WORDLESS WEDNESDAY

To all of you !

THANK YOU !

You must think that I am very ungrateful, but I have an excuse. I was quite sick with a heavy bronchitis and just managed to publish my daily posts. I am very sorry to be so late.

A very big thank you to have thought of me to :



Hootin Anni


Hootin Anni and Maryt the Teach



Kitty Limericks



and Jana from "Sweet Memories" who honored me with these two awards.

MY WORLD - Waterloo station

More participants here



Usually when people hear "Waterloo" they think of the Abba song or the place where the famous battle took place, the Lion and Napoleon.

But Waterloo is also a little town, very much appreciated by Americans, Britts and Scandinavians, because we have an American and a Scandinavian school here. The reason why we moved to Waterloo like so many people living in Brussels, was that Waterloo still had something of a country side with farmers and cows and is so near to Brussels. Of course the town has changed especially since the city did a lot of publicity to attract tourists to visit the battle field. People living here are mostly working in Brussels and quite a few take the train !

In front of the station is a huge parking space where you can leave your car for the day, take the train, have no worries with traffic jams and 20 min later you are in the city center of Brussels.





The front



and the back of the station






If it's raining you can wait here






for the train



and this is the "rue de la Station", the "Station road" which leads from the center to the station and hasn't changed very much over the years, neither did the station itself.

FUN MONDAY - CHRISTMAS FUN

Odd Shots and Macro Monday are here



This week Sayre is our host where you can find more participants.

Her Assignment: What was the most touching, wonderful part of Christmas for you this yer AND What was the craziest, stupidest, funniest part this year?

Although we had a wonderful Christmas nothing particularly touching or crazy happened. But I swear it wasn't boring !

We always celebrate on the 24th and like last year we went to Amsterdam (Holland) for Christmas Eve to spent it together with our son, his girlfriend and her parents. On the posts below you can see some pictures.

The only thing which really touched me was that our son had invited for the 25th Christmas day, 14 of his American and English friends and collegues, who were far away from their families to celebrate Christmas together so that they wouldn't be alone.

The amusing part was that as I was the first up, I had to go out with Jersey the dog who also spent Christmas with us, while his owner was in England. Jersey is a very good dog and as it was quite cold he did his businesses quickly and then wanted to go home. And there was the problem. I had forgotten the house nr and all houses looked the same. To make it even more difficult each entrance had at least 10 very narrow steps to lead to the first floor. Of course I had nothing with me especially no mobile. I decided to count on Jersey and asked him to lead me home. I followed him, he followed me and together we climbed up 3 times the steps in a different entrance, but each time it was the wrong one. He looked at me I looked at him and we found ourselves on the street again. I started to get nervous, how could I find the right house if the dog was as intelligent (?) as I ? Finally in the 4th house and at least 40 steps later I found the right flat and Jersey too, because he waggled with his tail !

What I learned out of this : never go away without your mobile, not even to the mailbox !




Jersey tired from this adventure

WEEKLY WINNERS - Christmas Eve

More participants here at Sarcastic Mom Weekly winners

Of course the winner of this week was our Christmas Eve celebration in Amsterdam together with our son, his girlfriend and her parents.



A beautiful Christmas tree was standing in a corner



and underneath a lot of gifts !



The cook was our son, here preparing a delicious meal



the table was set and if you count the number of glasses you can be sure that we are not a group from the AA ! There was for white wine, red wine and water of course.



The first one who unwrapped his gift was Jersey the dog who spent Christmas with us as his owner went back home to the UK. I think he was the happiest dog in the world with his bone !



Mr. Gattino didn't get a bone, but an Italian sausage



and a portable DVD player so that he can watch his "bang, bang" action movies in his bed !



Amongst other gifts our son got this very practical apron, with a lot of pockets. It is devided in two parts so that you can hold a pot with your hands without being burnt.



Jersey helped checking the parfum, apparently it smelled good !



and then he thought he should watch over the gifts



This was the starter. Scallops with an avocado mousse. It was so delicious that I forgot to take a picture of the main course which was grilled thuna steaks with wild rice and green asparagus.



The cook !



There were several of these big chocolates, with little Santas or other figures.

SMILEY SATURDAY - A Christmas Overnight stay

More participants here

We had spent a very nice Christmas Eve in Amsterdam (Holland) together with our son, his girlfriend and her parents. While the parents could return home by car because they lived only around 40 km (25miles) away, we of course stayed 230 km (143 miles) would have been too far especially after an excellent meal and wine !

They live together in a small flat for the moment, because they are looking for a house to buy. But there was no problem for us. They spent the night in a friend's flat who was on holidays which was located just around the corner and we spent the night like this :

I prefered to sleep in the living room on a very comfortable sofa, because Mr. Gattino takes himself for a chainsaw during night and saws down every tree in the neighborhood and as there is a parc nearby .... you see or better hear the picture ! The best earplugs are as usefull as a japanese wall.

I was well wrapped in a sleeping bag which our son had bought for Iceland ! So you can imagine that I didn't freeze to dead !





I could even cover my head ! I slept like a baby !

For Mr. Gattino it was slightly different.



Used to sleep with his darling little cat Pookie,



he found himself with darling dog Jersey, who was on Christmas holidays while his owner was in the UK. Dog Jersey is a "little" bigger than cat Pookie, but that didn't matter at least in the beginning. They both had enough room and Jersey folded himself to a little snail and pretended to take the place of a stamp. But during the night he unfolded slowly slowly, to the size of an elephant, slipped nearer and nearer to his sleeping partner who suddenly found himself at the edge of the (kingsize) bed without cover while little Jersey had taken over the whole bed !

We laughed a lot in the morning and Jersey made a very innocent face !

SHOW & TELL - What I found under the tree

More participants are here at Kelly's

I don't know why Mr. Linky leads you here to my last weeks "Show & Tell" please go here to today's Show & Tell ! (2 Jan 2009)


A morning after Christmas it is easy to show and tell about something ! For example I can show you what I found under the Christmas tree !



We celebrated in Amsterdam (Holland) together with our son his girlfriend and her parents.
When we arrived we saw this beautiful tree and underneath a lot of packages !



For me I found a wireless mouse for my Baby (travel) laptop !



A beautiful wrought iron welcome sign of course with a cat. Now Mr. Gattino has to hang it besides the entrance door.



a big cat candle which I would never light !



and a very special lamp. It's called "Living colors"especially designed to create your own ambiance in your room through colour and light. With a remote control you can choose your favourite colour to create an ambience to reflect your mood. A rainbow colour ring, a glowing orange sunset, or a flash of violet or fuchsia.

When your well being depends on light as it is my case such a lamp is a wonderful invention !