Oh foggy days

The day we woke up to on the 8th of October was wearing a veil of fog so dense that we felt as if marooned in a cocoon of cotton wool.

The weather forecast kept insisting it would clear up later, but for now the sun was having a hell of a time making herself noticed.

It was Friday, which could only mean one thing. Yes, we were more than ready for a spot of rummaging after a week's abstinence. We even went the extra mile and visited the charity shop on the industrial estate in Mechelen. One of our regular haunts in the Before Times (thank you, Sheila!), it had somewhat fallen from grace after our first post-Lockdown I visit last year. In fact, this was only our third visit in well over 18 months.

I will let you have a peek at my finds in a minute. But first things first, as the sun had finally managed to pierce through the layer of fog just as we'd reached our second shop, which was the one near the park where, weather permitting, we usually end up going for a stroll.

By the time we'd parked our car, a glorious Autumn day was about to be be unveiled, so we grabbed our camera - and the waffles we'd had the forethought to bring - and set forth.

The eagle-eyed among you might have already spotted that I was wearing the cord skirt I couldn't resist buying in a high street shop a couple of days earlier. I might not be averse to a spot of pattern mixing - surely that's the understatement of the century! - but sometimes I'm craving the blank canvas of a solid. Here, I even went a step further by going for neutrals!

The trees edging the park's ponds were silhouetted against a thin blanket of lingering, gossamer fog, diffusing the light and confusing eye and camera lens alike.

With the sun effortlessly warming things up to a balmy 18°C, it was no hardship to remove my Tweed jacket to reveal what I was wearing underneath.

My teal blouse, with its funky orange, yellow, turquoise and white pattern, serendipitously has its origins in the same shop as the skirt it accompanied, although it came to me by way of a flea market. 

I added a turquoise textured leather belt to accentuate my waist and accessorized with a red glass beaded necklace and a brown and gold plastic ring. The brooch with its faux-tortoiseshell frame is a much-worn favourite.

Blue was my choice for the first opaques of the season, while the ankle boots, which have seen better days, were perfect for trudging through wet grass!

By the time we'd enjoyed our waffles while contemplating the world on a sun-warmed bench, the fog had packed up and left, leaving a bright blue sky in its wake. 

Our Vitamin D levels satisfactorily restored after our circuit of the park, we returned to our car and drove home, where Bess was waiting impatiently for her lunchtime bowl of food.

Before I proceed, I'm treating you to a closer look at my vintage belted Tweed jacket, which is always a joy to rediscover in Autumn! As is the frothy turquoise scarf, which is just right to combat those Autumnal chills. 

And now, without further ado, here are that week's charity shop finds!

An ochre yellow Breton top was still missing in my wardrobe, and so was a purple jumper, so both could be ticked off from my mental list. 

Then the long-sleeved top in the middle, with its funky Autumnal pattern, caught my eye, as did the two beaded necklaces. 

The raffia bag was a snip at € 0,50, while the moss green ankle boots with their sturdy soles set me back € 6. They are Mephisto and would easily have retailed for about € 190. 

Saturday's weather could have been a carbon copy of Friday's, although the morning fog was less persistent, with the sun having already managed to magic away most of it by the time we were having breakfast.

Wanting to make the most of what looked set to be a glorious Autumn day, we slapped together a couple of sandwiches and programmed our Satnav to take us to one of our favourite nature reserves, the enchanting Blaasveldbroek.

A light fog was still clinging to the edges of this watery paradise, the landscape illuminated by dazzling sunshine and meeting its mirror image in the ponds.

Standing on the jetty, silhouetted against the brightness of the sunlit pond, making outfit photos was quite a balancing act. In fact, making use of our camera's flash turned out to be the only option.

Coordinating with the season, I was wearing browns, both my skirt and blouse vintage wardrobe stalwarts picked up at Think Twice. The skirt in particular is an old favourite, making its first appearance on my blog in its first month.

The tangerine necklace was a charity shop find - as was the pink cardigan you can just catch a glimpse of in the below photo - while the orange stretchy belt and the flower corsage are old retails buys.

'Tis the season of the Tweed jacket, so I'm wearing another one from my collection. This one features some funky embroidery on one side only.

Brilliant shafts of sunlight were acting as spotlights to guide us along the woodland path.

Once we emerged from under the trees, we walked between reed-lined ponds until we came across the most inviting sunlounger.

The perfect place to worship the Autumn sunshine and perhaps indulge in a little shut-eye. Zzz!

Walking as a pastime seems to have taken a backseat ever since Covid regulations have been relaxed. We only met a handful of people and at times it felt as if we had the place completely to ourselves, and we were quite appreciative of these rare moments of solitude.

We made time to enjoy the spoils of Autumn, the turning leaves, the graceful seed heads and the delicately sculpted flowers of the alas highly invasive Himalayan balsam. 

The crooked tree on the bottom right always makes me reach for my camera and it must have featured on my blog in all its seasonal guises. It tugs at my heartstrings, this solitary tree and its efforts to reach the sky, somehow evoking an unexplained nostalgia. 

It was time for lunch by the time we rejoined civilization at the visitor centre. Soon after we'd sat ourselves down at one of the picnic tables, we were joined by the resident black cat. Purring loudly, she succeeded in stealing our hearts, as well as some of the contents of our sandwiches.

We loved the new wildlife artwork adorning the visitor centre, although I'm sure the resident chickens weren't quite so appreciative of the prowling fox painted on the walls of their coop!

Hunger pangs satisfied, we completed our walk around the domain, appreciating its primordial wildness, before once again making our way home.

Oh, if only Autumn days could always be this sweet ...