25 Aug 2017

EDEN HILLS PHOTO HUNT

1. Starts with H
2. simple (simplify)
3. green

Each week I have to find photos I have taken recently (or yesterday) which each time starts with another letter. This time it is H. I have the choice between a lots of H's but I want to make a story out of the 3 words.

Near Waterloo is an old house which had been transformed into a museum for fountains and the whole history of water. How the people tried to stay clean and how difficult it was to get water before we had bathrooms and all the facilities of today.



This is the house



and a very simple way to wash.



outside stood a fountain in the green water !



Imagine you would have to  wash your bedlinen in this very first washing machine ! You would have to fill it  with water, heat it with coal or wood add soap and then turn the wheel around ! This was a machine used beginning 1800.

And today what do you do ? You choose the program, push a button and watch a film on TV or go shopping or clean your house while the machine  does everything except putting the laundry in the closets !





Linking to Eden Hills Photo Hunt


FRIDAY's FIVE - FIVE ON FRIDAY

1. My intention was to make a cosy day with myself and the cats. But then I got a message that the Italian Mokka which I had ordered had arrived and I could pick it up. The one we had before was red and one day it made boom the whole house was without electricity, there was water which had found its way into the wires and had caused this little explosion. First I thought of a terrorist attack, but then I saw that the TV didn't work anymore and it was clear that it was the electricity. Of course the coffee pot didn't work anymore and as I can't find these kind of coffee pots in the shops I ordered it from Internet.



The one I had before was red, but this one would do it too. It just makes two Espressi for us. I tried it out and it worked perfectly.

2. The pick up point for the coffee pot was just behind Nicole's apartment in a private house and I took the opportunity to visit her and tell her all about my holidays in Holland. The sun had come out and we could sit on her terrace and had a cup of coffee. (A normal one) Nicole pretends she would get a heart attack with my strong espresso !

3. My friend Bunny (that's her nickname) has moved near Waterloo, so now we can see each other more often she had lived for 40 years in Charleroi which is about 70 km from here. But as her whole family lives in Waterloo, she decided to also move to Waterloo.Besides she couldn't keep her house alone anymore with this big garden. We had decided to see the "Diana Fashion Show" in London and had to book our hotel and train tickets. After a nice meal with Mussels and Belgian fries we went to my house and ordered the tickets. There are so many people who want to see Diana's clothes that you have to order your tickets long before.

4. After 4 weeks of suffering because my cleaning lady had been on holidays for one month, she finally came back and freed me from this burden. As usual she had brought us nice gifts, a beautiful necklace for me and a box of chocolates for Mr. G. and this beautiful frame.



I think it is tinted sand in water and when you turn the frame around it gives you all kind of forms which you can interpret like you want. The colors and the different effects are beautiful. I have told her already so many times not to buy gifts for us, but there is nothing to do, she insists. So today I wore the new necklace.

I had an appointment with an eye surgeon because my eye doctor had detected cataract in both eyes. Last year I had nothing and it suddenly appeared in one year. I had noticed that I had difficulties to read the subtitles on TV.  As half of my painting class had recommended me this Doctor, I thought he must be good otherwise half of the class would be blind by now.

5.


This time it was me to receive my scrabble group and we had a very difficult game ! usually we play 3 times this time only 1 and that interrupted by coffee and cake because we needed a break. And oh miracle I was second ! Usually I am the second from the end ! We had a nice afternoon but not my neighbors because we were quite noisy !





more participants at Susanne at Living to tell the Story.




23 Aug 2017

WORDLESS WEDNESDAY - WEDNESDAY HODGEPODGE





Brussels' waffles


more participants here

and here


******

HODGEPODGE

1. Did you watch the solar eclipse? Your thoughts? Sun Chips, Moon Pies, Starburst candies, a Blue Moon beer, a Sunkist orange, or a Milky Way candy bar...what's your favorite eclipse related snack on this list?

When was that ? I totally missed it. Anyway with the "wonderful" weather we have here the sky is packed with thick clouds, there could be a solar eclipse everyday and I wouldn't notice ! 

2. What are you 'over the moon' about these days? What's something you enjoy doing every 'once in a blue moon'?

There is nothing which could make me feel "over the moon" for the moment. I haven't won in the lottery either, no wonder because I never played ! I don't like shopping but once in a blue moon I need new feathers and then I look for something to wear, a blouse, a pullover or a T-shirt. 

3. Tell us about something in the realm of science that interests you. How do you feed that interest?

That's a very tricky question ! Science is such a vast subject ! But at least I found the answer in a dictionary :  Science is the intellectual and practical activity encompassing the systematic study of the structure and behaviour of the physical and natural world through observation and experiment.
‘the world of science and technology’ 

Therefore I would be interested in animals and I feed my interest in feeding my 3 cats.

4. What are a few things you remember about going back to school as a child?

I only remember that I hated going to school and that all my teachers were monsters. At that time the kids weren't kings yet !

5. I've seen several versions of this around the net so let's make one of our own...share with us five words that touch your soul and briefly tell us why.

What touches my soul ? A sunset or sunrise, because of its beauty, my cats when they are playing and make me laugh, a flower bouquet makes me happy, my grandson whom I don't know yet really, meeting with good friends. (I hope the answers fit, because I didn't really understand the question)

6. Insert your own random thought here.

I think of everything I should do and make a long list in my mind, and then I hesitate if I should do it today or tomorrow ??







22 Aug 2017

WATERVILLE - IRELAND


Expat tours

If you do a 7 day tour around a country of course you can't see everything in details. It just gives you an overview of things to see or to do if you want to come back later.


We also shortly stopped at Waterville  a small coastal village located between the Atlantic Ocean and Lough Currane on the scenic and famous Ring of Kerry and the Wild Atlantic Way.

Famous for its game angling and its 18 hole championship golf links, Waterville is also a paradise for the hill-walker, cyclist, pony trekker, ornithologist, astronomer, archaeologist, sea and shore angler, water sport enthusiast and indeed for the general holidaymakers unfortunately not for those who love the heat and lot of sunshine. Read more here





more participants here

21 Aug 2017

WEEKEND August 19 - HOLLAND/MACRO MONDAY

Bad weather or not, I followed the invitation of my old schoolfriend and went for a long weekend to Holland where they have a cute little holiday house. My friend's father has bought it in the 70th, from a fisherman. In this street there are only German families now in the 2nd or 3rd generation, all bought at the same time. They are not far from Brussels, not even two hours drive.



The house had been transformed and renovated through the years and has become very comfortable



My friend has a big family so they needed space and they just transformed the attic into a huge bedroom one part with two beds separated by a wall where two beds and a little desk are standing while on the other side there are another 4 beds. So I had the choice ! The only difficulty was getting up there because the stairs were very steep. But after two days I got almost used of it.



Each day it rained but late afternoon the sun came out and we could sit in the garden. My friend and I know each other since 1951 in Bonn (Germany), then both fathers moved to Brussels to work for the Common Market which has become the European Union. Our ways separated when she returned to Germany to study and I remained in Brussels. Nevertheless we always stayed in contact at that time by letters of course. Over the years she had 3 children and I one son. She became a grandma of 5 very early and her eldest grandson is 30, the youngest just 6 ! We are both chatterboxes, but she even more than I, poor husband had to raise his voice to place a word ! There was so much to chat !



When I arrived she was busy to make jam and had filled it in glasses.

Because of the rainy weather I didn't do very much, I just chilled out. Despite (for me) cold weather (20°)  they both swam in the sea at the end of the day. I stayed home in the warmth. I didn't even want to come along to the beach ! Anyway they do everything by bike when they are here. The last time I rode a bike was probably 30 years ago or more and they are not the youngest once either my friend and I have both the same age 74 and the hubby is a little older.

On Saturday early morning I heard loud snoring through my earplugs, there were two men with their equipment in the garden to cut down the overgrown pine tree which took away all the sunshine.






The event was filmed and photographed for the eternity ! We assisted to the show and admired the men how quickly they worked.

When they were gone the garden seemed much bigger and lighter too. 





The last day I went with them by car and we had an ice cream on the beach. The beach wasn't very crowded but still swimmers in the sea !



The sunsets were often very beautiful !

Sunday afternoon I sadly drove home, I had such a nice time and digging in our childhood memories had been such a fun !



I had been in this area





******









more participants here