FRIDAY's FAVE FIVE

1.  The week started wet, not only it rained but I also had my aqua gym class. For some it was the last time before September, the school holidays start in July and end in August, so for two months Belgium is sleeping, some companies closed, no classes at all and the the city center rather empty, except tourists. It was a little sad to say good bye for two months.

2. I went to Ilona for a little visit and we chatted about everything, she is worried about her son, after 7 years of marriage he is talking about divorce. Sad.



My son had sent me the last pictures of Grandson Toby, very important event, he lost his first tooth at five and a half ! I thought that this is quite early. But it is a start ! We suffer when the teeth grow, we suffer (less) when they fall out, then they grow again and at the end you suffer more and more and they have to be pulled out ! Why don't we get the right forever teeth ??
 
3.  Not only it was cold and rainy, but the face I saw in the mirror looked awful, my hair had grown and I looked like a witch. I decided to go to the hairdresser where I don't need an appointment and she cut my hair. Now I find it a little too short, but it will grow again and it is supposed to be summer and warm. Nicole came too, but changed her mind in the last minute, she will go on Friday to be "beautiful" over the weekend. After that we went for a drink to the Mont St. Jean farm and Charlie could inspect the cows again.

4. Coming back through the center of Waterloo, I saw firemen, police and lots of people ! I just made it through without problem. Mr. G. was less lucky he got completely stuck half an our later, as the whole area had been closed.



Inside the Shopping gallery in the parking a car suddenly was on fire and the whole Gallery had to be evacuated. The shop owners were transferred to the Waterloo Tennis to wait until they could get into the gallery again. Fortunately nobody was injured, there was only a lot of smoke and a lot of excitement in our calm little town !

5. It had been the last day of our painting class before the summer holidays. So we were all a little sad, but promised to see each other during the holidays too.



For the coffee break some had brought cakes to "celebrate" the last day, and I was not in the mood to finish my black cat with the blue tulip. We also had some visitors, people who maybe will join us in September.



After class, 5 of us went to our favorite Asiatic restaurant and I took this picture when we started the dessert. We had such a lot of fun and laughed so much that we stayed 3 h there eating !! It's a buffet "all you can eat" and I think we followed this advice literally !

more participants at Susanne at Living to tell the Story.

WORDLESS WEDNESDAY

Mud bath in Dalyan Turkey


more participants here

TURTLE BEACH TURKEY

Turtle Beach, is surrounded by salt water on one side and fresh water on the other. It is one of the last breeding grounds of the Sea Turtles and therefore delightfully undeveloped.

Normally Turtle Beach can be visited, but from 1 May - 31 October the beach is inaccessible to the public between 20.00 and 08:00, because of noise and light disturbance. It is protected and surveyed by volunteers.

Read more here

WEEKEND REVIEW June 11, 2016

As you maybe know, my camera had been stolen the first day I was on holidays in Marmaris (Turkey) Not from Turkish people, certainly not, but a group of Ukrainians had arrived, and as they sadly are famous for stealing everything they can (cutlery and towels included) I suppose that my camera does her job now in an Ukrainian family.  So I had to buy a new one, my spare camera is not good enough for regular photographing.

I quickly found the one I wanted, again a Canon Ixus but a better model, I still can use my battery and charger ! I only had to buy a chip card.

So far it's still unpacked, it should be for my birthday in July but I think I have to use it before, because of the quality of the spare camera pictures.

As last year I was a volunteer to help for bicentenary festivities of the Waterloo battle, from time to time I go there just to check if there are still tourists coming because the renovated site has become so ugly and has lost all its charm as all old houses, cafés and restaurants had been demolished and replaced just by one new built !



There were a few tourists but not comparable to when it hadn't been renovated ! No local inhabitant would ever go there to have a drink as they did before. Mr. G. and myself included.

As the weather was so nice and warm (the weatherman had announced rain) I sat down and listened to English, and Dutch tourists.



On my way back I "checked" the Mont St. Jean farm , which had once been a hospital for Wellington's wounded soldiers and noticed that there were far more people and a French tourist group who listened to all the explanations about the farm.

Sunday morning was the same, rain announced and no rain so Nicole and I decided to go to Brussels Midi market it had been at least a year we hadn't been there. We bought some underwear for nearly nothing and Nicole a pullover, I found a cute little case for my new camera ! 



It looks like Rosie as a kitten. After having bought some fruits and a roasted chicken, we had a drink in a typical Brussels' café, where people still speak the special Brussels' language, a mixture between French and Flemish and special words.



Since years it's always the same man who plays his accordion and sings Elvis songs but also typical folklore songs. There was a very cheerful atmosphere, people sang with him  and we alll chatted together. Then we took the bus home.



The yearly miracle happened this Sunday ! 5 years ago my friend Ilona gave me this Hibiscus plant, which should bloom and be full of flowers. Unfortunately this one looks very healthy and nice but never blooms except once a year and only ONE flower, therefore I had bought a twig of fake pink flowers and had stuck it in the plant. I had forgotten that the only Hibiscus flower which was blooming was orange. Now it looks like this ! Very special. But the flower will not last long, usually one day !