BIG BEN IS RINGING

I was laying on the couch watching a little crime story from Agatha Christie on TV, while eating my appel pieces. I just saw a woman with short auburn hair sitting as me in front of the TV and she also watched a movie, but it must have been something more "intellectual" then mine, because I saw "Big Ben" ! I found it rather funny that I could watch a movie in a movie. Suddenly a shadow appeared behind the person on my screen, still watching "Big Ben" which bells now were ringing. I saw a thick cord and two hands and then the poor woman struggling while she was strangled.

Suddenly I heard Mr. G.  open the entrance door. I was surprised because I hadn't heard any ringing. Then he came into the living room fortunately not behind me and with no cord,  and told me that there was nobody. I looked at him with two question marks in my eyes and said, "nobody rang the doorbell". "Of course" he answered " somebody rang the bell" ! I looked at the screen in the screen where "Big Ben" was still ringing its bells and suddenly I understood !

Our door bell has the "Big Ben" bell ringing sound and he had thought it was our bell ! Meanwhile Big Ben had disappeared from the screen in my screen and I saw the woman's corpse laying besides the sofa...

Should I change our bell's ringing sound ? 

FRIDAY's FAVE FIVE

more participants at Susanne at Living to tell the Story.

1. For the moment after Acqua Gym, Dominique and I have lunch together in a restaurant of our choice. This time we went (as so often) to the "Jardin d'Asie" (the Asian garden).



the decoration is beautiful and the food /price very good. Only 8.50 € (11 $)for a lunch and a whole "all you can eat" buffet on Mondays for 13.50 €  (17 $)! 1 Drink (wine or beer) included.

2. While I was pulling out weeds in the front of our house and salted the gravel, to avoid that the weeds grow back,


Dominique had her garden shed installed and under the watchful eye of cat Arthur (the white spot) painted the first lay.

3. Nicole and I wanted to take the train to Liège as we only pay 5 € return trip because we are retired. So it is not worthwhile to take the car. Of course we had chosen the one and only day where the Belgian train company (SNCB) was on general strike. No train was running not even the international once. The stations were all empty. So we have to go another day.



empty stations



even the killers couldn't achieve their work, according to the most famous Belgian cartoonist !

4. I have started a new painting, half woman and half cat face. You can't see very much yet, it's only the
the first lay.



Our painting group at work and in the background the very important coffee break is prepared !



one of my classmates gave me these two cactus, it came on purpose, because I just had lost one plant, after only 30 years !

5. On my way back from Yoga, I stopped  in a shop to buy a new suit. I have lost so much weight, that now I am "swimming" in my trousers. I badly needed something comfortable for the yoga classes.



This one is in velvet and it is very soft. Now at least I don't have to pay attention anymore not to loose my trousers !

For the moment we also have an election campaign going on for the Waterloo municipality. So everywhere you go you see a smiling face !



When I arrived home, to my big surprise this guy was sitting in our living room  chatting with Mr. G. they know each other since a long time and he is the responsible for all social things. He takes care of the sick and poor, the seniors and those who have no work. I was very pleased to see him, so I could tell him what I thought of his "collegue" the one who is responsible for culture and art and who had organized the Waterloo painting exhibition, which was so very badly done (see my Monday post). He promised me to inform the mayor, and my painting class was very satisfied when I told them. They know that I am quiet good in complaining ! So hopefully next year it will be better, and Mr. Verdin certainly got some more electors !

TAKE AWAY OR TAKE OUT !

more participants at Jenny Matlock's Alphabet Thursday

When I go together with my friends to the "Jardin d'Asie" the (Asian Garden) Restaurant, I always order the same plate because I love it. It's noodles with vegetables beef and chicken pieces and it tastes delicious. I order a plate for me to eat in this lovely restaurant, but also the same plate for Mr. G. to eat at home in the evening. Therefore I always ask for a "Take Away" but it is exactly the same plate as I eat in the restaurant.(not to mix up with a "Doggy bag").

When I was in my 20 til 40th I loved cooking, it was a hobby for me. I always tried out new recepes or tried to copy things I had eaten in a restaurant at home. It didn't bother me spending hours in the kitchen. This time is long gone, now it has to be quick, good, and healthy. Fortunately we have quiet a lot of  "Take Away" restaurants in Waterloo not only Asian or chinese once.

The "Take Away" formular didn't exist since a long time at least that was what I thought and I wanted to know exactly since when it started. The dictionary gave me following information "sold for consumption away from the premises on which it is prepared a takeaway meal" Ok, that's true but since when ??

To my surprise I learned that "Take Aways " or "Take-outs" existed already in Roman times !!! So it is nothing new, Take Aways are just copied from the Romans ! 



Roman "Take Away" (Take Out)

In the cities of Roman antiquity, much of the urban population living in  multi-story apartment blocks, depended on food vendors for much of their meals. In the mornings, bread soaked in wine was eaten as a quick snack and cooked vegetables and stews later in the day delivered by the food vendors.

Many of these food vendors catered to those who did not have means (!!!) to cook their own food, particularly single households. Unlike richer town dwellers, many could not afford housing with kitchen facilities and thus relied on "Take Away "food.

Apparently they didn't start their days with cornflakes, jam and rolls or sausages and red beans but with in wine soaked bread. What a nice joyful start into the day !

And also in the Middle Age, large towns and major urban areas such as London and Paris supported numerous vendors that sold dishes such as pies, pasties, flans, waffles, wafers, pancakes and cooked meats.

Now today it is the opposite, not everybody can afford to buy "Take Away" food every day, but we have all a complete furnished kitchen ! 

From now on I will not have a queasy conscience anymore when I order Take Away food, because I only do what the Romans did already long time ago, I just lock my kitchen and throw the key away, then I have a good excuse to always buy "Take Aways" because I have no kitchen anymore and can soak my bread in wine as breakfast in the morning ! In short a healthy cheerful life !



After breakfast




"Take Away"

WORDLESS WEDNESDAY

more participants here

MY WORLD - Rouge Cloître Brussels

There are so many forests and parks in and around Brussels, that I think in the 53 years I am living here I haven't seen them all ! This time I wanted to rediscover the Abbaye du Rouge-Cloître. It is an Augustinian abbey in Auderghem, one of the 19 municipalities of Brussels located on the edge of the Forêt de Soignes (Sonian Forest). It was founded in 1367.

Read more  here

WHAT DID YOU DO THIS WEEKEND ?

Helps you to remember what you have done on the weekend of September 29. If you participate please put the little logo on the top of your post and leave your link.


On Saturday morning, my son called via Skype and I could "talk" to Toby. Now that he starts to speak, he will be 2 years in November, it's easier to communicate with him and it's so much fun too !



I showed him some toys and then a book where he pointed on the pages to tell me what it was. Daddy had to translate the baby language ! Then Toby had enough talking with grandma, waved good bye and watched a little movie. Isn't Skype a great invention when you have family living far ?

In the afternoon I went together with a friend to the Waterloo Artists exhibition, which was spreaded all over Waterloo, in private houses, or flats, the exhibition center was closed !

It wasn't well organized at all, because you had to drive to different areas to find the streets, and rang the doorbells. I almost felt like a Jehova witness !



our first stop was near the station, we knew the young woman who plays the guitarre, she is a portrait teacher. There were little sculptures exposed and she and her friend made some gypsy music, which was very nice.




Next stop was the library where one of our classmates exposed, he has a rather strange way of painting.



Then we drove to the other side of Waterloo, to see the exposition of another classmate



and the last one we visited was also from our painting group and her house again on another end of Waterloo. There I fortunately met the guy who had organized this,  the responsible for culture and art and told him that he had forgotten to inform the one and only official painting class of Waterloo city. And not only that, but that it is impossible to see all the exhibitors without a car and not everybody has one etc.etc. The guy didn't know what to answer and stammered some nonsens and then he escaped. Of course he wasn't used that somebody talked to him this way, he the important personality, and assistant to the mayor. For me he could have been the King in person, he had done a bad job and I felt much better !

On Sunday the weather was so nice, that I went photo hunting in another park of Brussels. It is an old monastery called "Rouge Cloître" which means Red cloister, hidden in one of the many forests in and around Brussels.



Today there is a permanent painting and sculpture exposition inside, and some workshops, and also a restaurant. The last time I had been there was when our son was a toddler so it must be at least 35 years ago. Of course I didn't recognize anything !



 The park around the monastry is very beautiful and there were many people walking around the lake.

When I came back our "adoptive son" was there discussing with Mr. G.,  just like last Sunday and still with heart problems, I mean  sentimental and not medical once. We both tried to cheer him up and gave him some good advices, with the hope that this time he will listen to us ! 

WHY LAPTOP ?

Sometimes before I fall asleep I think of things and I really don't know why. This time I wondered why a laptop is called laptop and not kneetop or legtop or bellytop and who gave this name ? The next morning I wanted to find out ! No way ! I googled, I wikipediaed they all explained how a laptop works, its size, and that it is portable. All things I knew too.

In a dictionary I found following explanation :

lap·top
[lap-top] 
noun
a portable, usually battery-powered microcomputer small enough to rest on the user's lap.

While in Wikipedia and everywhere else  the definition is :

A laptop computer is a portable personal computer light and small enough to sit on a person's lap. The main utility of a laptop computer is that it allows a person to travel with their computing resource.

At least now I know the difference ! In a dictionary a laptop rests in other definitions it sits !