6 Jul 2019

MY VERY FIRST CHEWING GUM

When I was 6 years old my parents took me from my Grand parents who lived on the countryside back to where my father's mother lived. It was a small town near Frankfurt where my Grandpa had worked. My Grandma had taken all her 3 children with husband wives and children into her big house as my parent's apartment and his sister's didn't exist anymore it was all completely destroyed during the bombing.



Frankfurt

In this little town were many American soldiers, because we lived under American occupation. For me these men in uniform were nothing special, they were very friendly to us kids and from one I got my first chewing gum and sweets. I had never seen a chewing gum before and didn't know what to do with this flat long thing. He showed me how to put it in the mouth and chew on it and spoke in a language that I couldn't understand. He mimicked that I don't have to swallow it but keep it in my mouth, which I bravely did. It tasted mint and I didn't like it. He saw my face and laughed ! As soon as he turned around and went away with his friends I spit it out ! My friends, however, liked the chewing gum very much.




This was a common picture to me, kids running behind the soldiers in the trucks asking for chocolate, sweets and chewing gum.


Me later. I always had the nicest dresses, because my mother's sister had married an American and always sent me clothes.


Linking to SOCS - Chew

5 Jul 2019

FRIDAY's FAVE FIVE

The weather had cooled down and the heatwave was finally over ! Everybody was relieved ! It was my turn for the Scrabble and we sat under the Pergola in the shade, and after the game I had Italian ice cream with blueberries and whipped cream. The ice was real good.

I didn't sleep very well, because Mr. G. at 1am had thought it was 7 am (reading problems) and had gotten up to prepare his breakfast and waiting for the psychotherapist who should come at 11 am ! I heard strange noises looked at my clock and saw 1 am ! I got up thought something terrible has happened, and found him in the kitchen preparing coffee ! I was not pleased, sent him to bed and then couldn't sleep anymore, I had been so worried. Since he has had his hip surgery he sometimes does strange things. Somebody told me that it is probably due to the anaesthesia at his age it takes a long time until they really recover.

Next catastrophe was my smartphone I had connected it to the charger but it didn't charge. I tried with several cables, and plugs and sockets and only with one it loaded but very slowly. I imagined the worst, and as next week I start my tour around the 8 Eastern countries, my smartphone had to work !



Again stressed I went to a shop which had been opened by 4 young men who repair, tablets, computers and smartphones. The guy who checked my phone and the cables, and plugs was very friendly, told me that two cables were not working anymore the metal piece at the end was crooked. Now it works perfectly again. I asked him how much I had to pay and he smiled and said "nothing Madame, it was a pleasure" ! That lifted my mood a bit that day, which ended with other troubles !

Myriam had proposed to go to "Morocco" for a change, which is located in one long street, one shop after the other near the North Station in Schaerbeek a borrow of Brussels. All shops and restaurants are owned by Moroccan or by Turks. There are also a lot of restaurants and snacks.

In this street you find everything, local food from these countries, spices, butchers, bakeries, boutiques, jewelry, clothes, shoes, in short everything you could need !



It was sunny and we arrived just for lunch time. She always goes to the same restaurant and the food was delicious and the people so cheerful and friendly ! they even offered me a coffee !

Then we started our shopping I needed a few things for my tour, light and practical and everything was so cheap, unbelievable and often the same things they sell in Waterloo for more than the double price ! I'll never buy something here again. Finally I found 2 trousers large and light, which you can roll into a ball and it doesn't wrinkle, for just 5 € each, a carpet for the bathroom, Bermudas for Mr. G. and sunglasses. Everything for 5 € ! We both were very satisfied with our shopping.

Then I drove home, she doesn't dare to ride a car in Brussels. It was fully packed and lots of streets closed because of the "Tour de France" which starts in Brussels ! Despite all the works and preparations my Mrs. GPS took us safely home.

It was the last day of our painting class, the official summer holidays have started, as each year we celebrated the end of the school year, but we had decided not to take "school" holidays.



We had asked if we could use the room during these two month and teach ourselves on Thursdays. The room was mostly free, so we can get together during July and August ! Of course instead of starting at 9 am, we will arrive later and everybody can do what she wants our teacher included !

Later I made a list of everything I would need to do before leaving, all things which Mr. G. took care of before. During my absence he is well "babysitted" by the nurse who comes every day, my neighbors and friends.  I think I have never needed holidays so much as this year.  The tour will certainly be very interesting.







more participants at Susanne at Living to tell the Story.

4 Jul 2019

WHAT MEANS "THE MAGICIAN's SIRE"

As One Liner Wednesday's theme Linda asks : tell me the first thing that comes to mind when you read this book title: "The Magician’s Sire". Of course I had never heard of this book or it must have another title in French.

As I didn't understand the meaning of the title I looked up  the word "Sire" in my dictionary. The Magician remains the same, but the word "sire" had so many translations ! Besides of what I thought i.e. that you have to say Sire when you speak to a King, the other translations were rather comical !
Sire may be a producer (of kids), the father of animals, or the Grandpa from your mother's side. All very logical I thought and imagined how to put the producer of your children called Sire into an understandable English ?

I decided that normally a King has a magician and not the magician a King or Sire. Usually Kings had fools in the past to be amused, today they have their governments as fools and are not so amused anymore.








Linking to One Liner Wednesday

2 Jul 2019

FLEA MARKET OF BOOKS AROUND THE GENVAL LAKE

On Sunday it was warm but the sky grey. I thought I go on a walk around Genval Lake where a flea market of books was organized on the shore and lake promenade. The lake is not far from Waterloo and has only 18 km surface (40 acres).

Drafts men, authors, booksellers, private individuals and book professionals were present on this occasion. There were also all kind of animations, catering, barbecue and of course local beer tastings.

It was very interesting which books were on sale really very cheap. And there were a lot ! From very old antiques to old books and modern cartoons. People want to get rid of their books to win space, as now you can read everything on a ebook reader. That's what a man said, and I agree.

I took some pictures :















I found fairy tales, very old books, and science books, it was a real hodgepodge ! People chatted together, it was a real nice atmosphere !

When I had walked enough I returned home, just in time as the Formular 1 was just finished and I found a disappointed Mr. G. comforted by cat Arthur.




more participants here





1 Jul 2019

AWWW MONDAY - WEEKEND JUNE 29



The princess and the pea



The belt still fits !


Linking to AWWW MONDAYS


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Weekend



That's me

Saturday it was so hot that I had to stay inside with all shutters and windows closed to keep the heat outside. When in winter I have to switch on the light because there is no daylight, now I have to switch on light because the sun is too strong and the heat unbearable. As usually we always have around 25 °C or a little more in summer, only cars and shopping centers are equipped with aircondition. Tourists from the States or Australia complain because not all hotels have aircondition.

In the afternoon Ilona came, because in her garden it is so hot impossible to stay so we sat in mine under our Pergola on the patio with a ventilator and ate ice cream ! That was nice and she told me about her holidays in Spain.

It's also hard to sleep in this heat, although I keep all windows open and the shutters not completely closed but during the night it doesn't cool down as it should.

Sunday morning suddenly it was "cold" 24° at least you could breath.  I went to the market and finally found the exact case for my smartphone at a stand where in a basket all kind of models were laying. The guy knew immediately what I needed and now I have the right one, unfortunately it's black (my old one which broke was white) but I had a yellow smiley sticker, sticked it on, now it looks less boring.



Mr. G this time was in Austria sticking on the screen and watching the Formular 1. I escaped and went to a book sale displayed around the Genval lake



I made a tour, chatted with dog owners, and took pictures. It was nice, not too hot just perfect. When I returned home it was time for supper !