FRIDAY's FAVE FIVE

1. I had a rather busy week ! For the first time since we have a garden or yard (as you wish) the grass still grew and Mr. G. who had put Oscar (the lawn mower robot) in his winter bed in the basement, had to get him out again !



And in November poor Oscar still had to work. I sincerely hope it's now finished, and poor Mr. G. with a big sigh cleaned the thing and put it in the basement again, with the hope the grass won't start to grow in December !
 
2. Between running around to buy the birthday gift for our painting class administrator, blogging and doing some laundry I managed to go to Nicole for a coffee and a chat



but above all to bring a new bone for Charlie. When he saw me arriving, I am sure he didn't see me but only the paper in which the bone was wrapped. Was he happy ! And in no time the bone had disappeared. There was not even one crumb laying on the floor.

3. I finally found time to do my autumn basket with only one month late ! Usually I do it end September, but as we had such a summery weather I didn't think about autumn at all.



Now it stands at the entrance.

4. As birthday gift I had suggested to buy a tablet. Which I did. When I came home and wanted to set it up, I got a very strange looking screen, which looked like more than modern art. I tried to switch off the tablet, nothing to do, the thing was blocked. Useless to say that I got unnerved ! Mr. G. arrived for help and we pushed and pushed but that thing just didn't move.

I went back to the shop. They couldn't turn it off either, so they gave me a new one. At home I wanted to set it up and couldn't get in, it was password protected ! I returned again to the shop and asked to take out that password. The guy of course thought that I was a little stupid, considering my vintage age, but then had to admit that there was a password. It had been on display in the showroom and therefore had been password protected ! They reset the whole thing, I went home, tried again, and finally managed to set it up ! I made the card, put the whole stuff in a birthday bag and finally finished. Very time consuming. Poor Mr. G. nearly didn't get his 7 o' clock supper !

5. And then we had our painting class. Our 80 year old birthday girl, didn't know anything ! We started painting as usual and then around 10.30 we put up a table. Everybody had brought some goodies for the buffet and champagne for the occasion.



The birthday girl arrived, made big eyes and then unwrapped her gifts. She never had expected such a celebration. We all sang "Happy birthday to you" which sounded as if you had walked on a cat's tail. But never mind the good intention was there.



The birthday card



and the gift.

I think she was very touched and happy ! She loves tablets ! We had a lot of fun and laughter and painting was forgotten !

The afternoon I spent at home, I had some household scores to do ... folding the laundry and put it away ! Why can people walk on the moon and not invent a robot who could do that for me ??

*****

PS.This happens when people vote for the wrong once, only to get rid of one person and its party. Maybe the previous government wasn't perfect, but who can be perfect when there is no money ? Now it's even worse ! Politicians all have a big mouth with a lot of promises before elections and then comes the ice cold shower !

more participants at Susanne at Living to tell the Story.

YARD OR GARDEN ?

I learned at school to sit in a garden, which usually is attached to a house to enjoy the good weather or plants, flowers etc. To my surprise I later learned that the Americans are sitting in a yard and do the same. Now I wondered why we in Europe sit in a garden and in the States they sit in a yard ?

First I thought it has to do with the measure "yard" but sitting in one yard is rather impossible unless you have the size of a dwarf and growing flowers or grass around would be very difficult.



I looked for an explanation and learned that when I sit in a yard in the States I sit in a piece of land next to a house, usually used for growing flowers, grass, and other plants. But that I do here in my garden. If I would have a yard it would be an area of land next to a building that is covered with concrete or other hard material. Not very cosy to say at least.

On the other hand you don't go to a gravegarden but to a graveyard maybe because there is more concrete than flowers ? You also don't turn around in circles in a prison garden but a prison yard, and you don't have a court garden but a court yard.

In short in the States I enjoy a yard and in Europe a garden. As long as I don't have to do garden work (or yard work ?) I don't care.



My American friends can be happy ! All our miseries started in a garden and not in a yard !!

more participants at Jenny Matlock's Alphabet Thursday

WORDLESS WEDNESDAY

Grandson Toby with Arthur

more participants here

A NATURE FULL OF SURPRISES

According to the statistics, we had the warmest October since 100 years ! On October 31, the weather station measured 20° (68 F) while the average temperature in Brussels is around 8°C (48F). I always remember a lot of rain grey skies and we even once had snow.

In order to remember this exceptional weather I took  pictures in a park ! The trees hadn't lost their leaves as they usually had at the end of October beginning November.











The trees have still a lot of leaves



















and the flowers are still blooming !

All these pictures have been taken on October 31, 2014. It certainly will enter in the history of an end of October beginning November !

more participants here

MY WEEKEND OF NOV 1

Halloween is not very much celebrated in Belgium. Last year I had bought sweets, just in case and nobody had showed up. But this year it was different. Fortunately Mr. G. had bought enough chocolates and sweets, just in case and he had done well !

I had put my Halloween witch at the entrance and had put a witch hat on and also had a broom. The first once were my neighbor's little kids. When I opened the door and the little boy saw the witch and the little girl my hat, they started to cry ! It took me some time to calm them down and show them that the witch was not dangerous at all. Then the little boy helped himself with the chocolate and sweets, I chatted a bit with my neighbor and off they went.




The next bunch were 3 little boys, and then a whole group of terrible monsters. They were laughing and had fun with me posed for the picture and emptied our basket with the sweets ! Fortunately nobody else rang at the door !

The whole weekend we had a dream weather ! It was so warm as it had never been since 1901 ! (I can't remember) we had 20° (68 F) when usually it is already cold and even sometimes it had snowed.



Of course I had an itch to go out and together with Nicole and Charlie we went to a nearby park. Charlie met some friends and we admired the beauty of the woods and had a drink on the crowded terrace.

Nicole had another Charlie story, she wanted to buy a bread baking machine and as the store was not that far away (still at least 3 km) from her home she wanted to walk and took Charlie with her. Coming out of the street, Charlie sat down and didn't want to move anymore. There was nothing to do, when he has decided something he is very stubborn. So she told him to go back home, which he did. When she was in the shop and stood at the check out, a little girl said to her mother "Mum look what a beautiful dog !" Nicole turned around and who was there .... Charlie ! He had walked from home alone to the shop, it's a mystery how he knew where she was and such a long way. On top he had to cross a very busy highway like street, which made us shiver only to think about it ! He had even managed to go inside the shop probably waiting until somebody had opened the door ! All's well that ends well, and they returned back together ! But now she will tie him up, before she goes away !



I wanted to take some pictures of the still unusually green trees and blooming flowers on a 1st of November. Ilona and I went for a walk through the Huizingen park, it was just amazing to see flowers still in full bloom and some of them started new blooms !

On Sunday morning Nicole and I took the bus to the Midi Market. It had been a very long time I hadn't been there. My cigarette supplier had disappeared "on holidays". The market was very crowded because of the sunny weather and besides fruits and vegetables, we both found a nice winter coat, mine in black hers in white of a famous brand, to a more than cheap price. I also found a nightgown and stockings. Then we had a drink on the terrace of "my" café, listened to the music of the old Brussels' accordion player and chatted with the people.

On our way back we met a Canadian who was a little lost, he wanted to see the Waterloo battle fields. He was so happy to find somebody who spoke English and as Nicole lives very close to this famous place, she took him under her wings and showed him were he had to get out of the bus and of course the way. I had to get off earlier. It happens quite often that I meet lost tourists and help them out. It's not so easy to find the battle field when you don't know the place. I think Brussels should do a little more about that, there are lots of informations about Brussels, at the station where they arrive,  but not very many about Waterloo !