24 Aug 2019

ABOUT PREPOSITIONS USEFUL OR NOT ?

Our Friday prompt for "Stream of Consciousness Saturday" is “preposition” Start your post with any preposition. Bonus points if you end with one too. Enjoy! (That I doubt) !

Despite the fact that when I was tested for what I was talented, I was told  : for everything (or nearly) except languages. And they were probably right, I would never have learnt English, French and Italian if I had to deal with grammar ! When I read the word "preposition" I thought I have heard that already somewhere. Indeed it was the same word in German and the other languages another "left over" from the Roman language.

Thanks to this theme, I learnt after 60 years that simple prepositions are words like at, for, in, off, on, over, and under. These common prepositions can be used to describe a location, time or place. Some examples of common prepositions used in sentences are: He sat on the chair or she turned the light on (or off ?) I have always used these words without knowing that they are prepositions ! A British or American citizen when he or she started to speak English they were probably 2 years old and I am sure that the parents didn't talk about prepositions when they said : don't climb on the tree, you will fall down !

My whole working life I have translated, spoken or chatted in English, French and Italian. I was probably born speaking German, because when I started school I spoke it already. Grammar I learnt later, but as I didn't see any sense in learning grammar, I slept during German classes. Only when I had to write stories I woke up because I had a lot of phantasy and loved to write.

English I had learned in school with vocabulary and grammar and maybe I could write, but not speak and my pronunciation was awful I had learned grammar but with that nobody understands you. I said a vaze instead of vase and an ool instead of an owl. I really learned it when I started to work and had to translate French into English or German into English as I worked for American companies.

French also I learned without grammar and even without learning vocabulary. My father put me in a French business school, where the first year I didn't understand a thing, but learned it quickly because I had to otherwise I would have been deaf and dump and I wanted to have friends and go out with them. After a year I spoke French without any problem. Of course I made some funny mistakes, when I translated something literally from German into French. The worst what I had done, was when I suggested to my boss to repaper the showroom with gays instead of wall paper, because in German a wallpaper was "Tapete" and in French "Tapète" means a homosexual ! Of course I didn't understand why everybody laughed.

The best way to learn a language is when you are still a toddler, then you don't even realise that you speak different languages. You know instinctively that mum talks like this and Dad talks like that.
No preposition and other grammar needed.

I push a sigh of relieve that I didn't have to learn pages and pages of vocabulary and no grammar at all and can write in these languages too.  Anyway even an adult should first learn to speak and then to write and not the other way around. Babies start first to speak and then learn to write at school, why should it be different with adults. If you have a picture of a tree and you pronounce "Tree" I suppose you will learn the word "tree" for tree ! BTW "for" is also a preposition, unfortunately I don't finish the sentence with "for", it stands before the tree !







23 Aug 2019

FRIDAY's FAVE FIVE

I started the week with a miracle ! I won the Scrabble game for the first time ! I mostly had been the last one ! As usual we had a lot of fun.

I am so fed up with our furniture which I look at since 50 years !! Nicole gave me a good idea  to paint some pieces white. That's what I did, it had been brown, now it is white and looks far better.



That's a start ! Now I will paint another one and then get rid of this TV furniture, which nobody wants because today's TV screens are too big. Even free, no one has answered on my advertising !

Our little group of 6 were invited to a Moroccan afternoon with a little snack, which finally lasted until 9 pm, and I still wonder what a normal meal would be if this is considered as "a little snack" !




Khadija had prepared all these goodies herself. What a work ! In the first row are the starters and the main plate. Last row the deserts and the tea which was served the Moroccan way.



Usually I never drink mint tea, I even hate the taste, but here I tried, it had a very special taste as she had added clove powder and orange extract ! It tasted delicious.



But before we started the tea ceremony she let us choose a Caftan which we put on and we found ourselves very pretty ! It is so interesting to exchange different cultures and traditions. She doesn't wear a scarf btw and is Belgian since more then 20 years and has managed to put two cultures together in full harmony.



In our painting class (officially still closed for school holidays until September 1st) we continued with our pouring ! It looked like a Kindergarten and we behaved as such, what fun to mix colours  together and pour them on a canvas ! You never know the result !





more participants at Susanne at Living to tell the Story.

22 Aug 2019

WHAT GIVES ME SERENITY

Serenity is a difficult feeling for me. I am rather the type of an action and adventurous woman, but have that feeling of happiness and calmness when I see these different landscapes. 



Sitting at the sea and looking into the water, and  listening to the rushing of the waves




Red rocky mountains like here the Atlas in Morrocco



or a river cruise in the evening with beautiful views like in Budapest



or the patchwork green fields in England, which I haven't seen in no other country.



and sunsets in Egypt, when I look from my balcony.

All this makes me feel serene. 


Linking to One Liner Wednesday Linda G. Hill

21 Aug 2019

WORDLESS WEDNESDAY





Seen in Bratislava - Slovaquie

more participants here
and Image-in-ing

20 Aug 2019

NAPOLEON's BIRTHDAY CELEBRATION WATERLOO

Napoleon was born on August 15, 1769 in Ajaccio, on the French island of Corsica. You can still visit the house he was born today.

Emperor of France who rose to power in the aftermath of the French Revolution in 1799 and waged war with every major European power in a series of wars known as the Napoleonic Wars. After a series of military failures he was finally defeated at the Battle of Waterloo in 1815 and spent the last 6 years of his life in exile on the island of St. Helena.

His birthday was the reason to celebrate at the Lion's mount. Bivouacs and canons were installed and also a kitchen with open fire. The soldiers wore uniforms used during the battle and I also could see 3 white horses.

As the entrance fee was too expensive (12 to 15 € per personne) most of the people stayed outside the site and looked through the fence. It rained heavily on the first day and probably some shows had to be cancelled. I show you some pictures from what I have seen of the birthday celebration.






The few bivouacs and a tired soldier



Not many people when the "village" was built up


The soldiers exercising



Poor dog was afraid of the canons


The "cavalry" show


In front of the Panorama, you could make a tour with the horses and carriage



canons and the imperial ambulance



Saturday a few spectators in the rain



Fortunately the rain had stopped on Sunday and most of the spectators stood outside the fence



Just in front of the Lion was the only restaurant which had been redecorated and looked nice now where people could sit and have something to eat and drink.



End of Napoleon's rather stingy 250th birthday celebration. After all he has lost the battle, said a tourist !



more participants here


19 Aug 2019

AWWW MONDAY - WEEKEND AUGUST 17







Linking to AWWW MONDAYS


WEEKEND



What a terrible weekend ! It rained non stop the whole day which was a catastrophe for organized open air festivals, and in "my" Waterloo for the celebration of Napoleon's birthday on August 15, 1769 and which should be celebrated this weekend.

The celebration should last Saturday and Sunday with a lot of shows and demonstrations of the cavalerie etc at least it was written like that in the program. After having stayed the whole day at home,  cleaning and working on my computer and then watching TV I finally had enough and went to the Lion's mound to see if despite the rain there was something going on. I really pittied the poor soldiers who had to spent the night in their bivoucas on straw with all the rain, but maybe they escaped and slept in a hotel room who knows.



What I saw was a shame. The poor tourists who had come to see some action, all what they saw was a cavalry of 3 horses, maybe 10 soldiers, and around 10 bivouacs. I took the pictures listen to the complaining public and returned quickly to my car, despite my umbrella I was wet.  Instead I watched a little crime story and then we had our supper.

On Sunday it wasn't better at least not in the morning. Apparently the farmers were happy because 32 l of water per m2 fell from heaven ! I did the same as on Saturday. Nicole and I had intended to go to Brussels but in this rain we preferred to stay home.

Around 4 in the afternoon it cleared up and the sun even came out from time to time. I thought maybe today the animation will be better and there will be more figurants, but when I arrived, it was the same as the day before.



Most of the people didn't go inside the camp,  because you had to pay 12 € per person ! No special price for seniors and only children under 6 didn't pay. They all complained that it is far too expensive and lined up against the fence and watched from there.

It was the first time that Napoleon's birthday was celebrated and it was a big flop in my opinion ! I was told that the management of the site was not in the hands of Waterloo anymore, but as many little villages around also belonging to the battle field had claimed their share, it was now an independant French management. Can't say that they were very efficient. Since I was a volunteer at the bicentenary of the battle, I had noticed the decline of the site.

We chatted a bit with the people and sat on the terrace, watching the disappointed tourists.



At home Rosie helped me to write this post.