July's ups and downs

Apologies to those of you who have come here expecting to see another installment of my travelogue!

I'm putting the final couple of days of our holiday on the back burner for now in favour of a another July catch-up. After all, I'd barely even scratched the month's surface in my penultimate post.

Ok, I admit: I'm procrastinating, as I'm fully expecting to feel somewhat bereft once it's all done.

So, into the time machine we go, setting the controls for Saturday the 6th of July!

The day's mix of grey skies and sunny spells, with highs of around 23°C, provided the perfect conditions for wearing this vintage puff-sleeved dress patterned with red swirls and dots.

For all intents and purposes it should have taken pride of place on my flea market rail if Inez hadn't persuaded me to at least give it another go. So I wasted no time in wearing it right away to decide upon its fate and I'm happy to say that it's back in my wardrobe. A Regret-me-Not, as Sheila would say.

I opted for black as the main colour for my accessories, which included a vintage black and pearly grey geometrical brooch. One of the oldest in my collection in terms of ownership, my memory draws a blank as to its origins. 

Although still a tiny bit wary, Bess had sufficiently recovered from her ironing board trauma to insist on making up for lost lap-time ... and making sure to let us know who is boss by attacking Jos's denim jacket, which he'd left lying on the bed!

I spent the morning pricing the rest of the clothes for the flea market. As you can see there was quite a lot of stuff to go through.

Then I walked into town to run an errand and go for a browse at bargain shop Zeeman, where I found a pink stretchy belt for my burgeoning collection.

We were treated to grey skies once more on Sunday, and as the day's highs of  20°C came accompanied with a blustery wind I felt the need to add a lightweight three-quarter sleeved cardigan to my outfit.

The skirt with its palms and waterlilies print is by Belgian designer Nathalie Vleeschouwer. It came to me by way of a charity shop in March 2021. The necklace, green suede ankle boots and pink and white 1980s cap-sleeved jumper were charity shopped as well, while the enamelled brooch I pinned to my cardigan was a flea market find. Only the belt was bought brand new on the high street.

After a morning of aimless pottering, we took the car and drove to the massive garden centre at the edge of town. Although they obviously stock lots of plants, these do tend to take a backseat compared to the mind-boggling array of mostly overpriced and often tacky decorations. We generally avoid it like the plague but were in need of an outdoor carpet to spruce up our flea market stall, which I'm pleased to say we found at a surprisingly affordable price.

Monday saw a continuation of Sunday's weather, and consequently I decided to repeat its outfit as well.

The run-of-the-mill and rather quiet-ish office day was pleasantly interrupted by a cappuccino-fuelled catch-up with Inez at the Think Twice coffee shop. Such is our friendship that, even though we'd only seen each other on Friday, we still found lots to talk about. 

In order to limit our caffeine intake, and because it would have been silly not to, we did a quick round of the shop. I didn't leave it empty-handed either, finding a floral Diolen frock and a huge scarf with the funkiest of patterns.

The dotty cobalt blue, orange and white dress also came from Think Twice. I found it during one of my lunch breaks the other week, but forgot to show it to you. I've also included the pink stretchy belt from Zeeman for good measure!

If we had a chilly start to the day on Tuesday, the mercury had climbed to a sweltering 30°C by lunch time, only to make a nosedive again after a massive thunderstorm with some gale-force winds in the early evening. Thankfully, it was only short-lived and no damages were sustained, which unfortunately wasn't the case elsewhere in Belgium, and not all that far from Dove Cottage either!

Due to the stormy weather conditions and the premature darkness, no outfit photos were taken. Nor did we take any on Wednesday, even if it was for completely different reasons.

A visit to my GP that morning had somewhat knocked me for six. As suggested by my ophthalmologist I needed to get a radiology referral from my GP. As there's quite a big difference between both eyes, the Low-Tension Glaucoma limiting itself to my left eye for the time being, we needed to make sure that there wasn't any blockage of the carotid arteries in my neck. If there was, I would need surgery, which I wasn't exactly looking forward to. Anyway, an appointment with a local radiologist was scheduled for Monday the 15th.

Although I wouldn't be able to put things out of my mind until after the test, I was feeling somewhat better on Thursday, when I was wearing a vintage dress I'd picked up in Shrewsbury in June. Oops, I've just realized I've still got to tell you all about it in that elusive final episode of the travelogue!

Then Friday, and an extra long weekend rolled along, as I'd taken Monday off as well. 

With our flea market coming up on Sunday, we kept an eye on the weather forecast, which had been insisting all week that it would be a dry and warm-ish day. Obviously, we were more than just a bit sceptical about this, particularly as it rained quite heavily all day on Friday.

With a woeful look at my rail of Summer frocks, I decided they were a definite no-no, as the mercury climbed to only 16°C.

What did make it out of my wardrobe was this red, white and blue combo. The skirt is vintage and was a Think Twice sales bargain back in March 2023, while the blouse, which is Morris & Co x H&M, was charity shopped in June 2022. They were happily married by the the blue stretchy belt with its Celtic knot buckle, which I picked up from an outlet shop last Autumn.

My necklace and brooch were either charity shop or flea market finds. Although my memory fails me again here, I know exactly where I found the shoes, which was in a charity shop in Ypres during one of our September sojourns in Belgium's west country. I'd forgotten all about them until they leapt at me while preparing for the flea market.

The ring, which was a fast fashion buy, is a bit of an oddity, with dried flowers encased in clear plastic.

The rain had upped and left on Saturday, but had left a dull and overcast day in its wake, its highs of around 17°C still not much to write home about.

We did some final flea market prep, after which I joined Bess on the sofa with my current read.

Oh, and I wore one of my favourite Diolen frocks, featuring a white, light green, yellow and pink floral print on a teal background. I made use of most of the print's colours for my accessories, which included a yellow beaded necklace I'd snatched from the flea market stock as it matched the colour of my belt almost exactly.

And then Sunday the 14th of July dawned. As our street was already a hive of activity at 6 am, you can take this quite literally. Contrary to most of the other stall holders, we just needed to step out of our front door, so we took our time getting ready and only started setting up our stall at 8 am.

Inez joined us around 9 am, by which time I'd already made my first sale to a Dutch lady who bought all my remaining vintage Barbie clothing sets and a couple of frocks.

The day brought a mixture of sunshine and clouds, but thankfully mostly the former, with the temperature a perfect 23°C. 

My best client, a vintage-loving lady called Patricia who lives in the village, came and bought armfuls  of stuff as usual.

We also had a visit from Jos's daughter An, bringing along her friend Sofie, who recognized me from the tram and fell head over heels with our kitchen. 

It was a fun day and we sold a reasonable amount of stuff, but somehow my heart wasn't in it as I was worrying about Monday's radiology appointment. By now, of course, I was convinced something was wrong ...

Both wearing colourful vintage dresses, Inez and I were living advertisements for the clothes on our stall and we were regularly complemented by would-be punters and mere passers-by alike.

My maxi dress was charity shopped in June 2022 and accompanied me to Shropshire later that month, where I wore for a day at Attingham Park. I thought it was time it came out of the closet again.

Obviously I went for a quick round of the stalls as well, finding this new-to-me grooviliciously patterned maxi dress. I also picked up a vintage cotton frock for a pittance, which you'll get to see once I've fixed its issues, as well as some cards of vintage buttons. 

We weren't the only ones who were exhausted at the end of the day. What with all the comings and goings of the day, Bess again spent most of it hiding under the sofa again, but was quick to re-join us once the dust had settled.

We were lucky to be able to sleep in on Monday, although for obvious reasons I'd lain awake for hours that night worrying about the test.

As the appointment was for 3.30 pm only, I needed to keep myself busy to take my mind off things. This I did by putting away most of remaining flea market stuff and filling another bag for charity.

At 25°C, it was a warm and humid day, culminating in a thunderstorm late afternoon. By then I'd had my ultrasound at the radiologist, and was reassured that all was OK! I'm sure you can imagine my relief!

I'm ending this post with a look at what I was wearing, starting with a big smile upon my face.

My button-through cotton flower patterned and rick-rack trimmed skirt was an old Think Twice find, with the belt, cat brooch and top charity shopped, the latter from a shop in Ludlow in June 2019.

I'll be back with the final episode of my travelogue in a couple of days. See you soon!

The darling buds of May

Spring is trundling along languidly, sometimes with a spring in her step, giving us an taste of Summer, but more often than not behaving very badly indeed. It's not just that rough winds have been shaking the darling buds of May. Rain has been turning them into a sodden mass prematurely littering the ground.

Hardly a day has gone by without any of the wet stuff falling from the sky, but let's forget about that for now. Let's reminisce about those handfuls of days when the sun has been very much in evidence instead. 

It was Sunday the 12th of May and the final day of the first of the month's long weekends. In continuation of Saturday's balmy mid-twenties temperatures, Sunday followed suit, the mercury climbing even higher, to an unheard of 27°C.

Out of my wardrobe came one of my vintage Diolen dresses, snapped up from a long gone vintage shop in the Summer of 2015. Its pattern of leaves and fruits on a coral background never fails to delight me.

My sky blue shoes, which almost but not quite rival my beloved Clarks Cloudsteppers, are just perfect for walking ...

... which is exactly what we did that afternoon!

Being in a bit of a languid mood, we didn't want to venture too far, so we drove down to Fort 5, just over 10 minutes by car from our front door.

Here, we walked on leafy paths and exclaimed about the lushness of nature in general.

Then we spotted some ghostly webbing shrouding some of the trees lining one of the paths. Closer inspection revealed that these contained hundreds of wriggling caterpillars! 

Some research back at home revealed that these are the caterpillars of the so-called Ermine moth. The creatures are harmless, and the webs usually last from May to June after which they slowly disappear over the Summer months. The moths they eventually grow into are white or greyish with many small black dots, hence the ermine name.

 

Harmless they may be, but I was itching all over by the time we'd reached the end of the path. 

Here, we were faced with a choice of possible directions to take. While still trying to make up our minds we suddenly noticed the open gate leading to the inner fort right in front of us. Beyond the gate, which is usually closed, are the premises of BLWRK, which offers coworking and meeting space.

Intrigued, we wasted no time in stepping through the gate and explore this as yet unknown to us and hugely atmospheric part of the old fort, which was constructed in the 1860s as part of a ring of 8 forts to protect the city of Antwerp from enemy fire.

There's exhibition space inside the building as well, which turned out to be the reason for the wide open gate.

We briefly ventured inside trying to find the exhibition which was taking place, but soon got lost in an endless maze of chilly, goosebump inducing passages, and eventually turned heel. Better not to waste the undoubtedly short-lived Summer temperatures, not to mention the one-off opportunity to explore the inner fort. 

The ghost sign on the bottom left is testimony to the fact that once upon a time stables were established here.

Back in the public part of the domain, we sat down for a breather before returning via the narrow path along the moat. 

While we were sitting there, Jos was accosted by a blood-thirsty insect, which bit him right through his trousers. And there I was fretting because I'd been foolhardy enough to go walking bare-legged! The pesky thing had a wasted meal, though, as it had to pay for its greed with its life.

All was soon forgotten when we spotted several nesting coots and in particular their fluffiest of chicks.

By the end of our walk, the sun had all but disappeared behind a layer of clouds again and, sure enough, we were treated to a thunderstorm in the evening. Oh well, mustn't grumble, I suppose ...

The weather continued to be sunny and warm, with highs of about 23°C, on Monday and Tuesday. I wasn't feeling too clever, though, as this was the week of my eye problem. Apparently, it was taking some getting used to my new, stronger, eye drops, which initially caused various unwanted symptoms: a lingering headache concentrated around my eye socket, a dry and itchy eye and, to top it all, that horrid stye I eventually developed. 

Several remedies were tried, including painkillers, artificial tears, ointments and ... retail therapy!

Prices at Think Twice were down to € 4 and € 3 respectively on these days, so I wandered over for a rummage during my lunch breaks, picking up several treasures on both occasions.

Apart from a handful of vintage frocks, a striped seersucker Summer blazer and an off-white slouchy knit jumper with Art Deco style openwork yoke and back.

Thankfully, my eye had slowly but surely started to improve by the end of the week, even if my eyelid was still quite sore and bright red on Friday. 

Not having to go into work made all the difference, though. As did spending time in Bess's company and delighting in her antics. She's a big fan of our kitchen tap, which she insists on drinking from as often as she can, then leaving a trail of wet paw prints all over the house!

I'd rescued the red and white Diolen polka dot skirt from my flea market stash the other day. God knows why, but according to my blog I hadn't worn it since August 2017, after which it had been in limbo for years. When eventually it got back in my good books, it turned out to have become a tiny bit too snug. Trying it on one more time before deciding on its fate, I was happy to notice that it was a perfect fit once more. Not that I've been on any kind of diet, mind you, that's what prolonged stress does to me!

As soon as I'd hung the skirt outside my wardrobe, it dawned on me that it would look fabulous worn with the dotty Who's That Girl blouse I charity shopped at the end of February. And surely nothing but one of my Bambi brooches would do to befriend the deer living inside some of the orange dots!

I'm sure the red ceramic beaded necklace - a charity shop find - needs no further introductions as it has featured on the blog many a time lately. The navy belt with its off-white plastic buckle used to be my Mum's.

What with the lousy weather, my Summer shoes and sandals have barely got a look-in. Here I am wearing ankle boots again, although I wouldn't dream of wearing this delicate silver and gold patterned pair when it's raining either.

In spite of having ignored our Hydrangea until April, when I finally removed last year's flowers and didn't even bother to prune back to the lowest healthy buds, the shrub is in its element and has been producing more flowers than ever! I particularly love them at this stage, when the first hint of blue is appearing.

My eye was almost back to normal on Saturday, which was nothing short of a relief. I even seemed to be getting used to the new eye drops, which was even better.

What wasn't much better was the weather. It was another dismal-ish day with the odd sunny spell in the afternoon. The temperature kept hovering around 18°C, which I suppose could have been worse.

The dress I was wearing is yet another vintage Diolen, which I fell in love with on the spot when I was checking out Think Twice's new collection with Inez on Wednesday.

It did have a couple of minor issues, though, including buttons which were far too small so that they kept popping open. Nothing my stash of vintage buttons couldn't remedy obviously!

My accessories were all of the green variety: a charity shopped textured leather belt with self-buckle, a beaded necklace from the high street and my "super heroine" brooch found on a flea market in October 2018.

With only one more week to go before our UK holiday, time is at a premium, but I'll make sure to squeeze in at least one more post before we go. See you soon!

As far as the eye can see

As we're well past August's half-way point by now, I thought it was high time to wrap up what was left of the month of July after my previous non-travelogue post.

Frankly speaking, I haven't been feeling myself lately, and as I already hinted to problems with my left eye, I wanted to give you the short version of what's been ailing me. After all, I've been sharing my life's ups and - thankfully only few - downs with you for almost 7 and a half years!

So here goes: the ophthalmologist detected some damage to my left eye's optic nerve and, although my eye pressure is low, I failed my field of vision test miserably with my left eye, while it was near perfect with my right. The verdict's that I've got Low-Tension Glaucoma. There's some minor loss of vision  which often - and most significantly when my eyes are tired - makes me feel unbalanced, in both senses of the word. This, in its turn, has been causing anxiety attacks and hyperventilation, for which I've been given medication. I've also been prescribed daily eye drops, for the time being to be administered to my left eye only.

It's not my intention to turn this into a sob story, particularly since I know a lot of people - like Ally - have got it so much worse, so why don't I dust myself off, pick up the pieces and ... show you some of the outfits I've been wearing in the second half of July?

Take this jade green vintage frock sprinkled with white, light green, yellow and pink flowers. I wore it on a rare day during the month's penultimate week when I had enough energy left after work to step into the garden for outfit photos.

I picked both yellow (necklace, belt and ring) and pink (flower brooch) for my accessories. Although not matching any of the colours in my dress, I wore a comfortable pair of red shoes by the Portuguese Kiarflex label. This is one of only a handful of pairs of non-sandal shoes I'm able to wear barefooted without causing rubbing and blisters. Everything but the belt was bought second-hand.

With my colleague being on holiday, I have been working 5-day weeks in July. However,  Friday the 21st of July was Belgium's National Holiday, so that I was able to stay at home and sleep in that day!

My life-saving journal tells me I packed away the unsold items of our flea market stall, filling a couple of bags for the charity shops in the process. The weather was a strange mixture of clouds and sunny spells, with lots of wind, and highs of about 20°C.

We only briefly nipped outside to take photos of my red, green and white outfit. If I'd been a loyal Belgian, it would have had to be black, yellow and red, but that's not a combination I'm particularly partial to!  The dress was another old Think Twice find and once again, the only retail item is the belt. 

Note that I was wearing the same shoes again, which this time do fit in with the colour scheme!

The rest of the day was spent reading Sarah Water's Night Watch, which I loved, but which left me a bit confused at the end, feeling there were quite a few loose ends. 

Sunshine was conspicuous in its absence on Saturday and once again the mercury didn't climb much higher than 20°C. 

My energy levels had somewhat returned after a good night's sleep, so I rid the upstairs rooms of most of the dust bunnies which had gathered there while our backs were turned.

I also ventured outside to water the plants under the awning and those which live in pots in the passageway.

The changeable weather hasn't been kind to our Hydrangeas: the combined forces of alternate harsh sunlight and heavy showers have slowly but surely faded their colour, from brightest blue to lavender to cream with a tinge of pink at the heart of each individual flower. But aren't they gorgeous in every stage of their decline?

In between showers - as yes, we were treated to some of those as well - we took photos of what I was wearing that day.

Charity shopped back in May, it was my pleated skirt's first outing.  At first, I was at a loss what to wear with it, as its pattern of pastel blue, pink and green foliage had me stumped. Then, while halfheartedly rummaging through a pile of lightweight long-sleeved blouses, I came across the Morris & Co x H&M blouse I found at Oxfam at the tail end of 2020. I opted for wine red accessories - all charity shopped - and a black stretchy belt, which incidentally was the only item I bought new.

With the possibility to go for a walk ruled out by the weather, we drove to the charity shop in nearby Mortsel to drop off our bags of donations. And surely it would have been rude not to have a wee rummage while we were there? 

There was nothing whatsoever on the bookshelves nor on the clothing rails which tickled my fancy, but the jewellery display near the tills came up trumps with these four brooches, which set me back at total of € 2. 

It looked as if the weather gods had decided that Summer was on its way out in July's final week. Although the temperature hovered around 20°C and we were treated to the odd sunny spell, it was mostly overcast and showers were rife.  In short, the kind of gloomy weather which makes one's head go foggy. Or, in my current circumstances, foggier!

One day, as I felt an anxiety attack coming on, I grabbed my bag and coat and escaped outside.  It was well before my actual lunch break time when I walked into the direction of the picturesque traffic free Conscienceplein, a square which has the feel of an Italianate piazza, and which is only a couple of minutes' stroll from my office.

The square's undoubted eye-catcher is the Sint-Carolus Borromeus church, which was commissioned and built by the Jesuit order between 1614 and 1621, and considered the most important Baroque church in the Low Countries.

Much to my surprise, I found its doors open as I was under the impression the church could only be visited from 2 pm onwards. Turns out it closes between 12.30 and 2 pm, so that, whenever I pass the church during one of my regular lunch breaks, its doors are closed.

Obviously, I wasted no time in going inside and, while I was taking photos with my phone's camera, my brain fog disappeared completely.

Once inside, the impressive high altar draws your attention.  During services, worshippers can gaze at the gigantic ‘screen’ that hangs behind it: a painted altarpiece over five metres in height. A unique historical system of pulleys and grooves means that you are able to see three different canvases here – it used to be four – in the course of the year. Rubens is believed to have been involved in the design of the high altar, particularly its wide, black marble surround.

The church's interior is stunning, its opulence almost impossible to capture on camera. I just snapped away right, left and centre, concentrating on the two long rows of wooden confessionals decorated with sculptures of angels. The one on the bottom right is guarding the steps leading up to the richly decorated pulpit. 

The Lady Chapel, which is situated on the south side of the church, is a perfect example of baroque interior architecture. There are many decorative elements, such as garlands, masks, flowers, shells and angels on the ceiling. 

I was in the middle of admiring these, when a church attendant came up to me and told me they were about to close. 

No outfit photos were made that week, so let's move swiftly to Saturday, the 28th of July.

It was another day of pottering and not doing very much at all, on which the temperature reached the dizzy heights of 22°C.

I was wearing another skirt which got its very first outing. Originally from Veritas - a well-known Belgian chain selling haberdashery, hosiery and the like - it came home with me from a charity shop at the end of last Summer. 

My King Louie blouse and wooden beads were charity shopped as well, while I picked up the vintage brooch in an antiques shop in Shrewsbury. 

Both my ring and belt were retail buys, the latter one of my recent sales bargains from Veritas. Yes, them again!

Although windy, it looked set to remain dry on Sunday so we wasted no time in going for a long overdue walk. After driving to a local beauty spot, but failing to find parking space, we ended up at Den Brandt, one of the cluster of parks on the edge of Antwerp which also includes Middelheim.

As usual, we entered via the picking garden, where our eyes are always instantly drawn to the little Gautam Buddha on his perch in the left-hand corner. We panicked as we couldn't immediately spot him but, drawing nearer, we saw that he'd escaped his perch and was now sitting on the grass!

We continued our walk past the park's many beauty spots, and stopped for photos on a wooden bridge with a view of the wedding cake castle beyond.

I'd picked an as yet unworn Diolen Delight from my wardrobe, a rare vintage charity shop find over Winter. Its funky pattern of blue dots just begged for a spot of yellow. 

My accessories were a mix of retail and vintage. The brooch, which is hardly visible in the photo is the one on the right here, found in a vintage shop in Bishop's Castle on the very first day of our holiday.

So, that was it for now. Thank you for bearing with me.

It'll be time for the final part of my travelogue in my next post. Until then, take care my friends.