FRIDAY's FAVE FIVE

more participants at Susanne at Living to tell the Story.

1. After my rather busy weekend where I took lots of pictures of the soldiers in their historical costumes they wore in 1815 during the battle of Waterloo, I spent most of the day by sorting them out. As usual the weather was lousy, grey, cold, and wet ! The global warming became the global cooling !

2. Once a week I do my food shopping. This time I bought something I didn't even know that you can buy it deepfreezed !



Pitas ! I just had to heat up the meat, and put the pitas in the toaster and it was done ! Delicious !

3.



We still had this old (or rather not that old) TV in our guest room ! Compared to the once today it looks like a monster. But it still works perfectly. We finally replaced it by the TV standing in Mr. G's room which he never used because the connection was so bad. We gave the old one to our young Moroccan gardener who was only too happy to give it to his brother in Morocco, where  on the countryside, TV's are not for everybody, and especially not the flat models. So we were happy to get rid of this monster which over here nobody wants anymore, and make someone else happy who can use it. We also gave him our old DVD player, which he took for his parents. Things which are so "normal" for us in our spoiled society, can be so precious in other countries where people are still living in another century. They only have electricity since 4 years !

4.



The Hibiscus plant I have now for a year, suddenly decided to bloom and it looked wonderful !



As you can see I am really dressed up for "summer", I had to put the heating on, and to match with Arthur's fur wore a warm fleece cardigan.

5.  During our painting lesson we had a big discussion about the extramarital daughter of our king who is now 45 years old and wants to do a DNA test to prove that she is King Albert's daughter. As the King enjoys complete immunity under the law, she now decided to summon his elder children ! A few of us thought she has the right to know her "father" the others (including me) were more convinced that she wants part of the heritage in case he dies. Illegitimate children in Belgium have the same rights than the marital children. The royals don't move and the newspapers have something to write !

In the afternoon I went to Ilona's mother to show her the pictures of our UK tour. She was delighted and regretted that she hadn't done the same trip ! She is 88 and is still in a super shape !

FASHION AND HATS

more participants at Jenny Matlock's Alphabet Thursday

Fashion can be very creative, especially when it comes to hats. Besides berets, bonnets and caps I have never worn a hat in my life. I wasn't interested in hats either until I saw so many hats in London and the latest fashion !

In each store or boutique I saw fashionable hats for all occasions. In Brussels I would have to go to a specialized shop and they are not easy to find. Hats are out of fashion not even on weddings or other special occasions. I never saw women wearing hats. Even our female royals seldom wear hats.

On my last visit in London I suddenly realized that I saw hats everywhere, I had never payed attention, but with my friend who loved to see stores and boutiques windows, which I don't,  I stumbled over so many hats displayed everywhere, that it started to intrigue me  and I wondered for what occasion these last fashion hats are for.



Then I got it. These once are made when you go to the movies or theatre so that the people sitting behind you get a stiff neck. It also prevents from watching the performance because there is so much to see on the hat !




For those who don't have a garden with flowers, they can show easily that flowers are also growing on hats and makes them really fashionable. I only was a little disappointed that I couldn't find a hat with vegetables.



These once are perfect to attend a party and cut the view on the buffet and drinks. The lobster like hat make other people think of a nice lobster sandwich.



And then are these once which tickle the nose of guests who start to sneeze,  so that you could think that everybody caught  a cold.



for mourning widows this hat is perfect and would create a new fashion in cemetaries.



and if ever you want to leave the party earlier, this hat helps you to take off in a minute !

WORDLESS WEDNESDAY

ABC Wednesday is here

more participants here

MY WORLD - The End of the Highlands and the Lake District

On our way back to the South, we stopped in Callander to spend a night there.

We stayed in the Dreadnought hotel which is even mentioned in Wikipedia. The fact that they were just renovating it, didn't bother us too much, although I got stuck in the very old lift ! The rooms were very spacious and we almost needed a walkie talkie to communicate from one bed to the other.

Callander  is a small town in the region of Stirling, Scotland, situated on the River Teith. The town is a popular tourist stop to and from the Highlands. Read more here....

WHAT DID YOU DO THIS WEEKEND ?

Helps you to remember what you have done on the weekend of June 22 . If you participate please put the little logo on the top of your post and leave your link.

This was a quiet busy weekend ! There was the 14th camps and parades of 600 Wellington and Napoleon soldiers in Wateloo to celebrate the battle of 1815. Wellington's camp was built where it had been in 1815, in front of an old farm. There were a lot of British tourists there and I almost thought I was in England !



Of course I had to go there and admire Wellington's soldiers and his alleys. They all lived in these white
tents for 3 days ! I sneaked into the "village" and took my pictures together with heavily "armed" professional photographers and the TV of course. When I had finished and went out I saw I had to pay an entrance fee of 5 € ! But nobody had noticed me. So I couldn't pay for going out of course. It was a wonderful show and I will write about that later.  Unfortunately the weather was very humid and it also was rather cold.

In the afternoon I went to Ilona, she did some delicate sewing for me on a blouse, she had worked as a fashion tailor before she married and she can do absolutely great dresses or everything you want. But now she hates doing it, only for friends she makes an exception. We chatted about our UK trip and family happenings and then I returned home to download my battle field pictures.



On Sunday morning the parade of all the soldiers should take place at 10.30. I went there, and there were only the Frenchs arriving stopped and waited for the others. To protect themselves against the rain, they had a beer at the little tents to warm up ! It started raining more and more so that I thought I better leave not to catch a cold again !



As it was a bit early to go to the midi market I spent a little time in my Indian shop to rest and have a cup of tea. It is really a haven of peace.

On my way back from the market I met an American history teacher in the train who went to Waterloo for the battle. The poor man didn't know that the Waterloo station is quiet far from the Wellington museum, and the bus from the station to the city center doesn't work during weekends ! What a crazy thing. So I drove the poor man to the center and showed him where he had to go. He came from Boston and taught European history.

After that I was quiet exhausted and spent the rest of the day with my photos on the computer !

THE BUNK BED

When we did our UK tour, I had booked a room in a Hostel. For two persons there was a room with bunk beds, and a shower. It was so small that we had to undress and dress one by one, while the other sat on the bed (or in the bathroom)

For one night it was OK and it was very close to our departure point the next morning at 6.30 am. I had never slept in a bunk bed in my life and of course wanted to try out the upper "floor". I thought with my forthcoming 70 years old bones I'll give it a try.



There was no ladder at the bunk bed, but only holes cut out to get into the upper bed. It hurt like hell the naked feet which made the climbing rather painful. Finally I managed and settled down happily on my "second floor" overlooking the landscape which was a naked wall and some hangers, but a little table with a kettle and no coffee.  But then I thought if I have to get up during the night, how do I get down  ? Of course there was no light at the beds, only one string to lighten up the whole room.

Ilona worried about me and was afraid that I would fall not on her head but on the floor if ever mother nature calls me into the bathroom. As she is half a head smaller than I and has a very small frame, she suggested to swap and I climbed down and felt like an elephant. She instead climbed up as quick as a monkey and armed with one pocket lamp each, we finally settled down and fell asleep. Besides the fact that each time she moved a toe I had the feeling to sleep in a boat on an agitated sea.  The whole bed shook.

But it was fun and an adventure and I like to do things which I have never done ! It's never too late !