Good times, bad times

Now that life is more or less back to normal**, it feels strange to revisit the time, now well over a month ago, when things weren't exactly a bed of roses.

For the sake of the continuity of my blog, however, let's once more hop into the time machine and alight at the end of April.

Only two days after Jos's third - and as it would turn out, final - course of chemotherapy, things were still tickety-boo, with Jos's energy levels still being boosted by the magical properties of the cortisone-like medication he was given right before and after his session.

After a morning of chores on Saturday the 25th of April, I walked into the village for an afternoon of drinks and a catch-up with my friend Inez. 

While I was waiting for her to lock up her e-bike (she'd cycled over from the next village) I was complimented by a passer-by on the skirt I was wearing. It's a vintage Trachten one, a € 5 sales bargain from Think Twice last August. After trying on a couple of tops, I think it found its perfect companion in this charity shopped blouse with its groovilicious caramel, cream, burgundy and lilac pattern.

My accessories were a blend of second-hand and high street finds.

With Sunday's highs of 18°C and oodles of sunny spells, it would have been downright silly to spend the day inside. Instead, we drove to Fort 5 in Edegem, our neighbouring village, for a walk. 

Due to roadworks, we'd had to drive around a bit to find a parking spot, but eventually we managed to grab a space just a short walk from the entrance.

We ended our walk, which took us along and inside some of the atmospheric old fort buildings dating from the 1860s, by soaking up some Spring sunshine on a sun-dappled bench.

My outfit of the day contained no less than two Shrewsbury charity shop finds. I picked up the magenta short-sleeved jumper in June 2024 and the pink floral trainers 5 years earlier.

The skirt came from a long-gone vintage shop in Antwerp. 

Let's have a look at my accessories!

Clockwise from top left: lilac watch and ring from the high street, funky wood and plastic necklace from Accessorize UK, who used to have a branch in Antwerp many years ago, charity shopped pleated leather belt and a dragonfly brooch found on a flea market in Middelburg.  

In the week that followed the chemotherapy side effects started kicking in one by one and, although he was still feeling relatively well on Wednesday, we didn't take any chances and made use of a wheelchair to go for his weekly blood test and consultation at the hospital.

After an interminably long wait, we were finally seen by the doctor, who told us that not only were his blood levels satisfactory, the CT scan he'd had the week before showed that things were stable.

I was wearing my vintage poppy dress that day. I can't for the life of me remember whether it was a charity shop find or a Think Twice one, but it definitely joined my wardrobe pre-blog. Looking back at my previous wears of this gorgeous dress, I always seem to combine it with green accessories, so why break the habit of the last 10 years or so?

My pale pink suede boots were bought in the closing down sale of Antwerp's branch of New Look back in 2019.

I'd taken both Wednesday and Thursday off, as on Thursday we needed to return to the hospital for another check-up, this time for the inguinal hernia surgery he'd had back in January. 

We were running late that morning and were only just in time for our appointment. Expecting the usual delay, we were pleasantly surprised that we were called into the consultant's s office mere minutes after we'd sat down in the waiting room. As everything was looking fine, we were in and out in less than 10 minutes.

A quick look at my outfit, which was all charity shopped over the years, except for the brooch, which was a flea market find. 

The disadvantage of my newly acquired photography assistent is that he or she completely refrained from telling me that my necklace was wonky!  Definitely a he then, I guess :-)

Friday the 1st of May was Labour Day, and thus a public holiday in Belgium.

With Jos being in the full throes of post-chemotherapy misery, the day was spent mostly inside, even if the mercury had climbed to the mid-twenties.

Again, most of my outfit consisted of charity shop finds. This time, the odd one out was my belt with its faux tortoiseshell hexagonal buckle:  a cheeky high street buy back in May 2021.

And then another Saturday rolled along, the afternoon of this moody 23°C day being spent having another meet-up with my friend Inez. We're trying to make this a weekly thing, as it allows us so much more time for drinks and a natter than our former lunchbreak cappuccino catch-ups. 

The dress I was wearing is one of my vintage Diolen Delights and again green was my colour of choice for accessorizing it. I wore a comfortable pair of red shoes by the Portuguese Kiarflex label, charity shopped in the Spring of 2022. This is one of only a handful of pairs of non-sandal shoes I'm able to wear barefoot without causing rubbing and blisters.

The day ended with the thunderstorm which had been brewing all afternoon and which lasted well into the evening.

On Sunday - we were the 3rd of May by now - I woke up with a painful ulcer in my nose, which gave me a headache and meant I could hardly bear the weight of my glasses. I hadn't slept well and needed a steady mix of painkillers to get me through the day.

I still managed to get dressed though, opting for a vintage skirt and Breton top combo, accessorized with an orange belt and necklace to match the orange bits in the skirt.

In spite of having had another sleepless night and being in lots of pain, I dragged myself out of bed on Monday morning and foolishly went off to work. Thankfully, I was able to make a doctor's appointment for that evening, when I was prescribed stronger painkillers, hydrocortisone cream, antibiotics, lots of rest and the advice to take the rest of the week off work.

With wearing my glasses still being an issue there was nothing for it than taking regular naps in between reading bits of Julia Glass's The Whole World Over. I'd read and loved her debut novel, Three Junes, a couple of years ago while on holiday in our cottage in Poperinge, and this one didn't disappoint either.

It took until the Friday of that week until I started feeling myself again and was able to leave the confines of the sofa. With Jos still feeling unwell and not up to anything productive, I caught up on a couple of long overdue chores.

The weather gods weren't particularly on their best behaviour that day so that I was forced to wear a jumper. A thin knit one, but still! My faux patchwork skirt is vintage C&A and again I picked green accessories and wore my Kiarflex shoes.

Not having left the house in days, I was starting to get cabin fever, so I walked into the village to run an errand. As always, I ended up for a quick browse at bargain store Zeeman where I fell hard for these granny square slippers, which obviously had to come home with me.

One final outfit before I call it a day.

Saturday's weather was infinitely better than Friday's, with highs into the low twenties.

No need for a jumper that day. Instead, I chose a red and white floral short-sleeved blouse (from the Belgian Wow To Go label via the charity shops) which I wore with a skirt with the funkiest of patterns, which someone on Instagram once likened to a collection of colourful plates. 

This time, I picked black for my accessories to tie in with the black background of my skirt. Again, the charity shops supplied the majority of my outfit. 

*** I will try to catch up with your blogs soon but please do bear with me as I might have jinxed it when I said that life was more or less back to normal. Earlier this week, Jos fell and hurt his knee, which made us end up in A&E once more. Thankfully nothing is broken or seriously amiss but it will take time to heal, meaning that our little holiday - which starts tomorrow - will be one with a hurdle!

See you soon!

And so this was Christmas

It's day 5 of my Christmas break, and what have I done? So far, I admit I've been a total slob. Ok, vanity dictated that I dressed up every day, and we even braved the freezing temperatures we're currently experiencing to go for a couple of walks. But that's it really. 

Obviously, I also made some time to pen this post. After all, the year might nearly be over but I've still got to make a start with telling you about its final month!

However, I might have told a little white lie when I mentioned I was wrapping up the month of November in my previous post. The fact is that I completely forgot to tell you about what we did on Sunday the 30th!

After a raft of rainy days, the weather gods had finally dried their tears, treating us to a gloomy but mostly dry day. My diary mentions that at 7°C it was chilly, which actually makes me laugh now that the temperatures have taken a dive below freezing point!

Wild horses couldn't have kept us inside, though, so we wrapped up warmly and drove to Fort 5 in Edegem, our neighbouring village. 

Once again, this is somewhere I've been taking you to many times before, but here's a little recap for those who are new here.

Fort 5 is part of a ring of eight almost identical forts - given the unimaginative names of Fort 1 up to Fort 8 - surrounding the city of Antwerp and built in the 1860s to protect the city from enemy fire.  Apart from Fort 1, which had to make way for a road and a shopping centre, they are all still in existence but have long ago been converted into nature reserves and recreational spaces. 

Fort 5 is the one nearest to us, with a plethora of paths to choose from, catering for both a short stroll or a longer walk. 

It was the former we were after on that Sunday afternoon, but then we found the gate leading to the inner fort standing invitingly open. Beyond the gate, which is usually closed, are the premises of BLWRK, which offers space for coworking, meetings and events. You wouldn't guess it from the outside, but here's a link to their website to give you an idea of what it looks like on the inside.

There was an exhibition of some sort taking place, which exceptionally allowed us to step through the gate and explore this hugely atmospheric part of the old fort. 

It was still with some trepidation that we proceeded to circuit the inner fort. While Jos walked on fearlessly, I was a bit hesitant, imploring him at regular intervals to turn around, as I was having this weird fear of finding that gate closed, with us locked inside. But then we came full circle which I've got to admit was nothing short of a relief. I guess I haven't got the makings of an urban explorer ...

Let's have a look at the symphony of blue, red and white I was wearing that day. The skirt is vintage and was part of a birthday haul at Think Twice in September 2020.  The spotty blouse is from the former Belgian Wow To Go label and was charity shopped almost exactly two years later. My necklace, another one which is making regular appearances here, was a charity shop find as well, while the elastic belt with its Celtic knot buckle was picked up from the Green Ice outlet shop near my office.

December started with yet another week of gloom, with temperatures ranging between 7 and 9°C.

I was expecting a visit from the bosses who were coming over from Miami and while I was waiting for them to arrive on Monday morning, the sun made a brief appearance, gilding the cathedral tower and the Art Deco skyscraper called the Boerentoren (transl. Farmer's Tower). That might very well have been our only bit of sunshine that week, caught when I was looking out of the office window at exactly the right moment.

Needless to say, the week was a bit of a whirlwind. As their last visit was in January 2024, we hadn't seen each other for nearly two years, and as that particular visit had ended with a bit of an altercation, I was feeling a bit nervous. We'd obviously talked on the phone loads of times since then, but I had no idea how things would be when we would be seeing each other face to face.  All I can say is that I needn't have worried!

There's nothing of note to tell you about that week but that he guys took me to lunch on Tuesday and were gone by mid-afternoon on Thursday. By then, my nerves were quite frazzled as I'm not used to the pressure of having them around physically.

As a diversion, I walked to one of my nearest Think Twice shops during Thursday's lunch break. Another round of their famous sales had started, and I found an Austrian made new wool maxi skirt at 30% off, which I couldn't wait to wear the very next day.

For fear of sounding like a broken record, Friday was mostly grey with the odd sunny spell followed by rain in the evening. The day's highs of around 10°C weren't too bad for the time of year, but the seemingly never-ending gloom kept us inside for most of the day.

I picked up the pops of cinnamon in the vaguely botanical pattern of my new-to-me skirt with an openwork knit jumper from the Danish Nümph label, a charity shop find almost exactly a year ago. Both the lilac belt and the green and turquoise wood and raffia beaded necklace were charity shopped as well. If I remember correctly, the wooden duck brooch was a flea market find.

The day was spent doing my usual Friday faffing around, tackling a couple of chores and going for a food shop. 

Then I settled down on the sofa with my latest read. Set in Kerrville, Kansas, Laura Moriarty's debut novel The Center of Everything is told by Evelyn Bucknow, a young girl living with her single mother and with a wholly refreshing way of looking at the world. Although I loved it, it is not a keeper. Alas, there is only so much - or rather, little - space on my bookshelves. Lately, only the very best make the grade.

And look who joined me on that sofa! She is demanding lap time the minute I'm daring to sit down, promptly falling asleep until I'm getting needles and pins in my legs.

Saturday the 6th of December was a grey and wet day, but still reasonably warm at 11°C.

The Diolen Delight I plucked from my wardrobe was a pre-blog Think Twice bargain and, with its joyous multi-coloured dots, was the perfect mood booster on this gloomiest of days! The green Dralon short-sleeved cardigan I wore on top came from Think Twice as well, snapped up for € 4 in November 2018.

Both my necklace, whose beads are wearing woolly jumpers, and my painted metal flower brooch,  were charity shop finds. 

As there was no improvement in the weather, and we didn't want to be stuck inside all day again, there was nothing for it but to do some shopping. Charity shopping, obviously!

Our shop of choice was the one in Duffel, which boasts no less than three floors of would-be treasures. However, it was extremely busy, with cars queueing for space, so that we continued to the park a hundred metres or so up the road. Here, thankfully, there was ample space to park our car. Grabbing an umbrella, we then proceeded to walk back to the shop. 

By then the rain clouds were taking a breather, so that we briefly considered going for a stroll. But the park was looking utterly wet and forlorn and it wasn't long before those rain clouds were starting up again with renewed vigour.

Much to our delight, the gods of the charity shops had decided to make up for their weather colleagues' bad behaviour, and finds were plentiful.

The clothing aisles delivered with an orange jumper and a pink and orange tank top.

Scanning the racks of shoes, my eyes alighted on a pair of tall brown leather boots and a pair of pewter Italian made ankle boots.

My star find, however, was yet another coat! Yes, I know, coat ban and all that, but surely it would have been downright criminal to leave this King Louie stunner behind?

There was a button missing and another one which had faded, but that didn't faze me at all. It was nothing a needle, some thread and my stash of vintage buttons wouldn't be able to deal with.

So, that was my Sunday occupation! 

It was such an dismal, dark and wet day that we had to put on the kitchen lights when making outfit photos. 

I was wearing my vintage Venetia frock, which has a pattern of tiny white dots and garlands of frothy pink flowers, and was purchased from a long-gone vintage shop about 12 years ago. 

I picked a contrasting pale aqua for its companions and accessories. The belt, beads and King Louie cardigan were all charity shop finds. The pink flower corsage I pinned to my cardigan was bought on the high street. Oh, and I gave the pewter ankle boots I'd charity shopped on Saturday their very first outing. Admittedly, I only wore them for the photos as we didn't leave the house all day.

And now, if you'll excuse me, I am answering the siren call of the sofa. I might do a spot of reading or perhaps watch another episode of Bess's adventures with the Christmas tree. She has nearly dislodged all the ornaments at least once by now and there are several branches which are hanging on for dear life.

I probably won't be posting again until next year, so I'll see you on the other side!

I can't thank you enough for reading and leaving your lovely comments!

The last of the August outfits

I know, I know, it's October already, and the weather has turned decidedly Autumnal these last couple of days. The wind has been fierce but thankfully we have been spared of any damages Storm Amy has caused elsewhere. Leaves were being tossed around like confetti while the rain which kept lashing against our windows put paid to any outdoor activities. 

The perfect time to write a blog post, if only its subject wasn't the final fortnight of August, when temperatures effortlessly reached the mid-twenties and more.

In fact, I'm getting goosebumps just looking at the sleeveless dress I was wearing on Friday the 15th of August to combat the day's highs of 29°C.

The dress, with its scattering of purple and burgundy wildflowers, was a charity shop find in September 2023.

My matching cat brooch and necklace with its graduated wooden discs were flea market and charity shop finds respectively.

The temperature took a dive to 22°C on Saturday, taking with it Friday's hazy sunshine and replacing it with a gloomy sky and some scattered showers, particularly in the afternoon.

Remember the cotton tiered off-white skirt sprinkled with lavender flowers I charity shopped at the beginning of August? Well, I was wearing it that day, combined with a sleeveless green blouse trimmed with pink rick rack. The blouse, which is by Belgian label Who's That Girl, was found for a pittance in a charity shop in Poperinge during our September holiday in 2020.

As the rain we were sent by the weather gods dictated that we spend the day indoors, we drove down to the charity shop in nearby Mortsel for a rummage.

The thrifting gods must have taken pity on me, as I was rewarded with no less than three dresses. Above, from left to right: moss green plaid dress in 100% cotton from the Danish Nümph label, handmade teal floral vintage frock with matching tie belt and 100% cotton no-label maxi dress made in India. The latter was on the XL rail, but turned out to be an S, its bodice being a tiny bit snug.

There were three lightweight Summer blouses as well, from Spanish label Sfera, Esprit and London- based Emily and Fin respectively. Isn't the latter's birds on a wire print delightful? 

The final item to make it into my basket was this button-through King Louie skirt!

And speaking of skirts, I picked this floral pleated maxi one to wear on Sunday the 17th.

The weather, with its mix of clouds and sunny spells accompanied with a temperature of 23°C, might have been an improvement on Saturday's, but I still didn't take any chances and opted for a sailor-style short-sleeved jumper as the skirt's companion. A green stretchy belt with bamboo buckle and green squirrel brooch completed my outfit. 

We were invited for dinner by our lovely neighbours across the road, where we sat outside in their recently completed garden. The dinner was to thank us for looking after their cats Bobby and Billie, who were recently joined by a very playful third kitten, Pip.

As the evening progressed, there was a nip in the air, so that I was thankful for the blankets supplied by our neighbours. Still, I was glad I'd had the presence of mind to bring my denim jacket.

Ms. Sunshine honoured us with her presence again in the first half of August's penultimate week, when the temperature soared towards the high twenties once more.

The dress which got its annual outing on Tuesday the 19th was yet another charity shop find.  Although it's actually more like a glorified apron than a dress, I fell in love with its printed cotton fabric edged in red piping when I stumbled upon it back in September 2023. I mean, it's even got real pockets, so what's not to like?

As Think Twice was having another round of sales, with prices down to € 6 on Monday and € 5 on Tuesday, I couldn't resist going for a rummage during my lunch breaks.

On Monday, this William Morris print curtain couture zippered jacket insisted on coming home with me, while the bright pink cap sleeved knit with its openwork yoke wormed its way into my affections on Tuesday.

I also fell hard for this pink cotton Trachten skirt, which I wore the very next day for my weekly cappuccino catch-up with Inez. 

A green short-sleeved jumper, tan belt with faux mother-of-pearl buckle and translucent pink pearls completed my outfit. My navy sandals were bought in the closing down sale of a Belgian chain of shoe shops last year.

As usual, we ended our lunch break meet-up by doing the rounds of the rails. With prices now down to € 4, there were quite a few things which caught my eye.

There was a funky short-sleeved vintage shirt by Finnlene, which I ended up packing for our September holiday, a brown pleated leather belt and - my best find! - an Orla Kiely tote bag.

I then unearthed this black floral King Louie sundress from a rail of mediocre offerings and, finally, snapped up this block printed cotton blouse, made in India by Shilpa.

A look out of our bedroom window that evening was rewarded by this magnificent sunset!

The weather gods were in a fickle mood, presenting us with a mix of clouds and sunny spells on Friday the 22nd, although thankfully there was no sign of the forecasted rain. The temperature, too, kept going up and down like a yo-yo, the thermometer now barely registering 20°C.

I wished they'd make up their minds, which would make deciding what to wear a whole lot easier.

After some dithering in front of my wardrobe, I decided to give the handmade vintage dress I charity shopped the other week its first outing. And what a joy to wear it was! This one's definitely going to be a wardrobe staple for many years to come.

My accessories were mainly of the orange variety, although I wore a pair of matching teal shoes (a Think Twice find in September 2023) and chose a teal plastic bracelet - a fast fashion find many years ago - to keep my vintage carved orange one company.

Almost the same scenario on Saturday, although this time around we were treated to some drizzle in the morning.

Having been quite negligent lately, I greased my elbows and gave the kitchen and bathroom a thorough cleaning. And no, I wasn't wearing this outfit while doing so.

I spent the rest of the day inside, pottering and reading, but surely that's no reason not to get dressed up!

My cotton retro print circle skirt was a charity shop find in December 2019 and is something of an oddity. In spite of the fact that a label has been sewn in, I am sure that the skirt is handmade and that the label is a personalized one. It's got a visible red side zipper and features random felt circles and visible stitching.

I combined it with another charity shopped wardrobe staple, a blue and white short-sleeved knit jumper. The multi-coloured beaded necklace, cat brooch and stretchy belt are all long-time favourites as well.

There were plenty of sunny spells on Sunday, giving a boost to the temperature, which climbed to 22°C.

As we'd been cooped up inside for long enough by then, we were raring to go for a leg-stretching and head-clearing walk, for which we drove down to Fort 5 in the neighbouring village of Edegem. 

I was wearing the pleated leather belt I'd picked up from Think Twice earlier that week, a red Tricel short-sleeved jumper, blue and orange leaf-patterned blazer and orange and brown wooden beads. But I'm sure that all eyes are on my skirt, which is the indisputable star of my outfit, which I happened upon in a vintage per kilo shop back in March. Isn't it spectacular?

Having finished my latest read, I made a start with Irish novelist Colm Tóibín's - of Brooklyn fame - Nora Webster. 

I'm sure you'll be relieved to read that we're heading into August's final week. I know that I am!

Consequently, these are the last of the August outfits.

First up is this green and white green squiggly striped Rayon dress I picked up from Think Twice in July 2023. I was wearing a pink squishy belt last time I wore the dress, but as it has given up the ghost in the meantime, I wore it with the dress's very own belt, which rather disappears into the dress's pattern.

Pink accessories to the rescue!

My shoes, which are from the Spanish ART label, were bought in 2022 from an outlet shop in the small - and increasingly empty - shopping centre near my office. They are among my most comfortable footwear.

And here's the very last one!

The tiered cotton skirt was a sales bargain from C&A in the Summer of 2022 and one of the skirts I reached for the most during the Summer months. This time, it got the company of the Emily and Fin blouse I charity shopped the other week. The eagle-eyed among you might note the yellow bird brooch I pinned to it. 

My necklace and stretchy belt are regulars on the blog, but I don't think my yellow shoes ever made it on here. I found them in a charity shop near my dentist's practice back in May.

I'll be back with another travel post, in which we venture a bit further afield, in a couple of days.

But then there's that backlog of September outfits I've got waiting in the wings. Will I ever be able to catch up, I wonder. Too many things to blog about, too little time!

See you soon!