A year is just a drop in time

It seems that time has been running away from me again. It simply beggars belief that I'm already half-way through my Christmas break.

So far, the days have had more than just a hint of indolence. The latter, however, was mostly of the forced variety due to a nasty but thankfully short-ish head cold which joined forces with the weather in throwing a spanner in the works on Christmas Day in particular.

All of this was still in the future on Saturday the 9th of December, so let's cast our minds back to that day. Although, not having made much of a journal entry for that day, there isn't a lot I can tell you about it apart from the fact that it was another dark, dismal and utterly wet day. 

We were able to nip outside to make outfit photos between showers, though, so that I can at least show you what I was wearing.

This navy fit and flare dress with its green and sky blue abstract motifs - I've never been able to determine what they are supposed to be exactly - hadn't been worn for far too long and was shouting the loudest when I opened my wardrobe's doors.

At my waist I added a green fabric belt which used to belong to another dress, and threw a green Dralon and wool blend cardigan on top, to which I pinned an elaborate blue flower corsage. 

Obviously, I was wearing a pair of matching opaques, while further accessories included a green wooden Les Cordes necklace (charity shopped) and a lime green Miracle brooch (flea market find).

We weren't in the mood to hit the charity shops, so it was to be a day of gentle pottering and starting a new book which had been languishing in my TBR pile since Summer. 

Bought in a Shrewsbury bookshop back in June, Gone To Earth was written by local author Mary Webb and published in 1917. Its protagonist, Hazel Woodus, is the daughter of a Welsh gypsy and a crazy bee-keeper, and is happiest living in her forest cottage in the remote Shropshire hills. Its prose is very atmospheric and lyrical and its subject a magical yet chilling story of fear, desire, love and violence, both spiritual and physical, and inevitably ending in tragedy. I loved it although it was by no means an easy read.

At first glance, the weather gods seemed to be on their best behaviour on Sunday, the sun having done away with the eternal gloom when we drew the curtains. 

We were up early-ish as we had plans. But first, let's get dressed for the day ahead. Helped by Bess, of course, who was basking in the rays of the low December sun streaming in through our spare room - a.k.a. the blue room and doubling as dressing room and study - windows.

First outing for the greyish brown and orange Trevira dress I found at Think Twice back in September.

There's a tiny bit of green in its pattern too, which I took as the lead for my accessories. Both the beaded necklace and the semi-elastic belt with its gold-tone lion's head buckle were charity shopped, the latter only a couple of months ago. The swallows-in-flight brooch is modern, bought in Cardigan during one of our Pembrokeshire holidays.

My Marigold yellow cardigan is one of my charity shopped Zoë Loveborns and, if I remember correctly, the tan leaf brooch I pinned to it was a flea market find. On my feet, my comfortable tan No Stress lace-up ankle boots!

And then we were off, picking up our friend Inez along the way, the sun still very much in evidence and adding sparkle to the raindrops which were lingering on our car's side mirrors.

Our destination for the day: the December edition of our beloved indoor flea market in Mechelen.

Admittedly, we hadn't been there since early Spring, and for various reasons had missed the first two editions of the new season which started in October.

We were delighted to see that there was a good mix of stalls, which we browsed to our heart's content, exclaiming over the wonderful and often curious items on offer. 

If in need of a hot water bottle, there was a choice between a rubber heart-shaped one or an old-fashioned ceramic bed warmer ...

I swooned over the feathered green hat and marvelled at the collection of eye-wateringly expensive ammonites.

The box of diminutive pink bathroom furniture and choice of tiles had sisters in many different colour options and must have been a travelling salesman's samples. If money and space hadn't been an issue, I might have been tempted to buy them all!

I was briefly considering to buy the poor guy in the centre as a companion for Idina, but I think she might have turned up her nose at him ...

With so many aisles of stalls to browse, we interrupted the serious business of rummaging for a round of rolls washed down with old-fashioned filter coffees!

Doesn't Inez look gorgeous in her turquoise dress! It came from a charity shop in Welshpool, but as I was never wearing it, I gifted it to her.

And now, without further ado, let's have a look at the things which did come home with us!

The small hanging kitchen cabinet - it only measures 50 x 30 x 15 centimeters - needs a good clean and a bit of TLC but will fit a little corner in our kitchen perfectly.

The small black lady's head and the wooden and papier-maché shop dummy both came from Rita's pitch, while the 1930s German ceramic biscuit jar came from a random stall.

I'd spotted the head plaque on the left on Tanja's Facebook page last month and was delighted when she told me it hadn't sold yet and that she would put it aside for me. Both she and the lady with the polka-dot headscarf picked up from a random stall will be joining the wall of heads above the mantelpiece in the blue room!

The end of year madness at the office continued in the year's penultimate working week. When my boss asked me whether I thought a certain order would still be shipped out before the Christmas holidays, I told him I needed a crystal ball to reply to his question. Having a great sense of humour, he sent me a fortune teller cartoon in return, which in my turn prompted me to stage this photo with the office crystal ball. Because, yes, we do have one of those: it is in fact one of a pair of massive glass door knobs which used to be in my colleague's 1960s apartment when she bought it. Apparently, she didn't like them or the doors they were on, and donated them both to me. 

While Inez and me were having our usual mid-week cappuccino catch-up at the Think Twice coffee shop, we were surprised to see that one of their sales was in full swing. What's more, prices were down to € 4 already, so that we decided to have a quick peek. Well, what can I say? We both made purchases, mine being a groovilicious velour blouse and a funky jumper!

Then Friday the 15th of December rolled along. It was a cloudy day but dry for once, the mercury still flitting around the 10°C mark. 

I had to go in to work, but thankfully only for half a day, the afternoon presenting the perfect opportunity to put up our tree.

After 20+ years, assembling our faithful faux fir has become a doddle, particularly when you've got a feline helper. Remembering last year's shenanigans, we weren't all that much surprised when she climbed into it less than a minute after we'd put in the lights! Can you spot her among the branches in the photo on the bottom right?

Later that week, I shared the above photo with Unco-Jerry, the animal shelter we adopted her from, who promptly put it on their Facebook page. Wouldn't you know that the little minx got well over 140 likes?

Fast forward 12 days later, and she has only climbed into the lower reaches of the tree two more times and accidentally dislodged only one ornament. We are keeping our fingers crossed that one of these years we might be able to use our vintage and heirloom ornaments again, but for now we are limiting ourselves to mainly wooden and fabric ones. 

I might or might not publish another post before the year is up but in case of the latter, Jos and I already wish you all a happy and healthy 2024. May all - or at least some - of your wishes come true!