More days of leisure

Can you believe we are in August already? I certainly can't, particularly since I'm feeling that the month of July has largely passed me by. The reason for this will soon become clear, but as my blog's feet are still firmly planted in the final week of June, let's make a start with that, shall we.

It was Wednesday the 25th of June, and I'd woken up with a whopper of a headache. I'd also been suffering from recurring bouts of unexplained toothache for a while, which I initially put down to the dentist's rigorous cleaning of my super sensitive teeth a couple of weeks earlier. As this has happened to me before, I wasn't unduly worried at first.  However, when the pain seemed to be getting worse, I'd called the practice to make an appointment, only to be told that the first available slot was on the 1st of August. Unfortunately, my dentist, who is semi-retired and has closed her private practice a couple of years ago, is now only working at a group practice one and a half days a week, so that there's always a bit of a wait. It's no use trying anywhere else, as it's nigh on impossible to find a dentist who is prepared to accept new patients. 

So, the only thing left to do was taking painkillers when necessary and making the most of the pain-free periods, which were still quite plentiful at that time. Sometimes whole strings of days went by without any sign of pain at all!  

However, that Wednesday wasn't such a day and as this was supposed to be my week of leisure I was feeling a bit sorry for myself. Most of the morning was spent lying on the sofa in my dressing gown, but at least I was in good company!

Both headache and toothache had taken a backseat by late morning, so that I could finally indulge in one of my favourite pastimes: picking my outfit for the day.

I'd earmarked one of the skirts I'd charity shopped the other day for its first outing. And what a joy it was to wear, having a high Swoosh Factor, as Sheila would say. 

Rooting in my shelves of tops, I happened upon this orange and blue leaf-patterned one, a charity shop find back in 2022, which tied in with the skirt's colours perfectly. 

The blue and orange theme set, I selected an orange stretchy belt with a massive enamelled buckle - last year's high street sales bargain - and a charity shopped necklace featuring chunky blue stones. Although both are barely visible in the photos, I was also wearing a blue plastic ring and navy sandals, both of which had their origins on the high street. Looking at the photos, it now dawns on me that I wasn't  wearing a brooch!

We spent the afternoon running some errands and nipping into the charity shop in Mechelen for a quick rummage. Here, I found a teal cherry patterned King Louie maxi dress and a belt which matches the cherries almost exactly. Again, it was the unusual buckle which cinched the deal.

Thursday was a pain-free day, with a drop in temperature from Wednesday's high twenties to a much more bearable 23°C. The day's mix of sunshine and clouds was accompanied by a welcome breeze, which managed to cool things down considerably in Dove Cottage's stifling upstairs rooms.

This enabled me to make a start with the flea market preparations, tackling the bags of clothes I'd put aside over the past year, assessing them for their saleability and pricing them. There were still a couple of boxes of unsold items left from last year, so that surveying the heap of clothes I'd labelled, I was starting to wonder how I'd fit it all on my one and only clothing rack ...

The afternoon was spent going for a long overdue walk in our beloved Middelheim as, shamefully, we hadn't been there since April!

We left our car in the large car park catering for Middelheim as well as its neighbouring parks and entered the Human Nature zone of the park. 

Once inside, one's eye is instantly drawn to the striking group of fountain sculptures taking pride of place in the formal Hortiflora garden (above, bottom left and top right and below, top left and bottom right). The sculptures' collective name is Adrift (2023) and are a creation of the French artist Camille Henrot (°1978), who had a solo exhibition here in the summer of 2022.

Henry Moore's King and Queen (1952) is a favourite, which I can't help catching on camera whenever we're here. 

Henry Moore often combined forms from nature with the human figure—in this case, bony structures and royal heads. Moore felt his sculptures were best viewed in natural settings, such as Middelheim Museum.

I was wearing a fuchsia crinkly cotton tiered skirt I found at Think Twice back in March. The retro style top with its naive flower print is by Zoë Loveborn and was a high street buy many years ago. My blush pink stretchy belt was a recent fast fashion buy, which has already earned its stripes in the meantime. 

My necklace, which is vintage and came from a Welsh antiques centre, picks up the pops of orange in the top's print, while my brooch - yet another high street find - echoes the pink of the flowers almost exactly.

We paused for outfit photos in Het Huis (transl. The House), a half- open pavillion designed for temporary exhibitions and opened in 2012. For the past couple of years it had been home to Birdcalls by the American artist Louise Lawler, in which, using her own voice, she sounds out the names of twenty-nine well-known artists. 

This is what was there instead ...

Shiny polyester sausages form a disturbing scene. A white sausage hangs from a rope, while a black and brown sausage lie cut open on the ground. 

This work, which is by the Antwerp based German artist Kati Heck (°1979) is called Dabei sein ist Alles. Dating from 2006, it used to be elsewhere in the park. The polyester sculptures are at once funny and endearing, but they also have something tragic and gruesome about them.

For this new installation in Het Huis, the artist came up with some extras. The photo of the bride standing between two grotesque sculptures is by the Belgian photographer and performance artist Ria Pacquée (°1954) and is called The Girl Who Was Never Asked to Marry. 

The apple vending machine (above, top left and bottom right) seemed to be part of the installation as well ...

Further artworks we met that day were:

- Summer Breeze (2020) by Belgian sculptor Peter Rogiers (°1967) - top left

- Bambatha I (2023) by South African visual artist Zanele Muholi (°1972) - top and bottom centre

- Große Badende (Great Bather, 1971) by German sculptor Wieland Förster (°1930) - top right

Friday's weather was almost a carbon copy of Thursday's. Thankfully, it was another day when my head and teeth were on their best behaviour.

The charity shops provided most of the day's outfit, except for the brooch, which was a flea market find, and my favourite and super comfortable tomato red sandals, which were a post-Lockdown sales bargain in the Summer of 2020. 

With a heatwave forecasted for the days ahead, I made the most of the moderate temperatures to do some more flea market preparation, making sure I had sufficient clothes hangers and making a start with curating my stash of cast-off jewellery, belts, shoes and bags. 

We even drove down to an interior and accessories shop on the outskirts of the nearby town of Lier. Here, our mission, to find a second clothing rack for our flea market stall, was completed successfully. 

The temperature was already on the up on Saturday the 28th of June, with the mercury climbing to 29°C.

The day was spent pottering and watering the plants in their pots and baskets, followed by a longish siesta after lunch.

The giraffe print skirt I'd scored earlier that week came out to play, as did one of the belts I'd found on the same day. 

My label-less t-shirt top was a charity shop find too, having joined my wardrobe when I fell head over heels with its Art Deco-style print in December 2022.

To keep the giraffe in my skirt company, I pinned a vintage leopard brooch - picked up from the indoor flea market in November 2019 - to my top. The funky necklace with its wooden and plastic beads has been in my collection forever, bought from Accessorize when they briefly had a shop in Antwerp back in the mists of time.

And then Sunday, my final day of leisure, arrived, giving us a taste of what was to come by heating things up to 30°C. 

It was another day of gentle pottering, reading and napping, as well as mentally preparing myself for my return to work, which I wasn't exactly looking forward to. What with our scuppered plans and my toothache throwing a spanner in the works from time to time, my batteries definitely weren't fully recharged.

Trying to stay as cool as possible was the order of the day, so I dug out this plunge-necked chevron striped summer dress by the defunct Belgian Who's That Girl label. Like most of the items I own by this label, it was acquired via a charity shop. 

I'll be making a start with what I've been doing  - and most importantly what I've been wearing - in July in my next post, but for now, let me put your minds at rest. 

After my toothache got really bad in the second half of July, it was clear that waiting for my 1st of August appointment would be out of the question. Thankfully, the practice had had a cancellation, so that I was able to see my dentist on the 22nd July. It took an X-Ray of my upper right teeth to find the culprit, which, as it wasn't salvageable, was duly removed. I'm happy to report that all is well and I have been pain-free ever since!

And on that note, I bid you goodbye for now. Hope to see you soon!

July's ups and downs

Apologies to those of you who have come here expecting to see another installment of my travelogue!

I'm putting the final couple of days of our holiday on the back burner for now in favour of a another July catch-up. After all, I'd barely even scratched the month's surface in my penultimate post.

Ok, I admit: I'm procrastinating, as I'm fully expecting to feel somewhat bereft once it's all done.

So, into the time machine we go, setting the controls for Saturday the 6th of July!

The day's mix of grey skies and sunny spells, with highs of around 23°C, provided the perfect conditions for wearing this vintage puff-sleeved dress patterned with red swirls and dots.

For all intents and purposes it should have taken pride of place on my flea market rail if Inez hadn't persuaded me to at least give it another go. So I wasted no time in wearing it right away to decide upon its fate and I'm happy to say that it's back in my wardrobe. A Regret-me-Not, as Sheila would say.

I opted for black as the main colour for my accessories, which included a vintage black and pearly grey geometrical brooch. One of the oldest in my collection in terms of ownership, my memory draws a blank as to its origins. 

Although still a tiny bit wary, Bess had sufficiently recovered from her ironing board trauma to insist on making up for lost lap-time ... and making sure to let us know who is boss by attacking Jos's denim jacket, which he'd left lying on the bed!

I spent the morning pricing the rest of the clothes for the flea market. As you can see there was quite a lot of stuff to go through.

Then I walked into town to run an errand and go for a browse at bargain shop Zeeman, where I found a pink stretchy belt for my burgeoning collection.

We were treated to grey skies once more on Sunday, and as the day's highs of  20°C came accompanied with a blustery wind I felt the need to add a lightweight three-quarter sleeved cardigan to my outfit.

The skirt with its palms and waterlilies print is by Belgian designer Nathalie Vleeschouwer. It came to me by way of a charity shop in March 2021. The necklace, green suede ankle boots and pink and white 1980s cap-sleeved jumper were charity shopped as well, while the enamelled brooch I pinned to my cardigan was a flea market find. Only the belt was bought brand new on the high street.

After a morning of aimless pottering, we took the car and drove to the massive garden centre at the edge of town. Although they obviously stock lots of plants, these do tend to take a backseat compared to the mind-boggling array of mostly overpriced and often tacky decorations. We generally avoid it like the plague but were in need of an outdoor carpet to spruce up our flea market stall, which I'm pleased to say we found at a surprisingly affordable price.

Monday saw a continuation of Sunday's weather, and consequently I decided to repeat its outfit as well.

The run-of-the-mill and rather quiet-ish office day was pleasantly interrupted by a cappuccino-fuelled catch-up with Inez at the Think Twice coffee shop. Such is our friendship that, even though we'd only seen each other on Friday, we still found lots to talk about. 

In order to limit our caffeine intake, and because it would have been silly not to, we did a quick round of the shop. I didn't leave it empty-handed either, finding a floral Diolen frock and a huge scarf with the funkiest of patterns.

The dotty cobalt blue, orange and white dress also came from Think Twice. I found it during one of my lunch breaks the other week, but forgot to show it to you. I've also included the pink stretchy belt from Zeeman for good measure!

If we had a chilly start to the day on Tuesday, the mercury had climbed to a sweltering 30°C by lunch time, only to make a nosedive again after a massive thunderstorm with some gale-force winds in the early evening. Thankfully, it was only short-lived and no damages were sustained, which unfortunately wasn't the case elsewhere in Belgium, and not all that far from Dove Cottage either!

Due to the stormy weather conditions and the premature darkness, no outfit photos were taken. Nor did we take any on Wednesday, even if it was for completely different reasons.

A visit to my GP that morning had somewhat knocked me for six. As suggested by my ophthalmologist I needed to get a radiology referral from my GP. As there's quite a big difference between both eyes, the Low-Tension Glaucoma limiting itself to my left eye for the time being, we needed to make sure that there wasn't any blockage of the carotid arteries in my neck. If there was, I would need surgery, which I wasn't exactly looking forward to. Anyway, an appointment with a local radiologist was scheduled for Monday the 15th.

Although I wouldn't be able to put things out of my mind until after the test, I was feeling somewhat better on Thursday, when I was wearing a vintage dress I'd picked up in Shrewsbury in June. Oops, I've just realized I've still got to tell you all about it in that elusive final episode of the travelogue!

Then Friday, and an extra long weekend rolled along, as I'd taken Monday off as well. 

With our flea market coming up on Sunday, we kept an eye on the weather forecast, which had been insisting all week that it would be a dry and warm-ish day. Obviously, we were more than just a bit sceptical about this, particularly as it rained quite heavily all day on Friday.

With a woeful look at my rail of Summer frocks, I decided they were a definite no-no, as the mercury climbed to only 16°C.

What did make it out of my wardrobe was this red, white and blue combo. The skirt is vintage and was a Think Twice sales bargain back in March 2023, while the blouse, which is Morris & Co x H&M, was charity shopped in June 2022. They were happily married by the the blue stretchy belt with its Celtic knot buckle, which I picked up from an outlet shop last Autumn.

My necklace and brooch were either charity shop or flea market finds. Although my memory fails me again here, I know exactly where I found the shoes, which was in a charity shop in Ypres during one of our September sojourns in Belgium's west country. I'd forgotten all about them until they leapt at me while preparing for the flea market.

The ring, which was a fast fashion buy, is a bit of an oddity, with dried flowers encased in clear plastic.

The rain had upped and left on Saturday, but had left a dull and overcast day in its wake, its highs of around 17°C still not much to write home about.

We did some final flea market prep, after which I joined Bess on the sofa with my current read.

Oh, and I wore one of my favourite Diolen frocks, featuring a white, light green, yellow and pink floral print on a teal background. I made use of most of the print's colours for my accessories, which included a yellow beaded necklace I'd snatched from the flea market stock as it matched the colour of my belt almost exactly.

And then Sunday the 14th of July dawned. As our street was already a hive of activity at 6 am, you can take this quite literally. Contrary to most of the other stall holders, we just needed to step out of our front door, so we took our time getting ready and only started setting up our stall at 8 am.

Inez joined us around 9 am, by which time I'd already made my first sale to a Dutch lady who bought all my remaining vintage Barbie clothing sets and a couple of frocks.

The day brought a mixture of sunshine and clouds, but thankfully mostly the former, with the temperature a perfect 23°C. 

My best client, a vintage-loving lady called Patricia who lives in the village, came and bought armfuls  of stuff as usual.

We also had a visit from Jos's daughter An, bringing along her friend Sofie, who recognized me from the tram and fell head over heels with our kitchen. 

It was a fun day and we sold a reasonable amount of stuff, but somehow my heart wasn't in it as I was worrying about Monday's radiology appointment. By now, of course, I was convinced something was wrong ...

Both wearing colourful vintage dresses, Inez and I were living advertisements for the clothes on our stall and we were regularly complemented by would-be punters and mere passers-by alike.

My maxi dress was charity shopped in June 2022 and accompanied me to Shropshire later that month, where I wore for a day at Attingham Park. I thought it was time it came out of the closet again.

Obviously I went for a quick round of the stalls as well, finding this new-to-me grooviliciously patterned maxi dress. I also picked up a vintage cotton frock for a pittance, which you'll get to see once I've fixed its issues, as well as some cards of vintage buttons. 

We weren't the only ones who were exhausted at the end of the day. What with all the comings and goings of the day, Bess again spent most of it hiding under the sofa again, but was quick to re-join us once the dust had settled.

We were lucky to be able to sleep in on Monday, although for obvious reasons I'd lain awake for hours that night worrying about the test.

As the appointment was for 3.30 pm only, I needed to keep myself busy to take my mind off things. This I did by putting away most of remaining flea market stuff and filling another bag for charity.

At 25°C, it was a warm and humid day, culminating in a thunderstorm late afternoon. By then I'd had my ultrasound at the radiologist, and was reassured that all was OK! I'm sure you can imagine my relief!

I'm ending this post with a look at what I was wearing, starting with a big smile upon my face.

My button-through cotton flower patterned and rick-rack trimmed skirt was an old Think Twice find, with the belt, cat brooch and top charity shopped, the latter from a shop in Ludlow in June 2019.

I'll be back with the final episode of my travelogue in a couple of days. See you soon!

A glut of Summer outfits

I've been completely engrossed in writing my travelogue ever since we came back from our Shropshire holiday. So much so that now I'm finding myself running behind on what else has been happening in my life. And what I've been wearing, obviously! Now that we're finally back on track with making daily outfit photos, it would be an utter shame to let them go to waste, so I'm treating you to a veritable glut of Summer outfits in this post! 

I was in the throes of a serious case of post-holiday blues on Monday the 24th of June and not at all looking forward to my first day back on the grind on Tuesday. 

As is often the case upon our return from the UK the weather gods had a minor heatwave in store for us, easing us in gently with highs of 25°C on my final day of rest. 

The maxi skirt, green short-sleeved top and stretchy belt were part of my travel wardrobe but, although I wore the belt on several occasions, for obvious reasons the skirt and top had remained unworn. They were all retail buys which have more than earned their keep in my wardrobe.

The tiny Irish sheep brooch and the ceramic beaded necklace were gifts from Claire, whom we met up with in the second week of our holiday. Travelogue to follow shortly!

As always, the first couple of days back at the office were a whirlwind of catching up with work and as the temperature was nudging 30°C for once I was glad of the coolness supplied by the office air con.

To add insult to injury, Jos had to take the car to the garage for Belgium's equivalent of the MOT, so that I was obliged to bus into Antwerp on Tuesday. To say it felt a bit weird after four years of being chauffeur-driven into Antwerp is a bit of an understatement, but at least the journey was a straightforward one.

I was too exhausted for outfit photos at the end of the day, but here's what I wore on Wednesday. 

The green sleeveless dress, its pattern a purple and red floral extravaganza, was a charity shop find last September and was just perfect for the continuing heatwave temperatures. The wooden beads came from Accessorize - I've got them in a different colourway as well - while the enamelled butterfly brooch was a flea market find in 2017.

Although it was in no way intentional, I seemed to have a bit of a green theme going on that week.

As usual, it was an utter joy to wear this jumpsuit, which came from a fast fashion shop on the high street. Bought in 2018, an incredible six years ago, it's a true case of fast fashion turned slow! 

Pops of orange from my belt, ring and beaded necklace completed my outfit. The tomato red sandals, which joined my wardrobe in 2020, were what Monica would call my repeat offenders, as it seems I wore them three days in a row. 

The temperature had gone down to around 20°C on Friday, which saw us driving to Antwerp for a hairdresser's appointment. While I was at the salon, Jos went for a coffee and a wander, after which we met up for lunch at the recently opened branch of Le Pain Quotidien, a chain of combined bakeries and breakfast and lunch restaurants. We both opted for cheese and ham croissants which we had with our usual cappuccinos.

Afterwards we took the tram for a couple of stops and then walked through the premises of the posh Botanic Sanctuary hotel located in a former convent and hospital complex whose history goes back to the 12th century. Here, I introduced Jos to Albert Szukalski's ghostly figures, relatives of those in the sculpture park.

We were on our way to buy a new Panama hat for Jos from a hat shop called Harbor of Men.

Mission accomplished, we walked back to the city centre through the Botanic Garden, where Jos wasted no time in exchanging the charity shopped M&S hat he was wearing for his new acquisition.

On our way out, we briefly paused for outfit photos. This zig-zag skirt was another one which fruitlessly accompanied me on my travels. It was a charity shop find in the Summer of 2021. In fact, most of what I'm wearing here was charity shopped, apart from the belt, a flea market find back in April, and the Clarks sandals, a sales bargain dating from 2018.

Saturday was a day of sunny spells and a balmy temperature of 23°C.

The dress I wrestled from my wardrobe's groaning rails that morning is vintage, from a label called Carine, which I remember being around when I was a young girl. It's got a gorgeous floral watercolour print and the sweetest cap sleeves which have a little split at the top allowing for welcome ventilation on a warm Summer's day.

I opted for neutral tones for my accessories, which included a Paris souvenir cameo brooch, a stretchy belt with wooden buckle and a wood and polished stone beaded necklace. The slingbacks I was wearing might very well be my most comfortable pair of Summer shoes. They're from the Spanish Art label and were picked up from an Outlet shop in May 2022.

My mind is a blank as to what we did that day, apart from the fact that we dropped off a bag of donations at the charity shop in the afternoon. It would have been rude not to have a rummage while we were there, and we were amply rewarded for our generosity by the charity shop goddesses.

The spoils which ended up in my trolley were two maxi skirts and several patterned tops. I'm actually wearing the drapey black patterned one (above, top left and centre) as I type.

With a repeat of Saturday's weather on Sunday, we thought it was high time we planted up the hanging baskets and upside-down green enamelled lampshades under the awning outside our backdoor. Embarrassingly, we admit that they still contained the sorry-looking remains of the daffodils, primulas and pansies we planted back in Spring since we'd postponed replacing them with Summer flowers until we were back from our holiday.

Needless to say, the choice at the garden centre was rather limited this late in the day, but we still found some scarlet double Pelargoniums for the cones and a cheerful yellow Sanvitalia for the half-basket against the potting shed wall.

A single white Pelargonium with contrasting burgundy markings was selected to join yet another yellow Sanvitalia in the hanging basket suspended from the awning and I couldn't resist buying a pot of pink and purple Fuchsias for the passageway.  

Sunday's dress was the black floral butterfly-sleeved one in the middle, a Think Twice sales bargain back in May.

We were back to grey skies, showers and temperatures barely touching 20°C in the first week of July. The perfect weather conditions to wear some of my beloved but sorely neglected Diolen Delights! Most of my collection was picked up from Think Twice over the years, although lately finding any of these colourful garments has become a bit of a rarity.

Finding one in a charity shop is even more unlikely, but that's exactly where I stumbled upon this glorious 1970s does 1940s number, albeit many years ago. I wore it on Thursday, my final working day of the week, picking a muted sage green as my main accessorizing colour. The brooch with its posy of tiny embroidered flowers was found in a Shrewsbury antiques centre in June 2019.

Friday the 5th of July was another grey and rainy one, with the additional delight of a blustery wind thrown in. This didn't bother me too unduly, as my friend Inez was coming over to help me put together the contents of our flea market stall in preparation for the event, which would take place on Sunday the 14th.

However, the day didn't got off to a good start. While dragging a seemingly endless number of boxes and bags from the built-in cupboard in our bedroom to the spare room, my ironing board, which is stored behind the bedroom door, toppled over and fell against the door, closing it with a bang in the process. As Bess - having a cat's curiosity and all that - was checking out the remaining boxes at the time disaster struck, she took fright and hid under the bed. She'd just come out of her hiding place when Inez, whom she hadn't met before, arrived. Still on edge from the ironing board episode, she hid under the sofa for the rest of the day, only emerging again by tea time. She remained nervy and apprehensive all through the evening and into Saturday and is still wary of the ironing board to this day.

Then, while Inez and I were selecting garments, pricing them and putting them on hangers, disaster struck again. As Jos was putting the rail together, one of the screws connecting the rail to one of the wheel frames got stuck and then broke off. There was nothing for it but to drill a new hole in the frame, which, although it made the rail a tiny bit wonky, turned out to be just fine in the end.

On the rail is our initial selection, with the rest of the clothes priced and put into boxes until space on the rail would become available on the day itself.

All that was left to do now was hoping the weather would at least be dry, so that our work wouldn't have been for nothing. Obviously, all will be revealed in a future post!

I'll be back with another episode of the travelogue next time. But before I go, here's what I've been reading lately. 

I'd just started Asta's Book by Barbare Vine - who is actually British crime writer Ruth Rendell - a couple of days before we went to Shropshire. It took me a while to finish it, as I kept dropping off on the sofa in the cowshed. Nevertheless, I loved it enough to have added another one of her books to my TBR pile. 

James Runcie's Canvey Island - which I'd bought during a previous Shropshire holiday - was started at the cowshed and finished at home, and didn't disappoint either. I'm still reading the 670-page Lucinda Riley novel I charity shopped while on holiday, so the jury's still out on that one.

Have you read any of these and what is your current read?