RETIREMENT AT 60 ?

FRIDAY's FAVE FIVE

1. I went over to Dominique to help her sorting out our photos from Tunisia and explained the function of Picasa, to crop, to lighten etc. This took us nearly the whole afternoon.



She also had bought two canaries, to replace the poor little grey birds, cat Arthur had scared to death and one probably landed in his stomac ! This time there is no worker in the house and Mr. G. will lock the door to the guest room where they spent their holidays when Dominique is away. She can't keep them in her house, because she closes all stores and put on her alarm.

2. What else to do on rainy days, I got a bunch of photos from my grandson Toby, which my son had sent me. I cropped them for a collage and made two.





Now I don't know which one to choose to put in a frame, I am not a photo frame fan, and don't like to put photos everywhere in the house, especially when people are still alive ! But of course our visitors want to see Toby, so he is an exception. Which one would you choose for a frame ?

3. It continued to rain therefore I thought I have to put some order in my papers and also in my wardrobe, because it's always a mess in there, after a few weeks. I can't keep my T-shirts, pullovers, etc in order for a long time !

4. Impossible to mow the lawn, because of the rain, it's now 10 days that we have cold weather and rain. As the sun comes out from time to time, the garden quickly becomes a jungle ! I needed to go out so I took the bus to Brussels, as I am retired I can ride for free, made a little tour in a store and a gallery, to escape the showers, and then returned back home. There was nothing special to buy, but at least I had done a little walk.

5. We had our last painting class, now we are on holidays until September on the contrary of "normal" students we are not happy at all, as we are on holidays the whole year !

After school I met an old friend I hadn't seen for a long time, we went together to Art School and we had lunch together.



Then I went to "my" Indian shop to buy my nightcream, and of course I couldn't resist to buy this necklace, which fits so nicely to my new blouse. I always tell me that I am doing  a good action as the money goes to an Indian village school. All excuses are good !

4* HOTELS

more participants at Jenny Matlock's Alphabet Thursday

Good travel agencies always propose 4* hotels when you go to Egypt, Morocco, or Tunisia and for a very democratic price. Our Hotels in the Western world like  the Hiltons, Ritzs, Waldorfs, or Conrads look like garden sheds compared to the hotels you see in the above mentioned countries. An exception could be Las Vegas, but there everything is fake.

They all look like palaces out of "One Thousand and One Nights". Entrance/reception halls like big city train stations, with marble colons, beautiful tiles, mosaic, lots of golden decoration and you stand there with an open mouth when you see them for the first time. There are beautiful paintings,  stuck wall decorations, wide staircases just like in the Titanic and lots of beautiful decorations and flower arrangements everywhere. A delight for your eyes.  







These are some hotels where I stayed during my holidays in Morocco, Egypt and Tunisia.



And when you look up to the ceilings or down to the marble floors, you still want to pinch yourself to check out if you are not dreaming !

But then comes the surprise when you get your room. Usually the rooms have a good size,  with elegant furniture, comfortable seats but ....



as soon as you sit down in the comfy looking armchair, you find yourself sitting on the ground, because one leg of the chair just switches aside or even breaks. Somtimes the electric wires hang unprotected out of the wall and if you don't want to play "electric chair" better pay attention and don't touch them. If you claim they promise to repair it immediately, but immediately means that it is not yet done on the day you leave.

It was not the first time that under my elephant like weight the bed broke and I found myself sitting on the floor with the bedsheets artistically draped around my neck. We also had a nice toilet separated from the bathroom and when you took a shower, the one who sat peacefully on the throne of the toilet,  suddenly had water until the ankles. Or when opening a wardrobe pay attention that not all shelves suddenly fell on the ground with a terrible noise causing you a shock.

That a painting dropped from the wall and you just could safe your head, or you fell over a hole in the beautiful oriental carpet becomes normal.

The beautiful lamps or chandeliers have a strange system sometimes, or you sit in a complete darkness when you switch off one light, or half of them are not working and perhaps are only there for decoration. The Electrician has a lot of phantasy.

The rooms were always clean I have to say but you quickly learn to ask for more toilet paper, hide it in the wardrobe and ask for more the next day, because otherwise you run short, as it is often not replaced. The beds sometimes have mattresses which probably dates from Roman times. Either you sit in a hole or you sleep on a wide plank. I experienced lots of adventures of this kind, useless to get unnerved, take it with humor !

But once out of your room you are again in a Palace and feel like a queen. 

WORDLESS WEDNESDAY

more participants here

OUR WORLD - TUNISIA PART 3

Chott el Djerid is a large salt lake in southern Tunisia and lies in the middle of Tunisia, close to the Algerian border. It is the largest salt pan of the Sahara.  In summer Chott el Djerid is almost entirely dried up, and numerous fata morganas occur. It reminded me of the "Death Valley" in the States, on a smaller scale.

Chott el Djerid was also used as a filming location for the Star Wars series.

Read more  here

WHAT DID YOU DO THIS WEEKEND ?

This meme helps you to remember what you did on the weekend of 7 July

Saturday morning when it had stopped raining I picked up our supper from the Sushi shop, to celebrate my birthday with Mr. G. and as I had to wait a bit, I took the opportunity to look in some stores as there are "Sales" in Belgium. Sales are only authorized twice a year, once for the winter season starting on Jan 2, and once for the summer starting on July 1st. This lasts during the whole month. Of course the first days the shops are packed with people and they even wait early morning that the shop opens ! I am not a boutique fan, but I had a look and found a nice blouse to wear for my birthday party.



The sun came out and I worked in the garden, which I hate, but there were so many weeds on the little graveyard where all our animals are burried, so that it was really necessary especially as I have got these two cat vases from my son for my birthday. They are in ceramic and very heavy. Now it looks nice.

In the afternoon a friend of Mr. G. visited us and we could sit the whole afternoon on the patio and chatted together. Our Sushi meal was delicious !



On Sunday morning my birthday "table" looked like this. A cute bag for the beach and a wooden cat from my friend Ilona, and the new mobile from Mr. G.

At 3.30 Dominique had invited my friends and prepared everything for me to have a nice birthday party without any work ! She ordered me to put my feet under the table and not to move ! It was really very sweet of her.



I had put all the gifts together on her desk, bracelets, another cat, and Belgian Chocolate in a heart shaped bowl and the Skype telephone.

She had baked a wonderful cake which tasted delicious.



We ate the cake with 2 bottles of Champagne, Mr. G. joined us for a while after he had watched his Formular 1, and then he escaped after having eaten two pieces of cake, 6 women who chatted all together was too much for him. Normally we were 7 but Nicole couldn't come.

The party lasted until 6.30 and then I invited Dominique for a Pizza at home, we weren't very hungry and ended the day in company with Inspector Barnaby and his Midsomer murders. 

ANOTHER BIRTHDAY

69 years ago, I spent my first night in a drawer in the basement of a Hospital in Frankfurt. Due to the heavy bombing the childbirth room had been moved there.

Ever since I sleep in normal beds only occasionally they break when I am in a hotel and want to lay down.



so today is my birthday, just one year to go to enter the club of the 70th !