Great expectations

Last Sunday, it was finally time for another flea market. This one is being held every year in a neighbouring village on the first Sunday of August, and we are always looking forward to it.

The organizers must have struck a deal with the weather gods, as they usually manage to have good weather.

I remember several years when it was so hot we had to wear sunhats and we were glad of any stalls offering some shade under umbrellas or awnings.

One year, I had to buy a scarf to cover my neck in order to avoid sunburn while looking down at the goodies on offer.











This year we had a mixture of sunshine and clouds and although it was quite windy, making me regret the dress with the swingy skirt I wore, rain never threatened to make an appearance.

The flea market is very well organized with parking space offered in some nearby fields. Due to the abundance of rain, the fields were too waterlogged to be used this year and parking was further away on an industrial site, from where a shuttle bus whisked you free-of-charge to the flea market itself.

Although we love this market, with its variety of stalls set up along the streets, it can still be a bit hit-or-miss.

Two years ago, we hit the jackpot, as not only did we find a huge lot of the 1960s Boch pottery we are collecting, Jos also hit upon this 1960s wall-mounted Philips record player, which needed some TLC but is now taking pride of place in our living room, where it is occasionally spinning a vintage record.

2014

2015

Last year, in contrast, was less successful, but I still managed to pick up this vintage summer dress and a pretty basket which is now holding my button collection.

Needless to say, we had great expectations this year, but in spite of the many lovely things on offer, we only bought a few odds and ends.

It was still fun, though, as well as a great workout, as we walked (or rather, sauntered) without pause for almost four hours. Were we glad to finally get back on that bus!











Here is what we found:

A Bakelite razor, made in England. Although we aren't avid collectors of Bakelite, we still pick up the odd item here and there, when the price is right.

A stack of plastic bangles found at different stalls.











More brooches, obviously. Flea markets are the place to pick them up cheaply.

The little purse in the bottom right photo is a travel sewing kit.

These two cream plastic rose brooches are vintage, and made in France. They are not that rare but you can still expect to pay around € 5 for them. These were € 0,50 each, so I did not hesitate and took them both, even though I already had one in my collection. At another stall, a similar brooch was priced at € 7. One of the brooches has already found its way to a new owner, in the form of a present.

The blue rose is a huge plastic ring.

A small enamel flower-decorated teapot, which will join the plain olive green one we already have.

This white vintage handbag was waiting for me at one of the last stalls, and I snapped it up at € 3.
And no, I really didn't make him, Jos insisted on carrying it!

All in all, we had a great day!

August, in fact, is a great time for flea markets, with several coming up shortly.

Let's hope summer comes up trumps with some lovely weather for them.

Dress and bag (seen in first photo): Think Twice
Cardigan, beads and belt: retail
Shoes and (free) brooch: flea market

All that summer, we enjoyed it, wind and rain and shine

In spite of the fact that we are already more than halfway through summer, I can't help feeling that we are still waiting for it to happen. So far, there has been a lot of wetness and greyness, and when summer did decide to make an appearance, it was to make us wilt and sweat liberally during a short heatwave, when the air-conditioning had to be cranked up in the office and the bus home was like a sauna on wheels.

How I long for some good old-fashioned summer days, with the temperature just right and not making you dash for the shade the minute you step outside, and with just the right amount of fluffy clouds in the sky. Oh, and I want a whole string of them, not just the odd day here and there. Not easily pleased, me!

Maybe such summers only exist in my imagination, but I distinctly remember the glorious weeks in August we spent in Cornwall in 1995. Admittedly, as it was the first summer holiday Jos and I spent together, I might be looking through rose-tinted glasses here.

Cornwall, August 1995

Last week, summer went missing altogether and we were served with some true autumn weather with lots and lots of rain, especially on Tuesday and Wednesday.

By Friday we seemed to be over the worst and we actually got some sunshine although big fat rain clouds kept gathering on the horizon.

The weekend started early for me, and on Friday afternoon it was time for some fun. After a kick-starting coffee with Princess Inez at our usual haunt, we were ready for some vintage shopping. We were in luck, as Think Twice had just started another sales, with 30% off on everything.

There are three of these shops in Antwerp and not only did we visit them all, I struck gold at all three.

First I found this biscuit coloured slubbed silk jacket, tailor-made in Salzburg. Although I already own quite a few jackets, there is always a place for another one in my life, and this one was so gorgeous I couldn't leave it behind. Those buttons are works of art!

In the next shop I tried on a skirt and several dresses but only one dress, typically the one which I didn't have high expectations of, did more than fit the bill and came home with me.

Oh, and I found a cute little handbag, which I simply couldn't resist. You could already catch a glimpse of it in the opening photo of this post.

Shop number 3 yielded a dress, in fresh greens, with a vertically striped and buttoned bodice, shown here by Angelica.

Here she is again, showing you two tops I managed to find as well:

A little polka dotted button-through blouse with elaborate embroidery on the sleeves ...

... and a short-sleeved green knitted jumper with unusual stitch detail.

Saturday we did a short round of the charity shops, but my only finds were this green wool-blend jacket and a flowery scarf, which actually go quite well together.

Angelica did have her work cut out! While I was playing dress-up with her, Phoebe decided to join us. Here she is, looking decidedly bored with it all.

This is what I wore to hit the charity shops:

I chose a dress in cool blues, with a self-fabric belt. Again, I felt it needed a bit of a colour dash, and I chose some dark red accessories, especially as I wanted them to match my new bag.

Dress and handbag: Think Twice
Cardigan, bracelet and ring: retail
Shoes: Clarks, bought in the sales in the UK
Brooch: flea market
Beads: Blender Vintage Shop

Finally, here's a round-up of the things I picked up at Blender Vintage Shop when we went to collect Twiggy a couple of weeks ago.

This handmade green dress is patterned with a sprinkling of tulips. It is trimmed with red ric-rac, and look at those amazing double-layered butterfly sleeves!

My final finds were this cute white wicker handbag, which needed some TLC, and no less than ten plastic necklaces for my collection. They were ten for € 10, so it would have been rude to buy less.

Next up will be a visit to a flea market, on which I hope you will join me again!

Another brick in the wall

It's already one month after we returned from holiday, and not having done any serious walking in the meantime, we are at risk of getting out of practice.

As we have another short holiday coming up at the beginning of September, we need to step up, so last Sunday we decided on a short walk ... down memory lane.

The memories in question are Jos's and the lane a brick road which he must have walked and cycled countless time in his youth.

Jos's parents (left) and Jos with his sisters (right)

Jos grew up in a hamlet of the town Boom (and no, it's not pronounced as you think it is: the double "oo" here sounds something like the "o" in the English word "bone"), which in its heyday was a major centre of the area's brick making industry, with over 150 factories extracting the rich clay and turning it into bricks and pantiles.

Centuries of brick making created a landscape of clay pits, tall chimneys and drying sheds.

The hamlet where Jos grew up consisted of a row of workman's cottages with outside toilets, commonly known as "de wildernis", which I guess needs no translation as it means exactly what you think it does.

The clay pit closest to his home was Jos's playground, and its drainage canal was transformed into the Mississippi when he pretended to be his hero, Davy Crockett, complete with fur hat and water bottle from "Scherpenheuvel" (a Belgian holy shrine).

The Mississippi

Jos aka Davy Crockett, with his sister-in-law Marguerite in the 1950s

In the late 1960s, the row of houses had to make way for further expansion of the clay pits, but the industry fell into decline during the 1970s and 1980s, leaving a scarred landscape.

Remains of drying sheds, locally called "luzzes"

Ruined factory, where Jos got his first job as an electrician

Now, nature has taken over the former industrial sites and clay pits, and transformed them into a wilderness in the true sense of the word, a haven for plants and wildlife, criss-crossed by paths for walking and exploring.

At the top of the brick road there is an orientation table pointing out the major landmarks, from where, on a clear day, the 5 uppermost spheres of the Atomium in Brussels, 23 kilometers away, can be seen glinting in the sun.

The Atomium in the distance

Along the brick road, there used to be an art installation, constructed from vivid red metal, telling the rich history of the area and highlighting the career of Piet Van Aken, a famous local author who wrote about the brickyards and their appalling working conditions.

Recently, the artwork has disappeared and so far we haven't been able to find out what happened to it.

We regularly walk in this area, which is beautiful in all seasons, although in the winter months and after heavy rains, some of the paths are virtually impassible, the heavy clay sucking at your boots in an attempt to root you at the spot.

This was actually the first time we visited in the summer months, preferring it with the fresh greens of spring or autumn's rich palette of colours.

One of the now water-filled clay pits still contains the remnants of an ancient dredger, leaning precariously, its blue paint peeling, as if to meet its reflection in the rippling water.

I love how nature is claiming back what is hers and would like to end this post with a favourite quote:

“What would the world be, once bereft

Of wet and wildness? Let them be left,

Oh let them be left, wildness and wet;

Long live the weeds and the wilderness yet.” 

Gerard Manley Hopkins

A-Tisket, A-Tasket

... I found a yellow basket! I am paraphrasing Ella Fitzgerald and signing along with her popular 1938 rendition of the nursery rhyme, but as I am quite tone deaf, I strongly suggest you plug your ears!

The song lodged itself into my head during Saturday's charity shopping expedition, when I made a final mad dash through the aisle which I'd skipped at the beginning as it was too crowded. There it was: a big, old-fashioned, yellow plastic shopping basket! At € 2, it obviously had to be mine.

We managed to find a few other things too. This particular charity shop has several shelves dedicated to little (and not so little) odds and ends. We love browsing through the assorted array of holiday dolls and souvenirs, Lourdes memorabilia, battered crucifixes, kitsch figurines, candlesticks and so on, as well as a shelf full of miscellaneous things they obviously didn't know what to do with.

First up was this brown 1970s Emsa rack for storing herbs, which we found a green version of at our local flea market two weeks ago. We already have several items of the same series in brown which compliments the blue of our kitchen walls, all picked up cheaply at flea markets and charity shops.

As the green rack was only € 1 and still contained all the - thankfully empty! - herb pots, we bought it anyway, knowing we'd find the brown version at some point, which we now did. The brown rack was also € 1, but without the pots, which is still a good price as these Emsa items appeal to what I call "the retro crowd" and tend to command much higher prices at vintage markets and online.

From the same shelves we plucked this shiny barometer to go with Jos's collection. We are slowly running out of wall space to accomodate them all. Now, if only they'd tell us the weather will be fine ...

This little wooden souvenir bowl from Nice is particularly poignant in view of the tragic happenings on July 14th, as it depicts the ill-fated Promenade des Anglais.

On a more positive note, these two cute little dogs make me smile whenever I look at them. Although I am more of a cat person, with their cheeky faces they were quite impossible to resist.  They are just the right way of kitsch!

Two belts and a scarf also came home with me. A girl can never have enough of those, can she?

Oh, and this is what I wore on Saturday: a white crimplene dress with a crazy pattern in browns and grey, with a shiny brown vinyl belt at the waist.

Even though I love brown, and in spite of the in-your-face pattern, it did look a bit boring at first, so I accessorized it with some blue and turquoise.

Only the plastic beads are vintage. The chunky ring and bracelets were picked up cheaply in the high street and the shoes are from a local village shop. I found the blue birds brooch in a lovely shop in Cardigan, called Mundos, a couple of years ago. I have it in green as well.

I chose a small burgundy brown handbag which was just big enough to hold my weekend essentials.

The brooch adorning the lapel of my short-sleeved turquoise crimplene jacket also came from Cardigan, where it was charity-shopped this year.

Although it was quite cloudy, it was still warm enough for an outside picnic and a short stroll through the park.

We hadn't been there for several months and the planting was quite lush and colourful, especially around the water garden.

Yellow Inula helenium, which has been planted here in abundance, is a magnet for a multitude of bees.

Look at the gorgeous colour of this red and yellow daylily (Hemerocallis), whose blooms sadly only last a day,

There were several varieties of Hydrangeas, but I was particularly taken by this timidly blushing one..

The dog rose bloom was lying virtually intact in the middle of the path. I wonder what happened to it.
Some of the dog rose bushes were carrying quite a few rosehips already.

At least the park was not inundated with smartphone carrying, Pokémon hunting individuals, so that we were able to enjoy our picnic in peace.

Last week, police had to close off traffic in one of Antwerp's shopping streets due to overcrowding caused by the game.

It's a mad world, no?