FRIDAYS FAVE FIVE

I started the week with a face cleaning. It's years I haven't done that and now I think I have to take a bit more care of myself, to do it for me as I have always done,  and not for others. Rick was always proud of me when I looked good and the people around him made him compliments about his "pretty" wife. And it's also better for me when I look in the mirror to see a human face and not a witch. And if Rick sees me from wherever he is, he will be also proud. 

I came out of there with a red face but quite relaxed. 

We had a wonderful weather when I went on an excursion to Lille/France to visit the museum Marcel Marlier, who had created the children book MARTINE especially for little girls.

 

 

 In this old farm the museum was located

 

 

Of course you could see many original drawings of Martine, merchandising articles, and personal belongings of the artist. For me it was very interesting because he had invented a new technique of drawings involving photographs. Lots of my travel companions exchanged childhood memories of themselves or their children, being all brought up with "Martine".

 

 

After that we drove further direction Lille and had lunch on a peniche with the name "Archimède". It was fixed to the ground of the little river, and had been transformed to a very nice Restaurant. There was "Carbonade" similar to Goulash with salad and fried, red and white wine, and then coffee with little cakes, which were delicious. 

Then we drove for half an hour to the next destination  which was outside Lille.

and visited the museum "Terroir à Villeneuve d'Ascq" which the family had taken over and transformed into a museum, to show children and young adults how people lived in the beginning of 1900.

this was their bedroom with "bathroom" and craddle

and the kitchen/living room ! Imagine to have to cook on this oven with these very heavy pots ! I remembered most of these things from my childhood when I lived with my grandparents on the country side. 

My hair needed badly a cut and Adeline's too. So I took her with me and now we both have new heads and another week went by.

And for once Rosie agreed to do a selfie !

After the hairdresser we wanted to visit Nicole who had to move into a retirement home, the same where we had our painting classes.

She was just for one day in her room, when she got all symptoms of a cold. Of course they did a Covid test and despite her 4 vaccines, she has got the virus ! Now she is in isolation since nearly a week and the worst is we are not allowed to visit her and she is very depressed. For the first time she told me that she was going to die ! I tried to cheer her up and told her to think about all the travels we had made together, what fun we had with her dog, and that she is not allowed to leave me here alone now, that all the other "friends" have disappeared and I still struggle with Rick's death.

more participants at Susanne at Living to tell the Story.

 

 

 

 

 

 

HODGEPODGE OCTOBER 20

 1. What's something you wish you'd figured out sooner?

Possibilities to pay with your smartphone instead with a bank card ! I spent one week holidays at the English South-East coast with 50 £ cash in my purse, because I had forgotten my cards !! Fortunately Hotel and breakfast was payed ! It taught me a lesson, even with such a small amount I spent wonderful holidays !! and I learned to calculate again !

 2. Something from childhood you still enjoy today? 

To watch cows ! 

 3. Are you a fidgeter? What's the first thing that comes to mind when you hear the word fidget? 

My son ! Baby, toddler, teenager, man, he never kept quiet. It's getting better with the age but he used to always have other things in mind.

4. Your favorite fall vegetable? How do you like it prepared? 

I don't have a special fall vegetable. I like all vegetables and eat a lot the whole year long. Maybe Brussels sprouts, that I wouldn't eat in summer !

5. What's something you find mildly annoying, but not annoying enough to actually do anything about? Might you now? 

Household scores and not only mildly !

6. Insert your own random thought here. 

Yesterday I visited an old farm from 1900 and something and think the ones  who talk about the good old times and that everything was better, I shook my head when I saw this 

 

 

It took at least one day to wash the clothes ! Today you push on the button of your washing machine and then go back to the book you are reading or to the TV and continue to watch the movie you started !

Or to cook for a whole family on this oven with these cooking pots ! You have to get up at 6 and start your tomato sauce !

 

and when the day is finished clean yourself and put the p...pot under the bed, just in case !

and once a week you could take a bath ! But first  heat the water, carry it to the bath tube and put it in ! 

I thought how lucky am I not to have lived at this time, but my grandparents did !

It was a nice excursion into the past, it was very well organized and we saw this farm in Lille/France.