Forces of nature

As we're heading further into this second pandemic Autumn, I'm trying to keep dark thoughts and a heavy heart at bay. Sometimes, it's like walking a tightrope and it's taking my assembled willpower not to look into the abyss. On days like these, weather permitting, the best thing to do is to go outside and let one's soul be soothed by nature.

At a balmy 15°C and with brilliant sunshine, the weather definitely permitted on Sunday the 24th of October when, after a morning of catching up on chores, we found ourselves at a bit of a loose end. 

As the forecast had once again been indecisive, the weather deities apparently having a hard time to make up their minds, we had left it far too late to make any firm plans for the day. Fortunately, we are blessed with a handful of local parks allowing for spur of the moment, grab-your-coat and go decisions.

Solhof park, in the neighbouring village of Aartselaar, is the perfect size for an hour's head-clearing stroll. 

With scintillating Autumn scents tickling one's nostrils and a carpet of leaves thick enough to indulge in a spot of leaf-kicking, it suddenly felt great to be alive again.

The sun was shadow-playing with the filigree branches and their turning leaves, while - careful, watch your step! - tiny toadstools were hiding among the carpet at our feet. 

The jacket I'd grabbed in my haste to flee the house was this multi-hued tartan Gigue one picked up in a charity shop just over a year ago. This was accompanied by my orange beret and one of my crushed velvet scarves, in a luxurious shade of burgundy.

Burgundy appeared again underneath my jacket, in the form of my cardigan, another charity shopped King Louie. This was worn on top of my orange-red 1970s blouse, the colour of which tied in with some of the flowers in the pattern of my flower and foliage scattered skirt. The latter was a recent charity shop find I actually forgot to show you at the time.

To my blouse, I pinned two vintage Autumn leaf brooches, in green and brown. Other accessories included a green beaded necklace, a silvertone ring with a mottled green stone - barely visible in the photos - and a black, round-buckled stretchy belt. 

Part of the pleasure grounds of a manor house now much modernized and turned into a hotel, the park has a semi-hidden treasure in the form of an ice house. Not much to look at, its bolted door having long since sprouted graffiti, the real treasure is the spiral, yew-hedged path climbing to the top of the knoll it was built in. 

Here, a gazebo resting on strangely gnarled pillars awaits, offering - yew hedge permitting - a bird's eye view across the park. Yew hedge did not permit, particularly for tiny me, who could barely see a thing even when standing on tiptoes!

Back on safe ground - that spiral path can be a bit treacherous - we finished our circuit of the park, once more delighting in its Autumnal splendour and passing in front of a bank of pale lavender Michaelmas Daisies buzzing with the last of this year's bumblebees.

October's final week was another mild one with highs between 15 and 17°C, although there was a distinct lack of sunshine on most days.

On Tuesday, our government announced the anticipated new rules, such as the return of the mask mandate inside shops and public buildings and the introduction of the Covid Safe Pass for entering cafés, restaurants, entertainment areas and sports facilities.  We fervently hope these will bring down the number of cases and thus stricter rules or - god forbid! - another lockdown can be avoided.

Thursday, my final working day of the week, was a gorgeous Autumn day, with lots of sunshine and a generous 17°C.

Having to work in advance for the 4-day weekend ahead, it was quite a hectic one. In addition to my usual Friday off, there was Monday the 1st of November, All Saints' Day, which is a public holiday here in Belgium.

I still managed to go for a wee little rummage at Think Twice during lunch break, finding two skirts and a dress. I love the Autumnal hues of the latter, although with its lighter weight fabric, it will need sufficient layering if I want to wear it any time soon.

Sadly, the weather forecast for our long weekend was looking pretty dire, with rain supposedly on the menu from Friday afternoon onwards.

As we woke up to a bright blue sky and sunshine working overtime on Friday, we decided to forgo our usual charity shopping trip and go for a ramble instead.

Our destination of choice was Walenhoek, a nature reserve a mere 20-minute drive from Dove Cottage.

When we were last there, in early June, blood-thirsty insects made a meal of my arms and legs, resulting in itchy bites which plagued me for days. Not wanting a repeat performance, we'd avoided the place over the Summer months, so that a return visit was now long overdue! 

I'm sure that any surviving insects would have had a hard time with the multiple layers I was wearing that day! 

With a choice of paths criss-crossing the reserve, it is perfect for any length of walk depending on mood and stamina. For some reason, however, we always seem to end up doing the same longer circuit, perhaps with a short diversion or two if we're so inclined.

Established on the site of former clay pits, and dotted with the remnants of the area's brickmaking past, there's a plethora of ponds thriving with wildlife.

At this time of year, fascinating fungi are plentiful. It was when I was trying to take a close-up of a particularly delightful Fly Agaric with my phone that I inadvertently pushed the selfie button and ended up making the one on the top right ...

I was in a pink and purple mood that day, selecting this pink dress with lashings of purple and off-white flowers and leaves from my wardrobe. I was wearing a purple cardigan on top, which I removed for these photos. You can see it peeking out from under my coatsleeves if you scroll back to the outerwear photo.

Accessories included a tan leather belt, purple and silvertone beaded necklace and one of my vintage lady brooches.

After leaving the first series of ponds behind us, we continued our walk along a path meandering through the woods towards the domain's perimeter.

Here I was mesmerized by the rays of the sun which had managed to make their way through the canopy, casting the forest floor in a magical golden glow.

Soon we reached a second series of ponds, which might well be my favourites. 

The forces of nature have been at work here, snapping trees as if they were mere matchsticks. 

Below, on the top left, is one of the ruined buildings of the former brickmaking factory: an old electricity cabin with a rusty and peeling red door.

We stopped for a picnic, although we couldn't make use of our usual bench with a view due to the invasion of a group of chattering schoolchildren and their teachers. One of the latter later apologized for the disruption when the group passed the bench we were sitting on.

Other than that, we seemed to have the place almost completely to ourselves. We were even able to sit and stare for a while on the domain's most popular bench on the edge of a sandy peninsula jutting into the largest of the lakes, eating the waffles we'd packed as a dessert.

Our batteries sufficiently recharged and our heads cleared of pandemic woes, we returned to our car.

The rest of the weekend would have a considerably less sunny outlook, but that will be for my next post.

Until then, let's all make sure to stay safe!

True colours

Waning daylight and depleted energy levels conspired against making outfit photos after work in October's penultimate week. Other than that, I've been enjoying these cozy lamp-lit evenings. I've even managed to finish the tedious Elizabeth Gilbert book and start another, altogether lighter and more enjoyable one.

With the mercury yoyoing between 16 and 19°C, which is way above the average temperature for this time of year, there wasn't much to complain about. The weather gods, in a good mood for once, even treated us to a gorgeously sunny day on Wednesday.

Then Thursday came along, bringing stormy weather in the form of tempestuous Aurore. Our umbrellas had a tough job against the torrential rain we'd woken up to and which had only slightly abated by the time we had to leave for work. Drifts of leaves had been swept up and tossed into soggy piles and puddles had turned into minor ponds overnight.

Daylight was a long time coming that morning and when it finally did, the day revealed by my office's 5th floor windows was of the murky kind made worse by a light but persistent drizzle.

Not needing a crystal ball or a science degree to predict months of gloom ahead, I ventured outside during lunch break and bought myself a daylight therapy lamp for the office. We have one at home as well, which I confess I'm rarely using, as I'm usually not staying in the same place for long enough on my days off! 

A mixture of sunny spells and showers was on the menu on Friday the 22nd of October. 

The temperature had taken a nosedive to 12° which, even though I layered up for our weekly charity shopping trip, was still a shock to the system when we stepped outside.

My burgundy jacket, in a wool and polyacryl blend, is vintage and cost me all of € 6 in a charity shop about two years ago. It has got multi-coloured specks running through the fabric and an unusual knitted  yoke and sleeves. See here for a close-up! I was wearing the same crushed velvet scarf as I did in my previous post, but exchanged the orange beret for a purple mohair one.

The plaid skirt in delicious shades of rust, burgundy, purple and cream is H&M by way of a charity shop, and has been making regular appearances on the blog ever since I snapped it up in October 2017.

The funky patterned top - also originally from the high street - was a recent find and picked up the skirt's colours perfectly. Apart from the brooch, which was flea market find, my everything else was charity shopped as well, including the filigree leaf necklace, which I found new on card, and the purple cardigan, which came home with me on the same day as the skirt.

In fact, the only retail items in my outfit are my opaques and the ankle boots I fell in love with on the spot in C&A the other week.

As usual, we selected two shops for our weekly rummage, our first stop being at Oxfam in Wilrijk.

I was hoping to repeat the success of my previous visit here, when I found all things green including a vintage deadstock raincoat. My heart already skipped a beat when I spotted a pair of pristine chocolate brown Gabor boots in the window. Alas, they were too narrow and only zipped up half-way. 

The clothing aisles were a bit disappointing this time, but then I spied this glorious tan and green plaid maxi skirt. It's 100% wool and lined, and from the Dutch Tramontana label, which I admit I've never heard of before.

I also found another stretchy belt for my collection, which you'll get to see later in this post.

Our second stop was at our local charity shop, which is on the outskirts of our town. Here, we made several purchases. These included two dresses, the first one being the blue and white short-sleeved knit dress from Esprit pictured in the above collage.

I fell hard for the groovilicious pattern of this vintage dress in navy blue with orange and white dots and neither its mismatched buttons nor the fact that it was slightly too large could dissuade me from buying it. In the end, it was just a matter of replacing the buttons and moving them a centimeter or so to the left. I also nipped in the half-belt at the back with a strategically placed matching button. Et voilà. 

As if to make up for the non-fitting chocolate brown boots, these yellow suede ankle boots crossed my path instead. No-brainer!

The book department came up trumps too with these hardback additions to our Britain related library.

The temperature was hovering in the region of 14°C on Saturday, and as it was a bright and sunny day, Autumn was wearing her true colours again. I decided to join in with my outfit, whose main components came in shades of red, yellow and brown.

The day just called for an outing so, after lunch, we set off in the direction of the Art Deco water tower in the next village. Frolicking in the adjacent picnic garden, I assembled an Autumnal tableau of leaves and seed-heads, which I laid out on one of the tables. 

My short swing coat, which isn't vintage but modern, from the Spanish Sfera label, was charity shopped in January 2018, and is just the perfect weight for this time of year. Both my beret and scarf are among my most worn Autumn/Winter accessories and have made it to the blog countless times over the years.

After a short walk around the site's perimeter, we decided to climb to the water tower's viewing platform once more. If the weather conditions are perfect and clear, one is able to catch a glimpse of the uttermost spheres of the Atomium in Brussels, about 30 kilometers away.

Alas, we were out of luck again ...

In the above collage, top right, you can see the metal structure with its see-through staircase leading up to the top of the brick tower. The structure as well as the viewing platform were added to the tower - which dates from 1938 - in 2012, after the village acquired the site from the water company.

Although the tower itself is merely ten meters in height, it was built on the highest point of the area's clay formation forty meters above sea level, which allowed it to fully function as a water tower.

Now it offers a magnificent view of the area's industrial past, all but one of its clay pits long since redundant and reclaimed by nature.

In the sheltered picnic area, it was warm enough to remove my coat and show you what I was wearing underneath. 

The dress I'd plucked from my wardrobe that morning was a raspberry one printed with white and yellow dots and dashes and the cutest of buttons. Gracing the rails of Episode, a Dutch chain of vintage shops, I was unable to resist it in January 2019.

I've never worn it with any other colour than yellow, which I think makes for a match made in heaven.

A pair of yellow opaques, a long-line cardigan and a bubblegum reminiscent necklace were its companions this time around. At my waist, a tan leather belt to tie in with my ankle boots. My brooch, a white, tan and gold flower, was picked up in a charity shop in the water tower's village last year.

Speaking of which, now that we were in the village, it would have been downright silly not to go for a rummage in that particular shop, wouldn't it?

It's one of the smaller charity shops of the area, and its stock can be very hit or miss. 

We were in luck this time, as not only did we find two shirts for Jos - which unfortunately  I forgot to take pictures of - a yellow jumper, cobalt blue Autumn leave blouse and two belts came home with us as well. On the far right is the stretchy belt from Oxfam I mentioned earlier.

On that note, we have come to the end of this post. I'll be back with more Autumn splendour in my next one. In the meantime, as it seems infections are rife again, please do stay safe, my friends!

A tiny slice of normal life

Although the month of October certainly had its fair share of sunny days, the weather gods weren't averse to sending solid grey skies and rainy all-dayers our way. 

Case in point was this very weekend, when daylight was sparse and the rain kept coming down in buckets.

Seeing me posed here against the white brick wall, you'd be forgiven for thinking that we were once again reduced to taking outfit photos in our garage, if it weren't for the sizeable amount of Autumn leaves gathered at my feet.

It was Saturday, the 16th of October - aargh, that's two weeks ago already! - and in continuation of my previous post, which ended on the Friday, I still had to tell you all about what we'd been up to during the rest of that weekend.

For starters, it wasn't one of those rainy days which kept us hostage at home. On the contrary, it was an utterly gorgeous one, the minor clouds we'd woken up to soon dispersing and leaving a bright sunny day in their wake. 

We only got highs of about 15°C, though, so dressing up warmly for our intended walk was a necessity.

My plaid jacket in delicious Autumnal hues was a Think Twice find in February 2018. It's belted quite low on the hips and the belt loops are hidden under the pocket flaps. which for once aren't just purely decorative, they are actual pockets!

To further combat the chill, I wore a burnt orange, flower appliquéd crushed velvet scarf and an orange beret, both of which were old charity shop finds.

As we realized we hadn't been there since June, our walk took us to our beloved Middelheim Sculpture Park, where the emerging Autumn colours and its unmistakable scents added an extra dimension to the works of art on display.

If the seasonal sensory delights were making me feel quite giddy and - if only mentally - jump for joy, I was in good company. The Mad Maiden (or in Flemish, Het Zotte Geweld) by Belgian artist Rik Wouters, has been dancing her giddy dance since 1912. Modelled by his wife Nel, the inspiration for this sculpture was a performance by the American dancer, Isadora Duncan.

In spite of this being a sunny Saturday, there weren't all too many people about, so that we could wander and meander at will and have some close encounters with the art. We never pass up the opportunity to contemplate Antony Gormley's Firmament III (top and bottom left), which - and I'm quoting the museum guide here - offers a constant invitation to visitors to think about our place in the bigger order of things. 

Dotted around the park are silver and gold painted chairs for visitors to use at will. We marvelled at the artfully displayed Autumn leave on this particular one, wondering if nature did have a helping hand here.

Having visited the park countless times before - after all, it is a mere 15 minute drive from Dove Cottage - it is only natural that some of the sculptures have become like old friends. There's the enigmatic Tempest (1956) by Italian sculptor Carmelo Coppello (bottom left), which has featured a number of times on my blog. But however many times we roam the park's paths, there's always a sculpture that has previously escaped our attention. By Giacomo Manzù, also Italian, and dating from the same period, the sculpture on the top left and right is called She-Skater (1957).

Regular readers might by now have deducted the origin of the white brick wall. Indeed, it belongs to the park's Organic Brutalist exhibition space, the stunning Braem Pavillion, designed by architect Renaat Braem and completed in 1971.

With no exhibition taking place inside, there was no access to the pavillion. At the same time, the absence of people coming and going created the perfect opportunity to show you what I was wearing underneath that jacket!

My long-sleeved cobalt blue dress with its striking  Art Deco style print is modern, a King Louie found at Oxfam back in June. 

For its first wearing, I accessorized it with a sage green plastic woven belt, a pink butterfly brooch, a red perspex ring and a recently charity shopped necklace in shades of red and brown.

My outfit was completed by a pair of burgundy opaques and my chocolate brown walking boots.

From the Braem Pavillion we made our way to another old favourite, the polished metal column (bottom left) by Belgian artist Felix Roulin (1975), its endless reflecting possibilities never failing to intrigue us. On the bottom right you can see its proximity to the pavillion.

Crossing the Bridge Without a Name by Chinese artist Ai Weiwei, we paid a visit to the mad professor, a.k.a. Professeur (1969) by Hungarian sculpture Imre Varga (top right and bottom left).

From here, we had an excellent view of the museum café, noting with delight that there were a handful of empty tables, a most unusual sight on a sunny weekend afternoon.

Our cappuccinos and shared pieces of apple cake and brownie have seldomly tasted this good as it almost felt like normal times again.

On our way back to the car, we took a different route and passed this installation representing the house of a traditional Congolese chieftain.

The Mokonzi’s house by the KinAct Collective (founded in Kinshasa in 2015) is built from the waste that the West dumps in Africa. This refers to the colonists who visited the chieftains in their homes bringing gifts (mirrors, alcohol or guns) in exchange for the rights to their land. Just as the waste today is toxic to people and the environment, the gifts offered then were also poisoned, and it's KinAct's intentions to re-enact the exchange.

After this life-affirming Saturday, Sunday could have been quite a letdown. Except that it wasn't.

In fact, we were up early and eager to go. Go where, you might wonder, but I'll keep you in suspense just that little bit longer to show you what I was wearing.

With green being my favourite colour, choosing this dress for this momentous occasion was actually a no-brainer. Indeed, few of my dresses even come close to this glorious 1970s does 1940s one with its blowsy flower pattern.

I added more flowers by way of my brooch, and paid tribute to the pattern's colours by adding a tan leather belt, orange beaded necklace and blue ring and opaques. Finally, I added easy flat-heeled ankle boots into the equation as we had a lot of ground to cover. 

After a 19-month hiatus due to you-know-what, it was finally time for our favourite monthly indoor flea market to start up again. Apart from the obvious reason for this period of drought, for the last six months or so the venue had been roped in as a vaccination centre, which finally closed its doors and moved to smaller premises end of September.

Going back after all this time felt simultaneously strange and familiar. It was as if my eyes couldn't focus faced with stall after stall of possible treasures, and I have to admit that it took some time to get into my stride. 

I told Jos I would only be persuaded to buy things which made my heart beat faster, and it most definitely did when I spotted this vintage Lloyd Loom style cabinet. It was our final find, but as we had two more aisles to go, we paid for it and asked the stallholder to put it aside until we were done.

The cabinet now graces our hallway, where it is roped in to hold shopping bags, Jos's man bag and a couple of folding umbrellas. As you can see, it has been Bess-approved!

Our first buy was the pale green Art Deco alarm clock, made in some kind of early plastic, which we were happy to find is still in full working order.

The tiles were € 1 each and although we haven't figured out what we'll do with them, we spent € 6 on the lot, including 3 slightly damaged ones which the seller - a lovely 80+ year old lady - threw in for free.

I was very restrained and only bought one brooch. Not just any old brooch though, this one consists of  a hand-painted basket of flowers contained within a galalithe frame.

I was tempted by others, obviously, but wasn't prepared to pay the often exorbitant asking prices.

All in all, not bad at all for our first foray into flea marketing ...

That's it from me for now, but I can't possibly leave without a Bess update, can I?

Remember her fascination with the kitchen tap? Well, some googling revealed the existence of a tap-shaped drinking fountain and, what's more, I found out that the wonderful Katshop, which is just a stone's throw from my office, was selling them. 

Guess what I did during Monday's lunchbreak and guess who's now got her very own perpetual tap?

Here lives a very spoiled cat indeed!