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. 

AWWWW MONDAY - WEEKEND MAY 2

 

Linking to AWWW MONDAYS 

 

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WEEKEND 

Saturday was the last sunny day as Sunday morning I woke up with a grey sky and it had rained. 

We had gathered on the terrace on Saturday and played a game which was really funny, It was called "the exact price" ! Most of the residents had no idea about today's prices, so it got really funny. A car, for example, a VW Golf, cost as much as a Ferrari or a tiny Fiat. We were supposed to guess the average price. Washing machines, refrigerators, TVs, etc., which used to be very expensive in the past, sometimes cost less than half the price today. The women were able to guess these fairly accurately, but it was a disaster for the men. We couldn't guess gas prices because they change every day. It's a real lottery.

I discovered a new hobby and worked on it all morning until I finally figured out how the program worked. And then I was proud of my result!

From a very old album I choose my grandma and me when I was 3 years old ! 

and this is me 80 years ago !

Until 3 pm I worked on these programs to learn what I could do with old pictures. This was the easiest way. You can also change the background or add another person. Time flew by and I had to join the others for an interesting game. From A until Z we had to find a country, a town or village, and a famous person. To find a town starting with Z was quite difficult, finally we had to look it up, none existed. We played in French of course.

 

After our coffee it started to rain, first a bit, but then buckets of water. And just at this time my friend Isabel came to say hello, and when she arrived home she called me that she was wet from head to toe, she had nothing with her to protect her from the rain.