Second hand news

With the weather going up and down like a yo-yo, the temperature often fluctuating wildly within a single day, deciding what to wear in the morning can be a hard nut to crack.

Take last Saturday, which started out grey and miserable and with a definite chill in the air.

We had a long weekend to look forward to, with Monday off as well with, as I already hinted at in my previous post, not one but two flea markets chalked in.

First up is Saturday's which, in view of the unstable weather, fortunately was an inside event.

Your eyes might be deceiving you in thinking it's a dress I'm wearing, but it's a skirt and blouse combo, which turned out to be a match made in heaven.

The skirt is modern, bought in the sales a couple of years ago, and I have it in navy blue as well.

The blouse, on the other hand, is one of my Diolen delights, picked up at Think Twice. With its simple green and blue floral print and white collar and button placket, it was love at first sight. 

Looking at it more closely when I got it home, I'm thinking that it probably started life as a dress, which I imagine to have been a short A-line mod dress. How cute that would have been!

The temperature dictated that I wore a cardigan on top, its colour picking up the bits of blue in the blouse's print.

I thought it looked a bit bland so I added a contrasting colour by using an orange belt. Further accents of orange can be found in my ring and the brooch I'm wearing on the blouse's collar, which has an embroidered orange flower at its heart.

The chunky wood and plastic necklace came from Accessorize, when they still had a shop here in Antwerp.  I've had it for absolutely ages. 

A final colour pop is provided by the tapestry handbag, its design featuring two huge roses. 

There were less stalls than usual at the flea market, as is often the case this time of year. It did look fully occupied at first sight, but there were huge gaps between the rows of stalls. This was due to the presence of a television crew, who were using the venue for Belgium's watered down version of The Antiques Road Show.

We ignored proceedings and the people queuing up to have their items valued, and browsed as usual, pausing for lunch and coffee mid-way. 

And then there was this scary green-eyed doll, which had my friend Inez and me in fits of laughter. 

But have no fear, we did not buy her!

We did buy other things, though! Don't they make a pretty little tableau on our garden table? 

Of course, by then it was late afternoon and the sun had decided to come out and play after all.

Now let's zoom in and see some details!

As you are probably wondering what the yellow and blue cylinder shaped object is, I am starting with that.

Well, I'll keep you no longer in suspense: it's an unopened can of scouring powder, a predecessor of the more famous VIM, if you like. On the side it mentions "Verkocht zonder Zegels", meaning that it was being sold without coupons. This dates it firmly to the Second World War or immediately after.

It definitely predates 1946, as it has still got the pre-1946 Flemish spelling.

The next item is a wall hanging letter rack, in the same style and colours as the newspaper rack we already own, bought at the same flea market earlier this year.

I couldn't resist bringing home these two sewing baskets, which will come in handy for storage. 

Tania, a seller who follows my blog, brought the small round blue and white one with its cute butterfly closure especially for me. Thank you, darling!

Displayed on top of the largest basket are some of the smaller pieces we found, including two cheap flower corsages and a transparent yellow plastic ring.

But these are the real stars, of course, all but the German souvenir brooch featuring Little Red Riding Hood and the wolf, bought from the same stall.

Both the blue and gold Bambi and the swan pendant brooch can be spotted in the display pictured on the top right of the flea market collage.

I almost walked away from the Murano glass necklace as it didn't come cheap, but Jos insisted on buying it for me!

Now, I cannot possibly sign off without showing you some of the other things which have recently relocated to Dove Cottage.

They were gifts from our lovely friend Inez, who is in the process of refurbishing her apartment.  Isn't she an absolute angel for thinking of us?

This vintage wooden mantle clock, by renowned German clockmaker Junghans, is in perfect working order, and charmingly chimes the half-hours and hours.

These magazines dating from the 1950s are just the top of the iceberg, as Inez gave me a whole bag full of them, including a volume dating from 1937-38.

I can envisage many an hour spent looking at the fashions of the day and the at times very entertaining advertisements!

I'm still thinking of how best to display these delightful Bakelite chocolate moulds, but they're a wonderful addition to our collection of kitchenalia.

After a thorough clean, this 1930s coffee grinder is now gracing our kitchen wall, replacing a smaller one which we will be selling on at our local flea market in July.

This too is in perfect working order and is destined to earn its keep as coffee is made in the proper way here in Dove Cottage, starting with the grinding of coffee beans.

That's all I have time and space for for now, but I will be telling you all about Sunday's flea market in my next post!