FRIDAY's FAVE FIVE

1. Monday night we had a terrible thunderstorm. 26.000 lightenings were counted over Belgium.



Hail as big as tennis balls fell down, damaging cars and roofs. In some areas there was flooding and the firemen had a lot to do. Dominique had left her quite heavy umbrella standing in her garden and the next morning it had disappeared. I helped her looking for it and we found it finally in the little wood besides her house !

And you know what I did .... I slept ! I haven't heard or seen anything, I saw it the next morning in the news.

2. My friend Chantal came for a visit to show me her pictures she had taken in Dubai. She had been there for 10 days staying in the flat of her son's friend who works there. She was so enthusiastic about the unbelievable luxury in this artificial city. Her sons went skiing on real snow and had even penguins there and when they came out they could swim in an enormous swimming pool in 30°C (86 F) ! I admired the pictures but found this city awful and ugly with no soul and a lot of bling bling ! Ferraris, Jaguars etc where as common as normal cars here. I don't want to see the reverse of this decor the poors must be very poor ! Nothing for me !

3. I had discovered a new feature (or maybe it's an old one) on my computer, I could take "selfies" ! I caught my cat Arthur



and tried to make a picture, Arthur struggled and didn't want to pose, the result was this !

4. End of June Ilona, Nicole, Dominique and I will go to Cornwall and visit the area on an old steam train. I invited them for a meeting to prepare our trip and give them all documents I had gotten per email. There was a pile of paper on the table when suddenly a puff of wind blew all papers away and on the lawn ! The four of us got up like flashes and collected the papers which were all over the grass. Then we had a blueberry cake and coffee. We had a very cheerful afternoon and are now looking forward to our trip.

Mr. G. is still in Italy with son and grandson and they skyped me. The weather was as hot as here so I really had no regrets ! I am enjoying my holidays too.

5. For the first time since I attend my painting class, there was nobody who could create a poster for our yearly painting exhibition. I thought I give it a try and made one.



It was approved by all and will be hanging in the City Hall and other official places and in stores, boutiques and private houses, all over Waterloo. I would lie if I would say that I am not a little proud.

THE DOLL HOUSE

Letter D

I can't really remember when I got my doll house for Christmas. It must have been when I still lived with my grandparents. Somebody in the family knew a carpenter who made a wooden doll house for me with two rooms. One was the kitchen the other was a bedroom together with a little living area, a sofa, chairs and a table. As there was no money yet in occupied Germany just after WWII,  people used to swap things they needed.  The Deutsche Mark was introduced in 1948. The carpenter had children and my mother could knit, so she knitted pullovers and baby outfits for the kids and got the doll house instead. It was especially made for me.

I can't remember the original furniture the carpenter had made, not even that I played with it, I remember a Christmas in 1951 when I was 8 years old and had moved with my parents to Bonn.



I tried to find some pictures on internet to show how I remember it, I haven't seen it anymore since probably 59 years ! When my father died I took it with me to Waterloo and it must be in our attic. One day I have to look after it.

The kitchen was well equipped I even had a little electric stove and a pan and could make tiny little pancakes. I had dishes, cutlery, and cooking pots all in doll house sizes. My American aunt had sent me a little family, there was mum, dad two children and a baby in a pram. I was the only one amongst my friends who had such a perfect doll house even with little figurines.

Unfortunately I couldn't play that much with my doll house, because for an unknown reason it was only put up on the 1st of December and disappeared the 2nd January. In my father's family it was tradition that girls were only allowed to play with the doll house during the Christmas time, for the boys it was the same with a train.

Of course I hated when it was packed in cartons again and disappeared for a year ! I was mostly heard broken and really hated my father for this. My mother had nothing to say, she would have let the doll house standing in my room the whole year. So each year it was the same drama, I cried, my mother and father argued and at the end my doll house disappeared in the attic or in the basement I don't remember.

I think my father never realized what harm he did to me, he just did the same like he was brought up and I think his childhood hasn't been very funny. My grandpa was an imposing person and my cousins and I were afraid of him. He wasn't at all like my maternal grandpa with his warm and generous heart.

This yearly Christmas drama left traces and I swore that if one day I had children, trains or doll houses would never disappear for a whole year !

more participants at Jenny Matlock's Alphabet Thursday

WORDLESS WEDNESDAY

more participants here



Some like it hot ... seen in Houlgate/Normandy

TROUVILLE - NORMANDY

When I was on Holidays in Normandy, we also visited Trouville-sur-Mer, commonly referred to as Trouville, it is a commune in the Calvados department in Normandy. 




read more here....

MY WEEKEND OF JUNE 7

For a week I suffered Mr. G's holiday fever ! When he goes to Italy it's like preparing an expedition to a lost corner in the North Pole ! Finally the day arrived and he was already up at 6.30, his bus to Amsterdam was at 11 am ! He joined our son there to take a flight to Verona together with little Toby.



Instead of leaving the house in a reasonable time to drive him to the Bus station, we finally left far too early, he drove me crazy. It wasn't better in the car, because of course he knew the way better then my GPS he had forgotten that it was at least 40 years ago he hadn't been at Brussels North station and everything had changed. It was a loud trip in the car, twice I took the wrong way because he interfered all the time ! I was very much relieved when we finally arrived and he got out of the car and into the station for his check in. I kissed good bye and left in a hurry !

When I returned home I needed holidays too.



The weather was sunny and very warm so I moved my office on the terrace. I put my computer in a big carton so that the sun didn't reflect on the screen and did my blogging work. Arthur was surprised about this installation, but liked it very much and acted as my assistant.

I spent the whole day on the terrace and only ate when my stomach claimed I had sworn not to look at my watch. Nobody asked me "When do we eat" ! It's easier to feed four cats then one man.

Ilona arrived in the afternoon and we enjoyed the nice weather discussed the past, the present and the future. Mr. G. called me that they had arrived well, but that he was very tired.

In the evening it was still so warm that I didn't want to go inside but installed my computer on the little table and watched a movie on YouTube. At 11 pm I finally went to bed and slept like a baby.

On Sunday thunderstorm was in the air and it rained a bit, but fortunately it cleared up and I went to the Midi market in Brussels. It was full ! So many people you could hardly walk. I bought some apples and two very light trousers for hot summer days.

The afternoon and evening I spent again on our terrace with my head in the carton to see the computer screen.