Have you noticed that the autumn fashion is all about dark colours? Black, grey, brown, burgundy and blue. That’s it. For a bright colour lover like me, this is agony. Which is why when I saw this lime green jumper in a shop window, I was drawn to it like a moth to a flame. I was shopping with Susan (Une Femme & Susan Blakey) on her visit to Haarlem and we were both disappointed by the lack of colour.

At first I thought the lime green jumper would not be for me as it is wool but there is also silk and cashmere in it. Perhaps that is why it isn’t itchy as I feared it would be. Because the shape is very ordinary, nothing edgy or arty in sight, I hesitated. Adding the scarf (same material, same brand) created a more nonchalant look and I went for it.

Below: I even added a yellow necklace which I had ‘created’ in a bead shop about 10 years ago and only wore once. I ‘designed’ it and the shop assistant strung the beads. When it was finished I thought it was dowdy. Nothing exciting. Designing jewellery is something I should not do. I haven’t got that kind of creativity. But I liked it together with the scarf and jumper.

I was in town with Arine and after we had lunch at Le Petit Café, she took photos of me.

Below: Arine. (You saw this photo last week as well.)

The restaurant is situated in the same building as the best book shop in Haarlem (De Vries Van Stockum). The restaurant area used to be part of the book shop but as more and more business is being done online, the book shop needed less store space.

Below: Now take a good look at the pocket area of the trousers…

Below: Many photos including the one above, showed that I had not tucked back the pockets. The lining was showing. Quite a horrible sight. Arine is scheduled for cataract surgery so she didn’t see the bulging pocket linings haha. I decided to try my hand at photoshop editing and what do you know? I fixed it quite reasonably.

Below: The trousers and combat boots have to take away some of the dowdiness of the jumper. I still like it because of its colour and because it is snuggly warm.

Below: To add some more interest to the outfit, I added brown bracelets. I have about 35 inexpensive bracelets in all sorts of material and wear them in different combinations.

Below: We arrived at a pretty area called Prinsenhof which houses a secondary school in historical buildings. Unfortunately for us, school was over and the place was crowded with students, blocking the historical sights. This big old tree provided one of the few background opportunities. By this time I had put the lining back into my pockets.

Below: This statue from 1973 at Prinsenhof is called De Muziek (The Music) by sculptor Mari Andriessen (1897-1979) showing two female figures in bronze.

Below: The doors (windows?) of this building are beautiful so we used them as backdrop. Wearing my brown braided leather jacket I bought last year. I still love it.

Below: A head to toe shot of Arine. She is a bit shy having her photo taken but did comply. She is the woman who did the art direction and typesetting for Ron’s booklet. A good friend.

Below: Some architecture. The Saint Bavo church in Haarlem has been on my blog several times, but it remains a sight to see.

What happened in my life this week

I met Marita for coffee and cake. We tried a new to us place, Coffee Habits but were bitterly disappointed. Very little places to sit and terrible cappuccino. We did see a sweet doggie.

Below: Rasta doggie. The owner said that if you leave her fur and not cut it, it will turn rasta. I thought it looked good but have no idea what the dog thinks of it. She looked happy.

We decided to go to a place where we would be certain of a good cappuccino, Metzo. As they do a lovely pastel de nata (a traditional Portuguese egg custard tart) we had that as well. And the world was all good again.

Below: Marita in a magenta jumpsuit, looking fabulous.

We said goodbye and went our separate ways. Then I decided to say hello to Marcella of Lara Design as her shop is just around the corner of Metzo. Sure enough, when I walked in, Marita was there, buying a new pair of earrings. The three of us had a good laugh.

On Monday I had a good time at my friend Marianne’s, chatting and drinking coffee. Forgot to take a photo. Sorry, I was in the moment as social media characters call it.

Below: I can show what I wore visiting Marianne. A black blazer and black flared trousers, both by Joseph. It isn’t the same fabric, but it is the same deep colour black, making the outfit look like a suit. Because I thought the outfit was rather severe, I softened it with jewellery. More is more seem to be in fashion this season thanks to Dries van Noten, although he would never use black clothes. The small scarf is a present from Marjolein, the necklace with the big pearl is vintage, the pearl necklace around my neck is real and I inherited it from my mum.

Marjolein and I did another photo shoot for the blog and of course had a good laugh too. You’ll see the result in a couple of weeks.

On Wednesday I saw Lia, my friend since our school days. She spends summers travelling with her husband in their camper, so we caught up now that the weather has turned colder. Over the years, we’ve visited Paris twice, London, Copenhagen, Barcelona, Rome and Milan together. My lovely husband paid for these weekend trips as birthday presents. We were younger and richer then! I made a small, printed photo album of each trip to keep the memories alive.

Below: Lia. And this is her own hair colour; unbelievable at the age of 72.

Below: I wore this outfit to Lia. Nearly the same as in the original post but with more lime accessories and with trainers and different jeans.

Thursday was supposed to be granddaughters’ day but the youngest wasn’t feeling well and mother had a nasty cold. We stayed at home and ran errands.

I had a hair appointment on Friday, just a couple of weeks after my last visit. My hairdresser is always fully booked, so I book months ahead and didn’t dare reschedule. That would have been tricky, so I asked her for just a tiny trim which she did.

Greetje