12 Mar 2019

CARNIVAL IN THE NEIGHBOR TOWN

When the famous Carnivals in Rio and Cologne have finished their celebrations Nivelles starts its Carnival which was now this weekend on March 10.

As normally I always watch the Carnival parade in Nivelles, neighbor town from Waterloo, this year I couldn't go. Most of the parades in Belgium were cancelled due to a strong storm and it was too dangerous to have people dancing on the wagons. Only walking on the street was allowed.  As I couln't take any pictures this year I just use some old once because most of the costumes never change, just to give you an idea.



Nivelles' station where the Carnival floats gathered and started their parade.







very colorful !



the witches (males and females) attack the spectators with their broom,



Some Arabs tried to fix their "Palm tree"











Pirates













Maybe this was a Carnival princess



people in costumes



Carnival kids



and the famous "Gilles" with their enormous ostrich feather hats coming from the most famous carnival city Binche



Their baskets are filled with oranges



which they throw in the crowd and people try to catch them.



and the sidewalks show that the Carnival procession had passed by ! It's not snow, but confetti.

more participants here


Photo Themes here

11 Mar 2019

AWWW MONDAYS - WEEKEND MARCH 9



Want to catch a fish !!

Linking to AWWW MONDAYS



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On Saturday morning despite my earplugs I was woken up by a terrible noise ! Looking out of the window I stated that my neighbour had cut two enormous firs, and when the trunk was cut into pieces it was even worse !



It's not so romantic anymore as when trees were cut with an ax and workers screaming "Timber"

My memory apparently is not anymore what it was because I already had ordered a scratching board on Internet and had completely forgotten, so when I got an sms to pick up the parcel otherwise it would be returned to the sender I was rather surprised. Now we have two !



With the scratch thing a little bag with cat mint was included, which I spread over the board. I didn't know that on some cats it has an effect like a drug ! My Arthur started to howl and meow in an awful loud way and ran around like crazy and jumped on every furniture. Mr. G. was very worried he didn't understand what happened to his darling cat, me neither but suddenly I understood why he behaved like this. He was simply drugged ! After 10 minutes he was normal again !

On Sunday we had a terrible storm and rain, but I thought I could drive to my friend in the next town without any troubles, but the wind was so strong that I thought I would drive a truck.

Suddenly a fir fell on the street and on a car which was parket on the side, I just had space to pass and had nothing.



But a little further another tree lay on the street, but not so big as the fir. I continued to drive slowly because a lot of little twigs lay on the street.



I drove by a house which should be demolished and the wind had helped a bit !

My intention was to take pictures of the carnival procession. It was impossible to stop and the poor people stood there bravely in their costumes in the rain and wind.



From the procession I didn't see anything, I wonder if a part of  it hadn't been cancelled especially those dancing on a wagon. Too dangerous. It's really a pity for the people because it is a tradition celebrated each year !



Finally I arrived safe and sound at my friend's home and was greeted by dog Sheena. We chatted the whole afternoon then I returned home in such a rain that I could hardly see something plus the wind, the fir which had laid on the street was gone, but the police was still there.

I was glad when I arrived home and could watch wind and rain through a window !


Photo Themes here