Back in time for August - Part 2

Edit Saturday, 27 September 2025

I am pleased to inform you that the Blogger team has replied to my feedback and that they have re-evaluated and reinstated my previous post as it is no longer considered to be sensitive. Phew, what a relief! This means that those of you who don't have a Google account can now access the post without logging in. 

Thank you for bearing with me!

Original post:

Dear readers, I have received a notice that the post I published earlier today was was put behind a warning for readers because it contains sensitive content as outlined in Blogger’s community guidelines.

As this post mostly contains outfits I wore back in August, I have absolutely no idea what I did wrong and have therefore asked Blogger for feedback.

Please do not worry and just click on I understand and wish to continue, which allows you to read my post. 

If anyone of you should detect my error, please do not hesitate to let me know in the comments.

Thank you for your understanding.

Back in time to August

Apologies to those of you who were looking forward to another installment of this year's September travelogue. Don't worry: as we were only two days in, I've obviously got another couple of travel posts up my sleeve. However, as I'm way (and I mean way!) behind with posting about my month of August, I'm treating you to a veritable barrage of Summer outfits. In fact, there are so many I haven't posted yet that I'll be needing a second post to cover the rest. 

So, without further ado, here's what I've been wearing - and doing - in the first half of the month.

The weather gods were on their best behaviour in the first week of August, starting off with a mixed menu of clouds and sunny spells accompanied with temperatures in the low twenties from Monday to Wednesday.

On Tuesday the 5th this Diolen Delight made it out of my wardrobe. My wardrobe has its fair share of Diolen, a popular 1960s/1970s polyester, its bright colours and prints vying for attention. Most of these frocks were picked up from Think Twice and other vintage shops over the years, but this particular one was a rare charity shop find back in 2023.

For my accessories I picked orange to contrast with its funky pattern of blue dots. All of these were second-hand finds, except for the cat brooch, which came from the delightful Katshop. Right opposite my hairdresser's salon, this wonderful little shop caters for cats as well as for their long-suffering servants.

By Thursday the 7th, the mercury had managed to climb to 26°C. During my lunch break, I took refuge from my hectic office by going for a cappuccino catch-up with my friend Inez. She's more like a sister than a friend, really, and we're actually calling each other big sister (that's me!) and little sister.

Anyway, I was wearing this vintage frock I'd picked up from a Shrewsbury antique centre in June 2024.

The turquoise flowers in its pattern shouted for attention, which I gave them by adding more turquoise by way of my accessories.

Suitably caffeinated, we finished by going for a rummage. Well, that's what you get when you meet up in the coffee corner of one's favourite vintage shop! 

I fell head over heels for this vintage floral maxi skirt, which you've already seen me wearing as it accompanied me on our September travels.

Friday's weather was a repeat of Thursday's. Although it was my day off, sleeping in wasn't on the menu, as I had an appointment with Michel, my hairdresser of 30 years (!), for a colour and cut. Unfortunately, Michel's retirement is on the cards in the near future. I will be devastated, as finding someone to follow in Michel's shoes will be verging on the impossible ...

The vintage dress I was wearing was another lucky charity shop find, which made it entrance into my wardrobe in the Summer of 2021. Trimmed with white bias tape at the collar and cuffs, with an abstract seascape decal and a wave-like pattern on the skirt, it was definitely love at first sight.

I always seem to go for blue as its companion, and as it works so well I didn't see any reason not to this time around. Particularly as it allowed me to wear the matching sandals I charity shopped back in June.

Friday the 8th of August was also International Cat Day, and Bess willingly posed for me for her annual state portrait. But oh dear, being a model is quite exhausting!

Saturday was yet another sunny day, with the temperature slowly but surely creeping towards the high twenties.

I kept cool by wearing a mix of millefiori patterns. My vintage button-through cotton skirt was an old Think Twice find, while the top with it eye-catching collar, which is by Belgian label Lucy Has A Secret, was charity shopped for a fraction of its undoubtedly astronomical retail price in 2019.

Unusually for me, all my accessories (belt, butterfly brooch and perspex ring) were picked up from the high street at various times.

Same weather again on Sunday the 10th when, after our usual Sunday morning chores, we drove down to the municipal park in the nearby town of Boom.

Instead of walking along the brook which runs through the park like we usually do, we took the park's perimeter path until we arrived at 't Kleibrood, a centre for environmental education. There's a herb and flower garden as well as some vegetable beds which seemed to have yielded a good crop of courgettes. We were even offered some by one of the caretakers!

From there, we ventured into the heart of the park where, unsurprisingly, we found the water levels in the brook and ponds to be very low. It had been some time since we'd had a decent amount of rain. As I'd suspected at the time, the weather gods were saving it all up for our holiday ...

We finally came across some of the park's population of waterfowl at the edge of the largest of the ponds, where I instantly took a liking to these youngsters, who were kind - and tame - enough to pose for me.

Much as I loved their black and white outfits, I opted for full-on colour and a mix of patterns. My curtain couture skirt - its moniker was earned by the fact that it was obviously, and rather rudimentary sewn from an old curtain - came out to play. The exotically patterned and frilly butterfly-sleeved top was charity shopped in the Spring of 2023.

It's been a while since I shared my reads, so here's the novel I was engrossed in at the time. Set in the US in 1960, its backdrop ranges from the jazz clubs of Greenwich Village to the smoke-filled rooms of the Kennedy campaign.

We were in for a heatwave in August's second week, with temperatures effortlessly reaching highs of 30°C and more.

My hot weather wardrobe came into its own that week, starting with this combo I wore on Monday. My crisp organic cotton maxi skirt with its flower meadow print and two fuchsia pink crocheted lace strips at the hem was bought brand new from C&A three summers ago. The bright orange cotton top - by the Belgian Gigue label - was charity shopped around the same time.

The cotton shirt dress with its funky floral pattern was a Think Twice sales bargain back in June 2017.  It has been a Summer staple ever since and has featured on the blog many a time over the years. It's definitely in my top 10 of favourite Summer frocks!

The flowers in its print were echoed by my brooch - a pink straw sunflower - and the flowers adorning my ancient Clarks sandals. 

And look who wanted a piece of the action!

I'd missed my usual tram when going home, and as I wasn't keen on waiting for the next one to come around while wilting in full-on sunshine at 33°C, I crossed the street and walked into the airconditioned Veritas shop, where I was seduced by this € 3 sales bargain gecko brooch ... 

... which obviously I had to wear the next day.

Hopefully, the little fellow liked ice cream, as I pinned him to the green ice cream cone patterned Only t-shirt I charity shopped last Summer. 

The Vero Moda red and white tiered faux-patchwork maxi skirt was a recent bargainous outlet shop buy.

With the mercury stuck at 33°C, the day was yet another scorcher, from which I took refuge in the small shopping centre near my office during my lunch break. 

It was in one of the few remaining shops which hadn't yet closed down that my eyes alighted on this dream of a skirt. With a fantastic pattern like that, I'm sure you'll understand that resistance was futile ...

Part 2 of my August outfits to follow shortly. But first things first: part 3 of this year's September travelogue will be coming up next!

Hope to see you soon!

A little French adventure

Hello friends and readers! I'm delighted that you are joining me again for the second installment of my latest travelogue. To refresh your minds: we were staying at the little cottage in Belgium's west country which has been our home away from home for many years.

One of the advantages of staying in Poperinge, in the far west of Belgium commonly known as the Westhoek, is that it is just a stone's throw from the French border. In fact, the road which passes our cottage leads all the way to border town Watou, a matter of just under 6 kilometers away.

And so it was that on Monday the 1st of September - the first day of school after the long Summer break - saw us driving to Cassel, a charming little hilltop town in the north-eastern corner of France.

With the weather forecast for the week ahead speaking of stormy weather, we were pleased to notice that on this day at least the weather gods were showing us some mercy. In fact, our 30-minute journey under a bright blue sky dotted with cotton wool clouds couldn't have been more delightful.

Driving on a succession of quiet country roads through fields of green, we suddenly spotted Cassel hill on the horizon. It might look like a mere bump on the horizon here, but the hill the town is perched on is about 176 meters above the Flanders plain.

The final stretch of our journey was on a bumpy cobbled road which zig-zags up the hill, until finally the town centre is reached. On our two previous visits, in 2017 and 2021, we were able to snag a rare free parking spot at the edge of the Grand'Place, so we were hoping to do the same this time around.

However, our hopes were dashed and we had to drive around in circles and part of the way back down the hill until we finally found a spot on the Rue de Bergues, a quiet back street with a view! Having been there before, I instantly recognized the octagonal Horne chapel we'd passed when following the town trail which starts at the Grand'Place. After leaving our car, making sure with a local that there was no charge, we tried our luck at the chapel, but unfortunately found its doors firmly locked. Still, I managed to capture some of its interior through the grilles before making our way to the town centre.

This meant either walking back up the road we'd driven down on, or proceeding into the direction of the Place Vandamme, where a cobbled footpath leads uphill to the top of Mont Cassel.  Although this would involve a more strenuous walk by far, it would also be the most picturesque, so that it was actually a no-brainer!

Apart from the panoramic views of Flanders stretching as far as the eye can see, the hill is worth climbing for the Casteelmeulen (transl. Castle Mill), a post mill situated on the highest point of the hill on the site of a former castle. The present mill dates from the 18th century and is a listed building. Meulen, by the way, is the old-fashioned Flemish word for mill, while the modern word, which we use on the other side of the border, is molen.

We've been told that the people of French Flanders are proud of their Flemish heritage and that there are still evening classes teaching the language, which, confusingly, is a little bit different from the Flemish we speak on our side of the border.

Having to share its limelight with the mill is the equestrian monument of Marshall Foch, who had his headquarters in Cassel from October 1914 to June 1915, during the Battle of Ypres. 

Ferdinand Foch (1851-1929) was a marshal of France and commander of the Allied forces during the closing months of World War I, and generally considered the leader most responsible for the Allied victory.

We descended the hill by way of the Rue du Château, passing a couple of examples of what I'm euphemistically calling delightful dilapidation, with their peeling paint and rusty hinges. I loved the contrast of the pink geraniums with the flaky green paint of the window frames and, in one of the immaculately maintained houses on the other side of the street, the lace curtains which paid homage to the mill on the hill.

Having finally made it to the Grand' Place, our faintly rumbling stomachs told us the time of day. With Monday being the closing day of the majority of eating places here, we'd taken our precautions and packed a picnic. This turned out to have been the best decision as the only decent place which was in business was chock-a-block. The day's highs of 22°C being tempered by a fierce wind, sitting outside wasn't an option so that most people had fled inside.

We took shelter on a bench in front of l'Hôtel de la Noble Cour, a 16th-century Flemish mansion which is home to the Musée Départemental de Flandre, where we enjoyed the cheese and ham sandwiches we'd made that morning.

Feet rested and stomachs filled, we admired the 16th-century Renaissance façade with its abundance of stone carvings.

Classified as a Historic Monument, l'Hôtel de la Noble Cour is considered one of the most beautiful Flemish buildings in the Hauts-de-France region.

We then continued our explorations by walking around the corner and underneath the Porte d'Aire, one of Cassel's four remaining medieval town gates.

At the end of the Rue d'Aire lies one of the access points to the Chemin de Remparts, which skirts the town walls and consists of old cobblestone paths and narrow alleys.

The final stretch leads through an alley between houses, at some point only 70 centimeters wide, and eventually emerging onto a road leading back to the Grand'Place.

Still far too early to call it a day, we walked the length of the Grand' Place until we arrived in front of Cassel's recently restored main church, Collégiale Notre Dame de la Crypte, a listed monument since 1981.

While Jos took a breather on one of the church chairs, I explored its lavishly decorated interior, which included stained glass windows, wall paintings of various saints and ... a statue of St. Jeanne d'Arc which apparantly was only discovered in 2020. 

The crowned girl who is reclining below the altarpiece is St. Philomena (291-304), the patron saint of a wide variety of people and causes. Among these are babies and children, those trying to conceive, desperate or forgotten causes, prisoners, virgins, and youth. Little is known about her life, but it is believed she was a Greek princess who became a virgin martyr and died at 13-years-old. In 1961, a decree was issued by Rome stating that due to a lack of historical evidence to support the traditional story of St. Philomena’s life, her feast day was to be removed from the Roman Calendar. In doing so, many Catholics mistakenly took this to mean that St. Philomena was somehow no longer a saint, and devotion to her faded. Not here in Cassel, though ....

Oh, and look, here's St. Francis of Assisi, who was the first to receive the stigmata.

And no, I'm not knowledgeable about saints at all, I just love their at times gaudy statues. I was intrigued by poor St. Philomena's, so I just had to google her ... and then I came across St. Francis as well.

Having finished our explorations, we walked back up the Grand' Place, where we had a restorative petit café - which came with the tiniest of Madeleine cakes I'd ever seen - before girding our loins for the trek back to where we'd parked our car.

Of course, I couldn't help stopping to photograph some more charming little details along the way!

The sun had done a disappearing act by the time we were back at the cottage, with the sky holding the promise of imminent rain. 

However, there was still time to pose for outfit photos on our little balcony.

I found the black floral maxi skirt at Think Twice during a lunch-time rummage with my friend Inez in August, while the peasant-style denim blouse was a charity shop find back in April. Both were united in their first outing which took them abroad :-)

But the day still had a little surprise up its sleeve. 

Looking down from the balcony, we spotted this gorgeous furry creature, who was watching us with a  look of recognition in her eyes. It was none other than the tiny kitten we'd secretly fed and made friends with last year! She started mewing pitifully, so of course we had to go down and pet her. And yes, she got a little treat from us as well. But shh, don't tell!

Hop fields and artworks

Oh my, how time flies! When I last posted, I'd just finished packing our bags for our week away, and here I am two weeks later, our holiday having whizzed by in the blink of an eye. 

I've been back on the hamster wheel since Tuesday,with the inevitable chaos I returned to at work having already sapped a large portion of the energy I'd gathered while we were away. Now, I'm finally sitting down and making a start with my travelogue, hoping to revive some of it while I'm reliving it all, one perfect day at a time. And perfect it definitely was, even if the weather gods did their best to throw one or two spanners in the works. 

My holiday wardrobe was built around a handful of maxi skirts, which I wore on ration, and a selection of short-sleeved tops and long-sleeved blouses to meet with all kinds weather, plus a cardigan or two for layering. 

The sturdy denim skirt I travelled in, which has two generous slits at the sides, was a second-hand find from the Shropshire Cat Rescue charity shop in Shrewsbury in June 2022. The  yellow patterned Wow To Go blouse was a local charity shop find in February 2024. 

After a reasonably straightforward drive of just under two hours, we arrived in Poperinge mid-afternoon on Saturday the 30th of August. We'd stopped at the local supermarket to buy the ingredients for our evening meal and breakfast before making our way to our long-time happy place, Marjolein Guesthouse. 

No matter how many times we've been here, our hearts are always making leaps of joy when we open the cottage's French windows to step onto the balcony with its enchanting view across the domain and the patchwork fields of the landscape beyond. It was looking particularly painterly with a congregation of white clouds scudding across a blue sky.

It's easy to ignore the often busy road at the front, leading to border town Watou, at this time of year mostly frequented by agricultural traffic bringing in the harvest. As usual, hop picking hadn't yet started in the fields across the road, but as we have learned that hops are a crop which is regular as clockwork, we knew it would only be a matter of days before we'd spot the familiar red hop picking machine.

Marjolein Guesthouse might have made its first appearance here on the blog in September 2016, our initial visit was four years prior, in 2012. As our first journey here was nothing if not traumatic, it is testimony to the charm of the cottage and the area in general that we kept returning again and again and that we were now here for the 15th time.

Ready for a trip down memory lane?

Down memory lane ...

Setting the time machine's control for 2012, we won't forget our very first trip to Poperinge in a hurry.

Here we were trundling along the motorway when, just after passing the city of Ghent, our car - a pea green Renault Twingo - gave up on us. Thankfully, Jos had the presence of mind to steer her towards the hard shoulder. As we have breakdown insurance, we made a phone-call and soon one of their mechanics pulled up in front of us. I remained in the car, and in my mind's eye I can still see him opening the bonnet, taking one look and slowly shaking his head. The verdict, which sealed our car's lot, was that the timing belt had broken.

The upside was that the insurance covered a replacement car for five days, which was exactly the length of our holiday. Still, it was hours later than planned and with shattered nerves that we drove through the cottage's gates for the very first time!

Now, let's return to the here and now, or rather, to Sunday the 31st of August.

Drawing our curtains, we were delighted to see the landscape beyond our window bathed in golden early morning sunshine. Sadly, our luck wouldn't last, as an army of angry-looking clouds was doing away with the last traces of blue while we were having breakfast. Sure enough, it didn't take long for them to release their liquid load.

We had plans for the afternoon, but nothing was set in stone for the morning, so we decided to stay put until the rain clouds had departed elsewhere. According to the weather app on Jos's phone, their departure would be imminent ... 

When, finally, by late morning, the rain had been reduced to a light drizzle, we grabbed our coats and umbrellas and drove to Poperinge - our cottage is on the outskirts of the town - for our usual exploratory stroll.

Having parked our car around the corner, we made our way to the Grote Markt (market square). Before we reached our destination, however, it started raining more heavily again, which made us duck into a doorway at the side of the town hall. Here, the prison cells - dating from 1913 - and execution pole in the courtyard beyond can be visited. During World War I, many Belgian, British and French soldiers spent one or more nights here. They were mostly sentenced for drunkenness or for staying away from their quarters. 

For some soldiers, however, this was death row. It was where they spend their last hours, waiting to be executed. At least four soldiers were executed here and in one of the cells there's a very haunting cinematic impression of a soldier waiting to be shot at dawn.

The rain seemed to have taken a brief respite while we'd been inside, so we continued to the Grote Markt which turned out to be partially cordoned off due to a festival which had taken place on Friday and Saturday. 

Most of the cafés lining the square seemed to be closed as well, and as we weren't prepared to join the posse of cyclists which had descended on the terrace of the only one which was in business, we decided to forego refuelling with our usual cups of cappuccino.

We walked as far as Talbot House to photograph its façade and front door (above, top right) for Jos's daughter An who is about to check in there as we speak. By now, the rain clouds were back from their break with a vengeance ...  

Returning to our car, we were thankful we'd brought our umbrellas. Nevertheless, I might have been tempted by one of those see-through ones if the shop in question hadn't been closed on a Sunday.

Back at the cottage, we had sandwiches washed down with glasses of non-alcoholic beer while watching the comings and goings of the waterfowl on the pond. 

The rain clouds having finally tired themselves out, a blue sky reigned once more, even if the mercury wouldn't climb beyond 20°C that day. 

Then, after a little siesta, we were ready for our afternoon activity. Just a 5-minute drive up the road from Marjolein, we first visited Museumhuis Lucien De Gheus  on the last day of last year's holiday.

We'd vowed to return this year, and as it is only open on weekend afternoons in the Summer months, this lazy Sunday afternoon, with all of our holiday still in front of us, sounded like the perfect opportunity.

The museum is located in the house of local sculptor and ceramist Lucien De Gheus (1927-2013), who was successful in the post-war fifties and sixties, his main oeuvre consisting of sculpture, ceramic objects and bas-reliefs. 

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.

This year's exhibition was called Keikoppen, which translates as cobble heads, the nickname of the inhabitants of Poperinge, and a symbol of stubbornness and resilience.

The work of the 30 contemporary artists which comprises this year's exhibition is dotted all over the house and garden, cheek to jowl with Lucien's prolific output.

Above, top left: 2023 IV, 2023 by Leyla Aydoslu

Above, top bottom right: Brick Cast Planter, 2024 by Bram Vanderbeke

Above, bottom left: Twigs, 2025, made in situ by the artist Filip Dujardin

There's a large studio in the garden which showcases some of Lucien's work, a sample of all the artistic disciplines he excelled in : stained glass, paintings, glazed tiles, ceramics and furniture to name but a few.

There were some textiles on show among the artist's tools in the picturesque little shed.

The house, which was designed and built by the artist himself, was meant to be a sculptor’s home right from the start, 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.  

The artwork on the work bench is by Edith Dekyndt, who created it especially for this exhibition, using one of the leftover pieces of wood stacked in Lucien's atelier and adding a digitally created mask, blurring nature and technology in the process.

The artwork I'm studying (above, top right) is called Courtyard Tales III (2017-2018) and is by Berlinde De Bruyckere. If her name sounds familiar, it is she of the giant maces in Middelheim sculpture park.

The felt and plaster hand is by Helena Cnockaert and the drawings on the bottom left are by Ante Timmermans.

Before venturing into the artist's eclectic home itself, we made use of the honesty bar and rested our feet at one of the little tables dotted around the garden. The non-alcoholic lager available was called Cristal and sadly it doesn't come recommended as it was utterly tasteless. Still refreshing, though, but we could have had water instead ...

We absolutely love the juxtaposition of the various works of art with the paraphernalia of daily life as lived by Lucien and his wife Suzanne, who moved into the house in August 1962 and stayed there until their deaths, in 2012 and 2013 respectively.

On the top right is another artwork belonging to the exhibtion. The rust steel structure is called Fireworks model 48 and is by Muller Van Severen, a Belgian duo creating sculpturally interesting furniture objects.

The tiny sculptures on the shelves in the centre of the collage are prototypes for the sculpture of Master Ghybe - a folkloristic figure dating back to the Middle Ages - which has been taking pride of place on Poperinge's Grote Markt since 2005.

Returning to our temporary home, we made a little detour to Nine Elms British Cemetery, one of the plethora of Commonwealth War Graves around here, which unfortunately was closed off due to restoration. That'll be for next year then!

Before calling it a day - and refuelling our energies for Monday's activities - let me show you what I was wearing. 

Embroidered linen maxi skirt: Zara Summer sales 2022

King Louie short-sleeved floral jumper, waterfall cardigan and wooden necklace: charity shopped

Belt: Think Twice

Golden ballerinas: gift from a friend

See you soon!