A jumble of July outfits

A glance at the calendar makes me realise that - eek! - in just three weeks' time we will be back in Poperinge for our annual September holiday! As my blog has only just made it to July, it's high time for a catch-up of what has been happening in my life since my days of leisure back in June!

In the first half of last month, however, most of my time was either been spent at work or preparing for our flea market, which happened on the 13th of July, so it will mainly be two weeks' worth of outfits. In fact, there will be no less than nine of them in this post!

Now, let's get this thing started ...

My return to work wasn't nearly as stressful as I'd expected. Things had been relatively slow while I was away, so that I was able to get back on track in no time. This was a good thing as a heatwave was now well and truly upon us and, in spite of the coolness provided by the office aircon, my brain was at risk of slowly but surely turning to mush.

My orange and off-white tiered cotton skirt, picked up in the C&A sales in the Summer of 2022, was the perfect choice for Monday's highs of 32°C. My blog tells me that it wasn't the first time I wore it with this charity shopped King Louie top. 

I can just make out the pale yellow cat brooch I pinned to the latter, while further accessories were a yellow wooden beaded necklace by Les Cordes - charity shopped with its green twin in the Summer of 2020 - and a stretchy belt with hexagonal faux-tortoiseshell buckle. My comfy tomato red sales bargain sandals - easily my most worn pair so far this Summer - are making yet another appearance.

With the thermometer recording highs of 38°C, Tuesday the 1st of July was the hottest day of the year so far. I was wearing one of my flimsiest cotton maxis - by Grace & Mila, but yet another charity shop find - its floaty butterfly sleeves providing additional ventilation.

I was fine until I took the tram home. Being devoid of aircon, it was even hotter inside than it was outside, which turned my 20-minute or so journey into pure horror. I was a complete wreck and gasping for air by the time I made it to our pick-up point. As I could wring gallons of sweat from my frock by then, I chucked it into the laundry bin when I got home, and made Angelica do the honours a couple of days later.

As always when heatwave temperatures are forecasted, I was carrying my Spanish fan (the black flower printed and lace-edged one at the top of the above collage) to provide a bit of coolness while travelling, but that day it had been more effort than it was worth.

I've got quite a collection of fans, actually, although apart from the Spanish one they are all purely decorative, some of them being quite delicate.

Not quite the collection to rival Lady Labouchere's at Dudmaston Hall, but it's a start, isn't it?

The heatwave temperatures persisted on Wednesday, but it was a relief to note highs of "only " 32°C.

There was lots of wind from mid-afternoon onwards, and even a shower or two in evening, so that it eventually cooled down to around 28°C, which made for a much more comfortable sleep.

I managed to stay reasonably cool throughout the day, wearing another cotton skirt I'd found at Think Twice during a post cappuccino catch-up trawl with my friend Inez back in June. It's wide, button-through, sensationally swooshy and has a generous split at the back. And oh, isn't it print just delightful?

My dotty top and accessories were all charity shopped at one time or another, except for the green birds in flight brooch, which was brought back from one of our Welsh holidays.

The Summer sales having started the previous day, I even ventured outside to have a quick look, although I did keep to the airconditioned shopping centre near my office. My efforts were rewarded with a brown polka dot linen mix midi skirt and a necklace in the Mango sales.

We didn't photograph my outfit on Thursday as I wasn't feeling at all well. After a string of days of good behaviour, my pesky tooth was playing up again, which triggered a headache and made me feel nauseous. 

In spite of a good night's sleep I still felt tired and nauseous on Friday morning, so that I initially considered cancelling my hairdressers appointment. I was glad I persevered, though, as there's nothing like a fresh haircut to make you feel better. That, and wearing a favourite dress. In this case a vintage cotton Madras check one, which has been a Summer staple ever since I picked it up from Think Twice many years ago. Accessorized with one of my stretchy belt, a vintage Scottie dog brooch and the necklace from the Mango sales, I was ready to face the day.

I even nipped into the charity shop a couple of houses down the street from the salon. Although I always go for a browse whenever I'm in the area, this might very well be my first purchase here. Surely you agree there was no way I could leave this cat-patterned pussy-bow blouse behind?

Saturday the 5th of July was a much better day all around, with a mix of sunshine and clouds, and highs of a most comfortable 23°C.

I was wearing a mix of vintage and new-to-me: the dotty green Diolen blouse, which was long overdue an outing, was an old Think Twice find, while the floral extravaganza skirt is a charity shopped King Louie. I picked up the rich wine red colour of the skirt with my wooden necklace and painted metal flower brooch, both of which were supplied by the gods of the charity shops as well.

After vacuuming and mopping the kitchen and bathroom floors, the rest of the day was spent relaxing at home. My journal tells me I sewed on some buttons, finished and published a blog post and started reading Clock Dance by Anne Tyler, which I'd recently found on the charity shop shelves.

Having ready many of her books, I absolutely love Anne Tyler, and this definitely wasn't a disappointment.

Sunday was grey and rainy, the mercury only making it to 20°C. What a difference with those heatwave temperatures of less than a week ago! I mean, I was even wearing a top with three-quarter sleeves!

The top in question is by the defunct Belgian Wow To Go label and, like most of their stuff in my wardrobe, was a charity shop find. As were all the other components of my outfit, except for my sandals. Yes, those tomato red ones again! 

The skirt with its exotic fruit pattern is by Basler, a German fashion brand, established in Berlin in 1936. Good old Google tells me the label is known for its timeless, elegant designs and high-quality materials, catering to a market of women aged 45 and above. Well, that's me then :-)

The weather gods kept coming up with uncertain weather in July's second week. However, the temperature crept up to 24°C and more sunny spells appeared as the week progressed.

I kept being plagued by bouts of toothache and headache, so that I had no energy left for posing for outfit photos after work. 

Even my lunch breaks were curtailed by my lack of get-up-and-go, although I did make it to Think Twice one day, finding this delightful cobalt blue wicker bamboo handled bag for a mere € 4.

The prospect of my Friday off prompted the effort to go outside into the passageway to show you what I was wearing on Thursday. 

Apart from the vintage embroidered flowers brooch - bought in a Shrewsbury antiques centre in 2019 - and the charity shopped green sailor style knit top, everything else was bought brand new on the high street. I'm glad to say that all have become true wardrobe staples over the years.

Friday was spent assembling our clothing racks and cramming them full of vintage treasures, hopefully to be sold to like-minded ladies. 

Thankfully, it was a mostly pain-free day which was a great boost to my mood and energy levels.

Standing in front of my wardrobe full of shamefully neglected vintage frocks, my eyes alighted on stripy 1980s affair with its square neckline.

A pink stretchy belt with rectangular buckle, pink and black beaded necklace and pink straw flower brooch completed my outfit.

I'm skipping Saturday to arrive on the morning of the flea market on Sunday the 13th of July.

Waking up just after 6 am, our street was already a hive of activity, with traders and their gear arriving from far and wide to set up their stalls. With our pitch just outside our front door, there was no need for us to hurry, so we started setting up at around 7 am. Even at this early hour, and with the flea market only officially opening at around 9 am, punters were starting to arrive on their bikes, asking if we had any old coins, watches, phones - you name it - for sale. Next year, I'll make a sign so that they stop bothering us!

Apparently, this was the biggest the flea market had ever been. Our pitch was number 427, but we definitely weren't the last one! 

My friend Inez came to keep me company and help me out, which was very welcome indeed. But although I did sell quite a bit - more than last year! - there was still lots of stuff left by the end of it. Admittedly, we kept replenishing the rails after each sale, as I hadn't been able to hang up everything at once. 

And yes, yet again I lost count of all the times I was told by people that they loved my clothes but wished they had the guts to wear them. Or, wait for it, that is was cheaper in the charity shop!

I only made the briefest of forays myself, making only one purchase: some painted wooden beads, which cost me all of € 1.

We packed up what remained when the market ended at 4 pm, dragged everything inside and collapsed on the sofa.

Much to the relief of our furry monster who had been a bit restless with all the comings and goings.

I'll be back with a further July catch-up soon. See you next time!

More days of leisure

Can you believe we are in August already? I certainly can't, particularly since I'm feeling that the month of July has largely passed me by. The reason for this will soon become clear, but as my blog's feet are still firmly planted in the final week of June, let's make a start with that, shall we.

It was Wednesday the 25th of June, and I'd woken up with a whopper of a headache. I'd also been suffering from recurring bouts of unexplained toothache for a while, which I initially put down to the dentist's rigorous cleaning of my super sensitive teeth a couple of weeks earlier. As this has happened to me before, I wasn't unduly worried at first.  However, when the pain seemed to be getting worse, I'd called the practice to make an appointment, only to be told that the first available slot was on the 1st of August. Unfortunately, my dentist, who is semi-retired and has closed her private practice a couple of years ago, is now only working at a group practice one and a half days a week, so that there's always a bit of a wait. It's no use trying anywhere else, as it's nigh on impossible to find a dentist who is prepared to accept new patients. 

So, the only thing left to do was taking painkillers when necessary and making the most of the pain-free periods, which were still quite plentiful at that time. Sometimes whole strings of days went by without any sign of pain at all!  

However, that Wednesday wasn't such a day and as this was supposed to be my week of leisure I was feeling a bit sorry for myself. Most of the morning was spent lying on the sofa in my dressing gown, but at least I was in good company!

Both headache and toothache had taken a backseat by late morning, so that I could finally indulge in one of my favourite pastimes: picking my outfit for the day.

I'd earmarked one of the skirts I'd charity shopped the other day for its first outing. And what a joy it was to wear, having a high Swoosh Factor, as Sheila would say. 

Rooting in my shelves of tops, I happened upon this orange and blue leaf-patterned one, a charity shop find back in 2022, which tied in with the skirt's colours perfectly. 

The blue and orange theme set, I selected an orange stretchy belt with a massive enamelled buckle - last year's high street sales bargain - and a charity shopped necklace featuring chunky blue stones. Although both are barely visible in the photos, I was also wearing a blue plastic ring and navy sandals, both of which had their origins on the high street. Looking at the photos, it now dawns on me that I wasn't  wearing a brooch!

We spent the afternoon running some errands and nipping into the charity shop in Mechelen for a quick rummage. Here, I found a teal cherry patterned King Louie maxi dress and a belt which matches the cherries almost exactly. Again, it was the unusual buckle which cinched the deal.

Thursday was a pain-free day, with a drop in temperature from Wednesday's high twenties to a much more bearable 23°C. The day's mix of sunshine and clouds was accompanied by a welcome breeze, which managed to cool things down considerably in Dove Cottage's stifling upstairs rooms.

This enabled me to make a start with the flea market preparations, tackling the bags of clothes I'd put aside over the past year, assessing them for their saleability and pricing them. There were still a couple of boxes of unsold items left from last year, so that surveying the heap of clothes I'd labelled, I was starting to wonder how I'd fit it all on my one and only clothing rack ...

The afternoon was spent going for a long overdue walk in our beloved Middelheim as, shamefully, we hadn't been there since April!

We left our car in the large car park catering for Middelheim as well as its neighbouring parks and entered the Human Nature zone of the park. 

Once inside, one's eye is instantly drawn to the striking group of fountain sculptures taking pride of place in the formal Hortiflora garden (above, bottom left and top right and below, top left and bottom right). The sculptures' collective name is Adrift (2023) and are a creation of the French artist Camille Henrot (°1978), who had a solo exhibition here in the summer of 2022.

Henry Moore's King and Queen (1952) is a favourite, which I can't help catching on camera whenever we're here. 

Henry Moore often combined forms from nature with the human figure—in this case, bony structures and royal heads. Moore felt his sculptures were best viewed in natural settings, such as Middelheim Museum.

I was wearing a fuchsia crinkly cotton tiered skirt I found at Think Twice back in March. The retro style top with its naive flower print is by Zoë Loveborn and was a high street buy many years ago. My blush pink stretchy belt was a recent fast fashion buy, which has already earned its stripes in the meantime. 

My necklace, which is vintage and came from a Welsh antiques centre, picks up the pops of orange in the top's print, while my brooch - yet another high street find - echoes the pink of the flowers almost exactly.

We paused for outfit photos in Het Huis (transl. The House), a half- open pavillion designed for temporary exhibitions and opened in 2012. For the past couple of years it had been home to Birdcalls by the American artist Louise Lawler, in which, using her own voice, she sounds out the names of twenty-nine well-known artists. 

This is what was there instead ...

Shiny polyester sausages form a disturbing scene. A white sausage hangs from a rope, while a black and brown sausage lie cut open on the ground. 

This work, which is by the Antwerp based German artist Kati Heck (°1979) is called Dabei sein ist Alles. Dating from 2006, it used to be elsewhere in the park. The polyester sculptures are at once funny and endearing, but they also have something tragic and gruesome about them.

For this new installation in Het Huis, the artist came up with some extras. The photo of the bride standing between two grotesque sculptures is by the Belgian photographer and performance artist Ria Pacquée (°1954) and is called The Girl Who Was Never Asked to Marry. 

The apple vending machine (above, top left and bottom right) seemed to be part of the installation as well ...

Further artworks we met that day were:

- Summer Breeze (2020) by Belgian sculptor Peter Rogiers (°1967) - top left

- Bambatha I (2023) by South African visual artist Zanele Muholi (°1972) - top and bottom centre

- Große Badende (Great Bather, 1971) by German sculptor Wieland Förster (°1930) - top right

Friday's weather was almost a carbon copy of Thursday's. Thankfully, it was another day when my head and teeth were on their best behaviour.

The charity shops provided most of the day's outfit, except for the brooch, which was a flea market find, and my favourite and super comfortable tomato red sandals, which were a post-Lockdown sales bargain in the Summer of 2020. 

With a heatwave forecasted for the days ahead, I made the most of the moderate temperatures to do some more flea market preparation, making sure I had sufficient clothes hangers and making a start with curating my stash of cast-off jewellery, belts, shoes and bags. 

We even drove down to an interior and accessories shop on the outskirts of the nearby town of Lier. Here, our mission, to find a second clothing rack for our flea market stall, was completed successfully. 

The temperature was already on the up on Saturday the 28th of June, with the mercury climbing to 29°C.

The day was spent pottering and watering the plants in their pots and baskets, followed by a longish siesta after lunch.

The giraffe print skirt I'd scored earlier that week came out to play, as did one of the belts I'd found on the same day. 

My label-less t-shirt top was a charity shop find too, having joined my wardrobe when I fell head over heels with its Art Deco-style print in December 2022.

To keep the giraffe in my skirt company, I pinned a vintage leopard brooch - picked up from the indoor flea market in November 2019 - to my top. The funky necklace with its wooden and plastic beads has been in my collection forever, bought from Accessorize when they briefly had a shop in Antwerp back in the mists of time.

And then Sunday, my final day of leisure, arrived, giving us a taste of what was to come by heating things up to 30°C. 

It was another day of gentle pottering, reading and napping, as well as mentally preparing myself for my return to work, which I wasn't exactly looking forward to. What with our scuppered plans and my toothache throwing a spanner in the works from time to time, my batteries definitely weren't fully recharged.

Trying to stay as cool as possible was the order of the day, so I dug out this plunge-necked chevron striped summer dress by the defunct Belgian Who's That Girl label. Like most of the items I own by this label, it was acquired via a charity shop. 

I'll be making a start with what I've been doing  - and most importantly what I've been wearing - in July in my next post, but for now, let me put your minds at rest. 

After my toothache got really bad in the second half of July, it was clear that waiting for my 1st of August appointment would be out of the question. Thankfully, the practice had had a cancellation, so that I was able to see my dentist on the 22nd July. It took an X-Ray of my upper right teeth to find the culprit, which, as it wasn't salvageable, was duly removed. I'm happy to report that all is well and I have been pain-free ever since!

And on that note, I bid you goodbye for now. Hope to see you soon!

Days of leisure

On Saturday 21st of June we came home from our little sojourn in Poperinge to hot weather, a happy Bess and thirsty patio plants. After a thorough watering of the latter and unpacking a handful of essentials, we left the rest of our luggage for another day and spent most of the afternoon not doing very much at all.

As the temperature had climbed to 30°C by now, I was feeling hot and sweaty after our journey, which wasn't helped by the sauna-like conditions of Dove Cottage, which hadn't had an airing for a week. A quick rummage through the hot weather section of my wardrobe unearthed this lightweight green cotton kaftan style dress. 

Charity shopped at the tail end of last Summer, this was actually its very first outing. To make up for its long wait on the rails, I lived in it for two days running.

We'd brought one of the delicious salads from the local supermarket in Proven - one of Poperinge's sattelite villages - for our evening meal on Saturday, but needed to stock up to replenish our bare cupboards on Sunday morning, buying the ingredients for that night's Salade Niçoise among other things.

With the temperature still stuck at 30°C nothing strenuous was on the menu that day, and we joined Bess for a long siesta in the afternoon.

As I'd taken two weeks off work as usual, I still had a full week of leisure to look forward to. While in our cottage we'd tossed around some ideas, including a day trip to Bruges and being tourists in our own town for a day. In the end, none of these plans came to fruition, as we preferred not to stray too far from home and to take each day as it came.

Courtesy of a deliciously cool night, the mercury had dropped to the low 20s on Monday, the sun playing a game of tag with the clouds for most of the day.

After a morning of pottering, making a start with the unpacking and doing the first of a series of wash loads, we drove down to Duffel for a rummage in the charity shop followed by a walk in the park. Always contrary, I'll tell you about the latter first!

Starting our walk by circumnavigating the largest of the ponds, we spotted a heron at the water's edge.  I'm sure it had spotted us as well, but it was kind enough to indulge me by making me come close enough for a photo.

The starting point of my outfit of that day was the green embroidered linen blend skirt I queued for the better part of 20 minutes for during Zara's summer sale in July 2022. I never regretted its purchase as it has become a true summer staple, worn with many different companions over the years.

Wearing it with this Finnish peasant-style blouse - picked up from Think Twice in June 2023 - was a first though, but definitely one worthy of repeating. Aren't they a match made in heaven?

Both the big bird brooch and the green wooden necklace by the Belgian Les Cordes label were charity shopped, while the stretchy belt was a recent Think Twice find.

The hot weather combined with the lack of rain in the last couple of months had turned some of the grass into hay, particularly in the field at the edge of the park where a baby stone circle lives. Nothing prehistoric about it whatsoever: it's fairly recent and seems to commemorate some kind of village milestone. 

The park used to have imaginatively planted herbaceous borders, which unfortunately, and for reasons which remain a mystery, were dug up a couple of years ago. There's still a great variety of flowering shrubs, though, with quite a few Hydrangeas, now in their prime, among them.

The vegetation was still relatively lush and green at the water's edge in this, the first of the summer months, with the trees across the pond donning their best verdant hues, which they will gradually and inescapably lose over the coming months.

Suitably refreshed of mind and body, and flush with our success at the charity shop, we returned home. 

This is what found its way into my basket, starting with my favourite find, a pair of wide-legged silk-blend Fab India trousers, closely followed by a no-label giraffe print midi skirt.

Although I've got plenty of belts, I can never resist a good old rummage through a box of them, adding no less than three to my collection. Only the pewter coloured stretchy one with its linked metal buckle hasn't been worn yet at the time of writing.

The jewellery display yielded a red wood and metal necklace and a pair of translucent plastic ones in chartreuse and turquoise. Not that I needed any more necklaces either ...

My final find was done in the book aisles. As I'd just finished my previous read, I started The Dive from Clausen's Pier by Ann Packer that very same day. The novel tells the story of Carrie Bell, a 23-year old woman who is engaged to her high school boy friend. Unhappy in the relationship, she is considering ending it when her fiancé Mike dives off Clausen’s Pier into shallow water and breaks his neck. Although I had my doubts at first, I thought it was an excellent and absorbing read.

Tuesday 24th of June brought a mix of sunshine and clouds, with a light shower thrown in around midday. The temperature was on the up again, though, effortlessly reaching the forecasted 25°C for that day. 

One of the upsides of a week off work without any definite plans is the amount of aimless pottering one can indulge in, not to mention having oodles of time to spend in front of ones wardrobe(s) dithering over what to wear.

I found the cotton, grooviliciously patterned skirt I was wearing at Think Twice last August and thought I'd found it its perfect patterned in the t-shirt I'd paired it with on its first outing. However, the t-shirt's latex printed red chevrons had rubbed off and all but ruined my belt by the end of the day, after which I showed it what's what by relegating it to the bin. No second chances for that one!

Still keeping to red to echo the pops of red in the skirt, I selected my red and white flower sprinkled King Louise blouse, charity shopped back in the mists of time. To its collar I pinned a tiny vintage summer hat brooch decorated with red and blue flowers. A flea market find, if I remember correctly.

Both the blue beads and the red belt were charity shop finds. The eagle-eyed among you may recognize the belt as one of Monday's haul!

We'd purposely waited to replace the spent contents of our hanging basket - the sorry remains of its spring planting of daffs and pansies - until we were back from our holiday, so that was our afternoon outing sorted. 

At the garden centre, we selected some purple and cream Surfinias for the basket, as well as a Begonia and pots of Dianthus, Coreopsis and Astrantia to brighten up the passageway and the plant table under the awning outside our back door.

As we drove past our local charity shop on our way home, we stopped for a quick rummage. Surely, it would have been silly not to!

The gods of the charity shops delivered once more, spoiling me with two retro-style skirts (the birds and leaves print one is by Fever London) and a quirkily printed blouse by the defunct Belgian Who's That Girl label.

Back at home, I planted up everything we brought back from the garden centre and gave all the pots a good soaking. 

In spite of the heatwave temperatures during our week away, nothing seemed to have suffered much, except for the strawberries, which I had to cut back completely ... No worries though, as it produced new shoots within the day. Whether it will still produce any berries this year remains to be seen, though. 

So, that was it for now! As my week off wasn't nearly finished yet, I'll be back with more tales of leisure in a couple of days. 

See you soon!