Back to July

We've been back from our yearly September sojourn in Belgium's west country for nearly two weeks now and I can't wait to tell you all about it.  That said, I had to go back to work straight away so I haven't even had the time to upload my photos yet. Also, I am way, way behind with blogging: no matter how hard I try, it seems nigh on impossible to get back into my old blogging rhythm. So, before I'm setting myself the pleasurable task of reliving our final holiday of the year, I need to take you back to last Summer, and more specifically the month of July.

We didn't go on any outings, so it will be mainly outfits you'll get to see here. Plus a garden update as lots of things have been happening since all signs of life had been completely obliterated from the main part of our garden in early June.

July's first week brought a temporary relief from June's heatwave temperatures, but by the time the weekend rolled along we were back into the high twenties.

On Saturday the 4th, this butterfly-sleeved dress came out to play. It's vintage C&A and I'd picked it up in the Think Twice sales for € 5 back in June.

Sunday's chocolate brown polka-dot maxi skirt came from C&A as well, but rather than vintage or even second-hand, I'd bought it brand new during one of my lunch breaks a couple of months ago. It's currently having a head-to-head race with my fuchsia tiered maxi skirt for most worn Summer skirt. It will even make a second appearance in this post!

Its companion that day was a blue King Louie blouse patterned with white dots and orange flowers, a charity shop find in September 2024. My belt, necklace and ring were all charity shopped too.

Speaking of King Louie, I found the blouse I was wearing on Wednesday the 8th of July at Think Twice earlier that week. And yes, it was yet another sales bargain. For those not in the know, the shops are having a round of sales about every 4-5 weeks, starting with 30% off and ending with all items going for the silly price of € 1. It's both a blessing and a bane to have all 5 of their Antwerp shops within walking distance from my office!

I instantly knew the blouse would go a treat with this midi skirt I purchased from the outlet shop for the Belgian Green Ice label in the small shopping centre near my place of work. 

My green stretchy belt with its bamboo buckle was a cheeky high street buy a couple of years ago and has more than earned its keep in my wardrobe by now.

We caught Bess staring intently out of the kitchen window on the morning of Thursday, the 9th of July, her whiskers twitching excitedly as she followed the shenanigans of this cheeky little creature. It patiently waited until I'd grabbed my camera, then posed willingly, looking straight at the lens with what looked like a big smile on its face. 

 

Another wardrobe stalwart is the groovilicious vintage dress I wore to deal with that day's temperature, which had once again reached 30°C.

I paid € 4 for it at Think Twice back in June 2017 and when I walked into the shop wearing it a couple of days later I was stopped by a lady who told me she'd been dithering over the dress but didn't buy it as she didn't have a clue how to style it! 

Surely that's easy-peasy! As usual, I echoed both colours of the flowers with a pink raffia brooch, pink plastic ring and orange necklace and belt.

I'm skipping Friday, as no outfit photos were taken that day, to arrive on Saturday the 11th of July.

With the weather gods still having no mercy on us, I opted for a skirt and blouse combo in cotton and viscose.

The navy, flower sprinkled skirt was another vintage C&A treasure from Think Twice, while the blouse, with its mid-century style pattern - you can see a close-up here - was a charity shop find.

Meanwhile, our garden was definitely coming into its own, both with the new additions I planted to kickstart its resurrection and those of the old stalwarts which had survived the ordeal.

The Rudbeckia (top right and bottom left) was one of our new buys. It is still going strong to this day despite having spent the entire Summer in a planter. Together with Helenium 'Moerheim Beauty' (top left and bottom right) it has provided sunshine on even the cloudiest of days. Not that there were that many ot those, I hasten to add. 

In spite of the heat of the day, it had been a productive one as, apart from ticking off a list of chores, we'd booked our passage on LeShuttle in the morning and drove to the garden centre for more treasures for our garden in the afternoon.

The next week saw a continuation of the latest heatwave, the mercury consistently climbing into the low thirties.

I was trying to give the garden a run for its money on Tuesday the 14th of July, when I wore this floral extravaganza of a maxi skirt - another sales bargain from C&A which has been gracing my wardrobe since May 2022 - combined with a charity shopped fiery orange cotton blouse from the upmarket Belgian Gigue label. It wasn't the first time they were worn together and I'm sure it won't be the last!

Two days later it was the turn of another beloved vintage favourite: a 1950s cotton Summer dress.

Plucked from the Think Twice rails back in June 2019, it has been a Summer staple ever since. For many years, I thought its background colour was black, but it's actually a very dark navy blue!

By Friday, it had thankfully cooled down to a much more bearable 25°C.

Being a non-office day, I had time to play dress-up, rather than hastily assemble an outfit or wear one I've prepared in advance. That day, the giraffe print skirt I charity shopped in June 2025 caught my eye. I've got a bit of a thing for chocolate brown lately and it does go surprisingly well with lots of items in my wardrobe. The top that made the grade that day is by King Louie and was a charity shop find back in May 2022. My belt, necklace and tomato-red sandals were all high street finds.

It was a lovely surprise to see the splash of fiery orange supplied by Crocosmia 'Carmine Brilliant' (above, top right), which we planted back in the Summer of 2020 and which we thought had gone for good.

Having joined our garden one year later, Clematis 'Guernsey Cream', with its big saucer-like flowers (below, top left), decided to join the party too, even if it only produced the one flower. 

 

Phlox 'Sweet Summer Wine' (above, bottom left and right) is another one we planted back in 2021. After having done a disappearing act in the last couple of years, it clearly felt the time was right for a comeback. It's currently a mass of vibrant magenta flowers!

Finally, it looks like the next generation of foxgloves is ready for next year (above, top right).

The mercury didn't climb higher than 20°C on Sunday, when I joined my friend Inez for drinks and a long overdue catch-up at our usual haunt in the village.

My swishy pleated green and white zig-zaggy maxi skirt was charity shopped last Summer. It's an absolute delight to wear although I do have to refrain from wearing it to work as it tends to get eaten by the wheels of my office chair! I paired it with a flowery vintage blouse and pink and green accessories.

No outfit photos were taken during the following week until Friday the 24th, when I had to go into the office for a couple of hours as my colleague was on holiday.

My chocolate brown polka-dot maxi skirt from C&A made another appearance, this time combined with a multi-coloured zig-zag patterned t-shirt which caught my eye in a charity shop in the Summer of 2024. I was wearing the same dusky pink belt I wore with Sunday's outfit, and a necklace bought from Accessorize back the mists of time.

We woke up to a grey and gloomy day on Sunday the 23rd, with a couple of short-lived but very welcome showers on the menu during the day.

I fell head over heels for the skirt, which I snapped up at the silly price of € 5 from Think Twice back in June. For its first outing, I wore it with a nautical style knitted top from the Belgian Who's That Girl label, bought brand new from their shop about a decade ago. My accessories, as usual, were a mix of new and new-to-me. 

Slowly but surely, the Boston Ivy - cut back completely on that fateful June day - is starting to clothe our boring old concrete shed again. 

Don't worry, we're no longer using these watering cans as their bottoms have rusted through. As they're purely for decoration purposes now, we don't mind them getting marooned by the Boston Ivy. The black thing in the middle of the table is a solar lantern, its filigreed sides throwing magical shadow after dark.

In true yo-yo fashion, temperatures were on the rise again by Wednesday when they day's highs of 29°C demanded I wear another one of my heatwave-proof frocks. This cotton Grace & Mila maxi - yet another charity shop find - provides additional ventilation with its floaty butterfly sleeves!

This post's final outfit was worn on Friday the 31st of July. My floral cotton dress in delicious shades of blue and green was a Think Twice find in May 2021 and for some incomprehensible reason I hadn't worn it in years. It's good thing I hadn't thrown it out after a year of being unworn as advised by the fashion police! It's not going anywhere any time soon!

I've got a final garden update for you as well. I'm sure it won't come as a complete surprise that our tiny garden pond had suffered from the ongoing neglect. A couple of weeks earlier I'd made the effort to empty its contents - a compact and very stubborn mass of dried mud - and filled it again with fresh well water. As a joke, I added two yellow plastic ducks, a gift from Jos's younger daughter when we moved into Dove Cottage back in 1999. They don't seem to like each other much, though :-)

But I simply cannot bid you goodbye without imparting some good news. Last week Jos had another CT-scan, the results of which we got on Thursday. I'm sure you can imagine what a relief it was to hear that everything is stable! He doesn't need any further treatment for the moment and is only due back at the hospital for his next scan in January!

Meanwhile, I hope to be back with the first installment of my west country travelogue shortly, and I solemnly promise to be visiting your lovely blogs soon!