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!

Wearing, reading and charity shopping

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

And just like that, another week had gone by!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

See you on the other side!

A year is just a drop in time

It seems that time has been running away from me again. It simply beggars belief that I'm already half-way through my Christmas break.

So far, the days have had more than just a hint of indolence. The latter, however, was mostly of the forced variety due to a nasty but thankfully short-ish head cold which joined forces with the weather in throwing a spanner in the works on Christmas Day in particular.

All of this was still in the future on Saturday the 9th of December, so let's cast our minds back to that day. Although, not having made much of a journal entry for that day, there isn't a lot I can tell you about it apart from the fact that it was another dark, dismal and utterly wet day. 

We were able to nip outside to make outfit photos between showers, though, so that I can at least show you what I was wearing.

This navy fit and flare dress with its green and sky blue abstract motifs - I've never been able to determine what they are supposed to be exactly - hadn't been worn for far too long and was shouting the loudest when I opened my wardrobe's doors.

At my waist I added a green fabric belt which used to belong to another dress, and threw a green Dralon and wool blend cardigan on top, to which I pinned an elaborate blue flower corsage. 

Obviously, I was wearing a pair of matching opaques, while further accessories included a green wooden Les Cordes necklace (charity shopped) and a lime green Miracle brooch (flea market find).

We weren't in the mood to hit the charity shops, so it was to be a day of gentle pottering and starting a new book which had been languishing in my TBR pile since Summer. 

Bought in a Shrewsbury bookshop back in June, Gone To Earth was written by local author Mary Webb and published in 1917. Its protagonist, Hazel Woodus, is the daughter of a Welsh gypsy and a crazy bee-keeper, and is happiest living in her forest cottage in the remote Shropshire hills. Its prose is very atmospheric and lyrical and its subject a magical yet chilling story of fear, desire, love and violence, both spiritual and physical, and inevitably ending in tragedy. I loved it although it was by no means an easy read.

At first glance, the weather gods seemed to be on their best behaviour on Sunday, the sun having done away with the eternal gloom when we drew the curtains. 

We were up early-ish as we had plans. But first, let's get dressed for the day ahead. Helped by Bess, of course, who was basking in the rays of the low December sun streaming in through our spare room - a.k.a. the blue room and doubling as dressing room and study - windows.

First outing for the greyish brown and orange Trevira dress I found at Think Twice back in September.

There's a tiny bit of green in its pattern too, which I took as the lead for my accessories. Both the beaded necklace and the semi-elastic belt with its gold-tone lion's head buckle were charity shopped, the latter only a couple of months ago. The swallows-in-flight brooch is modern, bought in Cardigan during one of our Pembrokeshire holidays.

My Marigold yellow cardigan is one of my charity shopped Zoë Loveborns and, if I remember correctly, the tan leaf brooch I pinned to it was a flea market find. On my feet, my comfortable tan No Stress lace-up ankle boots!

And then we were off, picking up our friend Inez along the way, the sun still very much in evidence and adding sparkle to the raindrops which were lingering on our car's side mirrors.

Our destination for the day: the December edition of our beloved indoor flea market in Mechelen.

Admittedly, we hadn't been there since early Spring, and for various reasons had missed the first two editions of the new season which started in October.

We were delighted to see that there was a good mix of stalls, which we browsed to our heart's content, exclaiming over the wonderful and often curious items on offer. 

If in need of a hot water bottle, there was a choice between a rubber heart-shaped one or an old-fashioned ceramic bed warmer ...

I swooned over the feathered green hat and marvelled at the collection of eye-wateringly expensive ammonites.

The box of diminutive pink bathroom furniture and choice of tiles had sisters in many different colour options and must have been a travelling salesman's samples. If money and space hadn't been an issue, I might have been tempted to buy them all!

I was briefly considering to buy the poor guy in the centre as a companion for Idina, but I think she might have turned up her nose at him ...

With so many aisles of stalls to browse, we interrupted the serious business of rummaging for a round of rolls washed down with old-fashioned filter coffees!

Doesn't Inez look gorgeous in her turquoise dress! It came from a charity shop in Welshpool, but as I was never wearing it, I gifted it to her.

And now, without further ado, let's have a look at the things which did come home with us!

The small hanging kitchen cabinet - it only measures 50 x 30 x 15 centimeters - needs a good clean and a bit of TLC but will fit a little corner in our kitchen perfectly.

The small black lady's head and the wooden and papier-maché shop dummy both came from Rita's pitch, while the 1930s German ceramic biscuit jar came from a random stall.

I'd spotted the head plaque on the left on Tanja's Facebook page last month and was delighted when she told me it hadn't sold yet and that she would put it aside for me. Both she and the lady with the polka-dot headscarf picked up from a random stall will be joining the wall of heads above the mantelpiece in the blue room!

The end of year madness at the office continued in the year's penultimate working week. When my boss asked me whether I thought a certain order would still be shipped out before the Christmas holidays, I told him I needed a crystal ball to reply to his question. Having a great sense of humour, he sent me a fortune teller cartoon in return, which in my turn prompted me to stage this photo with the office crystal ball. Because, yes, we do have one of those: it is in fact one of a pair of massive glass door knobs which used to be in my colleague's 1960s apartment when she bought it. Apparently, she didn't like them or the doors they were on, and donated them both to me. 

While Inez and me were having our usual mid-week cappuccino catch-up at the Think Twice coffee shop, we were surprised to see that one of their sales was in full swing. What's more, prices were down to € 4 already, so that we decided to have a quick peek. Well, what can I say? We both made purchases, mine being a groovilicious velour blouse and a funky jumper!

Then Friday the 15th of December rolled along. It was a cloudy day but dry for once, the mercury still flitting around the 10°C mark. 

I had to go in to work, but thankfully only for half a day, the afternoon presenting the perfect opportunity to put up our tree.

After 20+ years, assembling our faithful faux fir has become a doddle, particularly when you've got a feline helper. Remembering last year's shenanigans, we weren't all that much surprised when she climbed into it less than a minute after we'd put in the lights! Can you spot her among the branches in the photo on the bottom right?

Later that week, I shared the above photo with Unco-Jerry, the animal shelter we adopted her from, who promptly put it on their Facebook page. Wouldn't you know that the little minx got well over 140 likes?

Fast forward 12 days later, and she has only climbed into the lower reaches of the tree two more times and accidentally dislodged only one ornament. We are keeping our fingers crossed that one of these years we might be able to use our vintage and heirloom ornaments again, but for now we are limiting ourselves to mainly wooden and fabric ones. 

I might or might not publish another post before the year is up but in case of the latter, Jos and I already wish you all a happy and healthy 2024. May all - or at least some - of your wishes come true!