Bumbling along

Although I'm feeling much better by now and the tears have dried up for the time being, my mood is still a bit all over the place. I'm fidgety and unable to settle to anything, and I'm feeling as if I've been just bumbling along lately.  Sometimes, hours seem to have passed and whole mornings wasted away without having done very much at all. The strange thing is, I can think of a million and one things to do, but I simply can't seem to get started.

My non-working days get kick-started by our usual fruit and yoghurt breakfast, which is then followed by one of my greatest pleasures: choosing my outfit for the day! But lately even that seems to take longer than usual. I'm endlessly dithering over what to wear and when that is finally decided, choosing my accessories often involves a lot of trial and error until I'm happy with the result. This eternal indecisiveness really does my head in.

No doubts about this dress, though. A Think Twice sales bargain back in  March 2019, in a mix of solid green and white on green chevrons, it instantly caught my eye when I opened the wardrobe doors on Friday before last. Wearing my favourite colour always makes thing better!

There was also no doubt that I would be wearing red with it, so I started by replacing the dress's matching belt with a red vinyl one with a large plastic buckle.  I think I tried about five red beaded necklaces, though, until I finally decided on this one. 

The floral brooch, which includes Edelweiss and Gentian, is vintage and was a flea market find.

On my wrist, a red plastic bangle and chunky green bracelet, a charity shop find and a rare retail buy respectively. 

The red suede shoes are Tamaris and were charity shopped as well.

The weather that day was another mix of clouds, patches of sunshine and the odd shower. 

We were on our way to the garden centre when we passed the charity shop on the outskirts of our village. As the car park seemed relatively empty, we decided to go for it, so we donned our masks, grabbed a sanitized cart and tentatively walked inside.

Even though all shops here in Belgium have re-opened on 18 May, this was our very first visit to a charity shop since before lockdown, as we'd decided to wait until the first rush to the shops was over.

This particular shop which, as most charity shops here in Belgium, is a lot larger than the average UK charity shop by way of comparison, was an oasis of calm. Being back there felt strange and familiar at the same time, and Jos aptly remarked it was a bit like being on a school trip.

While Jos bought a coffee from the vending machine in the cafeteria, I browsed the well-stocked clothing aisles, quickly finding a cherry print dress from retro label Zoë Loveborn, and a funky print long-sleeved River Woods top.

We'd already added the set of Miss Marple DVD's to our cart after we'd just walked in and I grabbed the three-strand necklace form the jewellery display on our way to the checkout.

As everything went smoothly, it was a positive experience overall. So much so that in the meantime we have visited two other shops which we considered spacious enough to be safe.

We continued to the garden centre, where we bought another batch of bread mix and a box of copper tape to safeguard our precious patio plants against the onslaught of slugs. I was very good, as only one plant came home with me: Agastache 'Apricot Sprite'. It's got the tiniest of orange flowers and apricot scented leaves.

As we were treated to a rare patch of sunshine, we had another mid-afternoon snack of homemade scones with jam and cream, which we enjoyed at our little table in the courtyard.

Taking advantage of the lull between showers, I did some well-needed deadheading and tidying up, finding a pair of Siamese twinned Osteospermums and the first flower in our ancient Clematis viticella 'Etoile Violette'.

Saturday's weather couldn't have be more despressive if it tried. Grey, rainy and windy, and with a temperature drop of several degrees, a return to long sleeves was the order of the day.

I rescued this vintage skirt from a box of unsold flea market items back in April and, funnily enough, I wore a similarly coloured blouse with it back then, only with short sleeves. There really is no rhyme nor reason to the seasons!

The flower infused blouse I wore with it on Saturday is Esprit by way of a charity shop. Both the belt and wooden beads were charity shopped as well, while the brooch was yet again a flea market find.

After lunch, we went into garden to put copper tape on some of the worst affected pots. I removed the sorry remains of the Petunias from the Echinacea pot and replaced them with a pink small-flowered Pelargonium we bought the other week.

Meanwhile, Jos did some pruning and trimming, which included removing some of the wild shoots from our Spirea shrub, so that we can now see the table of plants next to the bench from our kitchen window. However, soon it started raining again which put an end to our gardening plans.

Fully intending to do some dusting, I traipsed upstairs, making a start with the desks in our spare room. Apart from a thorough clean, they needed some clearing and reorganization of the accumulated clutter.

I'm writing my blog posts from our main laptop, which we've acquired just before lockdown. This is the one with the blue spotty cover fashioned from a vintage tablecloth. It is sitting on our main desk, which also has our scanner/printer as well as an old-fashioned desk lamp. Our old laptop, which I'm still using to upload my photographs, is sitting on a desktop custom made by my late Dad, fitting neatly between the main desk and the bookcase, which is off-screen on the right. The funky fabric is hiding an unsightly fuse box.

On the top left and bottom right are toddler photographs of me and Jos, while our homemade mouse mat has a collage of family photographs from both sides.

The tin on the bottom left used to belong to my Mum and has been roped in to house USB sticks.

In fact, there's a whole battery of boxes and tins providing storage for a multitude of items.

All were charity shop or flea market finds, except for the one on the top right, which was a gift from Tania, one of our favourite flea market sellers.

This tin, which came with a tiny key, holds a selection of family photographs ready to be scanned. It might look a bit worse for wear, but aren't those decorations delightful?

Sunday's weather was a complete repeat of Saturday's. 

My journal says I did some deadheading in the drizzle, washed my hair, removed the residue of the orange nail polish from my toenails in readiness for a new colour which didn't happen, and caught up with the world of blogging.

To lift the overall dullness of the day, I opted for this pink Diolen delight, with a print of yellow and orange green-leaved flowers.

For my accessories, I couldn't choose between these colours, so I decided to use them all: yellow for my belt, orange for my ring and flower corsage and green for my beaded necklace.

Sandals have been banished to the back of the shoe cupboard for now, and I'm once again embracing ankle boots. In this weather, I have been known to wear nylons, but decided to be brave and go bare-legged that day.

But whatever the weather, the garden remains a true sensory delight, and a sight for sore eyes, even if it can only be enjoyed from our kitchen window!

Here's to hoping for sunnier days to come, in every sense of the word.

Taking a rain check

The mini-heatwave of the last week of June has come and gone and left much cooler weather in its wake, with no shortage of showers and a tempestuous wind.

By Tuesday before last, Summer had done a disappearing act and, quite worryingly, had taken along a good chunk of my positivity, leaving me with a bit of a wobble. Monday's office day had been rather hectic and, in spite of a good night's sleep, I was still feeling tired in the morning. On top of that, the merest thing seemed to cause tiny tears to flow.

I'm happy to say that my mood improved greatly during the day. Still, I ended up looking red-eyed and puffy-faced in most of the outfit photos we took, so it isn't a coincidence that I'm not facing the camera in the photos I selected for this post.

My Diolen frock might have been a great help in cheering me up that day, with its joyful red, lime green and sky blue floral print. I bought it several years ago from a delightful shop in Antwerp called Vintage Styling, which sadly stopped trading in 2016. Incidentally, the beads I'm wearing came from another shop which closed down around the same time. Losing those two shops within only a couple of months was a real blow to the system back then!

Both the C&A polka dot cardigan and the sky blue double-pronged belt were charity shopped while the dragonfly brooch was a flea market find. 

The grey and rainy day was briefly interrupted by a sunny episode. Still not much in the mood for anything at all, I walked into the garden and spotted a flash of orange on one of the Echinacea flowers. Intrigued, I tiptoed closer and was met with the sight of a beautiful spotty butterfly with exquisitely scalloped wings. I turned heel and ran inside for my camera, fully expecting it to be gone upon my return. But it wasn't, and what's more, it willingly posed for a series of snaps, even allowing me to come really close.

Not knowing the first thing about butterflies, I found an online butterfly identification guide which told me it was a Comma (Polygonia c-album).

The encounter with the Comma had made me feel somewhat better, but unfortunately any further garden explorations were cut short by the arrival of more rain.

After lunch, I pottered around upstairs, reorganizing some of my stuff and trying to come up with better storage solutions. Apart from my wardrobes (note the plural!) and a chest of drawers, I have several vintage suitcases, beauty cases and baskets which hold smaller items like socks, tights, belts and underwear. My vintage slips and half slips live in a small suitcase, but as I wanted easier access to the ones I'm using the most, I was looking for a handy bag or basket, some of which are stored in yet another suitcase.

I soon found a suitable bag, a tapestry one with cats, which I forgot to photograph, but here are some of the others I came across, some of which I'm ashamed to admit I'd completely forgotten about.

These are just part of my collection of baskets. All but one were charity shopped (the top left one from a shop in Bridgnorth, Shropshire). The vintage basket on the bottom right came from one of the shops which closed down in 2016.

These bags and purses were all from Think Twice, except for the red one with the raffia flowers on the bottom right, which was a fairly recent charity shop find from just before lockdown.

Again, three of these beauties are Think Twice finds. The one on the bottom right, however, is rather special, as it was a gift from Vix. 

I think it's high time I give it another outing. In fact, all but a handful of baskets, totes and handbags are in current use, as I simply don't have that many places to take them to.

If my memory serves me right, the blue and pink bamboo-handled bag was also from one of those long-gone vintage shops. The elongated wicker handbag on the top right was a charity shop find. We picked up the green, pink and cream raffia bag from one of our favourite flea market sellers, while the small black crocheted bag was yet again from Think Twice.

Wednesday's office day was a veritable washout of a day, with non-stop rain from dawn until late afternoon. I was at my desk at 7.30 as I needed to take time off around lunch break to go to the hairdresser's. It's such a relief to be able to go for regular cuts again. 

A sunny start of the day on Thursday and I'm happy say I was in a much sunnier frame of mind by now.

Browsing through my dresses, I was drawn to the gorgeous blue colour of this Diolen dress with its sprinkling of yellow, orange and white flowers. I have its twin in 

I was debating whether to add a belt or not, in the end opting for a zebra print one, a retail bargain back in November last year. Trawling through my blog, I was quite amazed at how many time it has been worn already.

The vintage daisy brooch was from the Brooch Lady, while the bangle and bracelet were both charity shop finds. I can't remember where the beads, which always remind me of bubble gum balls, came from, but it might again be from one those closed down vintage shops.

The morning was spent doing some well-needed deadheading and tidying up in the garden. 

I'd been eyeing the Nasturtium seeds I'd sown in empty loo rolls back in May, as a safety net in case the ones I'd sown directly into the garden didn't materialize.They had all come up so it was about time I did something with the poor loo roll plants. Casting around for a suitable receptacle I hit upon the idea of planting them in a leaking watering can which was wasting away in the passageway. As the bottom had split, drainage was assured!

I hardly had time to finish the job before it starting pelting down again.

When I mentioned Jos's gooseberry jam in a blog post the other week, Suzy commented that she thought it would be yummy on scones. Never known to dismiss a good idea, we added self-raising flour to Jos's shopping list for that day, as the bag lurking a the back of our store cupboard turned out to be well past its use-by date. We should really make an effort to do more baking, as we actually both love it.

Although we are in possession of a food processor, inherited from my Dad, we opted to make the dough by hand. We've been using the same tried and tested recipe for years and it has never once let us down. They might look what we call a bit "rustic" but I can assure you they're delicious.

We had a lovely tea-time treat two days running, putting generous dollops of cream on top of the jam. As we always make far too many, we put the rest of the scones in the freezer for a rainy day.

The weather continued to thwart our gardening plans for the rest of the weekend.

If you've got proper Summer weather where you are, please do send some our way!

I'll be back in a couple of days as usual, but in the meantime, do stay safe and sane!

Down leafy paths

If it weren't for the green canopy of the birch tree across the street, the sight that greets me when I'm glancing out of my window today could very well be that of an Autumn day. With a leaden sky as a backdrop, the birch tree's branches are swaying like windscreen wipers at full speed, the blustery wind rustling its leaves. Intermittently, the wind is joined by showers. The raindrops pattering on the skylight behind me are enough to make me shiver and grab for my cardigan.

What a difference with a week ago on Friday! With the thermometer clocking a stifling 32°C, it was a question of un-layering rather than layering. First wearing of this handmade cotton maxi frock, an end-of-sales bargain at Think Twice at the tail end of last Summer.

With its flattering white on navy diagonal stripes and smattering of flower clusters featuring pops of fresh green, there was no need to add a belt. The length was just right for me as well: its original owner must have been as vertically challenged as me! 

I kept my accessories to a strict minimum, adding just a longer beaded necklace, repeating the blue and green and adding brown as an accent colour, and a large green butterfly brooch.

The weather forecast was looking quite dire for the day, promising torrential rain and possibly 3-centimeter hail stones for the afternoon. Not wanting to be caught out in such inclement weather, we made our weekly trip to the garden centre by mid-morning.

The quest was for some Pelargoniums or annual Geraniums to replace some of our patio plants which were doing poorly. The pink Dahlia which had been shining brightly on our kitchen window ledge turned out to be riddled with leaf miners. Then, one of the plants I'd knocked off the crate, and which initially seemed to be unharmed, wilted and died within a couple of days.

But unless I walk through the garden centre's greenhouses blindfolded, I cannot help but be seduced by plants which aren't on my shopping list.

I'd hardly walked in when I spotted pots of well-developed Astrantias (top left and bottom right). This perennial, commonly known as Masterwort, has long been a favourite of mine. The Dutch name for them is Zeeuws Knoopje (translated as Zeeland button), a reference to its resemblance to the collar stud buttons worn by farmers in traditional Zeeland costume.

Commonly, the plant bears white pincushion flowers, but I fell in love with a reddish pink variety when visiting Hadspen Gardens in Somerset - nowadays the grounds of a boutique hotel - back in 2001. The one I got is called 'Abbey Road' and although it isn't the 'Hadspen Blood' variety cultivated in Somerset, it bears a close enough resemblance.

I also succumbed to Physostegia virginiana 'Summer Snow' (top right) and a plant bearing fluffy, pink tinged spikes which apparantly is a a kind of Salvia.

We did buy Pelargoniums as well, of course, including a vibrant red one to replace the poort Dahlia. Their red flowers almost match the red Snapdragons which are now in their second flush.

Another addition to our garden is a plaque won by my paternal grandfather for his allotment back in the 1950s. It had been pining away on a shelf ever since we brought it home from my parents' house, until I thought it would probably feel more at home amid the plants in the garden.

Of course, the forecasted calamitous weather didn't make it to our part of the world, remaining close to the French border and creating havoc in Belgium's west country only. We only got a couple of lost raindrops by the end of the day.

Saturday morning and it was still hot and sticky with temperatures in the high twenties. The sun had been joined by some clouds with which she kept playing a game of tag. 

The sky darkened with a promise of rain, but then the sun got the upper hand again, so we took a chance and drove to the leafy park in the nearby town of Boom (the "oo" pronounced like the "oa" in roam) to stretch our weary limbs.

Another sleeveless cotton frock was worn for the occasion. Yet another Think Twice find, it has established itself as a firm hot weather favourite in previous Summers.

With its funky green, white, pink and orange pattern, it was a lucky € 4 find back in June 2017.

As always, I accessorized it with orange and pink. My Clarks sandals - bought on a hot day in Shropshire in June 2018 - were perfectly comfortable for walking, although not the best choice for a nature walk as sticks and stones had to be removed at regular intervals.

If the park we visited the other week was unkempt, this one was even more so, giving the impression of unbridled wilderness. 

I even managed to photograph a flower fairy who, judging from its sad little face, didn't seem too happy about being exposed.

The park has a natural playground, which had only just been re-opened after the Covid-19 restrictions. It's supposed to be for children up to 12 only, but as nobody else was around I couldn't resist trying the tree stump stepping stones.

Here's a look at my brooch, a pink raffia sunflower which emulates the flowers on my frock so well that it always seems to be the obvious companion.

Boom's triangular shaped town park is laid out along the banks of a meandering brook. It used to be part of a larger wood which was turned into a 27-hectare park back in 1925.

In the heart of the park, the brook ends in a couple of murky ponds. There's talk of a complete overhaul of the park, which will eventually involve cleaning the ponds and restoring them to their former glory.

In fact, restauration has already started at the town end of the park, where there's a series of ornamental, so-called French ponds surrounded by and decorated with stunning groups of sculptures. We wanted to walk all the way up, but as restauration is in full process, there was no access to this part of the park.

Opposite the park is a magnificent Art Deco school building built between 1926 and 1930, and which happens to be Jos's old school.

After catching a glimpse of the empty ponds over the hedge surrounding the domain, we made our way back to our starting point along the paths on the other side of the murky ponds and brook.

It was then that the first raindrops started to fall. Nevertheless, with the the park's leafy canopy acting as a giant umbrella, we still managed to eat the waffles we'd brought while sitting on a bench.

The temperature had dropped considerably by Sunday morning and the overnight rain had given our garden's long-suffering plants a good drenching.

As it was still far too wet to plant out our new acquisitions after breakfast, I decided to wait until the sun had warmed things up a bit. Instead, Jos and I divided the task of giving the ground floor rooms a thorough dusting between us.

The dress lucky enough to have got an outing that day was a a full-on floral one with the most delightful butterfly sleeves. The belt I cinched my waist with is the second one from my recent accessory shop splurge during lunch break. I find myself wearing this kind of elasticated belts a lot these days, so you can expect to see this one at regular intervals. Needless to say, it was the buckle which made me add it to my shopping basket.

Other accessories included a yellow beaded necklace and a big flower-encrusted vintage brooch.

Eventually, I did make it into the garden to allocate the new plants their rightful place into the borders.

Only just in time, it turned out, as the heavens rained down on us again soon afterwards.

And that, I'm afraid, would be our lot for the next week. A typical Belgian Summer!

Hot days and heirlooms

Can you believe we've made it to July? I certainly can't, especially as I'm writing this on a grey and rainy day, which doesn't really match the date on the calendar.

In spite of the fact that we've been living in a kind of vacuum due to the pandemic putting our normal lives on hold and playing havoc with our routines, the months haven't exactly passed at a snail's pace.

On the contrary, whole chunks of time seem to have vanished into thin air, the weeks speeding by at an alarming rate.

In my last post I left you on Sunday before last, so here I am at the start of yet another whirlwind week.

I'm swiftly skipping Monday, which was a hectic office day, keeping me busy all through lunch break and leaving me exhausted by mid afternoon. Catching up on all those emails and having to deal with the inevitable problems while keeping up with my routine jobs isn't exactly a walk in the park.

But with my in-between Tuesday dangling like a carrot in front of me, I managed to make it to the end of the day.

With the mercury on the rise, it was a balmy morning we woke up to on Tuesday and, with all the cotton frocks I'd ironed on Sunday, it was like having a whole new wardrobe to choose from.

This 1970s handmade cotton dress came from Expo 58, a vintage shop in a town about an hour's drive from Dove Cottage. Selling everything from housewares and decoration to clothing and accessories, it is a delightful shop well worth a visit. The only thing keeping us from visiting it more often in normal circumstances is its relative distance from where we live.

The dress, with its frills at the sleeves and yoke, is a delight to wear on a warm Summer's day, and look how perfect the white piping on the sleeves and yoke are lined up!

The carved bangle (which is plastic and not Bakelite) and green bracelet were both charity shopped while the beaded necklace and the poodle brooch were retail buys. I can't remember where I got the necklace as I've had it for eons, but the brooch is from the same shop where I bought the owl brooch featured in my last post.

We had our fruit and yoghurt breakfast outside in the courtyard, then sat chatting and enjoying the garden with cups of coffee (Jos) and ginger and lemon tea (me).

You can see the honeysuckle in full bloom behind me, attracting bumblebees and hoverflies by the dozen. Our newly planted Agapanthus seems to be thriving too, and so does the dark pink Cosmos we got from the outside garden centre the other week.

Lush and green are the main words to describe our early Summer garden, the new mingling happily with the old. There's the rambling patch of wild strawberries (top left) and the lush foliage of the trailing geraniums which survived the winter (bottom left), where a beautiful moth, reminiscent of a withered autumn leaf, was resting for the day.

There's promise in the myriad of buds of Scabiosa 'Barocca' (top right) while our non-ribbiting frog is keeping watch over our Lilliput pond (bottom right).

There are yellows and oranges galore as well, including the first of the climbing Nasturtiums I sowed back at the end of April. I'd kind of given up hope they would ever flower ...

Coreopsis, Iceland poppies and Gazania, all providing little pockets of instant sunshine!

I pottered in the garden all morning, while Jos ran some errands, then we had an impromptu lunch of sandwiches with chunks of salami and English vintage Cheddar sitting in the shade right outside our back door. I jumped for joy when I discovered the Cheddar in the organic village shop, as our supermarket only stocks a rather bland variety.

Those are non-alcoholic beers, by the way, Affligem Blond 0,0% and the non-alcoholic version of Brugse Zot: just two of the vast selection available here.

After lunch, I decided to give the dresser in our dining room the once-over, taking the opportunity to rearrange a couple of things and show you some more of our treasures.

The dresser is a treasure in itself, an heirloom from Jos's grandparents. Originally a dark stained cherry wood, it was painted purple by Jos and his late ex-wife when they were first married in the late 1960s, and then stripped to its current bleached wood shade in the 1970s.

Look at those gorgeous details! 

The doily and button wall hanging was a handmade gift from my lovely friend Lynn.

A collection of pocket watches, most of them heirlooms from both sides of the family, is displayed in tiny tissue filled terracotta pots under a sturdy glass cloche.

The 1930s Art Deco style clock was a gift from my friend Inez and is still in perfect working and chiming order.

The wooden trinket dish on the bottom is a bit of an oddity. Picked up for € 0,50 in a charity shop a couple of years ago, it is hand-painted with the flags of the Allies of World War II. The other side bears the inscription Aandenken der Bevrijding, which translates as Memento of the Liberation.

I thought it rather sad that an object of such poignancy and historical value had ended up in the charity shop, so naturally it had to come home with us.

The two antique letter balances were UK antique market finds with several years between them. 

The rectangular glass disk (top left) caught my eye in a charity shop in Belgium's west country last September, while the medal it's holding, a souvenir from the 1958 World Fair in Brussels, was a flea market find. The small enamelled copper dish on the bottom left holds a lady's fob watch we found when we were clearing the parental home.

A collection of old black and white family photographs takes pride of place on the dresser.

The larger frame in the middle holds a photograph of Jos's parents. The smaller, Art Nouveau style ones contain my Great Aunt Josephine and her husband Joseph on the left, and my maternal grandparents on the right.

These two frames, including their photographs, came from the parental home as well, but used to live at my paternal grandparents's home before that. 

On the right is my paternal grandmother with her mother. Her father is in the photo on the left. This rather grumpy looking man in his bowler hat, posed in front of a greenhouse, used to be a gardener by profession. His name was Fonske, short for Alphonse, and this rare portrait of him was always treated with due respect, as we believe he is where I got my green fingers from! 

The mercury kept climbing in the direction of 30° Celsius on Wednesday and Thursday.

The latter's afternoon was spent with a trip to our car dealer, as we have been thinking of buying a new car. Apparently, now is the ideal time to do so, as crazy reductions are being offered to shift their unsold stock. To buy, or not to buy, that's a dilemma.

The dress I was wearing for the occasion is another 1970s handmade one. Its explosion of flowers is joined by pale yellow rickrack at the neckline and near the hem.

I wore a burnt orange beaded necklace, an ivory coloured squirrel brooch and my new belt with it.

Mission accomplished, we took these outfit photos in our garage, making use of the recently repainted "photo studio" for the first time. It was quite hot and sticky in there, so that fan certainly wasn't just for show!

We only ventured outside again when the sun had begun its descent toward the horizon and the heat trapped inside our garden walls had somewhat lessened.

With the last rays of the sun bathing our garden in a golden glow, it is time to say goodbye once more. But don't worry, I'll be back with new adventures in a couple of days.

Stay safe, positive and fabulous!