The air that we breathe

I'm back, so no scheduled posting this time!  In fact, I've been back since Thursday as we were only away for three nights. But while I'm dying to tell you all about it and my fingers are itching to start writing travelogues, they will have to be put on the back burner for now while I finish posting about the week prior to our little getaway.

Not wishing to keep you in suspense any longer, though, I can already divulge that we had the most wonderful and relaxing time and that the weather gods were on their best behaviour. And after being a bit wary for all of five minutes, Bess was clearly over the moon to have us back at home and has been overdosing on cuddling and purring ever since! 

But that was all still in the future on Friday the 23rd of July. 

If my week off work has raced by at an alarming rate, time seemed to have lingered somewhat longer than usual in the weeks preceding it. This was in no way helped by having to go into the office on Friday as my colleague was on vacation.

As a consolation price, however,  I was able to take the afternoon off as work was a bit slow. So slow, in fact, that I played hooky and nipped out to the shops to buy a birthday present for my friend Inneke during office hours. Naughty, naughty! 

It was a gorgeously sunny day, the temperature reaching the dizzy heights of 25°C, which my vintage cotton Madras check dress was more than able to cope with. 

Due to its red buttons and collar, not to mention its red trimmed pockets, red would be the obvious accessorizing choice. Feeling quite contrary, I decided to go against the grain and picked green for my necklace, squirrel brooch and recently charity shopped 1960s shoes. My armful of bracelets included a green one too, the others being red and blue to tie in with the colours of my dress.

If the oatmeal woven belt looks familiar, it's because I find myself reaching for it quite often lately.

I spent the afternoon doing some long overdue ironing - as one does on a warm Summer's day. To my defense, I wanted to iron the pleated dress I'd bought from Think Twice the other day and then literally struck the iron while it was hot!

The rest of the afternoon was spent pottering around home and garden. 

The lush little corner in the above photo is at the end of the passageway leading next to our kitchen. Minus the jumble of empty terracotta pots, it's part of the view that greets us from our kitchen window. In the top right corner you can see the encroaching tendrils of the ivy we're waging a constant battle with, while the ferns you can spy mid-picture have made themselves at home in the biggest of the pots without any interference from our side whatsoever. Quite the little jungle!

Somewhat unintentionally, pinks and purples seem to be popping up everywhere in our little plot. 

The two-tone Lupine 'My Castle', which we planted back in April, simply refuses to give up, surprising us with the odd new flower spike again and again. And while I'm pretty sure we didn't have a single Foxglove in our garden last year, there is now an unplanned abundance of them, ranging from creamy white to various shades of pink.

Initially cloudy and overcast, we were treated to sunny spells from mid-afternoon onwards on Saturday, with the temperature sliding down to about 22°C. 

We were up early, as we'd been woken by an alarm going off next door, after which we couldn't get back to sleep. As we expected visitors in the afternoon, we mended our slovenly ways by whisking around with a cleaning cloth in the bathroom and kitchen after breakfast.

I dithered in front of my wardrobe, after a lot of umming and aahing deciding on this delicious maxi skirt I hadn't worn in absolutely ages. Wearing the orange and red Spanish made sandals I picked up in a charity shop in June assured that I didn't trip over its hem while I swooshed around in it.

Same as the skirt, the green lacy knit top I combined it with came from Think Twice. The wood veneer pendant was charity shopped, while the celluloid twin flower brooch was a flea market find. The stretchy belt with its hexagonal faux tortoiseshell buckle was a retail buy, picked up from a well known haberdashery shop during one of my rare lunch break outings back in May.

While we were waiting for our guests to arrive, I snapped some pictures in the garden. On the top right  magenta and yellow provided by Verbascum and Phlox make for an unusual colour combo. And look at that promising second flush of flower spikes in our Delphinium (bottom left). So happy I made the effort of cutting back the spent spikes after the initial flush of the second half of May!

Then our friends Inneke and Maurice arrived and my intention of making photographed vanished into thin air as we chatted away over coffee and cake. After all, we hadn't seen each other since we met for a socially distanced walk in January! Although that isn't strictly true, as Maurice and Jos have been meeting up for coffee on Wednesday ever since cafés were allowed to re-open their indoor spaces back in June!

After briefly showing her face at the top of the stairs, Bess hid away under our bed until they were gone. Little did she know that Maurice would be coming to feed her while we were away!

Inneke had been clearing out her wardrobe and had brought some things she thought I might like. Or perhaps that should be, might like back, as three of them originally graced my wardrobe many years ago. Now that she's ditched the hair colouring and sports a sassy short grey hairstyle, she found they didn't suit her any longer.

The funky knee-length Crimplene number is one of these, and it has made a return to my wardrobe until I've decided whether it's a keeper or not. The maxi dress is one of Inneke's and, with its Autumnal colour palette, fits me to perfection. 

The shirt with its ditsy print on left is another one which is still awaiting its fate, while the blouse on the left started life as a high street tunic over ten years ago. Tunics no longer being my style, but loving its lacy zig-zag pattern, I wasted no time in taking my scissors to it and turning it into a blouse!

July's final week crept along at a snail's pace. Although it wasn't exactly very busy at work, I needed to work in advance as much as I could to ensure continuity during my week away. This is always a bit of a nerve wracking time for me, so I only managed to find the energy for outfit photos after work on two occasions.

Monday saw me wearing one of my King Louie dresses, in a teal coloured diamond pattern. I pinned its decolletage with a teal flower brooch which merges with it organically.

Contrast was added with an orange polka dot cardigan and orange shoes, which I'm sure need no further introduction. Everything but the multi-coloured and textured necklace was charity shopped over the years.

Wednesday's dress is vintage and doesn't need introducing either, as it's far from making its debut on the blog. A Think Twice find in the Summer of 2015 - I distinctly remember this as I bought it on the day the seed of starting this blog was planted - it debuted here in June 2016, worn during our Pembrokeshire holiday that year, making further appearances in June 2017, September 2018, May 2019 and September 2020.

Not surprisingly, looking back has revealed that green has been very prominent in accessorizing this dress, and this time was no different as I added a green beaded necklace and what is probably the same old green cardigan I am wearing in some of the flashback photos.

A cream vintage flower brooch and a cream stretchy belt with a round buckle - a cheeky, recently acquired sales bargain - completed my outfit.

The weather that week had been the wishy-washy mix of cloudy with sunny spells and showers which seems to be our lot so far this Summer. The temperature kept hovering quite disappointingly in the very low twenties. 

Watering being a bit more of a chore now that we have to do without our well water, I admit to skipping that task on a couple of days, only tending to those poor plants in the shelter of the awning outside the kitchen door.

The first of the new Delphinium spikes was blooming its head off by now. Still standing proud in the above photos, the gusts of wind later that week made it lean precariously, its ultimate downfall avoided by the ferns and Cotoneaster which are its next door neighbours.

Supposed to be Autumn flowering, green flower buds have already started appearing in our Sedum spectabile (top right), some of them slowly but surely obtaining their final pinkish hue. Not surprisingly, given the Autumnal card the weather gods have been dealing us. There really is an undeniable whiff of Autumn in the air that we breathe.

We'll be packing our bags in my next post, keeping one eye on the non-too-promising weather forecast.

The other one being fixed firmly on this one, who all of a sudden decided to climb heights in our front room.  After finding one of the figurines from on top of our mantelpiece lying on the floor - mercifully unharmed - we had to take some last minute precautions and bring the most delicate of the items on display to safety!

So, that was it for now. Do stay safe, and I hope to see you again soon!