Anniversaries

Once again, the weather was nothing  much to write home about in the first weekend of March. If we'd been treated to a handful of cold yet gorgeously sunny days earlier that week, any hints of imminent Springtime had dwindled away by Friday.

Without the sun to warm both our bodies and the cockles of our hearts the days were dismal and depressing and, although the temperatures were well above freezing point, it required a bit of an effort  to step outside for outfit photos. Perhaps Vix's idea of making flatlays isn't such a bad one!

However, I decided to be a diligent blogger, so here is what I was wearing on Friday.

I based my outfit around the purple and tan tartan skirt I'd charity shopped the other week, combining it with two of my wardrobe stalwarts. The purple polo neck is an old retail buy which, at a rough guess, I've had for close to fifteen years. After hot flushes prevented me from wearing my polo necks for years, they have recently made a comeback. In fact, this one's previous outing only dates from January.

The dusty pink blouse with its wide wing collar is vintage, found at a sorely missed vintage shop back in 2015.  It is patterned with a sprinkling of plum and orange flowers and diamonds and closes with a row of bright orange buttons.  

I picked green for an extra pop of colour, adding a stretchy belt with round faux-tortoiseshell buckle bought retail a couple of years ago and a necklace found on a flea market just before the first Lockdown. The flapper girl in my brooch, which was another flea market find, is wearing a green turban for good measure. 

In fact, I was wearing forest green suede boots as well, but the darkness of the day didn't allow them to photograph well. 

The day's charity shop trawl - well, that's what Fridays are for, aren't they - took us to the shops in Mortsel and Lier, and once again I was in luck.

Both the blue, yellow and white zig-zag top with a bit of sparkle, and the one with its feathery grey, yellow and aqua pattern, have been put away for Summer. The former is from an unknown to me Belgian label called She Goes Lala, while the latter is from Mayerline, which is Belgian too.

For the skirts we are travelling to the UK and the Netherlands respectively. The navy pleated skirt with its baroque pattern is Marks and Spencer's St. Michael, and the teal one with its ditsy print is King Louie, Another one which slipped through the cracks and didn't end up on the posh label rails, I am pleased to add.

Back to Belgium with the eye-confusingly patterned polo neck from Terre Bleue, then straight on to the US, where the label was founded in 1968, for the chunky knit tan Esprit cardigan.

The bookshelves didn't disappoint either, making my reading pile,which is in danger of toppling over, even higher.

Flanking the Taschen book on 15th Century paintings are a novel by Julia Glass, whose Three Junes I enjoyed reading in August 2021, and Sweet Caress by William Boyd, a book I admit to initially choosing for its cover, but which promises to be a great read.

There was no improvement on the weather front on Saturday, but we didn't let the minor issue of the day's grey skies spoil the first of the anniversaries my post title is referring to. Indeed, on the 4th of March we celebrated the fact that our fabulously fluffy, fierce and funny Bess came into our lives exactly two years ago! And how she's changed from that scaredy scrap of a thing that hid under the cupboard for two whole days and remained the seldom seen cat for weeks!

The day didn't prompt us to engage in any outdoor activities so, as an anniversary present to Bess, we stayed with her all day, most of which she spent lying sprawled out on our laps.

But that didn't mean I was completely idle! According to my journal, I washed my hair, did a wardrobe purge resulting in a huge bag for charity, uploaded some photos, caught up with blogland and cleaned and rearranged the items living on top of our bathroom cabinet. Hello vintage loo rolls (bottom left) and oh, I'd completely forgotten about those Avon flower soaps!

Saturday's outfit consisted of a diamond patterned blouse picked up in the newly opened Think Twice shop in Antwerp back in February, paired with an Essentiel Antwerp skirt charity shopped in March 2022. I ditched the latter's self-fabric belt in favour of a multicoloured pleated leather one. As most of my belts were charity shop finds I presume this one was too, but I can't remember buying it al all. 

The orange wooden beads were charity shopped as well, while the brooch was a flea market find last month. My tall red boots also followed me home from a flea market. In fact, the only retail buy in my outfit - apart from my tights and underwear - was the ring!

As I was making my way back inside after our photo session, I noticed some big fat buds (bottom right) in our Hydrangea. We initially thought that the poor shrub hadn't survived the "wall massacre", so we were delighted to find that it was alive after all. Still wearing my non-garden proof outfit, I threw my orange knitted poncho on top, and gave the shrub its annual haircut, pruning each stem back to the lowest healthy looking bud. I also removed at least four empty bags which were hidden in its heart, abandoned by our heartless neighbour.

The Sarcococca (Winter Box, top right) outside our back door has finally opened its non-descript yet strongly scented flowers, the last of the Snowdrops at the back of the garden are delighting us with their shy, dainty flowers, and there's new growth in the potted Euphorbia in the passageway. It's not all bad news in our sorry excuse for a garden.

And then it was Sunday and time for this month's edition of the indoor flea market.

Another grey and sunless day, with temperatures in the mid single digits, it was imperative that we dressed warmly, particularly in view of the erratic nature of the flea market venue's heating.

I don't think I wore my chevron patterned brown and tan knit skirt at all last Winter, so it was definitely due another outing. If my memory serves me right, it was a Think Twice find. This time, it found its perfect companion in the orange polo neck, which I charity shopped in November 2021.

The cropped faux fur gilet I layered on top was a charity shop find too, as was the green mock croc belt, while the Lucite bird brooch was picked up from a flea market. 

Both the necklace, which came from Accessorize who once upon a time used to have a shop in Antwerp, and the ring, were retail buys.

At the flea market, we spent a happy few hours trawling the aisles and perusing the multitude of stalls.

Purchases were made, obviously, although it turns out that we are a lot more fussy than we used to be.

The box of Agfa glass plates (top right) was a no-brainer, however, bought to display with the wooden stereo camera we purchased from a charity shop in November. The plates are all exposed and I managed to photograph one of the negatives by displaying it against our spare room window. I'm left wondering, of course, who these people were and when and where the photographs were taken.

Having been to the factory's visitor centre back in September, the book on the history of Jules Destrooper (top left) was a no-brainer as well. The seller threw in the booklet on the history or Prince biscuits, designed and first sold in Antwerp in 1894 in honour of the Belgian King Leopold II after he visited the pavilion of biscuit manufacturer Edward De Beukelaer at the Exposition Internationale d'Anvers. 

It almost goes without saying that I added to my collection of brooches.

The oval enamelled rose brooch came from a French speaking lady I've bought from many times before and who always gives me a good price, while the flower laden metal wheelbarrow was picked up from a random stall. 

The wooden flower brooch and the smaller, round enamelled roses and rose hips brooch were found at our friend Rita's stall.

The gold-rimmed ceramic flower brooch was my star find, while yet another random stall yielded the jade green celluloid bird brooch and the slightly damaged enamelled feather, both of which went for the silly price of € 3.

The day's final find came from our friend Tania's stall. Can you guess what it is? Well, obviously it isn't the demented looking doll, but the wicker basket! Although I could very well have been sharing the doll's horrified look when I was faced with the lack of space to properly display my ever-growing collection of straw, wicker and rattan baskets ... 

Anyway, that's it for now. Before I leave you, however, I've still got to tell you about the other anniversary, as my post title clearly mentions anniversaries, plural!

Well, Monday the 6th was my blog's 7th anniversary or blogiversary! I can't believe it has been 7 years that I have been sharing my life with you. Blogging has become one of the joys of my life, and I cannot thank each and everyone of you enough for not only putting up with me, but leaving the loveliest of comments on my posts!

Five years, what a surprise

If the last couple of weeks have been a bit of an emotional rollercoaster, they have been quite hectic as well, with this and that, and the increase of my workload at the office in particular. So much so that I'll be working an additional day a week from now on, adding Friday to my repertoire of office days. After almost one year at a two-day regime, it's a bit of a shock to the system and I'm desperately dreading the not-so-far-off day when I'll have to return to the office full time.

With my head all over the place, it almost escaped my attention that today, the 5th of March, it has been an incredible 5 years since I hesitantly published my first blog post. But while I marked my first four blogiversaries with a retrospective post, I'll refrain from doing so this year.  As we all know, it has been an extraordinary year, to put it mildly, with more than its average quota of ups and downs. A strangely distorted year which has turned our lives inside out and upside down. I just don't need a reminder of all that.

That doesn't mean that it was all bad, though. I can't stress enough how much I relished all the free time I had at my disposal, which in its turn triggered the revival of our previously much neglected little garden, and the rediscovery of my green fingers in the process. 

Apart from the gardening frenzy, I thoroughly enjoyed not having to rush in the mornings. I know I've said it more than once before, but being able to take my time to assemble outfits and accessorize them has been an absolute joy, stretching the limits of both my imagination and my wardrobe.

Meanwhile, my blog has arrived at the start of the third week of February. By Monday morning most of the snow had gone, with only the odd patch turned brown and marooned at the roadside. 

That morning, it weren't the weather conditions but roadworks and diversions which thwarted the journey into Antwerp. Work itself was super busy, so I was especially thankful for Tuesday's respite, to be enjoyed while it lasts.

The blue pleated fit and flare dress with its sprays of pink-hued flowers was a Think Twice find back in November 2017. Once again, its original boring buttons were soon replaced by more suitable ones. 

 Accessorizing this dress is a no brainer and always involves copious quantities of pink, this time in the form of my opaques and cardigan. I usually add a pink-ish belt as well, but thinking outside the box I opted for a caramel brown one instead.

My multi-coloured beaded necklace and gold tone bow brooch were both fairly recent charity shop finds, as were the calf-length blue Western style boots.

Now that the temperature had climbed to 10°C, I thought it safe to presume I wouldn't be needing my thick woollen jumpers again any time soon (although at the time of writing they are on the verge of plummeting towards freezing point once more), so they were washed on a gentle wool cycle and dried on the fold-out rack in our spare room.

Consulting my journal, it seems I washed and dried my hair, uploaded the previous week's batch of photos and did a massive blog catch up. For some unfathomable reason, I keep getting behind with replying to comments, for which I herewith apologize. 

The rest of the afternoon was spent reading The Savage Garden by Mark Mills, which I'd made a start on during the weekend. Set in the Tuscan hills, it is basically the story of two murders, four hundred years apart. Intriguing as this may sound, it was just a mildly enjoyable read.

After Wednesday's moderately busy office day, yet another 4-day weekend rolled along. 

Following a night full of weird and vivid dreams, I felt a bit off on Thursday morning, but that was soon repelled by a game of dress-up. 

The dress that caught my attention that day was bought during a trip to Bruges in April 2019, when by pure coincidence our itinerary took us past the city's tiny Think Twice shop where, lo and behold, they were having one of their sales.

I took the lead from the blue flowers in its pattern for my accessories, which included a textured belt, brooch, opaques and beret. My ring combines blue with green and purple, while my necklace with its multi-coloured, crochet covered beads is making yet another appearance.

The dress's bodice is finely pleated, making it slightly stretchy. My only gripe with it is that it is a bit roomy on top, so I'm still on the fence whether it is a keeper or not.

The cardigan with its Paisley-esque green, blue and grey pattern is from the high street by way of a charity shop, and I have it in a burgundy, green and grey colourway as well.

Apparently, I was quite a busy bee that day, as not only did I vacuum the upstairs rooms, we deep cleaned some of our rugs, including the new-to-us one, and I finally got around to dusting the two bottom shelves of the camera cabinet.

This camera, a Voigtlander Bessamatic, was Jos's first 35 mm camera, which he used in the first half of the 1970s. He bought the camera from a colleague, who in his turn got it from a friend, who was a professional newspaper photographer. 

Neither of us remembers where we got this boxed Kobold camera flash, but it has been in our collection for many years. So far, we haven't been able to determine its exact date, but I suspect it's from the late 1950s or perhaps the early 1960s.

This late 1950s Kodak Brownie Starlet camera isn't making its debut on the blog, but I'm gladly telling you its story again, as it is one of the stars of our modest collection.

Jos found it, complete with its box containing flash unit and flashbulbs, in the waste disposal area in the communal basement of the block of flats we used to live in before we moved to Dove Cottage. 

We've got several other Brownie cameras, two of which were found at our much missed favourite indoor flea market. Clockwise from top left are a tiny Baby Brownie, produced between 1938 and 1954, a Brownie "Holiday Flash" (1953-1962) and, finally, the second incarnation of the popular Brownie 127 camera, from 1959-63.

If Thursday had been quite miserable and grey, the day's only redemption being its temperature which climbed to 12°C, Friday saw a return of the sun. The weather was gearing up for the weekend, when Springlike temperatures had been forecasted.

This black based long-sleeved Crimplene dress, with its pussy bow, is one of my all time favourites. I'm always describing its pattern as a kind of trellis, against which an abundance of tiny, red-hearted, white flowers is growing.

For obvious reasons, I often veer towards red as its companion colour, although I have worn it with a white belt several times. Again thinking outside the box, I selected a zebra print belt - a retail sales bargain after the first lockdown - to wear at my waist.

The belt was the only second-hand item in my outfit. The striped cardigan and red perspex ring were charity shopped, my red beret came from Think Twice and the vintage celluloid brooch - also one of my favourites - was a flea market find. 

As mentioned in my previous post, Friday has become our weekly charity shopping day. Obviously, we will have to pick either Tuesday or Thursday instead now that I'm working Fridays again.

That particular Friday, the 19th of February, saw us visiting the pop-up charity shop in Lier again.

While Jos took a couple of bags of donations to the drop-off point at the back of the shop, I masked up, grabbed a compulsory trolley and went inside. Browsing the bookshelves, there were several which caught my attention - including some I'd donated myself. These three were added to my trolley.

The clothing aisles were uninspiring, and I was about to give up and join the queue at the till when a flash of bright green entered my peripheral vision. Now, you know me and green. I just had to backtrack and investigate, and couldn't believe my eyes when that flash turned out to be the most gorgeous pair of green ankle boots ever! In my size! The rest, as they say, is history.

Well, that's it for now, my friends. I'll be back soon with my first post of my sixth year of blogging. Until then, I am counting on you to stay safe, sane and fabulous!

Look back in wonder

I've got something to celebrate today and no, it's not my birthday! And as our wedding anniversary was back in February, it's not that either. Now, what can it be? Well, today it has been four years to the day that I published my first blog post!

Now I know that many of you have been blogging for much longer, and that four years might not be all that much in the grand scheme of things, but I already couldn't imagine my life without it.

Blogging has brought me so much pleasure. The pleasure to be able to share my passions, to keep a journal and mark the passage of time and, above all, the pleasure of getting to know so many wonderful people, whom I would otherwise never have met, some of them becoming real-life friends in the process.

In fact, the only regret I have is that I didn't take the plunge earlier, but that's me, forever dithering and thus always late to the party!

Since my blog doubles as a diary, I just love being able to look back and see what I was up to at certain moments in time. Before blogging, the years were all a bit of a blur. Some years, there wasn't even all that much photographic evidence apart from our holiday snaps! Or at least not until I bought my current camera and starting making collages, which initially I posted on Facebook.

As in this part of the world the weather is such a topic of conversation, it can be quite a revelation too, travelling back in time to a particular month last year only to find that the weather was in complete contrast to this year's.

Take the above photo, for instance, which appeared in a blog post last March but was actually taken at the end of February, when the temperatures were so balmy that I could comfortably pose in the park in just my dress without getting all goose-bumpy or rain-drenched!

So, in order to celebrate my Blogiversary, I scrolled through all of last year's posts, choosing some of my favourites from each month. Quite a daunting task, I must add, and my original shortlist was quite a long one, but in the end I managed to keep the photos to a fairly reasonable amount. 

Apart from the photos, there are a few favourite posts as well. How I loved writing (and re-reading) the story of the two coats in the attic which I published in March!

This collage, in which I'm wearing a floral skirt suit and my lilac Tweed jacket for a walk in the park in April, makes me yearn for Spring to finally arrive.

As does this photo, taken in the same month, where I'm twirling the full skirt of a favourite vintage dress. There was no need for a cardigan or coat on this day when we visited a local nature reserve and were captivated by carpets of wood anemones. My heart is making a little leap of joy as I remember exactly how I felt that day.

April also saw us going on our first short holiday of the year, staying at the B&B near Bruges. While we were there, we visited the charming little town of Damme, where I couldn't resist becoming one with a sea of daisies. Pure bliss, and so easily evoked by just looking at this photo.

In May, my blog reminds me of the fact that I got new glasses, my first pair of multifocals.  I took them for a test drive (or, more appropriately, walk) in the park, wearing an old floral skirt and blouse, both vintage, topped by a recently charity shopped orange velvet jacket. I'd almost forgotten about those pale pink booties! 

In June, we said goodbye to the parental home, to which I paid tribute by writing a farewell post full of bittersweet memories, one I simply cannot re-read without getting a little tear in my eye.

Here's me, wistfully descending my childhood home's magnificent stairs for the very last time. Sigh!

In the second half of June, we embarked on our annual UK holiday, which we spent in Shropshire and the Welsh borders. 

Starting as we meant to go on, we met up with Vix and Jon on our very first day. It was almost a given that a spot of charity shopping was involved! Can't wait to do it all again in a couple of months' time!

On one of the hottest days, we hopped over the border to Wales for a visit to Powis Castle. My outfit, consisting of a vintage waxed cotton wrap skirt and a top which was a sales bargain from New Look, might well be my favourite of the past year!

Another hot day saw us seeking shelter in a secret garden, a definite contender for a return visit. The dress I was wearing was a gift from Vix, while the hat was a cheeky buy from a National Trust shop right in the middle of Slow Fashion Season. 

July and August were months of extremes. First there was a heatwave, when we were melting in unheard of temperatures of +40° Celsius.

Even if it wasn't nearly that hot on the day we went to a rather disappointing outdoor flea market, we were still glad to be able to cool down in the park afterwards. I was wearing a blue flower-sprigged 1970s cotton frock accessorized with pops of red, another one that's in the running for favourite of the year.

July was followed by a partially rainy August. On the 15th of that month, a public holiday in Belgium, we briefly ventured outside between showers to photograph my 1980s inspired outfit. If only the skirt is vintage, everything else except for the ring was charity shopped. Don't you just love that crab bag?

Oh how I love the promise of the first day of a holiday! We had our usual sojourn in Belgium's west country in the first week of September, and here I am soaking up the afternoon sun on the steps of Poperinge's town hall, wearing a King Louie dress I'd found at the charity shop only a few days previous.

Our holiday was a mixture of sunshine and showers, but Summer made a brief return when we were back home, prompting a walk in a shady park wearing a € 2 Think Twice find and a pink plastic chain necklace converted into a belt. The first signs of Autumn could no longer be ignored, though.

The second half of September was very wet so we anxiously kept an eye on the weather forecast as we had plans for a day trip to Bruges on Jos's birthday. The weather gods must have been looking out for us, as it remained virtually dry that day, with even a hint or two of sunshine!

Ah, October! The time to indulge in Autumn walks and a bit of leaf-kicking. But not this year, as the rains returned with a vengeance after that one-off day on Jos's birthday.

Then finally one weekend it stopped raining for long enough to go for a stroll - and hug some trees - wearing a dress which had been on Think Twice's rails for only 30 seconds before I grabbed it.

November saw us cat-sitting the delightful Abby, who had no problem stealing  my limelight ...

... and going for another little holiday in Zeeland, where I was finally able to kick some leaves in the abbey courtyard in Middelburg ...

... and go for a bracing walk by the seaside in fashionable Domburg!

Looking back, I seem to have been wearing a lot of red in December, which was purely coincidental and had nothing to do with the approaching silly season. This grey and raspberry red dress, another Think Twice find, got its very first outing.

But it was almost a given that I wore green too, especially when years of being patient finally paid off and a pair of green boots came my way. This dark olive green and pink flapper inspired outfit is another one of my favourites. 

Those of you who have been following my blog for a while will know that I love green, so it will come as no surprise that I picked it as the main colour of my New Year's Eve outfit.  It was based around a wide Scandi print maxi skirt, which had many admirers, both on the blog and on Instagram, which I'd joined in a moment of madness back in June.

We've reached 2020 by now, and the final posts of my 4th blogging year. I'll be brief here, as it wasn't all that long since I posted them. 

It was a cold but reasonably dry January day when I wore this pleated dress, fur collared jacket and pink feathery scarf for a charity shop rummage. The yellow snake print handbag was an irresistible sales bargain. Oh, don't tell me you wouldn't have been tempted too!

Another Saturday in January, and feeling the warmth of the sun on my face was a delight after the endless succession of grey rainy days. 

On this crisp sunny day we walked to the beautiful ruin of Sleeping Beauty's castle amid a juxtaposition of Autumn and Spring.

A final January outfit, again featuring green with a generous dollop of pink, was based around this stripy pussy bow dress, which again had many admirers. 

I'm concluding this round-up of my blogging year with our 25th Wedding Anniversary in February which, as you'll probably remember, we celebrated with a couple of days at our favourite B&B near Bruges.

And while looking back has been a rollercoaster of emotions, I cannot wait to fill the still empty pages of a new blogging year.

A big thank you to all my readers and followers ❤❤❤ 

I hope you will be joining me on my journey through year 5!