7 Feb 2014

FRIDAY's FAVE FIVE - RANDOM 5 FRIDAY

1. This week was very exciting ! It made me think of the French song Comme d'Habitude which means "As usual". The lyric is quite simple  it starts with "I get up and not to upset you by waking you up, Which isn't quite true as I start my Yoga exercise before I get up. As usual my hands caress your hair. In my case its the fur of my two sleeping cats. As usual  you turn your back on me. That's not true either as they don't move, not even opening an eye. 



 this is not my ambition !
and it's true that my two other cats are watching me, but only because they want breakfast.

As usual, all day I'll pretend a  play . As usual, I 'll smile, I'll even laugh as usual, I'll finally live as usual. and so on. The truth is that I do my aqua gym each Monday as usual, and then  I went shopping as usual, to fill in the fridge, for Mr. G's roaring stomach. Vintage men are always afraid not to be fed enough.

2. I helped my friend Ilona to change the look of her TV corner and after having moved around tables, TV shelf and flower pots, without any satisfying result, I finally found the solution, it had been too simple ! By pushing the shelf a little more in the corner and turning the TV a little around, the change was done and what a nice change ! We just had to add a flower pot and some Buddha figurines and it was done. Very satisfied we drank our tea, complained about family and the world in general .... as usual.

3. As usual I had forgotten something on my shopping list and had to go out again to buy bread, and as usual I added something which hadn't been on my list, my night creme. I met with a friend for lunch, it was a long time that I hadn't seen her, I have to say that her main conversation theme are her bowels, which is not so ideal for a conversation in a restaurant. But from time to time I show some interest, it's always useful to learn new things. Even about the bowel function.

4. My friend Dominique was in war with gmail.com, she had tried to forward pictures and it hadn't worked. As usual I went over to help her out, and then was confronted with a mystery, because when I opened her Google Chrome, I saw my personal Google Chrome page on her computer with all my favorites and the bookmark bar. I still don't understand how this could happen ! I agree, we live next door, but that Google Chrome followed me on her computer remains a mystery. I got rid of it and downloaded a new Google Chrome. Not only Google Chrome followed me but also cat Arthur who waited for me at her door and sang operas. Then he walked me home.

5. When I arrived at my painting class which takes place in the festivity hall of Waterloo's retirement home, there were wreaths and flowers laying at the door to the morgue and a guy sawing a wooden panel, I only hoped that it wasn't destined for the coffin, because for that it was a little late. All funeral attendants were already waiting in the entrance hall, all dressed up in their best outfits. My friend Nicole wasn't there, so I called her to check if she was ill, but not at all she was just standing in front of her aunt's (98) open grave, on her funerals. I don't know if this inspired me to start a new painting showing a dark sky and a sun disappearing in the dark sea.


more participants at Susanne at Living to tell the Story.

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6 Feb 2014

LAUGHTER IS HEALTHY

According to my information source Madame Wikipedia, laughter is a healthy function of blood vessels  with the fact that laughter causes the dilatation of the inner lining of blood vessels, and increases blood flow ... yada yada yada.

In short : L A U G H I N G ! it's healthy.

There are even Yoga Laughter classes but when I saw a little video I thought I have that nearly every day around me, without clapping in my hands and shouting HAHAHA - HOHOHO ! Therefore I can save the money.

The other day when we had a cup of tea together with my friends Ilona and Nicole, Nicole told us that she had heard a big bang at her entrance door one day during the week. When she opened the door her neighbor a single of a certain age fell into her entrance hall. Dead ? No, only drunken as a skunk. Poor Nicole didn't know what to do first, but it was clear, that she couldn't leave him there. She remembered that she still had roller skates from her son, took them out  put one under each armpit of the "corpse". Which wasn't an easy job. Then she pulled at his legs and slowly slowly she managed to get him out of her entrance. Meanwhile the guy woke up and got up on four "paws". Nicole found his keys in his pocket and pushed his bottom towards his entrance opened the door, and kicked him inside were he collapsed again. Then she closed the door. We were still laughing when suddenly she said "Stop it !! somebody is calling for help !" We stopped and listened. Ilona and I heard nothing which is quite strange as usually I can hear a flea cough. We continued to chat. Suddenly Nicole put her fingers on her lips and said "Again ! listen !! somebody needs help !"

This time Ilona had heard it too. They both got up, Ilona running to the window opened it and looked out on the street. Nothing. Nicole had run in the kitchen to listen to her fridge, maybe it was it which made this noise, but it wasn't the fridge calling for help. I still heard nothing. And while I heard nothing I suddenly heard something. My breathing ! My bronchia was a little congested and my breathing made a rattling, whistling noise. They both were still standing there with ears like an elephant, listening for help calls.

Suddenly I realized it was me ! I said "It's me !" "You???" yes I said, listen .... and I took a deep breath. They looked at each other and then laughed, indeed it was my breathing which they had taken as a help call from far away. Useless to say that we had a Yoga laughing course for free ! I used my spray for this purpose and nobody called for help anymore.




I think we three must be very healthy and don't have any problems with the above mentioned scientific results !

Jenny Matlock
more participants at Jenny Matlock's Alphabet Thursday

5 Feb 2014

WORDLESS WEDNESDAY

ABC Wednesday is  here


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4 Feb 2014

THE SOLVAY PARK NEAR BRUSSELS


On Sunday we had such beautiful weather cold but sunny so that I could make a walk through the Solvay Park and take pictures of its beauty. The Park also contains a castle, but I walked on the other side towards the ancient stables.



From far you can see the castle



on the left the stables and an old farm house











One of the outside buildings



Today a restaurant and an Exhibition place



A meeting point for lots of people, and I enjoyed a drink with my friend Nicole and her two dogs.


3 Feb 2014

MY WEEKEND OF FEBRUARY 1

Our Aqua Gym group had decided to celebrate the New Year by having lunch together.



When we had all arrived in an Italian Restaurant, we had to laugh, because we didn't recognize our teacher, sitting at the end of the table, with long hairs and dressed ! We were used to see her in her bathing suit and hairs up ! It was nice to meet out of the water and all dry for once. The food which should be Italian wasn't very good, and therefore also very expensive and I was really disappointed.



I should have been served a plate like this, called conchilgioni (shells) but they were so dry, hard and a bit burnt, that I suspect them to have an agreement with a dentist and get commission on each broken tooth !



After lunch I went to my friend Chantal, and we chatted the whole afternoon, she had got a tablet for Christmas and was just learning how to use it. One of her dogs always wants to sleep "under cover", it really looked very funny !



We were invited to the 75th birthday of my neighbor (on the left), whom we know since we moved in our house in 1975. Her daughters used to play with our son, and now she has a granddaughter of 18 ! Time flies by ! We enjoyed the Champagne and the delicious cakes very much and dug out old childhood memories when our kids were little and did a lot of naughty things which made us laugh today.



On Sunday the sun was shining and we had a beautiful but cold weather. It itched in my feet to go for a walk, but Mr. G. had never liked to walk so I thought a dog is a better company. Nicole just had her daughter's dog at home, so we decided to go to a park nearby with the two dogs. It was a lot of fun and we were not the only once with the same idea, there were lots of families and people with dogs and kids playing around. We had a drink on the terrace of the restaurant which is there it was so packed that we could hardly find a place. We waited for a waiter who didn't show up, until I suddenly thought maybe they do it now the English way and went inside where a long queue of people were standing, who ordered their drinks and took them outside. That is very unusual for Belgium and lots of other people were sitting outside  waiting, until I told them that it had become a self service now.



When we were home again, Nicole had to take care of Charlie's paw, he had a surgery, a claw had grown inside his paw and she had to disinfect the wound. He was so brave and left his paw in the pot with the disinfection product and said nothing when she put a sock on his paw. The front paw needed one too, there he had a little infection. I thought he looked very posh now !