The light in August

I can barely get my head around the fact that this time next week we'll be on our yearly sojourn to Belgium's west country. There's still quite a few things to wrap up at work, for starters. And then there's my favourite pastime of packing to be done.

I'm starting to feel a bit faint when I'm thinking about the latter, so let's not get into that yet ... now where did I put those smelling salts?

I left you with a bit of a cliffhanger in my last post, so I'm making a brief return to Friday before last and show you those charity shop finds as promised.

In spite of shopping still being a solo activity (this will be changed again as from tomorrow!), we sneaked in together by taking separate trolleys and secretly meeting in the aisles! Naughty, naughty!

Then Jos grabbed a coffee at the cafeteria, while I browsed the well-stocked clothing department. With the heatwave on its last legs, but warmish weather still on the cards for the next week or so, I kept my eyes peeled for easy, breezy Summer tops.

I almost did a double take when I spotted the pink twin of my favourite green peasant style top, bought in the New Look sales two years ago. It goes without saying it couldn't make its way into my trolley fast enough. 

These two stretchy cap-sleeved pussy bow tops are of the wash 'n go variety and will be the perfect companions for a multitude of skirts. They are also very suitcase proof, as they can be rolled up and tucked away without the least bit of creasing. 

As always, I made a beeline for the rail of dresses, but in spite of being spoilt for choice, nothing I fancied was in my size. Until I pulled out this one for closer inspection! 

In 100% silk, it's from Essentiel Antwerp (look, Sheila!), whose flagship store is opposite the spot where Jos is picking me up after work on my office days. Their dresses start at € 195, so I think the € 13,50 I paid for it was money well spent. I'll have you know that this is expensive for this particular chain of charity shops, so somebody has clearly done their homework!

The background colour was very hard to photograph, as it is leaning more towards green in real life.

Our only non-clothing purchase was this reproduction Tala icing set. It was displayed on a shelf of tins and priced similarly as the empty ones (€ 1,30), so I'm guessing that this time somebody hasn't been doing their job properly and never thought of opening it. Admittedly, there was hardly any weight to it, plus the icing syringe and nozzles fit so snuggly into the packing that no movement could be detected at all.

A collection within our collection of kitchenalia, we already own several proper vintage Tala icing sets, including this one, which the reproduction set must have been based upon.

I'm swiftly skipping to Saturday before last now. 

With the temperature hovering around the mid-twenties, it was still more than warm enough to warrant the wearing of more of those lightweight Summer clothes.

The black cotton button-through skirt with its white daisy print and triple layer of rick-rack is vintage 1970s and from the Merry Finn label.  The blue based, multi-coloured pussy bow blouse, on the other hand, is a modern King Louie piece by way of the charity shops. 

As a nod to the skirt, I accessorized with a black and white beaded necklace and black-rimmed flower brooch. Tying in with the turquoise bits in the blouse, I added a turquoise textured belt at my waist.

Everything but the tan espadrille wedges - a sales bargain last Summer - was acquired second hand.

I planted up the pansies we'd brought home from the garden centre, one of which I gave a home in a leaky enamel coffee pot recently vacated by a Lobelia which hadn't survived the heatwave. 

Yellow Rudbeckia mingles happily with purple Verbena, while annuals such as candy striped Petunia, creamy yellow-hearted Lantana and Fuchsia are still blooming their hearts out.

A dome of perfect blue Summer sky watched over it all, dotted with the odd wispy cloud. It's August, that often bittersweet month, undeniably on the cusp of two seasons. 

For some inexplicable reason, this photo is making me both happy and sad in the same breath.

There's nothing like the sky in August and the languidness of her days, yet:

"Whilst August yet wears her golden crown,

    Ripening fields lush-bright with promise;

Summer waxes long, then wanes, quietly passing

    Her fading green glory on to riotous Autumn."

-  Michelle L. Thieme, August's Crown 

Now that it was starting to cool down inside the house, it was time for some long overdue housework.

My journal tells me that on Sunday, while Jos vacuumed and mopped the rooms downstairs, I dusted our bedroom and the landing. Then, before the mood escaped me, I cleaned the bathroom surfaces and part of the kitchen's. 

There was a storm brewing, so before all hell was let loose, we went outside for outfit photos.

You'll immediately recognize the top, which I'd plucked from the ironing pile where it had ended up after washing, so great was my desire to wear it. The skirt was another recent charity shop find, which I wore on the blog not all that long ago. Cool in double 100% cotton!

Both the pink, yellow and white woven belt and the wooden beaded necklace were old charity shop finds. Even the peep-toe slingbacks I'm wearing were charity shopped. They're Clarks and they were waiting for me in Bridgnorth in June 2019.

The storm finally arrived late afternoon with enough rain to forgo my watering duties that evening.

Nothing to report about Monday's moderately busy office day, so I'm skipping that and hopping over to Tuesday.

The vintage Shelton Stroller dress I was wearing never fails to make an appearance each Summer, so I was rather surprised it was still hanging unworn in my wardrobe this year.

With its fit and flare silhouette, wide, drapey tie collar and smooth satiny fabric in an abstract red, blue and black print on a white background, this late 1950s, early 1960s dress is a joy to wear.

I tamed its tie by pinning it with a Miracle brooch and accentuated the waist by adding a red vinyl belt.

I used plenty of red for the rest of my accessories as well, including a red plastic ring and red and white beaded necklace. A white and blue polka dot bangle kept my red one company.

We went on a veritable charity shop sprawl later that week and finds were plentiful, so I'm afraid I'll have to leave you with another cliffhanger.

Until then, do stay safe, sane and as fabulous as possible!

Lazy hazy Summer days

In the weekend before last temperatures soared to Summer heights.

They had been on the rise since a couple of days, as if to ease us gently from Spring into Summer, when suddenly they were turned up to full volume, reaching the high twenties by Saturday.

It was the First of June and, while Summer hasn't officially begun in the astronomical sense, it does mark the start of meteorological Summer. And oh my, did it start with a bang!

Enticing us with the first of the velvety red roses, the park near our favourite charity shop was beckoning us to come in and stroll along its shady paths.

Birdsong floated down from the leafy canopies and summertime pollen triggered itches and sneezes.

I'd picked up the maxi skirt I'm wearing here just days before at Think Twice, one of a bagful of € 4 sales bargains. It's handmade and the fabric suggests curtain couture, and isn't that print fabulously suited for a Summer's day? 

And look: bare feet and sandals! No close-up of my badly painted toenails, though. I'm such a Clumsy Fingers in that department.

I shopped my wardrobe, as they say, for the vintage orange cap-sleeved blouse, with its melange of black, white and peachy spots.

A pale green cameo brooch was pinned to it, and I added a string of carved, ivory coloured beads and a brown moc-croc belt with a tortoiseshell buckle.

The only retail items I'm wearing are the sandals, snapped up in last Summer's sales, and the basket bag, which was an impulse buy from a high street pop-up in Antwerp. No regrets, though, as it's fast becoming my most worn bag.

The frames of my sunnies, on the other hand, are the bargain of the century. They are from Rodenstock, and I found them in a charity shop for € 0,50 back in 2013. I had them fitted with prescription lenses and they are still going strong after six years!

The thermostat was cranked even higher on Sunday, when the mercury climded to the mid-thirties.

The heat which was trapped within the walls of Dove Cottage's garden drove us inside, but rather than succumb to indolence, we racked our brains for a cool place to escape to.

Once again, the park in Boom, which is only a 15-minute drive away, came to our rescue. 

As Thursday had been a public holiday, and lots of people had Friday off as well, most of them must have flocked to the seaside, so that we had the park virtually to ourselves. We even found a parking space in the shade.

Boom's delightful town park, all of 27 hectares, used to be part of a larger wood which, in 1925, was turned into a park. 

It is triangular and shape and laid out along the banks of a brook, the Bosbeek (beek is Flemish for brook), which meanders through it.

The cotton 1950s Summer dress was another one from that week's Think Twice bargains.

It's still a bit wrinkly, as I'd washed it but couldn't muster the energy to iron it. Still, I was adamant to give it its first wearing, as it was perfectly suited to the weather.

I added a red vinyl belt, a red and white beaded necklace and a couple of plastic bangles in similar shades. All accessories charity shopped, except for the white plastic ring, which is an old retail buy.

The brook's water is quite murky in places, its surface milky and opaque, which made the ever-changing mosaic of light and shade created by the gentle breeze confuse eyes and camera lens alike.

Several paths converge at a clearing. Now which one shall we take? And do we need to leave a trail of breadcrumbs to find our way back?

It's early Summer, and the trees have donned their best verdant hues, while the grass verges still have a freshness they will have lost in a month or so.

The brook ends in a series of pools, where the water is like a freshly cleaned mirror, shimmering in the haze of the afternoon.

Circling it and arriving at the brook once more, we crossed a bridge to return along the other side.

But first it was time to rest my feet while reclinng like Little Mermaid on a rock at the water's edge, with the pond a dream-like mirage behind me. 

Linking with Patti's Visible Monday and Mica's Weekday Wear Linkup.

The thrill of the chase

In stark contrast to the grey bank of clouds of Saturday before last, the weather gods decided to grace us with a sky painted in azure blue and lots of sunshine on Sunday.

We couldn't be happier, as we had an outdoor flea market to go to. Not just any flea market, mind you, but a firm favourite, and one of huge proportions. I've heard it said there were 750 stalls, spread out on a grassy field as well as the surrounding streets, where people set up stalls outside their front steps.

We managed to grab a parking spot about one kilometer away from the market's entrance, and I was glad I was wearing my hat and sunglasses to protect me from the sun's glare when walking up the tarmacked road leading up to the field.

The orange cardigan I started out with was soon packed away!  My Clarks Cloudsteppers, bought in the sales in Aberystwyth last June, had their first outing this year. They really lived up to their name as I walked in them for hours on end without any pinching or rubbing resulting in painful blisters.

You can probably judge from the amount of bags I'm carrying that it was a huge success!

But before I'm getting down to details, there was a sweet end to our flea market trawl, as we suddenly came upon this colourful stall selling .... cuberdons or "neusjes" (little noses), the sweets after which the room in our B&B near Bruges was called!

I asked the lovely lady who was running the stall, which is owned by De Neve JiPi, if I could take a photo, and I promised her I'd give them a mention, which is my pleasure, as the "neusjes" we bought from her were fingerlickingly delicious!

Our car was a sauna when we got back, so we opened all doors in an attempt to cool things down a bit, taking the opportunity to take some outfit photos in the meantime.

I found the blue dress I'm wearing at Think Twice a couple of weeks ago. It was calling me from afar, as I'd immediately recognized the pattern: I already have this dress in mustard yellow as well!

In keeping with the flower pattern, I added a necklace featuring orange, yellow and white beads and  chose a royal blue bracelet and an orange carved plastic bangle. To the dress's collar I pinned a pearly ladybird brooch.

The belt, which is caramel brown with a cream crocheted strip, was a recent charity shop find, and the wicker bag came from the greatly missed Blender Vintage Shop.

Back at home, we unpacked our treasures, and assembled them for a group photo. Needless to say, we were quite pleased with our finds.

Minutes after entering the field full of stalls, I snapped up this powder blue Crimplene jacket. For its state portrait, it seemed blend to organically with a dress which was hanging outside my wardrobe, so I added a scarf and one of the brooches I'd found to further accessorize it.

This pristine pair of shoes, in the palest of yellows, was just € 1, so it would have been foolish to leave them behind.

After reading Elle's post on straw and wicker bags, which I'd read the night before, I kept my eyes peeled and found this delightful specimen which I'm sure will have its first outing soon.

At one of the street stalls I stumbled upon this bamboo sewing basket, which was mine for € 3. 

Now, I do have quite enough sewing baskets already, and surely it's too cute to be sitting at home, so I was thinking of using it as a handbag!

I was very taken by this orchid pendant and it was only after handing over my € 2 that I noticed it doubles as a brooch!

Further jewellery finds were a purple plastic flower ring (it looks bluer here than it actually is!) and three more brooches. I managed to haggle down the price of the gorgeous behatted lady on the bottom left to € 5, which was the highest price I paid for any of them, and surely still a bargain!

Love at first sight for this vintage serving platter with four individual little dishes. Aren't the colours and the rather unusual flower pattern absolutely gorgeous?

They're perfect for serving "neusjes", that's for sure!

We are not certain of the age of this battered old tin, which used to contain chocolate spread made by Kwatta (a household name in Belgium and the Netherlands), as even good old Google let us down!

As Jos remembers similar packaging from his childhood, we'd like to think it's from the 1950s.

Our last find - but not the least! - is this quirky piece of kitchenalia.

Patented by Grimwades in 1911, we'd only ever come across the "Quick-Cooker Bowl" in the kitchens of stately homes in the UK. I remember photographing one in Scolton Manor in Pembrokeshire back in 2012.

An internal funnel allows steam to circulate through the middle of the pudding and cook it from the inside as well as the outside. The cover is grooved to hold string so the cover and bowl can be tied closely together. 

Made of white ceramic, it has green printed pictures and instructions for use on the lid, while the inside is covered with advertising for several of their other products.

Again, we have no idea of its age, but it is very similar to one the V&A has in their collection and which dates from the 1950s.

Who'd have thought that such a piece would turn up at a flea market here in Belgium!

Now, I'm going to head over and join the party at Patti's Visible Monday at Not Dead Yet Style!

Home & Garden

I bet you're all dying to know what we bought at the castle so, without further ado, let's have a peek at the things which came home with us.

And the winner is ... Sheila! You were spot on, dahling! Well done! We bought the green deer, which is actually a  lamp. A 1930s Art-Deco lamp to be more exactly.
I mean, it's green, it's a deer and it's Art-Deco: if ever an object ticked all the right boxes, then this is it.

The wiring was a bit dodgy, so Jos, who's a skilled electrician, changed it and added another lamp fitting and hey presto: less than a day later it was already taking pride of place on our sitting room's mantelpiece.

Dove Cottage actually dates from the 1930s, so it couldn't have come to a better place, even if it does have to share the limelight with several other favourites.

Centre stage is taken by this pretty wooden pendulum clock, which Jos found at a local junk shop.

On its left, behind the deer, is a vintage floor and furniture wax canister. This, as well as the tiny sample pot next to it, was gifted to us by my parents around the time we moved into Dove Cottage, and have been in the same spot on the mantelpiece for coming up to twenty years now. They both came from a shop in our village, which used to be owned by a great aunt, one of my maternal grandfather's sisters. The shop, of course, is long gone, but I walk past the house it was in every weekday morning on my way to the bus stop.

Moving to the right now, where there's a motley crew of objects vying for attention. The amber glass candlestick is 1930s as well, and so is the Art-Deco bonbonnière on the bottom right. The ceramic couple, wearing traditional Dutch costume, is identical to the pair I used to play with when staying at my paternal grandparents, resulting in quite a few breakages and the ensuing gluing on of heads!

In front is a souvenir ashtray from Expo 58, the famous Brussels World Fair, containing a souvenir book of matches with an image of the Atomium.

Lurking in the recess is a plaster statue of Our Lady of Boom, which we picked up in a charity shop. Boom (the "oo" is pronounced like the "o" in bone) is the town where Jos grew up.

Above the mantelpiece is a mirror in a gorgeous wooden Art-Deco frame, which was going for a song in a charity shop as its glass is riddled with black spots. Reflected in the mirror is our 1950s light fitting, also charity shopped.

This cosy corner in our sitting room is a meeting of styles from different decades. The chairs are 1950s which we had to Phoebe-proof with plaids. The metal shelving, produced by Dutch company Tomado, and currently highly collectible, is 1950s as well, and so, of course, is the framed Expo 58 poster.

Back to the 1930s with the inlaid wooden side table. On top, a late 1950s Bakelite radio. The framed photographs are of my grandparents in old-fashioned bathing suits at the seaside (left) and Jos's mother carrying one of her plants on the right.

Opposite this corner and above the modern flat screen television (we do have some mod cons!) are two display cases carrying the poshest of my Barbies, with some of Jos's Davy Crockett collection on the right.

Is it a boy or a girl? I've never been absolutely sure, but he or she is carrying a jug of ostrich feathers, very fashionable in the 1920's.

I couldn't resist the kitsch wooden wall plaque with a tableau of plastic deer, going for € 0,50 in a charity shop. The display of vases and birds on the bottom right is sitting on top of a cabinet.

I'm the first to plead guilty when it comes to clutter, but all these objects have a soul and a story to tell. They have found a place, not only inside Dove Cottage, but in my heart as well.

After this little detour, it's back to the rest of our finds. 

As you'd probably expected, I bought several brooches. I selected four from the Brooch Lady's folders, and found another three at one of the stalls upstairs.

How cute is that cuckoo clock? The celluloid deer and the carved mother-of-pearl bird brooch were just € 5 and € 7, which is quite cheap. They both needed cleaning, but just soaking them in soapy water already lifted most of the dirt.

Have you noticed the stylish little hat in the group picture? The minute I laid eyes on it, I was in love. The stall's owner urged me to try on a rather spectacular 1920s cloche hat, but I had my heart set on this one, even though it didn't come cheap.

I thought it would rather suit the snooty Idina, so here she is modelling it for you!

The weather continued to be fine on Sunday (I'm still rambling on about last week here) so we spent a bit of time in the garden. I'd already done some serious pruning on Friday afternoon, getting rid of some of the exuberant ivy which is threatening to take over our little plot. A huge heap of twigs and cuttings is now ready to be collected by the town council in a week or two.

We also planted out our poor rhubarb plant which had been waiting patiently in its pot. No need to plant any more Aquilegia, as they self-seed like mad: look at those little seedlings huddling together in this terracotta planter, abandoned after the demise of its original inhabitant. 

More signs of Spring in other parts of the garden. Our Clematis armandii is slowly reaching its zenith, the warmth of the sun releasing its heavenly almond scent. The little stone dove will soon be surrounded by the small pink flowers of our ground-covering Geranium, while Alchemilla mollis, commonly known as Lady's Mantle, is one by one unfurling its downy leaves. Quite unexpected, as I'm sure I didn't plant it there. Yet another of our self seeders!

As much as I love green, our garden was sorely in need of a bit more colour, so we made a trip to the garden centre to pick up some flowering Spring plants.

You've got to love a bit of flower power ...

I'm not very visible in this post, so I will take Idina and her fabulous new hat to Patti's Visible Monday at Not Dead Yet Style this week!