ANOTHER ANNIVERSARY TOWARDS THE GUINESS BOOK OF RECORDS

Yesterday we celebrated our 43 wedding anniversary. We approach the chance to enter in the Guiness Book of records.



43 years with the same man is really a record !

To celebrate this event, I ordered 2 Sushi menues, so I didn't have to cook. After 43 years he knows my cooking, but the Japanese style less.



I had to put the bags in a cupboard because cat Arthur smelled the fish in the sushis and started to meow operas in the kitchen. As it was noon, I thought after 5 h of hearing his songs we would both getting crazy. When it was time I put the Sushis on a plate which was quiet a lot of work, but no effort is hard enough to serve a good meal to your man for this special event. I even let him carry the trays  into the living room !



While I enjoyed my sushis and watched the last dramas in the news on TV, he fought with the cats who wanted to jump in his plate, especially the always hungry Arthur. With the time and age, he and Mr. G. become more and more similar, they both have a timer in their stomac when it comes to eating. However there is a difference, Mr. G. doesn't catch mice, but he puts the corpses in our bin. That's called cooperation !

After this delicious meal, Arthur leaked his whiskers and Mr. G. purred with a full stomac and then we watched a Midsomer Murder to end this special day. Fortunately no husband murdered his wife.

43 years ago it was very warm 25°C (!!) (78 F) and while we were celebrating in a restaurant together with some friends and my parents,  our furniture arrived with a truck and we had to leave the table drive to our new appartment to open the door. When everything was uploaded, we returned to the restaurant where our guests had nearly finished.

This was only our civil marriage we had to do it in a hurry not because of a baby but because of our appartment which we had found and wanted to rent, but in 1969 a young couple couldn't rent an appartment together without a marriage certificate !

The big wedding feast took place two months later, that's why we celebrate our marriage twice !

FRIDAY's FAVE FIVE

more participants at Susanne at Living to tell the Story.


1.Nothing very special happened this week. Our windows were so dirty that it really was necessaary to have them cleaned because they are French windows and very huge. When we had the joints of our terrace done, it had caused a lot of dust and therefore the windows were more dirty than usual.

This forced me to wash all the curtains of course ! But they are easy, I just put them in the machine and then hang them up again when they are still wet.

2. The sun was shining so before the Yoga class started 3 of us sat on a little wall to let the sun shine on our faces. Our teacher saw us and told us to stretch the inside of our hands towards the sun, this would give us in 3 min the dose of vitamine D we need every day. Of course we didn't know that, so we stretched our open hands towards the sun and sat there almost like the 3 monkeys (don't hear, don't listen, don't speak) much to the laughter of some teenagers who were there too and watched us. But we had our vitamine D for the day !

3. From time to time I go to the Charity shop which supports battered women.



They often have very interesting things to buy for little money.



I bought this beautiful basket for 5 € and put my season basket inside, now it's higher and looks better.
Of course I couldn't resist to buy a bus (!!) and a car to add to little Toby's car collection !



Just opposite the shop is the Swingolf  course where we will play next year when it gets warmer. So far we weren't lucky each Tuesday when we wanted to play it rained ! I thought I could take some nice pictures of colored trees, but this year the trees are still green. That's not normal, but nothing was normal this year weatherwise.

4.


Time to prepare the terrace for winter, so we covered the furniture under the watchful eyes of cat Arthur. He always has to check if we do things right.

5. I needed cat food and went shopping ! I thought I would find a lot of Halloween decoration as it was the case 2 years ago, but not at all ! Last year already there were only a few witches and pumpkins and this  year nothing !



But there was a huge space with Christmas decoration ! Now ! not yet mid October ! Next year they will start at Easter ! I am really not  ready for Christmas !!

My camera had started to make blurr pictures, so I brought it for reparation ! It will last about a month ! I have a little spare camera, but the picture quality is not so good. So when I saw the same camera for half price in a household appliances shop where I only went through without intention to buy anything, but I couldn't let go this opportunity !



What did I do ? I bought it and now I feel much better ! The lousy weather and the Christmas decoration had damaged my good mood, the new camera brought it back !

THE UNDERWEAR HISTORY

more participants at Jenny Matlock's Alphabet Thursday



When a young man complained to me that his girlfriend hasn't worn any underwear in her garden when it was hot, and he asked me if this is "normal" I thought he is rather old fashioned, although he could be my son by far ! Anyway this made me curious and I wanted to know since when people used to wear underwear, because my ancestors ran around in furs and I think they were naked underneath. But apparently they wore a loincloth which is the simplest form of underwear and was probably the first undergarment worn by human beings.


loincloth                                            a modern nightmare remake !

In warmer climates the loincloth was often the only clothing worn and was an outer garment rather than an undergarment,  but in colder regions the loincloth often formed the basis of a person's clothing and was covered by other garments. Anyway in most ancient civilizations, this was the only undergarment available. It must have been worn by both sexes, because I couldn't find any female underwear. Apparently women wore nothing special, or maybe the chastity belt when their men went on crusades.



After the loincloth men (still nothing mentioned about women) wore braies in the middle age


a knight, King Henry VIII and even ol' Bush wore codpieces !

By the time of the Renaissance, braies had become shorter they were usually fitted with a front flap that was buttoned or tied closed. This codpiece allowed men to urinate without having to remove the braies completely.

Of course codpieces were really not adapted for women as they have no family jewelries.

Over the upper part of their bodies, both medieval men and women usually wore a  a chemise in France, or a smock or shift in England. Women wore a chemise underneath their gowns or robes.



ancient                                     new fashion corset

In the 16th century wealthy women's nightmare started with the corsets  which refers to a stiffened decorative bodice worn on top of another bodice stiffened with buckram, reeds, canes, whalebone or other materials which must have been very comfortable and really not made to work on a field or raise 10 children !






















women underwear in 1800














The bra is an abreviation from brassiere which was worn after the corsets, and was only invented beginning 1900, and mass production started in 1912 in Germany.



Before the 1950s, underwear consisted of simple, white pieces of clothing which were not to be shown in public  ! In the 1950s, underwear became a fashion item in its own right.And now you have the choice in patterns colors and shapes !

WORDLESS WEDNESDAY

more participants here

THE GOLDEN SIXTIES EXPOSITION

Last week together with my friend Nicole we took the train to Liège to see the "Golden Sixties Expostion", which takes place in Liège in the station.



The station itself is already amazing and looks like a building from a futuristic world. When we arrived it was just lunch time so without leaving the station we had lunch in this modern beautiful restaurant.



This Belgian plate is called "Americain, frites, salad" which means an "American with chips and salad". It's very fresh minced raw beef meat with capers and spices. It was delicious.

Then we entered the exposition. I was 20 in the sixties and honnestly I had never thought at that time that I would once see my youth in an exposition ! It took me back so many years, but it was as if everything had just happened yesterday.



It brought back so many memories, that I put aside the headset which explained all things which were exposed, because I knew everything I had lived these events and the voice of this guide got on my nerves.



The wall was built in August 1961, separating east from western Germany. Many people died because they jumped out of their windows into the western side before the wall was completed, and after that quiet a lot were shot when they tried to escape.



A sign which said "Attention you leave East Berlin"



Then Kennedy was murdered, the exposition showed Dallas and the event it in a maquette,



and we could see a copy of the gun Oswald had used to kill the president.



There was also the May 68 revolution in France where students fought against authority and institutions. It later became a strike which involved 11,000,000 workers, over 22% of the total population of France at the time, for a continuous two weeks.

I wouldn't call these events being part of the "golden sixties", but rather the sad side. 



But then came Armstrong, the first man who stepped on the moon.



The Belgian most famous Cristal factory "Val St. Lambert" had made the food print in cristal



Women rights increased, the first contraception pill came on the market, which made the pope very angry, the first woman presented the news on television and women started in politics.



Brigitte Bardot created another kind of beauty the child/woman beauty.



and  Marilyn ended a marriage



The Beatles became famous and we could admire a guitare from John Lennon,



The new microphones for the singers



and  Juke boxes were installed.




The first graffitis showed up



and a special east German car was created "the Trabant" On this picture Breshnev is kissing Honecker



Warhol made his first Marilyn Monroe pictures



and Belgium advertised a new Jupiler beer



For the first time there were also TV shows for children.



The Oscars in the 60th



The first James Bond movie was produced



and we could see some accessoires he had used, and which a private collector had lent.



The first record players came on the market and I remember I had one similar to the above left one. Of course it was for the 78 turn rather big records.



The kitchen appliances which we now find in all households came just on the market. Honnestly there is not such a big difference between yesterday and today !



The first electrocardigram also started in the 60th and Dr. Barnard did his first open heart surgery.



Coca Cola came out with a cool box



Vespas conquered different European countries



I think this radio, record player would be very stylish for today !



and the Tupperwears haven't changed their look very  much



Fridges became available for average families. This is a Frigidaire a brand mark created by General Motors.



There were also the first petrol stations



The Mini Morris created by William Morris in Oxford came on the market



More and more camera models became available,



Little bars with Juke box and slotmachine



and a completely new furniture style. I remember that I had two of those armchairs in my room. Today this style is very "in" again.





The dresses I used to wear I now looked at as "historical fashion style" and I thought I could still wear them today, they are also in fashion again.



and when we left the exposition we didn't really know if this sitting area was from the 60th or from 2012.

When we finally left the exposition, we realized that we were born in a very special time. So many things had been invented when we were 20 and so many changes were made in the society and social life. Everything you see and hear today came from this period. Except the computer area, this was later.