HODGEPODGE MAY 23

1. What are you currently juggling in your life? 

with my lung disease, for the moment I  am quickly breathless and cannot walk far, I have to sit down and get my breath back. That limits me in many things. I no longer dare to travel like I used to, because I don't want to slow down the group by lagging behind. Since Rick died my COPD (Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease) has gotten much worse. It causes obstructed airflow from the lungs. I have up and downs and I never know when it comes and how long it lasts.

2. How often do you buy new clothes? What was the last piece of clothing you purchased?

 

I admit I buy quite often new clothes, but I don't spend a lot of money. My motto is cheap and chic, instead of expensive and chic, that's easy. I don't care about quality, because I don't want that the cloth lasts too long, and ends at the flea market because I am long gone ! What's amazing is that very cheap outfits last longer (some more then 15 years) and I don't give them away, because they are still very in fashion. The last piece of clothing I bought were three elastic trousers, in blue, red and turquoise, bought on Internet, because the rain stops me to go to the biggest market of Brussels.

 

This market is my personal "boutique" to buy clothing
 

3. What food festival would you most like to attend? If you need help here are links to some of the bigger and more popular food events around the world-

Ten Food Festivals Worth Traveling To Find

2024 Best Food And Drink Festivals And Events In The US

20 Popular Food Festivals Around The World In 2024 For Your Unconditional Love Of Food

I am really not interested in Food Festivals, I prefer to go in a good restaurant with friends, enjoy a good meal and discussions.

 

4. May is the 5th month of the year. Tell us something you remember about your 5th grade year. 

I had to check what 5th grade means and found out that in Belgium the kids are then 10/11 years old. At that time I still lived in Bonn (Germany) and only remember a few children who were "weird", one had white hair. Much later I found out that she had been lying under the rubble of her parents' house for 3 days. The others also had terrible experiences. But at that age I wasn't surprised, life was just like that. The war had only been over for 8 years and many things were missing and rebuilding the bombed out cities was the top priority.

Me at 10 or 11

5. What are your favorite five words right now? 

That's difficult I have to translate from French to English and the words are longer. But I say every day "what a shit weather again" in all languages I know ! 

Napoleon's soldiers in the rain

6. Insert your own random thought here. 

At the moment I'm not thinking about anything, the weather has been bad for months, there are a lot of festivals at the moment that I can't go to either because of the rain or because I can't walk much. I don't know if I can travel or where, so I don't think anything and wait and see.

What comforts me is my beautiful room here in the castle, the large park where I can go for a walk whenever I want, and the friendly, warm atmosphere that exists between the residents and the staff.