For when she thought of Summer rain

Ah, Summer rain! It does come in all shapes and sizes, ranging from a gentle morning shower to an electrifying thunderstorm at the end of a string of sizzling hot days. But Summer rain can be relentless too, bucketing down from a granite grey sky with no sign of letting up for days on end. If it weren't for nature's general verdancy, it could just as well be Autumn on days like these. 

Umbrellas are permanently wet and sandals have to be put on the back burner in favour of last season's boots. The garden has taken a bashing, and some of my beloved plants have collapsed under the watery onslaught, their horizontal positions providing an easy meal for slugs and snails.

And yet, who are we to complain? This is a tiny cross to bear compared with the severe flooding which is currently hitting Belgium's southern regions, the Liège area in particular. Record rainfall made rivers and streams burst their banks, the resulting flash floods causing cars and everything else to be swept away in their wake and buildings collapse. Hundreds of people had to be evacuated from their flooding homes - some of them having to wait for help after having climbed upon their roofs - and at the time of writing the death toll has reached at least 20, whilst searches are ongoing for at least another 20 missing people, And it's even far, far worse across the border in Germany ...

But all that was still in the future on Thursday, the 1st of July, my final Thursday of freedom.

Grey skies reigned throughout the day but, ever thankful for small mercies, it remained mostly dry. At a measly 17°C, however, it didn't feel like July and, as you can see, it was another one of those ankle boots rather than sandals day.

The dress I was wearing is Finnish vintage and an old Think Twice find. Being short-sleeved, it needed a cardigan worn on top, which due to the dress's complicated turned up cuffs made my upper arms look like the Michelin man's. Of course, I only realized how bad it was after I'd uploaded the photos (*roll eyes*).

At first sight, the dress's pattern consists of a blowsy floral pattern, its main colours being a rich chocolate brown and a fudgy orange. Look closer, however, and you'll find the odd splash of green, which I made use of for my cardigan, beaded necklace, bracelet and transluscent neon green perspex ring. My brooch's green background is decorated with icing-like fudgy flowers and tiny white pearls.

Fudge appears again in my belt - which replaces the dress's tie belt - and slim plastic bracelet, which is accompanied by a slightly wider orange one.

With the weather not much to write home about, we ran some errands, one of which brought us to the outskirts of the town of Mechelen. Here, we hopped into the local charity shop, which we hadn't been to for well over a year, ever since our our last visit - post Lockdown I - turned out to be fraught with obstacles. Not being too busy, we could browse at ease, but apart from this groovily patterned long-sleeved top, nothing caught mine or Jos's eye.

After lunch and taking the obligatory outfit photos, we did some garden chores, cutting back the wilted Red Valerian, Heuchera and Delphinium flower spikes to encourage new growth.

A pink self-seeded Foxglove has made itself at home among the luxuriant planting in one of the borders along the garden path, attracting the local population of bumble bees, as do both the 'Tiny Monster' and 'Rozanne' hardy Geranium varieties.

Keeping one eye on the weather, under gardener Jos was contemplating head gardener Ann's handiwork among the tapestry of cottage garden plants in front of the bench.

Raindrops are caught between the feathery fern fronds (top right). They too have to be kept in check to keep them from smothering the smaller plants they are towering over.

I'm delighted by one of this year's additions, Jacob's Ladder or Polemonium caeruleum (bottom right), its almost fern-like foliage providing almost as much interest as its dainty yet sturdy and certainly plentiful lavender flowers. The plant earned its common name due to the rung-like arrangement of its leaves, which rise along the stem like the ladder of the Biblical dream of Jacob.

After a cloudy start on Friday - an office day - we got sunshine in the early afternoon, and highs of 23°C. The gorgeous Summer weather combined with the start of the sales, had made people flock to Antwerp, and its streets were chock-a-block when  I made my way to our pick-up point after work.

Waiting for Jos to arrive, I rolled my eyes at the number of people who were either not wearing a mask at all or wearing one the wrong way. As usual, there were quite a lot of "bearded ladies", which is my nickname for women wearing their masks under their chins. A great look it isn't :-)

Bess is becoming ever more daring and adventurous. She seems to love watching things from  vertiginous heights. We'd caught her sitting upon the Bakelite 1950s radio which is gracing the top of our beloved 1930s cabinet, holding our breaths when she decided to jump off again.

Things came to a head on Friday night, when she went one step further, jumping from the cabinet on to the Billy bookcases. As we feared for our precious Idina's life - she's the hat wearing 1930s plaster mannequin - we rescued her and gave her a new home among the mantelpiece and wall of heads in the blue room.

A mostly cloudy and humid day awaited us on Saturday, its temperature feeling quite a bit warmer than its 24°C highs. 

This coral Diolen frock shouted the loudest when I opened my wardrobe doors, so that I decided to give it its annual outing. You can find some of its previous wears here (September 2020), here (July 2019) and here (May 2016).

Yet again proof that I'm a creature of habit, as I've been wearing shades of blue with it each and every time. I've actually diverted a bit from the norm here, opting for turquoise, which I picked for my belt, brooch, ring and one of my bangles. The latter is joined by two flower patterned wooden ones.

The necklace, which is one of my favourites and features multi-coloured wooden rings and discs, has been making regular appearances on the blog. It was bought retail, from Accessorize, back in the mists of time.

My tomato red sandals were a retail buy too, bought in last Summer's sales in a local shoe shop.

Rain was forecasted for the afternoon, but eventually held off until early evening. With the weather too uncertain for a ramble of any length, we opted for a visit to the garden centre instead.

Now that bedding plant season was well and truly over, we thought we'd risk it on a Saturday, and indeed it was an oasis of quiet.

We had a wander around and, apart from the metal plant stakes we had come for in the first place, we couldn't resist taking home some more plants. These included another Salvia, a yellow Snapdragon and some small flowered Tagetes. To add interest in the passageway, we also snapped up two shade loving Astilbes, also known as false goat's beard.

The mosaic solar light and the tiny snippers - perfect for deadheading - landed in our trolley as well.

We couldn't wait for darkness to fall that night to see the solar light in action, but our patience was amply rewarded, as it is really quite magical, never mind the rain.

After a reasonably sunny wake-up on Sunday, we once again found our plans for going for a walk thwarted by the weather forecast, which was predicting horrific weather from 1 pm onwards.

The temperature hovered in the low 20s, which was just right for the outfit I had in mind, combining two of my recent finds.

The 1970s chocolate brown polka dot cotton wrap skirt was a Think Twice sales bargain back in May, and as soon as I brought he charity shopped H&M blouse home in June, I just knew they would be a match made in heaven.

More often than not, outfits planned in one's head can be quite disappointing in real life. Not this time, though, it was every bit as wonderful as I'd imagined. The only gripe I had with it was that the blouse kept escaping from my skirt, even after I'd belted the latter, and tucked the former firmly into my knickers! 

I kept the colour palette fairly neutral, adding an oatmeal stretchy belt, a cream oval brooch depicting a brown bonneted girl and a dark brown, polished wood necklace.

My tan sling-back shoes are vintage and found at a flea market several years ago.

My pale pink bracelet is an old H&M buy, while the rosewood flower patterned bangle was part of a charity shop haul in October 2019.

I was feeling a bit maudlin as that day would mark the end of my days of semi-leisure, and I wasn't exactly looking forward to the working week, even if it was only a 4-day one.

But more about the week ahead in my next post.

With the Delta variant on the rise, I'm urging you once again to stay safe, wherever you are.

See you next time!

For old times' sake

At the time of writing, I've survived my first week back in full-time employment and am about to embark on my second one.  Nevertheless, it hasn't been smooth sailing, as on most days I arrived home with little energy to spare, wondering how I coped before Covid put our lives upside down.

The weather put in its two pennies's worth too, by being moody and distinctly unsummery, but the frequent showers were a blessing in disguise as it meant the garden only required a minimum amount of watering. 

I doggedly kept going, as not only could I see my free Friday dangling as a carrot in front of me, there was the extra excitement of my second jab on Friday night. More of that later, but I can already tell you that I didn't suffer any adverse effects to speak of.

For the sake of my blog, I am taking up where I left off, returning to the 27th of June, which happened to be the month's final Sunday.

The day started with weak sunshine interspersed with cloudy episodes. The thermometer indicated highs of  26°C, which came accompanied by lots of humidity.

Looking through my wardrobe for a lightweight frock, I was drawn to the green leafy pattern of this vintage Casualmaker by Sy Frankl one. With its satiny fabric and unusual tie collar, not to mention - oh joy of joys! - its pockets, it's a favourite which has been gracing my wardrobe for many years.

Trawling through my blog, I have to admit to being a creature of habit, as I don't think I've ever worn it with a different colour than pink! I'm even wearing the same belt here as I did when I last wore the dress in September 2020.

Luckily, this is where all similarities end, as instead of a more sugary pink palette, I now opted for cerise for my butterfly brooch and beaded necklace, and even threw in some ruby red for my ring and bracelet. The latter was joined by an emerald green Bakelite bangle. My feet were happy in a pair of charity shopped ruby red suede shoes. Not that I wore these for long, as we didn't leave Dove Cottage's confines all day.

After breakfast, we filled in our tax return, after which I washed my hair and repaired a split seam in one of my dresses. 

Inspecting the garden, I was happy to see that the first of the Malva flowers (top right) had opened, with many more to follow. The tiny splash of orange above the garden angel on the bottom left is the precious Welsh poppy. Unfortunately, it didn't survive for long enough to take any close-up photos. 

Another sight for sore eyes was the first of the Clematis viticella 'Etoile Violette' flowers (top right). Planted many years ago to grow up an wooden structure which has long since collapsed, it really is a garden superhero, hanging on in the face of adversity. Its deep violet colour never fails to delight me. 

Verbena rigida (top left) seems to be thrown off guard by the unexpected exuberance of its neighbours Malva and Red Valerian, as it isn't flowering as abundantly as it did last year. 

Another perennial which joined us last year is Potentilla 'Miss Willmott' (bottom left). It is regaling us with a succession of delicious pink flowers, with Gaillardia (bottom right) following closely on its heels as it is getting ready for a repeat of last year's fireworks.

A major relaxation of the rules meant that it was a red letter day for Belgium that Sunday, increasing the number of people we can invite into our homes, relaxing the rules for cafés and restaurants which can now stay open until 1 am, and shopping no longer requiring specific restrictions on numbers. There's a lot more of course, but I've long since given up on keeping track of it all. 

Nothing much will change for us for the time being, at least not until the 2-week safety period after my second jab has expired. In the meantime, we started browsing holiday brochures for our little getaway in the first week of August. A pleasurable pastime while we were treated to forecasted heavy rains from late afternoon onwards, 

Monday, the start of my final 3-day working week, was a bit of a dismal day, in spite of it being on and off sunny and reaching about 23°C.

Due to the relaxation of rules, as well as the end of the school year, it was very busy in Antwerp. Almost as if Corona no longer exists, which of course it does, especially with the Delta variant on the loose. 

Making the most of my final Tuesday off, as well as the weather which was another mixture of sunshine and clouds, we once again opted to combine a rummage in the charity shops with a walk in the park.

With the temperature still hovering in the low twenties, it was the perfect opportunity to give my recently charity shopped watercolour print skirt its first outing.

Needless to say, it offered a choice of colours for the rest of my outfit, but you know me, if there's green among the options, that's what I'm going for. The sailor style short-sleeved jumper is from Belgian retro label Who's That Girl by way of the charity shops.

The white and blue enamelled sailing boat brooch was the obvious choice to adorn the jumper, while I continued playing with a navy and white colour palette for the rest of my accessories. The Delft tile style ceramic beaded bracelet was joined by a plastic one in the same shade of green as the jumper. 

The navy flapper style shoes are one of my most comfortable pairs for Summer, and it will be a sad day when I finally have to say goodbye to them. Happily, they are still in good nick, so hopefully that day won't be anytime soon.

Once upon a time, a pre- or post-charity shop walk in this park was one of our regular Saturday outings, but although we have been back here a handful of times, it never felt quite the same as before.

Still, walking its lushly bordered winding paths, breathing in the scents of Summer foliage and seeing the antics of the waterfowl - this white goose's morning workout had me in stitches - almost felt like old times.

It didn't exactly look like old times, though! Many years ago, I used to admire the imaginatively planted borders surrounding the pond with its rustic stone fountain. The latter is now hidden behind a bank of rampant weeds and water plants (below, top right) and emitting only a trickle of water from its clogged-up spout. 

Here and there, a sad and forlorn looking flower is trying to vie for attention, going largely unnoticed, a sudden flash of colour if you happen to look its way.

The obvious neglect predates Covid, but it has all but turned into wilderness now. We've often picnicked here, savouring the park's sensory delights from one of its benches, but sitting here now (top left) would almost certainly result in nettle rash. 

My hair must have been sympathizing with the state of the park, as it was looking quite wild and unkempt too. Not caused by neglect, I hasten to add, but rather the result of a trying on session in the charity shop that morning. I have picked the best of the bunch here!

The weather had warmed up enough by now to go without my jacket. This navy one with its Springlike bouquets of Tulips and Lily-of-the-valley, is originally from Zara but was found in a charity shop in Welshpool during our last UK holiday all of two years ago, in June 2019.

A surprise awaited us when we got home, as apparently Bess has a suitor!

We regularly spotted this neighbourhood tabby in our garden over the years, but he always took a fright and ran off as soon as he spotted us. Now he's paying daily visits, sitting on the kitchen or dining room window ledge in the hope of catching a glimpse of Bess. They seem to be on friendly terms, although Bess often chooses to ignore him altogether.

After this post's Bess update, it's time to show you what I found in the charity shop. The shop we visited is in the neighbouring town of Duffel and it's the famous three-floored one.

While Jos was perusing the first floor which has everything including the proverbial kitchen sink, I happily browsed the rails of the clothing and textiles basement.

Dove grey and pink might not be the colours I usually go for, but there was no way I could leave this handkerchief collared and ditto sleeved dress behind. It's got one of those care home labels ironed inside and I'm thinking that its former owner, who was called Lucie, was one stylish lady.

The brand label mentions SEIBU with some unidentified signs on its back. When I googled this, it turns out that SEIBU is a Japanese department store, and I found an image of their logo, with has the identical Japanese signs! Of course, my imagination has been making overtime, mulling over how this Japanese dress ended up in the charity shop of a humdrum town in Belgium!

My second find, which was another dress, isn't nearly as exotic, as it's from Zara! I simply couldn't resist the Broderie Anglaise, and I cannot wait to wear it out and about when it's warm enough to do so.

The blue you can see peeking through the eyelets in the close-up photo is Angelica's body shining through!

My final finds were this Indian cotton ruffle hemmed maxi skirt strewn with pink flowers and a funky short-sleeved floral top by Danish label ICHI. 

I've already got an ICHI top (this one), and as it's a delight to wear, this one was a no-brainer. It was a perfect fit except for the sleeves, which were a bit tight. I managed to solve this by moving the buttons about a centimeter. The top initially had plain black buttons decorating the wavy side-flap, but unfortunately three of them were missing. This was easily remedied by replacing them with transluscent orange ones from my stash of vintage buttons.

So, this is it for now. I'm going to mentally prepare myself for the new working week, which mercifully will also be a 4-day one. In the meantime, please do stay safe and, if at all possible, sane and sensational too.

The shackles of time

As from this week, I'm back to working full-time which, after 15 months of reduced hours, only working 2 days a week at first and switching to 3 days in March, is quite a blow to the system!  And while I have to admit that part of me is glad to be going back to some kind of normal, as the on-off working weeks were doing my head in, I am mourning the loss of my temporary freedom from the shackles of time. 

Nevertheless, there is one silver lining that keeps me from being too down in the dumps about it all. As I've still got a lot of vacation days left over from last year, my boss and I have agreed that I'll be taking Fridays off and work only 4-day weeks until they've all been consumed. By then, we'll be well into Autumn, but God knows I'll need that time to once again adjust to a more hectic pace of life. 

Taking advantage of my penultimate free Thursday on the 24th of June, we decided to combine a charity shopping trip with a walk and a picnic in the park. 

At 20° Celsius and mainly dry, it was forecasted to be the best day of the week. The sun was rumoured to make an appearance, but if she did, it must have been only briefly, and I might have blinked my eyes and missed it. Whatever the case, I thought it was the perfect occasion to give my recently charity shopped brick red denim Zara skirt its first outing.

After our visit to an out-of-the way charity shop we hadn't been to for at least 18 months, we braved weekday traffic complete with road diversions and stopped for a breather at the park in Boom.

On one of our last visits, almost exactly a year ago to the day, we wanted to explore the town end of the park with its series of ornamental ponds decorated with bronze sculptures. However, disappointingly, we found our access barred as restoration works were in progress.

It was therefore with some trepidation that we once again made our way up, finding much to our delight that restoration of the sculpture garden had by now been completed.

The park itself was laid out in 1928, a green lung for the town which at that time was the centre of the area's flourishing brick-making industry. Three years later, the modernist water garden with its bronze sculptures by well-known Flemish artists such as George Minne and Rik Wouters, was added as its crowning glory. 

Apart from two young women enjoying their lunch break on one of the incorporated brick benches, the garden was empty, so that we and our camera had it mostly to ourselves.

Unfortunately, I had to make do with the limitation of my phone's camera, as we'd forgotten to bring along our DSLR, but I have to say that I'm rather pleased with the results!

The restored gardens were re-opened to the public in September 2020, but sadly this Spring, the three sculptures on their brick plinth, which are guarding the park's main entrance, were defaced by graffiti.

 Horrified, the local residents took matters into their own hands, organizing a group of ten people (the maximum allowed number at the time) to clean off the offending things.

The moody sky was the perfect framework for the water garden's stark and streamlined shapes, which were softened by the wildflowers allowed to run free in the grassy beds, where waterfowl were taking their afternoon naps.

The Art-Deco building glimpsed in the far distance on the bottom left is Jos's old school, which was built between 1926 and 1930 and which, together with the park and the adjacent garden district, was part of the same post-war urban planning project.

The details captured on the top left and bottom right were taken on last year's visit.

Speaking of details, here's a closer look at my outfit, minus the jacket, which was last worn here.

The ruffled, abstract floral cotton blouse was a charity shop find back in April 2019. It's from Gigue, and was an absolute bargain at € 4 as the original retail price must have been in excess of € 100. The red in its print almost but not quite matches the skirt. As it plunged too deeply for my liking, I pinned it with one of my Miracle brooches. 

Further accessories were a mottled blue beaded necklace and one of my stretchy belts, the blue and red in its round multicoloured buckle tying in with the rest of my outfit.

Oh, and before I forget, here are the things I found at the charity shop that morning. 

The shop has always been a bit hit or miss, and this time once again pickings were rather meagre. Nevertheless I was quite pleased with these super comfortable leather block-heeled T-bar shoes from the French Westerly label.

The crepe like fabric of this button-less jacket initially made me suspect it was vintage, but then I spotted the Zoë Loveborn label, a retro brand which used to be sold in a Belgian high street shop. Quite a few of their garments - the vast majority charity shopped - are gracing my wardrobe.

As the quality and condition were superb, and the fit perfect, it goes without saying that I didn't hesitate in taking it to the checkout. I got Angelica to do the honours, and here she is wearing it with my first ever King Louie dress, bought in the sales while on holiday in Ypres in September 2012. One which is  long overdue an outing!

Swiftly skipping a nondescript Friday office day, we've now arrived on June's final Saturday. 

The day's 23°C were strangely at odds with the cloudy sky, which kept us company until late afternoon. That morning, I'd jolted awake in the middle of one of those strangely distorted dreams, which left me with a slight headache and feeling a bit out of sorts.

Scanning my wardrobe's rails my eye was caught by one of my favourite maxi skirts, which nevertheless I was shocked to find I hadn't worn since our last UK holiday in 2019. Here I'm wearing it on a glorious day out with Vix and Jon, and here one week later, for a shopping trip to Shrewsbury.

This time, it got the company of a vintage blouse I charity shopped last Summer, but hadn't yet worn. It turned out it matches the blue flowers in my skirt exactly. 

To tie in with the yellows of the skirt, I pinned a pale yellow cat brooch to the blouse, and accented my waist with a marigold belt. The belt, wicker bangles and necklace were all charity shop finds.

Looking through the kitchen window, my heart made a little leap of joy when I spotted the Welsh poppy (Meconopsis cambrica, top left), which seemed to have furtively popped up overnight. Although at the time of writing its one and only flower has come and gone, and there isn't any sign of additional buds, further inspection revealed at least four other Welsh poppies in various places in the garden. Good news, as they've been conspicuous in their absence for a couple of years!

There's no stopping the Nasturtiums once they've started blooming, and it's lovely to see all the different colours, ranging from the palest yellow to a deep, fiery red. 

Apart from these, which were grown from seed this Spring, self-seeded ones from last Summer's climbing variety keep popping up with alarming regularity, and as their leaves tend to become as big as saucers they do need to be kept in check to prevent them from smothering their fellow plants.

Look at those two Nasties who have made it their mission to grow through the slats of our bench!

I do love this little corner where, apart from the omnipresent Nasturtiums, Salvias nemerosa  'Caradonna' and microphylla 'Hot Lips' and Achillea ptarmica 'The Pearl' are living happily side by side.

I'm loving how lush the garden is but I'm fully aware of the fact that it's a thin line between this and the jungle it usually turns into over the Summer months. 

It really is a matter of not letting the heart rule the mind and thus to wield the secateurs on a regular basis. That's if the weather doesn't throw a spanner in the works and turns it into a swamp rather than a jungle.

As I was having a bad case of the jitters and feeling a bit down in the dumps, we started talking about going away for a couple of days once the two-week waiting period after my second jab has passed. As we would be in the middle of high season by then, we decided to take the bull by the horns and grabbed the last available room at our favourite B&B near Bruges in the first week of August. 

It'll be a wrench to leave this one on her own for the first time, though!

Until next time, do stay safe everyone.

 

Should we talk about the weather?

As in most countries with temperate climates, moaning about the weather is a national pastime in Belgium.  And I'm guilty as charged, as I don't particularly care for weather that's too hot or too wet, nor am I a fan of snow and ice, all of which offer plenty of moaning opportunities.

Take Summer weather, for instance. In my book, the perfect Summer's day is a sunny one, with the temperature not exceeding 25°C and a light shower overnight to keep the garden happy. Surely that's not too much to ask?

The official Summer season being imminent on Sunday the 20th of June, the day was almost but not quite perfect. Initially overcast, there were sunny spells as the day progressed, reaching highs of about 24°C.

I'd already worn one of my favourite Summer dresses to work on Friday but, after a day's airing, I decided to wear it again that Sunday before chucking it into the laundry basket.

This sleeveless cotton shirt dress with its funky floral pattern was a Think Twice sales bargain back in June 2017. When I walked into the shop wearing it a couple of days later, I was stopped by a lady who told me she'd been dithering over the dress but didn't buy it as she didn't have a clue how to style it! Well, what can I say but that I'm glad she put it back. It just had to be mine, as its former owner was an Ann(e) too. Anne K Lindefjell, to be exactly, so I'm guessing she was either Norse or Swedish. 

With its different shades of green, and dashes of orange and pink, I actually think its's a doddle to style. 

This time, the starring role went to orange, which I added with a vintage necklace, a vinyl, half-elasticated belt and a polka dot cardigan. The latter two were once bought on the high street but have more than earned their keep in my wardrobe by now.  Oh, and I almost forgot to mention my orange shoes, which were a charity shop find.

The green swallows-in-flight brooch is modern and was bought in a lovely shop called Mundos on Cardigan High Street during one of our Welsh holidays.

It was the sudden drop in temperature - coming down from the low thirties - which made me grab for the cardigan to cover my bear arms. That, and the copious amount of rain which had fallen overnight, and which had left quite a bit of dampness in its wake.

The garden had received a thorough drenching and some of our plants were in desperate need of a helping hand. Swathes of Nepeta had flopped across the garden path and needed staking (top left), as did the pink Foxglove which was lying horizontally on a bed of Geranium sanguineum. I also gave a gentle push into the right direction to the herbaceous Clematis 'Mrs. Robert Brydon', who was refusing to grow towards the dead wood climbing structure we'd provided it with (bottom right).

Something old, something new! The old being our faithful Hydrangeas and the curry plant (Helichrysum italicum) which, after a year of dormancy, is now regaling us with clusters of bright yellow flowers.

New to our garden are Achillea ptarmica 'The Pearl' (top left), which turned out to be an absolute delight with its informal heads of lacy, button-like white daisies, as well as the two-tone pink Lupines, which have produced several flower spikes. Behind the Lupines looms Malva alcea 'Fastigiata', bought as a tiny scrap of a plant last Summer. Now it is absolutely huge and brimming with the promise of dozens of flowers.

I needed to stake Geranium 'Rozanne' as well, to give some breathing space to the woolly Lamb's Ear leaves (Stachys byzantina) growing underneath.  On its right, Helenium 'The Bishop' will soon provide delicious colour contrast.

We had some adulting to do that day, including applying for a free parking permit, as our street will soon become a restricted parking zone. I'm notoriously bad at adulting, I should add, always have and always will be, but quite often needs must. 

That finished, Jos discovered that the submersible pump in our basement had given up the ghost.

As our washing machine is in the basement, Jos has devised a clever construction to pump up the waste water to street level and, as we'd just done a load of washing, we were lucky our basement wasn't flooded! Obviously, Jos wasted no time in driving down to the DIY store to buy a new one, which was promptly installed. 

More adulting and more than enough to be the cause of the dreaded Sunday blues!

On Monday, the official start of Summer, we woke up to rain, which lasted for most of the day and came accompanied with a drop in temperature to 18°C. The upside was that we didn't have to water the garden, leaving me with plenty of time to catch up with blogland.

More of the same weather on Tuesday, too wet and cold to even contemplate any outdoor activities.

It was, however, the perfect weather for one of my beloved Diolen frocks and, as the day definitely needed brightening up, I opted for this mustard yellow one sprinkled with white, green and orange flowers. We were halfway through our photo session when Jos noticed that I wasn't wearing my necklace!

Again, I picked orange for some of my accessories, which included said necklace - which I'd quickly retrieved from upstairs - and a vintage flower brooch, a charity shop and flea market find respectively.

A green belt was added at my waist, and a green cardigan layered on top. On my feet, the green suede ankle boots I charity shopped a couple of months ago.

Speaking of charity shops, with anything outdoorsy ruled out, this is where we were headed to. The charity shopping gods must have taken pity on us, as we were amply rewarded.

On our return, however, we noticed that the tangle of ivy, Winter jasmine and Clematis growing up the wall above the rock garden had taken a bit of a tumble. This called for emergency measures, so we cut back armfuls of the rampant climbers in the pouring rain, taking care not to damage the Clematis which had deigned to grow flower buds in the face of neglect.

There, much better, although it needs neatening once the weather stays dry for long enough.

And now, without further ado, here's what I found in the charity shops that day. 

First up are these two knee-length skirts, which are both lined and label-less. In the meantime, I already wore the one on the left, with its painterly watercolour print

Both these tops are modern. The green plaid-patterned one on the left is ... you guessed it ... King Louie, while the jewel coloured long-sleeved one with its sweetheart neckline is from retro label Zoë Loveborn.

This gauzy, lined maxi skirt is modern as well, originating from that quintessential high street shop, C&A, still going strong here in Belgium. It's a tiny bit too long for vertically challenged me so I'll have to wear a bit of a heel with it.

If you think this is another maxi skirt, well, you're wrong! It's a pair of palazzo trousers! The background colour is a deep bottle green, which was very hard to catch on camera. I fell head over heels for its colour and yellow, white and grey Dahlia pattern and was overjoyed to find it was my size.

One of the first things I pulled from the rails was this handmade cotton jumpsuit which, in spite of initial doubts, turned out to be a perfect fit. It's gloriously slouchy, with an elasticated waist and pockets! 

It looked totally rubbish when I photographed it on a hanger, and as it's not exactly a garment I can put on "legless" Angelica, there was nothing for it but to showcase it myself. As it was only 15°C at the time, I'm sure you'll appreciate the effort and dedication.

Last but not least are these orange and red Spanish made sandals. They are ridiculously comfortable to wear but, again, they will have to wait for their first outing until Summer is back on track. Brr, it did feel more like mid-Autumn these last couple of days!

If the temperature has been quite sub-standard, here's something to warm your hearts!

She might look like butter wouldn't melt, but she's the devil in disguise ...

I'm wishing you all a wonderful weekend, whatever your up to, and surely I don't have to remind you to stay healthy and happy!