Wearing, reading and charity shopping

As promised, I'm back with a final November update. And about time too, I guess, as Christmas is almost upon at the time of writing. We put up our Christmas tree two weekends ago, deciding to leave our fragile vintage decorations for (at least) another year and using our small collection of wooden, felted, fabric, resin and papier-mâché ones instead. 

As you can see, it was a good thing that we did! Ever since Bess came to live at Dove Cottage back in 2021, it has become a tradition to post a photo of her shenanigans involving the tree, so here is this year's contribution. She wasted no time in climbing it the minute it was up and I'd finished decorating it with all those tempting toys!

As my blog hasn't actually made it to Christmas yet, why don't we retrace our steps to Friday the 21st of November? On the menu that day was my penultimate visit to Michel, my hairdresser of more than 30 years, who will be retiring at the end of next week. Sob!

I might not have been ready for the silly season yet but the streets of Antwerp were already decked out with garlands of greenery and festive light displays. 

It was a sunny but crispy cold day on which the mercury didn't climb any higher than 4°C.

I was wearing a chevron patterned plaid skirt in browns, oranges and a dash of white, which I wrestled off a charity shop dummy in January 2022. Its companion, an aubergine blouse sprinkled with colourful spots, was an old Think Twice find, its collar kept under control with a sparkly peach-coloured brooch I picked up from H&M in the late noughties. 

For extra warmth, I added a lavender tank top, bought at 70% off in the closing down sale of the Belgian Terre Bleue label in September 2024. To this I pinned one of my Autumn leaf brooches. Then I selected an orange stretchy belt with massive round metal buckle - a cheeky high street buy - to accentuate my waist.

The temperature was down to 2°C on Saturday, when we woke up to the first of the night frost having sugar-coated the plants in the jungle garden.

The sudden cold snap spurred me into action, and I spent the morning unearthing some of my warmer skirts and exchanging a shelf full of short-sleeved knits for long-sleeved Winter jumpers.

Then I walked into the village as I needed to run an errand at Kruidvat, which is the Low Countries' equivalent of Superdrug.

My blue cord skirt was bought in a high street shop in November 2023 and has become a true Autumn/Winter staple ever since. My diagonally striped polo neck, in a slightly darker shade of blue, was a € 5 Think Twice sales bargain one year later. 

Both the belt and necklace were relatively recent charity shop finds. A pre-blog rummage at the indoor flea market yielded the vintage enamelled metal brooch featuring an Edelweiss, a Gentian and a couple of smaller daisy-like flowers.  

Talking of rummages, we drove down to the Went to charity shop in Mortsel after lunch, where I found a Diolen button through skirt, a Nordic style jumper by the Belgian high street label JBC, a black and white patterned orange blouse and some aqua beads.

It had actually snowed overnight on Sunday the 23rd of November, but apart from the odd dot of the fluffy stuff, it had all gone by morning. In its wake, we were left with a gloomy and utterly grey day on which an icy cold wind made it feel considerably colder that the day's highs of 2°C.

As Bess had been having episodes of regular vomiting, which we suspected was hairball related but wanted to be sure, we made an online appointment with a local vet for Tuesday morning. Much to our regret our former vet, whom we'd had since Phoebe's predecessor Poesie back in the mid-1990s, had recently closed her practice. As she used to do house visits, it would be the first time we'd have to take Bess anywhere in the cat carrier we last used when we picked her up from the shelter which, needless to say, we were a bit nervous about ...

Thankfully we were able to take our minds off things by visiting our friends Ingrid and Luc in he afternoon. We hadn't seen each other for a while, so it was nice to be able to catch up.

Ingrid and I were at secondary school together, where we were the one and only punks. Those were the days!

Monday was the start of a three-day general strike in Belgium, with little or no public transport, which meant that Jos not only had to drive me into Antwerp like he usually does, but pick me up again as well. This was easier said than done, as, due to parking restrictions, there is nowhere for him to park the car and wait for me. This meant leaving the office ahead of time to make sure I'd be at our designated pick-up point by the time he arrived.

After a foggy commute on Tuesday morning, this was my view from the office window (above, left): apparently Antwerp's cathedral had gone AWOL!  I'm including the view on the right, taken a couple of hours later, for comparison.

It was the day of Bess's appointment with the vet, where she was declared to be in perfect health and was given an injection to help her with the hairball issues. Jos reported that she meowed loudly during the car trip - which took all of five minutes - but that she was on her best behaviour at the vet's. 

I walked to the nearest Think Twice shop during lunch break, where I found this amazing vintage dress from a German label called Rawe Rheda. When I posted my find on Instagram that day, I was told by Lynn that she used to have the exact same dress.

And just like that, another week had gone by!

Another gloomy and mizzly day was our lot on Friday the 28th of November, accompanied with a neither here nor there 9°C.

I had a dentist appointment for a check-up at 11 am, but as there were no issues I was in and out in less than 15 minutes.

Back at home, I tackled a couple of minor sewing jobs after lunch, after which we went food shopping.

My outfit was based around the olive green polyester knit vintage dress I found at the vintage per kilo shop back in October. 

Both the chunky knit long-line orange cardigan and the orange fake-snake belt were charity shopped, while the orange and green mottled brooch was a flea market find. My necklace is a holiday souvenir, bought from an antiques centre in Newcastle Emlyn, Wales in June 2017. It seems that it's one of the necklaces I'm reaching for the most.

The rest of the day was spent engrossed in my latest read, Muriel Spark's The Girls of Slender Means. This early 1960s vintage Penguin has been on my shelves for decades but caught my eye as I was rearranging the latter to make some space. I couldn't actually remember ever reading it, so that was my next read sorted.

The novel is set in London in 1945 at the end of the war in a shabby boarding house for young ladies called the May of Teck Club. It follows their lives and love affairs over a period of a few weeks but ends in tragedy. It's a very witty novel which I loved, although I initially had a difficult time getting into it.

There was no improvement in the weather on Saturday.  Apart from a handful of sunny days, it had been a gloomy month of November, but still an improvement on October, which was considered the bleakest month here in Belgium since records began.

As it was once again left to yours truly to provide a daily dose of sunshine, I plucked this teal cowl-necked and pleated dress from my wardrobe. A Think Twice find back in March 2022, I initially left it behind, but as luck would have it, it had been reduced by 30% when I went back for it the next day.

From its groovy colourful pattern, I selected ochre for my fluffy cardigan and tan for my belt, adding even more colour with my beaded necklace and brooch. Apart from the latter, which was a flea market find, all were supplied by the gods of the charity shops.

Speaking of which, the weather dictated that we went for another rummage, for which we selected the shop at the edge of our village.

Here I found no less than three vintage dresses, which I'm sure were leftovers from the infamous Day of the Charity Shops, on which they break out all of the vintage items they've hoarded for months, to be sold at inflated prices. 

There were two modern dresses as well. The burnt orange floral shift dress is by Belgian label Claude Arielle (I've already got a couple of blouses by them) while the tropical patterned one is a King Louie.

My final finds of the day were two more books to add to my already toppling pile. I must be one of the only people in the world who hasn't yet read Tracy Chevalier's Girl with a Pearl Earring ... and nor have I seen the film!

So, that's it for now. I've just finished my final day at the office this year and, as I'm only due back on Monday the 5th of January, I'm looking forward to 12 days of freedom from the shackles of time.

All that's left is to wish you all a wonderful Christmas. 

See you on the other side!

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!

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!