AN UNUSUAL PHONE CALL

Yesterday morning the phone rang. It was an unknown number but I answered thinking it was from somebody of my painting class. I heard a cheerful male voice shouting "Happy New Year"!

I was a little surprised and told the man that or he was a little early or far too late, but for New Year wishes he should wait for the first January next year. There was a pause and then : "Is this not Madame X ?" No, I answered, I think you dialed the wrong number ! He excused himself and explained that it was the Jewish New Year ! I thanked him for his good wishes and wished him also a happy prosperous New Year ! Then we said good bye.

Afterwards I googled for the Jewish New Year and learned that it had been on 14 et 15 September and that it was now the year 5776. Now I wonder how old I am ??

FRIDAY's FAVE FIVE

1. After my very nice but tiring exhibition weekend, I fell asleep after lunch, watching "Escape to the country" which I only noticed when the couple had already escaped !

I was also angry (and still am) with my HP laptop, it had been "repaired" it had taken 6 weeks to replace the keyboard with the result that I still have the same problem. Some keys when I switch on the computer just don't work and I have to hammer on them until I finally get an "n, y, u". Sometimes it works sometimes not, it's just like Russian roulette.

2. My neighbor is on holidays so I feed her cat. The cat is quite round and very friendly. He has a round face and round eyes. Only he had lost one eye in a battle and is now a cheerful veteran so if you look at him it seems as if he twinkles with his eyes !

I was looking for some autumn feathers clothes and found a nice red pullover. It's very soft and looks like mohair.

3. My Kindle was broken, that means it showed the texts on the websides but no pictures at all anymore and of course no videos neither. For a week I thought over what to do then yesterday evening I went into the settings clicked on I don't know how many buttons and .... suddenly it worked again ! Even better than before ! Don't ask me what I had done, I have no idea !

4. I had pulled all my courage together and sorted out clothes I don't wear anymore. It was a big bunch !



When I had finished it looked as if the closet was as full as before !

Mr. G. put the clothes in a laundry basket and suddenly had my mobile in his hand. He said, look what I found ! I was rather surprised because my mobile was on the charger ! And then suddenly I remembered ! At least one year ago I had lost my mobile in the house. When I called it it rang once and then the battery was dead. We had looked everywhere, except in the pocket of a cardigan !



Now I have two, exactly the same, one for Sundays and the other during the week !


5. In my painting class our teacher suggested us "autumn" as a theme. That's really the last thing I want to paint ! Dead leaves ! Even if they have nice colors. I told her that I would paint a cat on a graveyard with autumn leaves, sitting on a grave, so she laughed and said that I should rather paint what I want ! I wasn't the only one who didn't like autumn !



Somebody had brought a bundle of rosemary from her garden and the whole class smelled good ! 

more participants at Susanne at Living to tell the Story.

AN UNBELIEVABLE STORY

One of my classmates in our painting group had been burgled. Fortunately besides a shock, and her computer stolen, she had nothing. The poor "girl" is 80.

Not so lucky was a friend. I will call her Anne, she is 78 and in a very good shape. One night she woke up and a young man stood in her bedroom. Obviously he was a burglar.

He wanted to tie her up on her bed and rape her. In a fraction of seconds Anne thought it over and proposed him not to tie her up, because it would be more fun (!) He agreed. Once finished, she offered him a cup of coffee, which he accepted happily ! And while she brewed the coffee she managed to put her mobile in her bathrobe pocked. Then she asked him if she could go to the bathroom. He accepted again, but she should leave the door open. She managed to call the police !

When the police arrived they found a happy burglar sitting at the kitchen table and enjoying his coffee. Anne who had instinctively done what had probably saved her life, only then collapsed because of the shock and had to be taken to the hospital. What a woman ! most of us would have screamed, fight and got hysterical !

Later she was informed that this guy was 21 years old and had already raped and burgled about 20 women aged between 75 and 95 in various hospitals in Brussels. He must be a fan of grandmas !

more participants at Jenny Matlock's Alphabet Thursday

WORDLESS WEDNESDAY

"United colors of Benetton", Grandson Toby with his friend


more participants here

MONT ST. JEAN FARM

The Mont St. Jean farm was built in 1719. In 1775 the farm consisted of a house, barns, a brewery, a piggery, and sheep and on the right and left of the porch were barns, an oven, a well and a chapel.

At the Battle of Waterloo, the farm of Mont-Saint-Jean served as a military hospital for British troops.
Read more here

WEEKEND REVIEW October 3

This weekend I was very busy with the exhibition of our painting class. Our group was part of the "parcours des artistes" (path of Artists).

We were all invited to the vernissage on Friday evening. It took place in the Cultural Center of Waterloo.



After the usual speech we were offered sandwiches and Champagne and then walked around to see what other Waterloo artists had created !



Saturday morning at 11 am, our exhibition opened its doors. We all had worked hard to make it presentable and I think it was a success.



The very first visitors were the President of the Social Services and Mr. G ! We posed together with them.

I stayed there the whole day until 6 pm together with our teacher and of course others who watched over our master pieces. There were quite a lot of people in the afternoon, and one sold a painting and was very happy, she had never sold anything so far !

I met some women I hadn't seen for ages with whom I had been at Art School. They recognized me immediately and called me "Madame Chat" which means Mrs. Cat, as I mostly painted cats !



Of course we didn't forget ourselves and sat in a corner, chatting and drinking coffee and late afternoon Nicole appeared with wine ! 

On Sunday there were quite a lot of visitors.



We had installed  a little corner for ourselves, where we chatted or gave information to the visitors. Charlie of course was also allowed to join us in the afternoon. He was a real diplomat and didn't show any preferences for a painting. Of course we had a lot of fun and the whole exhibition was very cheerful



Discussing and looking at the paintings ...



and then suddenly it was 6 pm and we had to dismantle the whole exhibition. Surprisingly it was done in no time, we worked together as a well organized team.

Happy and tired I returned home. The exhibition had been a full success !