Using my new name for the first time & Maxine

On monday I had to leave my little cat Rosie with the vet because she was sick. I was so worried that I absolutely needed something to comfort myself. I didn't want to go home instead I went to my travel agency to pick up the summer catalogue for a roundtrip through Morocco. That done, I rang my friend and neighbour Dominique and asked her if she wanted to come with me. She was excited and found it a wonderful idea. We choose a date and a hotel and off I went the next day to book our trip.

I don't know if you have read the story of my passport in which I had to change my name after 40 years.(The whole story is here)

So it was the first time that I would use my "new" name. I told the girl that my name had changed and she looked at me with eyes big as flying saucers. I explained that after 40 years the Germans had finally realized that I travelled illegally under my husbands name, which I had taken when I married, but now the embassy had realized that this is wrong and I should have used my maiden name on my passport ! The poor girl didn't understand a thing only that it was a little "strange" that I asked her to kindly change my name in her computer files from Smith to Jones, which she did. Then only she took the booking and for the first time after 40 years I will travel under my maiden name which is again new to me. In some way I did a rebirth.

Mr. G. complained that his name is not even mentioned in little on my passport. Nobody knows now that I am married. Fortunately I have a certain age, otherwise men could get wrong ideas.

With the papers in my hands I returned to my car and hoped that my little cat will feel better soon too. Now I can dream about my roundtrip through the imperial cities in Morocco, visiting all royal palaces and historical places. Even the grey weather doesn't bother me anymore.



And these are the cities we will visit in May : Marrakech, Casablanca, Rabat, Fes, Meknes and Afourer

******

SHOW & TELL

More participants here




Again out of my vitrine I show you these little things.



In 1989 we all went with my aunt and uncle who lived in Madison/Wisc by car to Florida and of course stopped in Memphis to visit Graceland. It was an important event to me and very interesting to see where Elvis had lived. I was a little disappointed about his size when I saw his stage costumes, I thought he was much taller !

I bought these little souvenirs. They are small and not so big as they look on the picture.



And these little cupper items are from my doll house, they are very tiny as you can see.

My doll house was handmade by a carpenter in exchange of sweaters, cardigans and baby stuff, my mother knitted for his kids. At that time people in Germany made exchanges because they had no money. It was in 1947. I still have my doll house, but it sits in the attic and I haven't seen it for at least 40 years.

THURSDAY THIRTEEN

more participants here

Lots of people are sick for the moment so I thought about health

13 Quotes about health

1. Be careful about reading health books. You may die of a misprint.

2. Health nuts are going to feel stupid someday, lying in hospitals dying of nothing.

3. doctors say that jogging could add years to your life. They are right. After 15 min you feel ten years older already.

4. Turns out we've all been eating the wrong thing...since the dawn of civilization!

5. I don't jog. If I die I want to be sick.

6. What's the two things they tell you are healthiest to eat? Chicken and fish, ... You know what you should do? Combine them ... eat a penguin.

7. My doctor told me to do something that made me slightly out of breath, so I started smoking again.

8. I went on a diet, swore off drinking and heavy eating, and in fourteen days I lost two weeks.

9. Health nuts are going to feel stupid someday, lying in hospitals dying of nothing.

10. I don’t like food that’s too carefully arranged; it makes me think that the chef is spending too much time arranging and not enough time cooking. If I wanted a picture I’d buy a painting.

11. Your food stamps will be stopped effective March 2002 because we received notice that you passed away. May God bless you. You may reapply if there is a change in your circumstances.

12. Eat whatever you like, but dress as others do.

13. The secret of staying young is to live honestly, eat slowly, and lie about your age.

WORDLESS WEDNESDAY

Surprise ! (at the Waterloo station )

MY WORLD

is here

FUN MONDAY-Own Movies

Sayre our host this week asks :

I want you to think about the movies that you OWN. Not movies you've seen, but the ones you felt strongly enough to go out and buy. You will be your very own awards committee, awarding your movies an Oscar in the following categories ....

I can't say anything about categories or being my own award committee for the simple reason that I am not a movie freak. I don't have any favourite actors, the only one which just comes into my mind is Julia Roberts. When I watch a movie I like it or not, the rest doesn't matter.
Of course that was different when I was a Teenager !

I don't owe a single movie. I was never interested in buying movie DVDs and keep them like books in a library . There are a few laying around here, but they belong either to our son or to friends. If I want to see a film again I rent it. I have friends they own a whole Video library, but I am not interested at all in this.

The only DVD which is not rented or borrowed in this house is "The Godfather" all 3 films. It was a birthday gift Mr. G. got years ago.

It is the DVD package called "The Godfather DVD Collection". The collection contains all three films with commentary from Francis Ford Coppola and a bonus disc that features a 73-minute documentary from 1991 titled The Godfather Family: A Look Inside, plus a 1971 documentary. The package also contains deleted footage, including the additional scenes originally contained in The Godfather Saga. "Francis Coppola's Notebook" a look inside a notebook the director kept with him at all times during the production of the film, rehearsal footage, and video segments on Gordon Willis's cinematography, Nino Rota's and Carmine Coppola's music, Francis Ford Coppola, locations and Mario Puzo's screenplays. The DVD also holds a Corleone family tree, a "Godfather" timeline, and footage of the Academy Award acceptance speeches.

This movie is part of cinema history and you can read more about it here in Wikipedia





In this version the Coreleone family speaks french !

WEEKLY WINNERS

More participants here at Sarcastic Mom Weekly winners

The weather was cold and sunny so I payed a visit to "The Cinquantenaire" which was built by King Leopold II for the 1880 National Exhibition commemorating the fiftieth anniversary of Belgian independence. If you want to read more about it, it's here here



The "Cinquantenaire"



and it's top





there are museums inside







Car museum











in front and back of the arch are these statures



the ceiling of an arch






There is a huge parc around. Here is the view towards the European quarters of Brussels






and the other side, one of the big boulevards of Brussels.