Say sneeze!

I came back from our little sojourn in Bruges bearing the gift of a common cold. We'd barely made it through our front door when I felt a telltale tickle in my throat, soon followed by sneezing, an alternately blocked and leaking nose and an annoying and persistent little cough. It didn't exactly help that that weather had reverted to its default gloom and that - no rest for the wicked - I was expected back at the office on Monday (the 10th of November, that is).

What's more, my cold turned out to be the unwanted gift which keeps on giving, as it's only just on its way out as I type, having rapidly depleted the solar-powered energy I'd built up while we were away. 

So forgive me if I'm little behind with commenting on your posts and if I'm rushing somewhat through my final October catch-up!

Looking into the time machine's rearview mirror, it dawns on me that I hadn't even finished telling you about October's penultimate weekend.

Sunday the 19th of October turned out to be mostly cloudy, with some short-lived but very welcome sunny spells in the afternoon, and highs of round 15°C.

My rust coloured slubbed skirt is vintage St. Michael and part of a suit, its short-sleeved belted jacket remaining largely unworn. I found it at Think Twice back in 2018, and here's a rare sighting of the two pieces together. Its companion that Sunday was a groovily patterned blouse by Belgian label Claude Arielle, charity shopped in December 2023.

Accessories:

Suede mustard yellow belt: CKS outlet shop, October 2022

Mustard yellow beads: charity find a couple of months ago

Spider brooch: indoor flea market, May 2025

As random patches of blue had appeared in the sky, we donned our coats - mine a vintage wool and polyester blend burgundy jacket - and drove down to Middelheim sculpture park for a stroll.

We parked near the so-called Artist's Entrance (above, top left), created by Dutch artist John Körmeling in 2012. Walking across the open terrain towards the main part of the park, I couldn't resist a turn on the swings. I'm sure it won't surprise you that this too is a work of art, called One Two Three Swing!, a creation of the Danish collective SUPERFLEX, founded in Copenhagen in 1993.

 

The wobbly tower of chairs (above, top left) is part of the Prank series by British visual artist Phyllida Barlow (1944-2023). The series was completed just before her death in 2023 and consists of seven sculptures of precariously stacked furniture and studio objects, all having funny white rabbit ears as a recurring motif. 

Pull up a chair to watch Paul Kindersley's The Dreamer of the Forest (2024), in which images from the Middelheim collection come to life (above, bottom left).

We didn't linger, but walked into the direction of the Braem Pavillion (above, top left), the Organic Brutalist marvel designed by architect Renaat Braem (1910-2001) and completed in 1971. 

After having been absent during the park's reshuffle, we were happy to meet up with Yayoi (above, bottom right) by New York based artist Corey McCorkle (°1969) again. The large reflective sphere is based on the stone spheres used as ornaments along paths in 17th Century French gardens. But this behemoth does not blend into its setting. Corey McCorkle likes to present objects in unexpected ways, changing our experience of space.

Cosmic Eye, dating from 1973, was originally designed by Belgian artist Jan Dries (1925-2014) for Antwerp's metro station Groenplaats, where it took pride of place for 35 years. I must walked past it  countless of times over the years.

At Middelheim, it turned out to be the perfect photo frame. I was in awe of the tiny chestnut somebody had balance on one of the inside ridges.

We're skipping Monday to arrive at Tuesday the 21st of October, which brought a mix of clouds and showers. I'd taken the day off to accompany Jos to his hospital check-up which, as I'd already hinted a couple of posts ago, couldn't have gone better. Onwards and upwards from now on!

The off-white and bottle green checked wool-blend skirt, which is by River Woods, was charity shopped in October 2022 and is an absolute joy to wear. I mean, it even has pockets!

Everything else I was wearing - including my burgundy ankle boots and the bottle green mock croc belt - was provided by the gods of the charity shops as well.

Afterwards, we celebrated Jos's clean bill of health with mugs of cappuccino and some very indulgent cakes at the excellent hospital cafeteria.

 For once, I didn't have to remind Jos to look happy when I was taking his photo ...

It was back to the office to catch up on work on Wednesday, but I managed to escape during my lunch break, walking to a Think Twice shop - there are no less than five of them in Antwerp - a bit further away for a browse. 

Tell me, how could I have said no to this pink floral cord maxi skirt?

The weather had turned quite stormy on Thursday, with the temperature steadily going down from 16°C until we were barely into double digits.

By Friday, the mercury had taken up residence around 10°C, which felt even chillier courtesy of a blustery wind. To counterbalance the chill, there were lots of sunny spells to accompany me on my way to my hairdresser's for a cut and colour.

Sad news, though, as Michel told me the salon will close for good at the end of year ... 

My vintage Diolen dress - found at T2 in January 2023 - was dubbed the Tardis dress by Kezzie when we met up in Bruges a couple of weeks later. Nearly three years ago already! Where does the time go?

Incidentally, the orange painted metal flower brooch I pinned to the dress was a gift from Kezzie back then. My necklace came from a Welsh antiques shop and the orange fabric belt belongs to one of my short-sleeved vintage frocks.

More orange featured in the accessories of Saturday's outfit, tying in with the orange flowers in my black floral velvet skirt, which I picked up from Think Twice last year. It was paired with a charity shopped InWear blouse. The suede belt which separates them is the only item which I bought brand new on the high street.

It was a grey day with lots of rain and, again, highs of around 10°C.

The inclement weather kept us inside Dove Cottage, where I continued with my wardrobe changeover and cleaned the bathroom, while Jos made a batch of delicious tomato-paprika soup. Then we changed the light bulbs in the bedroom chandelier, as half of them had given up the ghost. Finally, we made pasta in the oven for dinner, after which I caught up with blogland. That was my day in a nutshell!

As we'd put the clocks back that night, we had an extra hour of lying in on Sunday. The sun was shining brightly as we were having croissants for breakfast, but at just 7°C we needed to dress warmly for our outing to Middelheim for a walk followed by a drink with Inneke and Maurice.

We were too busy chatting so the above is the one and only photo I took.

I'd decided to give my new-to-me pink floral cord maxi skirt its first outing, combining it with a green patterned jumper. The latter, as well as all my accessories were charity shop or flea market finds. 

We're skipping a couple of days again, to Tuesday the 28th of October. The weather was another mix of grey skies, heavy showers and the odd sunny spell, with the mercury only managing to climb to 11°C.

I had errand to run during lunch break and popped into the nearest Think Twice shop to my office on my way back. The shops were having another one of their famous sales, with prices down to € 6 that day. This funky floral velvet top came home with me.

Thursday's lunch break walk took me into the direction of Melting Pot - the vintage-per-kilo shop - where a rummage of the rails yielded this olive green polyester knit vintage dress.

I know it looks more grey than green here, as my camera refused to catch its true colour.

I'm leaving you now with the outfit I wore on Friday the 31st of October.

My navy-based tartan maxi skirt came from an outlet shop for the Belgian Green Ice label near my office, where I bought it in September 2023.

The blouse, which is by yet another Belgian label, Who's That Girl, was a charity shop find earlier this year. The green Dralon cardigan was a € 4 Think Twice sales bargain back in the mist of time.

As for my accessories, they are a mix of high street and second-hand finds.

With October now finally over and done with, I'm champing at the bit to make a start with my Bruges travelogue. 

Hope to see you again soon!

My job is very boring, I'm an office clerk

No, you don't have to thank me for the earworm! 

Actually, I've been wanting to use this snippet from Martha and the Muffins' Echo Beach as a post title ever since I started my blog back in March 2016.  I never got around to it though as, frankly speaking, my job isn't in the least bit boring, even if I often moan about its trials and tribulations. And nor, generally speaking, is my life! It's just that lately not much has been happening in it, with one working week segueing seamlessly into another, so that once again my post will be mainly about the outfits I've been wearing. 

In the meantime, we have been to Bruges and back, which means I've got a couple of travel posts up my sleeve. However, as these trips back and forth in the time machine are doing my head in, I thought I'd save these for later and continue posting about October until I've caught up instead.

We slept late-ish on Friday the 10th of October, waking up to sunny spells which soon made way for a gloomy grey sky which would remain with us for the rest of the day.

With the day's highs of around 17°C, I could still get away with wearing one of my lighter and unlined long-sleeved dresses. It was plucked from the Think Twice rails, where it had been hanging for all of 30 seconds,  back in October 2019. While I was browsing, I'd noticed the shop assistant hanging it up and, having seen a flash of its fabric out of the corner of my eye, I went over to investigate. As it is clearly handmade, it didn't have any labels whatsoever but, as luck would have it, it was exactly my size. 

I picked up the colour of its buttons and green hexagons of its pattern with my belt and opaques and paid tribute to its burnt orange hexagons with my beaded necklace and Autumn leaf brooch.

I pottered upstairs, switching over some skirts, in the morning, then after lunch we drove down to the massive three floor charity shop in nearby Duffel.

A maxi dress from high street shop LolaLiza, green King Louie cardigan, and grey-ish green chunky knit H&M cardigan ended up in my cart. Oh, and two pairs of opaques, in honey and burnt orange, for € 0,50 each!

Back at home I continued with the changeover, putting away the last of the sandals and reacquainting myself with the bulk of my boots! 

Saturday was another gloomy but warm day on which the mercury climbed to 18°C. As it looked set to remain dry, we decided to bite the bullet and go for that long-overdue leaf-kicking walk in the afternoon.

Our destination of choice was Walenhoek, a nature reserve about 10 kilometers from Dove Cottage, in the village of Niel. 

Walenhoek is one of several local nature reserves established on former clay pits, which were reclaimed by the forces of nature after the industry's decline in the late 1970s. There's still the odd relic from the past hidden among the wilderness which seem to have crumbled away a bit more with each visit.

The perfect place for a bracing walk whatever the season, we have been coming here on and off  for many years. The off-times were when the place was inundated with illegal fishermen who'd set up their tents at the edge of the reserve's plethora of ponds. Case in point was the last time we walked here back in March 2024.

Much to our relief, we didn't spot any of them this time around, although back at the car park we came across one who was putting a cart full of professional looking fishing gear into his van. 

My red and grey tartan circle skirt - with pockets! - was charity shopped a couple of years ago.

It was joined by another charity shop find, a vintage blouse with a Jugendstil-influenced pattern, found in November 2022.

In fact, I think that the majority of my outfit - including my super comfy crepe soled Mephisto boots - were charity shop finds, except for perhaps the brooch, which I suspect was picked up at the indoor flea market.

Our wanderings took us to one my favourite parts of the reserve, a fairy tale-like wooded area between two ponds. Here, we delighted in the the crunch of the layers of leaves under our feet, the earthy  fragrance typical of Autumn adding to the sensory delights of the season.

We spotted this graceful pair of swans towards the end of the walk and I surreptitiously stalked them until they'd emerged from among the reeds and were gliding in open water, which was gently rippling their reflections.

We caught up on chores on Sunday, after which I changed into the outfit I would repeat on Monday.

The dress I'd pulled from my wardrobe was a petrol blue retro print King Louie I charity shopped back in April. The cropped cardigan with its elbow length sleeves is by Zoë Loveborn, a label which used to be sold in a Belgian chain of high street shops called LolaLiza. Although it doesn't seem to be in existence any  longer, I keep finding their often quirky, retro style clothes in the charity shops all the time.

My matching opaques were a sales bargain and the burgundy boots yet another charity shop find.

I met up with Inez for our weekly cappuccino-fuelled catch-up on Monday. 

She'd already done the rounds of the rails before I arrived and in passing mentioned that she'd seen a lovely green handbag. 

It completely slipped our minds to go and have a proper look at it, but I suddenly remembered it as I was on my way back to the office during Tuesday's lunch break. As I still had some time to spare I decided to check it out.

There it was, calling me from afar the minute I set foot inside the shop. Walking into its direction, I was just a couple of meters away from the handbag display when someone else beat me to it. The girl in question swiftly unhooked the bag from the display, opened it, sniffed it, and draped it over her arm. Damn! I hung around for a while, mindlessly rummaging through a rail of blouses in case she'd change her mind. But then she walked into the main part of the shop with the green bag still on her arm.

A couple of minutes later, I saw her again in front of one of the fitting room mirrors. She was still studying the bag intently, opening it and sniffing it again. Decision apparently made, she then proceeded to walk into the direction of the till ... but taking a right turn instead of left towards the till.  Feeling like a proper Miss Marple, I surreptitiously followed in her footsteps and, rounding the corner, noticed that she'd hung it back on the rails. Obviously I didn't waste another minute and grabbed it as by that time I needed to have it, no matter what. And yes, I did open and sniff it, and it turned out to be perfectly alright!

On Thursday, I layered yet another charity shopped red Zoë Loveborn cardigan - with full length sleeves this time - over a dress I found at Think Twice before my blog was even a twinkle in my eye. With its pussy-bow and its trellis-like pattern upon which tiny white, red-hearted flowers are growing, it's been a long-time Autumn and Winter favourite.

You can find a close-up of its pattern here. Funnily enough, I was wearing the exact same brooch back then. I'm such a creature of habit!

It had been quite gloomy all week, with the temperature gradually going down from 17 to 15°C. Thankfully, it hadn't been overly busy at work, even if there were a couple of issues which needed my full attention.

My lunch time diversion on Thursday took me to Melting Pot, the vintage per kilo shop, again. And again, I was in luck, finding two vintage dresses.

I'm loving the simplicity of this denim blue poly-blend knit with its chevron-striped neckline and collar.

You'll get to see the second dress I found in a minute.

As my colleague was on holiday, I needed to go in for a couple of hours on Friday the 17th of October.

I was wearing a vintage chevron striped wool skirt in black, brown, white and bluish grey. I fell head over heels with it at Think Twice in October 2020. I almost did a double take when I was reading Sheila's post that day and saw that she was wearing a maxi skirt with a very similar pattern. It's in this post of hers!

My blouse is Zara by way of a charity shop. The squishy stag's head brooch I pinned to it was a charity shop find as well, and so was my belt. The necklace came from the indoor flea market.

My well-worn chocolate brown boots - which were found on the high street a couple of years ago - have been working overtime. They were definitely made for walking as they even came to Bruges with me!

Bess: Aren't you bored yet?  I know I am! What about joining me for a nap? 

Me: In a minute, Bess, I've still got to show them the other dress I found at Melting Pot!

And here it is! This flower-infused Diolen Delight made my heart sing! 

I wore it with a pair of purple opaques and the purple Western-style ankle boots I scored in a pop-up shop near my office last December.

Both my necklace and stretchy belt were high street finds while my brooch, which I picked for its purple background as well as to add some more flowers into the mix, was another one which found its origins on the indoor flea market.

I will be back with a final October catch-up soon as I can't wait to tell you about our Bruges adventures!

See you soon!

Gloomy October

I've been counting the days and then the hours until our next little adventure and, finally, we will be off this afternoon. In order to pass the time, which for once seemed to go unbearably slowly, I set myself the task of writing a quick blog post in another attempt to bridge the gap between the past and the present.

It's not that I had a better offer to spend my time last weekend anyway, as it was mostly wet and miserable. In fact, most of the month of October has been particularly gloomy.

One of the headlines in the news on the 1st of November proclaimed that October was the second gloomiest month since records began, with only half as much sunshine as average.

We'd been looking forward to going for walks and enjoy the sensory delights of Autumn, including a good old stint of leaf-kicking, which was something we sorely missed last year when Jos was in hospital. In hindsight, however, we only managed to indulge in this pleasurable pastime twice in the last month ...

Although the days went off to a chilly start at the beginning of the month, it had often warmed up to 18°C and more by the time my lunch break arrived, so that I was able to ditch some of the layers I'd started out with that morning.

I wore this tried-and-tested skirt and blouse combo on Wednesday the 1st of October. 

The blouse, which is from retro brand Zoë Loveborn, was a flea market find in October 2016. I was instantly drawn to it, as I already owned a much-loved dress in the same print, but with red trim and buttons instead of yellow. I think it found its perfect partner in the black vintage skirt printed with a yellow, red, green and blue flower and leaf design. 

A turquoise belt and ring, pale blue cat brooch and orangey red beaded necklace completed my outfit.

Hesitant sunshine bathed Antwerp's cathedral in a short-lived golden glow on the morning of Thursday the 2nd of October. I was just in time to whip out my phone to catch it on camera. Blink, and it was gone!

That morning, I very daringly decided on short sleeves, albeit that they belonged to a fit and flare 1970s does 1940s number in a heavy knit polyester. I'm in two minds whether it was a charity shop or a Think Twice find.

Another wardrobe stalwart, its first appearance on the blog dates from November 2016, almost exactly nine years ago to the day.  

With Think Twice's sales prices being down to € 2 by then, I wasn't really expecting to find anything. In fact I was just about to leave the shop empty-handed when my eyes alighted on this groovilicious polo neck blouse, which I suspect had started life as the top half of a dress. 

Friday started with a mix of clouds and sunny spells accompanied by highs of 17°C. All too soon, however, angry-looking clouds were appearing on the horizon and it didn't take long for them to let go of their liquid load.

Apart from a food shop in the afternoon, I spent most of the day indoors, pottering and repairing the € 2 top, as it had its fair share of split seams and a wonky hem. 

My forest green pleated skirt - a retail buy in between Lockdowns in 2020 - was joined  by a blouse with a groovy yellow, green and brown pattern. It's by the Belgian Wow To Go label, and was charity shopped in the same year. My mind boggles at the fact that the infamous year 2020 is now well over five years ago!

My caramel cardigan and ditto No Stress shoes were charity shop finds as well, while the belt was a fairly recent sales bargain from Think Twice.

I find myself reaching for this necklace, bought from Accessorize many moons ago, quite a lot lately. Finally, in honour of the season, I pinned one of my favourite brooches to my blouse. I fell in love with the duo of enamelled mushrooms at a flea market in February 2024.

I've got a drawer full of Autumn flavoured brooches in my collection. Aren't they delightful? Must make the most of them while the season lasts!

I finally finished the yawn-inducing  The Shoemaker's Wife  and started the much more enjoyable The Strawberry Thief by Joanne Harris. It was only after I'd finished it that I found out that this was the 4th book in the series which started with the award-winning bestseller Chocolat. Published to much acclaim in 1999, I was obviously aware of its existence, but for some reason never got down to reading it.

As I was engrossed by The Strawberry Thief - which, yes, does refer to the famous William Morris design - I did wonder about the fact that chocolate had such a prominent role in this novel as well. Plus, there were quite a few references to the past which weren't elaborated on ... Anyway, I've now got Chocolat in my reading pile and I'm on the lookout for parts 2 and 3 of the series.

We woke up to stormy weather on Saturday the 4th of October, which lasted until late morning, after which we were treated to a couple of sunny spells in the afternoon. At 17°C the temperature was still quite warm for the time of year.

I based my outfit around an ochre, brown and navy wool-blend tartan skirt charity shopped in May 2022, picking up the blue in its pattern with a peasant-style embroidered long-sleeved denim blouse. From Sainsbury's Tu label, I found it new-with-tags in a Shropshire charity shop in June 2024.

My necklace and belt and yes, even my boots, were charity shop finds as well.

After a long overdue thorough vacuum session upstairs, getting rid of the army of dust bunnies which were having a field day in the rooms' nooks and crannies, we went for a rummage in our nearest charity shop.  

My basket was filled with a blouse by the Danish Vila label, an orange beaded necklace, felted flower corsage and pink and green Zara cardi.

My favourite find of the day was this snuggly dark green floral bathrobe.

The bookshelves came up trumps as well, with two brand new books: My Family and Other Animals by Gerald Durrell and Uncommon Arrangements - Seven Marriages in Literary London 1910-1939, by Katie Roiphe. I'm currently finishing the final chapter of the latter.

Another cloudy and mizzly day awaited us on Sunday, with a slight drop in temperature to 15°C.

With Jos's six-monthly check-up at the hospital looming on the horizon, he was feeling a bit down in the dumps with little or no appetite. To put your minds at rest: everything is fine and he doesn't even have to go back again.

My dress, with its turquoise, plum, lavender and orange Paisley-esque pattern, was bought from the Antwerp branch of Dutch vintage chain Episode several years ago. I added a plum coloured velvet covered belt, a matching fake plastic Cameo brooch and turquoise necklace, ring and opaques. 

All accessories charity shopped, except for the floral socks and the cat!

Monday the 6th of October continued along the same vein, the gloom outside my office windows quite incongruous with the day's highs of 17°C.

Highlight of the day was another Cappuccino catch-up with Inez, which we've moved to Mondays as she's started French conversation lessons on Wednesdays.

I was wearing a rust coloured faux-suede paperbag waist skirt - bought at 70% off in the January sales in 2022 - combined with the blouse I found for € 1 at Think Twice back in July.

Fast forward to Thursday - we were the 9th of October by then - when my lunch break found me at Melting Pot, a vintage per kilo shop not all that far from my office.

They had a rail of dresses in, so I bought a striped knit sweater dress and a zip front poly-blend vintage dress for the princely total of € 13,10. Both way too warm for the temperatures we're currently having.

Thursday's outfit is the final one I've got for you this time. 

My turquoise dress with its fuchsia pattern and trim was yet another charity shop find. It's by Froy & Dind, a Belgian label which has been making sustainable fashion since 2011. 

It was way too gloomy to photograph it properly, so I'm adding a close-up to show you its lovely pattern.

The elephant brooch is vintage and was found on one of the charity shops' retro events back in the mists of time.

That's it for now. We'll be off after lunch, and the weather forecast is looking very promising for once. I do hope I haven't jinxed it ... Only time will tell.

See you next week!