How does your garden grow?

March has been marching along relentlessly and here we are, on the cusp of its final week. I've got next week off which means that, hurray, I'm actually on holiday now, and in just a matter of days, we'll be off for a short but well-needed break.

Not that my blog has made it this far, obviously, so I'm picking up where I left off, which was at the end of the month's first week.

As if to make up for lost time, the sun has been regaling us with her presence for a while now and it has been a joy to leave the house in the morning and come home again in the daylight. Making outfit photos after work, however, still hasn't been happening. Work continues to be hectic and chaotic, leaving me with little or no energy to spare, so for now, it's still weekend outfits and escapades only.

There wasn't much to show and tell that week anyway, although I did make it to Think Twice and may even have made a purchase. But more about that later! Oh, and plans are afoot for a blogger meet-up in June as - fingers and everything else firmly crossed - it looks like we might finally make it to the UK this year. 

But let's not be too hasty and stick to the matter at hand, which is Friday the 11th of March. 

It was a joy to wake up to another sunny day, yet again with a frosty start but with forecasted highs of 16°C. 

After our customary fruit & yoghurt breakfast, I washed my hair and then I stood myself in front of my wardrobe for the pleasurable pastime of choosing the day's outfit.  Among the dresses airing in the spare room was this plaid Diolen dress I'd recently wore to work, so I decided to give it another outing before chucking in into the laundry basket. An ancient Think Twice find, it originally came with a lining which had seen better days and as it had further deteriorated over the years, I'd recently removed it completely.

I took my lead from the red stripe in the plaid, adding a red vinyl belt and my red tie-neck cardi, taming its tie with the pansy patterned scarf ring I charity shopped the other week. Green was the colour of choice for my jewellery, which consisted of a butterfly brooch, beaded necklace and perspex ring.

My legs were clad in a pair of moss green opaques and my feet were happy in my low-healed fiery red boots, which were a flea market find back in November 2018.

It shouldn't come as a surprise that we were off on our weekly trip to the charity shops, but first let me tell you about my visit to Think Twice earlier that week. 

I spotted this groovily patterned long-sleeved dress with its cowl neck, pleated skirt and self-fabric belt on Wednesday, but after some umming and ahing I decided to leave it behind, telling myself I'd go back for it the next day in case of regret. Imagine my delight when on Thursday morning I scrolled through my Instagram and saw a Think Twice post announcing the start of another one of their sales that very day. Needless to say, I went back during lunch break and snaffled the dress at 30% off!

Arriving at the first of our chosen shops on Friday, we were initially put off by the fact that whole sections of the shop seemed to be cordoned off. Then it dawned on us that on Saturday that infamous yearly charity shop event they call Retro Day would be upon us and that the overpriced vintage and retro stuff behind the barrier was out of bounds until then. Not that we cared, as we weren't going anyway.

After fruitlessly trawling the clothing aisles, I was about to join Jos who was having a coffee at the cafeteria, when my eye spied a pair of delicious red clog shoes in my size. They are by the French Bosabo brand and one of them still had its original € 115 price sticker inside. I paid a mere € 4,50.

However, I absolutely hated its original laces, which I replaced with leather ones in exactly the same shade of red, belonging to a pair of shoes I never wore.

Before taking them to the till, I had a look at the nearby jewellery display, finding three more necklaces for my collection. 

Same Retro Day scenario at the second shop and at first sight the clothing aisles were uninspiring. But then I spotted the funky bell-sleeved blouse by JBC - a Belgian high street label - and the skirt in quick succession. Having a gut feeling, I totally ignored the skirt's size which normally wouldn't fit my generous hips, and took it to the changing rooms. And hey presto: instant outfit. Doesn't it look fab with my red boots?

And look, Sheila: it's by Essentiel Antwerp!

Back at home, the afternoon was spent catching up on some long-overdue chores. I dusted the upstairs rooms, swept the staircase, cleaned the banister and re-glued a piece of torn wallpaper in the stairwell.

No prices for guessing who was responsible for the latter!

In spite of the sunny weather, I was in a bit of a black mood on Saturday, which wasn't in any way helped by the fact that the outfit I'd originally earmarked wasn't working at all.

When I finally got dressed, we booked our yearly sojourn in Belgium's west country in September, and then decided to drive down to the garden centre after lunch. 

I based my outfit around the burnt orange faux suede skirt I bought in the January sales and added a vintage Tweed jacket I hadn't worn in ages and which is part of a skirt suit.

We wanted to check out a fairly new garden centre we'd passed a couple of times on our way to the charity shop in Mechelen. I think it's fair to say that it was a bit of a disappointment, but we still picked up a pot of budding Bridal Crown daffs, a couple of Primulas and a pot of red double daisies (Bellis perennis) with an unusual shaggy haircut.

Then we made a U-turn and drove to our usual garden centre, which is spacious and has lots of choice. Walking among the tables of plants on offer always makes me feel better. Obviously we made a couple of purchases here as well, including some Ranunculus, Anemones, Muscari and the ubiquitous Tête-à-Tête daffs.

 

I couldn't wait to get stuck into the garden, starting with the window box in front of the dining room window. The eagle-eyed among you may even spot some cockle shells!

Bess was supervising my efforts from her perch on top of her scratching post. She was soon bored, though, and took a catnap, leaving the supervising to her stone counterpart who lives on the corner étagère!

I'd managed to contain myself and refrained from enthusiastically loading our trolley with all kinds of perennials. Nevertheless, I couldn't resist bringing home a pot of Fritillaries which I planted next to the only one which had deemed to grow from the bulbs I planted in the Autumn of 2020, just to keep it company.

All these pots of colour provide some welcome cheer when looking out of our kitchen windows!

I continued my gardening chores on Sunday by clearing up some more of last year's perennials, marvelling at the fact that there's so much new growth already. Dove Cottage's garden is very sheltered and we haven't had much of a Winter.

Clockwise from top left, there's our Oriental Poppy, Dicentra formosa a.k.a. Pacific Bleeding Heart, Delphinium and a host of Alliums watched over by our garden angel.

I'm leaving you now with closer look at Saturday's outfit.

The blouse I was wearing is King Louie, picked up in a charity shop in Poperinge during last September's holiday. Pinned to it was one of my Cameo brooches which, same as my pendant, was a a flea market find.

The charity shops provided my turquoise King Louie cardigan and burnt orange beret. Both my opaques, in a slightly darker colour than my skirt, and my moc croc ankle boots were retail buys.

I might try to squeeze in another post before our little trip in order not to get even further behind but if not, I'll see you on the other side!

Bubbling up

If working only a two-day week might have given me oodles of time, one thing that hasn't changed is that I'm still lagging behind with my blogging time-line. As a rule, I'm writing about what I did and wore a week or more ago, but where in pre-Corona times my posts were firmly centred around my weekends, almost inevitably including my charity shop and flea market finds, my musings now cover weekdays as well. In my life as it is now, there is little or no distinction between weekdays and weekends anyway.

My none-office days are usually well filled, and I have yet to come across a boring moment. All the same, at the end of a day I'm often left wondering where the time went and what I've actually done with it.

Take Friday before last, for instance. My photographic record tells me what I've been wearing and, as it was a Friday, it must have included a visit to the garden centre. The rest is a bit of a blank as once again I forgot to make a journal entry.

With no further rain clouds on the horizon, and the weather's cruise control set to default sunshine, I dug this green embroidered peasant-blouse from my drawer of Summer tops. With its short, scalloped trumpet sleeves, it is an absolute joy to wear. A sales bargain from New Look about two years ago, this certainly isn't its debut on the blog, as it has proved to be surprisingly versatile. Here's how I wore it in August 2018 and again later that month.  It also came on holiday with me in June 2019, when I wore it to visit Powys Castle.

The skirt I decided would be its companion this time around was a cotton retro print circle skirt I'd found in a charity shop back in December. The black and white necklace was charity shopped as well, while the multi-coloured bracelet was a flea market find.

The stretchy belt, with its funky triangular pattern and mock tortoiseshell buckle, on the other hand, is brand new. It's one of two belts I picked up from an accessories shop in Antwerp during a rare lunch break outing the other week. 

Let's have a closer look at hat skirt, which is something of an oddity.  In spite of the fact that a label has been sewn in, I am sure that the skirt is handmade and that the label is a personalized one. It's got a visible red side zipper and features random felt circles and visible stitching on the front left side only. An unfinished project, perhaps? Whatever the case, it's quirky and I love it. On the off-chance that whoever created this skirt ever reads my blog, I'd love to hear its story! 

Our shopping list for the garden centre that day included a bag of compost as well as some plants to replace the unfortunate Tagetes which the slugs and snails in our garden had stripped down to some sorry looking stalks and one or two droopy half-eaten flowers.

Being a self-confessed plant-o-holic, we bought more than we'd bargained for, but we did get some Pot Marigolds (Calendula) and trailing Wax Begonias, which research ensured me weren't on the slimy creatures' menu.

There were some perennials to add to the new border as well, and I couldn't resist a shorter stemmed variety of Agapanthus, some Ox-eye Daisies and a pot of pink Snapdragons.

I'm pleased to note that the other Snapdragons which are dotted all over the garden have started blooming again after I'd cut them back a couple of weeks ago.

Back at home, I removed the remains of the Tagetes and put them into the compost bin, planting the Calendula in the space they'd vacated in the border. The trailing Begonia replaced the single Tagete which I'd been foolish enough to put in a planter teamed with Echinacea and purple and cream striped Petunias. A week later, and there's still no sign of any slug or snail damage. However, as if to spite us, the gastropods - as apparently they're officially called - have now moved on to the Petunias. Oh dear! 

On Saturday, I took advantage of the morning's cooler temperature to add the perennials we'd bought to the new border, noting that the lavender flowered Clematis had opened its first blooms.

As we expected our first visitors since before our semi-lockdown, I then changed into something celebratory for the afternoon, opting to wear one of my maxis.

I promised Vix first dibs on it in case I should I ever get tired of it, but somehow I don't think that will ever happen.  It's a 1970s Indian cotton Ritu Kumar for Roshafi dress with a quilted bodice and the most massive sleeves and was a lucky find in a charity shop back in November 2018.

My accessories of choice were a multi-coloured wooden beaded necklace, which was another charity shop find. The lilac suede shoes were an old retail buy from C&A, while the pink owl brooch is modern and came from a delightful little shop in Antwerp.

Now that we are allowed to extend our bubbles, it was about time that we met up with our friends Inneke and Maurice. 

We kept our distance as much as possible (in Belgium, this has always been 1,5 meters rather than the 2 meters which seems to be the rule elsewhere), and obviously we didn't hug or shake hands, but Inneke and I couldn't resist having this happy photo taken while sitting on our garden bench surrounded by a riot of flowers.

The eagle-eyed might have noticed that both Inneke and I are wearing the same brooch. She loves owls - she even has a face mask with an owl print - and she'd admired my brooch when she spotted me wearing it on Instagram a couple of weeks back. With her birthday coming up, I walked to the shop where I'd bought it one day during lunch break, crossing my fingers that they would still be stocking these.

I had to queue outside for a while as only two people were allowed into the shop at once, but it was definitely worth the wait, as I managed to snag the last of the owl brooches!

Inneke came bearing a gift for me as well: a gorgeous scarf clip tucked away inside a crocheted lidded box.

A lovely afternoon was had by all, involving coffee and cake and the mother of all catch ups!

As is often the case, I was feeling a bit morose on Sunday, but I've learned to my advantage that once I start tackling a job on my to-do list, I soon start feeling better.

With a heatwave forecasted for the week ahead, I wanted to be prepared and have a choice of lightweight cotton clothes at my disposal.  As most of them were still residing inside a suitcase from which they emerged all crumpled and creased, there was nothing for it but to have a good old ironing session.

Meanwhile, Jos had picked all the ruby red gooseberries, a whole colander full of them, from which he proceeded to make no less than five pots of jam!

I'm leaving you for now with the outfit I wore that day. 

Again, the odd one out was the raffia stretch belt with its round multicoloured buckle, which was the only retail purchase in my outfit. The denim button through skirt and floral cotton/polyester mix shirt were from Think Twice, while the bracelets and the brooch were charity shop and flea market finds respectively. The Clarks slingbacks came from a charity shop in Bridgnorth which we visited in June 2019 and, finally, the yellow beaded necklace was another gift from Inneke.

And then another four-day weekend was over, having passed almost as fast as a two-day one.

With another week in my so-called "new normal" coming up, all that's left is for me to bid you goodbye for now. Please do stay safe and positive, my friends!