FRIDAY's FAVE FIVE - FIVE ON FRIDAY

1. As usual the week started with our Scrabble group.



But in the morning Nicole had been with Charlie to the vet because of his infected eye and unfortunately he was diagnosed with a tumour behind his right eye. There is nothing to do than to make him his life as happy as possible until he starts to suffer. For the moment he is a little slow, probably due to the pills he has to take but he has a very good appetite and that's important.

2. These bad news influenced our scrabble game, we tried to play as usual and that worked, but we were a bit less cheerful.



This time Mireille won, and Ilona lost, I was the third one, not too bad. We were at Ilona's and just had our coffee break. Main discussion subject, Charlie's tumor.

2. The world is small ! I had got a phone call from a lady who asked me if I was Mrs. G. I said yes, and she told me that she is also living in Waterloo and had stumbled over this blog and had tried to find out who I was !  Through Facebook she found me and the telephone n° was in the telephone book ! So we decided to meet in a café in the center of Waterloo. She also lives here and not that far from me ! We had a very nice talk and a coffee together. We were about the same age and after 2 hours she and I had to go, but we will see each other again.

3. I had some shopping to do and met with Nicole afterwards to have a drink together. Charlie had changed a bit he seemed older to me and quickly breathless. But he greeted me cheerfully and looked at me with his one eye, the other is now completely white. He lay besides our table and I ordered some water for him, and apparently he was happy because he likes to go into a "bar" !

4. Exactly one year ago on the 22nd of March the terrorist attacks had happened where 32 people died and hundreds were injured.



A ceremony was held in presence of the King and the Queen, at the Airport and then at the tube station. I watched a bit on TV but it was so sad that I didn't watch the whole ceremony.



Instead I noticed that nature starts to bloom !

5.



There were quite a lot of us who were missing, doctor's appointments and colds. So we finished or started new paintings and had a lot of fun !

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Fast Blog

WORDLESS WEDNESDAY - WEDNESDAY HODGEPODGE

Escape to the country !


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1. Setting aside the real March Madness (NCAA Basketball) describe something happening at your house this month that might earn the title 'March Madness'?
Nothing happens in my house it is as mad as a graveyard. Besides the fact that one of the 4 cats had brought in a mouse, a cute one with big ears, she ran under the sofa and we had 4 cats sleeping on the sofa and the mouse probably underneath. The cats had lost all interest !

2. What's a favorite made up word from your childhood or a favorite from your children's childhood? Does your family still use the word today? If there's a story behind the origin please share.

That's a difficult question for me as we would have different words in Italian, German and French.

The only word we kept was a word play between "rosser" which means "thrash" instead of "aroser" (to water), because our son always said that his dad would thrash the flowers instead of water the flowers. 

3. Will you be doing any spring cleaning now that the season is upon us? I read here a list of 15 quick (under one hour) spring cleaning tasks. They were-

clean out a drawer, vacuum furniture, whiten tile grout, dust the nooks and crannies you don't get to year round, degrease kitchen cabinets, wipe down walls, go behind furniture, wipe down ceiling fans, vacuum the mattress, clean the range hood, wash baseboards, shine the stainless steel, clean out vents, tackle the windows, and wipe down gadgets

Of the fifteen 'quick' tasks listed which two most need doing at your house? Will you do them?

I am exhausted from reading this list ! No, I never do spring cleaning, my cleaning lady cleans the house all the year long and does extra work when she has time left. For the moment she cleans the ceiling in Mr. G's office.

4. A favorite movie set in Paris or New York?
I don't like Paris so it would be New York.

5. What's put a spring in your step this month?
Nothing, the spring is broken ! 

6. Did you ever want to be a teacher? Why or why not?
A teacher ? No thank you, it even didn't come into my mind ! 

7. What's your favorite floral scent? Do you have this somewhere in your home or maybe in a perfume? How do you feel about florals in food? How about wines with floral notes-yay or nay?
I like the smell of a rose, but I don't have anything "smelly" in our house but fresh air. I don't know any food with florals only as decoration on the top and I only like very dry wine !

8. Insert your own random thought here.
Yesterday got the news that my friend's dog has a tumour behind his right eye and there is nothing to do he is too old. I have to get used to the idea that his life time is now limited. What will it be ? A month, two or half a year, nobody knows. But he will stay with us as long as he doesn't suffer. That makes me very sad, I really love Charlie.

From this side of the pond

SPRING ???

Theoretically in my part of the world spring should start today. But it doesn't look like at all.






That's what you see when you have to go shopping. I reduce my shopping time to a minimum. Because of this grey and humid weather people are depressed and in bad moods. We all have a lack of energy and even the best housewives postpone their spring cleaning from one day to the other.

Sometimes it clears up and the sun comes out but never longer than 4 days and mostly during the week. I don't mind because I don't work anymore but the others ? They have two days off and sit in the rain, while the sun is shining during working hours.



Little flowers try to get out when it's a bit warmer and sunny



at least it starts to get a bit green



And yesterday I saw this apple tree in full bloom.

It seems to me that winter this year will never end and we didn't even have a real winter, it's just a continuation of bad weather.

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WEEKEND REVIEW MARCH 18

We had the first Facebook meeting this year of our group "Vivre à Waterloo" (living in Waterloo). Usually we are meeting once a month and from time to time also for a supper with music ! This time it was in a rather new restaurant with the funny name "The Jollywood" !





One member of the group had baked a cake for 40 persons ! It was delicious. We all had a drink, the restaurant offered us little starters, some had supper and all ate the cake of course. Nothing was left.

Nicole and I left around 9 pm, with most of the others. We really had a great evening. It's so nice to see the people life from whom normally you only know a picture and the name.  This is a good side of Facebook !

The spring weather has disappeared as usual for the weekend and it was cold and wet. When I woke up the house felt cold. I checked the radiators they were all cold. Mr. G. checked the fuses, everything seemed to be OK. I called the emergency service and they came in an hour, there was one piece defective which he replaced, and now it's working again. It's awful being in the cold !

Nicole had called me on Sunday morning, that Charlie wasn't well at all and she was very worried. She has an appointment with the vet on Monday.

I went there after lunch and saw Charlie sleeping in front of the house door. I had taken Mr. G's new car to try it out, so Charlie didn't recognize the noise. But when he saw me stepping out of the car, he gripped a ball and ran over to me and greeted me nearly as usual, maybe a little slower. He even climbed the steps to the second floor which apparently he hadn't done the whole day and had let Nicole serve him food and water downstairs ! Then he led me to his toy basket where I had to choose a ball for him. I was so happy to see him nearly normal. Only the eye looks awful.




It's red and half covered by a white skin. But at least he eats and drinks and even snores, so there is hope ! Tomorrow we will hear if he has a tumour behind his eye or only an infection !