CAMERA CRITTERS - BLACK & WHITE - WEEKEND REFLECTIONS

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Weekend in Black and white





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SKYWATCH FRIDAY - FRIDAY's FAVE FIVE - FIVE ON FRIDAY

Grey and rainy skies between Belgium and France

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Skywatch Friday

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No sign of spring whatsoever we started the week with our scrabble, at least we had some fun. There was a newcomer a red haired full of temperament lady which made us laugh all the time. She won, and Nicole for once lost. I was in the middle !

The sun came out and I thought hurrah, now I can go out to do some photohunting, but when I put my nose outside, there was such a wind that I almost blew away.





Even cat Arthur hurried back in the house when I had opened the window door. We had been full of hope ... both. When I think that last year at that time we complained about a heat wave !!

At least we are a group of friends and can visit each other. This time I went to Cecile whom I know since 1961. She had recently moved near Waterloo so now we can see each other more often. We digged out old stories from when we were young and went out dancing. It was a nice afternoon, for both of us.

The week ended with a trip organized for the seniors by the city. This time we went just across the Belgian border into the region of Avesnois in France where we stopped after 2 h drive for a café and croissant,



As you can see from the picture it wasn't very warm and we felt all better after a hot cup of coffee and the croissant.

After that we visited a Museum of textile, with very old machines and it was really very interesting, but made us hungry too.

We stopped in a restaurant called "La Forge" (the forger) and had a delicious meal :



Apperitif, seefood as starter, veal with different things, and a "Dame Blanche" (a white lady ?)

The next stop was a glass blower factory where we could see how little figurines, bowls or vases were made. There were also very machinery but less of interest to me and Nicole. 



Unfortunately it was very cold in this factory which was a pity because as we were all freezing we wanted to return to the bus.

It had been a very interesting day and I will report in more details in a separate post.

At 7 pm I was home again and we all had spent a very nice day.

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Fast Blog

WORDLESS WEDNESDAY - WEDNESDAY HODGEPODGE

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HODGEPODGE


1. On this first official day of spring tell us something (besides the weather) you're looking forward to in this season of the year.

 
"Official spring" it's a joke at least this year just like "labour day" where nobody works ! I am looking forward to be able to go OUT without catching a cold or freeze to dead !

2. When it comes to spring cleaning would you rather wash windows or wash baseboards? Clean out closets or clean out the garage? Dust ceiling fans or dust bookcases? Wipe down the patio furniture outside or wipe down the light fixtures inside? Any of these tasks recently completed?

I clean or rather my cleaning lady cleans when it is necessary. I have no spring cleaning or it's spring cleaning the whole year in my house !  



3. Your favorite thing to make/eat that calls for cream cheese? Sour cream? Whipped cream?

Certainly not "make" but I love whipped cream on fruits !

4. I read here a list of commonly mispronounced words. What is a word that gives you trouble when it comes to pronunciation?



As English is not my mother tongue and I learned it as teenager at school and later in my work, there are so many different kinds of pronouncing a word I don't know what is wrong or right. The most important to me is that people understand what I say ! 

5. What's a song you love with the word 'rain' in the title or lyrics?

Maybe "singing in the rain" ? as rain is not really something I love ! 

6. Insert your own random thought here.



Shopping list and what to do today ??

From this side of the pond

BAD WEATHER IN OUR WORLD OR MY WORLD ?

It's sad to say but my world in our world is rather limited by the bad weather ! Instead of going out and see flowers and a starting spring, I am locked in like an inside cat because of rain, cold, wind, snow or all together. Yesterday we had the coldest day ever recorded in March -6° C to -14°C in the Ardennes ! (21 to 6.8 !)



The cats sit on the radiator and wait for better times to go out mouse hunting



I too wait and watch TV instead of photo hunting and visiting interesting places.



Of course I visit my friends and we are starring in the open fire, wishing to lay in the sun or at least sit outside.





And when mid March appeared and we were all hopeful to see the first signs of spring .... it snowed ! Not much but still to feel depressed !



Easter this year is on April's fool day and if we are "lucky" we can search for frozen eggs and chocolate. Fortunately the Easter Bunny has a fur coat !

And in other parts of the world it's too hot, too dry, and too stormy.



This post confirms that if you don't know what to write or talk about there is always one theme ! The weather ....

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WEEKEND REVIEW MARCH 10 - MACRO MONDAY

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This weekend we had our monthly Facebook meeting "Vivre à Waterloo" and as usual it was very nice to see people life.



Meanwhile this group has more than 4000 members, who of course weren't all there, we were about 30 the others had probably the flu ! This time our "president" besides the "Carlsberg" sign had booked in the "Café de Paris".



It has been completely renovated and is now a restaurant too. You can eat the best steaks there, according to Nicole who is rather difficult when it comes to steaks.



Monique, Nicole and I had a beef Carpaccio, very thin slices of raw beef.  The beef is served with lemon, olive oil, and Parmesan cheese. It was absolutely delicious and I had never seen such a big portion in my whole life not even in Italy where it comes from.

The next day we went for breakfast to "La Brioche" for me it was not worthwhile because I am not hungry early mornings. So I just had a coffee and a croissant, while the two others had, scrambled eggs, cheese, ham, sausages, croissants, jam different sorts of bread etc. If you eat it all you are full for the whole day !



It is the only place in Waterloo where you can have breakfast from 6 am on. Otherwise you have to wait until 10 when the shops open, except the supermarkets which open at 9 ! Poor tourists who don't know and arrive hungry early morning in Waterloo to see the battle field ! I knew this place from afternoon teas, but had never been there in the morning. Useless to say that it was full.



It started to snow again and the temperature dropped more than a half during the night. With that a nice strong wind, I am freezing ! Even the cats didn't want to go out ! I wonder if this  winter will ever end or if we enter a new ice age !

CAMERA CRITTERS

My cats in winter activities, it had snowed again !!





This is Tosca, a friend's dog, she had fat balls which had to be operated, now she is wearing this elegant shirt not to leak her wounds !!

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If only we could sit there now !

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