New routines

When Jos was discharged from hospital on Saturday the 26th of October, the first couple of days were all about adapting to changes and establishing new routines.

If sleeping apart, in different rooms and on different floors, was a bit unsettling for us at first, Bess seemed to take it all in her stride, dividing her time neatly between the two of us, curling up at Jos's feet for a couple of hours and snuggling up against me for the next.

That was the easy part! Then there was the fact that Jos needed the assistance of a nurse twice a day. As a result of his UTI having gone haywire, he's currently living with a temporary urinary catheter, the drainage bags involved needing to be changed from day to night ones and vice versa. Thankfully, Jos soon got the hang of doing this himself. 

On Sunday night, however, the nurse - a lovely girl called Thaissa - noticed that Jos's feet and ankles were quite swollen, as a result of which they needed wrapping with compression bandages on a daily basis to help reduce the swelling. This meant that we couldn't wave goodbye to Thaissa just yet and every morning involved a waiting game until she had come around.

Medical issues aside, Jos was getting stronger every day and was soon walking to our garage - we're renting a box about 300 meters from Dove Cottage - to start our car which had been idle for weeks and go for short drives to top up its battery. 

As for yours truly, the weeks of 24/7 worrying, sleepless nights and keeping far too many balls in the air were beginning to take their toll and I was feeling utterly exhausted.

Needless to say, I was glad when Friday rolled along so that I could answer the siren call of the sofa. Although I was thoroughly enjoying my current read, Barbara Trapido's Brother of the More Famous Jack, I kept nodding off, regularly joining Bess for a short nap. At this rate, it'll be a while until I get to the bottom of my reading pile!

Friday the 1st of November was a murky and miserable day but, as we needed to get our heads cleared and Jos needed the exercise, we went for a short drive, making outfit photos outside our garage box upon our return. 

The day's outfit, the one in the first collage, was based around a green zig-zag patterned vintage St. Michael skirt - a much loved gift from Vix - and a fuchsia pink patterned blouse by the defunct Who's That Girl label, which I picked up from an outlet shop in November 2022. 

If all had been well, we would have spent the previous weekend at our favourite B&B, Het Soetewater, in Beernem near Bruges. What's more, we would have had the most glorious weather, which made it even more painful that we'd had to cancel. Nevertheless, we vicariously joined Kezzie and her husband CBC who were enjoying Veronique's hospitality that week, Kezzie keeping me in the loop of their Belgian adventures with regular and much appreciated WhatsApp messages!

Sadly enough Saturday's weather was a repeat of Friday's. Still feeling tired and somewhat under the weather, the day's activities were limited to the bare necessities, which including going for a big shop at the supermarket. The rest of the day was filled with some aimless pottering, a couple of household chores and another date with the sofa.

That morning I plucked this navy fit-and-flare Diolen dress scattered with green and sky blue motifs from my full-to-bursting wardrobe of dresses. Yes, they've been assigned a wardrobe all of their own, but I've been neglecting them somewhat lately in favour of skirts and blouses. I'm trying to be ruthless and weed out the ones which no longer make my heart sing and I'm still on the fence about this one.

The temperature kept hovering in the low double digits on Sunday, but this time the sun finally managed to get a look in. The perfect weather, in fact, to go for a walk and top up those sorely depleted vitamin D levels. So, after lunch, off to Middelheim we went. 

Unsurprisingly, we weren't the only ones who'd had the same idea, as we once again had problems finding a parking space. In the end, we parked at the side of the road near the so-called Artist's Entrance, which wasn't ideal as it would mean a bit of a trek to the main part of the sculpture park. The idea was that we would find Jos a sunny bench and that I would then go for a slightly longer solo walk.

After weeks of being either at work, at home, or at the hospital, it felt like utter joy to be here. So much so that I didn't even inwardly curse the people who inadvertently walked into my carefully framed photographs :-) 

I loved how the rays of the low-slung November sun was caught by Telling No Lies (1996), created by the Dutch contemporary draughtsman, sculptor, and graphic artist Henk Visch (°1950).

During my wanderings I came across a haphazard meeting of chairs. It was only when I uploaded the photos at home that I noticed a sixth hiding beyond the golden-hued shrubs. The eagle-eyed among you may spot it somewhere between the two chairs on the left.

To my outfit, which you'll get to see in a minute, I added a vintage red tartan coat, a gift from the gods of the charity shops in February 2023. My green beret and multi-coloured scarf were both bought on the high street and have been in my wardrobe forever. Once again, my charity shopped Mephisto ankle boots came out to frolic among the crunchy layer of Autumn leaves.

They took me firmly into the direction of the stunning Braem Pavillion, designed in Organic Brutalist style by architect Renaat Braem (1910-2001) and completed in 1971.

The concrete and brick building, its flowing horizontal lines nestling between the trees, remains a joy to behold, no matter how many times I've seen it. The white colour neutralizes the textural differences of the materials used, which are only apparent up close.

All too soon, it was time to return to the spot where I'd left Jos behind. In the absence of a free sunny bench, he'd settled for one of the park's silver painted chairs. 

But not before spending the time of day with Phoenix (1944) by Ossip Zadkine (1888-1967). a French artist with White Russian roots.

And here's my outfit! The skirt is another vintage St. Michael one. Part of a suit, I picked it up from Think Twice many years ago. The grey plaid pussy-bow blouse was charity shopped, while the vintage leopard brooch was a flea market find. More leopard appears in the buckle of my stretchy belt, which was last Summer's sales bargain. The sage green suede boots were bought while on a city trip to Middelburg in November 2018.

Apparently Sunday had been a one-off, as we were back to murky, foggy and utterly gloomy weather in the first week of November. 

If it hadn't be for the Think Twice sales, I wouldn't have had any incentive to leave the office during my lunch breaks. But prices were down to € 5 on Wednesday and € 4 on Thursday, so I thought I'd make the effort. After all, I hadn't even been in any of their shops for weeks.

Here's what I found. First up, on Wednesday, a Swedish made black floral velvet skirt. I found another item as well, but wore it almost straight away, so you'll get to see it in my next post.

This funky blouse - by a label called New Lady - cost me all of € 4 on Thursday. It's very lightweight so might have to wait for slightly warmer days.

Finally, there was this dove grey patterned dress. Its label says Madame Chic - which made me laugh - and seems to be by the Finnish Petri label. I've already worn this one too.

So, that's it for our first week(s) back to semi-normality. I hope to be back soon with more mini-outings - and outfits, obviously - very soon.

Thank you for reading!

The calm before the storm

Before I'm taking you on a final trip in the time machine, allow me to put your minds at rest by telling you all is still going into the right direction here, with Jos feeling more and more like his old self with each passing day.

Soon I'll be back to posting about more recent times, but needs must as I'm determined to travel back in time to those bittersweet late September and early October days before our lives were temporarily put on hold.

As yet, on Saturday the 28th of September, we didn't have an inkling of the storm which was heading our way, although the signs were all there that things weren't quite as they should have been. At least Jos seemed to have regained his appetite for the time being, which definitely got our hopes up.

We were treated to a mix of sunny spells and showers that day, with a drop in temperature to just 12°C. 

This might sound like the height of luxury at the time of writing, as for the last couple of days we've been plunged into a prelude of Winter, with granite grey skies from which sleet is driven against our window, and the mercury having a hard time not to drop below zero. Still, those 12°C at the tail end of September made me feel the cold and reach for the long-sleeved vintage tartan and denim dress I found at T2 back in the Spring. 

And what a joy it was to wear! I did replace the denim belt it came with and wore it with my orange half-elasticated belt - a fast fashion find back in the mists of time - instead. 

The multi-coloured beads were charity shopped in Poperinge a couple of years ago, while the enamelled mushroom brooch was a flea market find back in February.

My journal reports that I made a start with my biannual wardrobe changeover, caught up with blogland and spent some time on the sofa in the company of my current read. 

Sunday's outlook was a sunny one, with the weather gods treating us to a much more comfortable 15°C.

We'd slept very late, only dragging ourselves out of bed at around 9 am, which is very unusual for us. As a result, it was a bit of a slow morning, although my journal insists that I put away the majority of my sandals in favour of a batch of ankle boots.

Both the ochre-based tartan circle skirt and the blouse with its psychedelic blue, yellow, tan and white pattern were charity shopped, while the stretchy belt and tan boots - the latter the same ones I was wearing on Saturday - were bought on the high street.

Still, having been cooped up inside all day on Saturday, we were determined to go for a walk on Sunday afternoon. After much umming and ahing we'd decided on De Schorre, a recreational domain and nature reserve on the site of a former clay pit about 10 kilometers from Dove Cottage.

It was unusually busy so that we had to drive around in circles in search of somewhere to park our car. But then Jos remembered that one of his childhood friends - the one who kindly gave me all those wooden drawers in which I'm storing my brooches - was living virtually around the corner and we ended up parking in front of his garage.

Initially we were slightly put off by the number of people who were out and about. If we'd had the presence of mind to check in advance, we would have been aware that an event was taking place at De Schorre that weekend and would have looked for an alternative. But never mind, now that we were there we decided to just grin and bear it.

Steering well clear of the crowds by keeping to the boardwalk paths at the edge of the domain, we soon came across the first of the 7 trolls who have been living here since 2019. They were created by Danish artist Thomas Dambo using old pallets, recycled wood, broken branches and fallen trees and vary in height between 7 and 18 meters.

Meet Arvid, who is sitting astride the boardwalk, allegedly looking for dead branches in the forest with which to create works of art.  Doesn't she look magnificent with her nose ring and punky hairdo?

On the bottom left in the above collage you can see the start of the barefoot path which is leading off from the boardwalk. No footwear allowed! I definitely didn't envy the two children and their Mum who had just disappeared from sight after squelching through the sticky mud when I snapped the photo.

Still on a mission to avoid the crowds, we took a left turn and walked into the direction of a water-filled ex-clay pit, which is being ruled over by a rusty dredger. On its further reaches, another troll seemed to be wistfully looking at its reflection in the unearthly green-hued water. This one is called Mikil, whose mission it is to scoop water from the pool with a bucket. The pool itself is said to be 25 meters deep!

A brief look at my outerwear before returning to our car. My plaid jacket was a Think Twice find in February 2018. It's belted quite low on the hips and the belt loops are cleverly hidden underneath the pocket flaps. See here for a close-up. They are actual pockets too!

I'm sure my blue frilly scarf and sage green Mephisto boots don't need further introduction. Both charity shop finds, they have featured on the blog more than once.

The first week of October was mostly grey and miserable, although the temperature kept playing nicely at around 15°C.

I'm sure that the gloomy Autumnal weather was conductive to Jos starting to feel down in the dumps once more. His appetite had done a runner again by the second half of the week, and he'd started suffering from the first of the tell-tale signs of his impending UTI.

Still, we managed to photograph a couple of outfits, starting with this Autumn flavoured combo built around one of my beloved Diolen skirts. It was actually one of my very first Think Twice finds many, many years ago. Both its companion, a brown and orange striped Dralon jumper, and the matching wooden beaded necklace were charity shopped while the Autumn leaf brooch was a flea market find.

Lunch break highlights that week included the usual cappuccino catch-up with my friend Inez on Wednesday and scoring a striped jumper from Terre Bleue's closing down sale on Thursday.

Another late start to the day on Friday, when the grey skies had finally made way for a sunny day. Not that we were able to enjoy the latter, as Jos wasn't feeling at all well by then, with his appetite virtually non-existent. In fact, he only managed to get down some rice pudding and a couple of protein drinks.

I tried to lift the veil of gloom hanging over Dove Cottage by putting on a fake smile and wearing a favourite frock, but only half succeeded.

The frock in question, with its delightful raspberry-shaped buttons, was found at Episode - a Dutch chain of vintage shops quite a bit pricier than Think Twice - in February 2019. I picked up the brooch, which features yet another Autumn leaf, from Memory Lane Antiques and Vintage in Shrewsbury back in June.

Saturday the 5th of October dawned sunny and cold, with some hoar frost in the morning, but climbing to highs of around 14°C during the day. I'd slept very badly  due to worry about Jos who, although he said he felt a tiny bit better and was less lethargic, still wasn't eating much.

I needed to escape the house, so Jos drove me to the edge of town charity shop where I took my time browsing the rails before walking home.

Although my heart wasn't really in it, I still managed to bag quite a few additions to my wardrobe. 

First up are two skirts, a fudge coloured pleated velvet maxi one and a yellow circle skirt which has a blue twin already residing in my wardrobe.

Then there were a funky turquoise and red long-sleeved top by the sustainable Belgian Froy and Dind label, and a short-sleeved parrot print one by Sweet Soda.

Finally, a red flower-embroidered short-sleeved vintage jumper and a pair of flat purple Mary Janes.

My outfit that day: a groovilicious maxi skirt charity shopped in June 2022 and a travelling companion ever since, worn with a pink, grey and brown zig-zag jumper which has been in my collection since 2018.

With sunny spells and temperatures up to 16°C, I persuaded Jos to accompany me for a short stroll on Sunday. For this we drove down to the park in Boom. It would only be a short outing, though, as Jos was feeling utterly exhausted ... 

Not even our encounter with a host of tiny toadstools or the dragonfly who insisted on sunbathing on my boot were able to lift the cloak of impending doom ...

That day literally was the - albeit relative - calm before the storm and as looking back at the weeks which followed is still far too raw and painful, I'm putting the past to rest now.

See you again very soon with fresh new posts!

Bittersweet September

Hello there! Are you ready for another trip in the time machine?

A little update before we embark, though: Jos is doing - and most importantly, feeling - great. We've been on a couple of short outings, I've been doing some vintage shopping, and we've resumed making outfit photos on my non-office days. We're not completely back to normal yet, but we're definitely getting there.

For now though, I'll be taking you back in time to Sunday the 15th of September, exactly two months ago to the day.

My journal tells me it was a day of sunny spells and highs of about 20°C, and that we went for walk in Solhof Park, in our neighbouring village of Aartselaar.

I was initially wearing my denim jacket, but that was quickly removed as it was more than warm enough to do without. Underneath, I wore a long-sleeved peasant-style blouse, originally from Zara but picked up in a charity shop in Shrewsbury back in June.

My green and white plaid textured polyester skirt was an old Think Twice find - and a firm favourite at that - while both the multi-coloured wooden beaded necklace and the sage green suede Mephisto boots were charity shopped. The fuchsia suede belt was a bargainous buy in the Summer sales last year.

Solhof Park was originally part of the pleasure grounds of a castle, laid out in Capability Brown inspired English landscape style. Now the municipal park, it is deliciously wild and unkempt, its compact size perfect for a Sunday afternoon stroll.

Those of you who have accompanied me here before might remember the gazebo built on top of an abandoned ice house. You can just catch the merest glimpse of it in the photo on the bottom left. As usual, I started making my way up towards the gazebo, but the narrow winding path spiralling up the mound was so overgrown with creeping bramble stems attempting to catch me unawares, that I gave up and returned to the safety of the woodland below.

The week that followed continued to be gorgeously warm and sunny, with highs into the low twenties, even if most days had a chilly start and it often took a while for the sun to show her face.

The perfect weather to squeeze in some of the items in my Summer wardrobe which had so far remained unworn. 

For some reason, however, the above dress - yet another vintage find from Think Twice - always seems to come out of hiding on balmy late Summer or early Autumn days. Perhaps it's the cornucopia of fruits (I detect apples, pears, cherries and grapes) among its floral print?

My favourite green suede ankle boots - in the running for best charity shop find ever - came out to play as well, although for some reason they were giving me gyp that day. Aaargh! 

Another day saw me taking the blue and orange white-trimmed King Louie blouse I'd charity shopped earlier that month for its first outing. It found its perfect companion in a floral vintage skirt which has been living in my wardrobe for many years. I can't for the life of me remember whether it was a charity shop or a Think Twice find.

Both the orange beaded necklace and white celluloid flower brooch were charity shopped, as were the denim blue Tamaris shoes, which I picked up back in August. Yet again, my belt was the only retail buy in my outfit.

It was near the end of that week that Jos started feeling unwell, losing his appetite and being generally down in the dumps and complaining of tiredness. 

At first we weren't unduly worried, as the same had happened to him about twelve years ago, at exactly the same time of year and under similar circumstances, so that we were convinced it would only be a matter of time until the episode passed of its own accord.

Nevertheless, that weekend was a quiet one. To take my mind off things, I indulged in some pottering, catching up with blogland and photographing my latest finds. In all honesty, I'd completely forgotten about these two until I started editing the photos for this post, as there wasn't even any mention of them in my journal.

The lilac woollen item is a tank top which I picked up at 70% off in the closing down sale of the Belgian Terre Bleue label which filed for bankruptcy earlier this year. Even with 70% off it was a bit more than I would normally pay, but I couldn't resist its gorgeous colour. Plus, I've got a bit of a thing for tank tops lately ...

The green and peachy orange Diolen dress was found at Think Twice that same week. I'll have to schedule another wearing of it soon, so that I can show it to you properly and in more detail.

My actual outfit of that day - we were Friday the 20th of September by now - was built around this multi-hued millefiori patterned dress sprinkled with blowsy cream roses. You can see a close-up of the pattern here.

I also finished the Antonia Fraser memoir I'd started during our September holiday, after which I selected another memoir, by Everything But The Girl's Tracey Thorn from my reading pile. Both were picked up from National Trust second hand book shops in June. 

While I was working on a blog post on Saturday morning, my sister called me to ask if I was at home and if she could come around. Turned out she wanted to show me some photos her son had sent her from Scotland. They were of the place in the foothills of Ben Nevis where he'd scattered the remainder of my Dad's ashes. After planting a biodegradable urn with his ashes, which also contained seeds of a tree, on All Saints' Day in 2016, we kept some of his ashes behind in a miniature urn exactly for the purpose of scattering them in the place where he lost his heart many years ago. 

Even after all these years - he passed away eight years ago this August - I'm getting quite emotional just writing this, so that I'm staring at my computer screen through a veil of tears. 

Saturday's outfit was another Summery skirt and top combo and a mix of Think Twice, charity shop and flea market finds.

Grey, olive green, red and white floral skirt: Think Twice

Olive green t-shirt, red beaded necklace, red pleated belt and red Kiarflex shoes: charity shopped

Glass ring and vintage celluloid Scottie brooch: flea market 

Fast forward another week and, after struggling with his appetite all week and resorting to protein drinks to keep himself from going under, Jos suddenly started eating again. It would only a be short-lived relief, although thankfully we had no idea of what was to come at the time. We even booked a couple of nights at our favourite B&B in Beernem near Bruges for the last weekend of October.

The temperature had taken a dive from its Summery heights by Friday the 27the of September. A gloomy and very windy day, it felt much cooler than the 15°C shown on the thermometer.

I had a hairdresser's appointment that morning and ended up with goosebumps in spite of wearing a jumper. I even had to nip into the charity shop near the salon to buy a faux-fur gilet to wear on top.

The jumper in question is by Belgian designer Nathalie Vleesschouwer, charity shopped last Autumn, while the black floral Diolen skirt was a Think Twice find back in the mists of time. My mock-croc ankle boots, cat brooch and blue squishy belt with its square buckle were all retail buys.

I was a bit early for my appointment, but much to my delight the entrance gate to what is basically the the back garden of Antwerp's St. Paul's church was open, so I that I could nip inside for some local sightseeing.

I wasn't the only one visiting the Lourdes grotto, which dates from the beginning of the 20th Century, although I might have been the only who wasn't offering a prayer to the illuminated lady in her mock-rock cave. In hindsight, perhaps I should have followed suit.

The garden is located in the former orchard of a Dominican monastery which existed here from the13th Century until 1797, and whose romantic ruin is the focal point of this peaceful oasis in the city.

So, that was it for now. I'll be back with a final journey back to troubled times shortly. Hope to see you soon!

Goodbye to the West Country

Once again, thank you so much for all your lovely comments on my last post. Jos is doing well and getting better day by day, although I guess it will be some time until everything is back to normal. But although the latter might have received a bit of a battering and changes are still ongoing - which, as an HSP person I'm not finding particularly easy to deal with - our resilience has rather caught me by surprise. 

As I was writing my last post, I was reminded of the fact that in the past blogging has more than once saved my sanity, and in fact my heartbeat instantly slowed down as I sat in front of my PC and shared my thoughts and feelings with you.

For obvious reasons, no outfit photos were taken, nor did we embark on any adventures during the past few weeks, so I think I'll just continue where I left off, and take a couple of trips in the time machine back to before our lives went pear-shaped.

As I still owed you the final episode of my travelogue, why don't I start with that?

Admittedly, I had to rewind and reread my previous travel posts to get back into the moment. What with everything that has happened since, it's a bit like looking through a pair of inverted binoculars, shrinking and slightly distorting my memories of our week away. 

Anyway, here goes ...

We've arrived on Friday the 6th of September and, after treating us to a blustery and granite grey day at the seaside on Thursday, the weather gods had now dropped all pretense at good behaviour. 

According to our weather app, there wouldn't be any let-up in the rain any time soon, which meant that we would have to get our thinking caps on. After all, having spent the first week of September in the area since 2012 we had exhausted most of its wet weather options. 

But fear not, we did find exactly what we were looking for at the Bakery Museum on the outskirts of the town of Veurne, about 30 minutes from our cottage.

The rain clouds were taking a breather as we arrived, so that we managed to make it from our car to the museum's entrance without getting wet. Once inside, I donned apron and baker's hat and briefly joined the line-up of Confiserie Vanbelle's personnel.

The museum is located in the former buildings of the 17th Century Zuidgasthuishoeve, one of the guest houses in Veurne which used to care for the poor, the sick and the elderly.

The museum, which is recognized as a regional museum by the Flemish Community, opened its doors in July1985 and has undergone a major renovation and expansion in 2001. 

The museum's collection comprises a mind-boggling 24,000 pieces relating to the baking trade and baking culture in Flanders from the 19th Century to the present.

The collection was started in the 1970s by Walter Plaetinck (1931-2018), a travelling salesman who collected the materials from the hundreds of bakers who were his customers.

As well as everything to do with making bread, the museum displays ice-cream, speculaas and chocolate moulds, waffle irons and other baking equipment. 

There's a replica of a 1960s bakery shop, where you can listen to the latest gossip, or you can take a look behind the scenes in the baker's pantry, where you can marvel at the array of ingredients and try your hand at a scent guessing game. 

Afterwards we sampled some strawberry tarts accompanied by the ubiquitous cappuccinos in the museum café.

Having finally run out of steam, the rain clouds had decided to call it a day after we arrived back at the cottage, offering the perfect opportunity to show you my outfit.

My favourite denim maxi skirt was joined by a Finnish peasant-style blouse - both picked up from Think Twice - and a charity shopped orange Zoë Loveborn cardigan. My necklace was charity shop find too, while the green stretchy belt with its faux-bamboo buckle was last Summer's sales bargain.

We were happy to see that hop-picking had commenced in the hop field across the road, the proceedings of which we watched from the comfort of our first floor perch for a while. 

Later that evening the sun, who had been conspicuous by her absence for days, finally managed to get a look-in, painting a golden glow on the horizon just before going down.

All that moisture had left a misty morning in its wake, which the sun soon made short shrift of, promising a perfect Summer's day. 

The temperature was on the up from Friday's mediocre 18°C and would climb to a balmy 23°C by the afternoon.

We had plans for that afternoon - the only ones which were set in stone that week - but as we had oodles of time to spare in the morning, we decided to go for a walk in the woods.

I've lost count of the number of times we've been for a walk in the local Helleketelbos, which is about 10 minutes drive from the cottage. However, one way or another, and in spite of the numbered markers and handy map, we always manage to get lost here.

Knowing this, we threw caution to the wind this time and started our walk on a path we'd never taken before. One which wasn't indicated by a marker ...

Although this should have been a recipe for disaster I'm happy to report that we didn't get more lost than usual. We might not have ended up where we thought we would, but we soon came across some of the landmarks we remembered from our previous visits, such as the tiny half-timbered cottage (two collages above, bottom right). And no, I didn't add a photo from one of our UK holidays by mistake (above, top left). 

While walking on one of the main paths, I noticed a flash of bright orange in the undergrowth of the woodland to our right. Thinking it must be some kind of fungus, we decided to investigate and clambered through the thicket of unruly shrubs and thorny bramble stems. Might this be Orange Peel Fungus (Aleuria aurantia), I wonder? 

Later on, we spotted this peach-lookalike specimen on a tree trunk. My search for its name remains fruitless, so I'm hoping one of my knowledgeable readers might be able to help me out. Kezzie, I am looking at you! 

Having arrived home without any further hiccups, we had lunch and then took a little siësta before proceeding to our afternoon destination, which involved a mere couple of minutes's drive from the cottage: the house of local sculptor and ceramist Lucien De Gheus (1927-2013).

The artist was successful in the post-war fifties and sixties, his main oeuvre consisting of sculpture,  ceramic objects and bas-reliefs. The peak of his success was reached at Expo 58, the 1958 Brussels World's Fair, where he won a gold medal for ceramics.

Right from the start the house, which was built by the artist himself, was meant to be a sculptor’s home, with a large and high hall/exposition area, a heatable winter studio and a summer studio with high windows to the north to let in neutral light.  

Lucien and his wife Suzanne moved into the house in August 1962 and stayed there until their deaths. The “Gheuzenhol” (transl. Gheuze's hole), as the artist called his home, exudes his soul in every corner and keeps fascinating visitors to this day. The house is a  sample of all the artistic disciplines he excelled in: stained glass, paintings, glazed floor tiles, ceramic windowsills, furniture and chandeliers.

By will Lucien De Gheus left his house and possessions to the foundation Private Stichting Lucien De Gheus – Druant, in order to open up his artistic legacy to the public. 

He also stipulated that the foundation promoted contemporary art by organizing Summer exhibitions in the Museum House. This year's exhibition was called Fuga's en Pimpelmezen (transl. Fugues and Blue Tits) and I even recognized the work of one of the artists. It's the sculpture two collages above, bottom right, and it's by Sharon Van Overmeiren (b. 1985), whose work I'd admired at Middelheim.

We absolutely loved the juxtaposition of the various works of art with the paraphernalia of daily life as lived by Lucien and Suzanne, who was his muse.

Also, I could have moved lock, stock and barrel into this wonderfully spacious 1960s house.

It's simply mind-boggling that, in spite of having holidayed in the area for so many years, this was our very first visit to this fascinating museum. But it definitely won't be our last!

So, that was it, our September getaway all wrapped up. Finally!

Before returning to the here and now, I'll be taking another couple of trips in the time machine. I hope you'll join me for the ride.

See you soon!