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!