Back to July

We've been back from our yearly September sojourn in Belgium's west country for nearly two weeks now and I can't wait to tell you all about it.  That said, I had to go back to work straight away so I haven't even had the time to upload my photos yet. Also, I am way, way behind with blogging: no matter how hard I try, it seems nigh on impossible to get back into my old blogging rhythm. So, before I'm setting myself the pleasurable task of reliving our final holiday of the year, I need to take you back to last Summer, and more specifically the month of July.

We didn't go on any outings, so it will be mainly outfits you'll get to see here. Plus a garden update as lots of things have been happening since all signs of life had been completely obliterated from the main part of our garden in early June.

July's first week brought a temporary relief from June's heatwave temperatures, but by the time the weekend rolled along we were back into the high twenties.

On Saturday the 4th, this butterfly-sleeved dress came out to play. It's vintage C&A and I'd picked it up in the Think Twice sales for € 5 back in June.

Sunday's chocolate brown polka-dot maxi skirt came from C&A as well, but rather than vintage or even second-hand, I'd bought it brand new during one of my lunch breaks a couple of months ago. It's currently having a head-to-head race with my fuchsia tiered maxi skirt for most worn Summer skirt. It will even make a second appearance in this post!

Its companion that day was a blue King Louie blouse patterned with white dots and orange flowers, a charity shop find in September 2024. My belt, necklace and ring were all charity shopped too.

Speaking of King Louie, I found the blouse I was wearing on Wednesday the 8th of July at Think Twice earlier that week. And yes, it was yet another sales bargain. For those not in the know, the shops are having a round of sales about every 4-5 weeks, starting with 30% off and ending with all items going for the silly price of € 1. It's both a blessing and a bane to have all 5 of their Antwerp shops within walking distance from my office!

I instantly knew the blouse would go a treat with this midi skirt I purchased from the outlet shop for the Belgian Green Ice label in the small shopping centre near my place of work. 

My green stretchy belt with its bamboo buckle was a cheeky high street buy a couple of years ago and has more than earned its keep in my wardrobe by now.

We caught Bess staring intently out of the kitchen window on the morning of Thursday, the 9th of July, her whiskers twitching excitedly as she followed the shenanigans of this cheeky little creature. It patiently waited until I'd grabbed my camera, then posed willingly, looking straight at the lens with what looked like a big smile on its face. 

 

Another wardrobe stalwart is the groovilicious vintage dress I wore to deal with that day's temperature, which had once again reached 30°C.

I paid € 4 for it at Think Twice back in June 2017 and when I walked into the shop wearing it a couple of days later I was stopped by a lady who told me she'd been dithering over the dress but didn't buy it as she didn't have a clue how to style it! 

Surely that's easy-peasy! As usual, I echoed both colours of the flowers with a pink raffia brooch, pink plastic ring and orange necklace and belt.

I'm skipping Friday, as no outfit photos were taken that day, to arrive on Saturday the 11th of July.

With the weather gods still having no mercy on us, I opted for a skirt and blouse combo in cotton and viscose.

The navy, flower sprinkled skirt was another vintage C&A treasure from Think Twice, while the blouse, with its mid-century style pattern - you can see a close-up here - was a charity shop find.

Meanwhile, our garden was definitely coming into its own, both with the new additions I planted to kickstart its resurrection and those of the old stalwarts which had survived the ordeal.

The Rudbeckia (top right and bottom left) was one of our new buys. It is still going strong to this day despite having spent the entire Summer in a planter. Together with Helenium 'Moerheim Beauty' (top left and bottom right) it has provided sunshine on even the cloudiest of days. Not that there were that many ot those, I hasten to add. 

In spite of the heat of the day, it had been a productive one as, apart from ticking off a list of chores, we'd booked our passage on LeShuttle in the morning and drove to the garden centre for more treasures for our garden in the afternoon.

The next week saw a continuation of the latest heatwave, the mercury consistently climbing into the low thirties.

I was trying to give the garden a run for its money on Tuesday the 14th of July, when I wore this floral extravaganza of a maxi skirt - another sales bargain from C&A which has been gracing my wardrobe since May 2022 - combined with a charity shopped fiery orange cotton blouse from the upmarket Belgian Gigue label. It wasn't the first time they were worn together and I'm sure it won't be the last!

Two days later it was the turn of another beloved vintage favourite: a 1950s cotton Summer dress.

Plucked from the Think Twice rails back in June 2019, it has been a Summer staple ever since. For many years, I thought its background colour was black, but it's actually a very dark navy blue!

By Friday, it had thankfully cooled down to a much more bearable 25°C.

Being a non-office day, I had time to play dress-up, rather than hastily assemble an outfit or wear one I've prepared in advance. That day, the giraffe print skirt I charity shopped in June 2025 caught my eye. I've got a bit of a thing for chocolate brown lately and it does go surprisingly well with lots of items in my wardrobe. The top that made the grade that day is by King Louie and was a charity shop find back in May 2022. My belt, necklace and tomato-red sandals were all high street finds.

It was a lovely surprise to see the splash of fiery orange supplied by Crocosmia 'Carmine Brilliant' (above, top right), which we planted back in the Summer of 2020 and which we thought had gone for good.

Having joined our garden one year later, Clematis 'Guernsey Cream', with its big saucer-like flowers (below, top left), decided to join the party too, even if it only produced the one flower. 

 

Phlox 'Sweet Summer Wine' (above, bottom left and right) is another one we planted back in 2021. After having done a disappearing act in the last couple of years, it clearly felt the time was right for a comeback. It's currently a mass of vibrant magenta flowers!

Finally, it looks like the next generation of foxgloves is ready for next year (above, top right).

The mercury didn't climb higher than 20°C on Sunday, when I joined my friend Inez for drinks and a long overdue catch-up at our usual haunt in the village.

My swishy pleated green and white zig-zaggy maxi skirt was charity shopped last Summer. It's an absolute delight to wear although I do have to refrain from wearing it to work as it tends to get eaten by the wheels of my office chair! I paired it with a flowery vintage blouse and pink and green accessories.

No outfit photos were taken during the following week until Friday the 24th, when I had to go into the office for a couple of hours as my colleague was on holiday.

My chocolate brown polka-dot maxi skirt from C&A made another appearance, this time combined with a multi-coloured zig-zag patterned t-shirt which caught my eye in a charity shop in the Summer of 2024. I was wearing the same dusky pink belt I wore with Sunday's outfit, and a necklace bought from Accessorize back the mists of time.

We woke up to a grey and gloomy day on Sunday the 23rd, with a couple of short-lived but very welcome showers on the menu during the day.

I fell head over heels for the skirt, which I snapped up at the silly price of € 5 from Think Twice back in June. For its first outing, I wore it with a nautical style knitted top from the Belgian Who's That Girl label, bought brand new from their shop about a decade ago. My accessories, as usual, were a mix of new and new-to-me. 

Slowly but surely, the Boston Ivy - cut back completely on that fateful June day - is starting to clothe our boring old concrete shed again. 

Don't worry, we're no longer using these watering cans as their bottoms have rusted through. As they're purely for decoration purposes now, we don't mind them getting marooned by the Boston Ivy. The black thing in the middle of the table is a solar lantern, its filigreed sides throwing magical shadow after dark.

In true yo-yo fashion, temperatures were on the rise again by Wednesday when they day's highs of 29°C demanded I wear another one of my heatwave-proof frocks. This cotton Grace & Mila maxi - yet another charity shop find - provides additional ventilation with its floaty butterfly sleeves!

This post's final outfit was worn on Friday the 31st of July. My floral cotton dress in delicious shades of blue and green was a Think Twice find in May 2021 and for some incomprehensible reason I hadn't worn it in years. It's good thing I hadn't thrown it out after a year of being unworn as advised by the fashion police! It's not going anywhere any time soon!

I've got a final garden update for you as well. I'm sure it won't come as a complete surprise that our tiny garden pond had suffered from the ongoing neglect. A couple of weeks earlier I'd made the effort to empty its contents - a compact and very stubborn mass of dried mud - and filled it again with fresh well water. As a joke, I added two yellow plastic ducks, a gift from Jos's younger daughter when we moved into Dove Cottage back in 1999. They don't seem to like each other much, though :-)

But I simply cannot bid you goodbye without imparting some good news. Last week Jos had another CT-scan, the results of which we got on Thursday. I'm sure you can imagine what a relief it was to hear that everything is stable! He doesn't need any further treatment for the moment and is only due back at the hospital for his next scan in January!

Meanwhile, I hope to be back with the first installment of my west country travelogue shortly, and I solemnly promise to be visiting your lovely blogs soon!

June's journey

We’re currently counting down the days to our long-awaited UK holiday and I actually can't believe we will be there this time next week! As I’ve got to work until Wednesday and we’re leaving already on Thursday, I needed to plan ahead and do the majority of my packing this weekend. Always glad to have that out of the way!

But a promise is a promise so, before we leave, here’s a little update on what else has been happening lately. Catching up completely keeps being quite beyond me, so once again I’m taking you on a little trip in the old time machine, travelling back to the month of June. Be prepared to see lots of outfits, both worn before and after our stay at the cottage in Poperinge.

Monday, which was the first day of June, had a sunny start with highs of a delicious 23°C.

I was wearing the same skirt I wore for the previous day's walk in the park: a blue cotton midi skirt with a most groovilicious pattern. Its companion that Monday was a parrot-patterned top from the Belgian Sweet Soda label. Both were charity shop finds, as was the big green bird on a branch brooch.

My green stretchy belt with its bamboo buckle - a true wardrobe stalwart - was a high street buy a couple of years ago. 

For various reasons, no outfit photos were taken for the rest of that working week, which offered a string of days on which the sun kept playing hide and seek with the clouds and showers were rife.

Think Twice were having another one of their famous sales. With prices down to € 5 and then € 4 per item it would have been rude not to have a rummage!

Not one, but two butterfly-sleeved dresses found their way into my wardrobe, the one on the left being vintage C&A, while the one on the right is good old vintage Diolen.

I fell head over heels for the skirt, which has a rather posh-looking label reading Gerard Pasquier, Paris.

Googling it, this is what I found, neatly translated from the French:

Founded at the beginning of the last century, Gérard Pasquier was initially a leading French brand renowned for its elegant and sophisticated clothing. Embodying the Parisian chic that made it great and famous, Gérard Pasquier now embraces a more understated elegance in keeping with today’s fashion.

I'm not sure of its age, but isn't that pattern just fabulous?

Now, let's fast forward to Friday the 5th of June. The weather gods were clearly having an argument about whether to send sunshine, clouds or rain our way, resulting in a mix of all three, with highs of only 18°C.

My denim button-through skirt was bought on the high street about a year ago, while my colourful dagger-collared coffee-themed blouse is vintage 1970s and was a charity shop find.

Accessories:

- Lilac vinyl belt and orange wooden beads: charity shopped

- Orange cat brooch: Katshop

- Orange plastic ring: Le Petit Souk, a quirky shop which sadly closed its Antwerp branch earlier this year

- Lilac watch: high street bargain shop

I’ve got some garden news for you as well. For quite a while now, I’ve been referring to Dove Cottage’s little patch as the impenetrable jungle or wilderness, which definitely wasn’t an exaggeration.  A true sanctuary back in the days of Covid, neglect had slowly but surely started creeping in during the Summer of 2022, when our neighbour’s kitchen extension threw more than just one spanner in the works.

Bags of compost mixed with rubble were still cluttering the back of our garden, and ivy and other climbers had been left to their own devices, which they gleefully made use of by smothering our tiny patch with their rampant growth. I now regret not having taken any before photos, but at one point we couldn't even see the back of our garden from the kitchen window ...

 

At Jos's local, he'd made the acquaintance of a guy who cleaned up gardens in his free time and who agreed to come and do ours. So, on Wednesday the 3rd of June, he and a mate arrived with some heavy machinery and, taking their job description a bit too literally, completely obliterated all signs of life from the main part of our garden. I actually cried when I saw the concrete desert they'd left behind when I came home from work! Thankfully, they'd left the narrow border on the right, home to our white currant bush, Fuchsia magellanica and magnificent Acanthus mollis aka Bear's Breeches, virtually untouched.

That weekend saw us driving down to the garden centre and spend a small fortune on plants. Just positioning them around the garden still in their pots made all the difference, although without any climbers, ferns and the low Cotoneaster shrubs lining the steps to the sunken part of the garden, it was still looking more than just a little bit desolate.

The weather was another mixed bag of sunshine and dull grey clouds on Monday the 8th of June, but at least the mercury deemed to climb into the low twenties.

My outfit was a mixed bag as well, the green and navy Breton top, ankle boots and enamelled butterfly brooch all being second-hand finds, while the floral skirt, necklace and belt were high street buys. As they've all earned their keep in my wardrobe by now, I'm calling them fast fashion turned slow!

Monday's temperature had clearly been a one-off, as by Wednesday we were down to a miserly 17°C.

Mostly cloudy, with heavy showers and some thunder in the evening, it made me reach for warm layers, in the form of a vintage polyester knit skirt, a vintage long-sleeved blouse and short-sleeved but chunky knit Dralon cardigan. 

My belt with its flower-shaped buckle was another high street find, and I picked up the pale pink suede ankle boots in the closing-down sale of New Look's Antwerp shop back in February 2019.

The showers came thick and fast on Friday the 12th, although there was a brief spell of clear weather in the afternoon. Again, the temperature didn't rise above 17°C.

Following a morning of chores and shopping, we were invited by my friend Inneke for her 65th birthday drink at Bistro Jules in nearby Wilrijk. We went to school together but she's a couple of months ahead of me :-)

Both my faux-snake skirt (by posh label Caroline Biss) and funky patterned blouse came from the rails of the same charity shop, as did the orange wooden tile necklace. My brooch is vintage and was a flea market find. In fact, I think that the only item which was new rather than new-to-me is the belt!

Initially, Saturday's weather didn't look too promising either. A thick layer of grey greeted us as we got up, but it didn't take all that long for the clouds to disperse and present us with patches of blue sky which grew wider and more plentiful as the day progressed.

With temperatures of around 20°C, it was the perfect weather to plant up all these patiently waiting new acquisitions! 

In the meantime, one or two hesitant fern fronts had been brave enough to rise from the dead. 

Planting done, this is what I changed into to sit outside and admire the fruits of my hard work.

My denim maxi dress was a gift from Vix and Jon back in June 2023. I added a multi-coloured pleated leather belt at my waist, wore a string of plastic orange beads - both charity shopped - and pinned a funky lady's head brooch - a cheeky retail buy - to the dress's bodice. 

On Monday the 15th, there was no sign of the heatwave forecasted to start later that week. Both the sun and the day's highs of 21°C must have overslept and took their time to arrive.

My wide floral cotton button-through skirt winged its way from Think Twice into my wardrobe about two years ago. I acquired the short-sleeved thin knit jumper, in an eye-searing pink, around the same time. Together with its green sister, I bought it in the sales from the Sweet Soda - a Belgian label - shop near my office. Another one which has since closed its doors ...

Accessories and shoes were all charity shopped.

Tuesday was the day that Jos had his fall and hurt his knee, jeopardizing our upcoming holiday in Poperinge end of that week in the process. After an evening at A&E, where thankfully it was ascertained that he'd sustained no fractures, we were sent home with nothing more than the advice to take some paracetamol and do some gentle exercises. Needless to say, stress levels were high and neither of us slept well that night. 

But we did make it in the end, even if it was a holiday with a hurdle ...

One last picture of our garden before we go. I'd picked up some solar lights during one lunch break the other week, which we'd dotted around the garden. We've added more in the meantime, but this is how it looked on Saturday the 20th of June.

I'm happy to report that the vast majority of our new plantings had survived the heatwave of our week away virtually unscathed, although our pots and hanging baskets were gasping for a good soaking.

Our bedroom was akin to a sauna but after briefly considering sleeping on the sofa downstairs, I decided to brave the +30°C for the comfort of my bed. Jos was so lucky to be able to sleep in his hospital bed downstairs!

The mercury was still flirting with 30°C on Sunday, which was a vast improvement to the +38°C we'd arrived home to on Friday.

This is what I wore for grandson Cas's birthday party on Sunday afternoon:

- Waxed cotton wrap skirt: Think Twice

- River Woods t-shirt, necklace: charity shopped

- Birds in flight brooch: bought in Cardigan during one of our Welsh holiday

Monday the 29th was the last day of my holiday. The temperature had dropped to a much more bearable - but still much too warm for me - 28°C.

I was wearing the Missoni-esque skirt which was part of my holiday wardrobe but which I hadn't worn.

Both the skirt and the King Louie blouse were charity shopped, as were the bangles and necklace. The pleated yellow belt was a flea market find. 

We sat out in the garden for most of the afternoon and were delighted to see the butterflies and bees return to our little slice of paradise. In spite of being spoiled for choice, they seemed to have taken a particular liking to the Echinacea. 

There's a close-up of that old garden stalwart, the Bear's Breeches, on the top left, with the only flower produced by our new Clematis piilu below. Top centre are the pale lavender flowers of Verbena rigida Sky Blue. On the bottom right, my favourite, Helenium Moerheim Beauty. 

So, that was it. See you when we're back from the UK!

Holiday with a hurdle

It's been exactly a month to the day that we exchanged Dove Cottage for our home away from home in Poperinge on Sunday the 21st of June.

However, as my blog title suggests, it was definitely a holiday with a hurdle. In fact, what with Jos's fall earlier that week, it was nothing short of a miracle that we even made it to the cottage which first captured our hearts back in 2012.

As a result of some gentle exercise and the benefits of the cortisone-like tablets he'd been prescribed, Jos's knee had healed sufficiently by Sunday, so that he was able to drive without any pain and walk short distances with the aid of his walking stick.

He was even able to climb and descend the eleven stairs leading up to the studio apartment above owner Marino's carport, albeit slowly, taking it one step at a time.

A hurdle in quite a different form would be the impending heatwave. With the temperature expected to steadily climb into the 30s, this would rather limit our options.

After our luggage was lugged upstairs by yours truly, we made ourselves at home and sat downstairs in the shade with a cool drink and a view of the flat-as-a-pancake landscape beyond the domain's duckweed covered pond.

Serenaded by a chorus of frogs, we'd slept like the proverbial logs, waking up still sleepy-headed around 8-ish on Monday morning. 

A glimpse through the cottage's French windows made me grab for my camera to catch the landscape beyond the pond veiled in a thick layer of fog. In front of the pond, three of the domain's four lawnmowers were already hard at work. Once the midday sun made it too hot for any living creature to bear, they retreated to their den under the trees and wouldn't be seen or heard of until she'd made her slow descend towards the horizon.

Not having made any plans whatsoever, we decided to take the short drive to the nearest of the Commonwealth cemeteries to our cottage. 

Only 5 minutes up the road, we would actually have been able to catch sight of Nine Elms British Cemetery from our cottage's balcony if that weeping willow wouldn't have blocked our view.

Entrance to the rectangularly shaped cemetery is through an archway with the Cross of Sacrifice visible in a central position at the far end. 

The cemetery contains 1556 Commonwealth burials of the First World War and 37 German war graves from this period. There are also 22 Second World War burials, all dating from the Allied retreat to Dunkirk in 1940.

The cemetery, which was begun in September 1917, was designed by Sir Reginald Blomfield.

Having walked the length of the cemetery, Jos was in need of a sit-down, offering the perfect opportunity to have a look at my outfit.

- Black and white diagonally striped max skirt: C&A Summer sales 2025

- King Louie t-shirt, necklace, belt and fake snake bag: charity shopped

- Butterfly brooch: AKotee (gift shop near my office)

- Hat: flea market

Leaving the cemetery, we continued to a small local supermarket to stock up on food and drink, after which we returned to the cottage for lunch.

The afternoon was spent having a lengthy siësta and reading. Note how my literature of choice matches my skirt!

On Tuesday morning, we were rudely awoken by a single thunderbolt followed by the pitter-pattering of rain against our windows. The rain lasted all the way through breakfast after which the mercury had dropped to a refreshing 21°C. 

Breakfast, by the way, consisted of softly boiled local eggs, obviously eaten with the obligatory soldiers!

With the last of the raindrops evaporated into thin air, it didn't take long for the temperature to reach 30°C (and beyond) again. 

Before it became too hot, though, we drove down to the one of the local woods for a walk.  The so-called Sixtusbossen (or Sixtus woods) are a 300 hectares complex of woods, which is cared for by Natuurpunt, the largest Belgian nature conservation organization.

There, I left Jos sitting on a shady bench while I went for walk based on the area's numbered walking map. 

Although signposted, I was a bit reluctant to take the overgrown path on the top right, which looked like it hadn't been walked on in ages. Still, I persevered, accompanied by the fierce barking of a dog who seemed to live behind the hedge on the right. I met the creature in question at the end of the path, where it turned out that the gate for the garden it was in stood widely open. Probably sensing my fear, it bared its teeth and continued its barking, which had turned quite menacing. I tried to remain cool headed and slowly proceeded along the tree-lined path on the bottom left, quite relieved that it didn't decide to follow me. Phew!

Back at the bench where Jos was waiting for me, I discovered that I'd lost my walking map somewhere along the way. Knowing the final numbers by heart, I hadn't made use of it for some time, so I had no idea where exactly it had made its escape. Nevertheless, I'm blaming the dog!

As the loss of the map would even further limit our options, we drove down to Poperinge in the afternoon to acquire a replacement from the tourist office in the town's buttery yellow neo-Gothic style town hall. 

Just look at that deep blue sky!

Before returning home, we stocked up on ice cream and cold drinks at the local supermarket.

Back at the cottage, we sought out that shady spot in front of the pond again, where we sat and sampled some refreshing alcohol free beers.

I was wearing the skirt I officially declared as my most worn this Summer in my previous post. It made no less than two appearance during our holiday.

- Skirt: Think Twice, March 2025

- Retro style naive flower print t-shirt: pre-blog high street sales bargain 

- Cat brooch: Katshop

- Spanish fan: charity shopped

That evening, we sat and watched the sun go down on our balcony before calling it a day and enjoying another night, its soundtrack once more provided by the resident frogs. 

 

With ever increasing temperatures of around 34°C forecasted for Wednesday, it was cool cottons to the rescue. 

I was wearing the tropical print tiered C&A skirt (a C&A Summer sales bargain in 2019) I'd worn to travel in on Sunday, its companion a green peasant style broderie anglaise blouse, picked up in the New Look sales several years ago. I was still in my slippers, which obviously I exchanged for sturdier footwear for the walk we'd planned that morning.

Armed with our new map, which we made sure not to leave out of our sights, we drove down to another wooded area, the Galgebossen, which lies about 8 kilometer to the Northeast of Poperinge.

Once arrived and parked, we left our car in the care of the local band of chickens, one of which seemed to have taken a shine to it.

We did a wonderful 6,5 kilometer walk here back in September 2022 but, although Jos declared himself ready to join me, we limited ourselves to a shorter version of just over 2 kilometer.

It was absolutely heavenly to walk on a succession of sun-dappled woodland paths, although the regular patches of sticky mud and puddles rather took us by surprise.

After a rest and refuelling at a little brick barn turned shelter with a view of a dew pond ringed by ancient pollarded willows, we embarked upon the return route.

Having guarded our car so diligently, we were ever so sorry that we'd come empty handed and were unable to reward the chicken with some tasty bites.

Thursday - and our last full day at the cottage - dawned all too soon.

Another scorcher with highs of 34°C, I was glad I'd packed my bag with lightweight heatwave proof clothes only. My fuchsia crinkly tiered skirt came out to play again, this time worn with a butterfly sleeved Zara blouse I'd charity shopped a couple of years ago. My string of multi-coloured beads was picked up from the charity shop here in Poperinge in September 2019.

With the temperature becoming more and more unbearable, we were at a bit of a loss what to do that day. That is, until Jos suggested another visit Talbot House in Poperinge.

It wouldn't be our first visit here. Our penultimate visit was back in September 2024, while I first introduced you to this wonderful place in September 2016.

Here's some potted history. 

Talbot House was opened in 1915 by British army chaplain Philip Clayton as a soldiers' club. During the Great War, Poperinge was part of unoccupied Belgium. Away from the turmoil of battle in the Ypres Salient, the town became the nerve centre of the British sector. Talbot House provided rest and recreation to all soldiers coming in, regardless of their rank.

It is still run by British wardens, aided by volunteers, and all visitors are offered a cup of tea or coffee, included in the ticket price. 

We got talking to that week's group of volunteers, who came from Bruges and whom we delighted with our knowledge of their home town. While I briefly explored upstairs, one of them accompanied Jos to an exhibition space in the garden where, courtesy of aircon, it was mercifully cool. He then came to look for me telling me where he'd left my husband.

We spent the afternoon lounging around the cottage once more and spent a very sweaty and uncomfortable final night before loading our car and driving back home in the morning.

With our UK holiday fastly approaching, I hope I'll find some time for another catch-up before we leave. If not, thank you for reading and see you on the other side!