FRIDAY's FAVE FIVE

The days come and go and nothing changes or yes there is more traffic on the road because all schools have started. Normally they should all have the same rules, but here in this little country the Coronavirus rules are Flemish or French.

On Monday we had our Scrabble game inside, as the temperature had dropped quite a lot, almost to the half we had the week before. I think autumn is in the air !

Nicole has left the hospital after 3 weeks of radio and chimiotherapy and is at home now. Her daughter takes care of her until they find another solution, after one month. She looks good and is not so tired anymore and is very happy to be with us. So we visit her or we invite her and that way her daughter has a bit of free time too.

The store who had made my curtains finally called me to tell me that I can pick up the two curtains which were wrong, they had mixed up the length with the width !! All in all it took a long time with these curtains, I had ordered them in May and got the first part beginning August and the second part beginning of September ! And all that is the fault of the Coronavirus where we were all locked into our homes and companies and shops closed !!

I also picked up a few of my paintings which I had left with my ancient neighbor and Myriam and Nicole helped me to hang them on the walls ! One wall we couldn't use at all it was in concrete and when Myriam tried to hammer a nail in the wall it became crooked ! No wonder that we never hear any noise from our neighbors.


Now the paintings are on the wall



We are all feeling tired and also bored ! The shops remain empty even during the "Sales" period, nobody buys clothes, there is nowhere to go, except in a restaurant. Which we did this week again.

For the economy it is a disaster many little boutiques had to close, the artists have no work because there is no theatres, all festivities have been cancelled ! We all had hoped that by September it would get better but no, it is even sometimes worse especially when you want to go on holidays in another country and it becomes a red zone during your stay. Then officially you have to leave, get a test and stay home for 2 weeks. But I know people who just slipped through, nobody checked.

Still it is not a normal life and the only thing which cheers me up is the decoration of my new home.




Only Rosie is happy, she doesn't care about social life as long as she has a filled food bowl,  water and the best napping places !

more participants at Susanne at Living to tell the Story.

FRIDAY's FAV FIVE

Monday was the perfect day to stay inside, it was cold and it rained ! From our Scrabble group we were only three, three others had a cold. With three it's not so interesting to play then with 5 or 6, so we had quickly finished and started a long lasting coffee break. As it was my turn to receive the girls, I had bought a Christmas pudding, a Christmas log and cookies and the fudge they love so much.

Nobody had ever eaten a Christmas pudding and never had tried the log. The pudding didn't have a big success (which was very much appreciated by Mr. G. who ate the rests which was nearly the whole pudding). The log and the cookies disappeared slowly slowly over the afternoon.

Kadhija who is of Moroccan origin told us family stories and we had a lot to laugh. From an uncle who worked like a horse to spoil his women who of course didn't do anything and had servants for everything. The first one couldn't get children so she suggested him to take a second wife, which was legal but only if the first wife agreed, and in this case had insisted to choose the second wife herself, which she did. The poor man got an ugly wife but she had three children. The third one was a nice girl chosen by both and they were all very good friends went out bought what they wanted could drive around, while the husband worked and earned the money. We ended up to pity the poor husband.  Of course this is use in upper class and not with farmers, where the wives have to work and the husband handles the paperwork. It was very interesting to  hear how other cultures live and are happy.

Tuesday we had an appointment for the yearly check up of our Toyota  Yaris. Meanwhile we went to the hairdresser, which is located in the Carrefour building and is for men and women. We both had shorter hairs and in the cold weather freezing heads, we had - 1°C. Mr. G. went playing Whist and I returned home and prepared my backpack and clothes for our excursion to the Christmas Market in Düsseldorf.

Next morning I got up at 6 am which was far too early but Mr. G. who couldn't sleep anymore got up too and was in my way. Finally I made it to the bus stop where the Bus stopped for our trip to Düsseldorf. There were three other stops to take people in and then off we went to Düsseldorf. I had been often there because Mr. G. had worked for two years for his company in Düsseldorf and I often visited him over the weekend. But that was a long time ago and besides my beloved Rhine and some famous buildings I didn't recognize anything. The Christmas market was huge all over the old city.


Myriam with pompom bonnet and  Khadija  and to the right Marie Joël

There were many Christmas chalets selling all kind of Christmas ornaments and Christmas stuff, but not what I was looking for the Germany Christmas cakes and cookies. It was too early apparently, for already celebrating Christmas. There was no music either but the lights the trees and all Christmas ornaments were there. We had the famous "Glühwein" hot red wine with spices, and as they wanted to eat German specialities I told them what to eat and they choose the potato pancakes and roasted mushrooms, which we ate at tables on the street. We were dressed like Eskimos so it was not cold, the sun was shining as if payed for !

Then we were thirsty and ended up in an old bar very nicely decorated and the funniest thing was we had to sit on very old  church benches The owner a very round lady was so funny and entertained us in a broken French



Refreshed we continued our visit and after having done some shopping, special bread, special cakes, and roasted almonds, we ended up in a vintage lady cafe, where we had a strawberry cake and coffee. Then it was time to go back to our bus and in 3 hours we were back in Waterloo.

Was a real nice day !

In my painting class I saw the result of the two paintings I had done last week and again it was a big surprise how they had changed.



I finished three small once, forgot to take a picture to see the before and after and this time we were  nearly all there only two missing because of a cold.

After class we had lunch in our newly discovered Lebanese restaurant and had a wonderful lunch and as I had written about them in Facebook he thanked me by offering to all of us a special Lebanese tea and Lebanese cake Nicole who was very tired from the works she had had done in her flat, had a Glass of wine and became very funny and we laughed our heads off. The young Lebanese men were enchanted that this group of six vintage ladies were behaving worse then teenagers.

more participants at Susanne at Living to tell the Story.

AWWWW MONDAY - WEEKEND OCTOBER 5

A very creative snail, realized by a 80 year old resident of the Waterloo Retirement home



a crocodile by a 82 year old resident



and this turtle by a 81 year old lady !



Linking to AWWW MONDAYS

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WEEKEND

This weekend was very tiring as we had our Painting exhibition.  Each two years our city organizes a "parcours des artistes" (artist path) through the whole city for their artists, in private houses, in ateliers or in rented rooms. After a Vernissage in the cultural center, we started on Saturday. 

Myriam and I had prepared everything for our visitors in the morning and opened the room at 11 am. As soon as the door was open people arrived !



Myriam and I the new responsible  of our painting group. The photo was taken by the alderman of art and culture.



Nicole loves to play bar maid and did her job with enthusiasm, sometimes I had to tell her not to give to much of champagne to some very old people !



There were little snacks, Champagne, Champagne without alcohol, orange juice and Coca Cola. The new signature book got a lot of very friendly comments and a lot of compliments !



According to all our visitors our room looked very pretty.





Here I am with all my paintings, the cats, the penguin cat and the pouring (not purring)



Visitors the whole two days ! Some paintings were sold



and then we  had to take down the paintings and dismantle the panels and grids.

I must admit that when I came home I was half dead ! Fortunately Mr. G had prepared supper (by pushing on the button of the microwave) and I recovered quickly, because I really was happy that everything went so smooth. And we also had a lot of fun.

FRIDAY's FAVE FIVE

Instead of playing "Sunday" on Monday and doing nothing I had a lot of computer work ! I had continued my travel posts this time on Hamburg in Germany. It's not so easy to remember and put the photos in place ! That took me the whole morning !



From my son's weekend visit I had a whole Camembert cheese left and invented a plate. A lay of  roasted potatoes, slices of eggplants, red and yellow pepper and zucchini. The Camembert came on the top and the whole thing in the micro wave. Quickly done and Mr. G. ate like a horse !

It was my turn to receive my Scrabble friends, we were only 4 but that was nice, one was on holidays and the other occupied with her gardener, I mean with garden work of course.



Mireille who is half blind won again !! And I lost (as usual)

I had got an email from my travel agency about our "girl's" holidays end November and went over to Nicole.



Her little cat cross eyed at me with her huge blue eyes, what a cutie she is. We discussed our holidays I had thought there was something wrong, but it wasn't !

Slowly we prepare our yearly exhibition of our painting class. I am in charge of taking photos of the pictures, put them together and create a poster !



These 4 of mine, this year I have only painted a few cats, I started to paint abstract, with the help of a dishwasher brush and a sponge.



After painting class we were hungry and went together for lunch. I had fish in a special sauce was delicious.

Each time I come home there is cat Arthur showing up from nowhere



and rolls around to show me how happy he is that I am back ! What a welcome !

more participants at Susanne at Living to tell the Story.

ARTIST TOUR IN WATERLOO

Every two years the city of Waterloo organizes an "Artist tour" which allows leisure or professional artists to expose their art in different places of the city, private houses, or in halls, in exhibition centers etc. So this weekend I was busy with our exposition, which took place in our usual room.

For the beginning we had to find a nice poster, and our teacher came up with a great idea, she made a huge puzzle and gave each of us a piece where we had to paint something on. Then she collected the painted pieces and it gave this result !



The puzzle was put together each piece randomly



Then came my turn with the practical informations.

On Friday we spent the whole afternoon hanging up the paintings and for this purpose panels were installed. We had some men in our group, but over the years they are gone or not able anymore to carry heavy things. We hired a young student who did the hard work for us.

When all paintings had been on the panels and tables, Annie added her self made bouquets to give a cheerful touch.










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And so looked the room when nobody was there

Sunday the day started very well for me, first I got up too late which usually never happens,  so I missed the beginning, then looking down on my bag I noticed that I had no shoes on but my red white dotted slippers ! I asked what I should do, after everybody had laughed enough, they said I could keep them nobody would notice, but I thought Mr. G. will come anyway so he can bring me my shoes. I called him and explained which one. The result was that Mr. G. arrived with a huge bag full of shoes, pretending that he didn't know which pair I wanted to wear ! Men ....

The problem with the shoes solved, I walked visitors from panel to panel or table,



Here is Nicole showing the paintings to her daughter and granddaughter.







I tried to sell some stones transformed into cats, but due to the economical crises not one was sold !

My friend Annie who had painted the horses had sold them all ! We all agreed they are really beautiful !

When I came home at 7 pm I was exhausted !

more participants here

MY WEEKEND OF OCTOBER 25

What a busy weekend !

We finished the preparations for our exhibition and when everything was ready



a photographer from the newspaper "L'Avenir" (The future) came and took pictures.



and the article was published the next day !



Now the room was ready for the vernissage



The buffet looked very appetizing, and had a lot of success. Nothing was left !



People started to arrive. Mr. G. met our son's math's teacher, whom I hadn't seen since for more than 30 years  ! Micheline (our teacher) and I posed for a picture.

The vernissage was a full success, there were so many people and also some aldermen from the Waterloo city. At 8 pm I left, I was exhausted it had been a very long day !



Saturday and Sunday the exhibition was open from 11 am til 5pm. We were the guards, in the middle sits our administrator who will celebrate her 80th birthday on Thursday ! On the right the aldermen for culture showed up for once, all the other years he was there probably as a ghost, because we never saw him and he pretended that he had been there ! Politicians have to lie, otherwise they wouldn't be politicians ! Most of the people wrote a little note in our "golden book" appreciating our work.

There were again a lot of visitors



The people chatted and some of them hadn't seen each other in years. This masterpiece of a cat should demonstrate "anger", but everybody thought it was a Halloween cat.



Finally on Sunday the exhibition was over, I was the guard for the last time together with our teacher on my left and Christiane on my right. Ilona came with her mother who is still fit like a fish in the water despite her 90 years !

All in all it had been a very nice exhibition, but now I need some rest !