HODGEPODGE

1. What do you love most about your country?

I really don't know. My parents simply took me along to Belgium when I was 14 because my father started working for the European Union. I didn't choose it myself. What do I like best? Most of it, probably. 

2. Your favorite patriotic song? 

I don't know patriotic songs ! I would need to compose a song that concerns Germany, Italy, and Holland and, of course, Belgium.

3. Red, white, or blue? Stars or stripes? Something you own besides a US flag with some combination of those colors or decorations as part of its design?

We never had a flag at home except the one of Ferrari, as Rick was a Ferrari fan.  

 

To create a patriotic flag I should make this one :  Italy, Germany, Belgium, Netherlands

4. What's one thing you want more of this summer: fun, rest, adventure, connection, quiet, or confidence? Elaborate.

I would love to do a lot of things this summer, travel, lie on the beach, visit friends, but unfortunately, I likely won't be able to; my illness won't allow it. So, I will probably go  to Amsterdam to visit my son and his family, and take day trips whenever the weather is nice. After all, the sea isn't far away. 

5. What was your ultimate, go-to summer activity when you were a kid? Do you still do any version of that today? If you answered yes, does participating in this activity as an adult make you feel like a kid?

When I was a child, there were no summer activities. Germany was still in ruins, and the Rhineland, where I lived, was under American occupation. Having food and something to wear were the adults' main concerns. No one thought about vacations back then. We kids played in the ruins and rubble. I certainly wouldn't do this activity now as an adult. As a child it was fun to play in ruins, we had no idea why it was like this.

Bonn

6. Insert your own random thought here. 

I think we have a very special retirement "castle" ! If you want to work here, you really have to be a jack-of-all-trades. Yesterday, I saw our cook sitting at the computer at the reception, welcoming guests. A little later, our physiotherapist was chopping up thick branches, brought down by the storm, into small logs. Amandine, our director, helped serve lunch along with the others. The head nurse made my bed. I think it’s great; at least no one gets bored, and we residents pitch in too, as much as we can.

 

WORDLESS WEDNESDAY

I learned to swim quite late—I was already thirteen. As a result, I remained a cautious swimmer who was also afraid of getting water splashed in my face. So, I always swam at a leisurely pace, like an old giraffe with its neck held high.

Nevertheless, I wanted to photograph the beautiful, small, colorful fish in the Red Sea. So, I sat under a bridge and took pictures. On the last picture I discovered feet, it must have been a snorkeler who was also  admiring the beautiful fish,  and who gave me the chance to photograph his feet amidst the fish. Unfortunately, I never saw the person those feet belonged to.

more participants here

AWWWW MONDAY - WEEKEND JUNE 28

 

Linking to AWWW MONDAYS 

 

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WEEKEND 

The heat wave continued over the weekend, and Saturday nobody went outside it was again over 30°C.

My virus seems to have disappeared and I feel good again. So I joined the others for a nice game, we got a lot of letters and had to find the corresponding words, which were written on a board but completely jumbled up! 

Fortunately, it was pleasantly cool inside our restaurant, but outside there was a sweltering heat. Even the "Castle cats" were nowhere to be seen, and the crows that usually get on our nerves had vanished, too. I was so tired from the heat that I was in bed by eight o'clock, though I ended up reading until eleven.

I woke up because something had fallen on my head. It was 2 am, I turned on the light and saw that a very strong wind had blown into my room and knocked my picture off the wall. Naturally, I closed the window. Luckily, I had kept the other window shut, as rain always blows in through that one. Then a spectacle began, the kind usually seen only during special celebrations: lightning flashes that looked like cobwebs, 18,000 at once making the sky look as if it were about to shatter. 

I could hear thunder in the distance and the roar of the storm. My room looked as if it was bathed in blue light. Finally, I had seen enough, I got back into bed, put in my earplugs, and slipped under the sheet, but not before closing the curtains ! as I didn't feel comfortable with all that lightning. Rosie was sleeping soundly and peacefully; the storm didn't bother her at all.

 

Pictures "stolen" from Belgian Newspapers  

The next day, I saw the havoc the storm had damaged ! Our new sun umbrellas, which had only been set up yesterday, had all fallen down,  only the old one, which was already broken, was still standing. Outside my window, the branches of the shrubs were gone, and I suddenly saw a dumpster filled with old furniture! It had come from the rooms currently being renovated. Chairs had tipped over, and a thick branch had fallen onto the small road. There was surely more damage, but it was getting too hot, so I didn't feel like walking to the far end of the park.

We remained in the restaurant, as it looked like another thunderstorm was coming up, but finally didn't and made a very interesting Quiz about general knowledge.  Of course everybody told how he or she had spent the night, but most of the residents hadn't heard anything ..... they had taken out their hearing aid. 

What a weekend, fortunately only one man died, a branch had fallen on his car. But there were a lot of damages and also flooding.

 

I wonder if our Waterloo Lion is scared, he has been renovated and looks a bit scary !