FRIDAY's FAVE FIVE

1. The daily routine is back again, since Mr. G. returned from Italy. I rediscovered my watch to be in time for meals, he is like a train who always stops at the same time.

First thing I did on Monday, I went shopping to fill in the fridge ! Before that I bought a pair of shoes, for my forthcoming holidays.

2. Ever since my friend Ilona has got a bread baking machine, I also wanted one. The smallest possible, because we are only two and I didn't want to have a monster sitting in the kitchen.



I found a very nice one the same like Ilona's ! What a dream, now I can watch TV, while mowing the lawn with Oscar the robot and making bread at the same time.

3. Belgium went crazy when they won the football (soccer) game against Algeria !


The king's brother posed with his 3 children as supporters !

The shops and banks had closed at 4 pm, to allow people to watch the game at 6 ! The streets were full of supporters, the cars horned and in several places all over the country huge screens were installed. I preferred to stay home and far from this collective hysteria !



I watched the result on TV in the News ! Fortunately there was only one incident, a young supporter who had climbed on the statue of a building had fallen down and died !

When I had bought my bread making machine, the salesman asked me if I would bake "Diables Rouges" (the Belgian Football team) bread,



and in the cat food I found a little football for the cats ! A shame, they didn't want to play with it.

4. I finally have all documents for my forthcoming holidays to Cornwall, together with Nicole, Ilona and Dominique. Nicole had asked me to come over and see the sample of the color she choose for painting her whole apartment, I found it very nice it's a light warm yellow cream color. We spent the afternoon in the sunshine on her terrace and discussed what we should take along on our holidays.

5. The room where we have our painting class was already put up for a show of Brazilian dancers for the residents of the retirement home. We were allowed to paint, but not to move the tables. It was a lot of fun, as two of us tried to dance !



A sample of the poster I had created came from the printer and looks quite well.

I finally wanted to try out my new bread making machine, put in all the ingredients like it was written, the result after 3 h was catastrophic ! I got a thick slice of bread which was humid inside and uneatable ! I called Ilona for help. She came over to look what I had done wrong and it was Mr. G. the culprit, he made a mistake in calculating  ounces into grams, so there was not enough flour ! I had thought it was the machine ! We tried it out again and this time the result was good ! Tomorrow we will taste it ! One bread will cost then 0.28 € (0.38 $) instead of 2 Euros (2.70 $) for a loaf ! That's worthwhile.



After two trials, here is my first self made bread



and while Ilona helped me with the breadmaker, Mr. G. helped Dominique with her tax declaration !


 

more participants at Susanne at Living to tell the Story.

MY FIRST EXHIBITION

Letter E

At the end of 1900, I was sitting in a deep black hole, our son was at boarding school, I only worked half time and I was bored, so bored that I sank into a deep depression. With medical help I emerged and should do something what I like. Difficult to decide when I suddenly remembered that besides writing, I also loved drawing and painting. So I started a painting class in 1989, 25 years ago. It was great, a real rebirth !



Sometimes we went on a training course for a week, spent the week in boarding schools which were empty during the holidays and which usually were located near nature or near a castle. I can't remember in which castle's park we painted in 1990.

I progressed well and my very first exhibition I had in 2003 together with 3 other artists. Our speciality .... cats ! (in French "chats") That's why the exhibition was called "C'est chat" which means "It's cats" !



This was the invitation with one of my cat paintings.



I was quite proud to appear in the local Newspaper together with another artist.



The mayor was there together with some other important personalities.



A photo of my cats was hanging at the entrance representing my models.



I also had transformed pebbles into cats which had a huge success and were nearly all sold. For the vernissage Mr. G. was present too and I had to pose in front of my pictures.

Many other exhibitions followed but the very first one was the most important for me !

more participants at Jenny Matlock's Alphabet Thursday

WORDLESS WEDNESDAY

more participants here



Hope there is enough water, I am thirsty !

OUR WORLD : HONFLEUR - France, Normandy

Honfleur is a key tourist destination in Normandy, with its lovely port, which has inspired so many artists.

"This little maritime city, which has somehow escaped the ravages of time, has managed to preserve the traces of a rich historical past, which make it one of the most visited towns in France, with its picturesque small streets and old houses".  read more here...

MY WEEKEND OF JUNE 14

During this weekend wherever I went I saw red ! The Football world cup in Brazil had started on 12 June and Belgium is represented by the "Diables Rouges" (the red devils ) and not only Belgium but the whole world has gone crazy. The only country in the world who calls "Football" Soccer are the United States. It made me curious why they are having another word for this so famous game ? I found the explanation here. Now either I or Mr. G. are interested in Football but it is impossible to ignore it !

I made some shopping and was surrounded by "Diables Rouges" photos or articles ! Even shopping bags ! You have to be a football fan otherwise you are not a "normal" person. When I went to Ilona on Saturday, all houses around hers had Belgian flags hanging out of the Window together with pictures showing the "Diables Rouges" ! I was so surprised that I forgot to take a picture ! Suddenly the Belgians (Flemish and Walloons) were united thanks to the football ! No question anymore of separating the country ! At least one good thing what football has done !



Football fever



Even the babies have no chance, there are pacifiers and bibs in "Diables Rouges" ! Coca Cola, Beer cans, spirits and even m&m  have another label ! There are "Diables Rouges" Hamburgers and meals !





Brussels famous "Maneken Pis" is wearing the outfit and the highest ball of the Atomium has been painted for the football ! When I opened my computer, Google jumped with a ball !



Our prime minister wears the scarf and a monument has been created for the "Diables Rouges" team. Fan or not fan you just can't ignore the Football fever ! The world could disappear but in the News they talk first about football in all countries, useless to change from Belgium to France, Italy or Germany, they all say the same but of course of their teams ! You want to watch your favorite TV series ? Impossible ! programs have changed and instead of watching "Downtown Abby" a football team plays ! Phew !!! Ilona and I were very angry because we love these series.

On Sunday morning I waited for Mr. G's phone call to know at what time I had to pick him up at the Bus station, because I wanted to go with Nicole and her daughter to the midi market. Finally I called and he told me he would only arrive around 6 pm. That left me nearly the whole day. So I jumped in my car and then into the bus and we met in a café. 



On the market too, there were plenty of football articles, and I took a picture of Nicole looking for a T-shirt in a whole bunch ! She finally bought two trousers and fruits, her daughter didn't find anything interesting except the fruits of course. They are unbelievably cheap !



When I returned to my car another football fan was parked just besides me !

It's a miracle that my head hasn't yet the shape of a red football with devils instead of my eyes !

I picked up Mr. G at the bus station, and was half an hour late because I got stuck in a street sale behind the station ! Mr. G. was quite tired and his holidays hadn't been the holidays he had many years ago. Spending holidays with a nearly 4 year old grandson and his tantrums had stressed him he couldn't remember that his son was the same at that age, he remembered him as an angel ! (I don't). He also complained that he had eaten too much (!) and that his sister, niece and friends were so loud and noisy, even without hearing aid, which he had taken off ! It's strange how times change, now I don't bother about tantrums, loud Italians and too much eating  anymore, I rather suffered from that when I was a young woman. First thing when he came home was looking for the cats, for supper we had a pizza and he lay happily on the sofa with Arthur.  



At 9 pm he went to bed ! Welcome home !