Wrapping up November

By the time this post is published the countdown to Christmas has well and truly begun. There's just one more working day to struggle through as my boss insisted we come to the office on Monday, and that's it: I'm only expected back in January! Not having much affinity with Christmas at the best of times, I might not be feeling particularly festive, but let me tell you that these days of leisure - a seemingly never-ending nine of them - will be very welcome indeed!

In a bid to get ourselves into the mood, we did succumb to putting up the tree last Sunday. As we currently don't have space for our regular "faux fir", we picked up a smaller and significantly slimmer one at the garden centre, one which neatly fits into our sitting room. We were living in hope that Bess would refrain from attempting to climb this one, but I think you can take an educated guess at how that  worked out ... **

In the meantime, my blog hasn't even made it to December yet, which means I'll have to get my skates on and whizz through those final two November weeks.

The weather had definitely taken a turn for the worse in the month's penultimate week, with highs of around 3°C and lashings of rain, hail and sleet. We even had some proper snow one evening, which thankfully didn't stay around for long and was all but gone by morning.

As sunny spells remained the rarest of commodities, I whipped out my phone to take this snapshot of Antwerp's Stock Exchange during one of my lunch breaks. What a treat that lovely blue sky was!

The sky reverted to its customary granite grey for the rest of the week, the weather gods upping the ante with flurries of snow while I was waiting at the dentist for a check-up on Friday.

We left it too late for outfit photos that day, but here is what I was wearing on Saturday 23 November.

It's always a joy to wear this vintage blue and off-white tile-patterned dress on such a wintry day, its textured polyester fabric perfect to combat the low single digit temperatures.

I kept it simple by adding just a handful of accessories in toffee shades: a vintage enamelled butterfly brooch and tiger eye pendant from the indoor flea market and a charity shopped top stitched belt with gold rimmed buckle. The eagle-eyed among you may catch a glimpse of my mustard opaques while my tan boots - my most-worn pair so far this season - are making yet another appearance on the blog.

With the weather once more playing spoilsport there was nothing for it but to go for a rummage, for which we selected the charity shop at the edge of our town. 

Pickings were slim, but I still managed to fall head over heels with a navy and orange Zara skirt, which you'll get to see me wearing the very next day. A chunky buttonless orange cardigan by Belgian designer Nathalie Vleeschouwer also ended up in my trolley. You'll get to see me wearing that too.

My final find was this wounded vintage swallow brooch, which was begging me for mercy. At just € 1,50 I was more than willing to give it a home in my modest collection. When I posted her on Instagram, several people initially thought she was made of chocolate. Well, someone has clearly been nibbling the tip of her wing!

Sunday was a day of sunny spells and a couple of light showers. Incredibly, the mercury had climbed to 17°C, making it the mildest 24 November since records began!

Bess was making the most of a ray of sunshine by basking in it while she was claiming Jos's lap for a cat nap.

No cat nap for yours truly, who had a couple of chores to tick off her list. Then, after lunch, we decided to return to the park in Duffel for a stroll.

In spite of the unseasonably warm temperature, it was all but blowing a hoolie out there. On top of that, it had started to drizzle the minute we'd stepped from our car. Not to be deterred by such details, we walked into the direction of the castle ruins which, much to our amazement, are finally being restored.

What with all the rain, the paths were far too muddy for a closer inspection. 

We returned to the main part of the park via the towpath of the River Nete (below, bottom right) which runs adjacent to it, the menacing sky holding the promise of yet more downpours.

At one point, the sun made a feeble and short-lived attempt to break through the multiple layers of grey, briefly lighting up the few remaining russet leaves hanging on for dear life on the odd tree.

As always, I was in awe of the tenacity of this ancient split and hollow tree, looking brittle and frail, yet refusing to give in to the inevitable. The things it must have witnessed in its lifetime would make for captivating stories, I think. Why don't we pause a while and listen to its whispering conversations with the wind?

I was wearing the Zara skirt I'd scored in the charity shop on Saturday. My vintage burgundy tweed jacket with its knitted sleeves and yoke was supplied by the gods of the charity shops as well, as was the fluffy bubblegum pink scarf, both of which were more than sufficient for the mild temperatures of that day. My red Kangol beret was picked up from Think Twice about a year ago.

Back at Dove Cottage, it was time to show you the Zara skirt - and the rest of my outfit - in detail, although we did struggle a bit with the failing daylight.

I just love the texture of that skirt, which reminds me of bubble wrap. I've got a cardigan with a similar texture lined up for its next outing. 

Incidentally, the thin Norwegian style jumper is charity shopped Zara as well. As an extra layer, I wore the orange Nathalie Vleeschouwer cardigan which had also made its way home with me on Saturday.

Oranges and navy blues were the obvious choices for my accessories, a mix of vintage (brooch), second hand (necklace) and high street finds (ring and belt).

November's final week brought moderate temperatures of around 12°C accompanied with yet more and often quite torrential rain. It was on the news that week that 2024 had so far been the wettest year in Belgium ever. Or at least since records began on 1 January 1833.

 

This was my view from the tram on my way home on Wednesday afternoon ...

Thankfully, some sunshine at last on Thursday which, as it was Thanksgiving and our head office is in Miami, was a bit of a quiet day. 

As the tower crane used for renovating the Art Deco skyscraper opposite our office building has finally been removed, we've got an uninterrupted view towards Antwerp's cathedral once more. The morning sun was painting its tower in liquid gold and made me reach for my phone, inwardly cursing its camera's limitations and regretting that I didn't have my proper camera with me. This, therefore, will have to do!

The sunny spells continued on Friday, clearing up after its initial foggy start with the garden covered in a flimsy layer of hoarfrost.

My journal insists that we went to the supermarket and that I gave the downstairs rooms a quick once over. Oh, what an exciting life I've been leading lately.  

But at least I dressed up, like I always do, picking a previously tried and trusted combo of a vintage polyester and mohair blend skirt and a charity shopped rose-patterned King Louie jumper.

Accessories were a sales bargain green suede belt, a charity shopped green wooden Les Cordes necklace, a vintage brooch from the indoor flea market and a green plastic ring which was a gift from my wonderful blogging friend Claire.

So, that's November all wrapped up. December, I think I am ready for you!

** Don't worry, photos of her exploits will be in my next post!