FRIDAYS FAVE FIVE

The week began with a trip to the nearby town Nivelles. Luckily, we had nice weather. On the program was a visit of the Park Dudaine, well known for it's beauty. I don't know why, but in the nearly 60 years I live in Waterloo, I have been a thousand times in Nivelles, but it never came into my mind to visit the park, I went to the mall and visited a friend who lived there, but never put a foot in the park. 

It is quite huge and listed offers two types of gardens, French and English, to admire. A fountain and a pond spanning several hectares, where fishing is permitted from April to December, add to its charm, as do numerous statues. It boasts a beautiful rectangular water feature as well as a pond spanning several hectares.The park is the access route to the "Reine Astrid" Sports Ground. The park includes basketball, volleyball, and soccer fields, a multi-sports hall, an indoor swimming pool, a sports field, and an aquapark.We slowly walked around fed the ducks bought a yummy ice cream and sat on the benches and watched the ducks and other poultry. We teased Kim our animator, who walked around and was followed by two ducks, that was so funny to see. 

Then we had a drink in the swimming pool bar and observed the swimmers.  At 5 pm we were home again and very satisfied with our day.

On Tuesday I went to a friend I had known when we had our Facebook supper evenings. She had called me to tell me that her cat had 3 kittens.  I wanted to see them immediately, but I was so occupied that I didn't have time. But finally there was an afternoon where nothing special was foreseen, so I preferred to visit the baby cats.

They are now one month old and so cute and real beautiful. The mother was a ginger cat a very light color and without stripes. One kitten looked like her, one like a classical ginger at and a grey one ! Or there are two dads or it is a quirk of nature. Two are females and one male.

The transformation and work of the convent which is attached to the castle is finished and the severely sick were moved in a very modern and beautiful section which is closed. They moved from the 3rd floor to the first. Unfortunately they don't realize anymore that they are in such a nice place. For the nurses it's also more easy, here nobody can escape. During the works, one person has managed to escape and had  opened the room doors on the second floor at 3 a.m., turned on the light, and even tried to get into bed with one. Naturally, this was the talk of the day, the poor victims  were terribly frightened. I always lock my door. The night nurses have a key anyway.

On Thursday we celebrated the birthdays of all residents born in May. I didn't want to stay because I didn't like the music although the female singer did her best. I happened to be sitting next to Gilberte who is 102 years old and just as much of a chatterbox as I am, so we chatted and discovered that we were born in the same month - she was born two days later than me in July, in 1923 and I in 1943. In theory, she could have been my mother. We liked each other so much and got on so well that I had to promise to visit her to get to know her better. To be honest, I never would have thought that I would be speaking to a 102-year-old lady and not notice any age difference at all. We also laughed a lot. Luckily we were sitting right at the back!

Gilberte 102 years old

 The week ended with bad weather and  I did my shopping. Normally my son and grandson should come on Saturday, but I told them not to come as it was raining non stop the whole day and a strong wind was blowing. Driving 250 km would not be a pleasure. So they will come the next weekend or the week after. We still can see each other through the phone !

 

more participants at Susanne at Living to tell the Story.

 

 

 

 

 

 

HODGEPODGE MAY 22

 1. May 20th is World Bee Day...what's something that's kept you 'busy as a bee' lately? 

I am busy but not like a bee ! After all I live in a retirement home, where you have to rest !

2. Do you like honey? What's something you make or enjoy that calls for honey? 

Yes, I love honey, on a slice of bread and butter, and instead of sugar in my coffee, that's more healthy

3. "Gracious words are like a honeycomb, sweetness to the soul and health to the body." Proverbs 16:24

What's a proverb you love, or one that speaks to you or has helped you in some way? 

Once I read "your love was a gift that continues to shape who I am" and I thought this is absolutely right, and this one stands on my desk :

The Bible is full of Proverbs, a whole book in fact, if that helps with your answer. The word proverb is defined as 'a short pithy saying in general use, stating a general truth or piece of advice'. 

Long ago I read the bible like a book. Especially the first part and after JC's birth, I found it like a fairy tale. Having worked as a translator my whole life, I thought the bible was translated into more then 2000 languages and each translator could translate something he was asked for and not the original text. At that time people couldn't read or write the only one who could inform the population was the priest, and he did what he was asked for. Why should we eat fish on Fridays ? that was ordered by a King because he thought that people ate too much meat. It is very interesting to read about the bible and its creation. 

And then the second part, which Jesus' disciples wrote. It's full of contradictions. St. Paul wrote that a priest shouldn't marry, because he should devote himself only to Jesus.The other, St. Matthew, disagreed and wrote that a pastor should start a family and raise his children as Christians. That's why we have the Catholic Church and the Protestants today. It's all not very logical.

4. Tell us about a 'sweet' moment in your life recently that filled you with joy, gratitude, or peace. 

In my case it's a bit difficult to find joy, gratitude or peace, but I found it yesterday, I went to a friend, her cat had 4 months old kittens. They were so cute, two ginger and one grey, so we spent the whole afternoon playing with these little darlings, while mother cat was happy to have two "baby"sitters. 

5. When you were a child, what did you want to 'be' when you grew up? How close did you come to that?

Not close at all ! Because I really wanted to be a stage makeup artist. Invent monsters, make blood flow (ketchup), or make princesses look beautiful. But my father didn't like that at all, he wanted me to study medicine! I definitely didn't want that, so I went to business school first. My father picked the most upscale one so I could meet a rich young man there. They went to that school because they were supposed to take over their dad's business and were too stupid to go to university. I really liked it there, and then I ended up working as a translator, for German, English, French and Italian.

6. Insert your own random thought here. 

I believe that everyone has two persons inside them. At least that's how it is with me. I've been thinking the whole time about whether I should go on holiday. And where? To the seaside in any case. I would love to see the sea again. So why am I hesitating? The constant airline or train strikes. I can't see myself waiting hours for a plane or train. Then I think of Rosie, I'm afraid something will happen to her. 

My other person says, you're crazy, you never thought of things like that before, check out the hotels with SPAs and fly to Tunisia, or to the English coast to Eastbourne which I love so much. Everything will be fine. I have good travel insurance for vintage ladies. And so the two of us argue happily with each other, although I or I 2 will have to make a decision soon.

 

WORDLESS WEDNESDAY

 

Life in Morocco

 

more participants here, and Image-in-ing

AWWWW MONDAY

 

Little dolls in Brussels' laces

 

Linking to AWWW MONDAYS 

 

 

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WEEKEND 

It was a quiet weekend, unfortunately the temperature has dropped and I changed again from T-shirt to pullover ! Fortunately I have given up to separate winter and summer clothes, because the whole year  we have the same temperature. It's not freezing cold and not excessively hot !

In the afternoon we played an interesting game, it was finding different words for the same object or subject. Again I was amazed that the two who get always lost and wander along the long corridors looking for their rooms, play so well ! I also  had one who came into my room, looked around and then told me that this is not her room, there are too many cats and she is allergic. I brought her back to the reception, as she didn't know which floor and which room number she had. But otherwise her brain still works very well.

On Sunday it was cold and grey and we also had no activities in the afternoon. As I had got my card reader to create a new online banking on my computer and on my phone, I had lost both when they had done an update ! It went quite good until some point and then I got stuck !

I tried again and again, checked the numbers everything was OK but at a certain point it stopped and didn't go further. Finally I put the whole thing aside it was just lunch time and I decided to make a break. The break finally lasted until nearly 5 pm, when Isabel appeared to help me. It was done in not even 5 min, I hadn't put the new password in because I hadn't seen where to put it. We had to laugh, because I already thought that my brain would slowly disappear ! Now it's done and I am really relieved. 

The weekend went by so quick !