The cat's whiskers

Unbelievably, by the time you are reading this, the anniversary of Belgium first going into lockdown has come and gone. And not all that much has changed, really, as the pandemic is still very much with us. After the euphoria of coming out of Lockdown I in the early Summer, when for a moment it looked as if the end was in sight, and rules were being relaxed left, right and centre, things soon started to go pear-shaped again. It's been an uphill struggle ever since and, with infection numbers going up and down like a yo-yo, new variants popping up all over the place, and Belgium's vaccination strategy a painfully and shamefully slow process, it's no wonder that people are starting to lose heart and are quite literally at the end of their tethers.

For a couple of weeks now, I've reverted to my old la-la-la approach, giving the news a wide berth, and trying to concentrate on the positives, however trivial they might be.

Clothes for instance! When life continues to give you lemons, and you've had quite enough of lemonade, there's always that.

It was the last day of February, a sunny Sunday graced with balmy temperatures of up to 12°C. 

In spite of the weather, my back, shoulders and arms, stiff and achy from Saturday's rigorous pruning session, told me I wouldn't do much gardening that day.

Instead, I spent a happy half an hour or so in front of my wardrobe before deciding on this psychedelically patterned vintage dress with its glorious ochre, orange, lilac, purple, turquoise and burgundy colour scheme. I've got a gripe with it, though, as its collar refuses to stay put. Still, I can live with that, so it's not going anywhere anytime soon.

Taking advantage of its multiple colour options, I accessorized the dress with a lilac vinyl belt, purple beaded necklace and a gold-tone brooch featuring two rows of tiny turquoise beads.

Burgundy was represented by my charity shopped King Louie cardigan and the Fly London boots with their turquoise trim. I chose a pair of bright orange opaques to shake things up.

I know I said I wasn't going to do any gardening, but I did plant up the basket hanging from our awning, replacing the withered ornamental cabbage and cyclamen it contained with plum coloured pansies and red pompom daisies. They are joining the surviving yellow pansy, which at that moment wasn't in flower but has made up for that since.

The rest of that Sunday was spent on the couch, resting my weary limbs and devouring my latest read, Christina Baker Kline's 2017 novel, A Piece of the World.  Although a work of fiction, this atmospheric novel is inspired by Andrew Wyeth’s mysterious and iconic painting Christina’s World and is based on the life of the painting's subject, Christina Olson (1883-1968). 

That evening, while I was catching up with blogland upstairs, Jos came up and showed me the details of a cat for adoption at the animal shelter where his daughter had adopted her beloved cat Spookje from. The cat's name was Bees (colloquial for a berry or a sweet), born in 2019, and in need of a calm environment without children or other animals. Although the accompanying photo (which you'll see later in this post) only showed her head, we decided to take the plunge and texted the shelter's manager, Maria, as required.

After having been on tenterhooks all through Monday, waiting for Maria's call, we finally heard back from her in the early evening. An appointment was duly made to go and meet Bees on Thursday.

As I had to work on Wednesday, this only left us Tuesday to go shopping for cat equipment, as we wanted her to have her own things instead of Phoebe's hand-me-downs. We sneaked into the garden centre's pet department together and bought a scratching post, a snuggly cat bed, a litter box, a ceramic food dish and a starter pack of dry food.

I'm sure that you've already been ogling my dotty Diolen frock in the meantime! I dare anyone to stay down in the dumps for long wearing this navy delight liberally sprinkled with pink, green, yellow and white spots! I can actually vow for the fact that it is virtually impossible!

With its empire line, it did not need a belt, but I added a green cardigan on top, pinned with a white felted flower corsage, and wore my wooden beaded necklace which has all the colours of the spots. Mustard-y opaques and my charity shopped blue Western style boots completed my outfit.

Wednesday was another hectic and stressful office day, which made my boss and I decide it was time for an extra day a week, starting that Friday. This was unavoidable, although far from ideal, as it would mean I had to go into the office the day after our new fur baby had taken residence.

Thursday was C-Day, and as we hadn't slept very well for the last couple of nights, doubts had been creeping up on us. Were we making the right decision in taking on what was clearly a traumatized cat? And were we ready for another cat in our lives in the first place? On top of it all, after a string of dry sunny days, it was now raining quite heavily, and we had a 40 minute drive ahead of us. But as you all know by now, we did go ahead as planned and brought her home. 

As for her name, we initially had a totally different one in mind. On the way home, however, while I was sitting next to her in her carrier in the backseat, trying to put her at ease as the poor thing was literally shaking with fear, we decided that it didn't suit her, and came up with the name Bess (as it was close to Bees, which is pronounced base) almost instantly.

On the top left is the photo from the shelter's Facebook page. The one on the bottom right was taken after we got her home and she had taken refuge at the back of her litter box. The white stuff you can see in the foreground isn't a fleecy blanket, but cat litter! She ended up in there after she'd accidentally knocked over a couple of empty bottles when she tried to hide behind our bin, after which she fled behind a chest of drawers and had to be detangled from the cables and wires which live there.

Fast forward two weeks, and while she is still a bit wary of us, slinking back under the dining table whenever we come too near, her eyes are no longer looking as sad and fearful as they did at first. She's inquisitive, playful and has a healthy appetite. She's taking steps into the right direction on a daily basis. At the time of writing, we're alright on the napping and playing front, but still need to work on meowing and stroking. She might as well be mute, as so far she hasn't uttered a single sound.

We were too preoccupied for outfit photos that day, and although I re-wore my outfit in its entirety on Friday, it being an office day meant we had no opportunity for photos either.

After Thursday's one-off rainy day, the sun had reappeared on Friday, and remained with us on Saturday, when we decided to give Bess some peace and quiet by going for a walk in the park.

Although the temperature was barely above freezing point, it was such a gorgeous day, and we certainly weren't the only walkers taking advantage of it. Geese were throwing hissy fits while a congregation of inland seagulls had gathered on the shores of the pond.

There were hosts of golden Daffodils aplenty and patches of March Violets (Viola odorata) to delight us. 

As I'd foolishly packed my warmest coats away, I was wearing the vintage plaid swing coat I charity shopped several years ago, combined with a red and purple knit scarf and my purple mohair beret.

To combat the inevitable muddy patches, my chocolate brown boots came out to play once more.

In spite of the low temperatures, the sun's warmth was benevolent enough to divest myself of my coat to show you the dress I was wearing underneath.

In a rusty red textured polyester (you can see its circle pattern in the close-ups), it is one of the dresses I was stumped to find in the flea market boxes. It was promptly rescued so that it could shine another day. And shine it certainly did.

On top, I was wearing a fluffy sage green cardigan to combat any lingering chills.

We strolled for well over an hour, delighting in the abundant signs of Spring we met along the way and, as usual, ended up at the picturesque castle ruins, where its current owner sat honking loudly to deter any likely trespassers.

Before going back home and probably scare the living daylights out of Bess, we made detailed outfit photos against the white painted brick wall of our garage building.

My hair is looking quite flat here. Gone is the volume Michel created so expertly!

Don't you just love that dress's notched collar? 

I picked several shades of green for my accessories, including the scallop edged gold-tone brooch with its emerald green stone, and my favourite mossy green suede belt.

My millefiori glass ring contains a primary coloured symphony of green, red, yellow and blue.

Finally, here's a closer looks at my necklace, which is a curious arrangement of plain green and black and white glass beads joined by felted circles in the same shades.

On the right, a close-up of my grey opaques sprinkled with rose buds.

So, that is all I've got time for today. I've got a cat waiting to play games with. She is currently quite fascinated by a plastic wind-up mouse so that's my entertainment sorted for tonight. 

See you next time, my friends. As always, do stay safe, sane and sensational!