AN EXCURSION TO DINANT

Photo Hunters and Project Blue are here

The city of Waterloo had organized an excursion for it's senior citizen, to Dinant a Walloon city and municipality located on the River Meuse in the Belgian province of Namur. It is a beautiful little town and sticks right away to rocks.





We went by bus and had a lot of fun. Unfortunately the weather was grey so that my pictures look grey too, but the city is really a little jewel. Above you see the boats to take tourists on a roundtrip along the river Meuse.

We then should visit a castle named "chateau de Vêves" from the 16th century




This is a painting of the castle.

But before we went there everybody was thirsty because it was 11 and "apéro" time, which meant an entry in the next café where the seniors enjoyed with pleasure their dark beer or one (etc) glass of white wine.






Here are a few of them. After that of course everybody was even more funny and in that mood we visited the castle, welcomed a smiling owner who still lives in there (amongst other residences)

The castle I will show tomorrow.



After the visit we were again not only thirsty but also hungry and had lunch in Dinant's Casino. This took 2 1/2 h had got his first and second plate, desert and café. We had fresh salmon en croute as a starter, then a Bresse chicken filet (a speciality) with Rösti and vegetables and to finish a "Dame Blanche" (vanille ice cream with chocolate) the whole thing was served with red and white wine which was again very good for the ambiance.

Refreshed and some of us very good mooded we visited this castle, another and the gardens of "Freyr" (the other castle) and were then free for 2 h to visit Dinant until the buses took us back to Waterloo.



And as the weather really wasn't very appealing to walk around we all landed in different pubs or cafés and continued with the marvelous dark (very strong) beer because from all this chatting and laughter our mouths were dry.

The result was some singing going on in the bus and all the sixty, seventy or eightyager had enjoyed the day very much ! As one old gentleman resumed before taking his car : we didn't drink any alcohol only beer and wine. And he is right, in Belgium beer and wine is not an alcohol.

I enjoyed the day very much, although I don't drink beer or wine !

FRIDAY FEAST

Appetizer
When you drink soda/pop/coke, do you prefer to drink it from the bottle, a can, or after pouring it into a cup?

in a glass

Soup
What television show are you willing to stay up late to watch?

I won't stay up I would lay down

Salad
Name one person, place, or thing you think of as brilliant.

my laptop

Main Course
Would you be willing to work 4 10-hour days instead of 5 8-hour days in order to save gas?

I would work 3 days and take my bicycle

Dessert
If you were a superhero, what would you call yourself?

Spacenana

SHOW & TELL FRIDAY

and PROJECT BLUE
are here



More participants are here at Kelly's Show and tell Friday

Since a few weeks each time I entered our living room I found our sofas quite dirty and not looking very fresh. Cleaning didn't help, the sun had changed the colors in some places. What should I do ? And then came the idea ! I bought two big cotton/linnen covers and put them over the sofas.


and fixed them. Arthur found it very nice and tried the new cover immediately


as you can see he sleeps on there very well !


For the armchair I bought another color and fixed the cover,




with rings and decorations usually destinated for curtains. Now I have a new furniture in the living room !



We also had our roof cleaned and repainted so that I hope there will be no moss growing on for the next 20 years. That's at least what the guy told us !

THURSDAY 13 - 13 CREATURES OF THE GREEK MYTHOLOGY

Project blue is here


Rosie is scared !!

Since I started looking into the Greek mythology after my roundtrip through Greece I am getting more and more curious ! Here are some creatures. A horror movie is a love story against the Greek mythology !!


1. Satyrs
are a troop of male companions that roamed the woods and mountains. They are often associated with sex drive and vase-painters often portrayed them with uncontrollable erections.


2. Nymph
is in human female form. Nymphs live in mountains and groves, by springs and rivers, and in valleys and cool grottoes. They were the frequent target of satyrs.


3. Cerberus was the hound of Hades, a monstrous three-headed dog with a snake for a tail and snakes down his back like a mane,


4. Furies were female, deities of vengeance or supernatural personifications of the anger of the dead. When the Titan Cronos castrated his father Ouranos and threw his genitalia into the sea, the Erinyes (Furies) emerged from the drops of blood.


5. Hydra was an ancient nameless serpent-like chthonic water beast that possessed numerous heads and poisonous breath


6. Pegasus was a winged horse that was the son of Poseidon, in his role as horse-god


7. Phoenix is a mythical sacred firebird with a tail that is beautiful gold and red plumage


8. Hippocampus is often called a sea-horse in English, is a creature which has typically been depicted as a horse in its forepart with a coiling, scaly, fishlike hindquarter.


9. Minotaur was a creature that was part man and part bull


10. Typhon is the god of wind. He was described as the largest and most grotesque of all creatures that have ever lived, having a hundred serpent heads.


11.Triton is a god, the messenger of the deep. He is usually represented as a merman, having the upper body of a human and the tail of a fish.


12. Sirens were three dangerous bird-women, portrayed as seductresses, who lived on an island called Sirenum surrounded by cliffs and rocks. Seamen who sailed near were decoyed by the Sirens' enchanting music and voices to shipwreck on the rocky coast.



13.Chimera was a monstrous creature which was made of the parts of multiple animals : "a thing of immortal make, not human, lion-fronted and snake behind, a goat in the middle, and snorting out the breath of the terrible flame of bright fire"


I decline all responsabilities for nightmares !

BLOG BLAST FOR PEACE

Project BLUE pictures are here

Dona nobis pacem
Grant us peace

The European flag

This flag represents only 63 years of peace in Europe. I am 65.

The search of an European symbol began in 1950 when a European committee looked into the question of a European flag and finally decided on this one, a constellation of stars, it was unveiled in 1958 World Expo in Brussels.

The European countries after centuries of wars against each other had finally understood that it was much better to live in peace together.

To come to this conclusion first over 70 million people, the majority of them civilians, had to be killed in World War II, making it the deadliest conflict in human history.

Wherever there is still war in the world, my only wish is that those countries start to negotiate instead of killing each other. 70 million human lives are a lot to pay for peace !

My contribution :


Join the Blog Blast For Peace here at Mimi's Blog

WORDLESS WEDNESDAY

Give peace a chance .....

COMPILED NEWS

From the ground up and
"Blue" photos are here






Indonesian drops cash from plane
An Indonesian businessman has scattered 100 million rupiah ($10,700) in banknotes from a plane to promote his new motivational book. Tung Desem Waringin said he would rather share money for a promotional campaign with people who needed it. My goodness ! that book must be bad !

This is a space toilet ! looks quite complicated to me

Toilet trouble for space station
International Space Station astronauts are eagerly awaiting the arrival of shuttle Discovery - it is bringing a new pump to mend their broken toilet. The station's urine collection unit, as opposed to its solid waste unit, has been malfunctioning for several days. I am really worried, but now I understand why the rain has this slightly yellow color and I find brown spots in my garden ! Don't worry if you have the same it will be repaired !




Wild side makes parrot speachless
A parrot who never stopped chattering lost his voice after four days' freedom in the wilds of Cambridgeshire. Harley, an African Grey, used to call his owners "Mum" and "Dad", could recite his telephone number and was never lost for words.But after four days in the wild he appears to have lost his tongue and has returned traumatised, skinny and mute. Apparently freedom is not always good. We should send some politicians "in the wilds of Cambridgeshire" !



Coronation farewell to QE2 liner

The Queen launched the QE2 in 1967 and last visited the ship in 1990
The Queen has marked 55 years since her coronation by waving off the luxury cruise ship that shares her name. She launched the QE2 in 1967 and the Queen was in Southampton on Monday to pay the ship a final visit. The QE2 will be retired in November to be converted into a hotel in Dubai after more than 40 years in service. Please note : It has nothing to do with the QI of the Queen !



Prince Charles has op on face growth

PRINCE Charles has had an operation to remove a growth from his face, it emerged yesterday.
The 59-year-old royal was treated late on Thursday after meeting the Dalai Lama at Clarence House. Last night an insider played down the seriousness of Charles’s condition. Don't you see the difference ? He became a very handsome guy now ! A competitor to George Clooney.



Pinhead has a point to make
Pinhead Wei Shengchu poses with 2008 needles stuck in his head, face, hands and chest in Nanning, China, on May 31. Wei decided to use the needles to commemorate the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, with the sharp objects matching the five colours of the Olympic Rings. Crazy !!
Please count I don't believe it !

FUN MONDAY - I MADE IT MYSELF

More participants here at Mama Karisma

She wrote : I would like to see or hear about things you have made with your own two hands (or feet, Im not fussy!) We all have different talents and abilities, maybe you like to sew or knit, chisel or sculpt, draw or paint? Whatever your talent is, please share it with us this week.

I love to paint and paint for many years mostly cats. This is my last painting in acrylic on canvas which represents a portrait of my cat Rosie.
(More of my paintings are here)



I also like to make flower arrangements and have done it on several occasions for example when we have our yearly painting exposition or of course at home or at friends.



Some years ago I also attended ceramic courses but gave it up now. To do it really well you need an oven and a special workshop room because it makes a lot of dirt !






Amongst others I made these both items. The second one contains my make-up "equipment".



Since two years I started also with photography and this picture I took yesterday morning in the train, when I went to the market in Brussels. There was a young man who juggled with 3 balls. I tried to be very discreet and he didn't even realize that I took a picture. I was very happy that I catched the right moment !

Now that I am retired I have enough time to enjoy my different hobbies.

MANIC MONDAY - OVER and PLAY

more participants over at Mo

When I started blogging and discovered slowly all kind of widgets I could put all over my blog I thought it would be nice to have some music playing. But then I changed quickly my mind !

Bloggers who generously offer us free music on their blogs don't realize that most of the time it can be more annoying than a pleasure.

When I opened a blog early morning while everybody else in the house was still sleeping and suddently loud music started to play, by the time I found the bouton to cut off my loudspeakers I had husband and son on my neck because I had woken them up.

Imagine you are in an office and supposed to work but you just want to read some blogs. As you are behind your screen nobody really sees what you are doing except if suddenly loud music starts playing all over and your boss is wondering why your accounting or tax formulars suddenly are in form of a Pavarotti or techno or house ! It is also annoying when it happens and you are sitting in a Cyber café and suddenly everybody looks angrily at you because you play music on your computer while the whole room is in deadly silence ! That's quite embarrassing ! I know it happend to me. Or imagine you open a blog and your baby sleeps besides you and wakes up and starts screaming for the rest of the day !

The volume of the loudspeakers depend on the reading person and not on the Blogger's, somebody really thought that if she would turn the volume low it would be the same for her readers !

WEEKLY WINNERS

Camera Critters,
Project BLUE and
From the ground up are here



More participants here at Sarcastic Mom Weekly winners

As a souvenir I made some pictures of the mess in our garden and the not yet finished roof which had to be cleaned and repainted.







The suntent which usually stands on the terrace sits now in the middle of the garden.
When I had finished I wanted to make a picture of cat Rosie sitting in the living room and looking at me through the window.







The result was quite surprising !