Say sneeze!

I came back from our little sojourn in Bruges bearing the gift of a common cold. We'd barely made it through our front door when I felt a telltale tickle in my throat, soon followed by sneezing, an alternately blocked and leaking nose and an annoying and persistent little cough. It didn't exactly help that that weather had reverted to its default gloom and that - no rest for the wicked - I was expected back at the office on Monday (the 10th of November, that is).

What's more, my cold turned out to be the unwanted gift which keeps on giving, as it's only just on its way out as I type, having rapidly depleted the solar-powered energy I'd built up while we were away. 

So forgive me if I'm little behind with commenting on your posts and if I'm rushing somewhat through my final October catch-up!

Looking into the time machine's rearview mirror, it dawns on me that I hadn't even finished telling you about October's penultimate weekend.

Sunday the 19th of October turned out to be mostly cloudy, with some short-lived but very welcome sunny spells in the afternoon, and highs of round 15°C.

My rust coloured slubbed skirt is vintage St. Michael and part of a suit, its short-sleeved belted jacket remaining largely unworn. I found it at Think Twice back in 2018, and here's a rare sighting of the two pieces together. Its companion that Sunday was a groovily patterned blouse by Belgian label Claude Arielle, charity shopped in December 2023.

Accessories:

Suede mustard yellow belt: CKS outlet shop, October 2022

Mustard yellow beads: charity find a couple of months ago

Spider brooch: indoor flea market, May 2025

As random patches of blue had appeared in the sky, we donned our coats - mine a vintage wool and polyester blend burgundy jacket - and drove down to Middelheim sculpture park for a stroll.

We parked near the so-called Artist's Entrance (above, top left), created by Dutch artist John Körmeling in 2012. Walking across the open terrain towards the main part of the park, I couldn't resist a turn on the swings. I'm sure it won't surprise you that this too is a work of art, called One Two Three Swing!, a creation of the Danish collective SUPERFLEX, founded in Copenhagen in 1993.

 

The wobbly tower of chairs (above, top left) is part of the Prank series by British visual artist Phyllida Barlow (1944-2023). The series was completed just before her death in 2023 and consists of seven sculptures of precariously stacked furniture and studio objects, all having funny white rabbit ears as a recurring motif. 

Pull up a chair to watch Paul Kindersley's The Dreamer of the Forest (2024), in which images from the Middelheim collection come to life (above, bottom left).

We didn't linger, but walked into the direction of the Braem Pavillion (above, top left), the Organic Brutalist marvel designed by architect Renaat Braem (1910-2001) and completed in 1971. 

After having been absent during the park's reshuffle, we were happy to meet up with Yayoi (above, bottom right) by New York based artist Corey McCorkle (°1969) again. The large reflective sphere is based on the stone spheres used as ornaments along paths in 17th Century French gardens. But this behemoth does not blend into its setting. Corey McCorkle likes to present objects in unexpected ways, changing our experience of space.

Cosmic Eye, dating from 1973, was originally designed by Belgian artist Jan Dries (1925-2014) for Antwerp's metro station Groenplaats, where it took pride of place for 35 years. I must walked past it  countless of times over the years.

At Middelheim, it turned out to be the perfect photo frame. I was in awe of the tiny chestnut somebody had balance on one of the inside ridges.

We're skipping Monday to arrive at Tuesday the 21st of October, which brought a mix of clouds and showers. I'd taken the day off to accompany Jos to his hospital check-up which, as I'd already hinted a couple of posts ago, couldn't have gone better. Onwards and upwards from now on!

The off-white and bottle green checked wool-blend skirt, which is by River Woods, was charity shopped in October 2022 and is an absolute joy to wear. I mean, it even has pockets!

Everything else I was wearing - including my burgundy ankle boots and the bottle green mock croc belt - was provided by the gods of the charity shops as well.

Afterwards, we celebrated Jos's clean bill of health with mugs of cappuccino and some very indulgent cakes at the excellent hospital cafeteria.

 For once, I didn't have to remind Jos to look happy when I was taking his photo ...

It was back to the office to catch up on work on Wednesday, but I managed to escape during my lunch break, walking to a Think Twice shop - there are no less than five of them in Antwerp - a bit further away for a browse. 

Tell me, how could I have said no to this pink floral cord maxi skirt?

The weather had turned quite stormy on Thursday, with the temperature steadily going down from 16°C until we were barely into double digits.

By Friday, the mercury had taken up residence around 10°C, which felt even chillier courtesy of a blustery wind. To counterbalance the chill, there were lots of sunny spells to accompany me on my way to my hairdresser's for a cut and colour.

Sad news, though, as Michel told me the salon will close for good at the end of year ... 

My vintage Diolen dress - found at T2 in January 2023 - was dubbed the Tardis dress by Kezzie when we met up in Bruges a couple of weeks later. Nearly three years ago already! Where does the time go?

Incidentally, the orange painted metal flower brooch I pinned to the dress was a gift from Kezzie back then. My necklace came from a Welsh antiques shop and the orange fabric belt belongs to one of my short-sleeved vintage frocks.

More orange featured in the accessories of Saturday's outfit, tying in with the orange flowers in my black floral velvet skirt, which I picked up from Think Twice last year. It was paired with a charity shopped InWear blouse. The suede belt which separates them is the only item which I bought brand new on the high street.

It was a grey day with lots of rain and, again, highs of around 10°C.

The inclement weather kept us inside Dove Cottage, where I continued with my wardrobe changeover and cleaned the bathroom, while Jos made a batch of delicious tomato-paprika soup. Then we changed the light bulbs in the bedroom chandelier, as half of them had given up the ghost. Finally, we made pasta in the oven for dinner, after which I caught up with blogland. That was my day in a nutshell!

As we'd put the clocks back that night, we had an extra hour of lying in on Sunday. The sun was shining brightly as we were having croissants for breakfast, but at just 7°C we needed to dress warmly for our outing to Middelheim for a walk followed by a drink with Inneke and Maurice.

We were too busy chatting so the above is the one and only photo I took.

I'd decided to give my new-to-me pink floral cord maxi skirt its first outing, combining it with a green patterned jumper. The latter, as well as all my accessories were charity shop or flea market finds. 

We're skipping a couple of days again, to Tuesday the 28th of October. The weather was another mix of grey skies, heavy showers and the odd sunny spell, with the mercury only managing to climb to 11°C.

I had errand to run during lunch break and popped into the nearest Think Twice shop to my office on my way back. The shops were having another one of their famous sales, with prices down to € 6 that day. This funky floral velvet top came home with me.

Thursday's lunch break walk took me into the direction of Melting Pot - the vintage-per-kilo shop - where a rummage of the rails yielded this olive green polyester knit vintage dress.

I know it looks more grey than green here, as my camera refused to catch its true colour.

I'm leaving you now with the outfit I wore on Friday the 31st of October.

My navy-based tartan maxi skirt came from an outlet shop for the Belgian Green Ice label near my office, where I bought it in September 2023.

The blouse, which is by yet another Belgian label, Who's That Girl, was a charity shop find earlier this year. The green Dralon cardigan was a € 4 Think Twice sales bargain back in the mist of time.

As for my accessories, they are a mix of high street and second-hand finds.

With October now finally over and done with, I'm champing at the bit to make a start with my Bruges travelogue. 

Hope to see you again soon!

Gloomy October

I've been counting the days and then the hours until our next little adventure and, finally, we will be off this afternoon. In order to pass the time, which for once seemed to go unbearably slowly, I set myself the task of writing a quick blog post in another attempt to bridge the gap between the past and the present.

It's not that I had a better offer to spend my time last weekend anyway, as it was mostly wet and miserable. In fact, most of the month of October has been particularly gloomy.

One of the headlines in the news on the 1st of November proclaimed that October was the second gloomiest month since records began, with only half as much sunshine as average.

We'd been looking forward to going for walks and enjoy the sensory delights of Autumn, including a good old stint of leaf-kicking, which was something we sorely missed last year when Jos was in hospital. In hindsight, however, we only managed to indulge in this pleasurable pastime twice in the last month ...

Although the days went off to a chilly start at the beginning of the month, it had often warmed up to 18°C and more by the time my lunch break arrived, so that I was able to ditch some of the layers I'd started out with that morning.

I wore this tried-and-tested skirt and blouse combo on Wednesday the 1st of October. 

The blouse, which is from retro brand Zoë Loveborn, was a flea market find in October 2016. I was instantly drawn to it, as I already owned a much-loved dress in the same print, but with red trim and buttons instead of yellow. I think it found its perfect partner in the black vintage skirt printed with a yellow, red, green and blue flower and leaf design. 

A turquoise belt and ring, pale blue cat brooch and orangey red beaded necklace completed my outfit.

Hesitant sunshine bathed Antwerp's cathedral in a short-lived golden glow on the morning of Thursday the 2nd of October. I was just in time to whip out my phone to catch it on camera. Blink, and it was gone!

That morning, I very daringly decided on short sleeves, albeit that they belonged to a fit and flare 1970s does 1940s number in a heavy knit polyester. I'm in two minds whether it was a charity shop or a Think Twice find.

Another wardrobe stalwart, its first appearance on the blog dates from November 2016, almost exactly nine years ago to the day.  

With Think Twice's sales prices being down to € 2 by then, I wasn't really expecting to find anything. In fact I was just about to leave the shop empty-handed when my eyes alighted on this groovilicious polo neck blouse, which I suspect had started life as the top half of a dress. 

Friday started with a mix of clouds and sunny spells accompanied by highs of 17°C. All too soon, however, angry-looking clouds were appearing on the horizon and it didn't take long for them to let go of their liquid load.

Apart from a food shop in the afternoon, I spent most of the day indoors, pottering and repairing the € 2 top, as it had its fair share of split seams and a wonky hem. 

My forest green pleated skirt - a retail buy in between Lockdowns in 2020 - was joined  by a blouse with a groovy yellow, green and brown pattern. It's by the Belgian Wow To Go label, and was charity shopped in the same year. My mind boggles at the fact that the infamous year 2020 is now well over five years ago!

My caramel cardigan and ditto No Stress shoes were charity shop finds as well, while the belt was a fairly recent sales bargain from Think Twice.

I find myself reaching for this necklace, bought from Accessorize many moons ago, quite a lot lately. Finally, in honour of the season, I pinned one of my favourite brooches to my blouse. I fell in love with the duo of enamelled mushrooms at a flea market in February 2024.

I've got a drawer full of Autumn flavoured brooches in my collection. Aren't they delightful? Must make the most of them while the season lasts!

I finally finished the yawn-inducing  The Shoemaker's Wife  and started the much more enjoyable The Strawberry Thief by Joanne Harris. It was only after I'd finished it that I found out that this was the 4th book in the series which started with the award-winning bestseller Chocolat. Published to much acclaim in 1999, I was obviously aware of its existence, but for some reason never got down to reading it.

As I was engrossed by The Strawberry Thief - which, yes, does refer to the famous William Morris design - I did wonder about the fact that chocolate had such a prominent role in this novel as well. Plus, there were quite a few references to the past which weren't elaborated on ... Anyway, I've now got Chocolat in my reading pile and I'm on the lookout for parts 2 and 3 of the series.

We woke up to stormy weather on Saturday the 4th of October, which lasted until late morning, after which we were treated to a couple of sunny spells in the afternoon. At 17°C the temperature was still quite warm for the time of year.

I based my outfit around an ochre, brown and navy wool-blend tartan skirt charity shopped in May 2022, picking up the blue in its pattern with a peasant-style embroidered long-sleeved denim blouse. From Sainsbury's Tu label, I found it new-with-tags in a Shropshire charity shop in June 2024.

My necklace and belt and yes, even my boots, were charity shop finds as well.

After a long overdue thorough vacuum session upstairs, getting rid of the army of dust bunnies which were having a field day in the rooms' nooks and crannies, we went for a rummage in our nearest charity shop.  

My basket was filled with a blouse by the Danish Vila label, an orange beaded necklace, felted flower corsage and pink and green Zara cardi.

My favourite find of the day was this snuggly dark green floral bathrobe.

The bookshelves came up trumps as well, with two brand new books: My Family and Other Animals by Gerald Durrell and Uncommon Arrangements - Seven Marriages in Literary London 1910-1939, by Katie Roiphe. I'm currently finishing the final chapter of the latter.

Another cloudy and mizzly day awaited us on Sunday, with a slight drop in temperature to 15°C.

With Jos's six-monthly check-up at the hospital looming on the horizon, he was feeling a bit down in the dumps with little or no appetite. To put your minds at rest: everything is fine and he doesn't even have to go back again.

My dress, with its turquoise, plum, lavender and orange Paisley-esque pattern, was bought from the Antwerp branch of Dutch vintage chain Episode several years ago. I added a plum coloured velvet covered belt, a matching fake plastic Cameo brooch and turquoise necklace, ring and opaques. 

All accessories charity shopped, except for the floral socks and the cat!

Monday the 6th of October continued along the same vein, the gloom outside my office windows quite incongruous with the day's highs of 17°C.

Highlight of the day was another Cappuccino catch-up with Inez, which we've moved to Mondays as she's started French conversation lessons on Wednesdays.

I was wearing a rust coloured faux-suede paperbag waist skirt - bought at 70% off in the January sales in 2022 - combined with the blouse I found for € 1 at Think Twice back in July.

Fast forward to Thursday - we were the 9th of October by then - when my lunch break found me at Melting Pot, a vintage per kilo shop not all that far from my office.

They had a rail of dresses in, so I bought a striped knit sweater dress and a zip front poly-blend vintage dress for the princely total of € 13,10. Both way too warm for the temperatures we're currently having.

Thursday's outfit is the final one I've got for you this time. 

My turquoise dress with its fuchsia pattern and trim was yet another charity shop find. It's by Froy & Dind, a Belgian label which has been making sustainable fashion since 2011. 

It was way too gloomy to photograph it properly, so I'm adding a close-up to show you its lovely pattern.

The elephant brooch is vintage and was found on one of the charity shops' retro events back in the mists of time.

That's it for now. We'll be off after lunch, and the weather forecast is looking very promising for once. I do hope I haven't jinxed it ... Only time will tell.

See you next week!

She's not there

This post should have reached you by the magic of scheduled posting while we were living it up in the lap of luxury at B&B Het Soetewater in Beernem near Bruges. But I'm not there, I'm here, sat behind my desk in Dove cottage's spare room, where I've pushed the publish button in real time just a couple of minutes ago.

As last weekend Jos wasn't feeling well and ultimately woke up with severe nausea in the early hours on Sunday, we made the heart-wrenching decision to cancel the little getaway which we'd planned to celebrate our 30th Anniversary. 

At the time of writing Jos is feeling well again. However, what with people succumbing to the flu left, right and centre, we don't want to run the risk of Jos falling ill ahead of his surgery, which is planned for end of the month. So, we will kind of self-isolate as much as we can until then.

Obviously, we will be making up for lost time in the next couple of months!

For now, let's return to the matter in hand, which is how life has been treating us in the last few days of that seemingly endless month of January.

On Sunday the 26th we woke up to sunny spells, which filled our hearts with gladness. But clouds soon gathered once more and a blustery, bone-chilling wind made the air frigid so that the wind chill temperature was quite a bit colder than the 7°C forecasted for the day.

My outfit was one I'd prepared a couple of weeks ago but hadn't got around to wearing yet. The vintage polyester tie-collar dress, which is from the Finnish Marketta label, was a Think Twice find in October 2022. I picked up the green in its pattern with my opaques and belt, and paid tribute to the lilac bits by wearing the purple Western-style ankle boots I snaffled from an outlet shop back in December.

I tamed the rather unwieldy tie with a scarf clip featuring a posy of pansies and forget-me-nots. I'm also treating you to a close-up of the dress's pattern and its delightful flower-shaped black buttons.

With Saturday's raindrops still glittering on the sodden plants in our jungle junkyard of a garden, I'm proudly showing you the Hellebore (Helleborus sternii) whose clusters of nodding pink-flushed flowers are currently brightening up the passageway. 

The rain having kept us cooped up inside for most of the weekend, we decided to make the most of the cold but mercifully dry day by going for a walk in the park in nearby Duffel.

As we were nearing the pond, we were met by the sound of honking and quacking and, sure enough, looking down from the bridge we spotted a paddling of ducks who seemed to be chairing the quarterly meeting of the park's waterfowl.

 

For once, there was no sign of the screeching gulls who are usually trying - but failing miserably - to masquerade as ducks in the hope of a handout. At the other side of the bridge, a single, disgruntled sounding moorhen whose invitation had apparently got lost in the post. Carrier pigeons these days!

The wind was making my eyes sting and water but we doggedly plodded on, our booted feet squelching on the muddy and partially flooded paths.

The landscape was at its bleakest under the canopy of whitish grey,, the leafless trees with their clusters of twigs and gnarled and twisted branches meeting their reflections in the overflowing ponds.

And Jos was meeting his reflection too, standing still for just long enough for me to take a photo until I too negotiated that whopper of a puddle.

And what have we got here? Forget about snowdrops, it's Hellebores - and quite a variety of them too - which are the harbingers of Spring here. Aren't they a sight for sore eyes?

I've been wearing this coat on repeat these last couple of months so I guess it's my current favourite, although in all honesty I've been too preoccupied to drag any alternatives from my full-to-bursting and not very accessible coats wardrobe. The others must feel quite neglected, I'm sure.

My orange scarf and yellow woolly hat are making another appearance as well, but that's purely coincidental.

January's final week was a quiet one at the office as our Chinese business associates were celebrating Lunar New Year, entering the Year of the Snake.

When lovely Andrea of 50 Looks of Love T. wrote about this event a couple of weeks ago, she referenced Kaa, the snake in Jungle Book, the stories originally written by Rudyard Kipling and published in 1894. In the book and many of its screen adaptations, Kaa is an ally of protagonist Mowgli, acting as a friend alongside Bagheera the black panther and Baloo the bear.

Andrea's post definitely took me on a trip down memory lane! When I was six, Disney's 1967 version of Jungle Book was the very first film I saw in the cinema. I've only got the vaguest memories of it though, apart from my Dad taking me on the bus to Antwerp on a Sunday afternoon and taking our seats in the darkened cinema near the end of the previous screening.

Cashing in on the success of the film, coffee brand Rombouts issued a set of  felt animals which could be saved for by cutting coupons which came with their packets of coffee. My parents must have consumed a lot of coffee as I managed to collect them all! In hindsight, I guess they must have got some help from my grandparents.

They were displayed in my room, where they lived on the shelves of the desk unit built by my carpenter Dad. And there's Kaa! I added a yellow arrow to help you spot him!

Sadly, most of the animals haven't survived after being inherited by my much younger siblings, but when we were clearing the parental home after my Dad passed away in 2016, I managed to salvage the two remaining ones, one of them being Kaa! He's usually stored in tissue paper but he got a rare outing to feature on the blog.

After this brief trip in the time machine, let's go back to those final January days!

Mostly grey and often windy, with highs nudging 10°C, Monday the 27th was the only sunny exception.

After tackling the usual onslaught of emails awaiting me after my three-day weekends, I treated myself to a walk to Antwerp's Botanic Garden during lunch break.

Things were still a bit bare, but my heart made a little leap at spotting a clump of winter aconites (Eranthis hyemalis) which looked as if they were just about to open their buttercup blooms.

And look, there were some Hellebores too.  How delightful is this double-flowered one!

Thursday was a dismal day with almost non-stop rain. To make matters worse, I was obliged to make use of public transport to get to the office, as Jos had a pre-op appointment at the hospital, followed by another catheter change.

We'd both been bundles of nerves for days but everything went well, all things considered. Still, it was a relief to get to the end of the day and the beginning of another weekend.

Friday was - you guessed it! - another day of endless grey skies, which did nothing to enhance the highs of 6 °C.

I pottered upstairs after breakfast and paid a visit to blogland while we were waiting for a technician to come and service our gas heaters. Then, after lunch, we did the weekly food shop, followed by more pottering and some reading.

For that day's outfit, I mixed different patterns in similar colours. In fact, for once, the outfit I'd created in my head turned out to be just as good in real life!

My black needlecord skirt with its cloud-like pattern was charity shopped last Spring. The heart-patterned cardigan worn as a jumper is Diane von Furstenberg. This too was a charity shop find. I snapped it up for a mere € 5,90 in December 2021.

The belt was picked up in a long-gone vintage shop, while both the turquoise plastic beads and the peacock brooch were yet again charity shop finds, the latter found on a whirlwind visit to Llangollen (Wales) in June 2019.

And now, how about some biscuits to go with your tea or coffee?

See you next time!