Goodbye May, hello June

Time has been slipping through my fingers again, so although the calendar is claiming we've reached the 10th of June, my blog hasn't even made it to this month yet!

In fact, Summer still seemed a long way off on Sunday the 29th of May. At a chilly 14°C and with the odd sunny spell alternating with cloudy ones and plenty of showers, it felt decidedly unsummery, the weather more suited to one of those famously fickle April days.

So, it was long sleeves and layers to the rescue once more!

My green and white plaid polyester jersey skirt, which was an old Think Twice find, isn't exactly a Summer one either! Much as I love it, I'd rather be wearing lightweight cotton skirts this time of year.

As its main companion, I went for this wildly patterned long-sleeved vintage acryl blouse, its matching green joined by purple, yellow, red and tan. My blog tells me it was charity shopped in August last year, yet this was its first outing. 

No such thing for the yellow trimmed chocolate brown cardigan. This is from a retro label called Zoë Loveborn and came to me by way of a charity shop many years ago.

The long green necklace with its wooden beads was a present from my friend Inneke, while both my green plastic ring and stretchy belt with hexagonal faux-tortoise shell buckle were bought on the high street. 

While we were taking photograph  I realized that, unusually, I wasn't wearing a brooch. Oh, never mind, surely I was still way more dressed up than the average person on a stay-at-home Sunday!

With the weather not playing nicely, going for a walk was out of the question. As was a pottering session in the garden. Instead, we donned our aprons, grabbed dusters, cleaning cloths and glass cleaner spray, and tackled the rest of Dove Cottage's display cabinets.

First up was our collection of antique cameras and photography equipment which lives in the hallway.

Then we moved to the sitting room where two more cabinets flank our sofa.

One of these contain a collection of Expo 58 memorabilia, which is mainly Jos's field of interest. He's been fascinated by Expo 58, the 1958 Brussels World's Fair which was held from April to October 1958, ever since he visited the fair as an impressionable 11-year old.

Opposite this cabinet is another one containing more of my vintage Barbies. Although I stopped collecting many years ago, I have close to 100 dolls and even more vintage Mattel outfits, all dating from around 1960 to the mid-1970s.

Here are some of my 1970s dolls lounging in their sitting room! The furniture was a flea market find but the majority of my dolls were acquired either on eBay or at specialist fairs. Finding vintage Barbie stuff on flea markets has become quite a rarity.

As we had a long weekend coming up - Monday the 6th of June was Whit Monday, a bank holiday in Belgium - I wouldn't be able to take my usual Friday off as well. However, as I couldn't face working a 5-day week, I took Wednesday the 1st of June off instead.

It was another day of sunny spells and showers, the mercury making the effort to climb to 17°C.

As Jos had other obligations that morning, I decided to tackle some of the things on my to-do list, starting with making photos of Saturday's charity shop finds.

Our visit to the three-floored charity shop in Duffel had been a fruitful one, as I found no less than three skirts, three tops and a maxi dress.

The black midi skirt with its wavy grey, white, orange and yellow stripes is by Claude Arielle Couture, which I'd never heard of but which apparently is a Belgian label. I thought it went rather well with the caramel, white and blue patterned short-sleeved top, which is by the Danish Vero Moda label. 

I don't generally look at labels when I'm shopping, but rather go by touch and sight. Neither do I look at size labels too much. Although clothing in this particular chain of charity shops is organized by size, it wouldn't be the first time that they got their sizes mixed up. Plus, sizing can be quite varied, which is why my wardrobe contains everything from an XS to an XL.

I couldn't believe my eyes when I spotted this vintage psychedelic maxi skirt which, in spite of initial doubts, fits me perfectly. The green, turquoise, pale blue and yellow patterned blouse I combined it with is by the Belgian Wow To Go label, and its pattern is pentagons, not dots.

The final skirt and top combo consists of a delightful turquoise skirt in a felted fabric, patterned with orange and blue birds perched on branches, and a black, green and pinkish beige striped top by H&M. If you look carefully at the close-up on the top right, you might even detect a bit of sparkle in the latter.

I won't be giving Angelica the honour of modelling the maxi dress, nor will I offer you a look of me wearing it for the time being. I've packed it away in my holiday suitcase, and hope to give it its first outing in Shropshire. Just look at that glorious pattern, though!

Right, back to Wednesday! 

Clearly on a roll after making those photos, I then made a start with sorting out some travel essentials, made a shortlist of the clothes I would like to take on holiday, deadheaded and watered the pots in the garden and whizzed through the kitchen with a cleaning cloth. I had just finished when Jos got home around 1 pm.

After lunch, we drove to our local charity shop for a rummage, finding a couple more things in the process. I'll have to try and remember to make photos for a later post. 

I was just on my way to the fitting rooms to try on my finds when I ran into my friend Inez, whom I hadn't seen for months.  A lot of squealing ensued, and we spent a happy hour or so having the mother of all catch ups while enjoying a cup of coffee in the shop's cafeteria.

The rest of the afternoon was spent immersed in my latest read, which I find quite unputdownable.

It was back to work on Thursday, where I was faced with an extremely busy day which felt like a punishment for my lovely day off on Wednesday. It was sunny and the temperature had apparently climbed to 20°C. Not that I had time to enjoy any of this, as I worked flat out through my lunch break.

Work was still hectic, but less relentlessly so, on Friday. The weather gods had made another effort and treated us to a sunny and warm day with highs of about 24°C.

I've been seriously shirking my blogger duties lately, hardly ever making the effort to take outfit photos after work. Being home just that little bit earlier that Friday, we stepped out into the garden, so that I could show you what I was wearing.

Both my grey and white striped seersucker skirt and turquoise floral King Louie top were recently charity shopped. As was the pink translucent necklace, which I found back in March.

The pink plastic butterfly brooch and ring were both retail buys, which have been in my collection for absolutely ages. On my feet, the ridiculously comfortable ART clogs, which I snapped up at a very bargainous price in a outlet shop last month.

I'm rather strapped for time, so this will be all for this post. But of course, I cannot possibly leave you without a glimpse at some of the treasures in Dove Cottage's tiny plot.

There's the last of the lilac pansies, getting quite leggy now, and the first of the cheerful yellow Geum chiloense "Lady Stratheden", now going into its third season. Deep purple Salvias are thriving as well, while its neighbour, Gaillardia "Kobold", is developing more colour with each day. At the time of writing, the flowers' orange-red petals have emerged, providing a wonderful contrast with the purple of the Salvias.

Finally, here's a view towards the bench, its back completely overgrown by Virginia Creeper. It might very well have disappeared completely by the time we get back from holiday! 

Here, the Oriental Poppies are still playing as starring role, enjoying their moment before the rains came.

Home & Garden

I bet you're all dying to know what we bought at the castle so, without further ado, let's have a peek at the things which came home with us.

And the winner is ... Sheila! You were spot on, dahling! Well done! We bought the green deer, which is actually a  lamp. A 1930s Art-Deco lamp to be more exactly.
I mean, it's green, it's a deer and it's Art-Deco: if ever an object ticked all the right boxes, then this is it.

The wiring was a bit dodgy, so Jos, who's a skilled electrician, changed it and added another lamp fitting and hey presto: less than a day later it was already taking pride of place on our sitting room's mantelpiece.

Dove Cottage actually dates from the 1930s, so it couldn't have come to a better place, even if it does have to share the limelight with several other favourites.

Centre stage is taken by this pretty wooden pendulum clock, which Jos found at a local junk shop.

On its left, behind the deer, is a vintage floor and furniture wax canister. This, as well as the tiny sample pot next to it, was gifted to us by my parents around the time we moved into Dove Cottage, and have been in the same spot on the mantelpiece for coming up to twenty years now. They both came from a shop in our village, which used to be owned by a great aunt, one of my maternal grandfather's sisters. The shop, of course, is long gone, but I walk past the house it was in every weekday morning on my way to the bus stop.

Moving to the right now, where there's a motley crew of objects vying for attention. The amber glass candlestick is 1930s as well, and so is the Art-Deco bonbonnière on the bottom right. The ceramic couple, wearing traditional Dutch costume, is identical to the pair I used to play with when staying at my paternal grandparents, resulting in quite a few breakages and the ensuing gluing on of heads!

In front is a souvenir ashtray from Expo 58, the famous Brussels World Fair, containing a souvenir book of matches with an image of the Atomium.

Lurking in the recess is a plaster statue of Our Lady of Boom, which we picked up in a charity shop. Boom (the "oo" is pronounced like the "o" in bone) is the town where Jos grew up.

Above the mantelpiece is a mirror in a gorgeous wooden Art-Deco frame, which was going for a song in a charity shop as its glass is riddled with black spots. Reflected in the mirror is our 1950s light fitting, also charity shopped.

This cosy corner in our sitting room is a meeting of styles from different decades. The chairs are 1950s which we had to Phoebe-proof with plaids. The metal shelving, produced by Dutch company Tomado, and currently highly collectible, is 1950s as well, and so, of course, is the framed Expo 58 poster.

Back to the 1930s with the inlaid wooden side table. On top, a late 1950s Bakelite radio. The framed photographs are of my grandparents in old-fashioned bathing suits at the seaside (left) and Jos's mother carrying one of her plants on the right.

Opposite this corner and above the modern flat screen television (we do have some mod cons!) are two display cases carrying the poshest of my Barbies, with some of Jos's Davy Crockett collection on the right.

Is it a boy or a girl? I've never been absolutely sure, but he or she is carrying a jug of ostrich feathers, very fashionable in the 1920's.

I couldn't resist the kitsch wooden wall plaque with a tableau of plastic deer, going for € 0,50 in a charity shop. The display of vases and birds on the bottom right is sitting on top of a cabinet.

I'm the first to plead guilty when it comes to clutter, but all these objects have a soul and a story to tell. They have found a place, not only inside Dove Cottage, but in my heart as well.

After this little detour, it's back to the rest of our finds. 

As you'd probably expected, I bought several brooches. I selected four from the Brooch Lady's folders, and found another three at one of the stalls upstairs.

How cute is that cuckoo clock? The celluloid deer and the carved mother-of-pearl bird brooch were just € 5 and € 7, which is quite cheap. They both needed cleaning, but just soaking them in soapy water already lifted most of the dirt.

Have you noticed the stylish little hat in the group picture? The minute I laid eyes on it, I was in love. The stall's owner urged me to try on a rather spectacular 1920s cloche hat, but I had my heart set on this one, even though it didn't come cheap.

I thought it would rather suit the snooty Idina, so here she is modelling it for you!

The weather continued to be fine on Sunday (I'm still rambling on about last week here) so we spent a bit of time in the garden. I'd already done some serious pruning on Friday afternoon, getting rid of some of the exuberant ivy which is threatening to take over our little plot. A huge heap of twigs and cuttings is now ready to be collected by the town council in a week or two.

We also planted out our poor rhubarb plant which had been waiting patiently in its pot. No need to plant any more Aquilegia, as they self-seed like mad: look at those little seedlings huddling together in this terracotta planter, abandoned after the demise of its original inhabitant. 

More signs of Spring in other parts of the garden. Our Clematis armandii is slowly reaching its zenith, the warmth of the sun releasing its heavenly almond scent. The little stone dove will soon be surrounded by the small pink flowers of our ground-covering Geranium, while Alchemilla mollis, commonly known as Lady's Mantle, is one by one unfurling its downy leaves. Quite unexpected, as I'm sure I didn't plant it there. Yet another of our self seeders!

As much as I love green, our garden was sorely in need of a bit more colour, so we made a trip to the garden centre to pick up some flowering Spring plants.

You've got to love a bit of flower power ...

I'm not very visible in this post, so I will take Idina and her fabulous new hat to Patti's Visible Monday at Not Dead Yet Style this week!

Rainy days and Sundays

Waking up on Sunday before last, we realized that Saturday's reasonably dry weather had been a one-off!

Yes, we were back again to yet more rain, coming down in buckets, pelting against window panes, creating puddles and turning the roads into minor rivers.

Feeling the dampness in my bones, I'd been pottering around the house without much enthusiasm and I would have flopped myself down on the sofa for the mother of all naps, if we hadn't found out that Expo 58 was having one of its rare Sunday openings.

Still wearing my Princess coat, I acccessorized it differently this time, with a burgundy knitted hat, a pair of red leather gloves, and my yellow crushed velvet scarf.  Nothing new here, you've seen it all before, including the tan bag and slouchy boots.

I'm sure you're dying to see what's beneath the coat? Ta-dah!

You didn't expect all that yellow, did you? The world suddenly seems just that little bit brighter.

Would you believe that this cheerful little frock is living in the black section of my wardrobe? Although I have quite a few of these black, printed dresses, I only have one plain little black dress and a plain black maxi, which admittedly has gold thread in the bodice and sleeves ...

I added an orange belt (only just visible), a yellow cardie and yellow honeycomb textured tights.

The white diagonals in the dress are picked up by my vintage black and white intertwined beads, while the brooch which I pinned to the cardie in its turn compliments the yellows, oranges and reds.

Are we done yet? I'm getting cold here!

Now, in order to avoid confusion, I must tell you that while Expo 58 is the name of a shop selling all manner of vintage items, it is named after the other Expo 58, the Brussels World Fair which was held in that year.

The shop is a veritable treasure trove, but a little bit out of our way, constituting a two hour roundtrip, which is why we only visit it a few times a year.

Trundling along the motorway in the pouring rain, the rain battering the roof of our car, an unnatural darkness descending on the early afternoon, we were starting to question whether this had been good idea.

However, any doubts vanished into thin air once we stepped inside the shop.

Stefanie, the shops's owner, who is a follower of my blog, bade us welcome with a cup of hot chocolate, which was simmering in an old fashioned cast iron pot on the gaily burning stove.

Thus fortified, we were ready to rummage the shop's shelves, nooks and crannies.

The revolving rack of vintage clothing obviously didn't escape my attention. While it was clear that the groovy shoes were way too big for my petite size 4 feet, I tried on several dresses, deciding on the two Jos is holding up for inspection.

The black, orange and yellow long-sleeved frock is handmade and at first sight had one or two minor, easily resolvable issues, but the multicoloured floral one, a Diolen delight, was in perfect condition.

Taken in better light conditions, the close-up does the colours of the print infinitely more justice.

My wardrobe has its fair share of Diolen, a popular 1960s/1970s polyester, its bright colours and prints vying for attention.

In fact, my heart skips a beat whenever I spot the Diolen label in a garment!

As the dress in question is short-sleeved, it will be put away for Spring, but I can't wait to wear it when the time has finally come!

Then I spied this rack, which in a previous life was a shop display rack for zippers.

The zippers in question were made by Métalsa, which apparantly was owned by that institution of haberdashery, DMC.

DMC has been producing haberdashery, and in particular all kinds of thread, in its factory in Mulhouse, France, since 1746, and DMC threads are used virtually everywhere!

I googled Métalsa but, apart from some zippers being sold on Etsy, any information on the brand remained elusive.

Obviously I wasn't planning on using the rack for displaying zippers, nor as a handy gadget for hanging up my hat, scarf and gloves!

No, its purpose was clear from the beginning, so it has now started its second life displaying my ever-growing collection of necklaces! Sorted by colour, of course!

Oh, and it suddenly dawned on me that I still have to show you Saturday's charity shopping finds!

This faded Jesus print appealed to us because of its pretty embroidered frame, the print itself asking for Jesus's protection of the family. That's sorted then!

Another irristibly wacky thing is this naive children's wall art, probably dating from the late 1960s.

Finally, a pair of gloves and yet another pair of boots!

The deadstock gloves were found at the bottom of a carton. They aren't real leather and have a slightly musty smell, but at € 0,50, who am I to complain?

The boots, which have a decorative cut-out pattern at te top, have already been worn and thus proved their worth.

Keep warm and dry, wherever you are!

Behind the scenes at the museum

With its multitude of collectible items, Dove Cottage doubles as a museum as well as our home! In fact, we keep telling visitors that we ought to charge them entrance fees!

Due to serious lack of space (Dove Cottage is after all just a two up, two down, with extended kitchen and bathroom), some of our collections - vintage cameras, Expo 58 souvenirs and Pre-1973 Barbie dolls and their clothes, to name the most space invading culprits - had to be curbed.

I know I really shouldn't have rekindled my vintage paperback collecting as there is no shelf space left ...

At least, most of our kitchenalia collection is actually being used, though not the soaps and washing powders!

While my ever growing collection of brooches does not present the same problems, as they are small enough not to encroach too much on our space, they do present a problem of their own: that of decent storage.

At first, when I didn't have quite so many, empty cutlery boxes lined with satiny fabric were a great solution. But the number of boxes grew and grew, and - although I'd grouped the brooches by theme - it was hard to find what I was looking for, especially when getting dressed in the morning.

For a while, a 1970s round orange plastic jewellery box I found at a flea market last year, with separate compartments and a removable tray, was a godsend. It was my plan to put my current favourites in it, rotating them every couple of weeks or so. But guess what: it didn't happen.

Meeting the brooch lady and a couple of rainy holidays in Wales meant even more growth in my collection, so that I had brooches lying around everywhere, which made me, the eternal Ms. Organized, break out in a sweat!

I had dreams of a storage unit, with shallow pull-out drawers which would hold all my brooches, but the actual thing has so far proved to be elusive.

A couple of week ago, one of Jos's friends, who is re-organizing his coin collection, asked him if we could use some shallow polished dark wooden drawer boxes. They were perfect but unfortunately there were only three of them, but hey, it's a start!

Two of the boxes were pre-lined with velvety dividers. The third one was empty, so I lined it with a  piece of red felt bought in a haberdashery shop, which was almost exactly the size of the drawer.

Then, on one of our recent charity shopping trips, we stumbled across these two plastic filing units, with four drawers each. Not exactly what I had in mind, but they will do for now. Especially as they were priced at only € 2 each.

I gave them a good clean, lined them with felt, and spent half an hour or so every evening after work filling them and rearranging my collection in the process.

They actually don't look too bad and kind of match the jewellery box which now contains my modern brooches.

This also created the perfect opportunity to count them, so that I now have an exact figure (300 at the time of writing) instead of the rough estimate I've been bandying about.

On Sunday before last, we drove down to a nearby village, where a friend, who is one of the biggest - if not the biggest - collectors of Expo 58 memorabilia, was having a small exhibition.

The weather was still gloriously summery, giving me the chance to dress appropriately for this event, in this handmade cotton 1950s dress I found for € 2 at Think Twice back in August.

The buttons were replacements as I didn't like the original ones, but they are in keeping with the dress's age, as they came from my stash of vintage buttons. The brooch is modern, but I love its quirky retro feel, and they match the dress's buttons perfectly.

I wore my charity shopped King Louie jacket again, to which I pinned two hair clips in lieu of a brooch, but I took it off after the photos were taken, as it was far too warm for a jacket!

The cute little wicker handbag was the perfect finishing touch!

The Expo 58 exhibition was in one of the rooms of a local history museum, and contained quite a few rare items alongside the more obvious and commonly found ones.

In passing, I'd had a little peek in one of the museum's other rooms, which looked intriguing, so we took the opportunity to visit the rest of the exhibits.

As this was totally unexpected, I didn't have my camera with me, so you will have to make do with photos taken with my phone's camera.

There was a room full of china in all shapes and sizes and another full of devotional objects.

I was quite taken by the ornate clock on the mantelpiece (bottom right), which reminded me of a similar one owned by my maternal grandparents.

The first floor had some antique fashion displays, with lots of lacy garments and the most gorgeous little tapestry handbag.

The attics were a true treasure trove of kitchenalia, as well as the contents of an early 20th century village shop, the display of soaps being very reminiscent of Dove Cottage's, only on a larger scale.

We'll have to go back one day and pay the museum a more extensive visit.

In the meantime, there is of course our very own little museum to enjoy!