Start as I mean to go on

Last week has been quite full-on workwise, with my lovely bosses visiting from Miami, so that any blogging activity was restricted to reading and commenting on your posts rather than churning out one of my own. 

There was no way my muddled brain could have coped with creating my signature collages, let alone writing coherent sentences and stitching them into something worth reading.

But having wrapped up December in my last post, there's now a queue of January outfits waiting to be shown, which means I need to get my skates on, even if I'm skating on rather thin ice.

I'll start by casting my mind back to the first day of the year, when I decided to welcome in 2020 by starting as I mean to go on, which is wearing lots of colour. So, nothing new under the sun, really.

Nothing new where my New Year's Day outfit was concerned, either. The red wool-blend skirt,  a Think Twice find back in December, got another outing. Its fabric is super soft which makes it cozily comfortable, and equally perfect for a walk in park as for a lazy day on the sofa, feeling quite sorry for myself as I had to go back to work the very next day.

To accompany the skirt, I chose this handmade vintage blouse, in a satiny fabric, with the most ginormous spoon collar ever. Its print reminds me of a moonlit sky on a starry night, but with the added bonus of flowers in pink, red and green.

The tan woven belt pulled the two halves together, while providing yet another texture, while I added the red and white metal beaded necklace for further interest.

The grey of the day was briefly interrupted by an episode of blue sky and sunshine, so we hopped into the garden for outfit photos, for which I wore a pink and white knitted beret and the Anthology boots I charity shopped in November.

Phoebe came out into the garden with us and sat on our bench contemplating life, as she does.

The garden's main colours at this time of year are provided by the remains of the fiery red Cotoneaster berries and the prolifically flowering Winter Jasmine, but there's still quite a lot of green about as well.

The winter-bare shrubs, some harbouring the last of the autumn leaves, are a safe haven for our visiting garden birds, who happily make use of our fast food facilities.

Blue tits are our most common visitors, with the odd sparrow and wren thrown in, but ruling the garden - and in particular the food facilities - is our resident robin.

Once in a while, we are regaled by a small flock of long tailed tits, who noisily flit around the garden, delighting us with their antics. This one - top right and bottom left - sat posing for just long enough for me to take several photographs, before it flew off with his/her friends. 

My first days back at work were marred by rain and a public transport strike, so I was quite thankful the working week was a short one. After two days I was totally ready for another weekend!

Saturday was a lacklustre day which definitely needed another dose of colour and this outfit was just what the doctor ordered to restore my senses.

First wearing of this vintage handmade shirt dress with its generous sprinkling of green, pink and brown flowers on a navy background. Its fabric feels like cotton and thankfully it's fully lined, making it warm enough for a not too cold winter's day.

I added a cerise vinyl belt and a dusky pink vintage celluloid brooch, a charity and flea market find respectively, while the wooden disc necklace was an old retail buy from Accessorize who once upon a time had a shop in Antwerp.

A fuchsia cardigan was added for warmth, its tie neck fastened by a vintage scarf clip. The aubergine plastic ring, another old retail buy, is one of my favourites. 

The burgundy boots came from Think Twice, and the opaques are Le Bourget in a colour called Linden. They were a sales bargain two years ago, and I loved them so much that I went back for a back-up pair.

You'll probably have guessed we went charity shopping that Saturday, so without further ado, here are that day's finds.

The cobalt blue lightweight boat neck jumper delightfully closes with a row of white buttons on one shoulder. It has a single blue stripe near the cuffs and at the hem, which is why I didn't tuck it into the skirt, which would have looked better.

The skirt in question, in a burnt orange velvety fabric, was another one of my finds. It has a single pleat, both at the front and at the back. The white jumper threaded with lurex is vintage and has a posh Paris label.

The wide, shiny green belt Angelica is wearing above, as well as the maroon necklace she's wearing with the first outftit, were also picked up that day.

My final find was yet another heart-patterned King Louie cardigan, in red this time. I've acquired quite a collection of these over the past year, all from charity shops.

I wore it almost straight away, as it was just the perfect companion for the dress I wore on Sunday.

The celluloid brooch with its charming twosome of Scottie dogs was a lucky € 1,50 charity shop find last March.

The dress is one of my all-time favourites and has been with me for many years. It's Crimplene and has a pussy-bow and a print of trellises and flowers. Isn't the Shamrock label delightful?

I'm sure the white vinyl belt with its unusual triangular buckle needs no introduction as it's one of my most worn belts, bought from a vintage shop which has sadly stopped trading.

I found the funky red boots in the softest of leathers at a flea market in November 2018.

I liked the outfit so much that I wore it again in its entirety for work that week, as I did my new-to-me skirt, but that, I'm afraid, will be for a next post.

Lemons and limes

We have just survived the first of the really hot days this past weekend, with sweltering temperatures of over 30° Celsius. I know that some of you thrive in this kind of weather (yes, I'm looking at you, Vix!) but I'm finding it increasingly hard to cope with.

But before I tell you about what I wore and did to stay cool, I'm taking you back to the weekend before last, when there was still enough of a chill in the air to wear not only Crimplene but one of my lightweight Summer coats as well.

On Saturday, en route to the charity shops, we stopped at the park in Boom. And no, it's not pronounced the way you think it is, the "oo" is phonetically represented by [o:] and sounds roughly like the "o" in "born".

Admittedly, I didn't really need the coat by the time we got to the park, but as I don't think it has ever made it onto the blog, I decided to wear it especially for you! The things one does for blogging!

Another Think Twice bargain, I actually didn't have to think twice when I spotted its lemony loveliness on the shop's rails two years ago.

Wearing it is the ultimate pick-me-up on a sluggish day, as it provides the visual equivalent of an energy drink, but without the caffeine hit and the sticky sugar hick-up.

In real life, it does look more lemon than lime, but either way I seem to both blend in with and enhance the greenery of the park, while contrasting with the magenta hues of the Rhododendrons.

I even attracted the attention of the resident bees and butterflies, who must have mistaken me for a flower.

Underneath the coat, I was wearing a much neglected Crimplene skirt suit with a short-sleeved jacket.

In fact, I have several of these in my wardrobe, as for some reason I quite simply cannot resist them. 

But the bottom line is that although I do tend to wear the skirts, I don't wear them very often as suits, as I think they are tricky to style. When does one wear them, for starters? When the weather allows for short sleeves, it's usually much to warm for them. And although I could layer a long-sleeved top under the jacket, I'm not sure that it's the look that I'm after.

Anyway, that morning I decided to bite the bullet and pulled this one out of my wardrobe.

The jacket being a bit boxy, it obviously needed a belt. I went for contrast by choosing a purple vinyl one, staying with the same colour palette by pinning a purple peacock brooch to the jacket's collar.

Not wanting to be too matchy-matchy, I picked a vintage orange beaded necklace, found at an antiques centre in Newcastle Emlyn, Wales a couple of summers ago.

I've just noticed that, although quite unintentionally, it matches Jos's shirt!

Isn't he looking dapper in his colourful attire? The blue shoes are a recent buy from a local shop. He bought another pair, in pale blue, as well.

At the charity shop, I had a good old dig in a huge box full of scarves, coming up with these three. The pale green, metallic finish shoes, which looked as good as unworn, were a no-brainer.

While queuing at the till, I spied this gorgeous pendant necklace. It looks slightly Art Deco to me, so I gave the honours of showing it off to the gorgeous green-dressed Art Deco lady who lives on our bedroom's mantlepiece.

The weather continued to be sunny, albeit quite windy, on Sunday.

Sheltered from the elements, Dove Cottage's little walled garden is thriving.

Sadly enough, only one single Allium globe appeared amid the greenery provided by the rampant ferns. I must take note to plant some more in the Autumn.

Year after year, the honeysuckle growing against our garden's back wall, delights us with creamy flowers emanating the most heady of scents. We found this baby climber, aptly named Honey Baby, at the garden centre shortly after we moved into Dove Cottage.

And look, here are the first of what looks to be a bumper crop of white currants, most of which will probably be eaten by greedy wood pigeons. But they're welcome to them, as we love watching their clumsy acrobatic antics. 

And here's the indisputable queen of our garden! There's no keeping her inside at this time of year, when there are all these sensory delights out there, not to mention the wildlife she is keeping a watchful eye on. She's no match for the wood pigeons, but field mice, beware!

That Sunday was Election Day and, apart from the European Parliament, here in Belgium we were also voting for both the Regional and Federal governments. 

Our polling station was at the local library and on our way back we took the opportunity to take some photographs at the exuberantly planted front garden of the deanery.

The eagle-eyed will notice that I'm wearing the shoes bought at the charity shop the day before.

That's if you can take your eyes off the flower-strewn Diolen dress I'm wearing. The flowers in question, in white, pale grey, moss green, pink and orange, are floating on a background of darkest green.

In other words, the perfect dress to pause and pose among the flowers!

Linking my lemon coat to Nancy's Fancy Friday!

All's fair at the castle

During two weekends a year, in Spring and Autumn, Castle de Renesse is the romantic setting for a small antiques fair, which we have been visiting for quite a few years now.

The castle is located in the sandy soiled and pine rich countryside to the north of Antwerp, just over half an hour's drive away.

Landscaped gardens and parkland complete with a picturesque lake and a couple of smaller pools surround the castle, blending seamlessly into ancient woodland.

As quite miraculously we always seem to have the weather gods on our side on our outings to the castle, an hour's browsing of the stalls set up in the castle's rooms is usually followed by a picnic and a meander through the castle grounds and beyond.

On the first Sunday of April, the weather gods were more than compliant, with lots of sunshine and temperatures of up to 20° Celsius.

I very daringly opted for short sleeves, choosing a turquoise Crimplene frock with a groovy cream, green and grey print. For contrast, the dress's collar was adorned with a posy of cheerful orange flowers, but indulged some matchy matchy-ness by choosing green beads and a turquoise belt.

Green opaques balanced the outfit, and my feet were more than happy in the emergency booties I was obliged to buy a couple of weeks ago.

As I was mentally going through my jackets for the perfect one to wear, I was reminded of a green new wool suit I bought at a vintage market several years ago. Its jacket turned out to be the perfect match, even if, combined with the sweat-inducing Crimplene, it would be much too warm later in the day.

Making our way to the bridge which would take us to the castle's courtyard, we were disappointed to see that scaffolding had been erected, spoiling the enchanting view of the castle and its reflection in the moat.

It's a good thing we'd been there before, so that I could pinch some of the photos I'd taken on previous visits for you to admire.

Against the faded grandeur backdrop of the castle's interior, all manner of delectable objects are displayed, many of them with a price tag well beyond our budget.

However, there are still enough reasonably priced goods on offer for us to return year after year..

Following her absence last Autumn, we were relieved to see that the Brooch Lady was once again presiding over her folders of brooches. As she's well into her 80s we were more that just a little bit worried. It turned out that she'd taken a fall back then, but had now sufficiently recovered to take up her pitch at the castle again.

These are the five brooches I bought from her.

The brooch on the top right dates from the second world war. It is handmade and the beautiful lady with her 1940s up-do and string of pearls is painted directly on a piece of fabric. Below, on the bottom right, you can see how the brooch's back has been constructed.

The plastic anchor brooch is a souvenir from a Belgian seaside resort.

By lunchtime, we picked up our picnic basket from the car, and made our way to the one and only picnic table in the vicinity of the castle.

It offers a fabulous view of the castle across the lake but, as even from this distance the scaffolding was all too prominent, no photographs were taken this time, except for the sunbathing tortoises and the topsy-turvy duck performing its ablutions.

By then, I'd removed the chiffon scarf I was wearing and tied it to my handbag's handles. Do take a good look, as it'll be the last you'll see of it. It was only by the end of our walk that I noticed its absence ...

Our walk took us pas the ice house, which has a gazebo built on top of it. This is more of a folly than a real gazebo, as there is no entrance at all.  One can only walk around it and glance through its intricately grilled windows.

The ancient oak tree on the bottom left has been cordoned off to protect it, with the path which used to run next to it diverted to the other side of the picturesque pool you can see below.

What a joy it was to be walking along this delightful avenue of trees. Clothed in clouds of youthful green, a gentle breeze sighing among them, they seemed to be whispering secrets.

It was while we were taking a break at a picnic table hidden in the woods that I noticed my scarf was gone. I scanned the straight road we had just walked along but to no avail.

Back at our starting point, we were both in need of a restorative cup of coffee which, in a mad moment, we decided to accompany by ice cream with hot chocolate sauce. Little did we know that they would be so huge!

I'll finish by showing you our other finds of the day. 

There are always vintage buttons galore at one of the stalls upstairs, and I picked up three cards for my stash. How charming are those navy celluloid ones carved with red, turquoise and yellow flowers? 

The mystery objects on the bottom left are tiny boxes containing 35 mm film reels. There was a whole box of them, from which Jos selected these three for our manually operated toy projector. Dating from the 1950s, it was given to Jos by his brother-in-law in the early 1960s.

Finally, joining our collection of kitsch is this old religious print. Adorning the mantlepiece of many a Flemish living room back in the day, it admonishes not to swear, as god can see you. As I'm always pointing out to Jos, it doesn't mention that god can hear you, so we're quite safe with this on our kitchen wall.

I'm never gonna stop the rain by complaining

Last week wasn't the best of weeks for me. I was feeling tired and headachy and a little bit under the weather, which I've been putting down to Winter dragging on so. Seriously, how much longer is the weather going to be this miserable? I'm in desperate need of some sunshine, and I have a feeling I'm not the only one!

It all culminated in me developing the mother of all cold sores, so that I not only felt, but looked a fright, which obviously didn't do much to improve my frame of mind!

Oh, listen to me going on!

Well, if Spring refuses to do her job, then I will do it for her.

Saturday, I wore this flower-sprinkled black Crimplene dress to a housewarming party at Jos's daughter's.

I didn't want to intrude on her privacy and take photographs, but we did take a couple of outfit photos in our garden before we left, and while it was still dry.

Jos was under strict instructions not to make any close-ups of my poor face!

At first, Sunday promised to be a much better day as we woke up to blue skies for once. If we hadn't had a flea market to go to, we might have gone for that long overdue walk.

Look at the sun streaming in through the skylight in our garage!

There was a radio playing a half-forgotten song in the background, prompting me to do a little dance.











Below is a close-up of the brooch I pinned to my jacket. I bought it at a reduced price from the brooch lady a couple of months ago, as the glue had disintegrated and it was falling apart. Nothing Mr. S. couldn't mend, though ...

The Diolen dress was bought from a consignment store back in January, and this was actually its first outing.
Although it's got a self-fabric belt, I opted for a plain green one to break up the pattern. There's also a separate necktie in the same fabric, but I felt that would have been too much of a good thing.

The weather didn't last but I'm happy to report the flea market was a success.

Upon entering, we usually know if it's going to be a good one almost instantly, especially when, after only a couple of minutes, we have made our first purchase.

We got talking to a nice couple who had a fabulous stall selling the most alluring of things, but although I had both my compact camera and my phone with me, I didn't take any photographs.

I was far too busy browsing!

I was quite taken with this splendid hat which turned out to be my size and all.

















From the same stall we bought this weathered enamel sign advertising Andrews Liver Salt, which has meanwhile found a space on our bathroom wall.

But that wasn't all we returned home with! Here's our loot, displayed on our kitchen table. The coffee machine, one of our nods to modern age, not included, obviously.

The eagle-eyed among you have probably spotted a couple of brooches!

Top row: souvenir brooch from Zoute (actually Het Zoute), part of posh Belgian seaside resort Knokke, a pair of miniature wooden clogs, plastic wood-look Gentian flower.
Middle row: cluster of little yellow beads, black elephant with rhinestone encrusted back cover, small mother of pearl fish souvenir brooch from Ostend.
Bottom row: locket type brooch containing an embroidered flower, large enamel flower brooch, miniature framed landscape.

I paid between € 1 and € 5 for the majority. The most expensive, which I got reduced from € 10 to € 8, was the swallow brooch. The French speaking seller asked me for the Flemish translation of the delightful French word for swallow, hirondelle. In case you are interested, it is zwaluw, which clearly has the same origins as the English word!

I also picked up several cards of vintage buttons for € 1 per card, which will join my ever-growing stash (one could call it a collection in itself) of vintage buttons.

This ceramic girl's head on a wooden plaque caught my eye as well. Someone had pencilled the word slaapkamer (bedroom) on the back, so I suspect it once, back in the early 1960s perhaps, graced the wall of a young girl's bedroom, next to a photo of her favourite pop group or singer!

I have one more purchase to show you, and this might well be my favourite.

I couldn't believe that these two small brass Art Nouveau photo frames were only € 5 each. One is sadly missing its glass, but that can easily be replaced.

Look how exquisitely decorated they are!

I was amazed to see that the lady in the left one, who has her back turned to us, even has a little face on the side which is hidden from view. How sweet is that?

It's the frame with the missing glass, so her face would probably be reflected in the glass if it were there. It wasn't easy to take a photograph and I actually had to shine a torch on it in order to do so.

The frames did not remain empty for long and with a glut of old family photographs to choose from, I selected one of Great Aunt Josephine (of leopard coat fame) and her husband and one of my maternal grandparents.

Which one is your favourite?