FRIDAY's FAVE FIVE

1. Our usual aqua gym trainer was on holidays and we had a young man as replacement. He did completely different exercises, and for some of us it was hard to follow. But he was real good. The result was, that after lunch while I watched "Escape to the country" I escaped into dreamland and when I woke up, there was a game on TV and 2 h were gone. I don't know where.

2. Finally I had the courage to fold the laundry which was still in the basket since Sunday. I think a Tsetse fly has bitten me, I feel so tired, must be this roller coaster weather, one day warm and sunny one day cold and rain.

3. Nicole came with Charlie, first thing he does is sniff around in the whole house, and looking for cat food, sometimes I forget to put the bowls on the table where he can't reach them, but sometimes I forget and he never forgets anything ! He even knows where I keep his toys, a tennis ball and a squeaking Hamburger and takes them out immediately. We had a coffee together and talked about our forthcoming holidays in Turkey, the date approaches, we leave on Sunday.

4. Again I forgot to put on my shoes and went in my slippers to the Indian shop to buy my creams. Fortunately they don't really look like slippers. Of course I couldn't resist a pair of earrings which I bought too.

5. After our painting class 5 of us went to the Asiatic restaurant and had a delicious lunch. They have round tables with a round  turning pane in the middle, so it is very easy to serve yourself. As usual we had a lot of fun and a lot of food, as it is an all you can eat buffet, and we stayed there more than 2 1/2 h ! When I came home I put Oscar the lawn mower robot on the grass and watched him working. I still was so full from our lunch, that I only ate two apples for supper. For Mr. G. I had taken a "take away" plate because they do that too.



Sunday noon Nicole and I are off to Marmaris in Turkey, to get some hot weather and sunshine ! The sea is surrounded by mountains and apparently it is a beautiful place. I hope the terrorists will stay in Brussels, where tourists are afraid of to go because it is a dangerous place ! The Belgians go working there ....

So  next time I will report from Marmaris, if there is not a little terrorist sitting on the line !

more participants at Susanne at Living to tell the Story.

FRIDAY's FAVE FIVE

1. When I arrived at my aqua gym class I stated with pleasure that the trees are trying to get out their leaves !



Nature becomes green ! Was about time.

2. Sitting in my car I heard at the radio about a terrible plane crash in France. When I came home I immediately switched on the TV to knew more about it ! It had happened in the southern French Alps. The German airplane  " Germanwings" had 150 passengers on board,  amongst them 16 German teenagers and two teachers. The plane should fly from Barcelona to Duesseldorf. According to the BBC, the flight was also carrying three Britons, and citizens of Spain, Australia, Japan, Colombia, Turkey, Denmark, the Netherlands and Belgium.



A search and recovery operation has started in the Alps. From the plane nothing is left but pieces. The access into the mountains is only possible by helicopter. It will take some time to find out more about the inexplicable crash of an airplane which apparently had no technical problems.



Meanwhile the school in Germany is mourning. On the  poster above is written : "Yesterday we were many today we are alone".

3. Nicole had invited me for a chat on her terrace and as usual, the weather changed the sun disappeared and we had to stay inside.



Charlie brought me his toy basket and wanted me to play with him !

4. Ilona celebrated her 72 birthday



Her 79 old neighbor showed up with a bottle of champagne. We had a very nice afternoon. The neighbor was very entertaining had traveled a lot and made us laugh with his stories.

1. I had run out of my night cream, so I went to "my" Indian shop where I always buy my creams. They are natural and very good.

This time it wasn't so peaceful in there, an old lady had stolen a basket and a piece of fabric. The 3 volunteers stopped her at the door and took the basket back. The old lady started to scream that she had stolen nothing and she just wanted to offer them the fabric, she had also stolen before. She made a big mess and finally 2 policewomen and one policeman arrived and the hysterical screaming continued. I don't know the end of the story, but apparently it hadn't been the first time. It is really a shame to steal in a shop who sells things for the benefit of orphans and street children in India.



To comfort myself because of the bad weather I bought this beautiful necklace and two little wallets for coins, which I keep with my gifts I buy during the year for special occasions. After having assisted to the free theater play in the Indian shop I returned home.

more participants at Susanne at Living to tell the Story.

FRIDAY's FAVE FIVE

1. For the first time this year it was warm and sunny, the ideal weather for a little walk.



My neighbor Dominique and I went to the little park in Waterloo and walked around the pond, watching the ducks and swans. But no little flower was seen yet.

2. I drove along the Waterloo battle field to take pictures of the farms which had gone into history



Most of them were ready for the bicentenary of the battle.

3. The Waterloo city had asked for volunteers to help the huge amount of tourists who will come to celebrate the bicentenary of the battle in June, and to show them around. So I went to the City hall and put my name on the list. There will be enough English speaking people as we have a big English speaking community, but German is more seldom.

4. Nicole had invited Dominique and me for an afternoon chat. We wanted to sit outside on her terrace, as 17° were announced, but finally the temperature decided to disagree with the weatherman and it was far too cold ! So we had a glass together and chatted inside.

5. The Waterloo city organises a "Route of Artists" in October, which means that all artists are asked to expose their works in special rooms or at home. The public is then invited to follow the route and visit the artists. Our group exposes in our usual class, but for publicity purposes we had to paint or draw a very small square which should represent the style of the painter.



This was very difficult for me as I am used to big canvas and I had to paint on carton paper. Finally I managed and painted half of a cat head. 25 participants do the same and then they will be glued on one big canvas ! I am really curious to see the result !

more participants at Susanne at Living to tell the Story.

FRIDAY's FAVE FIVE - RANDOM FRIDAY

1.
During the night of Monday to Tuesday I woke up several times and stated that something was wrong with me. My whole body was aching and I didn't feel well at all.

2. I panicked because on Sunday I am going to Germany near Cologne, to visit my oldest friend whom I knew from 1951 on. First thing in the morning I called my doctor and went to her consultation. She said that I had the beginning of a flu ! How nice. 



While she did the prescription for a special medication to prevent that the flu really comes out, I observed a squirrel which ate from the feeder she has in her garden. Was it cute ! Our squirrels are reddish and much smaller than the once you see in the States and in the UK.

3.
I went to the pharmacy to pick up my medication and spent the rest of the week between computer, bed and TV !

4.


Even the bin men seemed interesting to me, especially because it was not the normal garbage, but furniture, mattresses and all kind of stuff people got rid off. The whole day cars went by to collect mostly the metal, before the official bin truck arrived.

5.


From my window I saw a squirrel in the neighbor's garden, I can't remember when I have seen one here around.

Of course I couldn't go to my painting class, I couldn't go nowhere, I felt lousy and had no energy at all.

Today I feel a little better and hopefully will have recovered by Sunday when I go per coach to Cologne where my friend picks me up at the station.



and here we are as children and then as adults. That was the last time I have seen her.

more participants at Susanne at Living to tell the Story.

FRIDAY's FAVE FIVE - RANDOM FRIDAY

1. Besides aqua gym where we amused ourselves in the water, the rest of the day not to be in the water again, I stayed home. According to the statistics we had the wettest January/February ever since 1800 something when the weather mesurements started ! And it continued to rain the whole week.

2. I spent the afternoon with Dominique who had her eyelid operation, it starts to look great, the lids are still a little swollen. I helped her with her new tablet and we spent a nice afternoon, while it continued to rain and on top a strong wind !

3.


I am running out of photos for my different photo themes, and had the good idea to go to a second hand store who sells antiques. There I found nearly everything of what I needed, except a blue sky !

4. Lots of clothes I don't wear anymore were in our basement, I sorted them out and packed them in bags and Mr. G. brought them to the Red Cross where they are given to the poors.

5.


In our painting class, Ilona, Nicole and I started a new painting so we were sitting in front of a blank canvas. I started with some blue, but don't know yet where this will end, while Nicole used an old painting she didn't like anymore and wanted to overpaint it.

After class was finished we went to an Asian restaurant, called "Le jardin d'Asie" (Asian garden) and had an excellent meal. Before I returned home I did some shopping to fill in the fridge.

more participants at Susanne at Living to tell the Story.