AWWWW MONDAY - WEEKEND MAY 9

 Awww a spider ......

The Princess and the pea

Yawn

It's you ???

 Linking to AWWW MONDAYS 

 

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WEEKEND 

As usual the weather got on my nerves, it was too hot in the sunshine (which disappeared all five minutes) and far to cold to sit outside. We tried both but had to go inside as it was too cold outside, with these moody clouds. 

We played a very interesting game (again) we had to find out the meaning of jobs that no longer exist, and that we have long forgotten! These jobs were a little strange to us : lamplighters, human bowling pinsetters, knocker-uppers (who woke people up), switchboard operators, ice cutter, body snapper, etc  

As the jobs were different in French, please find out by yourselves what these jobs mean ! Body  snapper I learned in the Edinburgh cemetery. In earlier times, there were no bodies available for medical students to study. So, they would sneak into the cemetery at night and dig up the recently deceased! That's why many graves were protected with thick iron bars to prevent the theft of the deceased. 

I don't know if this existed also in Belgium. I don't think so, here the graves are just surrounded with stones and sometimes there is a marble cover on it. 

Sunday was Mother's day. I got a phone call from Isabel and later from my son. I was a bit disappointed that he hadn't sent flowers, but I should  have been used to it by now, that  at some point he stopped giving me little gifts. Probably when he became a father. I don't remember. I only hope that Toby doesn't copy him and my DIL will also be disappointed.

There weren't many of us today, most had gone to a restaurant with their children or had visitors. We "orphan" mothers played bingo with two grandfathers who kept arguing because each wanted to be right.

 

 Finally, we firmly told them to shut up and concentrate on the game. We women made fun of the two quarreling men, and so the afternoon passed quickly, and we had a good time.

 B I N G O !!!

FRIDAY's FAVE FIVE

This week nothing special happened, the weather was bad, it rained and we were locked inside. Fortunately we had our activities each day and that was nice especially when it rains outside.

My lovely neighbor arrived home on Sunday evening looking rather unsteady; she had been playing bridge with old friends and had drunk too much. It's a miracle she always makes it home without an accident. She does it on each Sunday and Monday she is sick. Rachel who cleans our rooms, always shows me the consumption of Geney's bottles ! This time it was 3 bottles of red wine and 2 bottles of Champagne ! No wonder that her daughters told her that she spends too much ! Probably she has to take a smaller room. 

Meanwhile, I've found a new hobby: working with AI! I tinkered around until I figured out how to do it, and then, of course, I was very proud of the result. Here are a few examples.

My paternal grandma and my mother. What is strange that the colors are mostly exact, 

here we are a young couple, not yet married

and five years later came little Dario

Here was my first school day. In Germany the kids get such a cone filled with sweets or little gifts this special day.

This is Piccola, my very first cat when I was 21. The background and grass I (or rather AI) added.

All black and white pictures were quite damaged as they were very old. But AI corrected everything and colored it ! As a beginner I was really satisfied with the result.

But then I discovered another thing. You can "paint" a picture only with words. So I typed blue sea, and a sunset. The result was this :

 and here I typed, green grass with daisies and a sleeping black cat ! this was the result ! Amazing !!

I still have a lot to learn (probably)  but with my first results I am already happy !  It's unbelievable that you can make a photo and probably also videos only with a description of what you want. Of course now I am very busy and while some find life boring for the moment it's rather exiting for me, and a wonderful replacement of my paintings as I can't paint anymore !

more participants at Susanne at Living to tell the Story.

 

 

 

 

 

 

HODGEPODGE MAY 7

 

1. What's something you may do this month?

Definitely my new hobby! I have discovered how to completely remake very old photographs. The pictures are from the 70s, and the photo of me as a 3-year-old girl, is  from 1946, all in black and white. It took me a long time at first, but then it went quickly, and here they are.

What I don't understand that even the colors of our clothes are right !  

 

Rick and I 1968 

 

me at three 

New Year 1976

 A birthday, my son and I 

2. Hola! Hodgepodge Day lands just after Cinco de Mayo... how do you feel about Mexican food? What's your favorite dish? Do you make it at home or is it a strictly dine out option? 

I like Mexican food and we have 2 or 3 restaurants here in our little Waterloo. Besides Chili con carne, I have never cooked Mexican food. 

 

3. When the children of today grow up what do you think they'll say about this time period? What do you most hope they remember? 

Probably the same thing my parents told me about their childhood and youth, except that they experienced the Second World War, and those were truly not pleasant memories. I hope he remembers a happy childhood and a crazy, cheerful mother and a loving father who always played with him and his friends.

4. What advice would you give a new mother? 

None at all, I still remember the ones I got and that was enough for me to never give an advice unless I am asked. 

5. What's a phrase your mother often said to you? If you're a mom do you say it to your own children?

I don't remember her saying anything specific to me, and if she did, It no longer fits into today's times. 

I remember more what my grandma told me although she was born in 1894(!) she was more modern then her daughter, my mother.   

6. Insert your own random thought here. 

Nr. 5 made me think of my grandma. I spent most of my childhood with her. From 0 to 6 years. My parents visited me from time to time. And I am very thankful for that. Without her I would have been a completely other woman. I always remember when she told me to never depend on a man, because if I had enough I could leave him and not stay because of money. I see it here in my castle, the few couples we have and are forced to share one (although big room) hate each other ! There is only one couple who are still kind and friendly to each other. The two other couples would have divorced long ago, but as women didn't work they had to stay married. My grandma was one of the first women who worked, and only stopped when my aunt was born. I was married 54 years, and would have stayed longer, but unfortunately, he passed away before me.