Roller coaster life

I know, I know, it's been a while since my last visit to blogland, and even longer since I last posted. I honestly had every intention to be back here sooner, but somehow life, and the curveballs it continues to throw, kept getting in the way. Lately there simply don't seem to be enough hours in a day - as if time has shrunk in the wash - and there definitely doesn't seem to be enough space in my head either.

But here I am, determined that this post shall be written, no matter what. 

However, before I plunge headlong into April (yes, I am that far behind), I would like to put things straight about Jos's chemotherapy journey. If my last post gave the impression that all is smooth sailing for him, I'm afraid nothing could be further from the truth. In fact, I think he's got all the side-effects on offer, and then some, which start kicking in when, after about a week, the cortisone-like medicine he is given during the first couple of days have stopped working their magic. Sadly, then it's hello to utter fatigue, complete loss of appetite and sudden drops in blood pressure, which make getting up on his feet quite the hazard.

We were in the thick of such an episode when the Easter weekend rolled along, so that we could kiss goodbye to doing anything involving the two of us.

Instead I had a long overdue hairdresser's appointment on Friday. Those of you who have been following me for a while might remember that Michel, my trusted hairdresser of over 30 years, was due to retire at the end of last year, which meant that I was in a bit of pickle! But fear not! I've found a worthy replacement in Mitte, who works at a salon called Hairspace, which happens to be just a couple of minutes' walk from my front door. What's more, during our first appointment we found out that I actually knew her Mum, who is the lady who always buys loads of stuff from my flea market stall!

The other thing I did was making a start with my seasonal wardrobe exchange. While I was putting away my warmest Winter things, I realized with a jolt that I still had lots of December outfits which were languishing unused in my photo folder. Now wouldn't it be an utter shame to let them go to waste?

Although it does feel a bit weird posting these when the temperature effortlessly reaches the mid-twenties!

Oh, and another thing which happened in December was this parcel of joy which was sent to me by the lovely Gisela (who blogs under Miss Magpie's Musings). She'd been having a clear out and thought I might like these brooches. And I like them very much indeed! Thank you so much, darling!

If the weather had been neither here nor there during the Easter break, the weather gods did their utmost to make up for their faux pas the next week. 

Thankfully, things were rather quiet at the office, allowing me the luxury to walk to Antwerp's small but perfectly formed Botanic Garden. At only a 10-minute walk from my office, it simply beggars belief that I hadn't been there for the better part of a year!

I was utterly charmed by this sunlit host of dog's tooth violets (Erythronium), which happen to be one of my favourite Spring flowers.

The garden, affectionately know to the people of Antwerp as Den Botaniek, is a landscaped botanical garden dating back to 1825, covers an area of slighty ​​less than one hectare and has a collection of approximately 2000 plants.  It's a joy to pass some time here whatever the season and it's a favourite place for the city's office workers and students to have their lunch breaks whenever the weather allows.

The weather even allowed the making of outfit photos when I got home that afternoon, when Jos was feeling well enough to do the honours. 

My skirt is an old wardrobe stalwart, found at Think Twice back in the mists of time, while the spotty denim blouse was a charity shop find almost exactly one year ago. The belt and boots were bought on the high street.

If I remember correctly, the carved wooden brooch was a flea market find, but I definitely know for certain where I picked up the multicoloured beaded necklace, as I picked it up from the charity shop in Poperinge while on holiday in Belgium's west country in September 2019.

With the meteorological deities still playing nicely, my next lunch break saw me venture along the Meir, Antwerp's main shopping thoroughfare. Although my ultimate destination was elsewhere, I did nip into one of the Think Twice shops which happens to be conveniently located in a side street. This red, black and white patterned skirt came home with me.

I was on my way to the Wapper, an elongated square leading off the Meir. Since 1980, the square was home to a fountain featuring the sculpture of an eagle catching a fish, by the Danish sculptor Hugo Liisberg (1898 - 1958) and dating from 1931. The concrete plinth it was standing on was designed by my Dad as part of his job as a joiner in a concrete factory. It's been known to us as Dad's fountain ever since! 

Although I was aware of the fact that the square would be redesigned at some point, it still came as a shock to see the photo of the sculpture being removed while I was scrolling through Facebook. By the time of my lunch break investigations, the plinth was gone as well. And while I suspect that the sculpture will one day find its way into the Middelheim collection, it's almost a given that the plinth will have ended up on the scrap heap :-( 

And then another Friday rolled along, which started with an early morning check-up at the dentist. As Jos didn't feel well enough to drive me all the way to the nearby town of Boom, this involved taking a bus which, basically serving the local schools, only runs early mornings and late afternoons. This meant that, after my check-up, I needed to take two buses, with a long wait in between, to get back home.

Thankfully, Jos was able to pick me up half-way, at the charity shop in one of our neighbouring villages. Obviously, it would have been rude not to have a quick browse, which yielded this gorgeous flower meadow of a blouse.

But that wasn't my only treat that day! Back at home, we had a visit from our neighbours, who'd bought me this brooch as a thank you for looking after their cats Bob, Billie and Pip while they were on a break in Valencia. 

Lately, in lieu of our customary cappuccino catch-ups, I've been meeting up with my friend Inez for drinks on Saturday afternoons. 

That Saturday, with the temperature rumoured to reach the low twenties, I'd plucked this dream of a vintage blouse from one of my flea market boxes. It always was a bit tight in the chest area, so I was surprised that it suddenly fit me like a glove. Although I've never owned scales, it was clear to me that I've lost weight. One of the perks of living in stressful times, although I would rather not be having to live through them.

The caramel coloured pleated velvet skirt was last's year charity shop find. The charity shops also supplied the stretchy belt, necklace and ring. The cat brooch is from Katshop - a local Antwerp shop catering for both cats and their servants (linkin' cause I love).

Anyway, Inez had brought with her a new photographer in the form of a tripod, so that I no longer need to depend on Jos for outfit photos.

As you can see, it has been approved by quality control (on the left in the tripod photo).

Thank you for reading. I promise to come and visit your blogs soon!

April in Bloom

Slowly but surely life at Dove Cottage is going back to how it was before it was taken hostage by Jos's health problems.

My lovely husband is a changed man ever since he got the all clear from the hospital last week! He is walking at a faster pace, standing taller, has an unmistakable glint in his eye and suddenly seems to possess a boundless amount of energy. In fact, nowadays it's me who's limping behind. As worrying has been my mind's default setting for all those months, it's as if I've got relearn being happy and carefree again. 

On the cusp of turning another page of this year's calendar, I've still got to make a start with posting about the month of April, so, without further ado, let's travel back to the very beginning of this month.

I'm skipping April Fool's Day, making straight for Wednesday the 2nd of April. Now that the days are noticeably longer, it's possible to make outfit photos in the passageway after work once more. 

Sunny but a bit windy, which somewhat tempered the day's highs of 18°C, I opted for a skirt and long-sleeved blouse combo. 

My green and white plaid skirt, its fabric a heavyweight polyester jersey, was a vintage find from Think Twice many moons ago. It was joined by a yellow patterned Wow To Go blouse charity shopped in February 2024. The red pleated belt, fused glass ring and beaded necklace were charity shopped as well, while the vintage celluloid brooch featuring a trio of Scottie dogs was a flea market find. 

Wednesdays generally have a cappuccino catch-up with my friend Inez in store. We were both duly impressed by the lovely barista's latte art! 

As the Think Twice sales were once again in full swing, with prices down to € 4 that day, I snapped up this funky green vintage blouse.

The wind had somewhat died down on Thursday, which was a gloriously sunny day with temperatures gently nudging 20°C.

I thought it was time to give my vintage Venetia frock, with its pattern of tiny white dots and garlands of frothy pink flowers, another outing before its yearly sojourn in the antique linen chest.  Picked up from a long gone and sadly missed vintage shop, it has been gracing my wardrobe's rails for the better part of 15 years.

I picked shades of green for my accessories: a minty green for my belt, necklace and opaques, and a shamrock green for my ring and brooch. The fabulous merhorse brooch with its golden mane and tail is ceramic and was a flea market find in January 2020.

In need of some peace and quiet, as well as a Vitamin D top up, I walked towards Den Botaniek, Antwerp's small but perfectly formed botanical garden, during my lunch break. 

It was a delight to see the first of the tulips putting in their annual appearance. The star-shaped and lightly scented pastel pink and yellow Candia tulips (Tulipa saxatilis) were particularly appealing, while the swathes of buttery yellow ones provided additional sunshine.

It's hard to believe that only the garden's retaining wall separates the woodland path on the bottom left from a traffic rich inner city street (above, top left).

Yellow tulips were mingling with a clump of Spring Snowflakes (Leucojum vernum), while my heart made a jump of joy upon spotting a patch of Dog's Tooth Violets (Erythronium, above, top right).

This particular species is called Pagoda, and it's clear to see why, as the nodding, buttery yellow flowers do resemble the tiniest of pagodas. However, silhouetted against the shiny green leaves, they do look rather alien and menacing, don't you think?

The garden's main attraction this time of year, though, is the magnificent Magnolia tree with its snow-white goblet-shaped blooms. The petal strewn lawn was a giveaway that I was just in time before their inevitable decline.

On my way back to the office, I passed one of Antwerp's plethora of Think Twice shops. With prices now down to € 3, I couldn't resist going in for a quick rummage. 

The embroidered Madeira bag was too gorgeous to be left behind and surely there's always room for more belts in one's wardrobe.

Walking through the small and almost empty shopping centre near my office, I hopped into the Green Ice outlet shop, where everything is going at 50% off. I've already got a couple of pieces from this Belgian label in my wardrobe, which have now been joined by this fabulous multi-coloured maxi skirt.

Another sunny day greeted us upon drawing the curtains on Friday the 4th of April. Highs of up to 22°C had been forecasted by those supposedly in the know, but the morning still had a bit of a nip in the air.

As we would be out and about by around 10.30, I dressed in long sleeves once more. 

Remember the  magenta cotton peasant-style blouse with the security tag issue I bought in the January sales? Ever since I managed to get the tag removed, it had been hanging outside my wardrobe, waiting for its first outing.

Its wish finally came true that day! It found its perfect partner in a vintage cotton skirt I charity shopped back in the heady days of September 2020. Remember lockdowns, obligatory face masks and social distancing? It all seems quite unreal five year down the line ...

But I digress! The pink flowers in the skirt's pattern matches the colour of my blouse almost exactly, so pairing them was a no-brainer. 

I thought the blouse called for a brooch worn at its neck. I'm not sure what made me pick out the brown hearted Coventry one - a flea market find in December 2022 - but I loved how it looked, so I added more brown with the faux tortoiseshell necklace, charity shopped at the tail end of 2021. The stretchy belt with its flower-shaped buckle was found on the high street last month.

When my friend Inneke messaged me earlier that week, suggesting a walk in Middelheim sculpture park on Friday, I jumped at the chance. I even managed to convince Jos to join us, as Maurice (Inneke's husband) would be willing to keep him company on the terrace of the museum café if necessary.

In the end, both he and Maurice accompanied us on our walk, after which we enjoyed glasses of non-alcoholic beer on the sun-drenched terrace. It felt so good to be spending time away from Dove Cottage together!

Back at home, I snapped the first of the double tête-à-tête daffs we brought back from the garden centre the other week. That's non-ribbiting frog right there on the bottom right.  He used to make a ribbit sound when you walked past him, but in spite of cleaning him up and changing his batteries, the poor thing has been mute for years. Nevertheless, he once gave Phoebe a fright when out of the blue he started ribitting continuously! 

I'm not sure what Phoebe's successor's reaction to the annoying creature would have been, but here she is, helping with the washing up. After Nancy's comment on my previous post that she was missing Bess, I just had to include her in this one, hadn't I?

I spent part of Friday afternoon going through my wardrobe with a fine comb, filling a bag for the charity shops and putting aside a bunch of items of no-longer loved vintage to be sold at our next flea market. 

And then, unfortunately, I pulled a muscle in my back ... Don't worry, all is well now, but I was in pain for the better part of a week!

To be continued in my next post ...

Life in Limbo

What with life keeping throwing us curveballs lately, it nearly escaped my attention that the month of March held a thing or two worth celebrating. And no, I'm not talking about the fact that Spring has finally sprung!

For the first one, we have to go back to the 4th of March 2021, which was the day that Bess entered our lives. She would soon prove herself to be a more than worthy successor to Phoebe, who'd unexpectedly passed away one month earlier, but how tiny and timid she was when she first came to Dove Cottage! She's definitely come along in leaps and bounds in those four years she's been ruling the roost here!

We have to go back even further, to the 5th of March 2016, for the month's second anniversary. It was on this day that I published my very first blog post, all of nine year ago. Aptly named To begin at the beginning - the title borrowed from Dylan Thomas's Under Milk Wood - it was a brief introduction and contained the explanation of my blog's name. There were no photos of yours truly;  these swiftly followed in my second post a couple of days later. I've still got that first dress although I haven't worn it in a long time. 

I'm pretty sure that the dress I'm wearing today - or rather, one month ago, on the 23rd of February - wasn't part of my wardrobe back then, but it's definitely not its first appearance on my blog.

Found at Think Twice eons ago, I was swayed by its grey and white wallpaper print brightened with splashes of fuchsia and turquoise at its collar, cuffs and hem. 

I chose a pair of dove grey opaques and picked up the pops of turquoise with my accessories - the brooch was part of a haul from an antiques shop in Carmarthen in June 2017 - and cardigan. To the latter, I added a two-tone grey swallow brooch, a vintage find from the indoor flea market back in the mists of time.

With the dark cloud of Jos's surgery looming on the horizon, adequate distractions were few and far between. But nature is a great soother and healer of troubled minds and, with oodles of sunshine and temperatures easily reaching the low double digits, it would have been foolish to mope around inside.

The small but perfectly formed park near the charity shop in Duffel, a mere 15 minutes from Dove Cottage by car, was our destination of choice.

There's a number of paths to choose from but our initial choice, which was the one circumnavigating the biggest of the ponds, turned out to be too squelchy and muddy so that we soon had to head back.

It might have been only February, its feet still firmly planted in Winter, but there was a definite hint of Spring in the air. At first sight, most of the trees were still stark and bare with only the faintest whisper of green, but there were a handful of shrubs which were gleefully showing off their  yellow blossoms against the bright blue of the sky.

The brutalist fountain, devoid of the mossy green hairdo it had sported for years, was still hibernating and dreaming of the day when its gurgling jets of water will once again ripple the pond.

Optimistically, I'd left the house bareheaded and I'd exchanged my heavy Winter coat for my ancient cream, pale blue and brown plaid one. Charity shopped years before my blog was even a glimmer of thought, it has by now seen better days, but I'll be wearing it until it actually falls apart at the seams. My frilly turquoise scarf - also charity shopped - was worn in lieu of the chunky woollen ones I've been wearing these last couple of months. 

The two weeks that followed - February's last and March's first - aren't ones we will forget in a hurry, although I'm sure their rough edges will be smoothed out over time.

Strangely enough, work was a distraction for me, although there was no such thing for Jos, whose upcoming surgery was completely occupying his mind. It took all our combined willpower to get through the days until that fateful Friday arrived.

That day was a waiting game for me and I was thankful for the company of my friend Inez and my latest read, which I kept dipping into to read a chapter until my nerves once again got the better of me.

Wasn't it just our luck that Jos's week in hospital coincided with a week's worth of False Spring? After a frosty start the sun soon managed to warm things up to temperatures ranging between 14 and 18°C.

Waiting for Jos to get the doctor's green light for his discharge, which kept getting postponed on a daily basis, this mural was the view from his hospital room window: a welcome splash of colour among the grey concrete. 

Although I'd initially taken Monday off work as we'd expected Jos would be home by then, I opted to go into the office and postpone my booked time off to the day he would eventually be released, whenever that would be.

While poor Jos was mostly on his own - but don't worry, we called and messaged all the time - at least I got the company of a certain furry someone, who hardly left my side when I was at home.

I hadn't slept well in the night from Sunday to Monday, so it was with a head full of cotton wool that I stumbled through my day. 

In a bid to clear the cobwebs from my head, I made the most of the sunshine and balmy temperature by going for a lunch break walk. Aimless it might have been, I couldn't resist having a quick look at what was on offer at Melting Pot, the vintage per kilo shop. I was in luck as I found this fabulous skirt, 100% cotton and lined and equipped with two generous pockets!

I was amazed to read that, back in November, the shop was mentioned in an article by the Guardian called Amazing Antwerp (see here). It truly boggles my mind that there was no sign of any of Antwerp's five (!) Think Twice shops though.

Tuesday's lunch break saw me walking to Den Botaniek again, where I was happy to see that a sea of Crocuses had popped up since my last visit. I even caught a bumblebee going crazy in one of the lilac and white striped blooms on the bottom left.

I also admired the creamy white Camellias flowering to their heart's content in front of the former gardener's cottage - now a posh lunch restaurant.

I exited the Botanic Garden via the premises belonging to its next door neighbour, the Botanic Sanctuary hotel. Opened in 2022, the 5-star hotel is housed in a former convent and hospital complex whose history goes back to the 12th century. I always have the feeling I'm getting the side-eye when I venture onto the luxury hotel's hallowed ground.

Jos was finally able to come home on Thursday, so we roped in his son Kris, who would be picking us up at around 6 pm. I left work early and took the bus to the hospital to help Jos to get ready and tie up the last of the practical loose ends. 

Finally back at Dove Cottage, he was getting a gazillion headbutts from Bess, who was obviously over the moon to have her second employee back at her beck and call! 

Obviously, I wasn't about to call on Jos for outfit photos yet, so I did a quick flatlay to show you what I was wearing the day he came home.

Strangely enough, it was almost identical to the outfit I wore just days after his previous sojourn at the hospital back in October.  Apparently, the green zig-zag patterned vintage St. Michael skirt - a much loved gift from Vix - found its perfect partner in the fuchsia pink patterned blouse by the defunct Who's That Girl label, picked up from an outlet shop in November 2022. 

I was even wearing the same charity shopped wooden beaded necklace as I did back then. This time, however, I added a contemporary green squirrel brooch to the blouse and picked one of my beloved stretchy belts, the one with the octagonal faux tortoiseshell buckle, to accent my waist.

And so, life at Dove Cottage continues, even if things are still a bit in limbo at the time of writing.

But let me end this post on a positive note. As I was putting a bag of rubbish into the bin in the potting shed, I happened to notice some early-flowering Honesty which had nestled itself in a crack in the paving. Not wanting it to go to waste in this out of the way place, I picked a stem or two and put them in a small vintage vase - a gift from my friend Inneke - together with some late-flowering Winter Jasmine. 

A true sight for sore eyes, don't you agree?

The funny tricks of time

Can you believe we are mid-March already? Surely, some trickster has been tinkering with the concept of time, making it go faster, and faster still. Not that it actually feels like it at time of writing, as a deceptively icy wind is putting paid to the illusion created by the blue sky spied through our windows,  but in just a handful of days astronomical Spring will be upon is. 

My blog, a couple of paces behind real life at the best of times, is now definitely dragging its feet, which are still firmly planted back in February, almost exactly one month ago to the day.

Before I proceed to tell you about February's penultimate week, however, let me tell you that even though there's still some way to go for Jos to be restored to perfect health, he is going from strength to strength and is doing surprisingly well given the ordeal he's been through.

Right, into the time machine it goes again, setting the controls for Sunday 16 February. 

As the weather gods presented us with lots of sunny spells but highs of only 3°C, it was definitely still jumper weather. The one which made the grade that day was an orange and green wing-collared vintage jumper I picked up from Think Twice in  December 2023.

Its companion, a forest green suedette skirt bought brand new at Mango many years ago and last worn back in December. It's super soft and very strokable, its only downside being a lack of pockets.

The enamelled metal brooch I pinned to the jumper - featuring an Edelweiss, a Gentian and a couple of smaller daisy-like flowers - is vintage and was a flea market find back in the mists of time. A search on my blog tells me I bought it from the Brooch Lady, if you remember her. I can't help but wondering if this feisty lady - who was already well into her eighties last time we met in November 2019 - is still around today.

The wooden beaded necklace - which reminded Kezzie of cherries in various stages of ripeness - was a charity shop find.

After tackling those bothersome yet necessary household chores in the morning, we decided upon a walk at Fort 5 in the afternoon.

Those of you who have been reading my blog for a while might remember our frequent previous visits here. This is, in fact, the nearest nature reserve of any significance to Dove Cottage, only involving a mere 10 minute drive up the road to the outskirts of the neighbouring village of Edegem.

Here and there, in the odd places the sun hadn't been able reach, were some remnants of the flurries of snow we'd had earlier that week.

I was glad of the warmth of my favourite Winter coat, my orange velvet sales bargain turban from Think Twice and the chunky orange scarf I'd picked up in the sales in January. 

We started our walk alongside the moat, where water birds of various plumage are ruling the roost.

The sun and the wind were playing games with the water, rippling it with sparkly sun glitter, which momentarily blinded us and made me regret I'd left my sunnies behind in the car.

The path along the moat eventually takes us through some of the old fort buildings. Dating from the 1860s, Fort 5 is part of a ring of 8 almost identical forts surrounding the city of Antwerp, most of which are still in existence today. Those which do have been turned into nature reserves and recreational areas, with part of the buildings being used by a variety of local clubs.

The brick and sandstone buildings half-hidden among the undergrowth, their woodwork in various stages of dereliction and their crumbling brickwork covered in graffiti, are very atmospheric but more than just a tiny bit creepy. Carrying the weight of over a century's worth of trees upon their roofs surely must be a recipe for disaster ... 

The sunny yet bitterly cold weather continued on Monday, when almost 300 emails awaited me at the office. Thankfully, they weren't all for me to deal with but I still needed to trawl through the lot. So much for working only a 4-day week, I'm always being punished for my 3-day weekends on a Monday.

I had to dash to the shops during lunch break, as I had a mission. Back in the January sales, I'd bought a cotton peasant-style blouse in delicious shade of magenta from a shop in the small shopping centre near my office. As so far the weather hadn't been conductive to wearing it, I'd put it aside in my pile of yet-to-be-worn items. It was when I was dressing up Angelica to photograph said items during the weekend that I noticed the blouse still had its security tag! Thankfully, I'd kept my receipt. Although the alarm hadn't gone off when I left the shop after my purchase, it did do so when I walked in to have the tag removed. Needless to say, and only rightly so, they were very apologetic when I explained the matter!

Tuesday's weather was a repeat of both Sunday's and Monday's but as the wind had more or less died down, I walked to Antwerp's Botanic Garden (a.k.a. Den Botaniek) during lunch break.

Its main entrance is on a street called Leopoldstraat, which is only a couple of minutes from my office and Antwerp's main shopping thoroughfare, the Meir. I came across this postcard from a bygone age on Facebook, showing a much quieter and more dignified street than it is today with its non-stop stream of traffic. On the left you can see the Botanic Garden's retaining balustrade topped with ornate late 19th Century cast iron lamp posts.

Both the balustrade and the lamp posts, each bearing a trio of copper lamps, are still in situ today. No longer lighted by gas, its mantles having been replaced with electric light bulbs a long time ago, it is nevertheless a trick of the (sun) light which makes them glow here ...

Den Botaniek is a landscaped botanical garden dating back to 1825 and covers an area of slighty ​​less than one hectare. The garden has a collection of 2000 plants and a magnificent conservatory which houses a number of cacti and other exotic plants. The city's website claims that the conservatory is closed on Sundays only but although I've been coming here on weekday lunch breaks for many years, it never seems to be open. I'll have to investigate or, better still, ask one of the gardeners when they're around.

The pond was partly frozen and there was no sign of the Koi fish who live here. Apart from a plethora of Hellebores and the odd patch of Winter Aconites, there wasn't much in bloom, particularly when compared to the same time last year. It's not that it has been such a harsh Winter, so perhaps this is due to a distinct lack of sunshine and far too much rain? 

Wednesday was another day of sunny spell with a slight increase in temperature to 6°C. We'll be having a heatwave soon, I'm sure. This was my view when I walked to the office, with the  Art Deco skyscraper which is my office's opposite neighbour batching in golden early morning sunshine. 

It as a welcome sight for sore eyes, even if it was my ear(s) rather than my eyes which were bothering me that day. I'd woken up with a blocked left ear, which is one of the recurring banes of my life.  

Thankfully, things had greatly improved when I got back from my lunch break walk. Perhaps the fact that I found this fabulous frilly-yoked vintage dress in a pop-up shop was part of the cure?

Another temperature boost on Thursday, when the mercury climbed to an unheard of 11°C. Unfortunately, the sun was playing hide-and-seek that day ...

Trying to find things that make me smile every day, I looked up as I returned from running a lunch break errand, my eyes alighting on the bronze eagle with spread wings perching upon one of the shops, designed and built in eclectic style in 1895 by architect Joseph Hertogs (1861-1930). The eagle was sculpted by Alphonse Van Beurden (1856-1938), who also designed the sculptures on the façade of the Museum of Fine Arts in Antwerp. In the United Kingdom, he is renowned for his ivory sculptures, and between 1887 and 1904 he exhibited thirteen times at the Royal Academy of Art.

How strange that I never noticed the eagle before ...

The sun returned from wherever she had been hiding on Friday and helped the mercury climb to 16°C. I told you we might be in for a heatwave ...

I had an appointment for a much needed colour and cut at my hairdresser's but when I walked into the salon at the appointed time Michel looked at me quite oddly. It appeared that he'd got the timing wrong and had jotted down the appointment for 21 March instead of 21 February. He was all apologetic, obviously. Having been my hairdresser for 30 years running, apologies were duly accepted, even if I'd had to get up at the crack of dawn and come all the way to Antwerp on my day off for nothing. A new appointment was pencilled in for two weeks later and after a welcome cup of coffee and a chat I was on my way home again.

I'm finishing this post with a look at Friday's outfit, which was built around one of my favourite Finnish vintage frocks. Much to my dismay, it hadn't made it out of my wardrobe yet this season.

I took my lead from the muted green in its Art Deco-style pattern for my bamboo buckled stretchy belt and swallows in flight brooch, while the orangey bits inspired my opaques, ring and beaded necklace. Only the latter of my accessories was a second hand find, while the rest had its origins on the high street. The brooch was picked up from a gem of a shop in Cardigan during one of our Welsh holidays, way before I started my blog.

And now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to join Ms. Bess for a nap on the sofa.

See you soon!