MY CATS AND OWLS

From the first time I saw an owl in a zoo I don't remember where, I fell in love with these birds. They looked in my opinion,  exactly as my cat Rosie, they have the same huge eyes.

I also found that owls have the same expression as a human and I could have observed these animals for hours ! I also was impressed that owls don't need eyes in the back of their heads to see what's behind them — they can just swivel their heads all the way around. In fact, many owl species, can rotate their heads 270 degrees in each direction, which means they can look to the left by rotating all the way to the right, or vice versa ! That made me jealous, I wished I could do that too, but I could try as long as possible it never worked. It would have been so practical to cross a main street, or even more interesting for neighbor watch, I could be a private detective, or when I was in school easily see what others wrote ! What a dream !

When I visited a Farmer's fest in the UK there were many owls. I didn't want to go elsewhere, I just wanted to observe these amazing animals.




Owls



and my little private owl



Linking to Linda H. Hills SOCS - OW

FRIDAY's FAVE FIVE

This has been a strange week because I had to look each day on the calender to know which day we were ! When the Wednesday is a Sunday and you suddenly realize that it is Saturday made me rather confused.

On Monday I did some shopping for New Year's Eve. We were the same as last year and this time it was Nicole's turn. We were six and everybody brought something to eat and his drinks. That's very easy then for the person who receives, she only has to put plates and cutlery on the table.

On Tuesday morning I prepared a rice salad, with salmon and grey shrimps and cherry tomatoes. I had also bought 3 bottles of "Champagne" without alcohol for Mr. G. and myself. Each person brings 3 little gifts which we put in a basket.

In the afternoon we watched TV and rested and at 7 pm we went to Nicole and started our party. The basket was full of gifts and stood in the middle and while we had our first drink, one took out a little box and we all had to guess what was inside ! The one who had the right answer got the gift.  It never went very quick but it caused a lot of laughter !  I found the solution of three parcels, one were 2 kitchen towels, a little violin as decoration, and a brush for the kitchen. Mr. G. found the content of a box which was a beautiful paperweight in glass.


Only a part of the different plates we had brought

The eating, the definitions of the gifts and drinking brought us to midnight, where we all went outside to see fireworks. In Waterloo they were forbidden with a special permission you were allowed to do one, because it causes too much fear, hysteria and even heart attacks to all kind of animals ! Not only cats and dogs but also horses and cattle.


Mr. G. with Isis and with his wife and Chantal

We only saw two fireworks, but they were enough to scare Nicole's little cat to death and she escaped to the open door on the street ! She had never done this because she is an inside cat. We looked for her everywhere and finally I told Nicole to leave the entrance door a bit open, maybe she would come back. And she did after a long half an hour she was suddenly there ! We were all relieved and could continue our New Year's celebration and were at home at 3 pm! Not bad for vintage people.


Nicole and her cousin and Mr. G. with Monique



Expecting 2020

Of course the next day we were like zombies and did a lot ..... which means nothing ! As we expected nobody and even if ... we stayed in our training suits the whole day.

The week ended with a nice lunch with girls from painting and scrabble ! We got together for the traditional Sauerkraut, which has to be on the tables the first day of the new year. We waited for the second, so we were a bit more hungry. We went to the Lunch Garden of the Carrefour department store and besides having a lot of fun the Sauerkraut was delicious. We were 6 again and everybody had something really funny to tell what had happened during these days.

more participants at Susanne at Living to tell the Story.

BAD TO THE BONE ?

I didn't know that "Bad to the bone" was the title of a song but I knew the expression in the German language. I had never heard the song or the singer, probably only known in the States.

In the song the guy is not really bad, but he is in love with himself,
pretentious and he thinks he is irrisistable and that everything is due to him.

It's a pity that I haven't met him, because then we would be two persons bad to the bone ! But I have an advantage I don't stammer !
And the winner is .....



Concerning bad to the bone people, I wonder if they are born bad. I have seen baby pictures from serial killers and they were very cute babies.

How is it possible then that they became monsters ? Our enemy n° 1 in Belgium,  the pedophile and killer of 4 little girls, Marc Dutroux, had a normal mother and not an alcoholic one, he had  maybe a not ideal childhood but not an awful one either,  so what  made him to this monster ? He must have been born bad to the bone. Not very encouraging for future parents !

I had a friend  she unfortunately died a few years ago. She had a son who made her say each time she saw a baby : "another criminal" ! I have to admit, that I never understood how this boy became a criminal maybe his childhood was too good.



Linking to Linda H. Hills One liner Wednesday

WORDLESS WEDNESDAY

New method to make baby stop crying



"Baby today"

more participants here,
and Image-in-ing

A LITTLE PART OF OUR WORLD

For the year's end I just dived a bit in my memories of my different travels, it is only a small part, just the pictures I found at the first glance in my travel album.



The English South East coast. I spent 8 years in Eastbourne until my dear friend suddenly died. Without her it is not the same anymore.



Stonehenge in England, I was quite impressed



Loch Ness, Mistery, I haven't seen "Nessie" the monster, the sun was shining too mucch probably.



The Scottish Highlands, so special have never seen the same landscape elsewhere



I like the crooked gravestones in all the very ol graveyards I have seen in the UK . Was a bit creepy.





The French Riviera, where I often spend holidays with my friend Claudie whom I knew through blogging !!



The flower carpet in Brussels which is put up every two years.



Marrakech - Marocco



The deserts everywhere, Tunis, Morocco, Egypt, etc



Karouan - Tunis



The biggest stork colonie in Merinide Chellah - Marocco  where the storchs stay over winter. In my whole life I haven't seen so many storks !



Carthage - Tunis





Istambul Dolmabace palace

I could go on and on, but I stop here, the next time when I have nothing special to show for "Our World" I will continue. You can also find all these places in my travel blog Countries & Cities

AWWWW MONDAY - WEEKEND DECEMBER 28

Linking to AWWW MONDAYS

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 WEEKEND

The "historical" moment has arrived, it's the last weekend of 2019, next weekend you have to get used to write 2020, but you have until Wednesday for an intense training !

I think I am not the only one who is happy that all these festivities are finally over, and our stomachs will get back to normal food. When I read what people eat during Christmas I am full for the whole year !

On Saturday I just had to buy a gift for my cleaning lady who will become grandma and I found two very cute baby pyjamas ! The problem was the color and the pattern, as the young couple wants a surprise baby and not know if it would be a girl or a boy ! I would have been far too curious, but when I was pregnant it had always been a surprise you couldn't know. After that I went to Nicole for a coffee, it was quite noisy as new neighbors moved into her building just on the first floor.

Sunday the temperature had dropped and the grass was white not from snow but from frost. It was so nice and warm in my bed with Rosie as feet warmer, that I only got up reluctantly to clean up the mess which old Arthur had made during the night, the poor cat has the same signs as humans when they are very old.

The afternoon was rather cheerful, we played our Scrabble at Myriam's we were only four, because Mireille didn't want to leave her husband alone in the apartment which had been burgled and they were still under shock. Khadija had brought self made Morrocan cookies which tasted delicious and were not too sweet as they are sometimes in Northern Africa.



In the evening we watched Inspector Barnaby's nephew discovering a murder, the amount of the murdered people remains steady the average is always three. But I guess in the beginning they were four. But I assure you there are still some people left in the different villages.



I wish you a happy and healthy New Year and a new hairdresser for the two in the picture

A TERRIBLE END OF THE YEAR

I had called my friend Mireille the one who is half blind, to ask her if she could come for Scrabble on Sunday instead of Monday. She had a little voice, and I thought she had caught a cold, but not at all ! She had celebrated Christmas Eve at her daughter's and she would have been happy if ....

When they arrived home in their apartment located on the 4th floor of a building which had one apartment per floor,  and opened the door, they were surprised that the living door was closed, they always leave it open for the dog. And then they saw the surprise of the year ! Burglars had been visiting their apartment ! All drawers were open and the content dispersed on the floor, same with the cupboard doors, it was a real mess everywhere because they had emptied all wardrobes only the kitchen drawers were undamaged.

Mireille called her daughters who quickly arrived because she couldn't see what was stolen, while her husband alerted the police. According to the police and the insurance company, the burglars were not some youngsters but real professionals, because the doors were all secured with special locks and you need a special equipment to open them. Apparently they had opened the door of the utility room which was besides the elevator and from there had opened the door which led to the balcony, and then forced the window door and got into the living room.

They had taken only very valuable things, like jewelry, and three watches in gold stemming from her husband's grandfather and great grandfather.

Of course they were under shock it was not so the value of the jewelry but they had belonged to their parents and were irreplaceable.

It had already been a bad year for them, but that the year would end like this they never had imagined ! And normally the apartment was so secured, nobody had never thought it would be possible to get in there !


Linking to Linda G. Hills - SOCS-Year