Dennis the Menace

We'd only just waved goodbye to cantankerous Ciara, when another storm came knocking on our door. His name was Dennis, and like his cartoon counterpart, he turned out to be a real menace.

There was no sign of him on Saturday during the day, though, which was mainly dry, so that we could nip into the garden for outfit photos before our guests arrived. We were expecting the lady I briefly mentioned in a previous post, who would come all the way from Holland with her husband to buy some of my stock of vintage clothing.

My outfit was a repeat of earlier that week because, yes, in spite of owning a massive wardrobe, I still do wear most of my clothes more than once, though preferably not two days running!

I'd fallen in love with the raspberry red dress with its print of white and yellow dots and dashes at Episode, a Dutch chain of vintage shops, early last year.

I love its fit and flare silhouette and, of course, those cute berry shaped buttons. The yellow bits in the print invite it to be accessorized with yellow, which I did in abundance.

My favourite, round-buckled, yellow belt made another appearance, and I wore one of my yellow beaded necklaces as well as a yellow and white swirled glass ring.

And I wore not one, but two brooches! While the yellow plastic bird is contemporary, the brooch I pinned to my - yellow! - cardigan is definitely vintage. Not only does the lady depicted on it have a 1940s hairstyle, the brooch actually is 1940s, and of the make do and mend variety, as the lady has been hand painted onto a scrap of black fabric.

That night, Mr. D. started taunting us with fierce gusts of wind, which had increased in intensity by the morning. But we had things to do and places to go, in particular February's edition of our favourite indoor flea market.

The temperatures were once again balmy so, even if the stormy weather did away with any thoughts of Spring, I wore one of my lighter weight Winter coats. The cream based coat, with its light blue and tan plaid pattern, has been a wardrobe stalwart for many years and is, in spite of telltale signs of being on its last legs, still getting regular outings. It was a charity shop find and although I can't remember what I paid for it, it can't have been much, so that its cost per wear is now definitely in the negative.

Same goes for the purple embroidered crushed velvet scarf I picked up at a flea market for € 0,10 five or six years ago.

Underneath the coat, I wore a psychedelic print dress, with shades of orange, lilac, turquoise and burgundy, one of last Winter's Think Twice finds. For my accessories, I had a wealth of colours to choose from, ultimately picking turquoise for my opaques, necklace and ring.

Turquoise was repeated once more in the brooch I pinned to my cardigan. Again, the brooch is contemporary, bought from the same shop as the yellow bird brooch worn with Saturday's outfit.

My cardigan, in a rich chocolate brown edged in yellow, was a charity shop find, while the mock croc belt in the same colour was a recent retail sales bargain.

At the flea market venue, we parked our car as far away from any trees as possible, in case Dennis would do his worst, thinking we'd better be safe than sorry! Then, while holding on to our hats, we made our way towards the entrance.

It is almost a given that we didn't leave the flea market empty handed. With so many wonderful and often quite affordable goodies on offer, it would be very difficult not to give in to temptation.

So let's start with a group photo as usual.

When I posted this photo on Instagram, Suzy asked me what the item on the right was, and I'm sure some of you might be intrigued as well, so I'm no longer leaving you in suspense.

It is a vintage Dutch enamelware tabletop stove, which is fuelled by kerosine, and is typically used for slow cooking stews and the like. They usually command much higher prices than the € 6 we paid for it and, although we are using it purely for decorative purposes, it is complete and still in working order, only needing a bit of TLC. Doesn't it look lovely with our vintage enamelware teapot?

We'd hardly walked in when I spotted this wicker, leather-handled handbag. I dithered over it while Jos briefly returned to the car to retrieve something we'd forgotten, until the seller took pity on me and let me have it at a reduced price. Who was I to say no then?

Another addition to our accidental Kodak Brownie collection joined us about half way through the market.

This one, which is in perfect condition with hardly a scratch on its moulded bakelite body and still packed away inside its original box, is a Kodak Brownie Hawkeye camera. It was very popular back in the 1950s, and sold like hot cakes for over a decade.  Its first version, which ran from 1949 to 1951, was a non-flash model. Ours, although it does not include a flash as such, cleary is the second version, which ran until 1961.

I love trawling the Internet for vintage advertising, so here's one I'd like to share with you.

And oh, go on, here's another one, in colour this time!

The small box decorated with morning glories is an empty jewellery box from a long-gone Antwerp jewellery shop, which was really far too pretty to be left behind. It was picked up from Rita's stall, where I also found one of this edition's batch of brooches.

A clear case of "my nan used to have one of those", I pounced on this € 2 celluloid figurine of a Japanese lady in a rikshaw being pulled by a barefoot man wearing a parasol-like hat. Speaking of parasols, the poor lady is sadly missing hers, which is probably why we got if for such a low price.

And yes, there was a very similar one living on my paternal grandparents' sideboard!

I did rather well on the brooches front, finding five out of seven for € 12 at the same stall, presided over by a lady who always engages me in a rather lengthy and mostly one-way chat, while I'm trying to keep my wits about browsing her table full of costume jewellery.

The plastic top hat and boater, the umbrella and the Autum leaf all came from that particular stall, as did the tiny pair of clogs, while the Paris souvenir brooch was the one I bought from Rita.

And oh, isn't the shrimp one unusual? This came from a random stall in one of the final aisles.

The pair of tiny clogs, which sadly came without its brooch pin, is actually a Bruges souvenir, with the clog on the right displaying the city's coat of arms and the one on the left having a picture of the belfry.

Now, all I need to do is find a pin to attach them to ...

I photographed all our treasures while trying to ignore pesky Dennis, who was making the windows and shutters rattle and generally making an almighty racket outside.

Thankfully, no damages were sustained, but my heart goes out to all those people who have been flooded in the UK, and in particular in our beloved Shropshire. 

Dry weather, preferably with a bit of sunshine, is desperately needed!

Scenes from the bleak midwinter

On the last Sunday of 2019 we embarked on our final walk of the year.

Admittedly, apart from the odd stroll in the park, we hadn't been on a good old ramble for quite a while. Time and tide had been against us, not to mention that eternal spoilsport, the weather.

At the end of a string of wet weeks, that weekend's forecast had been for reasonably dry and sunny weather accompanied by - shock, horror! - some light overnight frost. Had the weather gods finally cottoned on that it's Winter in these parts?

In any case, that Sunday morning we wasted no time in going for that long overdue walk, choosing  one of our favourite nature reserves, Blaasveldbroek, as our destination.

The reserve is about 20 kilometers from where we live and, with its 675 hectares and a choice of foothpaths, it's the perfect place to stretch one's legs. My long-time readers have accompanied me there more than once over the years.

So, after breakfast we dressed warmly to combat the barely above freezing temparatures, donning coats, hats, scarves and gloves, and packed some sandwiches and a thermos flask for a wintertime picnic. 

The day did have a bit of a cloudy start and a lingering haze initially put paid to the sun's attempts to grace us with her presence.

Once or twice, patches of blue appeared in which fleecy clouds seemed to huddle together for warmth.

There's fauna and flora in abundance, too! Speaking of the former, arriving at the visitor's centre, which lies at the heart of the reserve, we were met by the resident cat, a Phoebe lookalike, albeit quite a bit slimmer and friendlier than our grumpy monster.

There were two big grey hairy pigs in a fenced off area which they were in the process of digging over completely with their snouts, in search of who knows what. However, they didn't keep still for a single moment, so that I was only able to catch one of their mud encrusted snouts on camera.

The fearsome but funny bronze beaver (one of a pair) and the enchanting carved wooden ducks probably need no introduction as they have appeared on the blog several times before.

You've already seen most of what I was wearing that day in my previous post, but I still had to show you my outerwear.

The jacket, in a mustardy brown and with furry collar and cuffs, is part of a skirt suit. I've gone off the skirt, but the jacket is still making an appearance each winter. I usually wear the boxy jacket with a belt, this time opting for a burgundy leather one. My ears were kept toasty by my woolly beret from Think Twice and I added a charity shopped scarf in oranges and pinks.

This marshy reserve really is a place for all seasons, and I am definitely an all-seasons girl, finding delight even in the so-called bleak midwinter: the solemn trees reflected in the swollen waters, the thin shards of ice escaped from a puddle, a dead branch giving life to mosses and lichens.

We always stop for photographs in this marshy meadow, even if this time we had to stay close to its edge as the rains had made it quite inaccessible unless one was wearing wellies.

In spite of the cold, I had no need for the pair of leather gloves I'd brought, making do with my fingerless knitted ones, which are far more convenient anyway for a constant photographer like me.

The mottled blanket of clouds was getting denser, the skeleton trees shadow-playing against the gloomy sky. Gentle giants, they are, but even gentle giants do not live forever, victims of old age and fierce winter storms.

Near the end of our walk, just before the turning to the muddy car park, a half-drowned landscape awaited, a graveyard of gentle giants.

Giddy and light-headed from fresh unsullied air, we returned to our car, and drove back home, happier in our skins than we were before.

And so the final days of the year were upon us, leaving me with a final handful of outfits to share.

First up is what I wore on Monday, to run some errands in our town. But laid back days like these are no reason for me not to get dressed up, so out came this charity shopped frock, handmade and with a seasonal print featuring flowers, leaves and berries, in brown, green, red and white.

The furry maroon cardigan is one of the three I scored at the charity shops just days before, and shown in my previous post. 

I picked golden yellows for my opaques, beaded necklace and orchid brooch. The brooch can also be worn as a pendant and was a flea market find.

I opted for full-on colour on New Year's Eve, starting with my dotty Diolen frock from Think Twice, matching the ochre dots with my short-sleeved batwing cardigan. 

The cardie is H&M by way of the charity shops a year or two ago. The long, black and white beaded necklace was another recent charity shop buy, while the green flower brooch - almost exactly the shade of the green dots - was a flea market find.

And now, for the grand finale, I'm introducing you to the outfit I wore to wave goodbye to the old year and welcome the new.

I was determined to wear this glorious Scandi print maxi skirt but initially didn't have the faintest idea what to wear with it. Then I remembered the vintage jumper and blouse in one which I picked up for just € 1 from Think Twice a month or two ago, but promptly forgot about.

It was short enough to wear untucked but I thought it benefited from the addition of a belt, choosing a fabric covered one which I think once belonged to a dress. 

The brooch with its mottled ochre and green stone was yet another flea market find. One of my favourites, I chose it to enhance the yellow bits in the blouse's sleeves and collar.

The final touch was my Art Deco style necklace, one of my best charity shop jewellery finds ever.

And so, that was it, 2019 all wrapped up and put away in a drawer. And about time, I should think, as we are - eek!- mid January already!

The house of books

Is that the holidays I can see up there?

You bet it is! Tomorrow is my last working day of the year (yay!) and it certainly couldn't have come any sooner. I'm feeling tired and drained and my brain is in a muddle and I'm looking forward to some time off without anything much planned, our diaires blissfully empty except for Christmas Day and New Year's Eve.

In fact, we already made a start this weekend, trying to ignore the fact that Monday we'll have to get back on that hamster wheel one more time.

We did a spot of light charity shopping yesterday and today I'm writing this blog post, even if its subject is two weekends ago, with the impending holiday only a blip on the horizon.

As you can see, red was still on the menu that Saturday! 

The delightful diagonal pattern of the dress, which has been a wardrobe stalwart for many years, combines shades of blue and turquoise on a white background, and I think it just calls out for a pop or two of red.

These pops came in the form of a charity shopped tie-necked cardigan and beaded necklace and a pair of high red boots. These were a retail buy from way back and originally had some very bothersome frills and straps, which were carefully cut off by moi! There, better!

The dress's turquoise was repeated in my beret and opaques. And I wore not one but two brooches: a large carved celluloid one, repeating both red and blue, pinned to my dress, and a tiny floral-themed metal one which I used to fasten the cardigan's tie.

We spent a happy hour or two browsing two charity shops and, in spite of the fact that I only found a handful of things, it was time well spent even if just for the relaxing properties of a good rummage.

The thin magenta jumper has a bit of sparkle in its weave, and a triangular inset at the collar. It's from the French mail-order company 3 Suisses. Seeing the label made me think of my Mum who used to order from their catalogue all the time when I was growing up.

I'm always checking out the belts, which in this particular shop are jumbled together in large box. For € 1,20 this wide woven belt was mine.

My final find was this unworn pair of wellington booties in a purple tartan pattern, which will come in handy to venture outside in the garden when it has rained or - god forbid! - snowed. So much easier to pull on and off than my tall floral wellies.

Sunday was another day like today, dark and dismal and with lots of rain. The perfect excuse to stay indoors and indulge in some reading and pottering.

But no excuse for not dressing up! I was wearing one of that week's sales bargains picked up for € 4 from Think Twice, and as soon as there was a break in the clouds, we were out there to take some outfit photos.

The cozy wool and polyester blend dress was deadstock with its original tag (Made in Austria!) still present, its print featuring green, red and orange squiggles on a beige background.

The granny square bag was another € 4 find on the same day and its colours seem to compliment the dress perfectly. 

I added my orange, elastic backed belt and a teal beaded necklace. My fused glass ring, which is again repeating the dress's colours, was from a market stall in Bruges back in September.

I quicly threw on this sage green wool blazer, and only noticed later that the lining was peeking out from the sleeves! Well, we did have to act fast, as we expected it to start raining again any minute.

Here are the rest of my € 4 Think Twice finds, starting with a navy dress printed with massive flowers, which made me think of Monica's fabulous massive flower dress and skirt. 

This funky patterned, brown based Diolen shift dress still has its original tie belt finished with tiny gold metal tubes.

Dressing up Angelica with my latest finds is one of my favourite pottering activities, as is playing around with my wardrobe and assembling outfits for the week ahead.

But I also made time for reading, which from the moment I realized I could read, has been one of life's necessities for me. Consequently, I live in a house full of books.

Commenting on one of my previous posts, where I showed you a corner of our sitting room, Veronica said that in her opinion books do furnish a room, and I can only agree with her.

It's the first thing I notice when visiting or seeing photos of people's homes and I find it a bit disturbing when there's no sign of any books, anywhere.

I thought I'd give you a short tour of Dove Cottage's book shelves, starting with the sitting room.

Apart from two sets of 1950s Tomado shelf units full of them, they share space with some old cameras in an IKEA display cabinet I've had for about 30 years, which makes it practically vintage.

But not all of them are on shelves as we're simply lacking in space: there's an old wooden crate piled high with books shoved under our sitting room table!

Our dining room has a wall of Billy shelves, some of them having double layers of books ever since we brought home piles of books I couldn't part with from my parents' house.

The old dresser which used to belong to Jos's grandparents is home to a shelf of vintage paperbacks, which I used to collect. The beautiful doily wall hanging decorated with buttons (top right) was a handmade gift from the lovely Lynn.

The shelves beneath the window were custom made by my Dad, and is holdening gardening and Barbie collecting books.

We are moving upstairs now, where the tall shelf unit on our tiny landing was also custom made by my Dad. We have increased shelf space by hanging another 1950s Tomado unit above it.

To the left is our bedroom, where a row of vintage Penguin paperbacks live on the mantelpiece.

The door to the right of the landing leads to our spare room, which is the same size as our bedroom, which is quite huge. This is our dressing room and home office and I'm sitting here typing this.

It also houses another Billy unit, which has space for some vinyl as well. This unit, and the shelves next to it, are crammed with books, including some of Jos's childhood books, as well as my vintage fashion library.

You've probably seen enough books by now, so I'll end this post with an outfit.

This is one I wore during the week to come, but which I assembled that Sunday, giving it a trial run in the garden where, lo and behold, the sun had made a watery appearance.

It had been a while since I wore this groovilious frock featuring brown, green and orange. For some reason, I wasn't sure about it, but I'm glad I gave it another chance, as it's now a keeper.

The ochre beads were a gift from my friend Ingrid, while the orange cardigan was charity shopped, but both the belt and the ring were retail buys. 

I'm racking my muddled brain but I can't for the life of me remember where the green ceramic Bambi brooch came from. But isn't he or she the epitome of cuteness?

Well, that is it for now, and as my next post will only be after the day, I'm wishing you all a wonderful Christmas, whichever way you celebrate it - or not!

See you on the other side!

Just add some red

Lately, my posts seem to be a bit all over the place, travelling from Zeeland and back as well as time-travelling between November and December.

It's mind-boggling to think that it's mid December already and that the silly season madness is in full swing. Gazing down at Antwerp's main shopping street from the lofty heights of my office window, the teeming crowds of frenzied people carrying armfuls of shopping bags make me count my lucky stars that I'm not one of them. Oh, but they do tend to exasperate me when I need to run an errand during my lunch break or when they find it necessary to clog up public transport with said shopping bags during rush hour!

But enough of that, what about some outfits?

For these, we have to backtrack slightly, to the last days of November.

Unintentionally, and for reasons totally unconnected with the season, I seem to be have been wearing a lot of red lately. Take this outfit, which was built around a new-to-me dress, for example.

The dress was a recent Think Twice find and the only item I bought from the shop's most recent collection, which seemed to be mainly consisting of ugly oversized jumpers and other assorted stuff I wouldn't have been seen dead wearing back in the decade that style forgot: the abominable 1990s. 

Its pattern groovily combines several shades of grey with a delicious raspberry red, so adding even more red seemed the obvious thing to do.

Judging from the loops, once upon a time the dress must have come with a belt, which had done a disappearing act somewhere along the line. But never mind! As you know, I often prefer to use a belt from my stash, and this red leather, square buckled one turned out to be just perfect for the job.

A translucent red beaded necklace, red plastic ring and a brooch featuring a threesome of Scottie dogs - one of them red - were picked for further accessorizing.

It was a Friday afternoon, and I'd just arrived home from work, which is why I am still wearing my beret. Oh, and here's a naughty peek at my vintage slip, while I'm showing you my red opaques!

And then it was Saturday, and nothing could stop us from finally going on that charity shop trawl.

It was a sunny day, but with a tinge of crispness in the air, so I needed  to dress accordingly, and as my craving for wearing red hadn't dissipated, I plucked this navy, red and white bouclé (boo-CLAY, as Sheila would say) skirt from my wardrobe.

I didn't want to do a boring plain jumper, so out came this lightweight one from Zara, which came to me by way of a charity shop. It's got such a classic, mid-century shape and print. And even if at first sight you'd be forgiven in thinking its colours would clash (it's got a different shade of red from the red dots in my skirt, as well as some purple) it turned out to be a surprisingly balanced outfit.

I tried to wear the jumper tucked into the skirt, but it didn't look right, so I wore it on top, cinching in my waist with a tan leather belt.

Some more red appeared in the skirt worn by the lady in my brooch as well as my ring, while the blue and white tones in my skirt were repeated in my necklace.

Right, let's go shopping!

We visited two of our favourite shops, which we always seem to combine. The problem with our charity shops (called kringloopwinkels) is that the vast majority of them are out of town, so that an average charity shop trawl involves some driving around. 

These shops are generally much bigger than an average UK charity shop and the first one we visited, on an industrial estate in a town called Mechelen, is spread over two floors. 

Browsing the new-in books I was delighted to find this heavy and heavily illustrated coffee table tome on the Pre-Raphaelite British painter, illustrator and poet Dante Gabriel Rossetti.

There was nothing in the clothing aisles to even remotely tempt me, but then I found this amazing pair of boots by Anthology, combining leather with a knitted shaft. They are in pristine condition and were mine for € 6.

Our next stop was the shop in Duffel, which not only is our very favourite, but is only a stone's throw from our favourite park.

When the weather's fine, like it was on that Saturday, we always go for a short (or longer) stroll before or after our visit to the shop.

The light on this last day of the year's penultimate month was just perfect, illuminating the last of Autumn's splendour with pale yet brilliant sunlight, the yellow and amber leaves contrasting starkly with the hazy blue sky.

I was wearing my plaid wool jacket with its soft furry collar - a fairly recent find - to which I yet again added more red. Both my red beret and red and purple scarf were charity shop finds. 

Even my handbag got the red-carpet treatment and and was given a long-overdue ourting. I picked up the handbag in question, a small red vintage one, at a flea market back in April.

In spite of the gorgeous weather and the strangely uplifting sights and scents of the park's dying foligage and fallen leaves, our walk was a short one.

Days of rain had left the ground quite soggy, and I wasn't wearing the most adequate of footwear. Comfortable these boots might be but they are no match for muddy patches.

Besides, that charity shop was calling us!

This one is on three floors, the ground floor being mostly dedicated to furniture. However, there's a jewellery display near the checkouts, which I always browse before tackling the other floors.

This time, these two funky necklaces caught my eye and came home with me.

While the second floor has everything from assorted household goods and crockery to books, records and toys, the basement is fully dedicated to textiles.

I love browsing the aisles there, my only bugbear being the colour-coding, which seems to be common in many charity shops these days. 

This particular shop has recently introduced sizing, where before all sizes were being put willy-nilly (yet colour coded) on the rails. Still, it pays off looking at everything, as they don't always get the sizes right.

That day, for instance, I found a cute embroidered cardigan on an XL hanger, while it clearly was only an S. 

It will make its debut in my next post. 

My final find of the day was a handmade and lined orange tweed skirt with a flouncy hemline. 

The photograph, which was taken on a dark day, does not really do the colour justice, but it will have to do until I'll take it on its first outing.

We had another rummaging fix on Sunday, when we went to a flea market, but I'm afraid you'll have to wait until my next post to find out whether we found anything exciting!