Twixmas tales - Part 2

I woke up with a head full of cotton wool on Boxing Day.  As congested sinuses had made me toss and turn all night, I could only thank my lucky stars that I didn't have to get up when it was still pitch dark outside and that I could spend the day doing whatever tickled my fancy. In fact, nobody would have batted an eyelid if I'd wanted to spend it lying on the sofa if so inclined.  

Wasn't it just my luck though that I had to be plagued by a head cold during my week off? Admittedly, it was miles better than being struck down by a serious case of the flu like I was last year, but I could still have done without it.

I started feeling a bit better after a healthy dose of fruit and yoghurt for breakfast, after which I had a good old rummage in my wardrobes (note the plural!) in search of the perfect outfit to suit my mood as well as the day. 

No athleisure wear for me, thank you, and God forbid I'd stay in my pyjamas all day!

So, out came this navy blue Diolen dress, its pattern a seemingly incongruous mix of yellow and tan flowers and seashells. 

Blues and yellows were the colours of choice for my dress's companion, a zig-zag patterned Zoë Loveborn cardigan charity shopped back in November. The blue flower corsage I pinned to the latter was echoed by my moulded plastic flower ring. 

My necklace featuring multicoloured wooden disks was bought brand new from Accessorize and has been in my collection for many years. 

The day was miraculously dry and sunny for once and with the temperature still a more than reasonable 12°C, it was clear that the sofa would have to wait another day.

It has long been a tradition of ours to go for a walk in Middelheim Sculpture Park on Boxing Day, even if the weather was determined to put a spanner in the works a couple of times. This year, however, wild horses couldn't have kept us away!

Art has been on the move here all through 2023 and will continue to do so in 2024, as a mind-boggling total of 224 works are in the process of being given a new home. I'm pretty sure that Odyssey (above, bottom right) wasn't in this particular place before. Dating from 1968, it is a work by the American sculptor Bernard (Tony) Rosenthal (1914-2009). 

The hesitant Midwinter sunshine was spotlighting Antony Gormley's Firmament III, which I suspect is among the 50 or so works of art in the park which are inseparable from their location and will therefore remain in situ.

The same will definitely be the case for the make-believe street called Surroundings (1972-1973), an art installation by the Italian artist Alik Cavaliere (1926-1998).

Moving a sculpture that has been anchored in the ground for decades is no easy task. Moreover, they are all unique works of art, each of them requiring its own preparation process, method and approach depending on its materials and vulnerabilities. The relocation of a total of 224 different works of art is, therefore, a hugely labour-intensive job. 

After the transformation, the sculptures will be on display in completely different clusters, inspired by the different types of landscape in the park.

Meanwhile, normal service is disrupted, with some parts of the park temporarily out of bounds, and a not inconsiderable amount of sculptures hanging out together in the adjacent open-air depot before being allocated their new location.

Believe it or not, but the massive tire which has suddenly materialized at the back of the Braem Pavillion is a work of art too: dating from 2012, it is part of  Pièces à conviction (Pieces of evidence) by the Belgian artist Michel François (b.1956). It used to be in the part of the museum called Middelheim-Laag on the opposite side of the road.

Vierkantrohre Serie D (above, top left) by German artist Charlotte Posenenske (1930-1985) has been attached to the side wall of the Braem Pavilion since 2017. It consists of a set of six hollow forms made of galvanized metal that appear to be parts of an industrial ventilation shaft. Very convincingly, it seems, as I only found out this was actually a work of art when I was browsing the museum's online catalogue a couple of years ago.

Bosque Metalica (above, bottom left) has found its new location near the Braem Pavillion as well. Dating from 1971, and thus a contemporary of the Brutalist pavillion, the sculpture which consists of eight separate elements in black, green, orange and yellow, is by the artist Jorge Dubon (Mexico, 1938-2004).

Making a shortcut through a carpet of leaves to avoid a particularly muddy stretch, we came across Artisticus Confusa (2020), a whimsically shaped aluminium flower of nearly one metre tall, created by Tom Volkaert, who was born in Antwerp in 1989.

The gold painted chair is part of the park's furniture. These, and their silver painted sisters can be found all over the park and are perfect if one wants to take a breather or just, sit and stare at a particular work of art, or perhaps even temporarily become part of it.

This sculpture, which I believe is new to the museum, was caged to protect it from the elements. Although I hadn't seen it before, it instantly rang a bell, as it reminded me of the sculpture on display in the courtyard of the 800-year old castle known as Het Steen standing on Antwerp's quayside.

Sure enough, when I looked it up, it turned out to be by the same artist, Sharon Van Overmeiren (b. 1985). It is called The Voyage of the Mascot and dates from 2021.

We ended our afternoon walk in the Museum Café, where we shared a hefty piece of cheesecake, and enjoyed cups of cappuccino (Jos) and hot chocolate (me).

Although more rain had been forecasted for Wednesday the 27th of December, it never materialized. I know, stranger things have happened but still ...

I was rewearing the as yet unphotographed outfit I wore on my last office day of the year, featuring a happy mix of charity shop and retail buys.

The forest green faux suede skirt is an old sales bargain from Mango and an absolute joy to wear. Here, it is joined by a rose-patterned jumper from King Louie, by way of the charity shops. Both the label-less sparkly pink cardigan and the green Les Cordes necklace were charity shop finds as well.

My one and only Christmas themed brooch deserves a special mention, as it was a gift from the lovely Gisela, who blogs under Miss Magpie's Musings.

Apart from the odd sniffle, I was feeling so much better and, what's more, I was craving a rummage at the charity shop. 

We drove down to the three-floored one in Duffel where it was quite busy as it seemed a lot of people had had the same idea. Or perhaps they'd come to donate their unwanted Christmas presents?

Anyway, here's a quick look at what I found. 

Above, from left to right: brown marled knit hat, groovily patterned blouse by Belgian label Claude Arielle, tan mock croc belt by CKS, which is yet another Belgian label, and chunky yellow, white and dusty pink knit scarf with pom-poms!

In spite of my self-imposed coat ban, I couldn't possibly resist this purple and lime patterned one, although the photo doesn't do its colours much justice. To make up for this, I'll be wearing it in one of my next posts!

And now, it's time to divulge which one of my lady brooches turned out to be the bargain of the century.

Ta-dah! I'm sure this isn't the one you expected it to be! Bought for less than € 10 at the indoor flea market a couple of years ago, I only found out its true nature and value by accident in the Summer of 2022 when I was looking up a Léa Stein brooch I'd picked up in a vintage shop in Middelburg.

It turns out that, although not marked, this was a Léa Stein too, and one of her earliest and most valuable at that, estimated between $ 200 and $ 300. It's one of her serigraphy (screen printed) brooches dating from the late1960s and the early 1970s. The most collectable among these are the romantic or nostalgic female portraits, a plastic version of Victorian miniatures, so to speak.

For those of you who are unfamiliar with Léa Stein, who was born in1936, she is a French artist and accessories maker known for her compressed plastic buttons, brooches and bracelets. She is often hailed as the most notable and innovative designer of plastic jewellery of the 20th century. 

Stein entered the fashion industry in 1957 working in textiles, and by 1965 had developed an interest in plastic. She worked with her husband, the chemist Fernand Steinberger, to develop a process of layering very thin sheets of cellulose acetate (or rhodoid) and laminating them to form a multi-coloured sandwich of plastic, which was then baked, cooled and cut into shapes. The process could take as long as six months!

Her brooches are avidly collected and generally command high prices and it therefore won't come as a surprise that they are often imitated. 

There's a very interesting and useful Facebook group called Lea Stein Appreciation of which Mme. Steinberger herself is a member and to which she sometimes contributes whenever there is doubt if a certain piece is a Léa Stein original or not.

I will be back with more adventures soon!

Twixmas tales - Part 1

Christmas, Twixmas and New Year have all come and gone, but as usual I've still got a lot of catching up to do. 

Meanwhile, it's been back to the grind for me since Tuesday. The long and short of it is that by the end of my first week my one and only resolution - to try and be more positive in 2024 - has already gone out of the window. Oh well, enough said.

On top of all that, I'm being plagued by Blogger issues, as lately I'm getting failed to publish errors when commenting while logged in. I lodged my problem with the Blogger community and was told it might be an issue with cookies. Apparently, third party cookies need to be enabled. For some reason, they were disabled - nothing to do with me! - and when I put it right yesterday I was able to comment normally again. Fast forward to this morning, and I'm getting the error again, and this while the bloody third party whatevers were enabled ... 

I wonder if there's anyone else out there who has been having similar problems? Anyway, I will be commenting anonymously where possible, which I can do when I'm not logged in, for the time being.

But now let's retrace our steps to December once more, starting with Saturday the 23rd which for all intents and purposes was the first day of my longed-for Christmas break.

My journal tells me that it was mostly dry but cloudy accompanied by a blustery wind. At a more than reasonable 12°C, it was much too warm for the Nordic style jumper I originally had in mind to wear with the patterned velvet maxi skirt I snapped up for € 6 at Think Twice at end of September.

Instead, the skirt's companion was a thin knit green jumper with diamond patterned yoke, to which I pinned a vintage lacquered wooden brooch, both of which were charity shop finds.

My beads were charity shopped too, but the half-elasticated belt with its massive square buckle as well as my tomato red plastic ring were high street bargains.

I just love that giddy feeling one gets on the first day of the holidays, with a seemingly endless string of days to be filled with unknown pleasures stretching out in front of you. 

We'd slept in a little, then had a leisurely breakfast, after which Jos and I went our separate ways: while he did a last minute food shop I spent a joyful hour or so pottering and playing around with my wardrobe, thinking up possible outfits for the days ahead.

Then, after a lunch of Jos's homemade minestrone with crusty bread, we contemplated going for a walk.

In spite of the temperature, the world outside our windows wasn't looking very inviting. However, with yet another batch of wet weather days forecasted, we decided to go ahead and brave the elements. If nothing else, the strong gusts of wind would make short shrift of the lingering cobwebs in our heads. 

Not being close to a town or shopping centre, there's always plenty of parking space at Boom park, which was our chosen destination for the afternoon. Obviously, our aim was to steer clear of the Christmas shopping extravaganza, which was still in full swing.

Apart from the odd like-minded Scrooges and the ubiquitous dog-walkers, we only had to share the park with the resident ducks and a white cat who was contemplating life from a fallen tree.

The paths were quite muddy in places so, as I'd been foolhardy enough not to change out of my as yet still pristine green suede boots, we took a shortcut through the layer of leaves carpeting the park's naturel playground.

In honour of Christmas - nah, not really - I was wearing red and green outerwear. This consisted of my my recently found red embroidered Kangol beret and all-time favourite green fur-collared woollen jacket. One of my best-ever Think Twice finds, the latter has been living with me since November 2017.

My Italian made red leather crossbody bag has been my weekend and holiday companion ever since I picked it up in a charity shop back in May.

Jos had been nursing a persistent head cold for a couple of days and, sure enough, he was kind enough to give it to me as a Christmas present.

By Christmas Eve we were having a sniffling and sneezing competition and were going through our stash of cotton hankies at the rate of knots.

Still, as a dedicated blogger, I was determined to step outside between showers to show you what I was wearing.

Last worn back in March, I thought it was time to give my vintage Venetia frock, with its pattern of tiny white dots and garlands of frothy pink flowers, another outing. 

I only briefly wore it on its own, just to show you the burgundy belt I'd added at my waist.

As in spite of the rain we were still blessed with highs of 12°C, I only needed a sleeveless knitted vest on top, the perfect opportunity to show you one of my latest Think Twice finds.

From Think Twice's most recent collection, this Austrian made olive cable knit beauty with its rows of tiny white rosebuds caught my eye during a lunch break cappuccino catch-up with Inez earlier that week. I thought the vintage celluloid deer brooch - picked up from the indoor flea market in December 2022 - matched it perfectly.

The pearly pink brooch I pinned to my dress came from Think Twice while the faux-pearl choker was a fast fashion buy. 

The sleeveless vest wasn't the only thing I was tempted by when perusing Think Twice's latest offerings, as I fell head over heels with this vintage wing-collared orange jumper.

Nursing my worsening cold, I spent the afternoon sprawled out on the sofa, finishing Mary Webb's Gone to Earth and listening to a selection of big band records from our collection. 

Then we tried our hand at making waffles, using one of the recipes which came with our waffle and toasted sandwich maker. They weren't half bad, particularly for a first attempt, although admittedly the first two ended up being a bit overdone ...

Unfortunately, my cold hadn't disappeared overnight on Christmas Day. I had, in fact, slept quite fitfully, waking up several times with an alternately blocked and runny nose. It's a good thing we didn't have any plans for the day.

I still insisted on getting dressed though, so this is my Christmas outfit for 2023, which actually includes two fairly recent acquisitions to my wardrobe.

The eagle-eyed among you might have spotted the vintage Diolen C&A blouse which followed me home from Think Twice during a sun-drenched lunch break at the end of November.

When I brought it home, I had this cord skirt - a naughty retail buy earlier that month - hanging outside my wardrobe, and instantly thought they would make a fabulous combo. The skirt was last seen during our November getaway.

Another one of my deer brooches adorned the blouse's collar. I found this particular one in a long-gone vintage shop shortly before the advent of my blog. I've got a penchant for vintage deer brooches and ornaments and I'm sure it doesn't come as a surprise that we sipped our alcohol free pre-dinner drinks from vintage Babycham glasses!

Speaking of brooches, I'd promised myself to tidy my drawers of brooches during my break so, in spite of the brain fog, I made a start with the first one, containing my so-called lady brooches.

As you can see, they come in all shapes and sizes and while some of them are of the cheap 'n cheerful variety, there are more than just a few treasures in there as well. I've only found out recently that one of them is quite sought after and commands a much higher price than the single digit one I paid for it. 

I can't resist a cliffhanger, so all will be revealed in my next post. In the meantime, I'm inviting you to take a guess ...

The rest of the day was spent completely engrossed in my latest read, which I'd started that morning and which transpired to be quite the page-turner! I would finish all of its 628 pages in less than a week, although I don't think it was as good as any of her previous novels.

See you next time!

A Midwinter walk

At the end of my last post I mentioned that Bess had only climbed into the lower branches of the faux fir twice since putting the thing up on the 15th of December. We were already getting our hopes up for next year, thinking it might be safe to start using our fragile vintage baubles again ... Well, what can I say? How wrong we could have been! 

While we were having lunch last Thursday, we suddenly heard a rustling and a tinkling of bells - there are two tiny gold-tone bells among our cat-proof decs - and sure enough, our fickle feline had climbed and installed herself three-quarters up the tree, from where she sat looking at us as if butter wouldn't melt.

Although my blog hasn't even reached Christmas yet, I couldn't possibly not share the photos she willingly posed for, and it definitely wouldn't do to publish them mid-January when all thoughts of Christmas have long been banished. She's been in there on a daily basis ever since, dislodging branches left, right and centre, and I've got a funny feeling we'll be obliged to dismantle the tree well before 12th Night comes around.

Excuse all this going back and forth in the time machine, but after that brief intermission, let us return to Saturday the 16th of December.

My journal, which has once again been my saviour, tells me it was a grey and chilly, yet dry day, with the mercury nudging the double digits.

I plucked another vintage dress with a generous wool content out of my wardrobe. I fell for the rather unusual mix of leopard and zebra in its print in a charity shop almost exactly two years to the day. 

I opted for berry shades for its companions: the wide stretchy belt,  beaded necklace and chunky long-line cardigan by the Belgian high end label Hampton Bays were charity shopped over the years, while the ceramic leaping deer brooch was a flea market find. 

My outfit was bookended by a red Kangol beret and a pair of burgundy boots from Think Twice.

I've included a close-up of my patterned opaques, which were a sales bargain from haberdashery and accessories chain Veritas.

I spent the morning tackling some overdue chores and dusted the blue room, landing and most of the bedroom until it was time for lunch.

Oh, and I photographed my latest € 4 Think Twice buys, starting with an instant outfit in the form of a label-less Western style tartan blouse and a peasant-style skirt, the tattered remains of whose label proclaims that it was made in France and is a 50/50% wool and polyester blend.

I also grabbed this rust brown, green, yellow and white striped men's scarf for Jos, who has been wearing it on a daily basis ever since. What's more, he willingly posed in it in front of our local charity shop, which is where we were headed after lunch. The tan corduroy hat he is wearing was gifted to him by one of his many acquaintances from the village.

We were on the lookout for a small bin for our fruit and veg waste, so that we wouldn't have to venture outside to the compost heap all the time. Of course, the charity shop obliged! What's more, there was quite a choice, from which we selected a small purple brushed metal pedal bin, which was in perfect condition apart from the tiniest of dents.

While we were there, it would have been downright criminal not to browse the clothing aisles, where I found this pair of - again virtually unused - suede grey and olive green boots.

The weather looked much more promising on Sunday, when sunshine and blue sky did away with the clouds mid-morning. A persistent wind made it feel chillier than the forecasted highs of 8°C, so that I changed my thin bottle green King Louie cardigan for a chunkier one after we'd made these photos.

Underneath I was wearing a vintage psychedelic shift dress in shades of brown on white. In order to tame its tie collar, I pinned it with a sparkly peach coloured brooch. People are usually incredulous when I tell them it isn't vintage, but picked up brand new at H&M in the early noughties! I've even seen its sisters sold as vintage on flea markets.

My moss green suede belt was charity shopped, while both the pale peach flower corsage and my tan boots were supplied by the high street. The latter, too, were exchanged for a more sturdy and slightly scuffed pair before we left the house to go for a long-overdue walk.

Tossing around a couple of walking destinations during lunch, most of which were discarded as being too muddy after all the rain the weather gods had sent our way lately, we decided to drive down to Den Brandt, one of the cluster of parks to the south of the city of Antwerp.

Creatures of habit that we are, we parked our car in a quiet side street around the corner and entered the park through the public picking garden, now quite bare and sparse looking apart from some hardy yet straggling herbs hanging on for dear life.

The poor Gautam Buddha was still sitting in the gras next to his perch, from which he was separated many months ago. 

His offerings were rather sparse too: a small sprig of ivy, a bright pink bloom, a braided ribbon, a coin-shaped pendant on a shoestring and a black plastic button.  A kindly soul had made him a lovely crown of flowering Rosemary tied with red ribbon.

The low and dazzling Midwinter sunshine had been soaking up some of the moisture from the saturated soil and was hazing the horizon as we climbed the steps into park.

We were somewhat out of our depths at first, our feet and limbs rusty from being out of practice. We were feeling strangely lightheaded as, putting our weight on to our walking sticks, we shielded our eyes from the blinding rays of the sun.

Among the desiccated reeds, the bronzed bracken and the gold and russet leafed carpet at our feet, the evergreen shrubs and pine trees stood out quite outlandishly.

I added complementing colours with my outerwear: the moss green and tan double-breasted textured wool jacket I snapped up from Think Twice at the end of September, belted with a retail buy tan leather belt, a tan beret and ditto handbag - both charity shopped - and an Autumnal hued scarf bought from H&M back in the mists of time.

The skeleton trees, contrasting starkly with the wedgwood blue sky, were catching the sun between their twisted branches. 

Then, suddenly, our first glimpse of the romantic late-classical castle, at first glance looking like a freshly and perfectly iced cake, until a closer look puts paid to that illusion as the cracks and fault-lines become apparent. They're currently renovating the so-called English cottage which is part of the estate, so hopefully the castle itself is next on the agenda?

We walked along the sweeping lawn at the back of the castle, well away from the edge of the moat which was overgrown with rampant reeds. Just before crossing the bridge and walking to the French-inspired parterre at the front, I snapped this photo of the top half of the castle rising - Manderley-style - above a bank of rhododendrons. 

Our last visit before returning to our car was to the "Dancing Nymphs", who have been reeling around the fountain in front of the castle since the park opened to the public in 1911. Purchased by the city of Antwerp at the 1910 World Fair in Brussels, and officially called the "Three Graces", these mad-looking maidens with their demonic grimaces were created by German sculptor Walter Schott.

The fountain has been lying dormant for quite a few years now, but at least the rain had filled its base with water, providing a mirror for the maidens to preen themselves in. 

Meanwhile, my Christmas break has come and gone in the blink of an eye, and I actually had to go back to work today. 

I've still got a lot of catching up to do, though, as blog-wise 2023 isn't over just yet ... I will be back with Twixmas tales in a couple of days.

Happy New Year!

A year is just a drop in time

It seems that time has been running away from me again. It simply beggars belief that I'm already half-way through my Christmas break.

So far, the days have had more than just a hint of indolence. The latter, however, was mostly of the forced variety due to a nasty but thankfully short-ish head cold which joined forces with the weather in throwing a spanner in the works on Christmas Day in particular.

All of this was still in the future on Saturday the 9th of December, so let's cast our minds back to that day. Although, not having made much of a journal entry for that day, there isn't a lot I can tell you about it apart from the fact that it was another dark, dismal and utterly wet day. 

We were able to nip outside to make outfit photos between showers, though, so that I can at least show you what I was wearing.

This navy fit and flare dress with its green and sky blue abstract motifs - I've never been able to determine what they are supposed to be exactly - hadn't been worn for far too long and was shouting the loudest when I opened my wardrobe's doors.

At my waist I added a green fabric belt which used to belong to another dress, and threw a green Dralon and wool blend cardigan on top, to which I pinned an elaborate blue flower corsage. 

Obviously, I was wearing a pair of matching opaques, while further accessories included a green wooden Les Cordes necklace (charity shopped) and a lime green Miracle brooch (flea market find).

We weren't in the mood to hit the charity shops, so it was to be a day of gentle pottering and starting a new book which had been languishing in my TBR pile since Summer. 

Bought in a Shrewsbury bookshop back in June, Gone To Earth was written by local author Mary Webb and published in 1917. Its protagonist, Hazel Woodus, is the daughter of a Welsh gypsy and a crazy bee-keeper, and is happiest living in her forest cottage in the remote Shropshire hills. Its prose is very atmospheric and lyrical and its subject a magical yet chilling story of fear, desire, love and violence, both spiritual and physical, and inevitably ending in tragedy. I loved it although it was by no means an easy read.

At first glance, the weather gods seemed to be on their best behaviour on Sunday, the sun having done away with the eternal gloom when we drew the curtains. 

We were up early-ish as we had plans. But first, let's get dressed for the day ahead. Helped by Bess, of course, who was basking in the rays of the low December sun streaming in through our spare room - a.k.a. the blue room and doubling as dressing room and study - windows.

First outing for the greyish brown and orange Trevira dress I found at Think Twice back in September.

There's a tiny bit of green in its pattern too, which I took as the lead for my accessories. Both the beaded necklace and the semi-elastic belt with its gold-tone lion's head buckle were charity shopped, the latter only a couple of months ago. The swallows-in-flight brooch is modern, bought in Cardigan during one of our Pembrokeshire holidays.

My Marigold yellow cardigan is one of my charity shopped Zoë Loveborns and, if I remember correctly, the tan leaf brooch I pinned to it was a flea market find. On my feet, my comfortable tan No Stress lace-up ankle boots!

And then we were off, picking up our friend Inez along the way, the sun still very much in evidence and adding sparkle to the raindrops which were lingering on our car's side mirrors.

Our destination for the day: the December edition of our beloved indoor flea market in Mechelen.

Admittedly, we hadn't been there since early Spring, and for various reasons had missed the first two editions of the new season which started in October.

We were delighted to see that there was a good mix of stalls, which we browsed to our heart's content, exclaiming over the wonderful and often curious items on offer. 

If in need of a hot water bottle, there was a choice between a rubber heart-shaped one or an old-fashioned ceramic bed warmer ...

I swooned over the feathered green hat and marvelled at the collection of eye-wateringly expensive ammonites.

The box of diminutive pink bathroom furniture and choice of tiles had sisters in many different colour options and must have been a travelling salesman's samples. If money and space hadn't been an issue, I might have been tempted to buy them all!

I was briefly considering to buy the poor guy in the centre as a companion for Idina, but I think she might have turned up her nose at him ...

With so many aisles of stalls to browse, we interrupted the serious business of rummaging for a round of rolls washed down with old-fashioned filter coffees!

Doesn't Inez look gorgeous in her turquoise dress! It came from a charity shop in Welshpool, but as I was never wearing it, I gifted it to her.

And now, without further ado, let's have a look at the things which did come home with us!

The small hanging kitchen cabinet - it only measures 50 x 30 x 15 centimeters - needs a good clean and a bit of TLC but will fit a little corner in our kitchen perfectly.

The small black lady's head and the wooden and papier-maché shop dummy both came from Rita's pitch, while the 1930s German ceramic biscuit jar came from a random stall.

I'd spotted the head plaque on the left on Tanja's Facebook page last month and was delighted when she told me it hadn't sold yet and that she would put it aside for me. Both she and the lady with the polka-dot headscarf picked up from a random stall will be joining the wall of heads above the mantelpiece in the blue room!

The end of year madness at the office continued in the year's penultimate working week. When my boss asked me whether I thought a certain order would still be shipped out before the Christmas holidays, I told him I needed a crystal ball to reply to his question. Having a great sense of humour, he sent me a fortune teller cartoon in return, which in my turn prompted me to stage this photo with the office crystal ball. Because, yes, we do have one of those: it is in fact one of a pair of massive glass door knobs which used to be in my colleague's 1960s apartment when she bought it. Apparently, she didn't like them or the doors they were on, and donated them both to me. 

While Inez and me were having our usual mid-week cappuccino catch-up at the Think Twice coffee shop, we were surprised to see that one of their sales was in full swing. What's more, prices were down to € 4 already, so that we decided to have a quick peek. Well, what can I say? We both made purchases, mine being a groovilicious velour blouse and a funky jumper!

Then Friday the 15th of December rolled along. It was a cloudy day but dry for once, the mercury still flitting around the 10°C mark. 

I had to go in to work, but thankfully only for half a day, the afternoon presenting the perfect opportunity to put up our tree.

After 20+ years, assembling our faithful faux fir has become a doddle, particularly when you've got a feline helper. Remembering last year's shenanigans, we weren't all that much surprised when she climbed into it less than a minute after we'd put in the lights! Can you spot her among the branches in the photo on the bottom right?

Later that week, I shared the above photo with Unco-Jerry, the animal shelter we adopted her from, who promptly put it on their Facebook page. Wouldn't you know that the little minx got well over 140 likes?

Fast forward 12 days later, and she has only climbed into the lower reaches of the tree two more times and accidentally dislodged only one ornament. We are keeping our fingers crossed that one of these years we might be able to use our vintage and heirloom ornaments again, but for now we are limiting ourselves to mainly wooden and fabric ones. 

I might or might not publish another post before the year is up but in case of the latter, Jos and I already wish you all a happy and healthy 2024. May all - or at least some - of your wishes come true!