At the close of July

Finishing the last chapter of my travelogue has been a bit of a wrench, leaving me with the feeling that our longed-for and long-awaited UK holiday is now well and truly a thing of the past.

The upside, of course, is that I can now continue with a catch-up of what the Summer of 2022 has brought us and, obviously and most importantly, what I've been wearing.

But what a Summer it has been so far! For someone who struggles with temperatures from the high twenties onwards, the on-an-off heatwaves haven't exactly been a gift. On top of that, we have been subjected to our neighbour's extensive renovation project for weeks now, with no end in sight. The constant, day in-day out noise going on well into the evening has made us flee the no longer safe haven of our house on several occasions.

But all that was still in the future in the last week of July as, yes, that's how far behind my blog is.

Monday the 25th of July marked the start of yet another working week, although having a free Friday to look forward to was making things ever so slightly better. Much to our relief, we were also treated to a drop in temperature, Monday's 24°C being so much bearable for both Jos and me.

Unless we are running late, we've developed the habit of stopping off at the Museum of Folklore about half-way down our street and snap a couple of outfit photos in its front garden before work.

That day, I was wearing a cotton frock, its floral print a cool tapestry of greens, blues and a dash of white, which I picked up from Think Twice in May 2021.

I added a dollop of mustard yellow in the form of my necklace, belt and briefly worn cardigan and pinned one of my favourite brooches, a creamy metal butterfly, to the dress's bodice. 

At my feet, a comfortable pair of gold Gabor sandals as yes, comfort has definitely been key for my feet lately!

Another pair of my most-comfortable shoes on Tuesday, although the forecast of a couple of heavy showers and temperatures of barely 20°C made me switch the sandals for a pair of sky blue flats closing with Velcroed straps. They're in the running for equalling the Cloudsteppers, but they're not quite there yet.

Anyway, the dress I was wearing is one of my lightweight Diolens, bought from a now defunct vintage shop in Antwerp which I had the pleasure of frequenting for a year or two.

I picked up the blue from its prevalent coral pattern, not just with my shoes, but with my cardigan, woven belt, necklace and ring as well. Even my floral brooch is rimmed in blue. Everything apart from my ring and shoes were charity shop or flea market finds.

The mercury remained hovering in the low twenties on Wednesday, but contrary to Tuesday the forecasted showers never materialized.  With the sun shining brightly all day, I could have worn sandals, although these navy blue flapper style flats tend to give my feet sufficient breathing space.

I could also have worn a less sweat-inducing dress than this Crimplene one if the weathermen hadn't got it wrong again in forecasting a similar day to Tuesday's.

Apart from a rather riotous navy, cobalt and yellow on white pattern, the dress is graced with a wide wing collar and an admittedly rather superfluous bow at its neckline. It's not one for the faint-hearted though as it is certainly making you stand out in a crowd.

I picked yellow for my vintage beaded necklace and navy blue for my ring. The navy belt with its cream plastic buckle used to belong to my Mum and it's one of the rare things in terms of clothing and accessories that I own from her.

Thursday was a sunny but windy day, which felt much cooler than the 23°C the thermometer claimed it was. 

Cue the wearing of more Crimplene, in the form of the flowered and dotted blue blouse I charity shopped between Lockdowns in 2020. Its companion is a beloved vintage skirt sprinkled with daisy-like pinkish flowers. This too was a charity shop find although predating the blouse with several years.

In fact, everything else I was wearing - including the shoes and jacket - was charity shopped, except for the stretchy belt and my pink plastic ring.

The shoes, though! Bought for just € 4 in September 2018, my feet have always been happy in this pair of blue Miz Mooz slingbacks. That is, until now. I had blisters before I even arrived at the office where, luckily, I had a pair of ancient ballerinas lurking in case of a shoe mishap. I immediately changed into those, as I was having coffee with my friend Inez during lunch break and I couldn't see myself limping to the coffee shop in those pesky Miz Moozes and make matters even worse ...

The temperature was on the up again on Friday, easily reaching 25°C, which was just perfect for what we had in mind that day.

After a leisurely fruit & yoghurt breakfast, we packed a couple of bags of donations into the boot of our car and went charity shopping, followed by a picnic and a stroll in the park.

As we were eating our sandwiches, we spotted the Egyptian goose with the manky wing we'd seen around a couple of times. As Jos took pity on it and threw it a couple of crumbs, the park's waterfowl dropped whatever they were doing and starting arriving in their dozens, loudly quacking and honking for their share. Oh dear, that was the rest of our picnic spoken for. Let's say that we were literally one sandwich short of a picnic. Only literally though, or at least I hope so!

After the last of the crumbs had disappeared into the birds' hungry mouths ... err ... beaks, and peace had once again descended on the park, we walked around the perimeter of the largest of the lakes.

Although things would become much worse, the lack of rain had already left its mark on the park's vegetation. We couldn't help noticing the large number of unripe acorns littering the ground. Another result of the ongoing drought, and a health hazard to horses, cattle and dogs due to their high tannin content, which makes them poisonous.

I was giving this green linen blend skirt its maiden voyage that day. I found it in the Zara sales a week or so before, instantly falling in love with its colour and pattern, and queuing for all of twenty minutes at the till, as it was the very last one and I just had to have it.

I'm not in the habit of shopping at Zara, and although I've got a couple of Zara items in my wardrobe, all of these were charity shop finds. In fact, I think this was the very first time I bought something directly from the shop.

My tropical print, short-sleeved King Louie jumper (charity shopped, obviously) couldn't have been more perfect to accompany it, as it matches the skirt's colour and its embroidery almost exactly. 

I matched the orange embroidery with a flower corsage, string of wooden beads and plastic ring in the same colour. Both the stretchy belt and the straw and fake leather handbag were found on the high street.

Oh, and my feet were being pampered with my black Clarks sandals, a sales bargain from the Shropshire town of Wellington back in 2018.

In spite of our offerings to the Goddesses of the Charity Shops, pickings weren't exactly plentiful, but I still managed to snaffle another pair of Miz Mooz slingbacks. They needed some TLC, plus I'm hoping my feet won't make me regret my purchase, but with 50% off they were just € 2, so even if they're a failure, they definitely didn't break the bank.

Browsing the bookshelves in both of the shops we visited yielded these three for my ready-to-topple reading pile. I'm currently reading Lucinda Riley's The Lavender Garden, which is exactly the kind of light entertainment I need right now.

And talking of books, in her comment on my previous post, Vronni said she'd love to know which books I picked up on my travels.  I have left one of them behind on the cowshed's bookshelves after reading it, but these are the ones that made it home. 

In the meantime, I've read both The Garden of Lost and Found by Harriet Evans, which I loved, and Sorrow and Bliss by Meg Mason, which although brilliant wasn't the most easy of reads.

We both had a bit of an off-day on Saturday, but we still managed to drag ourselves from the sofa and go for a walk in our favourite park, Middelheim. A short walk, it turned out to be, as it was rather stifling and humid, the mercury making a move towards the high twenties.

There was a temporary exhibition by French artist Camille Henrot (b. 1978), but as it's running until 16 October, we'll be going back another time for a proper look.

Above, top right is Undelivered Message (2016), which was outside at the back of the Braem Pavillion.

We hadn't been inside the Braem Pavillion since before Covid, and as it has been recently repainted, we went in to admire this prime example of Organic Brutalist style, designed by architect Renaat Braem (1910-2001) and completed in 1971.

Above, top left, is Second Semester (2019) which was one of the works inside the pavillion. 

Now, before I got, let's have a look at my outfit. I've no doubt that my top's magnificent collar has already caught your attention.  From the Belgian label Lucy Has A Secret, it was a charity shop find in September 2019. The skirt, with its gauzy Paisley patterned layer over a solid orange one, was charity shopped last Summer, while my wide purple stretchy belt came home with me last Autumn.

I was in danger of wilting by the time we reached the museum's castle café, and I was starting to look and feel like the small sailing boat moored along the castle's moat. 

That too, is a work of art, of course, by Austrian artist Erwin Wurm (b. 1954).

The bent out of shape sailing boat, which is called Misconceivable (2010), is a characteristic Erwin Wurm piece in which a familiar form deviates subtly from reality. As the title indicates, this piece causes doubt and a sense of uncertainty in the observer. 

I, on the other hand, think it's very conceivable that, just like me, it has succumbed to the ongoing hot weather!