4 Jan 2013

FRIDAY's FAVE FIVE



more participants at Susanne at Living to tell the Story.

1. This week I stayed 5 days at my friend Claudie's in the South of France for the New Year's Eve.



From a grey and cold Waterloo I arrived in Ollioules' almost Spring weather. We made a walk along the Sea and could even sit outside.



After our walk, I helped with preparing the buffet for New Year's Eve. I was in charge to make the Foie Gras sandwiches, while Claudie with the help of her SIL opened the oisters.

2.



We ate and danced til midnight, and then everybody with a glass Champagne, wished for a happy New Year !




We had a lot of fun, but the next day we found paper streamers and little paper balls everywhere in the house ! Even in our beds and in our shoes (work of the children !).

3.



While Claudie went to the doctor with her daughter, I walked through the little town and admired the beautiful Christmas decoration. The Christmas trees, on the left below, were made by the school children's different classes. The one in front was made by Claudie's class.



The whole town was decorated and little Father Christmas were hanging at the windows.

4.



On my last day I took some pictures of their property, the vegetation is so different to ours in the North.



Claudie's husband Pierre loves to cook and decorate and prepared our last brunch together.

5.



Then we went for a walk along the sea again, and sat there for a long while in the sunshine ! It was a wonderful weather 20° ! After a coffee we went home, and so ended my year's end holidays.

When you read this I am probably sitting in the plane, I'll arrive late afternoon home and into the winter again !

3 Jan 2013

GORGEOUS HOLIDAYS

Jenny Matlock
more participants at Jenny Matlock's Alphabet Thursday
  


I just wanted to show you in what gorgeous place I am right now. I am in the South of France and enjoy Palm trees together with Christmas trees !

During the day it's almost like spring, but once the sun is gone it becomes quiet cold.



at the sea, in front of the house, a Father Christmas and Sanary the little town at the sea



I went for a  walk and visited the church and the little streets in the little town Ollioules.

2 Jan 2013

WORDLESS WEDNESDAY

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A VERY HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL OF YOU

1 Jan 2013

OUR WORLD - SOUTH OF FRANCE



In not even 2 h my world changed completely !



I took the plane at 8.20 in Brussels in an ice cold weather and a lot of wind and arrived



at 10 am in Marseille where my friend picked me up !



What a difference, the sun was shining it, was warm, and I could even sit outside ! Christmas tree and Palmtrees what a combination for an old Northern girl !



and here we are sitting at the sea enjoying a coffee !

Hope you all had a nice New Year's Eve !

31 Dec 2012

WHAT DID YOU DO THIS WEEKEND ?




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

Finally I had finished with household and my photos and had time again to vistit my friends.



Ilona gave me this cute red bonnet, which comes on purpose as I will spent the New Year with my friend Claudie, an ex blogger, in the South of  France at the Côte d'Azur. It's sometimes windy there and I always need to cover my head against cold or heat. We chatted about Christmas and with her little Christmas tree, lots of candles and in front of her stove, we had a nice cosy afternoon.



On my way back home I took these pictures of Waterloo's Christmas decoration from out of my car, while driving, there was such a traffic that I had to drive very slowly.

I also brought an USB stick to Nicole with the video sketches I had made in Egypt.



Charly was very happy about my visit as I had brought a little Panetone to eat with our coffee. She had a lot of fun with the video, where in a sketch she plays a mother whose son was shot ! I didn't know that she was such a great actor !

On Sunday morning when I woke up, I could hear the rain falling in buckets and it didn't stop the whole morning.

So I prepared my backback for tomorrow morning when I take the plane to Marseille in the South of France, to spend New Year's Eve with my friend Claudie (who doesn't blog anymore) in the sunshine at the Côte d'Azur !



It was quiet a challenge to pack, because I was not allowed to exceed certain mesurements, 50cm x 20 x 40cm (19x8x16 inches) which is not very much for winter clothes and your handbag included. Finally I managed it without sitting on the bagpack, but I have to wear 1 T-shirt, 1 pullover and two cardigans under my coat ! I will look like an elephant. But as soon as I am on the plane, I take the cardigans off and put them in my backpack ! It's only for the check in. Otherwise I would have to pay 50 € ! Ryan Air is cheap but has a lot of extra fees !

The rest of the day I spent on the computer and on the TV,  due to this awful weather there was not much to do. From time to time I checked how far they were with dismantling the Christmas tree in Brussels (see post below).



at 9 am



Afternoon



and at 6 pm, the place was empty !

When you read this I will probably sitting in the plane on my way to Marseille !




30 Dec 2012

THE END OF BRUSSEL's "CHRISTMAS TREE"

After so many protests against this "Christmas Tree" standing in the middle of the beautiful Grand'Place in Brussels, the city decided to dismantle this monster before the celebration of the New Year's Eve. Their excuse was that it could be dangerous because of the fireworks. The reality is, that they fear that people would destroy it so big was the anger against this thing which had nothing to do with a real Christmas tree. The responsible for Brussel's tourism,  the "échevin" (municipal councillor) Philippe Close, apparently was the founder of this great idea, had wanted to "modernize" Brussels. Apparently he was the only one who loved this tree !

So on Saturday morning I switched on the video camera of the Grand'Place and watched how Brussels "beautiful" Christmas tree was dismantled



They started shortly after 8 am.



I saw some workers climbing on the "tree"



Around 9 am, the "bedsheets" which had covered the metal boxes had disappeared from the top



It went quiet quickly



at noon, it was only a scaffolding and more and more people started to gather around it to watch this event !



Then came a truck "Creative Audio & Vision Solutions" which solved the problem of the vision of a Christmas tree.



at 5 pm it was almost done, and the workers stopped.

This morning the scaffolding was still standing, and I will watch from time to time when this nightmare is finally gone, and for the first time the Grand'Place will be without a Christmas tree on New Year's Eve !

This shows that when it comes to traditions, politicians shouldn't have too much phantasy !