January, sick and tired you've been hanging on me

All was quiet when we got up at our usual time on New Year's Day, yesterday's revellers still tucked up in their beds nursing the inevitable hangovers.

The sun celebrated the day by lingering just that little bit longer before hiding behind the clouds again as she'd been wont to do for days. So, after breakfast, I quickly washed my hair, got dressed and slapped some make-up on, wanting to get the day's outfit done before she changed her mind once more.

At 15°C, it certainly was no hardship going outside in just my dress!

I'd snapped up this vintage pale blue wool-blend shirtwaist dress in the Think Twice sales back in November, and not only was this its first outing, it got the honour of being the main ingredient of this year's first outfit!

Sprinkled with navy, caramel and cream leaves and flowers, I took the lead from the caramel ones for my accessories. These included opaques, a mock croc belt - both retail buys - and an orchid brooch which doubles as a pendant and was a € 2 flea market find in May 2018.

My necklace was a fairly recent charity shop find, while the snoots (a.k.a. snakeskin boots) were snaffled from a vintage per kilo shop at the end of November.

As the sun still didn't show any sign of going into hiding, I then walked into the garden to take stock. 

Much to my delight, the Hellebores I planted in the Autumn of 2020, and which had been a bit of a disappointment both in 2021 and 2022, were proudly bearing several flower buds. They are both of the orientalis variety, called 'White Lady' (top right) and 'Red Lady' (bottom left) respectively. Not very original I must admit.

Oh, and hello there, stone frog and non-ribbeting frog. It's good to see you!

The back of the garden is a bit of a mess, the uncontrolled weeds and drifts of soggy Virginia creeper leaves hiding a multitude of sins. We've dumped some of the former contents of the passageway here, and the bench is groaning under the weight of several pots of wilted or dead annuals and a couple of watering cans. I guess poor, long-suffering Venus has given up and opted to have a lie-down for the duration. As if it wasn't bad enough that she lost her bottom half in a February storm in 2021.

Among the debris, a yellow plastic window box in which I'd put some spent Daffodils after flowering last Spring, allowing them to die down in peace. They do seem to think Spring is around the corner, but surely it's far too early for those new shoots to emerge? 

Admittedly, I was feeling a maudlin, this being the last day of my Christmas break, particularly as it had been a bit of a letdown, both weather and health-wise.

But I seemed to have left the worst of the awful lurgy behind me, even if I still had the odd coughing fit and my energy levels were still under par.

In spite of not having slept particularly well, I was feeling almost back to my old self on Monday, when I reaped the benefits of my mid-week catch up at the office. If only my view hadn't been marred by non-stop rain. Unfortunately the dismal weather didn't put off the hordes of bargain-hunting zombies, as traditionally the first week of January marks the start of the Winter sales here in Belgium.

Tuesday and Wednesday saw the return of my cough and another dip in my energy levels. This wasn't at all helped by a run-in with the landlord of our office building. We are supposed to move back to our office next Friday but, in spite of his promises, there were still a lot of things which hadn't happened yet, including the major job of renewing the electricity, repairing a leak caused by the flooring team and painting the window frames. I'm a force to be reckoned with when I'm angry, and apparently my shouting did help as things finally started to move along again on Thursday, with both the electrician and a team of odd job men showing up.

We even had a brief reprieve from the eternal rain on Thursday, or at least we did until early afternoon.

This allowed me to finally go for a walk during lunch break, my feet automatically taking me into the direction of one of the Think Twice shops which is well away from the main shopping thoroughfare and the crowds of crazy bargain hunters

Think Twice's latest sales had just started and with 30% off everything, I snapped up two bargains myself, the first being this grooviliously patterned vintage shift frock.

This orange, Finnish made pure new wool skirt made the grade as well. I fell head over heels for the slubbed grey and white stripes at the bottom. It's dry clean only, but we'll see about that.

With the week of the move expected to be a full-on one, I took Friday off to build up my strength for the ordeal to come. 

Once again, we woke up to some modicum of sunshine, but according to the weather forecast it wasn't to last. 

My outfit was a repeat of Thursday's, and was built around a pre-blog Think Twice find: a long-sleeved Crimplene dress with a pussy bow and a zip at the front.

It has a kind of trellis pattern in white, against which red-hearted white flowers are growing. If I were to do a Sheila-style flashback on it, I think it would be boring you to death, as I'm always accessorizing it with red. I might change up the cardigan and the belt, which in this case were both charity shopped, but that is it. 

As usual, I was also wearing red opaques, which were rather eclipsed by my red boots, a flea market find in October 2018.

The "lady brooch" was also provided by a flea market, although I can't remember where or when. It needed to be big enough to stand out among the prolific trellis and flowers pattern.

After a week of being cooped up inside, not to mention leaving the house and returning home in the dark, it was time for another peek into the garden. 

The combined forces of the mild weather - the temperature had remained in the low double digits all week - and the neverending rain had led to a veritable growing spurt, so that the promising buds in both varieties of Helleborus orientalis were now opening up to the most exquisite flowers.

The Helleborus niger (bottom left), more commonly known as Christmas Rose, which we brought back from the garden centre in December, and which is living in a pot in the passageway, was also opening the first of its flowers. Even Helleborus sternii, which came home with us at the same time, is showing promise by developing a first bud.

I've often likened Dove Cottage's garden to a jungle, particularly after bouts of neglect, but this time I'm really wondering if after last Summer's nightmare it will ever look like an actual garden again.

The ivy, which we got more or less under control at the start of the pandemic, is now getting more out of hand than ever and will need some serious graft and rigorous pruning to get on top of again. Hidden beneath the tangle in the foreground is my beloved Clematis viticella 'Etoile Violette' as well as our Winter Jasmin (Jasminum nudiflorum). The latter is in its element right now and doesn't seem to mind sharing space with the ivy.

Although its flowering period is supposed to be from January to March, here in our sheltered garden the first of its flowers often appear in November. They refrained from doing so this time around but its stems of cheery, yellow star-like flowers are currently brightening these dark and dismal January days.

I've also detected lots of flowers in our Winter box (Sarcococca, bottom right), and cannot wait for them to fully develop into highly scented ones, an annual event on which their aroma takes centre stage in our garden for a week or so.

We spent Friday afternoon going for our weekly rummage. Whether we found anything will be revealed in my next post, for which I hope you'll join me again.

I'm leaving you now with some words of wisdom from our garden, reminding us that - even in the dullest and darkest of weather - the sun is always shining behind the clouds!

See you next time, come rain or shine ...