GRANDMA WORK

36 years ago another blond little boy was sitting in this kitchen and also played at the same place !



In my new 2 year old Grandma job,  Toby and I try to sit on this huge Teddy bear which Grandpa had bought ! Of course we don't keep the balance !



I don't know if Arthur is now a Grandcat, but he takes his new job very seriously ! He ran behind the tractor and even played football (soccer) ! His siblings had disappeared for the day !

FRIDAY's FAVE FIVE

more participants at Susanne at Living to tell the Story.

1. The only day where the sun was shining, although it was cool, was on Monday !



So after acqua gym I finally had the opportunity to plant the little deco cabbages. I like them natural, but lots of people dye them and they really almost look like a big rose. Of course Arthur had to check !

2. Although I don't like autumn, I like to decorate ! Therefore I decided to dig out the autumn stuff and changed my season basket from spring/summer to autumn.



and here is the result. When you enter our house the first thing (besides me or Mr. G.) you will see is this basket, unless it's cat Arthur, who is always very curious to see who rang the bell !

3. I had to do some shopping because my son and family will come over from Amsterdam and spend the weekend with us.

 

This  "Picard" store is specialized in catering/deepfreezed plates and opened a shop in Waterloo. It belongs to a French store chain  and from the first day of it's opening this shop is always full ! I knew Picard from my stay with Claudie in Southern France, because she also buys things there, apparently it's the best store for deepfreezed good and healthy items also regarding quality/price.






mashed potatoes with truffels or Tagliatelle with truffels and mushrooms


Zucchini gratin




They have a big choice of delicious plates from all countries or deepfreezed vegetables, meat, fish, seafood etc, if you want to cook yourself and you can even get their cookbook ! 


fresh fruits, rasperries






There is also a big choice of delicious cakes !

It's a paradise for people who live alone and don't cook anymore or for elderly couples, or when you have unexpected guests, it's very interesting for me, because it is nearly just around the  corner. This time my guests are not unexpected, but I catched a cold and don't feel well enough to cook.

4. I spend the day at home caughing like an old locomotive,


I drank a lot of tea and took some cough syrup which was quiet strong and made me sleepy.



I just could do like Maxine worked a little on my computer and was at  9 pm my bed. I slept like a marmot almost for 10 h.

5. I started to feel better and tried some household scores ....







and then I thought I'll do like her it is the best way to tidy up before guests arrive, at least they can leave me a message. On the other hand it's also more logical  to clean after a visit then before, to avoid double work. The only place which really has to be super clean is the toilet (restroom, bathroom ...) because there people have time to look into the corners !

WHAT MEANS VINTAGE ?

more participants at Jenny Matlock's Alphabet Thursday

The word vintage becomes more and more in fashion. Honnestly when I see vintage items, I see mostly things which I have worn or owned in the 60th/70th ! Until now I would have called these items old junk. But nowadays it's very "in" to possess vintage items and they became very collectable.

That made me curious to know where this word is coming from. Old things so far were called antiques. Wikipedia refers to winemaking, which is the process of picking grapes and creating the finished product. The word stems from the French word "vendange " which means exactly the same, only in French.

In the new language the word vintage does not only concern wine anymore. Now you also have vintage clothing, tablewear, toys, furniture etc.  Generally speaking, vintage clothing was produced from the 1920s to 1960s. Or it usually refers to clothing that imitates the style of a previous era. Reproduction, or repro, clothing is a newly-made but faithful copy of an older garment.


Vintage clothes, the Jeans I still have only they must have shrinked a bit, the zip doesn't close anymore :)

That makes me think that I am a vintage too ! The only difference is, that I used to wear the clothes when they were freshly created. Today the demand of vintage clothes has very much increased since the early 1990s as vintage clothing was more and more worn by top models and celebrities, like Julia Roberts, Renée Zellweger, and Kate Moss etc.



My first radio looked like this one, and stands now in my son's living room as a "vintage". I remember very well the seats, as I had two like these but in different colors in my room when I was a young girl.




Even our espresso cups are vintage today, I sincerely consider to sell them. They only take space in our cupboard.



Also toys from my and my son's childhood became "vintage" even my dolls ! One is a little damaged because my mother gave it to my son when he was a toddler !



And what I wore 49 years ago is still in fashion today !

WORDLESS WEDNESDAY

more participants here

MY WORLD - Brussels' folklore

 Each year in July a very important and really spectacular show takes places in the center of Brussels :
 "The Ommegang" which litterally means " "walking around"! It remains the oldest historical ceremony of the immaterial inheritance of Brussels and gives you breathtaking folklore, magic and animations.

More than 1400 performers help to relive a history (1549, the procession of Charles Quint)

Read more here

WHAT DID YOU DO THIS WEEKEND ?

Helps you to remember what you have done on the weekend of October 13. If you participate please put the little logo on the top of your post and leave your link.

On Saturday we had  a lousy weather, it poured and it was cold, the wind was blowing, in short everything together to make a nice day !



To have my little morning chat with Toby I didn't have to go outside. He was eating a cheese sandwich and watched the little things I showed him.

Then I had to go with Kim to the groomer, because again she was full of knots and her fur just looked awful. It's always a drama to catch her and carry her to her "hairdresser" but once she sits on the table she is the best cat ever, according to the young lady !



If I could spin and knit I could open a shop with cat wool pullovers, scarfs and bonnets ! She probably has been a sheep in her former life !

In the evening we were invited at my neighbor just across the street, her granddaughter celebrated her 20th birthday ! Big event !



We had a very good Spaghetti prepared by the Birthday child's godmother and a Tiramisu as dessert. After the coffee we played bowling ! It was a lot of fun and ... I won ! I really don't know how I did, because precisely I did nothing, I just "throw" the ball !

Sunday morning the sun was shining but it was very cold ! Only 4°C ! But I needed to go to the big midi market in Brussels, because I wanted to buy a special table cloth for Dominique's birthday and I also hoped to find my cigarette supplier ! While I sat on the terrace of the café enjoying the sunshine with a cup of coffee, I met an English couple with whom I started to chat. They were retired and had chosen to live in Belgium and just had bought a house near Waterloo. The time went by so quickly and finally I had to return without cigarettes but I bought some winter plants and then catched the bus back.

I was sitting in front of a Spanish couple with two little girls who chatted loud all together at the same time in Spanish, behind me was an elderly Italian couple who had a fight because he had bought something she didn't like, and besides me were 3 English speaking teenage boys who also were quiet noisy. I thought I was sitting in a hen house with all the cackling around me. Yes, Brussels is indeed the capital of Europe !

The afternoon I spent with Ilona in front of a nice fire, meanwhile the clouds had moved in and were announcing rain. When I came home our "adopted" son was discussing with Mr. G. and had waited for me to discuss the "burn out" disease, and was also happy to inform me that he finally had found a nice young woman to date, and the way he talked about her, I thought he lost his heart (again) only he doesn't know yet. But as it happens so often lately, I wonder how long this will last. Life indeed is not boring !

HOW YOU WILL LOOK IN 1000 YEARS

I just have read an article which was published here but originally came from an English Newspaper. It tells us how we will look  in about 1000 years.

Now I am really happy that I will not be on our planet anymore to check if this prediction is true unless I am reborn in another body. Then I would prefer to be a cat living in my house because cats still look like today. There is hope, the cats from 1000 years ago haven't change their look until today.



So men will look like in the above picture in 1000 years ! Honnestly I prefer the George Clooney type which probably will be then considered by the female gent as an neandertaler.

He will have a smaller brain, (even more ???) more wrinkles, and fewer teeth

He will be taller at 1.90 to 2.10 (6-7ft) which must be a wrong calculation, because there are lots of men in the world with the same size already today. The scientists pretend it would be because of improved nutrition and medical science.

That his  intestins will get shorter I honestly don't mind.

He also will have smaller testicles which anyway are hidden in briefs, but maybe the string will run out of fashion.

Our most used extremities will change dramatically. Arms and fingers will get longer to reduce the need to reach too far and nerve endings in hands and fingers will increase which will be ideal for pickpockets who certainly will still operate in 1000 years.

We will eat softer food which needs less chewing and biting. We could even get our nutrition from liquids or pills in the future, which could mean less teeth and receded jaws. How awful then I would have to eat my beloved sushis or pasta or vegetables in pills ?

People will also have quadruple chins !  All in all wonderful news for plastic surgeons.

Everyone will have the same shape of nose because climate is having less influence on broad or narrow hooters thanks to air conditioning and central heating. I hope it's not an eagle nose !

Because of central heating and warm clothing we will be less hairy, that's the good news,  but there’ll be more wrinkles as a result of peering at our electronic devices.

We could end up with saggy turkey necks too because extra sun will cause loose skin and baggy eyelids. And there will be darker skin as people move around the planet and races mix. No sunbathes needed anymore.

Am I happy that I live in 2012 and not in 3012 !