What a difference a day makes

It’s been a strange kind of week. Last weekend, we all but got sunstroke when out walking, and the summer weather continued during the week, making me sweat in my polyester summer dresses while slaving away at work!

I found this sleeveless green dress at Think Twice last week, just in time to wear while the glorious weather lasted.

We bought some fiery red Pelargoniums to put into the lovely green enamelware planters we found at Blender Vintage Shop a couple of weeks ago. Aren’t they a cheerful sight against the crackly white paint of our ancient potting shed?

The warm weather has given a boost to our garden’s greenery, giving it its usual lush summer outlook. Several Geraniums have started blooming, including the unusual dark violet Geranium phaeum. The double Aquilegia ‘Nora Barlow’ is also making an appearance, although not in the place where we originally planted her. No, she decided to self-seed in the most awkward of places, right beside the door of our potting shed. The many ferns, which were already in place when we “inherited” our garden, are starting to unfurl their fronds and will soon turn our garden into a true jungle.

Summer ended on Friday night, though, when  temperature started dropping. On Saturday, we were back to about 10 degrees Celsius, making it quite a contrast with the high temperatures we had been getting used to. So, goodbye to summer clothes for now. 

One advantage is that I could finally wear my pink spring coat, as usually it is either too cold, too warm or too wet to wear it.

There's always got to be a silver lining, no?

I bought the coat on my first ever visit to Blender Vintage Shop and it is a true gem.

It is tailor-made in a lightweight candy pink fabric, lined in palest pink. It has a round collar and closes with four buttons, ending with a cute little bow below the bust.

Beneath the coat, I wore a short-sleeved dress in a turquoise, green, grey and white pattern, with a notched collar and fabric covered buttons. The label reads “Courtaulds Lirelle”. 

To combat the cold, I added a green cardigan to which I pinned a blackbirds brooch bought from the “Brooch Lady”.

Black court shoes, a cream vinyl handbag and a colourful Italian-made scarf completed my outfit.

Dress and scarf: Think Twice

Shoes, bag, belt and cardigan: charity shopped

Coat and beads: Blender Vintage Shop

Brooch: flea market

Apart from the green dress shown at the start of this post, I did manage to find a few other nice things on the clothes front:

Skirt from Vintage Styling combined with short sleeved jumper found while charity shopping on Saturday.

Short-sleeved stripy blouse, also from Vintage Styling, in the second photo worn with turquoise blazer from the charity shop.

Finally, these cute red and white beads from Vintage Styling.

But that's not all! We had an extended weekend here in Belgium, and there was a huge flea market on Sunday, so there is more to come. Watch this space, as they say!

Did you do anything nice this weekend?

My Corona

When you have been living with an object for many years, it tends to become invisible, even if it’s a much cherished one. It often takes a visitor, new to your house, singing the praises of said object, to make you look at it with fresh eyes and to once again appreciate its beauty.

This Corona typewriter has been living with us for about 15 years after it had been languishing unloved at my sister’s house. It’s a family heirloom, as it used to be my paternal grandfather’s.

Somehow, I don't think this summery Vinetta dress, which was one of the first vintage dresses I ever bought, would have been considered the right attire for a secretary.

Louis in the army, 1929-30

Louis, my grandfather, was born in 1909 into a large and relatively poor farming family.

My grandparents with my dad, 1934-35

After meeting and subsequently marrying my grandmother in 1931, they moved to a village near the city of Antwerp, where my grandfather found employment at a large and well-known factory. He was the only one in his family to move out of the rural area his ancestors had lived in for many generations, and was therefore considered by them to be quite the “townie”.

Like many of his generation, my grandfather grew vegetables in his back garden. Later, he was able to get an allotment, eventually becoming chairman, ruling his flock of allotment keepers with iron hand, and writing many a letter to the authorities on their behalf.

In my mind’s eye I can see him sitting at his drop-leaf desk in the corner of the cramped little dining room of my grandparent’s house, furiously typing away at the Corona and venting his frustration with the ways of the world.

As I’m used to touch typing, I would only be able to type gibberish on this machine, as its keyboard is neither AZERTY (as used mainly in France and Belgium nowadays) nor QWERTY. In fact, the top row of keys forms the tongue twisting AEUZFM.

A quick search on the Internet reveals that, although it is marked as No. 6 (for which I have not been able to find any info), it is very similar to the No. 3, which came on the market in 1912 and remained in production for nearly 30 years.

My guess is that my Corona dates from the late 1920s or early 1930s.

I could only find it with a QWERTY keyboard though. Further googling unearthed that mine has a so-called Belgian keyboard, invented by a 17-year old boy in the late 19^th Century, with the vowels on the left and the consonants on the right.

Apparently, the Belgian keyboard was available for 50 years alongside the standard French AZERTY arrangement - although not as popular - and was discontinued just before the Second World War.

A unique feature in the typewriter’s design is its ability to "fold" in order to fit into a case. The carriage is hinged and folds over the keyboard, making it more compact for storage. The machine was so practical that it was chosen by the British Army in the First World War.

On another note, it is said that Hemingway once declared that the Corona No. 3 was the only psychiatrist he would ever submit to!

Our Corona has a label of the shop in Antwerp where it was bought. The street, St. Kathelijnevest, has been Antwerp’s typewriter mecca for many decades, and it is actually the very street where my office is located!

My grandparents with my mum and dad in the mid 1950s

I wonder what my grandfather, who died in 1994, would have said if he knew his Corona was still around and being cherished by his granddaughter in 2016?

And that she's blogging about it too, which would have been a mind-boggling concept for him. 

But then again, he might have taken to it as a duck to water and be a blogger himself, having kept a diary when he was a soldier in the Second World War ...

Throw those curtains wide

We definitely topped up our Vitamin D levels last weekend, making the most of the summery weather by doing outdoorsy things both on Saturday and on Sunday.

On Saturday, we packed a picnic and drove the 20 kilometer or so to our first outdoor flea market of the year.

I wore a coral dress in Diolen fabric, bought at the soon to be defunct Vintage Styling in last summer’s sales. The dress has a pattern of leaves and some kind of strange fruit in blue and green. It did not come with a belt, so I added a blue belt with fabric covered buckle from another dress, and accessorized it with a string of blue beads bought at Belgian haberdashery and accessories chain Veritas. Much as I love those beads – I have them in many colours – the strings break on me one after the other, scattering beads everywhere, and at the most inconvenient of times. Sure enough, this one gave up the ghost only minutes after this photo was taken. I’m sure Phoebe will keep finding loose beads for days to come.

That said, it’s back to Saturday’s flea market. Knowing from experience that it is hard to find a nearby parking spot, we parked our car just under a kilometer from the flea market’s entrance, just to be on the safe side.

Upon entering the flea market, we were a little disappointed to see that there were fewer stalls than usual. We attribute this to the fact that it was now a two-day event instead of just the one, and we suspect that Sunday would have been busier.

I started out well by taking some photos, but was soon distracted by browsing the stalls, so you will have to make do with just a few photos. I really need to be a better blogger in that respect …

It took us a while to make our first purchase: this lot of three brooches, which were going really cheaply. How could I leave behind the cute twosome of cats and the leaping deer?

Next up were these new-to-me shoes, which will be perfect for work and play alike. I didn’t have a nice pair of navy shoes yet and they’re comfortable too (and believe me: I haven't got the easiest of feet!). I already wore them to work and no blisters: a true miracle!

In the next field, we stumbled upon this wooden mirror and comb rack, adorned with art nouveau style decorations in a tarnished metal, which we thought was brass but now aren’t too sure anymore. Although I tried to clean them up with some Brasso, the built-up tarnish did not come off completely, but it is fine like that. Jos put some brown shoe polish on the edges where the top layer of wood had come off and now it’s already hanging up in our hallway. You can see it on my left in the outfit photo at the start of this post. 

After this, it was time for our picnic. We forgot to take cups and had to drink coffee straight from our thermos flask.

Saturday’s last find was not one but two gorgeous tapestry covered handbags, which made me a very happy bunny indeed!

Now, which one shall I use first?















On Sunday, the weather was even warmer so we decided on another nature walk. Again, I wore a Diolen dress. The label says Françoise de France, so I’ve got an inkling it’s French. I really couldn't resist its cheery print, although it is a little worse for wear, with lots of pilling going on. This makes it a perfect dress to wear when out walking, though.

We started our walk in the pretty village of Klein Willebroek, picturesquely situated along the banks of the river Rupel and at both sides of a wide canal complete with locks. There's a chapel built in 1842, dedicated to the Protection of Shippers and Seamen.

From the village, there is easy access to not one but two nature reserves comprising ponds, lakes and marshy areas, where birds of all plumage rule. .

All in all, a very satisfactory weekend. Bring on the next one, I'd say. It's going to be an extended one here in Belgium, but unfortunately the weather forecast is not good.

Here's to hoping they got it wrong again!

These boots were made for walking

... and that's exactly what they did on Thursday!

Thursday was Ascension Day, which is a holiday here in Belgium. The forecast was for warm and sunny weather, so we decided to make the most of it and go for a nature walk. We are really out of practice, though.  We used to walk fairly regularly, but this year, a combination of wet weather and being otherwise engaged has prevented us from doing much walking. In six weeks’ time, however, we will be holidaying in Pembrokeshire, and as usual we have quite a few walks planned, so it is high time we step up and get into shape.

These boots are NOT made for walking!

How to dress for a nature walk is always a dilemma, as I want to avoid wearing jeans (or any other pair of trousers for that matter), as much as possible.  Wearing a dress or skirt is not a problem, but the combination with adequate footwear is.  I have a perfectly comfortable pair of hiking boots, and although they are not the most elegant of footwear, they are made for walking, aren't they?

It was warm enough to wear a lightweight, short-sleeved cardigan from Blender Vintage Shop (which was soon discarded) and my charity shopped denim jacket. The weatherproof bag, from Dutch brand Kitsch Kitchen, was found at a flea market last year.

My sunglasses are subscription ones, which I had fitted into charity shopped frames.

The frames cost me just € 0.50 (yes, really!) and are from a quality brand called Rodenstock.

For our walk, we chose “Het Broek” in Blaasveld, which is a nature reserve about 20 km from where we are. The word “Broek” means a marshy area, and indeed there’s lots of water in this attractive reserve comprising 675 hectares, which is rich in fauna and flora.

Before the Rupel, the local river, was dammed, the area was regularly flooded. The guide leaflet says the area was virtually inaccessible and it was supposedly where fairies and marsh spirits lived.

The landscape changed dramatically after the river was dammed between 1100 and 1300, giving way to hayfields and water meadows.

Centuries of peat deposition created dense layers of peat, the extraction of which is how the many ponds and lakes that characterize the area came into existence.

There are several paths which can be taken to explore "Het Broek", making it ideal for longer and shorter walks alike.

On the north side the reserve is bordered by a large body of water called the Hazewinkelvijver (“vijver” means “pond” in Dutch), which is used for watersports and is an Olympic rowing course.

There’s another nature reserve at the opposite side, which we are planning to visit for our next walk.

Near the end of the walk (or the beginning, if you do it the other way around) is a delightful little chapel, where candles are always burning.

The statue of Our Lady was found in the nearby pond in 1636. Legend has it that even in the harshest of winters, the pond in which she was found remains ice-free.

We really enjoyed the peace and quiet of this walk, the silence being pierced only by the calls of birds and the croaking of frogs.

This weekend, we are planning to go to our first outdoor flea market of the year ... I wonder if we will find any treasures?

It's the end of the world as we know it

Well, of my world anyway. So to speak. Within the space of one week I found out that two of my favourite vintage shops are closing down, which I must admit was quite a shock to the system.

First up was Vintage Styling. This vintage clothing shop in the centre of Antwerp was a breath of fresh air. Until its launch in 2014, I was used to rummaging through rails of clothing in charity shops and lesser-quality vintage shops, eventually unearthing that one 1960s or 1970s gem.

Not so at Vintage Styling, where everything was beautifully laid out and where clothing was clean and did not require immediate repairs. The shop was more expensive than what I was used to pay, though, but not so that I wasn’t able to treat myself now and then.

Unfortunate though it is that the shop is expected to close end of June, until then they are holding a big sale in a bid to get rid of as many of their stock as possible. Dresses were down to € 10 and € 15 the last time I visited, which was last Thursday.

This is what I got:

A summery Diolen two-piece, the jacket of which has a little peplum.

and a dark green flowery dress, also made from Diolen.

A few days after Vintage Styling’s news, I read on Facebook that Blender Vintage Shop, which I blogged about in March (here), will be closing down at the end of the year as well.

As we have found many wonderful things at this shop, which we have been visiting once a month since the autumn of 2013, it will sorely be missed.

On Saturday, we decided to give the charity shops a miss, and pay our monthly visit to Blender Vintage Shop one day early.

This is what I wore: a handmade dress (not by me, of course) in a rather coarsely woven white polyester fabric, featuring huge orange and purple flowers.

The collar and hem are in a different, solid purple, fabric. I wore an orange cardigan with a white felt flower pinned to it, a purple necklace and dusky purple tights. Even the vintage slip I wore underneath was in a coordinating colour!

Blender Vintage Shop had a clothing sale on: if you bought three pieces, you got a fourth one for free.

I bought a short-sleeved blouse/jacket (paired here with a 1970s Trevira skirt), a patterned skirt in pink, lilac and blue and a yellow short-sleeved jumper, all shown here by Angelica, who has really been earning her keep this week.

They also had a rail of maxis, and now that I’m a convert, I couldn’t resist trying on some, deciding on this beauty for € 5.

I thought I wouldn't have any other finds to show you this time, but it turns out I was wrong. Actually, they are not finds, but gifts! As my friend Inez's mother Lydia recently had to move into a care home, she is in the process of sorting out her mother's flat and we were given some nice things, which we are only too happy to re-home.

A wool and cashmere black winter coat, which hopefully I won't be needing any time soon, and a summer "peignoir" in a gorgeous peachy pink colour.

We also came home with a little clock, a coffee filter holder (made by Emsa), a beautiful old tin and a gorgeous bedspread.

This wicker sewing basket needs a little bit of TLC on the outside but look at that fabulous lining! It is joined here by another little basket which will come in useful.

Finally, these lovely cushions, made by Lydia herself, which have found a good home on our sofa. Look at those amazing colours! Phoebe still has to get used to them, though. She's still giving the sofa angry looks and a very wide berth ...

Aren't cats funny creatures?