May flowers

Spring continued to be a mixed affair as April seamlessly segued into May. The only thing of note about April's final day, which was a Friday and thus an office day, is that I was able to make a hairdresser's appointment for Wednesday the 5th of May. So glad they were allowed to re-open and that another #Coronahair situation could be averted! 

On Saturday the 1st of May we were rudely awoken by Bess, who insisted on exploring the possibilities of our bedroom somewhere between 6 and 7 am.  It was no use trying to go back to sleep so, still a bit bleary-eyed, we dragged ourselves out of bed, and sat ourselves down to our usual fruit and yoghurt breakfast, washed down with a cup of coffee (Jos) and a mug of ginger and lemon tea (me).

Sun and clouds alternated throughout the day, with a brief shower around midday. With the temperature hovering around12°C, however, it felt more like a March day than a May one, especially as it came accompanied by a blustery wind.

As we had Thursday's garden centre purchases waiting for us, and as yet no rain seemed to be on the horizon, we wasted no time in getting out into the garden and get going with our first task.

This consisted in making a stepping stone path bisecting our newly laid out border. This would give us access to the parking meter positioned on the low wall separating the border from the rock garden  - in order to demonstrate its workings to any future visitors - as well as the plants at the back.

After scouring Dove Cottage's basement and shed in search of something suitable to use but drawing a blank, we'd come across these log effect wooden slabs in the garden centre which were just perfect for the job. The path in place, we then added two more perennials, Geranium phaeum and Aquilegia 'Biedermeier', the latter already bearing several flower buds.

Elsewhere, the Red Valerian, or Centranthus ruber to give it its proper name (top left), is preparing its comeback, and there are bluebells galore as well, multiplying year by year from the first handful of bulbs we planted eons ago. They were a gift from an elderly lady whose garden backed on to Jos's place of work.

In an effort to give the garden a run for its money, I wore a vintage handmade long-sleeved dress, its indigo background infused with green, palest yellow, pink and caramel flowers.

In spite of the dress's lining, it was too chilly to go it alone, so I added a slightly sparkly fuchsia cardigan with three-quarter length sleeves. Button-less, it closes with a single tie at the neck, although I wore it open all the time.

Note the purple plaid ankle wellies, one of my most useful charity shop finds ever and my footwear of choice for venturing into the garden.

My pink plastic butterfly brooch is contemporary, picked up in a quirky independent shop near my office in Antwerp. I have brooches from this range in various shapes and colours as, back in the days before Covid, I often went for a browse in this shop, although last time I was there I was saddened to see that they are no longer stocking them.

The chunky, multicoloured necklace was a charity shop find, while the stretchy belt with its hexagonal faux tortoiseshell buckle was a cheeky retail buy from only last week, stumbled upon during a rare lunch break outing.

The garden is slowly but surely bursting into a rainbow of colours and textures, cushioned by every available shade of green,  There are the old favourites, like the woodruff (top right) and the ferns (bottom left), both of which can be quite a nuisance at times.  Grape Hyacinths come in all colours as well, including pale blue and a mixture of yellow and purple. The latter is the unusual Muscari macrocarpum 'Golden Fragrance', which came in a pack of three, only one of which seems to have surfaced.

Optimistically, we'd ignored the forecast for even colder weather ahead, and brought back a tray of assorted annuals from the garden centre, including a rather dashing two-tone pink Pelargonium (bottom right).

To climb our wire obelisk, we picked a bright red Black-eyed Susan (Thunbergia, top left and right), in favour of  the rampant climbing Nasturtiums we planted last Summer and which, after a timid start, ended up virtually taking over that part of the garden.

On the subject of Nasturtiums, and the regular ones I sowed back in April in particular, I am happy to report that by now over half of the seeds have germinated and that the seedlings will be ready to move to bigger premises shortly. I'm still covering the tray with its transparent lid overnight to keep them nice and cosy, securing it with a galvanized planter to stop it from being caught by the wind.

The California poppy (Eschscholzia californica) seeds I sprinkled directly into the garden at the same time have become a sea of feathery seedlings and will need pricking out soon. 

Aquilegias are firm favourites of mine, but although this year I planted several new varieties, our old pink petticoated ones ('Nora Barlow', bottom right) will always have a special place in my heart. They self-seed willy-nilly but I don't mind. Quite the opposite, it's always a pleasant surprise to see them rearing their pretty heads, wherever they choose to settle.

The top half of poor plaster Venus is feeling quite at home among the lush foliage of Geranium phaeum (top left), which is developing the first of its flower stems.  Another self-seeder, it disappeared from its original spot many years ago, only to show up growing between the paving stones at the opposite side of the garden path last year.

Similar weather but minus the midday shower awaited us on Sunday, so out in the garden it was again, starting with some light pruning, weeding and deadheading.

Then I planted up the old metal colander we'd roped in for garden use last year with a mixture of Summer flowers, using lilac Brachycome, yellow and maroon Nemesia and cheerful Sanvitalia.

If I'm not mistaken, it has been quite some time since I last wore this midi length skirt patterned with blue and white flowers on a dove grey background. It was a charity shop find back in March 2019, picked up at one of their infamous retro events.

Scrutinizing the photos, I can safely say that the vast majority of Sunday's outfit was charity shopped at one time or another, the only exception being my ankle boots, tights and pale blue cat brooch.

The blouse with its funky print, as well as the black and blue beaded necklace, were both last year's finds, while the red cardigan and burgundy round-buckled belt have been gracing my wardrobe for many years.

The new border doesn't only provide horticultural pleasure,  it is also our new favourite spot for outfit photos, especially on sunny days when it provides some dappled shade rather than the harsh and glaring sunlight in front of the potting shed. 

Speaking of favourite spots, Bess is certainly discovering new ones every day on her explorations of Dove Cottage. The back of our front room's sofa offers a street view, which is fine as long as there are no passers-by on the pavement directly outside, which make her flee to safety. She has also taken to lying on top of our dining room table from where she can observe our comings and goings. Opening the door to the basement, which leads off from this room, is quite a hazard. She's always ready to go for a nosey, often returning with her head covered in dust and cobwebs.

We had a final sunny day on Monday. Once again, I briefly left the office during lunch break, this time in order to use the cash machine at a nearby bank, as I needed cash for my upcoming hairdresser's appointment. This was quite an adventure, as it had been many months since I last used any of these. At least my fingers still remembered my pin code, unlike when I returned from holiday a couple of years ago and my mind went completely blank.

According to the day's paper, my age group might finally get its vaccine invitation in the week of 17th of May and, if all goes well I'll be able to get my first jab in the week of 31st of May. I'm keeping everything crossed here!

On Tuesday the 4th of May, it looked like we’d landed back in Autumn as stormy weather was our lot for most of the day.

With the garden - or indeed any other outdoor activities - out of bounds, we thought we'd try our luck at the charity shops for the first time after our most recent lockdown was lifted.

Our first stop was at the charity shop in the nearby town of Morstel. Here, we had to make a U-turn twice before lockdown as there was a queue, so we were quite relieved that it didn't seem to be overly busy. In fact, I was able to browse the clothing aisles at ease, soon coming across a delightful navy fish-print cotton wrap skirt. I dressed up Angelica in it, combining it with a simple red and white striped top, although I'm thinking of wearing it with a lobster print one for its first proper outing!

Next up was the vintage pussy-bow blouse Angelica is wearing here with a zig-zag patterned skirt and one of my stretchy belts.

At the jewellery stand, my eye was caught by two bangles, one of which appears to be covered by real snakeskin, and a dark red beaded necklace.

Before returning home, we stopped at the charity shop in our village, where I was overjoyed to find this groovy handmade vintage dress with flouncy three-quarter sleeves.

I also stocked up on reading matter. Not that I was in any danger of running out, but I love having some choice. The Suspicions of Mr. Whicher seems to be along the same vein as The Magnificent Spilsbury, which I read back in March. It is certainly part of the same series.

That just leaves Tuesday's outfit to show you! With the storm having somewhat quietened down by late afternoon, we made use of a dry moment to step outside. 

Again, I'd picked a full-on flower print but, rather than a dress, it was a skirt suit I'd plucked from my wardrobe that morning. 

Charity shopped back in 2015, on a day when I found not just one but two skirt suits, its dense floral print never ceases to delight me. As there's no label, I suspect that it was handmade, and its full lining swishes satisfactorily when prancing around. 

Its sleeves has quite formidable cuffs which close with two buttons. Not wanting to hide these away, I added a vintage short-sleeved Dralon cardigan on top. 

I accented my waist with a tan leather belt, and added a beaded necklace in the same shade. If you look closely, you might be able to spot the stag's head brooch hiding in the flowers on my collar.

According to my journal, we ended the day with a veritable deluge. I'm sure the garden was thankful for all that water. Now I don't know about you, but I could certainly do with some stable Spring weather. It's hard to believe that by this time last year, we'd already been able to have breakfast in the garden more than once!

Larkin' about

Although it felt like ages since we'd gone for a proper walk, upon scrolling through my journal I was absolutely appalled at the fact that the last time was on the 20th of March. 

As by now we were Tuesday the 27th of April, it was well over a month since we'd last dragged ourselves away from Dove Cottage's confines, our only outdoor pursuits, weather permitting, having been of the gardening kind.

There was, of course, that eternal deterrent, the weather, turning some of our favourite haunts into muddy mires. But it's all too easy just blaming it all on the weather, isn't it, instead of finding the culprit in our lethargic state of mind.

Tuesday was yet another one in a row of blissfully sunny days, the mercury climbing to an unheard of 17°C. Far too glorious a day not to make the most of, particularly as the weather forecast for later that week was looking pretty dire.

My appetite whetted by Monday's lunch break walk to to Antwerp's botanical garden, I was champing at the bit to sample some more of what Spring has to offer.

Jos was feeling a bit tired that morning but was soon persuaded so, grabbing a couple of sandwiches and a drink, we set off for the 10 kilometer drive to our nature reserve of choice.

The minute we took the path sloping down from the car park, we were met by nature's sensory delights, which offered an instant pick-me-up for our battered souls.

The path's verges were lined with the delicate white flowers and fern-like foliage of Cow Parsley and dotted with stems of Lady's Smock, or Cuckoo-flower. The Flemish names of these, Fluitenkruid and Pinksterbloem, instantly spring to mind courtesy of my nature-loving paternal grandfather, who clearly instilled his love of plants in me.

After years of steering clear, we rediscovered this nature reserve last Summer, and have been back several times since. In fact the last time we were here it was in seriously sub-zero temperatures, when Jos briefly ventured onto the edge of one of the solidly frozen lakes. Me, I was too much of a coward!

I love the seemingly boundless energy and exuberance of Spring, the invisible forces that make plants which have lain dormant over Winter push up new growth almost overnight, and the buds on the trees spread into leaves. She tugs at my heartstrings, Spring, she really does. And so does Philip Larkin's poem, The Trees: The trees are coming into leaf, Like something almost being said ... How beautiful is that? You can read the full poem here.

At one point, we took a path which was unknown territory to us, and almost, but not quite, got lost. Then we were temporarily side-tracked by some bird feeders which were being raided by a pair of squirrels, the cheekier of the two coming out to pose for the camera. You'll have to do with him, as for once there will be no photos of Bess in this post. I promise to make it up to you next time!

The temperature was still on the chilly side when we left that morning, so I dressed accordingly, opting for a skirt and jumper. While the skirt is an old vintage favourite, last worn in January, the thin knit jumper is Zara by way of a charity shop several months ago. This was its very first outing. My opaques matched its colour almost exactly, although it's a bit of a secret matching as they are hidden by my chocolate brown boots. The latter were a necessity, as there were still some lingering muddy patches.

My accessories were a charity shopped red vinyl belt and a wood and glass beaded necklace, which I bought from Accessorize back in the mists of time. 

Both the green hued wool blazer and the yellow, orange, white and brown knit scarf were charity shop finds.

By noon, all that fresh air had made us peckish, so we started looking out for a suitable bench, which we found in a sunny spot overlooking the largest of the lakes.

The bench once again being slightly too high for vertically challenged yours truly, I sat dangling my legs, enjoying the stillness - and my sandwiches - with the sunlight shimmering across the lake.

Wednesday would be the last in the string of sunny days, the temperature soaring to a balmy 20°C.

It was another office day, unfortunately, and I snapped the below photo from the car, while waiting for the traffic lights to change. We're on a leafy avenue here, with a small park to our left, and the WATT building in front of us. This modernist 13-floor building dates from 1958 and used to be the headquarters of the electricity board. In recent years it has been turned into a state of the art coworking space.

All that sunshine and walking had made me bold enough to once again venture outside during lunch break. This time, I even strolled along a short stretch of Antwerp's main shopping street which mercifully wasn't too busy. I soon turned left and found myself walking towards the nearest Think Twice shop, fully prepared to turn heel should there be a queue. But there wasn't, and as there were only a couple of other browsers, I stepped inside. And no, believe it or not, I didn't buy anything. I was actually quite overwhelmed and left after just a couple of minutes' browsing. It's almost unimaginable to think I spent many a lunch hour in this and the other Think Twice shops pre-Covid!

The weather made a U-turn on Thursday, the temperature plummeting considerably and leaving us with a measly 10°C. This came accompanied by ominous grey skies from which soon raindrops starting falling. The harsh wind this came with made it feel even colder.

After breakfast, we made our weekly trip to the garden centre, purchasing the first of without a doubt many annuals, which we planned to fill some gaps in our patio pots with over the weekend. 

Back at home, I retreated upstairs and continued with the eternal wardrobe changeoever, digging out another batch of Spring and Summer frocks ready for wearing once the weather starts behaving as it should.

That task finished, I spent some time on the couch reading my latest book. The Woman Who Walked Into The Sea by Mark Douglas-Home is part of a crime series featuring Cal McGill, a Scottish oceanographer and one-of-a-kind investigator who uses his knowledge of the waves to find where objects - and bodies - came from, or track where they've gone. 

It was a compelling read which I've just finished this morning, but I'm not 100% convinced it will make this year's shortlist. 

By then, the sun had made a brief in-between-showers appearance, so that we had no time to waste to make the day's outfit photos.

My hair, which was in need of another pampering session, was intent on doing its own thing, so I'm trying to divert your attention to my dress, a vintage Crimplene one featuring a floral pattern of pinks, plums and oranges and a row of self-fabric buttons running down to the waist.

I ditched its self-fabric tie belt for a multicoloured woven leather one picked up in a charity shop.

My necklace was charity shopped as well, while both the burnt orange cardigan (H&M) and the flower corsage pinned to it (from haberdashery and accessory shop Veritas) were old retail buys.

I will be back with slightly better weather and further gardening adventures in a couple of days.

Please do stay happy and healthy until then!

Well I wonder

How can it possibly be May already? It seems like only yesterday that this year's long awaited Spring took its first hesitant steps back in March. 

So far, the season has been one of extremes. We had a handful of days at the end of March which felt more like the height of Summer than early Spring. Then, as if at the click of the weather gods' fingers, Winter made a come-back with a string of days barely above freezing point and showers bearing flurries of snow, sleet and hail. 

April truly lived up to her reputation for fickleness, alternating sunny days with cloudy ones and the temperature going up and down like a yo-yo. Overall, it was quite a bit colder than average, the media trumpeting that it was in fact the coldest month of April since 1986.  

It's always a couple of degrees warmer in Dove Cottage's tiny walled garden, where the sun gets trapped, creating our very own micro-climate. Still, unlike last year, I was hardly in short sleeves at all, the first batch of Spring and Summer frocks in my wardrobe still waiting in vain for their first airing.

On Thursday the 22nd of April - as yes, my blog is still lagging behind - this is what I wore. Even with the temperature lingering in the low double figures, I'm still finding things to wear which hadn't yet seen the light of day. In fact, I seriously doubt that my vintage dress, with its muted brown and pink Millefleur print was worn at all since January 2019. 

I opted for lilac and pink tones for my cardigan, belt and beaded necklace, which were all charity shop finds at one time or another. The enamelled floral brooch was a flea market find, if I remember correctly.

After uploading these photos, the tights I am wearing here had me stumped, as I didn't recall wearing grey ones. They are in fact, a pair of mid-brown semi-matte 40-denier tights. I guess it must be the contrast with the chocolate ankle boots which makes them look so washed out. 

Thursdays in Spring and Summer are often synonym with a visit to the garden centre, which is exactly what we did that morning. With the extra space we created by clearing the ivy and dead wood waiting to be filled with plants, we once again made use of the garden centre's ongoing buy 5, get 1 free offer on perennials. We also picked up a bag of compost and some Begonias and Pelargoniums or annual Geraniums, the latter to replace the ones which had sadly died on us as a result of February's deep freeze temperatures .

As the weather forecast for the weekend was looking reasonably good, we decided to give my healing index finger some more rest and resume our gardening activities on Saturday.

Meanwhile, I had a bone to pick with non-ribbeting frog! His only task had been keeping an eye on the twin flowers produced by our lone Fritillary bulb. Apart from mute, he seems to be blind as well as both flowers had opened by now with the one on the left having been half-eaten by a naughty garden pest. Grrr!

If you're wondering what an old-fashioned parking meter is doing in our garden, well, we are not sure either. The thing, which was gifted to us by one of Jos's friends back in 2017, had been wasting away in our garage ever since. It dates from the late 1950s, early 1960s, and in its former life it lived on the streets of Antwerp, when 5 Belgian Francs (the equivalent of about € 0,12) paid for 30 minutes' parking.

It had always been our intention to put it in the garden, but for some reason it never happened and we'd actually quite forgotten about it by now. The space where it found its new home used to be completely overgrown with ivy. It still has to be secured properly, though, and then perhaps have some greenery planted around it.

Saturday the 24th of April was exactly as promised by the weathermen: a sunny day with highs of 15°C.

I even daringly wore short-sleeves, although I still opted for the warmth of a jumper. It is vintage C&A, and its content label mentions 30% linen alongside the usual acrylic. I love its textured ginger knit accented with a berry stripe at the sleeves. It has the same stripe at the hip-line, which obviously you cannot see as I wore it tucked into my skirt. 

Both the jumper and the skirt were Think Twice finds and it was their first outing in quite a while. Any attempts to describe the skirt's funky pattern would be futile, so I'm just letting you admire its crazy paving pattern and riot of colour.

In order to curb its collar's floppiness, I secured it with a gold-tone and purple brooch, which I offered the company of one of my mini collection of Bambi brooches, picked up from a long-gone vintage shop.

The yellow, white and orange bubble gum balls necklace came from the same shop, while both the tan belt and orange shoes were charity shop finds.

We had an extensive gardening session that morning, planting out the majority of the perennials we'd brought back from the garden centre. In the freed up border next to the bench we added Paeonia 'Bowl of Beauty', Aconitum carmichaelii 'Cloudy', Phlox 'Sweet Summer Wine' and Trollius 'Orange Princess'.

In the small, slightly sloping border above the rock garden (top left) two more alpines were added, Stachys officinalis 'Ukkie' and Saxifraga 'Purpurteppich', with two Summer flowering cottage favourites, Geum chiloense 'Mrs. Bradshaw' and Scabiosa 'Barocca', behind them.

Three shade-loving plants, a foxglove, a toad lily and a purple flowering dead nettle, were planted elsewhere. Our final task was re-potting last year's butterfly lavender in a bid to revive it (bottom left). On the top right you can see some of the Lily-of-the-valley we inherited with the garden, which keep on popping up in the most unexpected of places.

Our gardening pursuits continued on Sunday, which was still sunny but with a slight drop in temperature.

I planted up the green enamel cones hanging from the potting shed with new dark red double flowering Pelargoniums. The cones themselves are from the same vintage shop I mentioned earlier, and probably started life as lamp shades. On a roll, I also potted up the two Begonias and put them on the old chair in the passageway. The marble adorned pot behind them contains last year's toad lily, thankfully showing signs of life.

Back in long sleeves again, with a pink flower and foliage patterned dress found in a vintage per kilo shop in Antwerp several years ago. I added a cream beaded necklace and a heavy silver-tone rimmed floral brooch which doubles as a pendant. The brooch is marked 'SARAH GB' which should be one of the marks used by Sarah Coventry. Founded in 1949 by Charles Stuart, Sarah Coventry's name was the combination of his granddaughter’s first name and the town of Coventry in England—where the Stuart family had emigrated from to the US. The jewellery was sold via house parties a la Tupperware and Avon.

Further components of Sunday's outfit were one of my stretchy chevron patterned belts and a multi-coloured slubbed cardigan by Only, both of which were charity shopped. The plum coloured Hotter shoes were a € 2 flea market find back in May 2018.

Don't forget to mention me! Of course we won't, Bess, how could we!

She's currently on a voyage of discovery around the house and this morning she woke us up at an ungodly hour by chasing her tail across the bed!

Monday the 26th of April was another glorious Spring day echoing Sunday's temperature. Still quite chilly at 3°C in the early morning. I was wearing a scarf and beret but when I was waiting at the traffic lights near my office I was actually regretting not carrying a pair of gloves!

Office days usually do not get a mention here, but as it was a quiet one and the weather too good to stay indoors, I went for a walk during lunch break, making my way to Antwerp's Botanic Garden.

In spite of this little gem only being a couple of minutes' walk from Antwerp's main shopping street, it wasn't overly busy, with just a handful of people having lunch or sunbathing on its benches and diminutive main lawn. There was even an empty bench with a view to some yellow tulips.

I had a leisurely wander around admiring the Spring blooms, being particularly enamoured by the magnificent orange Fritillaria imperialis rising from a sea of acid yellow Euphorbia captured in the previous collage.

The garden holds a collection of 2000 plants, with a collection of cacti and other exotic plants in the conservatory, part of which is visible on the top left in the above collage. 

Adjacent to the street, although well below street level, is a meandering woodland path lined by bluebells and dog tooth violets (Erythronium), where it's easy to forget this is actually smack dab in the middle of a busy metropolis.

Before leaving, I briefly walked into the courtyard beyond the garden. For two years in the early 1980s, I used to go to school in the white building which backs on to it, its classrooms offering a secret view of the garden. Heady times holding poignant memories.

I'll be back within in couple of days. In the meantime, as always, please do stay safe, sane and sensational!

And Spring arose on the garden fair

If it was still a bit too chilly for the time of year, with frosty dawns and a stiff breeze, at least the sun had decided to pay us an extended visit in the weekend before last.

Now we could have done any number of things in such weather, all of which would unfortunately have required meticulous forward planning. Our first priority is to avoid crowded places, where we have to slalom through groups of people and do the Covid shuffle until we're dizzy. At the same time, we are more than just a bit bored with walking in the same places, selected for their quietness, again and again. Bored of all the regulations and limitations drowning every last bit of spontaneity.

Sometimes it's hard to recall just what the old, pre-Covid, normal was like.

So, more often than not, we stay put behind Dove Cottage's front door, which fortunately includes our very own handkerchief sized corner of heaven.

No forward planning whatsoever was involved in Saturday's outfit. Or was it? I happened upon this dress while I was making a start with my seasonal changeover the weekend before. It hadn't been worn at all this Winter and I was actually going to put it in the flea market boxes when I decided to give it one last chance.

The dress in question, its leaf-strewn vertical bands of navy, pink and red meeting chevrons in the skirt, has always been one of my favourites. Then why even consider getting rid of it you might wonder? Well, the last time I tried it on it had become far too snug on me and after closing both its side zipper and front buttons, its seams were ready to burst, which made me all but burst into tears.

I put it aside for a final try-on and mentally prepared myself for disappointment, when lo and behold: it fit me perfectly again. I could almost hear those seams sigh in relief.

I took advantage of the specks of green throughout the dress's pattern to pick green as an accent colour for my cardigan, brooch and necklace. I then had a bit of a problem finding a belt in the right shade of green and was just about to give up when I remembered this one, which belongs to a Summer dress. The dress's pinks were kept company by the two sugar pink flower corsages I pinned to my cardi.

It might not be very noticeable in the photo, but I was wearing rusty red opaques. My navy ankle boots were only worn for the photos, as I was either in my slippers or my ankle wellies all day.

Clearing the pile of dead wood as well as a considerable amount of rampant ivy did not only create additional space to add yet more plants, it also freed up the terraced edges of the sunken part in the centre of our garden. Here, Dove Cottage's original owner had lovingly created a rock garden complete with a little house and windmill, and presided over by a tacky plastic garden gnome pushing a wheelbarrow.

Some of the original planting still remained when we took over the garden, but were replaced one by one over the years, as we tried to cram in as many of our cottage garden favourites as possible. As our little plot had become quite neglected in recent years, allowing the ivy to become a huge out-of-control monster, the terraces had all but disappeared completely.

That Saturday morning, I made a start with restoring it to its former glory, planting Sedums and Sempervivums and adding pebbles, shards of terracotta pots and two stone pumpkins which I found lying around in the garden.

I was delighted to see that the one and only Fritillary bulb which had deigned to come up was bearing not one but two flower heads. Elsewhere, colour was supplied by the vibrant Pulsatilla flowers and a medley of violas and pansies.

The red Valerian (Centranthus ruber) which we planted last year is preparing to shine once more and we can be quite certain of another bumper crop of white currants.  Bluebell spikes can be glimpsed among their abundant foliage and the shed and back wall is dotted with the first of the unfurling rusty-red lacquered Virginia creeper leaves.

"And Spring arose on the garden fair,

Like the Spirit of Love felt everywhere;

And each flower and herb on Earth's dark breast

rose from the dreams of its wintry rest."

-  Percy Bysshe Shelley, The Sensitive Plant 

Garden pursuits finished, it was time for lunch, after which I traipsed upstairs to catch up with blogland. Meanwhile, Jos was due at the vaccination centre, where everything went like clockwork. As luck would have it, he was even able to see his granddaughter Saar, who is volunteering at the centre.

As instructed, Jos took a paracetamol as soon as he got home and another one before going to bed that night, and we are happy to report that he did not suffer from any side effects whatsoever.

As usual, our Saturday night plan was to watch one of our extensive collection of crime series DVD's. After recently finishing the latest series of Vera, we decided to re-watch the whole series from the beginning.  Unfortunately, our DVD player - an ancient thing we inherited from my Dad - refused to cooperate. It had been playing up since a couple of weeks, taking several attempts to read a DVD. This time, however, we had to admit defeat after half an hour of fruitless attempts. Instead, we read and listened to our DAB+ radio before retiring for the night.

Sunday was another gorgeously sunny day, the mercury climbing to 14°C.

The perfect weather to continue with the garden jobs, if it weren't for my right index finger, which I'd sprained a while ago and was now quite sore after all the strain I'd put it under on Saturday.

Instead, I just sat there looking longingly at the plants we'd brought back from the garden centre and feeling quite sorry for myself, until Jos suggested he'd to do the digging and planting while I supervised. Obviously, that was fine by me!

That meant I didn't even have to change into proper gardening gear.

The starting point for that day's outfit was the skirt, a handmade affair in a crepey fabric with a swishy lining, picked up at Think Twice many moons ago. I suspect it is 1980s although its print is doing its utmost to look as if it came straight from the 1950s.

The frilly blouse with its galaxy of hearts, stars and flowers, which sports a Kookai label, was charity shopped last September.

The crochet belt was a post Lockdown I sales bargain, while the Cameo brooch was a flea market find. More crochet appears in the necklace - another charity shop find - which I've worn on the blog many times before and surely needs no further introduction.

The tree trunk is all that remains of the deceased Lilac. Too big to chop up for council collection with the tools at Jos's disposal, we decided to make a feature of it and put it in an upright position in the corner, to be used as a frame for the herbaceous Clematis jouiniana ‘Mrs. Robert Brydon’ to climb upon. Mrs B. is kept company by the bottom half of poor plaster Venus, victim of a March storm.

The plant on the bottom right is Achillea ptarmica 'The Pearl', Wikipedia tells me its common names include sneezewort, sneezeweed, bastard pellitory, European pellitory, fair-maid-of-France, goose tongue, sneezewort yarrow, wild pellitory, and white tansy. Some of which I like better than others!

We also planted Geranium 'Tiny Monster' and Polemonium caeruleum or Jacob's Ladder.

We're conveniently skipping Monday's office day to arrive on Tuesday the 20th of April. Gloriously sunny and with the temperature soaring to an almost unheard of 17°C, it would once again have been a day made for gardening. Naughty index finger, however, was still giving me gyp. 

Instead, we made a trip to the nearby town of Mortsel for the purchase of a new DVD player, or rather, Blu-Ray player. As we were still in semi-lockdown, shopping in non-essential shops was only possible by appointment. However, this particular one allowed people to just turn up and queue. As luck would have it, we were the only customers and were soon helped by a friendly and very knowledgeable young man.

I was surprised to see that I only wore this skirt, found at Think Twice in February 2018, less than two months ago. With its symphony of olive, burnt orange, magenta and bright blue flowers, I could have picked any of these colours to accompany it, but often gravitate towards blue. This time, it found its perfect match in the blue of this three-quarter sleeved top, which was still airing after its last wear on the 1st of January!

The eagle-eyed among those who've clicked the link might have noticed that I was wearing the same necklace back then as well. The stretchy belt with its multi-coloured round plastic buckle is an old retail buy, as is the chartreuse cardigan. Both bangles were charity shop finds.

As neither of them were caught on camera properly, I made flat-lay close-ups of both the brooch and the ring. The brooch was picked up at an outdoor flea market. If I remember correctly, I only paid € 1 for it, and its cost per wear must be down to mere cents by now, as I have been wearing it quite a lot over the years. The glass ring was a high street buy.

I'm doing a mini Sheila style flashback on the skirt here. There's only about five months between the two photos. Apart from confirming that indeed blue is often the skirt's companion colour,  I am struck by how much my hair has grown in that short space of time. The photo on the left dates from the 1st of October while the one on the right was taken at the end of February. I'd just been to the hairdresser's the day before on both occasions! 

Obviously, I couldn't say goodbye for now without updating you on our lovely Bess's progress.

She is becoming more adventurous and affectionate by the minute. In fact, neither Phoebe nor her predecessor Poesie were ever as fond of petting as she is. Picture this: you have to go to the bathroom during the night and are being followed by a cat who constantly winds herself around your legs, then, purring loudly, lies herself down at your feet until you're finished, demanding cuddles at all times!

Look at that cute little face, and the rusty spot on top of her head. As this is where the petting first started, we are calling this her on/off button!

So, that's it for now. Until next time, please do stay healthy and happy!