MY WEEKEND OF JULY 19

On Saturday it was unusually hot, we had already 30°(95F) early morning and in the afternoon it was unbearable. Nevertheless I worked very hard ! I did laundry, made a bread and blogged, all at the same time ! My grandma would be proud of me !



The bread slice had a funny pattern, it had a keyhole and tasted very good !



Mr. G's ten year old computer went on strike, it moved like a snail. We decided to buy a new one. As all little boys he wanted a Ferrari of course and not a simple city car. It took some time to convince him to be reasonable, for what he does on a computer which means keeping our huge 2 person household administration up to date, pay invoices and play cards, a normal one would do it too. And finally the reason won and he bought a Toshiba laptop with Window 8.1 !



And for the first time in his life he worked outside ! Normally he never sits in the garden only when we have guests. So Dominique, our neighbor took this historical picture, both of us sitting side by side working on our computers. This has never happened in our 44 years of marriage ! Even Arthur the cat was surprised and watched us out of a box !

The always tired Mr. G went to bed at 1 1/2 am and wasn't tired at all. A new toy, a happy boy !

On Sunday we had a little thunderstorm and it cooled down. 



Belgium celebrates its National Day on Monday but the festivities began already Saturday. So Sunday I met a friend and we walked through the Waterloo park, where the festivities had already begun with different orchestras, lots of food stands with local specialities to eat and drink and lots of games for children.



There was also a "junk" sale going on, but there was really nothing to buy and when we arrived most of the people had already left. We had a drink and watched the people, and everybody seemed to have a lot of fun.



What I didn't like at all was this Military Camp where kids could hide and run around with plastic machine guns. I found this a shame for the city, with all the real wars going on to play war games ! It didn't look as if it had a lot of success, I only saw one boy !

The rest of the day a spent outside sitting on the terrace and writing. 

MY WEEKEND OF JULY 12

On Saturday morning we drove to Amsterdam to celebrate my birthday with the family !



I was very spoiled ! I got a beautiful bouquet, a voucher for a beauty shop (I will come out looking like 17 and not 71) and a modern art painting from grandson Toby !



When we arrived they were all waiting in the street, sitting on a bench and Mr. G had to show his talents as a footballer ! I found it very unusual that it is the use that families are sitting outside at their front door on benches or on the grass between the houses and the streets. Can't imagine my neighbors sitting on the street !

After a light lunch I was invited for a cruise to Pampus. After the Franco-Prussian War of 1870 the Dutch government feared an attack on Amsterdam. An artificial island was built, the Pampus fortress.



We waited in the sunshine for the ship to arrive, which had first to go to through a canal lock we watched the bridge raising and then the boat arrived. Toby had to wear a safety jacket.



It was a very beautiful ride on the sea



Then we arrived in Pampus, which also has a restaurant, besides the fort. I didn't go inside this dark fortress which reminded me a bunker.  I prefered to walk on the top around it and had a wonderful view on the little sailing boats and the blue water.



In the evening we were invited to a greek restaurant, which looked so modern, that besides the painting on the wall there was nothing greek. The food was good, but the prices horrendous for what it was including a minimum service. Toby met a little girl who presented herself as "I am a witch !" !



On Sunday my son's father in law arrived with his wife and brought him all his old cameras. It was like Christmas for my son ! The highlight was a 100 year old camera which had belonged to Toby's great great grandfather ! We were happy to see each other again, last time had been on their wedding. We had breakfast and lunch together and a real nice time. They both spoke very well German so there were no communication problems, we just mixed Dutch with German from time to time.



We sat on their huge terrace which is like a little garden and chatted, while Toby played and ate his lunch.

After 3 pm we left reluctantly, but we had 2 1/2 h to drive and Mr. G. was very tired. We had very heavy showers during our trip and sometimes I had to drive very slowly I hardly could see the street in all this rain. But we arrived safely and were greeted by our cats, our neighbor had taken good care of them !