SMILEY SATURDAY - Hard work for retired men

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It is well known that retired men are overloaded with work. Much more than what they had to do when they were working !

This is also the case of Mr. Gattino. After 2 months of intensive consideration, he finally found a place and the necessary tools to hang up this sign I have got as a Christmas gift from our son. After many Italian swears and one hour later he finally collapsed in the next armchair and was out for the whole day. Fortunately such a work doesn't happen very often. He would be burnt out.



To the daily occupations belongs checking behind me if I have left lights on, and switch them off with a deep sigh, in case I had forgotten.



another important occupation is to settle cat fights. As the cats are only playing, the one who gets scratched is Mr. Gattino because the cats don't like when a human interfere in their business. Therefore he always has hands full of scratches and a reason to complain.

Yesterday finally he had some time left and used it to count all the cats of my cat collection which are in our house.



This is the paper he handed me over with proud, I know now that I have 438 cats distributed in our home ! (Please note that he wrote in English, French and German !)

SHOW & TELL - Tin soldiers

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When we moved to Waterloo, people started to offer tin soldiers to Mr. Gattino. In a short time he had all soldiers in their different uniforms.




Here you can see Napoleon, he is the only one I recognize because I know nothing about the uniforms of the different countries fighting in this battle.



The only thing I admire is their colorful outfit, what a difference to the uniforms soldiers wear today !



To go along with the battle he also has two books which describe the uniforms in all details.







There were 72,000 French soldiers consisted of 58,000 infantry, 14,000 cavalry, and 7,000 artillery with 250 guns.Wellington had 67,000 men: 50,000 infantry, 11,000 cavalry, and 6,000 artillery with 150 guns. Of these, 24,000 were British, with another 6,000 from the King's German Legion. All of the British Army troops were regular soldiers and 7,000 of them were Peninsular War veterans. In addition, there were 17,000 troops from the Netherlands, 11,000 from Hanover, 6,000 from Brunswick, and 3,000 from Nassau. Can you imagine how colorful the battlefield was !

Over 50 000 soldiers lost their life here in 1815.

THURSDAY THIRTEEN - Friendship

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My best friend for 31 years who is only 66, exactly 9 month older than I, lies in hospital with colon cancer. There is no hope anymore, chimeo didn't help, now it's only a matter of time when she will leave us.

This night I thought about friendship and how much I will miss her.

1. A friend knows the song in my heart and sings it to me when my memory fails.

2. Good friends are like stars.... You don't always see them, but you know they are always there

3. Friends are the family we choose for ourselves

4. A true friend is someone who thinks that you are a good egg even though he knows that you are slightly cracked.

5. Friendship doubles our joy and divides our grief.

6. Friends are God's ways of apologizing for our families.

7. A friend is someone with whom you dare to be yourself.

8. A friend is one who knows us, but loves us anyway.

9. It’s the friend you can call up at 4 a.m. that matter.

10. Friendship is a strong and habitual inclination in two persons to promote the good and happiness of one another.

11. A Brother may not be a Friend, but a Friend will always be a Brother

12. True friendship comes when silence between two people is comfortable

13. A friend never comes too late to help.

I have to get used that she will not be there anymore.

WORDLESS WEDNESDAY

MY WORLD - Port of Brussels

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Today I show you the port of Brussels. It is located at the Canal Albert which leads Brussels to the port of Antwerp. The canal starts in Liège, crosses the whole country and is 130 km (81 miles) long.





It doesn't really look like a port when I arrived. To the right the red building is the custom's house

















Unfortunately it was a very grey day.

FUN MONDAY - Kitchen counter

This week's host Ari 1965 at Beyond my Slap gave us this theme :

It's time for show and tell. What does your kitchen counter look like right now? (And no fair cleaning just for the picture!) Do you have any favorite or unusual items on your counter?

Here is how my kitchen looked this morning. Nothing special besides a dirty pan and hot coffee on one side




and on the other side as special decoration cat Arthur waiting for food. What else in a white kitchen than a white cat ?

WEEKLY WINNERS

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Last week I published pictures of the African Museum in Brussels from outside.

There were wooden elephants exposed in the parc





And here is what I saw inside


Wild stuffed animals. The museum is very old and in the beginning of 1900 there were no tourists in Africa to see them alive.


A ceremony costume


Jewelry


work tools






and statues.

Of course there was a lot more.