Wearing, walking and wardrobe additions

First of all, apologies to those of you who were expecting to find the first installment of a brand new travelogue here. 

Since coming home to an ecstatic Bess on Sunday, we've been catching up on cuddles and, in the rare moments my lap wasn't claimed by a loudly purring feline, I've had the mother of all catch-ups with blogland. The photos of our travels have all been uploaded and I'm raring to start writing about our adventures. 

However, for the sake of continuity, there's a batch of outfit and other photos dating from those final August weeks to go through. What with its late start - remember those cold and rainy June days - Summer has been short enough as it is, so a two-week gap definitely wouldn't do. My mind being a bit of a blank after all this time, however, I was definitely in need of a helping hand from my diary.

 

It appears that I left you on Thursday the15th of August at the end of my last post. As this was a public holiday in Belgium, I briefly went into the office on Friday to deal with some urgent matters, followed by running a couple of errands since I was in Antwerp anyway. No photos were taken that day, so the above is what I was wearing on Saturday.

I've been sadly neglecting this dress, which I bought at a sample sale of the Belgian label Who's That Girl and its big sister Wow To Go back in 2013, if I remember correctly. I was quite obsessed with both labels at the time, resulting in many purchases, not all of which are still gracing my wardrobe.

On this day of sunny spells and highs of 25°C it was absolutely perfect. For its companions, I made use of the brown bits in its pattern. The brooch and belt were charity shopped, while the magnificent Lucite necklace was a flea market find.

We decided to drive over to Mechelen for our weekly fix of charity shopping, but left the shop empty handed. 

On our way back we stopped off at the small charity shop in the neighbouring village of Reet, where I found a pale green flower patterned needlecord jacket. There's a matching skirt which sadly doesn't fit me. The vintage green and tan patterned dagger-collared shirt came home with me as well. I also found a replacement in the proper size of this wrap skirt, originally charity shopped in 2022 and a tiny bit too tight on me.

Sunday brought a bit of a moody day, on which it felt that rain was imminent. At around 23°C, it was quite warm-ish so, after tossing around some head-clearing options, we settled on a walk in Fort 5 in the next village to ours. Those of you who have been following my blog for a while have accompanied me here many a time over the years.

Part of a ring of eight identical forts around the city of Antwerp, and dating from the 1860s, it has long ago been turned into a nature reserve and recreational area. The domain is criss-crossed by a myriad of paths, the most popular one circumnavigating the moat. This we took on our way back after having a mooch around the atmospheric old fort itself.

No close-ups were taken of my outfit, which consisted of a flower sprinkled cotton H&M skirt, a zig-zag patterned t-shirt and my favourite haori to at least protect my upper arms from any voracious insects. Everything except from my ancient Clarks Cloudsteppers was supplied by the charity shops.

I sorely neglected my blogging duties in August's penultimate week, only making the effort to take outfit photos on two occasions, on both of which I was wearing 1970s Diolen frocks. I can't remember where or when I obtained the floral, butterfly-sleeved delight on the left, but the blue and white tile patterned one on the right was found at Think Twice in July 2023.

My diligently kept diary tells me it was a week of sunny spells and showers, with temperatures ranging between 21 and 24°C, which I suppose wasn't too bad.

With Think Twice's latest sales being in full swing, and prices descending into single figures per item, there are no prizes for guessing how I spent my lunch breaks. The spoils of two consecutive days included two long-sleeved dresses - which I can't wait to wear once the weather's into single figures -and a skirt whose first outing might very well be imminent as I type.

The neither here nor there weather continued into the weekend, culminating in a moody yet sweltering 29°C day on Saturday, which ended in an almighty thunderstorm.

Again, no outfit photos were taken that day, but I can offer you Friday's red and black zig-zaggy dress, which is Mexx by way of a charity shop. Apparently, I last wore it in 2020, so it was another one which was well overdue an outing. I absolutely loved wearing it which puts paid to the advice of the fashion police to get rid of anything you haven't worn in a year. What utter rubbish!

Our rummaging urges were satisfied by a trip to the charity shops on both Friday and Saturday.

A lightweight green cotton kaftan style dress and a long-sleeved maxi with a gold detail Art Deco style pattern ended up in my cart. 

As did a pair of red canvas Tamaris wedges and a pair of denim blue Mary Jane-style Jana shoes. The latter have already been worn and approved. Any pair which can be worn on bare feet without causing blisters deserves its place in my shoe wardrobe.

Saturday's thunderstorm had brought down the temperature to a much cooler 22°C on Sunday.

I spent the morning assembling some essentials to be packed for our upcoming trip, then, after lunch, we drove down to Den Brandt for a walk. 

There seemed to be some kind of children's birthday party going on in the picking garden, so we soon made our escape by climbing the steps into the park proper. But not before making our way to the Gautam Buddha to have a look at the offerings he'd received. We were glad to see they were plentiful and even more so that he'd been returned to his perch. The poor thing had been sitting in the grass at the time of our last two visits.

The fenced-in giant tree Jos is standing in front of is the famous weeping beech (Fagus sylvatica pendula), with its nearly 200 years one of the veterans of the park. One could easily have a party - birthday or otherwise - under its canopy if it weren't fenced in to protect its delicate root system.

Nearby is a reproduction of Michelangelo's David (above, bottom left) purchased by the city at the 1910 World Fair in Brussels. 

I was wearing one of the latest Diolen frocks to join my collection, on its first outing although I purchased it back in April. I might have somewhat gone off my Diolen Delights lately, but this one is definitely a keeper. My faithful denim jacket kept it company.

We were delighted to see that the park's folly, a gingerbread English-style cottage which was still under renovation last time we visited, had now been fully restored to its former glory. It looked particularly fairy-tale like amid its miniature cottage garden, although I was rather glad to find its door firmly closed, fully expecting to find the wolf masquerading as Little Red Riding Hood's grandmother inside.

I left Jos resting his feet on a shady bench, walking across a little bridge and around the corner to admire the vista towards the late classical wedding cake castle at the heart of the park.

Only one outfit was photographed during the month's final working week.

Wednesday the 28th of August was sunny and hot, the mercury effortlessly climbing to 30°C. I briefly escaped the airconditioned office for a hairdresser's appointment during my lunch break.

Just look at that sky of the purest azure blue framing the tower of the baroque Sint-Carolus Borromeus church!

My vintage cotton button through skirt was joined by a charity shopped River Woods top. The beads were charity shopped as well, while I picked up the little hat brooch at a flea market. The belt is the one which was all but ruined by that pesky t-shirt but which I managed to save by vigorously scrubbing the top with a soapy cloth to remove most of the red residue. It's hardly noticeable unless one knows where to look.

And then it was Friday, and officially the start of my holiday. It's hard to get my head around the fact that today is its final day and I'm due back at the office tomorrow ...

I'll be back with my travel adventures soon, but wanted to show you Friday's outfit before I go. Both the 1980s style pleated skirt (by Jacqueline de Yong, a sub-division of the Danish Only label) and the petrol coloured top (by Essentiel Antwerp) were charity shopped on the same day in July. A match made in heaven, don't you agree? 

I was also wearing an umbrella brooch to try and ward off any rain coming our way. Did I succeed? You'll read all about it in my upcoming travelogue!

August, continued

In spite of my best intentions, it turns out that I seriously failed in wrapping up the month of August before we're off on our September holiday. Life, and in particular, work, has got a bit in the way this week, so that you'll have to do with just the one post instead of the two I kind of promised you. 

It'll be mainly outfits you'll get to see too, which I'm quite sure you won't mind. After all, back in the mist of time - about eight and a half years ago, to be exactly - this blog was started as a vintage and second-hand clothing inspired one!

There will be no less than eight outfits in this post, so do sit back, grab a drink and perhaps a little snack, and enjoy the ride.

We were blessed with some gorgeously sunny days and highs of 25°C in the first week of August, with the exception of Tuesday when the weather gods cranked up the heating to a sweltering 30°C.

I managed to stay relatively cool courtesy of a wildflower meadow and plenty of ice cream.

In a crisp floral cotton adorned with two fuchsia pink crocheted lace strips at the hem, the maxi skirt - a cheeky C&A buy in May 2022, is exactly the right length for me and an absolute joy to wear. It was joined by the green ice cream cone patterned Only t-shirt I charity shopped earlier this year.

A wide fuchsia pink suede belt (last year's Summer sale bargain) and charity shopped necklace and straw flower brooch completed my outfit.

Almost as certain as night follows day, a thunderstorm often follows in the wake of a hot Summer's day.

The rain continued into Wednesday morning before the sun did away with the clouds and warmed things up again to around 24°C.

The dress I was wearing that day is a bit of an oddity. In fact, it is more like a glorified apron than a dress, but just look at those details. I fell in love with its printed cotton fabric edged with red piping and that's before I noticed that it's got real pockets! 

However, its fabric was quite stiff, as it was probably starched within an inch of its life, so that wearing it felt like wearing a dress made of sandpaper. Nothing a spin in the washing machine couldn't rectify though!

Its accessories were mostly of the red variety to tie in with the red piping, although I did add a splash of blue by way of the vintage swallow brooch I found on that flea market in Middelburg at the end of July.

My red and cream slingback shoes had many admirers. They have been in my wardrobe for many years and although I know they were bought in the Summer sales, I actually don't remember where or when, which makes me think that it was pre-blog.

Friday was the start of another one of my three-day weekends, which have been nothing short of a blessing. Whenever I close the office door behind me of a Thursday evening, I'm glad that I finally took the plunge to apply for a so-called landing job, which enables employees to work only 4 days a week from age 60 onwards until they retire, with an additional bonus from the government for the 5th day.

Anyway, back to Friday the 9th of August, when I wore this skirt, which could very well end up being my most worn this Summer. Picked up from the Green Ice outlet shop near my office back in February, it accompanied me to Shropshire where I wore it twice, and it has now been added to next week's travelling wardrobe as well.

I found the brooch at the April edition of the indoor flea market, the necklace was a charity shop find, and the stretchy belt, one of the latest additions to my collection, came from a high street shop's closing down sale.

As our neighbour had received another delivery of building materials and we were expecting yet another round of neighbourly noise over the weekend, we plotted our escape.

Creatures of habit that we are, Saturday saw us driving over the border to Middelburg again. This time, though, we took a picnic as our plans involved going for a walk along the town's former defence bastions known as the bolwerken. But not before sampling a glass of that delicious non-alcoholic Trappist beer on the terrace of our favourite café!

It was while we are sitting there that Jos lamented the fact that he'd omitted to bring his jacket, which was still in the car. 

Rather than making another round trip to pick it up, we went to have a look in the gentlemen's outlet shop across the street, where we were overjoyed to find a fabulous blue, white striped linen-blend jacket from a high end label at a steeply reduced price. Happens to be that, after the demise of his charity shopped linen-blend H&M jacket we had been looking for something similar for absolutely ages!

Armed with the jacket as well as our picnic, we made our way towards the bolwerken, now filled with greenery and an oasis of calm and forming a green star around the town.

These elevated fortifications date from the 16th century and at the time provide a good view over the city in times of trouble. Around 1845, they were converted into a city park in English landscape style. With a total distance of 4 kilometres, it is one of the longest parks in the Netherlands. 

En route, we passed the Seismolen, a corn mill dating from 1728, which was actually working at the time of our visit, possibly in honour of the food truck festival which taking place nearby.

The path also skirted a Jewish cemetery, with a Jugendstil cleansing house dating from 1900. 

We left the bolwerken before reaching the end, preferring to make our way into the town centre via the Koepoort (Cow Gate) dating from 1735, the only surviving one of Middelburg's original eight town gates.

Before ending up at our favourite tearoom for cappuccinos and cakes, we briefly visited the Oostkerk

(East Church). Built in 1648, it is a prime example of Protestant Baroque architecture. The church has a distinctive octagonal shape and a domed tower. Nowadays, it is used for concerts, lectures and exhibitions.

After Saturday's intermezzo, it's back to more outfits. 

Sunday's was a viscose floral maxi skirt and striped frilly-sleeved top combo, both of which were supplied by the charity shops. The top is by high end label Essentiel Antwerp.

With its highs of 35°C, Monday was the hottest day of the year. As only the flimsiest of layers would do, I grabbed the recently charity shopped lightweight cotton Grace & Mila frock from its hanger. The necessary ventilation was provided by its floaty butterfly sleeves while supplying some coverage from the sun while on my way home.

It was still hot on Tuesday, although at 32°C slightly less so than on Monday. By the end of the day, I was feeling quite nauseous and the all-day aircon at the office had left both of my eyes dry and irritated, which no amount of lubricating eye drops was able to soothe. Consequently I wasn't in the mood for outfit photos and I actually haven't got the faintest idea what I was wearing that day.

Courtesy of an overnight thunderstorm it had cooled down to a more bearable 27°C on Wednesday, although I was still not feeling my best. 

I escaped the airconditioned office during lunch break for the usual mid-week cappuccinos with Inez at Think Twice's coffee corner.  Apparently, they'd repainted some of the walls in a moody charcoal grey, which I quite liked, but Inez didn't. The comfy chairs beneath the Billie Holiday lookalike with her vinyl hairdo is where we usually sit.

We had a whirlwind look at the rails and then walked to one of their other shops, which is virtually around the corner. Here I pounced upon a King Louie blouse, which you'll get to see in a minute.

The dress with its squiggly green stripes and solid white collar and cuffs was a Think Twice find in July 2023 and for once I didn't replace the self-fabric belt it came with. 

I'm a big lover of pink and green so the beaded necklace and plastic ring were no-brainers. As was the flower-embroidered brooch (this one) which I found in a Shrewsbury antiques centre in June 2019.

If you are wondering what Bess is looking at, this is where her food bowls usually are. We briefly removed them for the photos, which got her all confused.

Picking up the photo-bombing minx so that Jos could take a photo of the two of us wasn't much to madam's liking ...

Now you see us ...

... now you don't!

I absolutely love our new outfit photo spot in front of our vintage kitchen cupboard and I wonder why we didn't think of this before.

My final outfit dates from Thursday the 15th of August, which is a public holiday in Belgium, meaning that I had an extra day off.

Blue and green is another favourite combo of mine. Both colours come together in the King Louie pussy-bow blouse I found at Think Twice on Wednesday. The cotton Paisley print skirt was charity shopped last year, while the belt was a retail buy between Lockdowns in 2020. Can't get my head around the fact that this was four years ago already!

And now, if you'll excuse me, I've got packing to finish. The eternal dilemma on what to take!

Take care, and I'll see you on the other side!

August, finally

The title of this post might be a little confusing as of course, in reality, the month of August is almost drawing to its close. My blog always running behind the times, however, I am just about ready to put July to rest and take my first steps into August.

It's almost mind-boggling how time flies, whether you're having fun or not, but for some reason it feels as if it accelerates even more in the Summer months. And particularly so when the temperatures soar and one languid day seamlessly segues into the next.

July's final days saw the temperatures soar into the high 20s and peaking at 32°C on Tuesday.

Thankfully, I've got a selection of heat-proof frocks to tide me over, starting with the 1950s navy blue, red and white cap-sleeved cotton frock I wore on Monday the 29th. Looking back at my blog, I always seem to wear the same red vinyl belt with it and it's not the first time I pinned the vintage celluloid Scottie dog brooch to the dress's square neckline either. Unfortunately, it's not very visible in the quick outfit photo we snapped with my phone, but it's the same one I'm wearing here.

Tuesday's outfit was built around one of my all-time favourite hot weather cotton frocks. Just like Monday's it was found at Think Twice and has featured on the blog many a time over the years. 

I tend to accessorize it either with bright pink or orange, opting for the latter this time around by adding a charity shopped orange leather belt, a beaded necklace picked up in an antiques centre during one of our UK holidays and a cat brooch from Katty's delightful Katshop.

For Wednesday's warm and humid day, on which the mercury nevertheless took a tiny dive to 27°C, I wore a burnt orange tiered skirt patterned with off-white foliage. It was bought brand new in the C&A Summer sales back in 2022. Its crispy 100% cotton fabric couldn't have been more perfect to combat the heatwave temperatures, particularly when one has to commute on a tram with free yet unsolicited sauna facilities.

My belt and necklace came from the high street as well, and I see that I'm wearing yet another one of Katty's cat brooches pinned to my floral top, which is King Louie by way of the charity shops.

Back to vintage cottons on Thursday the 1st of August when I wore this Madras check dress trimmed with red at the collar, cuffs and (real) pockets. Adding more red with my accessories would have been far too easy, so I opted for a baby blue beaded necklace, a straw-coloured vintage hat brooch and a tan leather belt trimmed with a strip of crochet lace.

A thunderstorm followed by rain in the morning had managed to cool things down to around 24°C and was also the reason why I skipped the sandals that day.

My final office day of the week was made even better by meeting up with Inez at Think Twice's coffee corner, followed by a quick tour of the rails during which I fell head over heels with the skirt. Don't worry, you'll get to see it in a minute.

The sun had come out of hiding again by Thursday evening, so that we were able to watch the sunset cast a golden glow over the Art Deco lady living on our bedroom's mantelpiece.

We woke up to a slightly foggy morning on Friday, and although it took the sun a while to do away with the clouds, she eventually managed to break through and heat things up to around 26°C.

I was wearing the skirt I'd found at Think Twice the previous day, which found its perfect partner in a red and blue chevron t-shirt by the Belgian Who's That Girl label which I charity shopped ages ago. This, however, was its first wear. And also its last, alas, as by the end of the day the latex printed red chevrons had rubbed off onto the stretchy belt I was wearing, all but ruining it in the process, while one of the blue chevrons was scratched. Not wanting someone else to have the same experience, I refrained from putting it into the donations bag so I'm afraid it went straight into the bin!

Such a pity, though, as surely it was a match made in heaven!

As we needed a cheap and lightweight floor reading lamp to take with us to our September holiday cottage, we drove to IKEA after lunch. But although we did find what we were looking for, it was such a pain getting hold of the damn thing that I don't think we'll be visiting the Swedish superstore again anytime soon. Say no more!

Saturday turned out to be mostly cloudy but warm, at around 25°C.

I was half heartedly doing some housework while Jos was running an errand, when my eyes alighted on the cabinet which lives in the hallway and houses our vintage camera collection, and more to the point, to the layer of dust which had managed to settle upon its glass shelves.

The rest of the morning was spent cleaning the cabinet from top to bottom and giving its contents a good dusting.

The folding cameras on the top shelf are the oldest in our collection, dating from the 1910s to 1920s. In fact, it was one of these, found in an antiques shop in Bradford-on-Avon in 1996, which kick-started our collection.

The couple in the photograph are my maternal grandparents taken on their wedding day in 1934. When we were clearing the parental home, we came across the glass slide of that very same photograph - leaning against the camera second from left - which was meant for projection by magic lantern. 

Although I've forgotten the origin of most of our collection, I do remember that of one of the stars of our collection: a boxed Kodak Brownie Starlet camera, complete with flash unit and flashbulbs, dating from the late 1950s. Would you believe that Jos found it in the waste disposal area in the communal basement of the block of flats we used to live in before we moved to Dove Cottage?

The Brownie "Holiday Flash" camera, produced between 1953 and 1962, was a flea market find in January 2020, while we picked up the "Baby Brownie" from the same market two years earlier.

As a reward for all that cleaning, we were off to the charity shops in the afternoon. But not before showing you what I was wearing.

My navy blue dress with its exotic orange and white flower pattern was yet another old Think Twice find. 

Tan and burnt orange were used for my accessories, which consisted of a necklace and faux-bamboo buckle belt which were sales bargains from high street shop Veritas, and a glass ring and brooch found on various flea markets.

As for that afternoon's rummage, these two dresses came home with me. The chevron-striped one with its deep back and front V-neckline is by Who's That Girl, while the floral lightweight cotton maxi with its butterfly sleeves is from a French label called Grace & Mila. The latter would prove to be its weight in gold on the hottest day of the year a week or so later.

Hot it definitely wasn't on Sunday and nor did we see any blue skies or sunshine, as another mind-numbingly cloudy day was our lot. Nevertheless, with the thermometer insisting it was 23°C, it would have been downright silly to stay indoors, even if we had to force ourselves to go out.

The park in nearby Boom is just the ticket for a head-clearing walk, having the added advantage of not being too far from home.

Walking along the brook which eventually widens into a couple of pools, we were originally stumped by the distinct lack of waterfowl.

But then all of a sudden these youngsters appeared out of the undergrowth and started following us around. They clearly weren't afraid of humans and I bet they would have eaten out of our hands if we'd had any tasty bites to offer them!

My final outfit of the week was a vintage peasant-style C&A dress I found at Think Twice just a couple of days before our Shropshire holiday. I'd originally earmarked it for my holiday wardrobe but decided against it in the end. Whatever the case, it was an absolute joy to wear, so perhaps it'll accompany me to Belgium's west country in just over a week ...

Having finally thrown the youngsters off our scent, we made our way back to our car. The heron who was patiently awaiting his next meal wasn't that keen on humans, though, as he took flight as soon as he noticed he'd been spotted.

I'll be back with at least one round-up of August outfits and outings before we're off. Hope to see you soon!