Showing posts with label Willy Nilly Friday five. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Willy Nilly Friday five. Show all posts

16 Jun 2017

FRIDAY's FAVE FIVE - FIVE ON FRIDAY

1. Summer moved in with sunshine and warm to hot weather. According to the weatherman it's too early but honestly I really don't mind ! The farmers complain and indeed everything is dry.

2. I finally finished our front yard, and "planted" flowers in the pots. I had to buy a few new once, but now it's all right.



Everybody who passes by admires my beautiful flowers, which are not real once but fake ! That's now very easy I don't have to water them, and I told Mr. G. not to do so, because he asked already if we don't have to water the plants. Now the garden work which I hate is finished until autumn !

3. I had to go with my 17 year old cat Kim to the vet, because she behaved so strangely.



No wonder she had a half loose rotten tooth and infected gums ! I left her there in the morning and picked her up in the afternoon, because she had to be anesthesized I thought now she would eat only soft food but no, she eats as normal her dry food !

4. For the moment I live in outside



The grass is dry which suits little Rosie and Arthur the kind cat waters it.



I blog or watch a little movie on the terrace and almost feel like being on holidays



In the rock garden it blooms despite the dry weather.

I have booked now my hotels in Dublin, for my trip around Ireland on the 30, I arrive 2 days earlier and leave one day later as the tour. It was very hard to find a Hotel the prices were impossible and the other once all fully booked. Finally I found one to stay at a decent normal price. But it took me quite long ! Now at least the papers are all ready, what a relief !

5. During our painting course we chatted more than we painted, I think it was the sunny weather which made us all so cheerful ! I forgot to take pictures for our Facebook page "Gibloux Couleurs" once again ! When we had finished some of us went to "La Pomme" (The Apple) which has very good salads. I had a Cesar salad.

Clouds are coming up and a thunderstorm is in the air !













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2 Jun 2017

FRIDAY's FAVE FIVE - FIVE ON FRIDAY

1. Ilona had to return to her mother's apartment to start to sort out what to give away and what was for sale. After that she came and we sat on the terrace and chatted, it was still a beautiful weather. I also was busy with my new smartphone, to find out other functions !

2.


Each year the city organizes an excursion for the senior citizen. This time we went to the Ardennes to visit the Abbey of Orval. The departure was at 7 am and here we are on our first stop having breakfast around 9 pm. We all got coffee, or tea and a huge croissant.

3.



Two hours later we arrived at the Abbey, an impressive building and inside the ruins of the old one. I will write a separate post about this beautiful place.




On our way back we stopped in Bouillon and had an hour to walk around. It is a very typical Ardennes city. I had been there already years ago but didn't remember very much.

4. Just one week ago the gardener had pulled out all weeds in our red gravel, but weeds are like boomerangs they come back as soon as you turn your back. Therefore I made an eco-friendly mixture out of white vinegar, salt and chlorid and poured it over the gravel. If now a weed dares to show up I will shoot with a gun ! After that I was exhausted and rested behind a crime story.

5.


After our painting course, Nicole, Ilona and I went to the Jollywood restaurant and could eat outside. It was very good and it was also good for Ilona who feels now all the stress coming out from her mother's dead.

After lunch we went to her mother's apartment and gathered 5 big bales with clothes, bedlinens, kitchen and bath towels which I will bring tomorrow to the charity shop for battered women and loaded them in my car, because Ilona's is too small. It was strange to be in this apartment without her mother. There are so many things to get rid of ! She had a beautiful collection of semi precious natural stones, which are now for sale.







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5 May 2017

HOLIDAY WEEK REVIEW - Egypt Red Sea

Since Tuesday I am on holidays at the Red Sea in Egypt, to escape the cold and grey "spring" weather and all the worries around me and the world !

Here it is the paradise the sun is shining the sky is blue it is very warm 30° or a little more, but with a little wind very nice !

It is the 9th time I am now in this hotel and I have never been here in May, always in November. It's amazing that there are no flowers and nothing is blooming, while end of the year it's a real flower show ! There are mostly English and Germans, very few French and a few Dutch. Everybody goes well together and as usual the atmosphere in this big hotel is rather homely.

When I arrived I was kissed and welcomed "home" by a few employees and in my room was a nice plate of fruits. New is also that there is now Internet everywhere even in the rooms.

I have no time to write, I am so busy with laying on the beach and watching people, or read my book, or I swim ! I am only interrupted for lunch !

In the evenings I am so tired from all this fresh air and swimming that I just watch a movie on the balcony of my room and then fall asleep ! I have to say that the animation team is not so much to my taste, but that's my personal opinion. Anyway I have seen these shows already so many times.




The view of the balcony of my room




Breakfast at the swimming pool or inside ! For everybody even real English breakfast ! I love these croissants and a fruit salad. For the first time I also have little guests on my table, birds ! Never happens in November.



The beach and the sea, there are a lot of activities, here it was beach ball



There are also a few Egyptians in the Hotel, a very friendly lady, only we were dressed differently _




The garden without flowers. There was a special supper for VIP guests. Unfortunately it was a little windy.

Still a few days to go ! Fortunately ! 





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Five on Friday

28 Apr 2017

FRIDAY's FAVE FIVE-FIVE ON FRIDAY

1. The week started with our Scrabble group and some other girls because Nicole had her birthday and had invited some after our game. So we were 3 still married girls, 2 widows and one divorced. From the married girls the husbands are all alike they don't like to go out anymore so in total we were 6 "widows" and had a lot of fun and laughter. All worries were forgotten, because we all had one or even several, we talked about and found out that more or less we all had the same. Two of my friend's children are getting divorced and apparently the divorces are not so easy. Sad.

We had a cheese and sugar pie and they all disappeared !

2. We returned to winter and it was freezing, my already white car was even more white with the frost. The farmers are all complaining because it damaged fruits and plants. First it was too warm and everything started to grow and bloom and now it's freezing. Hopefully it won't last too long !

3. Our mayor cancelled the "Repair Café" because of the attacks in France ! Repair Café is a nice invention were volunteers repair household appliances, computers, clothes etc. She (our mayor is a woman) probably thought that the good Waterloo people were tinkering some little bombs out of a sewing machine. There were a lot of protests because we don't want to change our lifestyle because of these crazy terrorists. That's all they want !

4. As I go for a week to Egypt to fill in my empty tank with some energy, I had to buy sun cream ! Because there the sun shines and it is very warm. In the past it was difficult to find sun cream during the winter because you were supposed to stay home and only go away in summer, but now as people travel the whole year long I found what I wanted immediately. On my way back I stopped at Nicole's for a little chat.

5.


We were 17 in our painting class, and one had brought a nice apple cake and another cookies for our coffee break. We were expecting visitors, for new inscriptions, fortunately nobody came, because we are 20 I think when everybody is there and we thought that's enough. Our poor teacher had already a lot to do today ! There was Nicole struggling with horse legs and another with the perspective; As usual it was a nice morning !

The rest of the day I was busy on my computer, it was cold and windy outside.










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21 Apr 2017

FRIDAY's FAVE FIVE - FIVE ON FRIDAY

Here is EDEN HILLS SATURDAY PHOTO HUNT

1. The week started a day later because of Easter Monday and we arrived around 5 pm from Amsterdam to Waterloo. It took us a little more than 2 h which wasn't bad. I thought there would have been much more traffic because people went home from a long weekend but apparently not in our direction.

2. When I opened the shutters the next morning it snowed ! I immediately wanted to return into my bed and close shutters and eyes !



Even cat Arthur could hardly believe what he saw ! Instead I decided to put on my fleece jogging and be in a bad mood the whole day. I thought this dammit winter was over and now it starts again with temperatures below 0°C !

3. Fortunately School holidays were over so at least I could go to aqua gym. This time we had a young girl who did the exercises with us and I found her much better than our regular one, because she let us make the exercises on the rhythm of music. Our usual teacher also puts on music, but I don't know what it is it sounds as if the notes are played backwards, and somebody makes primate cries or you think somebody gets strangled. Sometimes there are a phrase which is impossible to understand. At least I understood "I have money, I have money etc etc always the same scream. We decided to ask him to do the same as the girl when he comes back.

4. For the first time I went to the Bois de Hal,  to see the blue flower carpet, although this happens each year, I didn't know !! I had been to this wood before but never to see the bluebells.

The Bois de Hal is also named ‘The Blue Forest’ – thanks to the beautiful purple carpet of bluebells, which usually bloom around mid-April, but this year they were blooming already beginning April and these were the last days.  There are also giant Sequoia trees and even without the blue carpet it is a beautiful wood surrounding Brussels.



It looks stunning when you walk through the wood !

5. Painting class has started again too, but we were all not very motivated. For chatting of course, because we hadn't seen each other for 3 weeks !There were lots of things which had happened.

Nicole had discovered a new Restaurant called Soho,I really don't know why.It was supposed to have a huge buffet with all kind of international food. There was Chinese and French, because when I wanted to take a few shrimps, there were frog legs laying just besides. Except the frog legs I tried a little bit from everything, the salmon was delicious and probably everybody would find something to eat. What I didn't like was the inside of this huge restaurant which looked like a canteen of a company. It wasn't cozy at all I would rather call it functional.



At least I tried it, and now I know that I certainly won't go back if I am not obliged too !




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14 Apr 2017

FRIDAY's FAVE FIVE - FIVE ON FRIDAY

1. Finished the days where you could sit outside, we are back to winter and had to scrabble inside ! Our heads were smoking so much did we think to find words which bring the most of points. At the beginning I always looked for long words which brought little points now the penny dropped and even if I only place one letter and get more points I do it. Result for the first time I won !



our scrabbble board is a special one for half blind people, with huge letters. This suits everybody because they all need glasses to read, except me, I have to take the glasses off because I am shortsighted !

2. My oldest neighbor Vivi since 1975 had lost first her cat and then her dog one month later and she was in a terrible state. On top of that she is not allowed to drive anymore because even with the shots in her eyes she doesn't see enough anymore to be able to drive. It would be too dangerous.

Being prisoner in your own house is not very good especially when you were used to often go out. Her daughter who lives with her and takes care of her decided to take another dog, not a young one but an older one and she found this cute dog a little female 5 years old which was found on the street and brought to the shelter.



I crossed the street to see the new family member, which is very cute.  They called her "Fripouille" which means "Scoundrel" but in a nice way and now Vivi is happy, at least she has a companion and can walk outside with her.  She is far bigger as she looks on the picture and is not a pure breed neither.

3 After shopping I thought I will have a drink at the Waterloo Lion, to see if there were many tourists climbing up the hill. The sun had come out and I could sit on outside.



There was a group of Russians and some other nationalities, ever since the renovation of the site for the bicentenary in 2015, where all old restaurant and houses were shaved away, it looks rather empty and Napoleon is not very pleased. I saw a tent for probably a show on weekends to attract tourists and payed 4 Euros (4,30 $)  for a beer which a year ago costed half the price !

4. My friend Nicole had asked me to come with her to the Waterloo Bowling. She wanted to celebrate her 78th birthday not the traditional way but a little different. She wanted to book a bowling party  for her son and daughter plus partners and the 3 adult grandchildren and as she lives nearby afterwards the traditional cake at home. I found that a great idea and we met at the bowling



Despite the sunny (but cool) afternoon there were quite a lot of people playing.



There was also a Mini Golf for children, which she wanted to show me for my grandson. It was real scary in there, dark and full with monsters and everything what little once like today ! The children all wore fluorescent jackets, so that you could see them.There was a group of 6 to 8 year old kids playing, and had a lot of fun.

5. As desert for Mr. G's birthday I had bought a chocolate cake which was made out of
little bunnies.



They were like a mousse and declicious.



For Easter my cleaning lady had crocheted this beautiful bed cover, which Rosie had to try out of course and a little nest sweets in the red Bunny and a chocolate chicken ! We really were spoiled !



For the first time in my life the lillies of of the valley are blooming in April !! Normally they always bloom beginning of May and it is the use to offer a lilly of the valley for the 1st. of my. But this year I could offer a little bouquet to Ilona's mother for Easter ! She is 90 and couldn't remember either that this ever happened !






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