FRIDAY's FAVE FIVE - RANDOM 5 FRIDAY

1. On Monday I had more or less recuperated from our stressful weekend, and started my day with switching on my now French speaking computer, which took a long time to load. Meanwhile I had coffee, called the gardener to cut the bushes,



cleaned the hand prints which little hands had left on our French window and only then it finally was ready ! Loading pages for comments took hours and the whole thing was slower then a snail participating in a marathon. In short, my computer had decided to give up it's soul and was on his terminal breath.

2. I told Mr. G. that probably I would need a new computer. He immediately got out of his usual lethargy and started looking for a new one on Internet, a thing he never does when it comes to look up for anything else. That's my job. And he found one ! In our Carrefour supermarket on promotion. He showed me what he had selected and convinced me that Window 8.1 wouldn't bite me. I had heard around me that Window 8 was very difficult to use and 8.1 is the newest improved version. Now he pushed me to eat my lunch quickly so that we could go to the shop (as if it would run away). That's what we did and as he didn't know Window 8.1, I had to drop him off at the Computer center of Waterloo, where he works twice a week as a volonteer to help people learning how to work with a computer. There his collegue installed what I needed, my bookmarks and other stuff, when it was finished he called me to pick him up and half an hour later I had my new computer !



It is a HP, 17 inches screen. I took off my old snail, and Mr. G. connected the new computer. It worked perfectly ! It is so quick that I first had to get used to it, it was as switching from an oldtimer to a Ferrari ! Of course I still have to learn some things, but at least I can blog as usual and read my emails. I think we should buy a computer every day to make Mr. G. move ! Unfortunately I am not Mrs. Bill Gates.

3. I just took the time to go shopping for food, my fridge was as empty as our bank account, and then spend the rest of the day with my new toy, discovering more and more functions.

4. Nicole celebrated her 75th birthday and Ilona had invited us for this event. It was sunny and warm on her terrace and we had coffee and a birthday cake.

Nicole complained about back ache as she had moved arround her furniture and done far too much.



Ilona showed her some Yoga exercises which should help to get rid of the backache while dog Charlie wondered what his servant did on the floor. Of course we were laughing like 3 Kookaburras, I wonder what the neighbors thought, probably that we were a group of hysterical schoolgirls.

5. I had the good intention to work a little bit in the garden, but after having pulled out a few weeds, I thought I could do it tomorrow. My green thumb hurt. Therefore I spent the afternoon with my new toy work tool, discovering new things. I found a camera with all kind of possibilities,  and while Mr. G. watched what I was doing,



my computer took this picture, I swear we were not in this train !

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THE VACUUM CLEANER AND A SPIDER

When I was 23 in the 60th, had a good job and even a car, I decided to rent an appartment and move out from my parents. I was never allowed to invite friends, the cat I had got from a friend for my birthday was just tolerated,  and as no charming prince was in view I wanted to live on my own. I found a very nice little one, with two rooms, a bathroom and a kitchen and as it was on the ground floor I even had a little garden for my cat to go out through the window. When I wanted to sign the contract I needed my father's signature as I was not 25 years old, which made me very angry. But that was the law, to get married or rent a flat as a female you needed Daddy's signature !! (What a progress has been made ever since !).

I loved my little appartment, I had bought second hand furniture and it looked real cozy and nice. Unfortunately I have no picture of this time.

One night I got up to go to the bathroom and when I switched on the light I saw a huge fat spider sitting in the sink ! My heart stopped beating, I was like paralyzed, then I got my spirits back ran to the kitchen picked up my vacuum cleaner and pointed the tube into the sink to suck up the spider. Apparently it had worked because when I opened my eyes again the spider was gone.

I left the vaccuum cleaner turning for an hour or so, because I was so afraid that it would come out of the tube again. Then I switched it off and carried it to the basement into my little cellar, closed the door and went to bed again.

The next morning when I left for work, I met my neighbor an old woman (she was probably younger then I today) who always spyed on me and watched each movement in my apartment. She looked at me murderously and asked me with an angry voice to please not use my vacuum cleaner in the middle of the night, I should clean my flat during the day as normal people do !

Then she left, leaving me standing there, with  my mouth open to explain why I had used the vaccuum cleaner in the night. I finally decided to go first to work and pick up my vaccuum cleaner from the basement later, in case the spider was still living in it.

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WORDLESS WEDNESDAY

Wordless Wednesday
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MY WEEKEND OF APRIL 12

OUR WORLD IS here


Our peaceful routine life as a retired couple was interrupted this weekend ! We had our son and grandson Toby over ! Carpets were rolled up and toys taken out and when they arrived 3 of our 4 cats disappeared and were not seen only when we were alone.



Except our cat Arthur who loves company and children. Fortunately the weather was nice !



Mr. G. has celebrated his birthday probably not like he had imagined, because he was taken to the zoo together with a friend of our son and his two children.



The zoo was very big and we walked a lot to see all the animals, which was impossible it was far too big and after 4 hours we were all tired. Mr. G. had walked more then in a whole year. He looked rather funny carrying Toby's little Elephant backpack. We had lunch in the zoo and while the daddies were busy with cleaning the kids, Mr. G. took this photo. We went to Asia, Africa and saw a little of America. The zoo was divided into countries with their specific animals. Toby after a while was so tired that he sat on daddy's shoulders from  where he had an excellent view. 



My feet were burning and after supper we watched a little bit TV, of course a cartoon for kids. Daddy took the opportunity to go out with his friends and we babysitted Toby. Everything went well except that at 1.30 am, I was woken up by a crying Toby who had fallen from the large mattress into a little space between the wall and the mattress and lay on the tiled floor. I asked him to climb on the mattress again, but or he was asleep or he didn't want to, in short, I had to pull and push him from the floor on the mattress like a stiff corpse, goodness me, was he heavy ! Finally I managed and lay a while besides him until I was sure that he was deeply asleep. It is a double bed and he shared it with his dad as mummy was not there. Then I returned into my bed and the rest of the night I didn't hear him anymore.

On Sunday, our son wanted to take an "official" photo of his parents. For that he had brought with him a professional photograph equipment.



It was hard work to set up the background !



Toby played golf on our lawn and then took the background as goal.



Mr. G. had put on his marriage/funeral costume and a white shirt, while our sun fixed the last things for a good reflection.



Meanwhile Toby tried out the chair where his nonno should sit.



Then everything was fixed and ready and I took a picture of the impressive camera, while Mr. G. sat down and followed the instructions how to pose. He looks like a member of "The Godfather's" Don Corleone's family.



Then began the official photo shooting. I don't know how many photos were taken, but I asked my son to take some pictures with my camera and this was the result. Now I am curious to see our official photo for the eternity !

When it was over, Mr. G. hurried to get rid of his costume and took his garbage look again, I mean compared to the former elegance. Then arrived the friend again with his two children, to take photos of them with the same background, while I chatted with his wife.

They had brought a cheese cake which disappeared quickly and then we packed and loaded the car and the two went back to Amsterdam. We unrolled the carpets, put the toys away and collapsed on the sofas and the cats showed up again. We had a lot of fun, but realized that we are not getting younger !