The darling buds of May

Spring is trundling along languidly, sometimes with a spring in her step, giving us an taste of Summer, but more often than not behaving very badly indeed. It's not just that rough winds have been shaking the darling buds of May. Rain has been turning them into a sodden mass prematurely littering the ground.

Hardly a day has gone by without any of the wet stuff falling from the sky, but let's forget about that for now. Let's reminisce about those handfuls of days when the sun has been very much in evidence instead. 

It was Sunday the 12th of May and the final day of the first of the month's long weekends. In continuation of Saturday's balmy mid-twenties temperatures, Sunday followed suit, the mercury climbing even higher, to an unheard of 27°C.

Out of my wardrobe came one of my vintage Diolen dresses, snapped up from a long gone vintage shop in the Summer of 2015. Its pattern of leaves and fruits on a coral background never fails to delight me.

My sky blue shoes, which almost but not quite rival my beloved Clarks Cloudsteppers, are just perfect for walking ...

... which is exactly what we did that afternoon!

Being in a bit of a languid mood, we didn't want to venture too far, so we drove down to Fort 5, just over 10 minutes by car from our front door.

Here, we walked on leafy paths and exclaimed about the lushness of nature in general.

Then we spotted some ghostly webbing shrouding some of the trees lining one of the paths. Closer inspection revealed that these contained hundreds of wriggling caterpillars! 

Some research back at home revealed that these are the caterpillars of the so-called Ermine moth. The creatures are harmless, and the webs usually last from May to June after which they slowly disappear over the Summer months. The moths they eventually grow into are white or greyish with many small black dots, hence the ermine name.

 

Harmless they may be, but I was itching all over by the time we'd reached the end of the path. 

Here, we were faced with a choice of possible directions to take. While still trying to make up our minds we suddenly noticed the open gate leading to the inner fort right in front of us. Beyond the gate, which is usually closed, are the premises of BLWRK, which offers coworking and meeting space.

Intrigued, we wasted no time in stepping through the gate and explore this as yet unknown to us and hugely atmospheric part of the old fort, which was constructed in the 1860s as part of a ring of 8 forts to protect the city of Antwerp from enemy fire.

There's exhibition space inside the building as well, which turned out to be the reason for the wide open gate.

We briefly ventured inside trying to find the exhibition which was taking place, but soon got lost in an endless maze of chilly, goosebump inducing passages, and eventually turned heel. Better not to waste the undoubtedly short-lived Summer temperatures, not to mention the one-off opportunity to explore the inner fort. 

The ghost sign on the bottom left is testimony to the fact that once upon a time stables were established here.

Back in the public part of the domain, we sat down for a breather before returning via the narrow path along the moat. 

While we were sitting there, Jos was accosted by a blood-thirsty insect, which bit him right through his trousers. And there I was fretting because I'd been foolhardy enough to go walking bare-legged! The pesky thing had a wasted meal, though, as it had to pay for its greed with its life.

All was soon forgotten when we spotted several nesting coots and in particular their fluffiest of chicks.

By the end of our walk, the sun had all but disappeared behind a layer of clouds again and, sure enough, we were treated to a thunderstorm in the evening. Oh well, mustn't grumble, I suppose ...

The weather continued to be sunny and warm, with highs of about 23°C, on Monday and Tuesday. I wasn't feeling too clever, though, as this was the week of my eye problem. Apparently, it was taking some getting used to my new, stronger, eye drops, which initially caused various unwanted symptoms: a lingering headache concentrated around my eye socket, a dry and itchy eye and, to top it all, that horrid stye I eventually developed. 

Several remedies were tried, including painkillers, artificial tears, ointments and ... retail therapy!

Prices at Think Twice were down to € 4 and € 3 respectively on these days, so I wandered over for a rummage during my lunch breaks, picking up several treasures on both occasions.

Apart from a handful of vintage frocks, a striped seersucker Summer blazer and an off-white slouchy knit jumper with Art Deco style openwork yoke and back.

Thankfully, my eye had slowly but surely started to improve by the end of the week, even if my eyelid was still quite sore and bright red on Friday. 

Not having to go into work made all the difference, though. As did spending time in Bess's company and delighting in her antics. She's a big fan of our kitchen tap, which she insists on drinking from as often as she can, then leaving a trail of wet paw prints all over the house!

I'd rescued the red and white Diolen polka dot skirt from my flea market stash the other day. God knows why, but according to my blog I hadn't worn it since August 2017, after which it had been in limbo for years. When eventually it got back in my good books, it turned out to have become a tiny bit too snug. Trying it on one more time before deciding on its fate, I was happy to notice that it was a perfect fit once more. Not that I've been on any kind of diet, mind you, that's what prolonged stress does to me!

As soon as I'd hung the skirt outside my wardrobe, it dawned on me that it would look fabulous worn with the dotty Who's That Girl blouse I charity shopped at the end of February. And surely nothing but one of my Bambi brooches would do to befriend the deer living inside some of the orange dots!

I'm sure the red ceramic beaded necklace - a charity shop find - needs no further introductions as it has featured on the blog many a time lately. The navy belt with its off-white plastic buckle used to be my Mum's.

What with the lousy weather, my Summer shoes and sandals have barely got a look-in. Here I am wearing ankle boots again, although I wouldn't dream of wearing this delicate silver and gold patterned pair when it's raining either.

In spite of having ignored our Hydrangea until April, when I finally removed last year's flowers and didn't even bother to prune back to the lowest healthy buds, the shrub is in its element and has been producing more flowers than ever! I particularly love them at this stage, when the first hint of blue is appearing.

My eye was almost back to normal on Saturday, which was nothing short of a relief. I even seemed to be getting used to the new eye drops, which was even better.

What wasn't much better was the weather. It was another dismal-ish day with the odd sunny spell in the afternoon. The temperature kept hovering around 18°C, which I suppose could have been worse.

The dress I was wearing is yet another vintage Diolen, which I fell in love with on the spot when I was checking out Think Twice's new collection with Inez on Wednesday.

It did have a couple of minor issues, though, including buttons which were far too small so that they kept popping open. Nothing my stash of vintage buttons couldn't remedy obviously!

My accessories were all of the green variety: a charity shopped textured leather belt with self-buckle, a beaded necklace from the high street and my "super heroine" brooch found on a flea market in October 2018.

With only one more week to go before our UK holiday, time is at a premium, but I'll make sure to squeeze in at least one more post before we go. See you soon!

Mrs. de Winter and Alice's daughter

A string of long weekends and short working weeks have been making me lose track of time again, so that I find myself on the slippery slope of lagging behind once more. Honestly, I haven't been deliberately shirking my blogging duties! I really haven't got the faintest idea where the time goes these days.

All I know is that I left you at the end of the first week of May, with a weekend filled with wedding celebrations and a flea market.

After three days on the office hamster wheel in the second week of May, we were the lucky recipients of yet another public holiday - Ascension Day - on Thursday the 9th.  As usual, most people were taking Friday off as well, and this year, of course, there was no question at all of yours truly having to go into work. 

If the weather forecast was to be believed, we'd be in for a treat: it looked as if Spring had finally got the memo!  For a start, Thursday was dry - which is a major miracle these days - and mostly sunny with moderate highs of around 20°C.

We had been sorely remiss in our household duties as well, so that we needed to spend the morning chasing away an army of dust bunnies upstairs before we could treat ourselves to a walk in the park.

The dress I wore that day was a Think Twice sales bargain back in  March 2019, when its mix of solid green and white on green chevrons instantly caught my eye.

As we didn't take any close-ups of my outfit while we were out and about, here's a picture of "the stuff", as Sheila would say. Both the ceramic beaded necklace and the glass ring were charity shopped, while the gorgeous vintage brooch was a gift from my lovely friend Inez.

Our outing took us to the delightfully wild and unkempt Solhof park in our neighbouring village of Aartselaar, with its giant trees and Manderley-esque Rhododendrons. 

Apart from the ubiquitous pink and purple varieties, there were several shrubs of golden yellow Rhododendron luteum (a.k.a. Yellow Azalea) whose honeysuckle scent reached our nostrils long before we spotted the shrubs in question.

We refrained from walking up the narrow path spiralling up to the gazebo on top of the ice house this time and could, in fact, only just make out the top of its gnarled pillars and conical roof peeking out from above the fresh new growth of the yew hedge.

One of the park's most majestic trees is this magnificent 150-year old red cut-leaved beech (Fagus sylvatica 'Laciniata'). Considered a status symbol when the English-style landscape garden was established in the 19th Century, the tree was planted in a prominent position where it was clearly visible from the castle, now much modernized and turned into a luxury hotel.

The sun kept playing her by now familiar on-off game on Friday, with the mercury on the up and climbing to 22°C.

I pottered and sorted out some shoes which were hiding at the bottom of the big wardrobe in the bedroom. Most of them hadn't seen the light of day for years as my feet no longer agreed with their height, so I put aside a whole bag of them to sell at the flea market. 

Making a narrow escape were a pair of fabulous yellow suede and leather block-heeled slingbacks I bought for a song in a vintage shop about 10 years ago. Can you believe I'd almost forgotten about them?

It goes without saying that I had to wear them right away.  After all, they matched that day's oranges and lemons outfit perfectly!

Both the orange skirt with its random black spots and splodges, and the lemon leopard print top were charity shop finds, as was the necklace with its orange and brown wooden beads.

The stretchy belt was recently found in a bargain shop, while I believe the enamelled butterfly brooch was a flea market find. 

On my way out into the garden for outfit photos I quickly grabbed the red-rimmed straw hat - picked up at an outdoor flea market in May 2018 - as my hair was in sore need of a wash. I know, I'm such a slob!

Although the impenetrable jungle which is our garden nearly needs a machete to hack one's way through, I just had to go and investigate these intriguing purple flowers I spotted in front of our bench.

If I'm not mistaken, these pom-pom Aquilegias weren't planted by me, but might very well be the result of a happy marriage between my beloved Nora Barlows (here) and Aquilegia alpina (here). Whatever the case, aren't they absolutely stunning?

We had another bag of donations to drop off at the charity shop, so it would have been rude not to have a rummage at the same time. My loot that afternoon were a blue floral maxi dress by the Danish Only label, a funky pair of trousers, a groovilicious haori by Top Shop, and two belts.

My lunch time wanderings earlier that week took me to Melting Pot, the vintage per kilo shop, where I found a frilly floral blouse and a red short-sleeved Tricel jumper, which set me back just over € 5.

The roomy leather botanical print handbag from the Italian Pelle Di Giada brand came from Think Twice, who'd just started another round of their famous sales. Originally priced at € 10, it was mine for € 5 on one of their 50% off days. 

Saturday was a true Summer's day, with all-day sunshine and temperatures well over 25°C.

After picking up my new eye drops prescription as well as the sunglasses I'd ordered the week before, we decided to put the latter to work by going for another walk. 

Our destination: Middelheim Sculpture Park. Our aim: to check out the new layout which has received a mixed reaction from visitors. The jury is still out from our side, as we have yet to visit all the new zones.

According to its website, the art park is now divided into six zones, four of them featuring the four themes of the permanent collection. The collection presentation is thematic and the four themes, which are Motion, Human Nature, Urban Nature and Entanglement, are interconnected with the landscape.

Apparently, we were finding ourselves in the Human Nature zone!

One of my all-time favourites lives here. Never Mind (2017) by Welsh artist Richard Deacon (°1949) is an impressive steel volume gleaming in the grass. The name "Never Mind" refers both to the notion "don’t bother" and to the fact that the work is quite physically present. It is experienced "not only" by the mind but also by the body.

The other works you can see in the photos are "The Sower" (above, top right) by the Belgian painter and sculptor Constantin Meunier (1831-1905), dating from 1896, and "Tomorrow Everything Will Be Different" (above, top left), produced between 1993 and 1996 by Dutch sculptor Henk Visch (°1950).

We escaped the afternoon glare of the sun by walking under the leafy canopy of the trees on the paths leading from the Human Nature to the Urban Nature zone. 

But what are those giant maces doing lying all innocently yet menacingly among the trees?  They are called "Innocence can be hell" (1993) and are by the Belgian artist Berlinde De Bruyckere (°1964). If her name sounds familiar, she also sculpted "Reclining Arcangelo II", which we came across in St. John's Hospital in Bruges.

Per Kirkeby's (1938-2018) architectural brick sculpture (above, top left and bottom right) is virtually nameless and dates from 1993. 

These topsy-turvy houses always make me feel like Alice after she'd taken a sip from the Drink Me! bottle and simultaneously journeyed down the rabbit hole. Or rather, Alice's daughter, as Alice was my Mum!

Their full name is "Model Home, “Bomarzo” type, 1979/94/2001)" - quite a mouthful - and their creator is the German conceptual artist Timm Ulrichs (°1940).

Time to tell you a bit more about my outfit. The floral maxi skirt is vintage and came from the vintage per kilo shop about two years ago, while the plaid blouse is charity shopped King Louie. My accessoires: a mix of high street, charity shop and flea market finds.

On our way out, we came across, clockwise from top left: "The Bathers" (1994) by  Luciano Fabro, "Great Bather" (1971) by Wieland Förster, the intriguingly named "Silver Fruit, Silver Cakespoons, The Garden" (2012) by Peter Rogiers and "Large Bather I" (1956) by Emilio Greco.

Before returning to our car, we passed an avenue of Rhododendrons in a delightful variety of colours. 

They may have been much better maintained than those in Solhof park and thus did not remind me that much of those impossibly high ones towering over Mrs. de Winter as she walked along the abandoned drive to Manderley in her dream, but they still seemed a fitting end to this literary inspired post.

See you next time!

I spy with my sore little eye ...

... something beginning with double H: a holiday on the horizon! 

It truly beggars belief that in just three weeks' time to the day, we'll be spending our first evening in our Shropshire cowshed! It feels like time is slipping through my fingers, though, as I've still got a million things to do before we leave, both at the office and at home. Lists to make and tick off, instructions to leave, decisions to make: you know the drill. Not even my three-day weekends and the bonus 4-day ones we are lucky enough to have in the month of May seem to hold enough hours to fit it all in. 

Just having had what I can only describe as a week from hell hasn't exactly been helpful either. To cut a long story short: I've recently been prescribed stronger eye drops for the glaucoma in my left eye, which initially left me with a slight headache and a dry, sore and itchy eye. On top of that, I developed a whopper of a stye in the same eye. Not related according to my doctor, but very painful and exhausting nonetheless, so that blogging once again ended up on the back burner.

Now that things have somewhat settled, and I can see more or less clearly once more, it's time for another little catch-up. So, please do hop on for a short ride in the time machine back to the first days of this month. 

The 1st of May is Labour Day and a public holiday in Belgium, and obviously an extra day off in the middle of the week is always welcome! Thankfully, the sun didn't take the day off as well. In fact, after a false start due to lots of overnight rain, she went the extra mile by cranking up the thermostat to 24°C.

I built that day's outfit around a vintage C&A skirt I fell in love with at Think Twice the day before. Isn't its navy cotton fabric dotted with tiny posies of multicoloured flowers delicious? Not to mention its two double zig-zag rows of orange stitching! It's to the latter that I matched my short-sleeved V-neck jumper which, together with the stretchy belt with its massive buckle, were the only items bought brand new on the high street.

I opted for navy for the rest of my accessories, which included a charity shopped bracelet, necklace, chunky glass ring and genuine 1970s watch strap, as well as a brooch found recently at the indoor flea market.

After sleeping in, having a leisurely breakfast and a morning of gentle pottering, we had our friends Inneke and Maurice over for a long overdue catch-up.  Inneke was kind enough to bring cake and biscuits and Jos made a pot of freshly ground coffee and, while a lovely afternoon was had by all, not a single photo was taken.

Passing our kitchen window that evening, I swiftly ran back to get my camera and snap the golden daffodils illuminated by the late evening sun.

Seeing that it was my final working day of the week, it wasn't much of a hardship going back to the office on Thursday. 

After a sunny start, clouds starting gathering in the early afternoon and by the time I went home it had cooled down considerably from the day's initial 23°C. We were even treated to a stiff breeze and some light drizzle.

Everything was still hunky-dory when I walked down to the Botanic Garden during lunch break.

It's hard to believe that only the garden's retaining wall separates the woodland path lined with bluebells and wild garlic from a busy inner city street!

I stopped, not to smell the roses, but to admire the variety of bearded Irises, the fragrant bright yellow flowers belonging to King's Spear (Asphodeline lutea) and the flower spikes of the Gunnera near the pond. 

Friday the 3rd of May was another grey and rainy offering from the weather gods on which initially I struggled to assemble an outfit. 

Riffling through a pile of skirts I'd recently unearthed from the suitcase they'd hibernated in, I pulled out this floral midi one in a symphony of blues. The three-quarter sleeved t-shirt turned out to match the darkest of the blues exactly.

Same as the skirt, the orange, red, and burgundy tank top was charity shopped. It's by the Belgian designer Nathalie Vleeschouwer and although I've had it for about two years now, this was its very first outing. 

Red and blue accessories, a mix of high street, charity shop and flea market finds, completed my outfit.

On my feet, a pair of red slouchy Western-style boots. They too followed me home from a charity shop one day.

For once, we didn't go for a rummage that Friday. Instead, we drove down in the pouring rain to the optician's in the nearby town of Mortsel. Our mission: to choose a new pair of sunglasses for me. As one does on a rainy day! Pictures will follow in due time.

The sun finally got a look in that evening, which was much appreciated by the lovely Art Deco which lives on our bedroom's mantelpiece!

We were up bright and early on Saturday, as we had a wedding to attend: after having been together for over 12 years, Jos's son Kris and his partner Carolien had decided to tie the knot!

Before we go, let's have a look at our outfits! Neither Jos nor yours truly had bought anything new (or even new-to-us) for the event: everything was shopped from our wardrobes, as they say. In fact, both our outfits were Friday's spur of the moment decisions.

My green floral dress was a sales bargain from H&M many years ago, while the belt was picked up in the Mango sales in the Summer of 2022. The blazer is Zara, found in a charity shop in Welshpool back in 2019, while my beloved green suede ankle boots came from a local charity shop.

Jos was wearing a pair of trousers and a floral shirt from C&A. His blazer is part of a suit which has been in his wardrobe for well over 10 years. The green suede shoes were bought in the Shrewsbury branch of Clarks last June. Last but not least, his waistcoat was a gift from Vix & Jon. 

The civil ceremony was taking place in the old town hall of the village next to ours. Built in the typical neo-Renaissance style and dating from 1912, it has been a protected village landmark since 1983. Nowadays, it is mainly used for wedding ceremonies and wedding anniversary events.

Some introductions as we were waiting to go in: next to Jos, his eldest daughter, Els, with next to her, Carolien and Kris and their soon-to-be three-year-old son Cas.

Here's the happy couple during and after the ceremony, with Cas very much in attendance!

Afterwards, we walked to Hof ter Linden with its crumbling castle, as the wedding lunch was taking place in one of the coach houses flanking the courtyard. The perfect place for wedding photos, although the official photographer seemed to think otherwise. 

Who wouldn't want to pose next to those haughty sphinxes, I wonder?

Having arrived in the courtyard, I grabbed the rarest of opportunities to get all three of Jos's elder grandchildren in one photo. To the left of their dad, Tom - the one with the guitar, and husband of Els - is granddaughter Saar. Between the boys Warre (left) and Rik (right), is Warre's girlfriend Sarah. 

If you are wondering about the guitar, the family had prepared a little song for the bride and groom!

The weather gods had been on their best behaviour until then, allowing us to have pre-lunch drinks on the terrace, but decided that enough was enough half-way through lunch.

Thankfully, there was a lull between showers in the late afternoon, as we hadn't had the forethought to bring an umbrella. Son-in-law Tom snapped the below photo of us as we were walking in front of them along the cobbled linden-lined avenue back to the village and our car.

No rest for the wicked on Sunday, as we had the May edition of the indoor flea market to go to.

In contrast to the rest of the weekend, it was mostly sunny that day, which made the mercury climb to a reasonable 18°C.

The outfit I picked for the day's outing was almost entirely charity shopped, except for the green stretchy belt, which came from a fast fashion shop I won't name.

The maxi skirt with its groovilicious pattern is vintage and was a lucky find about 2 years ago. It even joined me on our Shropshire holiday in June 2022 (here).

The floaty floral bell-sleeved blouse is by Vero Moda and picked up the pinks and reds in the skirt's pattern. In its turn, the green of the blouse was echoed by the belt and the greenish-grey necklace charity shopped in Poperinge in September 2019. I can't remember which shop the red cat brooch came from nor when I found it. I was wearing the same green suede ankle boots I wore to the wedding.

Now, onto the flea market! As usual at this time of year, there weren't quite as many stalls, and some of our favourite sellers had given it a miss.  I was also feeling tired and not really in the mood.

Consequently, finds were few and far between, but I still managed to add to my brooch collection.

There seemed to be a green theme going on! Which one is your favourite?

 

At the close of April

After virtually skipping Spring, early Summer has arrived here in Belgium with temperatures into the mid-twenties and more. For once, this was well-timed, as most of us have been enjoying an extended weekend by making the bridge after Thursday's public holiday, Ascension Day.

Although this string of long-overdue sunny days has been very welcome indeed, it wasn't exactly conductive to writing a blog post. Particularly when its subject matter are those chilly, barely into double digits days of the last week of April ...  

But needs must so, for the sake of continuity, I'm treating you to a little catch-up.

If all things considered the weather gods were reasonably well behaved during out little getaway, they didn't exactly mend their wicked ways upon our return.  With continuing highs of only 10°C accompanied with yet more of the seemingly neverending rain, my Winter wardrobe still had to work hard for its money.

As work had been rather slow during my absence, my return to the rat race went a lot smoother than I expected. Nevertheless, I was still glad when Thursday, my final day of the week, rolled along.

The day stood out from the rest of the humdrum of office life by meeting up with my friend Inez for a cappuccino-fuelled natter during lunch break. Not to mention the fact that there was a dry spell after work which lasted just long enough to take some outfit photos.

Outfit particulars:

1970s A-line midi skirt and Diolen blouse: Think Twice 

Cable-knit tank top: charity shopped

Brooch and ring: flea market finds

Necklace and boots found on the high street

Proceedings were supervised by Bess, obviously!

Friday saw a mix of sunny spells and showers. The day's highs of 12°C were still nothing much to write home about. However, what with the weathermen having dangled the carrot of a sunny and warm-ish weekend in front of us, this didn't unduly bother us.

Being thoroughly bored with the dregs of my Winter wardrobe, I cast around for those items which hadn't made it out of my wardrobe for the longest of times, if ever.

The latter was the case for the orange and brown striped Dralon knit jumper I charity shopped back in November. It found its ideal partner in the chocolate brown, flower sprinkled Diolen maxi skirt picked up from Think Twice in June 2019.

The necklace, which came from a long-gone vintage shop, hadn't seen the light of day for many years, but turned out to be matching the yellow of my other accessories perfectly. Apart from the bird brooch and the chunky ring, these included the yellow woven fabric belt I'd found at the indoor flea market earlier that month.

We hadn't gone for a rummage at the charity shops for weeks, but the perfect opportunity presented itself as we had a bag of donations to drop off, for which we drove to the shop in Mortsel.

Much as I love my wardrobe full of vintage frocks, lately it have been the rails of skirts I'm heading for first thing.

As you can see, I was in luck, finding three skirts in three different lengths. First up is the off-white floral maxi skirt. It's by a Belgian label called Terra di Siena, the same label as one of my all-time favourite skirts (this one) which coincidentally I found in the same shop.

Next, I stumbled upon the green flouncy skirt patterned with massive flowers in the palest of pinks. It's by Jacqueline de Yong, a sub-division of the Danish Only label, and established in 2012. 

My final find of the day was a knee-length skirt, a burgundy floral delight by King Louie. The fact that it has pockets was a deciding factor!

And while we're on the subject of the latest additions to my wardrobe, I almost forgot to show you the vintage dress I found at Think Twice in the week before our Bruges break. Rather unusual for me, it's in a plain turquoise fabric, but it were the floral collar and trim as well the bodice's chevron pin-tucks and inset with row of tiny decorative buttons which won me over.

I'm sure it won't come as a surprise when I tell you that the forecasted sunny weather for the weekend came to nothing. What's more, Saturday was yet another grey and rainy day and, although the temperature was supposed to climb to the heady highs of 17°C, the conspicuous absence of any sunshine made it feel quite a bit chillier.

I ummed and ahhed in front of my wardrobe, finally deciding upon this Who's That Girl dress. Found in a charity shop at the end of February, this was its very first outing. I picked up the red of its front zipper and buttons by accessorizing it with a red cat brooch and a red and white beaded necklace.

My opaques matched the blue of the dress almost exactly, while my boots echoed the reds of the dress's trim and accessories. Not that I wore them for very long, as I only ventured outside for the outfit photos.

Instead, I decided to bite the bullet and finish my wardrobe exchange, hanging up the final batch of Summer frocks and vacuuming the newly filled bags of Winter dresses for their yearly sojourn in the linen chest. But don't worry, I made sure to still have plenty of colder weather options available!

My journal tells me I also switched around some of my coats and moved the buttons on a vintage rain coat which had never fitted me properly.

Catching up with blogland and watching an episode of Vera were the evening's activities.

Oh, and I did some reading as well. After finishing Muriel Spark's delightful A Far Cry from Kensington at the B&B, I picked Sarah Waters' Tipping the Velvet as my next read. After a fruitless search, I was lucky enough to find it on the charity shop shelves a couple of weeks prior. 

Sunday was supposed to be the best day of the weekend, but once again turned out to be quite the letdown. Thankfully, the rain held off, but it remained overcast for most of the day, with the oddest of sunny spells from mid-afternoon onwards. 

The 14°C the mercury eventually climbed to was tempered by a blustery, almost gale-force wind, which initially made us rethink our planned walk.

With all our will-we or won't-we dithering, it was too late to go further afield when we finally stepped outside. In fact, we almost made a U-turn when the wind did its best to blow us backwards, tugging at our coats and scarves and almost making off with our hats.

But we persevered and drove to nearby Boom park for a turn. This turned out to be not without its hiccups, as we narrowly escaped a falling branch.

But how green and lush it all was. The perfect backdrop for showing you my charity shopped King Louie coat, found for a mere € 6 in February 2022. I picked up the pinks in its weave with my fluffy scarf and marl-knit beret.

That just leaves the rest of my outfit, which was built around the green zig-zag patterned vintage St. Michael skirt, a gift from my lovely friend Vix.

I can' remember whether the blouse, its fabric the softest of polyester knits, was a charity shop or Think Twice find. However, the green short-sleeved Dralon cardigan was definitely picked up from the latter.

The charity shops provided the necklace, belt and even my bottle green ankle wedges, while the enamelled pansies brooch was a flea market find. 

So, that's it for now. I'll be making a start with the month of May in my next post. In fact, with our UK holiday appearing on the horizon - I can hardly get my head around the fact that we will actually be there in a month's time - I'll have to get my skates on to be caught up with everything by then.

See you soon!