Hello May!

The initial forecast for the bank holiday weekend had been for gorgeous, sunny Spring weather on both Sunday and Monday, with the latter expected to be the best of the bunch. So imagine our disappointment when the weather gods changed their minds at the very last moment, scuppering our plans for Monday, the 1st of May. What's more, in a bid to annoy us even further, those pesky deities quarreled among themselves about whether to plague the poor people of Belgium with rain in the morning or in the afternoon. 

With the sky colouring a granite grey during breakfast, we decided to wait it out, until the threat of rain seemed to have passed after lunch. With the temperature making its way towards the day's highs of 17°C, it would have been a shame to spend the day inside, so off we went.

We'd decided to check out a walking destination which until a couple of days earlier had been completely unknown to us, even if it is less than 15 minutes by car from Dove Cottage

Cleydael, in the neighbouring village of Aartselaar, is a nature reserve of 26 hectares, which is historically part of the castle park of Castle Cleydael, a fairy-tale worthy moated castle whose origins go back to the Middle Ages.

The castle lies at the other side of the road from the nature reserve, so we carefully crossed the busy road to have a proper look. Although the gates leading towards it were standing invitingly open, there was a sign that prohibited us from entering and taking photographs. 

There's a golf course on the castle domain, which might explain the wide open gates. Plus, the nature reserve leaflet I'd downloaded described the castle's particulars in quite some detail, so that we felt obliged to trespass and take a cursory look!

The castle was built on a island formed by two tributaries of a brook called Struisbeek. Cleydael is derived from the words klei and dal (transl. clay and valley), a reference to the brickworks which were once prolific in the area. Until the 16th century, one could sail up the Struisbeek from the River Scheldt, which was of the utmost importance for transporting the bricks from the local factories.

The landscape has been protected since 1977, and has been owned by the Flemish Community and  managed by latter's environmental department, the Agency for Nature and Forests since 1997.

The reserve offers a large variety of different habitats, such as reed marsh, sedges, pools, hay meadow, coppice and forest stands.

There's a lot of new mixed deciduous forest here, planting of which took place in several phases in 1999, 2002 and 2005. Native species were planted together in groups.

Jos had just remarked that the paths were relatively dry here in spite of the copious amounts of rain we've had lately, when we came across this partially flooded one. After debating how to circumnavigate this, we opted to make our way to the wooded area on our right rather than squelch through the marshy underground on our left. I was thankful for the thick crepe soles of my charity shopped Mephisto boots, and the mud which clung to the boots' suede uppers cleaned off in no time once dry.

The trees here were like high-rise buildings for the area's population of snails, the ones on the top left having just moved in together!

Having successfully made it across the muddy mire, we paused for a while so that I could show you my outfit which, apart from the charity shopped King Louie cardigan and Mephisto boots, coincidentally consisted mostly of high street buys.

The skirt is fast fashion pur sang but, after having resided in my wardrobe for many years, it has definitely earned its keep by now. I'm always happy to see it after its seasonal sojourn in the linen chest.

The lilac short-sleeved knit jumper was a retail buy last year, as was the stretchy belt with its big square buckle. The flower brooch is modern, picked up in a quirky independent shop in Antwerp called Akotee (linkin' coz I love, as Sheila would say) a couple of years ago.

All too soon, the 3-day weekend drew to a close. It wasn't nearly as traumatic to start another working week, though, as it would only be a 3-day one!  In the meantime, the weather gods had upped their game and sent a string of mostly sunny days our way, even if the temperatures fluctuated wildly, with highs of 11°C one day and 20°C the next.

Wednesday brought a surprise in the form of this gorgeous wrought iron poppy we got from Inneke and Maurice as a thank you for looking after Nessie. It was made by the husband of Inneke's niece and is a truly unique piece. Of course it deserved a place in our newly created passageway border!

A foray into the garden discovered the emergence of a handful of hoop-petticoat daffs (Narcissus bulbocodium), the bulbs of which I'd planted back in December. I had given up on them making an appearance at all this year, so that was a nice surprise as well.

I'd also made several forays to various Think Twice shops during my lunch breaks. The shops had started another round of their famous sales, and I found the sleeveless green and pink shift dress in the nearest shop to the office for € 5 on Tuesday. It might look a bit baggy in the photo, but I promise you it looks a treat on me rather than on Angelica.

By Thursday, prices had gone down to € 4 a piece. As it was a warm and sunny day, I walked down to my favourite of their shops, in Antwerp's edgy Kammenstraat, where I'm the first to admit I went a bit wild.

It had been absolutely ages since I'd come away with such a haul!

First up, this gorgeous flower patterned hessian purse, which I was unable to resist in spite of owning a multitude of the things.

I picked up no less than 4 dresses as well. 

The terracotta mosaic patterned one with its Chelsea collar shows every sign of being somebody's perfectly executed handiwork.

The multicoloured Paisley patterned midi shirtwaist dress is enhanced with blend-in fuchsia buttons and white piping at the collar and sleeves.

Next up is this handmade burgundy, grey and yellow fit and flare dress. Its side zipper initially didn't budge, which didn't overly worry me. Endless patience and gently rubbing it with candle wax eventually did the trick, as I knew it would.

Finally, I fell head over heels for this black floral cotton Summer dress, which I can't wait to wear once it's warm enough, and I have sorted its minor issues. I don't really mind minor issues when I've only paid a minor price!

A mix of sunny spells and showers, and highs of 17°C were on the menu on Friday the 5th of May. 

My outfit of the day was built around this butterfly sleeved vintage dress, an old Think Twice find if my memory serves me right. It's got roses in palest pink and fresh green on a rosewood background. Its peachy pink lining makes it the perfect dress for this time of year, as it would doubtlessly be the cause of a sweat fest in high Summer!

My green cardie, necklace and ring were all charity shopped, while the Miracle brooch was a flea market find in the Autumn of 2018. I don't remember where I picked up the peach coloured flower corsage, but it might very well have been at Veritas, a well-know Belgian chain of haberdashery and accessories shops.

That's all I got for you today. I'll be back with Friday's charity shop finds and the rest of our weekend adventures in my next post. Hope to see you again then!

Goodbye April

After working a full five-day week, it was with a huge sigh of relief that I closed the office door on April's final Friday. What's more, with the 1st of May being Labour Day and thus a bank holiday in Belgium, I had a long weekend to look forward to.

Lately we tend not to make any definite plans on how to spend our weekends and to just go with the flow instead, letting our moods - and that unknown entity, the weather - be our guides. We're always living in hope of squeezing in a walk, but having had our hopes dashed more than once we've learned our lesson, so that walking has become a spur of the moment thing as well.

No rain seemed to be on the horizon on Saturday, but it was dull and overcast, the sun only making an appearance at the end of the day, when the mercury eventually climbed to 15°C.

I'd bought the funky Western style blouse from the defunct Belgian label Who's That Girl in a outlet shop back in November. It was part of a glut of finds from this and its sister label Wow To Go, the majority of which have already been worn in the meantime. First outing for this blouse though, as its lightweight fabric is better suited to mild-ish Spring temperatures than cold-ish Winter ones.

My skirt, with its navy, red, orange and tan fireworks pattern on a cream background, is vintage, a bargainous leftover from a charity shop event in October 2021.

The red pleated raffia belt was picked up in the charity shop in Poperinge on one of our September holidays. The aqua necklace, originally from H&M, was charity shopped too, while the brooch was a flea market find back in January. 

My ankle boots, recently found in a second-hand shop in Antwerp, and introduced in my previous post, echoed the Western style of the blouse.

After breakfast, Jos went to feed our friends' cat Nessie, while I did some sewing jobs, repairing the torn lining of my beloved teal coat, and fixing the fallen hems of two dresses. Then I caught up with blogland and made a start on a new post.

A visit to the garden centre was on the menu after lunch. Almost inevitably, we didn't leave empty-handed, loading our trolley with a two-some of pink trailing Geraniums to replace the Tête-à-Tête daffs in the enamel cones once they've finished flowering, some Lobelias for the passageway and a handful of plants for our hanging basket. 

After having dropped everything off at home, Jos drove off again to run an errand and give Nessie her final feed of the day. Meanwhile, I planted up the hanging basket with two varieties of Petunia (Fiesta and Purple Vein, the latter not visible in the photo), yellow and orange Bidens Eternal Flame and a gorgeous blue Nemesia named Jeans, although they do look more of a lavender to me.

We planted our Red Valerian (Centranthus ruber, below, top left) back in that fateful Spring of 2020, so it's now into its 4th year of flowering. Clematis 'Guernsey Cream', with its big saucer-like flowers, followed a year later, but only flowered for the first time in the Spring of 2022. 

Once again, there'll be gooseberries aplenty, although it will be a while yet before they get their luscious ruby-red colour indicating they are ready for picking!

The creamy-white leaves with their green edging are a bit of an enigma. Might they be Dove Cottage's variation of the variegated leaved Yellow Archangel we inherited with the garden?

Spring arrived at long last on Sunday the 30th of April with sunshine and temperatures easily reaching the forecasted 18°C and beyond.

The perfect weather for an impromptu walk to sample the season's sensory delights!  Our destination of choice: the leafy park in the nearby town of Boom (rhymes with home!), a leisurely 15-miniute drive from Dove Cottage.

We parked in our usual spot near the east entrance from which vantage point the sight of the wooden Japanese style bridge crossing the brook never fails to delight us. It always makes me think of the famous Monet painting, sans waterlilies, obviously. 

At this time of year the cornucopia of lush green grasses surrounding it and its twin - which isn't visible in the photo,but see here -  is dotted with bluebells and cow parsley.

The park, some 27 hectares, was formerly part of a large forest. From 1925 onwards, it was transformed into a triangular park situated along the banks of the Bosbeek (beek is Flemish for brook) which meanders through it

At the other end of the park is a modernist garden with a series of ornamental ponds decorated with several bronze sculptures by well-known Flemish artists such as George Minne and Rik Wouters, added as the park's crowning glory in the early 1930s. This part of the park was recently renovated and we have visited it a couple of times since it was re-opened to the public in September 2020. This time, we kept to the leafy part of the park, though.

Hailing from the area, this used to be part of Jos's playground when he was a young boy. Frowned upon by their mothers as it was quite a bicycle ride away from their homes, he and his friends nevertheless often made the trip to re-enact the adventures of their hero, Davy Crockett, the park taking on the proportions and particulars of a forest in their imagination.

And what better colour to personify Spring than green, symbolizing renewal and growth? 

Sprigs of delicate yellow and orange flowers and fresh green foliage are sprinkled liberally across a background of palest green in this vintage dress. My collection of opaques contained a pair in a matching pale green, while the crepe soled moss green ankle boots turned out to be the perfect footwear for a Spring walk. They are Mephisto and would easily have retailed for about € 190, so finding them in a charity shop for just € 6 was a stroke of good luck.

The orange plastic ring and beaded necklace were charity shopped as well, while the orange cat brooch was bought from the delightful Katshop in Antwerp, a shop catering for cats as well as their long-suffering personnel. 

I'm making it my mission to use all the wicker baskets now that they're within easy reach on the IKEA coat stand. I came across this round one at an outdoor flea market in June 2019 and it was long overdue another outing. Not very roomy it is, though, it didn't fit much more than my phone!

Oh, and I almost forgot to mention my lilac Tweed jacket, which was a Think Twice find in the Autumn of 2017.

For many years, the water in the ponds and the brook leading into them was green with algae and gave off an unpleasant musty smell. We always used to pity the waterfowl who nevertheless insisted on making the park their home.

Things came to a head when, due to a blockage in the sewage system in a neighbouring village last Summer, a large amount of wastewater ended up in the brook. Made worse by the subsequent heatwave, the stench had been quite unbearable for some time. Not to mention the fact that several of the resident fish hadn't survived the ordeal and that even the ever-present gaggle of ducks refused to take to the water. 

As a consequence, the park had been out of bounds, although our walks here were sorely missed over Summer as it is one of our favourite hot weather refuges.

Any lingering smells had thankfully gone by now, replaced by the usual Springtime aromas which tickled our nostrils, some of them eliciting one or two seasonal sneezes.

The water in the brook and ponds was clearer than ever before, a fact which was enjoyed by the gaggle of ducks which had once again joined the plump of squawking moorhens. At the edge of the main pond, which was lined with clumps of cheerful yellow Marsh Marigolds, an Egyptian goose and its goslings were contemplating a swim.

One of the joys of this park are its many arched stone bridges crossing the brook and ponds so that it's easy to make one's walk circular by returning to one's starting point along the path running on the opposite side.

Here we came almost face to face with a duck which apparently thought sunbathing in the middle of the path was a bright idea. Initially it didn't seem to be all that bothered by our approach, but then it decided to join its friend in the grassy edge after all.

Back at home, we spent some quality time with our funny furry monster, Bess, who's in the habit of claiming one of our laps the moment we dare to sit down. The perfect excuse for an afternoon nap!

Would the gorgeous Spring weather stay with us for another day? All will be revealed in my next post!

In between showers

The forecast for April's penultimate weekend promised a high probability of rain on both Saturday and Sunday and, while the showers might be interspersed with a sunny spell or two, there was a strong possibility that the blanket of grey would be too thick to allow the sun a look in. In short, they - and by they, of course, I mean those dratted weather people - had no clue whatsoever, and made sure there would be no complaints by forecasting all kinds of weather bar snow and heatwave temperatures

It was therefore a welcome surprise to wake up to a modicum of sunshine on Saturday, and as we'd been promised highs of 13°C, I decided to throw caution to the wind and forego the long sleeves, opting for ... three-quarter ones instead. How very daring, no? 

First outing for this predominantly blue flower infused vintage dress I found at the vintage per kilo shop back in January. As it was missing one of its buttons, which I didn't like anyway, I replaced them with vintage black and white moulded flower ones, which turned out to be so well-suited they almost seem to be part of the pattern.

Among the blue-hued flowers are some tan-hearted daisies and leaves, which I took as my lead to add tan and burnt orange to my outfit.  At my waist, my latest stretchy belt with a tan faux-bamboo buckle, which was a naughty high street buy back in March. On top, a charity shopped diagonally striped orange and burgundy Zoë Loveborn cardigan.

The plastic flower brooch is vintage, an outdoor flea market find in the Summer of 2016, while the necklace with its multi-coloured beads followed me home from the charity shop in Poperinge during our week in Belgium's west country in September 2019.

This wasn't my initial outfit of the day though, as after breakfast that morning I donned my gardening gear. The idea was to dig over the narrow border in the passageway, remove the building rubble which had ended up here courtesy of our neighbour, and plant the shade-loving perennials we'd brought back from the garden centre the other week. 

After doing the hard graft in spite of suffering from backache, Jos left me to do the planting. I'd only just made a start when he came running back outside, telling me I would need to hurry up as rain was imminent. I'm glad to report that I made it, if only just in the nick of time, as the first drops were starting to fall while I was putting in some yellow archangel I'd dug up from elsewhere in the garden.

The yellow archangel (Lamium galeobdolon) joined the fresh from the garden centre Vinca minor (Lesser Periwinkle),  Geranium macrorrhizum 'Czakor', Alchemilla mollis (Lady's Mantle), Ajuga reptans 'Atropurpurea' (Bugle) and Digitalis purpurea 'Dalmatian Purple' (Foxglove).

Then there were the Euphorbia amygdaloides 'Purpurea' and the Helleborus sternii which had been living in pots in the passageway since the Autumn, as well as some surplus self-seeded foxgloves and Welsh Poppies (Meconopsis cambrica) from the garden.

We'd lost a big chunk of the border's edging during the building work, so that the rain soon washed away some of the freshly dug over soil and turned part of the passageway into a mud-fest.

We'd looked for suitable border edging in the garden centre on our last visit but hadn't been able to find anything to our liking. As rain kept stopping play for the rest of the day, we decided to have a look in another local garden centre as I thought I'd seen something which might suit on their website. 

Before we proceed, though, here's a look at my vintage teal new wool coat found at Think Twice many years ago. Its lining has been repaired countless of times, but otherwise it's still in perfect condition and will be worn until it literally falls apart. Still wearing a beret and thin knit scarf as well. I do wish Spring would hurry up! 

Sadly, the border edging I'd seen online turned out not to be what we were looking for either, so we settled for some boring green flexible plastic edging to tide us over for the time being. We also bought a bag of wood chips to mulch the new border with.

It would have been rude not to have a look at their plants as well, although the colour coordinated displays did put me off a bit.  Choice was rather limited and there wasn't anything we couldn't have found at our regular garden centre anyway.

Before making our way back home, we went to feed Inneke and Maurice's cat, Nessie, as they'd departed on holiday to the seaside that morning. At least, we tried to feed her, but the key we'd been given didn't seem to work. A phonecall with Maurice revealed the hiding place of a spare key, but that didn't seem to be working either. Meanwhile, we could hear Nessie meowing pitifully. It was all solved in the end but it did involve Maurice having to come back from the seaside. It's a good thing Belgium is a small country ...

Back at home, I spent some time rearranging our bookshelves, as we are facing a serious lack of space. Then I hit upon the idea of doing a reshuffle of my collection of vintage sewing baskets which live on a shelf in the redundant fireplace in our bedroom, creating space for our Victorian and Edwardian themed books. When I posted this on Instagram, people oohed and aahed over the sewing baskets. 

The stuffed mouse on top of the basket on the right isn't one of Bess's toys. I bought her in a WWF shop in Antwerp in the late 80s, and she's called Gorgonzola!

Sunday once again went off to a sunny start, and as the temperature was forecasted to climb to the unheard highs of 15°C, I decided to go one step further and wear a short-sleeved dress.

Well, that's what long-sleeved t-shirts are for, aren't they? I bookended the watercolour patterned dress - another wardrobe stalwart picked up from Think Twice - with a teal t-shirt and ditto opaques. 

Accessories included an old tan leather belt, a blue plastic butterfly brooch and purple beads.

I only wore the shoes for the photos as, apart from the garden, we didn't leave Dove Cottage's confines at all that day.

Aren't they sweet?  They were charity shopped almost exactly two years ago. I've never been able to find out anything about the brand mentioned on the inside (Soulier), but their very 1970s looking block heels make me think they are definitely vintage. 

It would be raining again in the afternoon, but until it did, we made the most of the dry spell by fixing the temporary edging to the border and adding the wood chips. 

Then, Jos removed the old wood from our Fuchsia magellanica bush, while I did some random garden pottering.

I can't believe how lush the garden has become all of a sudden. All that rain must have done the trick!

The Bluebells are in their element and are taking centre stage in the garden right now, a shimmering haze of blue visible from our kitchen window, so that they can even be enjoyed when it rains.

The Cowslips (Primula veris) are doing well too. Even if they can't compete with their exuberantly flowering blue neighbours, their clusters of delicate lemon bells never fail to delight.

The tiny coral bells belong to one of the Heucheras in the window box in the passageway. It has been flowering since early April, which I'm sure is very early indeed. There's no sign of any flowers in those planted in our garden yet.

Another early bloomer, as it's supposed to flower from May to July,  is our Clematis "Guernsey Cream", whose big fat flower buds are opening one by one into gorgeous large cream with a tinge of green flowers. Admittedly, some voracious creature has been nibbling some of the buds, resulting in holey blooms ...

April's final working week had its usual ups and downs, some rain, some shine, and temperatures reaching the low double digits. It was a long one too, as I had to work on Friday as well. What a drag that was!

My lunch breaks were spent running some errands and going to my hairdresser, but on Tuesday my feet took me to the second-hand pop-up shop which opened a couple of months ago. It's a large, spacious shop, with everything neatly displayed on rows and rows of rails, and so far I haven't come across any Primark stuff or the like.

I was in luck that day, as I found a Wow To Go skirt - I used to have a dress in the same pattern - a pair of gold/silver patterned Western style ankle boots by defunct Belgian label Beoriginal, and flat blue Velcro-strap shoes by good old Damart.

I went for a walk on Thursday, the intention being that I would take you to the raised promenade along the River Scheldt, only to be thwarted in my plans as a major redevelopment of the quayside is taking place. Before I reached the quayside, however, I was halted in my tracks by this fantastic mushroom decorated façade.

As I couldn't access the promenade, I walked towards the Ferris wheel opposite Het Steen - the castle I blogged about in a previous post - along the pavement.

To my left, a row of rusty gabled hangars with decorative ironwork pediments. Dating from the late 19th century, they will get a new purpose in the redevelopment of the quayside, but at the time of writing they mostly offer parking space.

It had been a frosty start to the day, which offered the ideal opportunity to wear the short-sleeved plaid wool-blend dress I found at Think Twice back in October. 

Again, I added bookends in the form of a long-sleeved t-shirt and opaques combo. The red Western-style ankle boots were a fairly recent charity shop find.

A flea market, vintage shop and a chazza supplied my brooch, necklace and belt respectively.

As it had warmed up to 14°C during the day, I was sweating in this by the time I went home, but otherwise this was an absolute joy to wear.

Nevertheless, I am truly craving my Spring/Summer wardrobe by now!

Once more fooled by April

We were in for a bit of a letdown on Sunday the 16th of April. All week long, the weathermen had kept promising a sunny weekend, but when push came to shove we had to content ourselves with a half-day of sunshine on Saturday. By Saturday evening our phone's weather app spoke of grey skies and showers again, which made us regret not having gone for a walk and having just whittled away the time not doing very much at all instead. Serves us right for turning a blind eye to the weather's general fickleness which makes forecasting it such a balancing act.

But they got it right this time, as the gloomy morning we'd woken up to soon turned into a wet one, the rain pitter-pattering against our windows and creating puddles on our garden path. Thankfully, the rainclouds soon departed elsewhere, but the sun was no match for the thick blanket of grey they left behind in their wake.

Still, determined not to be beaten by the ongoing unspringlike weather, we decided to go ahead with our intended walk, picking a destination which wasn't too far from home. After tossing around a couple of possible contenders, we settled for Solhof, the municipal park in the neighbouring village of Aartselaar.

Laid out in English landscape style, the park is part of the  former pleasure grounds of an old castle estate whose history goes back to the 15th century. 

Apart from two watchtowers on either side of the entrance, dating from around 1550, one of which you can catch a fairy-tale like glimpse of in the first collage, there's nothing left of the original castle. In its place, there's a neoclassical, late 19th century mansion, now much much modernized and turned into a hotel. 

Apart from the rather neglected parks's natural delights, there's the quirky knoll with gazebo (above, top left), which is built on top of an ice house. Reminiscent of Sleeping Beauty's castle, it is half-hidden, not behind a thicket of thorns, but behind an insulating layer of yew. Although there isn't much of a view up there - depending on the season, one can just make out the ugly white hotel in the background - we can never resist climbing the knoll's narrow winding path to the gazebo with its gnarled, graffitied pillars.

At first glance, the park didn't look all that much different from our last visit back in November, the lawns and pathways still strewn with a crunchy layer of dried Autumn leaves and the majority of the trees still awaiting their Spring finery. The mind-numbing whitish grey sky and the temperature which barely reached double figures made it hard to imagine it was actually a Sunday in April rather than an Autumn one.

Fortunately, signs of Spring were all around, in the bright, chartreuse clad branches of the weeping willow meeting its reflection in the pond, the clusters of golden-yellow Mahonia flowers, and the hundreds of delicate white bells adorning the Pieris japonica shrubs. It isn't all that hard to see why one of the latter's common names is lily-of-the-valley bush!

Here's the outfit which was hidden underneath my cream, tan and light blue Winter coat.

My blue dress with its pattern of cow parsley and daisies is vintage, from the Finnish Karelia label, and was found at Think Twice in September 2020. Both the necklace and the resin ring encasing some kind of dried flowers were found on the high street. The latter is being shown to you by the wooden hand model I was seduced into buying when we went to IKEA.

The multicoloured slubbed longline cardigan is by the Danish ONLY label and was charity shopped a couple of years ago. At my waist, an old tan leather belt from my collection, while the brooch I pinned to my dress was picked up from the indoor flea market last year.

Typically, we were treated to a handful of sunny days during the working week that followed, even if courtesy of the wind the chill factor belied the 13-15°C shown on the thermometer in full sunshine.

Clearing my head and giving my eyes a rest from the screen is a necessity half-way through the day, so I walked to the Botanic Garden both on Tuesday and Wednesday.

I was delighted by the sight of the host of yellow daffodils in front of my old school building which backs the garden, and was snapping away happily, entering the garden proper, when I was promptly shooed away by a film crew who were about to call "Action!".

I scurried away on the path leading into the direction of the luxury hotel, but was halted in my track by the abandoned wheelbarrow and the rake missing several of its teeth. I decided they were worth a photo or two and had just done the deed when, out of the corner of my eye I noticed a guy waving frantically at me from the path leading paralell to mine. Apparently, I was persona non grata here as well, so I reluctantly carried on walking away from the scene.

Strangely enough, both the wheelbarrow and the rake were still in exactly the same position when I returned the next day. Were they abandoned film props, perhaps, or does the city Antwerp employ negligent gardeners? 

In a newspaper article this past week I read that plans to revamp the Botanic Garden are afoot. Nothing major, mind you, as the garden has been protected as cultural-historical landscape since 1950 and both the garden and its buildings have received architectural heritage status three years ago. I had to laugh when the article mentioned some of the noticeboards would be replaced as well, as it instantly put me in mind of the rather pointless noticeboard I photographed in the prairie garden near my old school (above, top centre).

On the day when I was exiled by the film crew, my feet took me to the site of the luxury hotel, which also contains several fine dining restaurants, three of which have recently been awarded Guide Michelin stars. Nobody batted an eyelid when I walked through the gateway into a courtyard which contains the herb garden belonging to one of the posh restaurants, but I was given the side-eye by a guy, possibly a waiter, when I was on my way out.

Walking past the chapel and its ghosts, I finally made my way back to the street, where I snapped the two towers of the neo-Gothic St. Joriskerk (St. George's church). I had to look up its name, as it's known to us as the soup church. Jos, who often stayed with his older brother who lived nearby when he was a young boy, remembers the aroma of soup always lingering here.

Friday was another half-day for me, on which I took the tram to Mortsel, where Jos picked me up.

Apart from the Bohemian beaded brooch, all of my outfit's elements were recently worn in other constellations. My blouse from the Belgian Wow To Go label was bought in an Outlet shop in the Autumn, the belt a recently charity shop find, and the skirt charity shopped last Summer.

This time, Jos had no problem persuading me to go charity shopping, so here are the results of the good old rummage I had in the shop in Mortsel.

The zebra-esque pattern of this lightweight bracelet sleeve length shirt-waist dress made it a no-brainer ...

... as did this faux-wrap dress with its pattern of green squirrels!

This flouncy, tiered C&A skirt landed in my basket as well.

There was no way I could resist this pair of green floral Ballerinas, for which I gladly paid € 5.

Looking up the brand, Andrea Montelpare, at home, I was gobsmacked when I learned they are a luxury children's footwear label, and that they would have retailed at around € 150. The perks of having small feet!

My final find was this miniature booklet on architecture, dating from 1964.

I photographed it next to the shoes so that you can see how tiny it actually is. Even my Size 4s are gigantic compared to it!

So, that was it for now. I'll be back with more April adventures soon, hopefully with a significant improvement in the weather!