Tales from December's twilight days

When I waved goodbye to the office on Friday before last, I was looking forward to eleven days of freedom, which seemed like an eternity at the time.

All too soon, though, the Christmas break was over: I've been back treading the hamster wheel of daily life for two days by the time you're reading this.

But I was able to refresh my batteries, as they say, although it would have taken at least twice as long to get them fully charged.

So, what did I do with all the time I had on my hands? In terms of actual achievements, not all that much, but I did get to the bottom of my mending basket (well, almost: there's still one Summer dress waiting for new buttons).

It might be stating the obvious, but we did some charity shopping.

These photos were taken on the very first day of my break, which was the Saturday before Christmas.

The skirt I was wearing is part of a St. Michaels suit, in a rust coloured marled polyester fabric, which I'd recently found at Think Twice.

But although it's looking quite nice on Angelica, it didn't feel right on me.

Instead, I wore the skirt with a psychedelic vintage top, tight fitting and closing with a back zipper, and cinched in with a powder blue belt. For warmth, I threw on my "faux sheep" gilet.

For our shopping trip, I replaced the gilet with a powder blue and cream wool jacket, accompanied by a multicoloured knit scarf and a dusky pink mohair Kangol beret.

The gods of the charity shops were with us that day, as there were two pairs of boots and a pair of booties waiting for me!

I even managed to find a vintage dress, which is quite a rarity at the chazzas these days. It's a Summer dress, so I let Angelica do the honours, while Phoebe was keeping a watchful eye.

These scarves are both from the same shop, but couldn't be more different: a silk Paris souvenir scarf, depicting Parisian landmarks as well as elegant Parisiennes, and a blue and white woollen scarf, which looks brand new. They were a steal at just € 0,30 each.

I'm skipping Christmas, as you already know what we were up to.

Weather permitting, we went for a couple of walks. The trouble is, weather didn't permit all that often, but on Boxing Day it was obliging enough for us to for a good long walk in one of our favourite parks.

This, however, you will be able to read about in my next post.

On Wednesday, I had to go into Antwerp as I'd made an appointment with my hairdresser for a colour and cut. Jos went along and we made a day of it, although I wasn't really up to facing the crowds yet.

Before lunch, we popped into a recently opened shop selling vintage clothing per kilo, where I bought this fabulous Austrian made tapestry handbag.

It was only when I got it home that I discovered the tasseled comb in its cute little case lurking at bottom, together with the bag's quality label. What a lovely surprise!

It was Thursday by now  - how time flies! - and we decided upon another round of charity shopping.

This turned out not be be very fruitful, but I still ended up buying several necklaces, a gorgeous new-to-me orange cardigan and a bag full of vintage darning wool.

The green furry scarf with the big pom pom was found at the supermarket, of all places!

We ended the day, which turned out to be reasonably sunny, by visiting the atmospheric castle ruins in nearby Duffel, which were the subject of my last post of the year.

Here's a closer look at what I was wearing that day: a vintage dress in a heavy polyester, its abstract print a riot of colour, combined with a blue cardigan and the blue boots I found on Saturday, and accessorized with orange plastic beads.

My outerwear consisted of my brown fur-collared jacket, to which I pinned what I call my "octopus" brooch, although the thing's got ten arms and not eight! I also wore a burgundy crushed velvet scarf, a purple beret and red leather gloves, and I was carrying a blue handbag.

Back at home, Phoebe made the most of the dry weather by playing hide and seek in our garden and clambering on top of our weathered stone angel.

There's not much to see out there except for the skeletons of Summer's blooms, the brown remains of our rampant ferns, and our Hydrangea's papery flower heads. But look, one of two Fuchsia bells have decided that their season is not quite over yet!

It's been grey and miserable for most of the month and with hindsight December seems like one long rainy twilight zone.

It was one of Mim's comments that reminded me of the existence of my light box, which I hadn't needed in years, and which I'd completely forgotten about.

So, we promptly dug it out of the cupboard, blew off the accumulated dust, and I sat myself in front of it while reading. Thank you, Mim!

Defying the greyness of the weather can also be done by wearing bright colours, which is what I did in abundance on the last Saturday of the year!

Then, New Year's Eve was upon us. I'd picked out the dress I was going to wear well in advance and obviously it was going to be a maxi. A bright blue vintage cardie, blue opaques and black suede booties closing with a front buckle completed my outfit. I also wore a Lucite statement necklace.

We celebrated with friends, each supplying one of the courses for our New Year's Eve supper.

I made paprika (bell pepper) soup, and brought some savoury appetizers in my 1960's Tupperware hostess tray.

1960s Tupperware ads featuring the tray!

The main was Orloff Roast with potato croquettes and salad, and we closed with Panna Cotta topped with raspberry coulis.

We were joined by Nessie, our friends' beautiful cat, who managed to steal a cheese cube from my tray ...

After supper, we played a game of Trivial Pursuit, which was won by the girls, although according to the boys we got off lightly as we got all the easy questions ...

Here's to friendship and lots of shared fun in 2018!

The winning team!