I'm never gonna stop the rain by complaining

Last week wasn't the best of weeks for me. I was feeling tired and headachy and a little bit under the weather, which I've been putting down to Winter dragging on so. Seriously, how much longer is the weather going to be this miserable? I'm in desperate need of some sunshine, and I have a feeling I'm not the only one!

It all culminated in me developing the mother of all cold sores, so that I not only felt, but looked a fright, which obviously didn't do much to improve my frame of mind!

Oh, listen to me going on!

Well, if Spring refuses to do her job, then I will do it for her.

Saturday, I wore this flower-sprinkled black Crimplene dress to a housewarming party at Jos's daughter's.

I didn't want to intrude on her privacy and take photographs, but we did take a couple of outfit photos in our garden before we left, and while it was still dry.

Jos was under strict instructions not to make any close-ups of my poor face!

At first, Sunday promised to be a much better day as we woke up to blue skies for once. If we hadn't had a flea market to go to, we might have gone for that long overdue walk.

Look at the sun streaming in through the skylight in our garage!

There was a radio playing a half-forgotten song in the background, prompting me to do a little dance.











Below is a close-up of the brooch I pinned to my jacket. I bought it at a reduced price from the brooch lady a couple of months ago, as the glue had disintegrated and it was falling apart. Nothing Mr. S. couldn't mend, though ...

The Diolen dress was bought from a consignment store back in January, and this was actually its first outing.
Although it's got a self-fabric belt, I opted for a plain green one to break up the pattern. There's also a separate necktie in the same fabric, but I felt that would have been too much of a good thing.

The weather didn't last but I'm happy to report the flea market was a success.

Upon entering, we usually know if it's going to be a good one almost instantly, especially when, after only a couple of minutes, we have made our first purchase.

We got talking to a nice couple who had a fabulous stall selling the most alluring of things, but although I had both my compact camera and my phone with me, I didn't take any photographs.

I was far too busy browsing!

I was quite taken with this splendid hat which turned out to be my size and all.

















From the same stall we bought this weathered enamel sign advertising Andrews Liver Salt, which has meanwhile found a space on our bathroom wall.

But that wasn't all we returned home with! Here's our loot, displayed on our kitchen table. The coffee machine, one of our nods to modern age, not included, obviously.

The eagle-eyed among you have probably spotted a couple of brooches!

Top row: souvenir brooch from Zoute (actually Het Zoute), part of posh Belgian seaside resort Knokke, a pair of miniature wooden clogs, plastic wood-look Gentian flower.
Middle row: cluster of little yellow beads, black elephant with rhinestone encrusted back cover, small mother of pearl fish souvenir brooch from Ostend.
Bottom row: locket type brooch containing an embroidered flower, large enamel flower brooch, miniature framed landscape.

I paid between € 1 and € 5 for the majority. The most expensive, which I got reduced from € 10 to € 8, was the swallow brooch. The French speaking seller asked me for the Flemish translation of the delightful French word for swallow, hirondelle. In case you are interested, it is zwaluw, which clearly has the same origins as the English word!

I also picked up several cards of vintage buttons for € 1 per card, which will join my ever-growing stash (one could call it a collection in itself) of vintage buttons.

This ceramic girl's head on a wooden plaque caught my eye as well. Someone had pencilled the word slaapkamer (bedroom) on the back, so I suspect it once, back in the early 1960s perhaps, graced the wall of a young girl's bedroom, next to a photo of her favourite pop group or singer!

I have one more purchase to show you, and this might well be my favourite.

I couldn't believe that these two small brass Art Nouveau photo frames were only € 5 each. One is sadly missing its glass, but that can easily be replaced.

Look how exquisitely decorated they are!

I was amazed to see that the lady in the left one, who has her back turned to us, even has a little face on the side which is hidden from view. How sweet is that?

It's the frame with the missing glass, so her face would probably be reflected in the glass if it were there. It wasn't easy to take a photograph and I actually had to shine a torch on it in order to do so.

The frames did not remain empty for long and with a glut of old family photographs to choose from, I selected one of Great Aunt Josephine (of leopard coat fame) and her husband and one of my maternal grandparents.

Which one is your favourite?