Savouring the good days

No, you are definitely not imagining things, as yes, it's another post from me, the second one in less than two weeks!

In spite of everything that's been going on, life has been pretty good lately, with Jos having regained his appetite and lust for life, and getting stronger every day. This in its turn has freed up some space in my mind which had been taken up by sadness and worries ever since we were informed of the extent of Jos's illness back in February. 

So, here I am sat in front of my computer editing photos, making collages and ultimately churning out a blog post like I've been doing for the past 10 years. It often surprises me how resilient I am and I'm actually quite chuffed with myself at how well I've been coping with the bad hand of cards we've been dealt.

My blog still has a lot of catching up to do as in my previous post I left you on the 18th of April, a rainy Saturday I spent having lunch with a handful of girls I went to secondary school with back in the mists of time.

Sunday the 19th saw a return of some sunshine, although the measly14°C the weather gods threw at us were further marred by a strong and chilly wind.

Nevertheless, with Jos having somewhat recovered from his second course of chemotherapy and with his third course looming like a black cloud on the horizon, we wanted to make the most of this temporary time out by going for a short walk.

But first things first, let's have a look at my outfit. My floral skirt is an old vintage find from Think Twice, while the embroidered denim blouse was charity shopped new with tags in Bridgnorth, Shropshire two Junes ago. My accessories were a mix of charity shop, flea market and high street buys. 

The little lady bug brooch was feeling quite at home among my blouse's embroidered flowers!

 

Our destination for the afternoon was Middelheim sculpture park which, according to my blog, we last visited in October 2025. Surely that cannot be right? 

We left our car on the large car park near the entrance to the part of the park called Middelheim-Laag, where soon we came across Trois Figures Debout (1978) by the French sculptor Eugène Dodeigne (1923-2015). 

Then there was this strange contraption (above, bottom right) I had never noticed before. It's called Sculpture for Film (2024) and it's by Antwerp-based sculptor Katleen Vinck (°1976). Looking it up on the museum's website came up with the following description: 

In this sculpture, you might recognise a bunker, a design for a science-fiction film, or the remnants of monumental stone structures from vanished South American cultures. Yet it is neither a model for a spaceship nor a building. Katleen Vinck compresses thoughts, memories and images into a new form that moves between past and future, between science and imagination, between archaeology and science fiction.

Being one of my favourites, I'm sure Welsh artist Richard Deacon's spaceship called Never Mind doesn't need introduction. 

Proceeding clockwise are Why does Strange Fruit always look so sweet? (1998-2008) by Paris-based Belgian sculptor Johan Creten (°1963), Enclosure (2021) by the Belgian multidisciplinary artist Aline Bouvy (°1974) and Diamond Shaped Room with Yellow Light (1986-1990) by American artist Bruce Nauman (°1941). The latter is deliberately built along a path, offering a clear invitation to enter. But the hospitality is limited. The doorways are too low (I once bumped my head on its lintel), rhere is no roof to protect you from the natural elements, the yellow light is disorienting, and the triangular space feels uncomfortable.

Another favourite which I cannot help but photograph again and again is Henry Moore's King and Queen (1952).

Nearby is a striking group of fountain sculptures whose collective name is Adrift, dates from as recent as 2023 and are a creation of the French artist Camille Henrot  (1978), who had a solo exhibition here in the summer of 2022. 

While Jos was taking a breather and resting his feet on a bench, I wandered into the direction of Het Huis (transl. The House), a half-open pavillion designed for temporary exhibitions and opened in 2012.

For the past couple of years it has been home to Birdcalls by the American artist Louise Lawler, in which, using her own voice, she sounds out the names of twenty-nine well-known artists.  

The angular steel-and-concrete pavilion is by the Ghent-based architecture practice Robbrecht and Daem and definitely invites some creative photography. 

We walked back to the car park along the Rhododendron-lined meandering path skirting the very edge of the park.

The weather continued in the same vein on Monday and Tuesday, which would be my only office days that week. 

This is what I wore on Tuesday. Although someone once quite poetically described its pattern as balloons flying up into the evening sky, it are actually stylized flowers which constitute this short-sleeved vintage dress's pattern. It has graced my wardrobe ever since I laid eyes on it in a charity shop in March 2017. 

I took my lead from the pink flowers for my accessories: a charity shopped chunky wooden disc necklace and a stretchy belt with rectangular buckle picked up from a bargain shop on our village's high street. I can't remember where the pink-hearted turquoise felted flower corsage came from but a quick search on my blog revealed this wasn't the first time I pinned it to this particular dress! 

My visits to Think Twice - so much part of my lunch breaks in what sometimes feels like a past life - have been few and far between lately, but I finally made it to one of their shops that day. I was promptly rewarded with this deliciously patterned skirt.  

Daily hospital visits were on the agenda for the rest of the week, starting with Jos's weekly Wednesday appointment to see if his bloods were satisfactory for the next round of chemotherapy to go ahead. It was during this particular consultation that it was unanimously decided not to go ahead with the planned surgery but to go for a 4th and final round of chemotherapy instead. 

But he still had to go through with his third course, for which we returned to the hospital in the early morning of Thursday the 23rd.

My blouse is from the Belgian Who's That Girl label and found on the nightwear rail in a charity shop a couple of years ago. The denim skirt was charity shopped as well. I picked it up from Oxfam in October 2020. A holy grail at the time, I later found another denim skirt which I actually preferred, so that this one was relegated to the back of my wardrobe. 

I'll explain why in a minute, but let's have a look at my buttery yellow accessories first. All were either flea market or charity shop finds. Literally nothing new here!

Now, back to the skirt! The reason why I wasn't reaching for it were the fake back pocket tabs which rather annoyingly refused to lie down. Enter a packet of buttons (brats) which were a present from Claire (who used to blog at Winter Peach Photography) the last time we met. Ta-Da!

What with Jos being given strong, cortisone-like medication in the days immediately before and after chemotherapy, he was actually feeling on top of the world, and didn't even need to be taken to and from his chemotherapy session at the day hospital in a wheelchair. 

Striking the iron while it was hot, Jos promptly made an appointment with his hairdresser on Friday morning. Then, at noon, we were back at the hospital for a CT scan. Again, no wheelchair was involved in taking him through the endless warren of hospital corridors to his appointment.

The sun kept playing hide-and-seek with the clouds all day but with no rain and highs of around 20°C there was no reason to raise one's fist at the weather gods. 

Another one of my Diolen Delights came out to play that day, its playful floral pattern featuring a mix of blues and greens and putting paid to that silly old adage that blue and green should never be seen.     

I opted for different shades of blue for my accessories, which include a navy belt with cream buckle which used to belong to my late Mum. I do wish my Dad had kept more of her things after she passed away back in 2001.

Before I'm bidding you goodbye once more, here is some of my reading matter of the last couple of months. Found together on the local charity shop shelves during one of my last visits, I loved the escapism offered by Jojo Moyes' Me Before You and its sequel. Not something I would generally go for, but I'm still not up to anything more taxing.

Thank you for reading. 

I'll try to catch up with your blogs soon and hope to be back with another post before we go on a little escape of our own in two weeks' time.

Time keeps on slipping, slipping, slipping into the future

Now that, courtesy of my tripod, I no longer have to depend on Jos for outfit photos, I've got quite a backlog of them gathering dust on my phone.

We've also been able to go for a couple of short walks in the limited time right before and after chemotherapy when Jos was being spared the worst of the side effects, meaning that I've got some photos of these to share as well.

However, with Jos's stamina once more in decline, time kept on running away from me again, quietly slipping into an uncertain future which neither medicine nor Mystic Meg's crystal ball is able to shed a light on.

On this sunny and summery bank holiday, though, I've finally found a minute to myself, so please allow me to take you along as I travel back in time to Mid-April, when I was still getting to grips with my new assistant's foibles.

A full update on how Jos is currently doing will follow at the end of this post. If you are itching to find out, why don't you head over there, but promise me you'll retrace your steps later. All is well, or as well as can be, but there's been more than one change of plan.

April's third week brought a mix of clouds and sunny spells with temperatures ranging between 15° and 18°C.

Tuesday's outfit featured a floral extravaganza of a vintage skirt, found at Think Twice back in the mists of time. It is part of what is now called co-ords, its companion a wide-lapelled short-sleeved jacket. See here.

The green and white striped blouse came from Think Twice as well. Snapped up in February 2022 it was a much more recent addition to my wardrobe. 

My wooden beaded necklace and painted metal flower brooch were charity shopped, while the  pink suede belt was a cheeky high street buy in the Summer of 2023.

Wednesday's outfit was based around the first of the short-sleeved frocks of the season. Not that you'd notice as I completely forgot to take off my orange King Louie cardigan for the photo.

Sprigs of delicate yellow and orange flowers and fresh green foliage are sprinkled liberally across a background of palest green in this vintage dress which unfortunately does not photograph well. 

Here's a close-up of its floral pattern as well as the sparkly bee brooch - a flea market find - I pinned to its collar.

A special shout-out to my green suede Van Dalen ankle boots. One of my best charity shop finds ever, they have been gracing my feet since February 2021. That is, until a year or so ago, when they suddenly started giving my grief. I admit I only wore them for the photo, having worn a completely different pair for work.

Speaking of charity shops, I briefly nipped into Oxfam during my lunch break that day, and found this Missoni-esque cardigan, which is by King Louie.

Due to total neglect, our garden is currently akin to an impenetrable jungle. Not for long, though, as we've got a gardener coming to take care of it later this week. Fingers crossed I'll soon be able to make my mark on it again.

I was overjoyed to see that some self-seeded honesty and the indestructible bluebells still managed to show their pretty faces among the tangle of ivy and other rampant climbers.

We woke up to sunshine on Friday the 17th of April. Sadly, by the time I'd done the weekly shopping and ticked a couple of chores off my list, any trace of blue sky had disappeared behind a layer of angry looking clouds. 

As Jos was finally emerging from the fog brought by his latest course of chemotherapy, we were determined to go for a walk regardless. Thankfully, in spite of initial misgivings, it looked set to remain dry. 

Our destination for the afternoon was the park in nearby Duffel, which has lots of parking space at its edge. Circuiting the biggest of the parks's ponds, I was drawn to the cheerful sight of this border of red, white and yellow tulips.

Now, let's have a look at what I wore that day. 

My floral vintage skirt was yet another Think Twice find. From its orange, green, grey and white pattern, I picked orange for my short sleeved v-neck jumper found on the high street a couple of years ago.

The pattern's mossy green bits were highlighted with my triple-strand beaded necklace and suede belt, which were both charity shop finds. 

My vintage flower basket brooch came from an antiques shop in Shrewsbury.

The rain clouds, which had kindly held off their liquid load on Friday, returned with a vengeance on Saturday. 

Thankfully, no outdoor activities were on the menu that day. 

Instead, I had lunch with some of the girls I went to secondary school with. Some of us hadn't seen each other for a mind-boggling 47 years! Such a shame there were only five of us ...

My outfit that day started with the red skirt I'd charity shopped earlier that month. After a couple of false starts, I paired it with a blouse I'm sure most of you have seen here before. Originally from high street label Zoë Loveborn, it was a flea market find in October 2016.

Both the stretchy belt and the vintage brooch were charity shop finds.

And here's the update I promised you.

First of all, Jos's originally planned surgery isn't going ahead, as he isn't considered strong enough for such a complex procedure. As it would only buy him a year - half of which he would have to spend recovering - it was unanimously decided that it wasn't worth the risk. 

Instead he was offered a 4th course of chemotherapy. However, the side effects he suffered after his 3rd course were even worse than before and kept him housebound for the better part of 3 weeks. As he was slowly losing the will to live, he opted to stop treatment for now, particularly since the CT scan he'd had just after his 3rd course showed that things looked, as his doctor said, quiet.

He has now been given a 4 month pause, after which he'll get another scan to see what's what. 

During these months, we are planning to spend as much quality time together as possible and will be going on a couple of short holidays between now and Mid-September. In fact, we've already booked the first of these in just under 4 weeks, when we will be returning to our cottage in Poperinge for a couple of days.

Hope to see you again soon!

Roller coaster life

I know, I know, it's been a while since my last visit to blogland, and even longer since I last posted. I honestly had every intention to be back here sooner, but somehow life, and the curveballs it continues to throw, kept getting in the way. Lately there simply don't seem to be enough hours in a day - as if time has shrunk in the wash - and there definitely doesn't seem to be enough space in my head either.

But here I am, determined that this post shall be written, no matter what. 

However, before I plunge headlong into April (yes, I am that far behind), I would like to put things straight about Jos's chemotherapy journey. If my last post gave the impression that all is smooth sailing for him, I'm afraid nothing could be further from the truth. In fact, I think he's got all the side-effects on offer, and then some, which start kicking in when, after about a week, the cortisone-like medicine he is given during the first couple of days have stopped working their magic. Sadly, then it's hello to utter fatigue, complete loss of appetite and sudden drops in blood pressure, which make getting up on his feet quite the hazard.

We were in the thick of such an episode when the Easter weekend rolled along, so that we could kiss goodbye to doing anything involving the two of us.

Instead I had a long overdue hairdresser's appointment on Friday. Those of you who have been following me for a while might remember that Michel, my trusted hairdresser of over 30 years, was due to retire at the end of last year, which meant that I was in a bit of pickle! But fear not! I've found a worthy replacement in Mitte, who works at a salon called Hairspace, which happens to be just a couple of minutes' walk from my front door. What's more, during our first appointment we found out that I actually knew her Mum, who is the lady who always buys loads of stuff from my flea market stall!

The other thing I did was making a start with my seasonal wardrobe exchange. While I was putting away my warmest Winter things, I realized with a jolt that I still had lots of December outfits which were languishing unused in my photo folder. Now wouldn't it be an utter shame to let them go to waste?

Although it does feel a bit weird posting these when the temperature effortlessly reaches the mid-twenties!

Oh, and another thing which happened in December was this parcel of joy which was sent to me by the lovely Gisela (who blogs under Miss Magpie's Musings). She'd been having a clear out and thought I might like these brooches. And I like them very much indeed! Thank you so much, darling!

If the weather had been neither here nor there during the Easter break, the weather gods did their utmost to make up for their faux pas the next week. 

Thankfully, things were rather quiet at the office, allowing me the luxury to walk to Antwerp's small but perfectly formed Botanic Garden. At only a 10-minute walk from my office, it simply beggars belief that I hadn't been there for the better part of a year!

I was utterly charmed by this sunlit host of dog's tooth violets (Erythronium), which happen to be one of my favourite Spring flowers.

The garden, affectionately know to the people of Antwerp as Den Botaniek, is a landscaped botanical garden dating back to 1825, covers an area of slighty ​​less than one hectare and has a collection of approximately 2000 plants.  It's a joy to pass some time here whatever the season and it's a favourite place for the city's office workers and students to have their lunch breaks whenever the weather allows.

The weather even allowed the making of outfit photos when I got home that afternoon, when Jos was feeling well enough to do the honours. 

My skirt is an old wardrobe stalwart, found at Think Twice back in the mists of time, while the spotty denim blouse was a charity shop find almost exactly one year ago. The belt and boots were bought on the high street.

If I remember correctly, the carved wooden brooch was a flea market find, but I definitely know for certain where I picked up the multicoloured beaded necklace, as I picked it up from the charity shop in Poperinge while on holiday in Belgium's west country in September 2019.

With the meteorological deities still playing nicely, my next lunch break saw me venture along the Meir, Antwerp's main shopping thoroughfare. Although my ultimate destination was elsewhere, I did nip into one of the Think Twice shops which happens to be conveniently located in a side street. This red, black and white patterned skirt came home with me.

I was on my way to the Wapper, an elongated square leading off the Meir. Since 1980, the square was home to a fountain featuring the sculpture of an eagle catching a fish, by the Danish sculptor Hugo Liisberg (1898 - 1958) and dating from 1931. The concrete plinth it was standing on was designed by my Dad as part of his job as a joiner in a concrete factory. It's been known to us as Dad's fountain ever since! 

Although I was aware of the fact that the square would be redesigned at some point, it still came as a shock to see the photo of the sculpture being removed while I was scrolling through Facebook. By the time of my lunch break investigations, the plinth was gone as well. And while I suspect that the sculpture will one day find its way into the Middelheim collection, it's almost a given that the plinth will have ended up on the scrap heap :-( 

And then another Friday rolled along, which started with an early morning check-up at the dentist. As Jos didn't feel well enough to drive me all the way to the nearby town of Boom, this involved taking a bus which, basically serving the local schools, only runs early mornings and late afternoons. This meant that, after my check-up, I needed to take two buses, with a long wait in between, to get back home.

Thankfully, Jos was able to pick me up half-way, at the charity shop in one of our neighbouring villages. Obviously, it would have been rude not to have a quick browse, which yielded this gorgeous flower meadow of a blouse.

But that wasn't my only treat that day! Back at home, we had a visit from our neighbours, who'd bought me this brooch as a thank you for looking after their cats Bob, Billie and Pip while they were on a break in Valencia. 

Lately, in lieu of our customary cappuccino catch-ups, I've been meeting up with my friend Inez for drinks on Saturday afternoons. 

That Saturday, with the temperature rumoured to reach the low twenties, I'd plucked this dream of a vintage blouse from one of my flea market boxes. It always was a bit tight in the chest area, so I was surprised that it suddenly fit me like a glove. Although I've never owned scales, it was clear to me that I've lost weight. One of the perks of living in stressful times, although I would rather not be having to live through them.

The caramel coloured pleated velvet skirt was last's year charity shop find. The charity shops also supplied the stretchy belt, necklace and ring. The cat brooch is from Katshop - a local Antwerp shop catering for both cats and their servants (linkin' cause I love).

Anyway, Inez had brought with her a new photographer in the form of a tripod, so that I no longer need to depend on Jos for outfit photos.

As you can see, it has been approved by quality control (on the left in the tripod photo).

Thank you for reading. I promise to come and visit your blogs soon!