HOSPITAL AT HOME

Since I am back from my holidays, life has me back full speed ! Mr. G. catched a cold in Amsterdam because he smoked on the cold terrace wearing a thin shirt but didn't put on a cardigan. Now he has to pay for it and I too indirectly !



He caughes like an old steam engine and when he sneezes, 3 cats in different sleeping places catapult themselves through the air. I am sure that our neighbors are suspecting me to keep secretely an elephant in our garage who trumpets joyfully.



Good cat Pookie serves as hot water bottle.

And as this wasn't enough, for me to play the nurse, I have to give a shot to Rosie against the



inflammation of her paw. It's getting better. Each morning I have to pull out of the bed a sneezing and caughing Mr. G. to hold her so that I can give her the shot. What a show !



Now I am thinking of wearing a burka, not a black one, that would look too sad and the mailman and my neighbors would risk a heart attack. This would protect me for not catching all the microbes flying around in this house ! I quiet like this blue model. What do you think ?

FRIDAY's FAVE FIVE

more participants at Susanne at Living to tell the Story.

1. After the rather busy weekend last week, I fell asleep while I watched "Escape to the Country" after lunch, so I don't know where I had escaped. The rest of the day I tried to update my comments and did phone calls to tell my friends that I am back again. Of course this took me some time. (The whole day says Mr. G !)

2. On Monday evening I noticed that cat Rosie's paw was swollen so next day I imediately went to the vet, she had an inflammation at a claw of her paw. So the vet gave her a shot against the inflammation and now for the next 4 days I had to give the shot, because it's easier to lift up fur and stitch inside than risking a battle with a furious cat who doesn't want to open her mouth to swallow a pill. Anyway I had excercised before, on Mr. G.'s belly when last year I had to give him a shot every day and fur is easier to lift than skin !

3. I had a lot of work to sort out all the pictures from Egypt and then from Toby's birthday in Amsterdam and spent nearly the whole day with that, only interrupted by shopping and household scores.

4. Now my photos from Egypt are sorted so I went over to Dominique to show them to her, as she had been in the same hotel as me last year. (see post below)

5.



I renewed the photos of Toby I had in frames, because he is a little boy now and not a baby anymore. I am not a big fan of exposing framed family pictures in all rooms, but one in the living room, one in in mine and one in Mr. G's office is OK.



My favorite photo I took on his first birthday

The worst thing for me is getting used to daily routine again and to wear winter clothes !

HOLIDAYS IN THE SUNRISE HOLYDAY RESORT EGYPT

more participants at Jenny Matlock's Alphabet Thursday

Writing about holidays came on purpose, because I just came back from my two weeks holidays in the Sunrise Holyday Resort in Hurghada/Egypt. A nice opportunity to show you where I spent my days exactly.



Isn't it nice to be welcomed in the morning by a "Good Morning" written in the sand ?



Hurghada from far



Very comfy place for young parents or old grandparents to watch over the kids in the kid's pool and if you want you can even smoke a waterpipe.



All kind of sports were available, this is stretching but there was also water gym and other sports.



Our daily way to our working place



where I worked for 7 h with a lunch interruption



the view from our balcony



at 8 am sharp, you got your fresh bath towels. Unfortunately there were people who kept the old once from the day before to be sure to have a nice beach bed before the others.



When we were thirsty there was the beach bar



Each day we had a cute decoration on our bed made with our bath towels



here is a swan



my little "office" which even was equipped with Internet connection



The entrance with the guards



There were bars on two floors above the reception with nice cosy little corners, and sometimes singers



Apperitives were served in all colors but nothing artificial, it was all made with fruits



Here I am after an exhausting day ! The green wrist band I am wearing means that I don't have to pay anything because I have "All inclusive" !



I loved the staircase



and always a fresh flower arrangement in the reception hall





A glimpse into our favorite restaurant where we had supper each evening. There are 3 restaurants in total, but one was closed for refurbishment.

For me it was the perfect holidays, I had nothing to complain except this :



horrendous Internet prices, for a 4 (and a half) star hotel, with conference room ! In all other hotels I had been in Egypt Internet was free and considered as a service to the client. How could one work and take holidays at the same time if the Internet costs more in comparison with the food ?

Online Surveys & Market Research

Please vote, I want to give the result to the hotel.

WORDLESS WEDNESDAY

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Before and after !

OUR WORLD - Hurghada (Egypt)

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I have been two weeks in Hurghada at the Red Sea in Egypt. Hurghada stretches for about 36 kilometres (22 mi) along the seashore, and it does not reach far into the surrounding desert. The resort is a destination for Egyptian tourists from Cairo, the Delta and Upper Egypt, as well as package holiday tourists from Europe, notably Italians, Russians, Poles, Englishs and Germans. Until a few years ago it was a small fishing village. Today Hurghada counts 248,000 inhabitants and is divided into three parts: Downtown (El Dahar) is the old part; Sekalla is the city center, and El Memsha (Village road) is the modern part.

One late afternoon, we strolled through the rather big town which it has become now. Fortunately the hotels have their own beaches and are very quiet from the very busy main street you go through a hotel door and you are in another world, with parks, lots of flowers and a beach.



shops after shops you can buy anything you want !





Hotels and little shopping centers. Since a couple of years some of them have fixed prices, otherwise you have to haggle, even in a pharmacy !





Street sellers



Sand filled glass bottles with a camel as motive



in case you wish to become a belly dancer



very busy people ....



Russians or russian speaking people are not very welcome, but they are very generous with their dollars ! Good for the locals ! When I haggle I always say, you can put the price difference on the next Russian tourist ! which usually works with a lot of laughter.





and taxis "en masse" very cheap. Cheaper then a bus ticket in Brussels ! We payed 1 $ for a ride of about 2 km !

WHAT DID YOU DO THIS WEEKEND

of Nov 19. If you participate please put the little logo on the top of your post and leave your link.


I had a very nice weekend ! I just came back from Egypt on Thursday night, had just Friday to unpack my suitcase and getting used to the cold, while I also had to prepare a new one for us and things to take along to go to Amsterdam to celebrate Grandson Toby's first birthday.

Toby's parents had invited the family and friends from the Dutch side and his friends from Belgium, UK and USA. I think we were about 30 people ! Imagine all the birthday gifts Toby got, he can easily open a shop now !

First thing we saw when we arrived Toby makes his first steps and starts walking !



of course he wants to go downstairs and tries to open the protection grid



with Daddy's help



and proudly alone !



The architecture of the house they bought looks very strange to us who are used to the spacious houses in Belgium. On the top you see the front of the house but it's only the right part of street lamp ! 4 floors high, my poor legs ! As Amsterdam has not enough space for building large houses they built high ! The "gardens" are all side by side and not devided, if you want to, you have to put a bamboo screen as the neighbor did or something else. Otherwise you are sharing your part with all your neighbors. (in the hope they are all nice !) They moved in just 2 weeks ago so they don't know anybody yet

Houses are very very expensive and they were even really lucky to find one ! The surroundings are beautiful (I think) but as the weather was so foggy I couldn't take any pictures. There is also a little leisure habor and a beach just around the corner.



Toby is more interested in the Buddha than in the gifts. The cake was in form of a Barbapapa



The kids represented the united colors of Benetton, it was so sweet. The adults had fun too !




A picture with Nonno and Nonna.

After the parents with children were gone and Toby sleeping, we spent the evening with two other couples with lots several bottles of excellent Italian red wine. After that they had to call a taxi ....

The next day, the living room was in a mess, and we slowly tidied up, but then my son's best friend with family came back, they had spent the night in a hotel and we went to a "Pancake" Restaurant.



It was very modern but also very cosy and there was a big playing ground for children, I had never seen that in Belgium. The pancakes, salty or sweet were enormous ! Here is a picture of mine I never thought I could eat it all but it was so delicious, with cheese, mushrooms and ham.




The kids were playing while we ordered the meal, Toby loves kitchens and was busy with pots and pans.



and here we are, before "attacking" the pancakes !