Goodbye April

After working a full five-day week, it was with a huge sigh of relief that I closed the office door on April's final Friday. What's more, with the 1st of May being Labour Day and thus a bank holiday in Belgium, I had a long weekend to look forward to.

Lately we tend not to make any definite plans on how to spend our weekends and to just go with the flow instead, letting our moods - and that unknown entity, the weather - be our guides. We're always living in hope of squeezing in a walk, but having had our hopes dashed more than once we've learned our lesson, so that walking has become a spur of the moment thing as well.

No rain seemed to be on the horizon on Saturday, but it was dull and overcast, the sun only making an appearance at the end of the day, when the mercury eventually climbed to 15°C.

I'd bought the funky Western style blouse from the defunct Belgian label Who's That Girl in a outlet shop back in November. It was part of a glut of finds from this and its sister label Wow To Go, the majority of which have already been worn in the meantime. First outing for this blouse though, as its lightweight fabric is better suited to mild-ish Spring temperatures than cold-ish Winter ones.

My skirt, with its navy, red, orange and tan fireworks pattern on a cream background, is vintage, a bargainous leftover from a charity shop event in October 2021.

The red pleated raffia belt was picked up in the charity shop in Poperinge on one of our September holidays. The aqua necklace, originally from H&M, was charity shopped too, while the brooch was a flea market find back in January. 

My ankle boots, recently found in a second-hand shop in Antwerp, and introduced in my previous post, echoed the Western style of the blouse.

After breakfast, Jos went to feed our friends' cat Nessie, while I did some sewing jobs, repairing the torn lining of my beloved teal coat, and fixing the fallen hems of two dresses. Then I caught up with blogland and made a start on a new post.

A visit to the garden centre was on the menu after lunch. Almost inevitably, we didn't leave empty-handed, loading our trolley with a two-some of pink trailing Geraniums to replace the Tête-à-Tête daffs in the enamel cones once they've finished flowering, some Lobelias for the passageway and a handful of plants for our hanging basket. 

After having dropped everything off at home, Jos drove off again to run an errand and give Nessie her final feed of the day. Meanwhile, I planted up the hanging basket with two varieties of Petunia (Fiesta and Purple Vein, the latter not visible in the photo), yellow and orange Bidens Eternal Flame and a gorgeous blue Nemesia named Jeans, although they do look more of a lavender to me.

We planted our Red Valerian (Centranthus ruber, below, top left) back in that fateful Spring of 2020, so it's now into its 4th year of flowering. Clematis 'Guernsey Cream', with its big saucer-like flowers, followed a year later, but only flowered for the first time in the Spring of 2022. 

Once again, there'll be gooseberries aplenty, although it will be a while yet before they get their luscious ruby-red colour indicating they are ready for picking!

The creamy-white leaves with their green edging are a bit of an enigma. Might they be Dove Cottage's variation of the variegated leaved Yellow Archangel we inherited with the garden?

Spring arrived at long last on Sunday the 30th of April with sunshine and temperatures easily reaching the forecasted 18°C and beyond.

The perfect weather for an impromptu walk to sample the season's sensory delights!  Our destination of choice: the leafy park in the nearby town of Boom (rhymes with home!), a leisurely 15-miniute drive from Dove Cottage.

We parked in our usual spot near the east entrance from which vantage point the sight of the wooden Japanese style bridge crossing the brook never fails to delight us. It always makes me think of the famous Monet painting, sans waterlilies, obviously. 

At this time of year the cornucopia of lush green grasses surrounding it and its twin - which isn't visible in the photo,but see here -  is dotted with bluebells and cow parsley.

The park, some 27 hectares, was formerly part of a large forest. From 1925 onwards, it was transformed into a triangular park situated along the banks of the Bosbeek (beek is Flemish for brook) which meanders through it

At the other end of the park is a modernist garden with a series of ornamental ponds decorated with several bronze sculptures by well-known Flemish artists such as George Minne and Rik Wouters, added as the park's crowning glory in the early 1930s. This part of the park was recently renovated and we have visited it a couple of times since it was re-opened to the public in September 2020. This time, we kept to the leafy part of the park, though.

Hailing from the area, this used to be part of Jos's playground when he was a young boy. Frowned upon by their mothers as it was quite a bicycle ride away from their homes, he and his friends nevertheless often made the trip to re-enact the adventures of their hero, Davy Crockett, the park taking on the proportions and particulars of a forest in their imagination.

And what better colour to personify Spring than green, symbolizing renewal and growth? 

Sprigs of delicate yellow and orange flowers and fresh green foliage are sprinkled liberally across a background of palest green in this vintage dress. My collection of opaques contained a pair in a matching pale green, while the crepe soled moss green ankle boots turned out to be the perfect footwear for a Spring walk. They are Mephisto and would easily have retailed for about € 190, so finding them in a charity shop for just € 6 was a stroke of good luck.

The orange plastic ring and beaded necklace were charity shopped as well, while the orange cat brooch was bought from the delightful Katshop in Antwerp, a shop catering for cats as well as their long-suffering personnel. 

I'm making it my mission to use all the wicker baskets now that they're within easy reach on the IKEA coat stand. I came across this round one at an outdoor flea market in June 2019 and it was long overdue another outing. Not very roomy it is, though, it didn't fit much more than my phone!

Oh, and I almost forgot to mention my lilac Tweed jacket, which was a Think Twice find in the Autumn of 2017.

For many years, the water in the ponds and the brook leading into them was green with algae and gave off an unpleasant musty smell. We always used to pity the waterfowl who nevertheless insisted on making the park their home.

Things came to a head when, due to a blockage in the sewage system in a neighbouring village last Summer, a large amount of wastewater ended up in the brook. Made worse by the subsequent heatwave, the stench had been quite unbearable for some time. Not to mention the fact that several of the resident fish hadn't survived the ordeal and that even the ever-present gaggle of ducks refused to take to the water. 

As a consequence, the park had been out of bounds, although our walks here were sorely missed over Summer as it is one of our favourite hot weather refuges.

Any lingering smells had thankfully gone by now, replaced by the usual Springtime aromas which tickled our nostrils, some of them eliciting one or two seasonal sneezes.

The water in the brook and ponds was clearer than ever before, a fact which was enjoyed by the gaggle of ducks which had once again joined the plump of squawking moorhens. At the edge of the main pond, which was lined with clumps of cheerful yellow Marsh Marigolds, an Egyptian goose and its goslings were contemplating a swim.

One of the joys of this park are its many arched stone bridges crossing the brook and ponds so that it's easy to make one's walk circular by returning to one's starting point along the path running on the opposite side.

Here we came almost face to face with a duck which apparently thought sunbathing in the middle of the path was a bright idea. Initially it didn't seem to be all that bothered by our approach, but then it decided to join its friend in the grassy edge after all.

Back at home, we spent some quality time with our funny furry monster, Bess, who's in the habit of claiming one of our laps the moment we dare to sit down. The perfect excuse for an afternoon nap!

Would the gorgeous Spring weather stay with us for another day? All will be revealed in my next post!