETA, which we would have needed to travel to the UK (sob!), I walked into town to run a couple of errands.

On my way up, I stopped to admire and photograph the exuberance of the cottage garden in front of the museum of folklore. 

More stripes on Sunday, which was a day of utter indolence as I was still nursing the dregs of Saturday's headache and was feeling quite exhausted.

The stripes in question belonged to the jumper of many colours, originally from Monki, but picked up from a charity shop a couple of years ago. My Diolen skirt was an old Think Twice find back in the pre-blog mists of time.

Gold and silver patterned boots + stretchy chevron patterned belt: charity shopped

Wooden disk necklace: Accessorize

Blue cat brooch: Katshop

I'm leaving you now with some snapshots from the jungle junkyard which in spite of our shameful neglect keeps throwing up surprises. It must be the crumbling guardian cherub who keeps things ticking over!

The white foxglove in the passageway has been joined by a batch of purple campanula which has self-seeded between the cracks in the paving. And what a joy it is to see some double saucer-shaped red Geum flowers peeking out from the wilderness. Not to mention the dusky purple nodding flowers of one of my favourites, Geranium phaeum, particularly since it seems that its sister in the passageway has done a disappearing act!

Oh, and we've got some sweet strawberries too!

I might or might not try and fit in another post before we leave, but if not, I hope to see you on the other side!