WEEKEND REVIEW June 11, 2016

As you maybe know, my camera had been stolen the first day I was on holidays in Marmaris (Turkey) Not from Turkish people, certainly not, but a group of Ukrainians had arrived, and as they sadly are famous for stealing everything they can (cutlery and towels included) I suppose that my camera does her job now in an Ukrainian family.  So I had to buy a new one, my spare camera is not good enough for regular photographing.

I quickly found the one I wanted, again a Canon Ixus but a better model, I still can use my battery and charger ! I only had to buy a chip card.

So far it's still unpacked, it should be for my birthday in July but I think I have to use it before, because of the quality of the spare camera pictures.

As last year I was a volunteer to help for bicentenary festivities of the Waterloo battle, from time to time I go there just to check if there are still tourists coming because the renovated site has become so ugly and has lost all its charm as all old houses, cafés and restaurants had been demolished and replaced just by one new built !



There were a few tourists but not comparable to when it hadn't been renovated ! No local inhabitant would ever go there to have a drink as they did before. Mr. G. and myself included.

As the weather was so nice and warm (the weatherman had announced rain) I sat down and listened to English, and Dutch tourists.



On my way back I "checked" the Mont St. Jean farm , which had once been a hospital for Wellington's wounded soldiers and noticed that there were far more people and a French tourist group who listened to all the explanations about the farm.

Sunday morning was the same, rain announced and no rain so Nicole and I decided to go to Brussels Midi market it had been at least a year we hadn't been there. We bought some underwear for nearly nothing and Nicole a pullover, I found a cute little case for my new camera ! 



It looks like Rosie as a kitten. After having bought some fruits and a roasted chicken, we had a drink in a typical Brussels' café, where people still speak the special Brussels' language, a mixture between French and Flemish and special words.



Since years it's always the same man who plays his accordion and sings Elvis songs but also typical folklore songs. There was a very cheerful atmosphere, people sang with him  and we alll chatted together. Then we took the bus home.



The yearly miracle happened this Sunday ! 5 years ago my friend Ilona gave me this Hibiscus plant, which should bloom and be full of flowers. Unfortunately this one looks very healthy and nice but never blooms except once a year and only ONE flower, therefore I had bought a twig of fake pink flowers and had stuck it in the plant. I had forgotten that the only Hibiscus flower which was blooming was orange. Now it looks like this ! Very special. But the flower will not last long, usually one day !

MY WEEKEND OF JANUARY 11

It had been quite a long time that we didn't have lunch together, Dominique, Nicole and I so we decided to go to "La Pomme" (The apple).



It looks very much like a Pub and the plates served there have American and not Belgian size ! On the neighbor's table a Hamburger was served which could have fed a whole family !



As the weather was nice for photo shooting, I thought I go photo hunting for the theme "Our World" and went to the Waterloo battle field where important renovations of the site are actually done to be ready for for the 200th anniversary of the battle in 2015. The whole site was a muddy mess. They are busy to built an underground memorial of the battle. I could see the entrance through the grids. Nobody was working, but despite the mud, there were tourists who even climbed up the 253 steps leading to the lion on the top of the hill.



and as I was already there, I thought I could drive a little further on the battle field. It hadn't changed since 1815 and the "streets" were accordingly ! My poor car ! I should have gone there with a tractor.



Not a single soul was around, from far I saw a farm, a horse which wondered what I was doing there, but posed for the picture and I nearly stepped into the left overs of a bird which probably a fox had eaten, leaving wings and legs.

Then I was completely lost in the so peaceful battle field. Fortunately Madame GPS is always with me so I pushed the button "go home" and followed the instructions. Don't ask me where I was, there were many very beautiful old farms transformed into houses, and I regretted that I couldn't stop to take some pictures. After a lot of "turn left" "turn right" I finally recognized where I was, I had landed on the main street of Waterloo ! At home I looked at my photos and was very satisfied with the result. My new camera had done a good job !



On Sunday we had a short visit from our son and Toby. They had been staying with a friend, near Waterloo and stopped at the way back to Amsterdam. We had lunch together and not only we were happy to see Toby so short after Christmas but our cat Arthur too ! He loves to play with him and the little cars ! The sun was shining and Toby could even run around on our terrace with his little tractor outside. I noticed that he slowly becomes too tall now for the little tractor.



After lunch we sat together and Toby played a little game with a talking cat on my Kindle, was he laughing  ! Then they left around 4pm it takes a little more then 2 h to get to Amsterdam.

We tidied up, put the toys away and then we both disappeared behind our computers.