Wednesday 15 September 2021

West side story, Part 1

Hello my lovelies, how are you doing? I'm doing fine, thank you for asking, although I'm still trying to get my head around the fact that our longed for holiday is well and truly over.  In fact, I am due back at the office tomorrow!

The crazy thing is that it feels as if we were away for much longer than a week, while simultaneously, as if in a parallel world, it seems like it was only yesterday that we packed our bags and drove off in a westerly direction.

Since then, we've been treated to a mini heatwave, and I turned a year older. For those who have been wondering when I mentioned milestone birthday: yes, I did turn 60 last Sunday, which still feels quite unreal and definitely hasn't sunk in yet. After all, apart from feeling relaxed and recharged after our holiday, I'm not feeling any different.



But let's not be hasty: in these photos I was still a 59-year-old, as I hadn't finished blogging about the month of August yet. As uneventful as its final week was, it would be a shame to let the handful of outfits we managed to photograph go to waste. 

A short ride in the time machine takes us back to August's final Friday, which my journal tells me was a cloudy day with rainclouds scudding on the horizon and a measly 20°C.

After our customary charity shopping trip - it was my free Friday after all - we only had just enough time for a couple of outfit photos before it started pelting down yet again.



My wildly patterned short-sleeved blouse was a vintage find from Think Twice and has been in my wardrobe forever. It certainly isn't making its debut on the blog! This time, its companion was the high street skirt I charity shopped earlier that month. It's got a gauzy patterned layer over a solid orange one and, apart from navy, it repeats all of the blouse's colours. 

Navy is echoed in my shoes and floral perspex ring, while I used orange again for my necklace and brooch. My belt, with its faux tortoiseshell hexagonal buckle, was a rare retail buy back in May. A wise investment, it seems, as I've been wearing it lots.



Here's a quick peek at what came home with me from the charity shops that day. However, I'm starting with the vintage denim button through skirt, which is the odd one out, as I found it in a vintage per kilo shop during one of my lunch breaks that week. It fits, although only just, and as it has got zero stretch, I'll have to lay off the munchies for a while in order to comfortably wear it. Being back at the office full-time hasn't been exactly beneficial in that department.

A brief look at the zig-zag patterned skirt, which came on holiday with me and which you'll therefore see me wearing soon!



The sky blue dress with its garlands of predominantly pink flowers had me stumped at first. It's got a deep V at the back, which I initially mistook for the front, and almost made me leave it behind as it looked rather weird. It was only when I discovered the label sewn in the V that the penny dropped.

My final finds that day were four necklaces which have joined my burgeoning collection. One can never have enough accessories, surely!




Saturday was another mixed weather day, and although the thermometer only indicated 21°C, it felt quite muggy outside. Inside was quite a different story, though, and I was glad of the long-sleeved yellow t-shirt I layered under my flimsy dress.

The eagle-eyed might recognize it as the purple based Esprit dress with its Paisley-esque pattern I charity shopped the previous week. 



All my accessoires were either charity shop or flea market finds as well, including the necklace, originating from Veritas, a Belgian chain of haberdashery and accessory shops, but found new on card in a charity shop in Antwerp a couple of years ago.

My journal tells me that we ran a couple of errands and were invited by our new neighbours across the street to have a look at their ongoing renovation work. The rest of the day was spent doing some leisurely pottering, including throwing together a couple of things I thought we might need on our holiday. 



Perhaps a little earlier than other years, our garden's mood is clearly Autumnal, although our herbaceous Clematis, officially known as Clematis jouiniana 'Mrs Robert Brydon', seems to be right on schedule.  

I cannot wait for its profusion of tiny buds (top left) to fully open into clusters of lavender blue flowers.

The only outfit I've got to show you in my final, pre-holiday, week is this one. Built around the folksy vintage skirt - a firm favourite - charity shopped last Summer, I picked up the fuchsia colour of the flowers by adding a fuchsia three-quarter sleeved top. I added oodles of blue with my belt, necklace, brooch and cardigan, while a hint of fuchsia reappears in my ring.

Can you believe the proportion of those Nasturtiums though ....



The week before any holiday is always a stressful one for me at the office, as I need to prepare everything for my part-time colleague to take over my job when I'm away.

This time, the stress levels were exacerbated by a crisis at work, while on the evening of my penultimate working day, a crisis of a different kind at our next door neighbours left us reeling.

While I cannot go into detail on either issue, needless to say it was quite a relief when Saturday arrived, with packing for our holiday the only item on our to-do list.



We were due at our holiday cottage on the outskirts of Poperinge by mid-afternoon on Sunday, and as it's only a one and a half hour drive from Dove Cottage, this left us plenty of time for both breakfast and lunch, not to mention giving lots of cuddles to a non-suspecting Bess.

The forecast was for a sunny day, with temperatures nudging the mid-twenties, and indeed as the afternoon progressed the scattering of cotton wool clouds dispersed, revealing a sky of the brightest and deepest blue.

Our holiday cottage, a compact studio above the owner's car port in a thatched oak framed building, will probably need no introduction. This is, after all, our tenth stay here, and the sixth time it appears on my blog. For any new-time readers though, I'll try to incorporate some details in my upcoming travel posts.



After making ourselves at home and having a restorative cup of coffee, it was approaching 4 pm when we once again stepped into our car for the 10-minute drive to Poperinge itself. We know our way around a bit by now, and easily found a free parking spot a mere 5-minute walk from the town centre.

As you can see, things were definitely heating up: the thermometer outside a chemist's shop was indicating a mind-blowing 28°C and there wasn't a cloud to be spied in the sky.



At first glance, Poperinge might be just a sleepy provincial town near the French border in Belgium's rural west. Don't be deceived, though, as it has got several claims to fame. 

The area around Poperinge is known as the hop capital of Flanders so perhaps it isn't surprising that it has its very own Hop Museum, which we visited in 2017.

 



Arriving at the town's market place, Poperinge's imposing town hall, built in 1911 in neo-Gothic style, is a sight to behold.  The building has a slender belfry tower crowned by a dragon and a facade with two superimposed loggias. 

And then there's its Great War history, in which Talbot House, opened in 1915 by British army chaplain Philip Clayton as a soldiers' club, is playing a major part. We revisited it later that week, so I'll show you around in a later post.




We always seem to end up in Poperinge's Dirk Frimout park, named after one of the town's most famous sons who, in 1992, was the first Belgian in space. 

On the way up, we met a pot-bellied blue bear on a bench. This is Warme William, who is the mascot of a campaign to encourage young people to talk about their feelings and to listen to those who are having a hard time. I might not be the right age, but I still had a thing or two to discuss with him ...




The park offered the perfect opportunity to show you my outfit, which consisted of a flower strewn cotton H&M skirt charity shopped last Summer and a red and white polka dot cotton blouse from Think Twice. Apart from my red belt, my only other accessory was a wicker vintage brooch embroidered with poppies. The perfect accessory for a visit to Flanders Field country!



The market place's terraces were inundated with people making the most of the first (and perhaps the last) gorgeously sunny Sunday in a long time. It was nothing short of a miracle that we were able to snap up a table for two and have a refreshing non-alcoholic beer before returning to our cottage.



After our evening meal - we'd brought the ingredients for a salad - we sat on our little balcony watching the sun go down over the lake. Just like I imagined doing in my penultimate post!

More travel adventures will follow in my next post. Hope to see you again soon!



36 comments:

  1. Ah, I feel relaxed already, reading about your first day and seeing your beautiful travel pictures, Ann, although I hear you on the stress of leaving one's work in someone else's (surely less capable!) hands. I hope things are okay with your neighbours - sending good vibes! (We had a murder just one block away from our home a couple of weeks ago, so I totally get that kind of neighbour stress!).

    Loving your beautiful outfit in the first look (especially that glorious blouse!) - that purple/indigo goes so well with that rich orangey-red.

    The purple Esprit dress looks fantastic on you! I love the addition of the mustard top. Your vintage skirt goes so well with the turquoise and magenta pinks! What a stunner that one is!

    And lastly, good to see you in your holidaying clothes! I love that blue bear. I'm so happy to see people really having conversations about mental health - I feel there was a lot of "lip service" around it pre-pandemic, but it's gotten so much more talked about recently. I would also have many things to talk to the bear about.

    Thank you so much for your lovely comments, Ann - I know how hard it is getting caught up after being away for any length of time. I think of you often, as we are very similar in outlook and temperament, I think. Big hugs to you!

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    1. So glad to hear you felt relaxed after reading my post, Sheila. All seems to be OK with our neighbours. Luckily, it was nothing nearly as bad as when happened just one block away from your home! xxx

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  2. Gladly the blue bear left some space for you to sit down. What a joy to have blue sky all over and finally warm temperatures. :-) It makes up for a rainy and cool summer.

    Welcome back at your desk. And happy birthday!

    xxx

    Regula

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    1. Thank you Regula, I'm so thankful for these sunny September days! xxx

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  3. Beautiful outfits, all of them. I think my favourite is the first one, the one you wore in August. The vintage pattern on that short sleeved blouse is so pretty, it makes me think of sixties and seventies. It looks great paired with that skirt. Pattern mixing is always fun. I love how the skirt matches all the colours in the blouse. The pattern is different but the colours are complementary. Beautiful orange necklaces and blue ring as well. The midi parsley print dress you charity shopped is lovely as well. I like how you accessorized it with those lovely bracelets. The pink and blue outfit is gorgeous too.
    Sorry to hear that you had some stress before departure (work and neighbour related) but it seems you had a nice time on your trip so I hope you were able to relax. I do like your vacation styling as well, that's a lovely skirt. The red blouse is such a great pop of colour.
    It was lovely visiting Poperinge with you and learning more about it. The blue you shared the bench with is adorable. I would tell him my problems too.

    Once again, happy birthday! Isn't it funny how time can both fly and stay still. I have the same feeling right now. Husband and I are in physical therapy in a medical spa centre and it seems to me weeks since we arrived here but at the same time sometimes time seems to fly.

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    1. Thank you so much, Ivana! That short-sleeved blouse is vintage 1960s, so your remark definitely makes sense! I do hope you are feeling a bit better by now! xxx

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  4. happy birthday ann!
    ....theres no need to talk about numbers.....
    totally love poperinge and surroundings - atleast in your photos!! ;-D
    its such a pretty city......
    your colourful and patterned attire makes for good mood here - its very gray outside since yesterday evening. my favorite outfit is the red dotty blouse with the pale blue, "streublümchen" skirt.
    extra hugsies! xxxx

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    1. Thank you Beate! I don't really want to talk about numbers, but I still can't quite believe I'm the age I am :-) xxx

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  5. What a wonderful weather with blue sky and I love your blue flower dress. 😁
    Happy Birthday Ann 🥂🌸🦄
    with a very huge hug Tina

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  6. Oh I want to go back to our holiday now. Your holiday looks a lot like how we love to celebrate it. And we had lovely weather too, and I just love to be out all day. Exploring all sorts of new things, places, museums, nature reserves. We started our,, normall,, life again last Monday. You forget about the holiday so quick, however I feel so much more energetic and relaxed. And life is starting to get more normal again Covid wise. Which is better for my mental health anyway. I hope it is going the right way up there for you too!

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    1. Thank you Nancy! For the first time since the pandemic life felt somewhat normal during our holiday. Things are going the right way for us here too, which is great news, as my mental health suffered from it too! xxx

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  7. My childhood teddy bear is blue-maybe I ought to get him out and discuss a few things.
    Happiest of birthday wishes to you!

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    1. Thank you Goody, and do let me know how you get on with your childhood teddy :-) xxx

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  8. More birthday greetings to you Ann. Well it’s not every day you reach 60 and it’s a milestone to be celebrated especially when you don’t look anywhere near it.
    I wonder do you get a state pension and if so at what age. As you know ours in the UK went upto 66+. I do love the fact that I’m officially a pensioner now. It makes me chuckle.
    Your holiday venue is beautiful and how nice that it is so near to home. It’s the same distance as us going to the caravan. We are off there again on Thursday and my mum and sister are staying nearby in an apartment for the week.
    Lots of love from us two xxx

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    1. Thank you Lynn!
      We get a state pension too, at the moment it's at 65, but it will go up to 66 soon. It doesn't really bear thinking about, so I won't ... xxx

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  9. What a wonderful way to spend an epic birthday! I remember loving the photos of Poperinge you shared last time and these don't disapoint either. How lucky you were with those glorious blue skies and I'm glad you were able to share a few thoughts with Warme William.
    Gorgeous outfits, the Espirit dress is perfect for Autumn and the new-to-you denim skirt looks very cute.
    I hope the neighbour thing has sorted itself out now, it sounds rather worrying! xxx

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    1. Thank you Vix! Weren't we lucky with the weather? The neighbour thing has sorted itself out. It was a rather bad domestic resulting in the lady injuring herself and needing stitches. xxx

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  10. A very happy birthday to you Ann :) Love the print on your pre-holiday blouse. Thank you for taking us on a jaunt round Poperinge. How lucky to have a mini heat wave whilst you were away. The sky is as wonderfully blue as the care bear (haha, pot bellied!) you met on the bench. Dove Cottage looks fab, I can just imaging sitting there with a cold beer. The hops museum sounds interesting. I look forward to your next installment.... Lulu x

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    1. Thank you Lulu! I still can't believe how lucky we were with the weather, especially given the kind of Summer we had! xxx

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  11. Loving the fuchsia & blue outfit!

    I've been to Poperinge... I seem to recall going to the Town Hall Death Cell while we were there (we did a WW1 trip).

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    1. Thank you Niki, and yes, we have visited those Death Cells behind the Town Hall too. Very haunting. A WW1 trip sounds very interesting ... xxx

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  12. Happy birthday Ann , enjoy joining the over 60 ranks , it is a good place to be. Glad yo were able to celebrate in such a beautiful place. Poperinge and surrounds looks interesting , so I will look forward to learning more.
    Your colourful and beautifully adorned outfits are always such a joy. Hope your return to work was a pleasant one.

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    1. Thank you Jill! Glad to hear it's a good place to be! xxx

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  13. Am I allowed to wish you a happy 60th birthday yet if you were 59 in this post???? What a wonderful place you visit... I really like Belgium from what you've shown and I'd really like to explore tgese places!!! Outfits are gorgeous and that denim skirt is a beauty!!!x

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    1. Yes, you are allowed, but only because it's you :-) I am obviously only showing Belgium's nice bits, but yes there are some lovely places here! xxx

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  14. Awesome ensembles, my wonderfully stylish friend. I am sooo digging the partnership you've created between paisley and floral print in the first one.

    Autumn Zenith 🎃 Witchcrafted Life

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  15. Happy belated Birthday Ann!
    I’m so glad that the sun came out for your holiday.
    xx

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    1. Thank you Hazel, we were very lucky with the weather indeed! xxx

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  16. It's hard to believe you're 60! You look so much younger.

    It's great that you had such good weather for your getaway; a litle sunshine is always welcome.

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    1. Thanks, Mim! To be honest, I find it hard to believe as well. I still haven't got my head around it, that's for sure! xxx

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