April in Bloom

Slowly but surely life at Dove Cottage is going back to how it was before it was taken hostage by Jos's health problems.

My lovely husband is a changed man ever since he got the all clear from the hospital last week! He is walking at a faster pace, standing taller, has an unmistakable glint in his eye and suddenly seems to possess a boundless amount of energy. In fact, nowadays it's me who's limping behind. As worrying has been my mind's default setting for all those months, it's as if I've got relearn being happy and carefree again. 

On the cusp of turning another page of this year's calendar, I've still got to make a start with posting about the month of April, so, without further ado, let's travel back to the very beginning of this month.

I'm skipping April Fool's Day, making straight for Wednesday the 2nd of April. Now that the days are noticeably longer, it's possible to make outfit photos in the passageway after work once more. 

Sunny but a bit windy, which somewhat tempered the day's highs of 18°C, I opted for a skirt and long-sleeved blouse combo. 

My green and white plaid skirt, its fabric a heavyweight polyester jersey, was a vintage find from Think Twice many moons ago. It was joined by a yellow patterned Wow To Go blouse charity shopped in February 2024. The red pleated belt, fused glass ring and beaded necklace were charity shopped as well, while the vintage celluloid brooch featuring a trio of Scottie dogs was a flea market find. 

Wednesdays generally have a cappuccino catch-up with my friend Inez in store. We were both duly impressed by the lovely barista's latte art! 

As the Think Twice sales were once again in full swing, with prices down to € 4 that day, I snapped up this funky green vintage blouse.

The wind had somewhat died down on Thursday, which was a gloriously sunny day with temperatures gently nudging 20°C.

I thought it was time to give my vintage Venetia frock, with its pattern of tiny white dots and garlands of frothy pink flowers, another outing before its yearly sojourn in the antique linen chest.  Picked up from a long gone and sadly missed vintage shop, it has been gracing my wardrobe's rails for the better part of 15 years.

I picked shades of green for my accessories: a minty green for my belt, necklace and opaques, and a shamrock green for my ring and brooch. The fabulous merhorse brooch with its golden mane and tail is ceramic and was a flea market find in January 2020.

In need of some peace and quiet, as well as a Vitamin D top up, I walked towards Den Botaniek, Antwerp's small but perfectly formed botanical garden, during my lunch break. 

It was a delight to see the first of the tulips putting in their annual appearance. The star-shaped and lightly scented pastel pink and yellow Candia tulips (Tulipa saxatilis) were particularly appealing, while the swathes of buttery yellow ones provided additional sunshine.

It's hard to believe that only the garden's retaining wall separates the woodland path on the bottom left from a traffic rich inner city street (above, top left).

Yellow tulips were mingling with a clump of Spring Snowflakes (Leucojum vernum), while my heart made a jump of joy upon spotting a patch of Dog's Tooth Violets (Erythronium, above, top right).

This particular species is called Pagoda, and it's clear to see why, as the nodding, buttery yellow flowers do resemble the tiniest of pagodas. However, silhouetted against the shiny green leaves, they do look rather alien and menacing, don't you think?

The garden's main attraction this time of year, though, is the magnificent Magnolia tree with its snow-white goblet-shaped blooms. The petal strewn lawn was a giveaway that I was just in time before their inevitable decline.

On my way back to the office, I passed one of Antwerp's plethora of Think Twice shops. With prices now down to € 3, I couldn't resist going in for a quick rummage. 

The embroidered Madeira bag was too gorgeous to be left behind and surely there's always room for more belts in one's wardrobe.

Walking through the small and almost empty shopping centre near my office, I hopped into the Green Ice outlet shop, where everything is going at 50% off. I've already got a couple of pieces from this Belgian label in my wardrobe, which have now been joined by this fabulous multi-coloured maxi skirt.

Another sunny day greeted us upon drawing the curtains on Friday the 4th of April. Highs of up to 22°C had been forecasted by those supposedly in the know, but the morning still had a bit of a nip in the air.

As we would be out and about by around 10.30, I dressed in long sleeves once more. 

Remember the  magenta cotton peasant-style blouse with the security tag issue I bought in the January sales? Ever since I managed to get the tag removed, it had been hanging outside my wardrobe, waiting for its first outing.

Its wish finally came true that day! It found its perfect partner in a vintage cotton skirt I charity shopped back in the heady days of September 2020. Remember lockdowns, obligatory face masks and social distancing? It all seems quite unreal five year down the line ...

But I digress! The pink flowers in the skirt's pattern matches the colour of my blouse almost exactly, so pairing them was a no-brainer. 

I thought the blouse called for a brooch worn at its neck. I'm not sure what made me pick out the brown hearted Coventry one - a flea market find in December 2022 - but I loved how it looked, so I added more brown with the faux tortoiseshell necklace, charity shopped at the tail end of 2021. The stretchy belt with its flower-shaped buckle was found on the high street last month.

When my friend Inneke messaged me earlier that week, suggesting a walk in Middelheim sculpture park on Friday, I jumped at the chance. I even managed to convince Jos to join us, as Maurice (Inneke's husband) would be willing to keep him company on the terrace of the museum café if necessary.

In the end, both he and Maurice accompanied us on our walk, after which we enjoyed glasses of non-alcoholic beer on the sun-drenched terrace. It felt so good to be spending time away from Dove Cottage together!

Back at home, I snapped the first of the double tête-à-tête daffs we brought back from the garden centre the other week. That's non-ribbiting frog right there on the bottom right.  He used to make a ribbit sound when you walked past him, but in spite of cleaning him up and changing his batteries, the poor thing has been mute for years. Nevertheless, he once gave Phoebe a fright when out of the blue he started ribitting continuously! 

I'm not sure what Phoebe's successor's reaction to the annoying creature would have been, but here she is, helping with the washing up. After Nancy's comment on my previous post that she was missing Bess, I just had to include her in this one, hadn't I?

I spent part of Friday afternoon going through my wardrobe with a fine comb, filling a bag for the charity shops and putting aside a bunch of items of no-longer loved vintage to be sold at our next flea market. 

And then, unfortunately, I pulled a muscle in my back ... Don't worry, all is well now, but I was in pain for the better part of a week!

To be continued in my next post ...