WORDLESS WEDNESDAY - ORCHIDS

There was an exposition of orchids in a watermill which is still working ! I had never seen so many different orchids, each one more beautiful than the last!

 

 

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AWWWW MONDAY - WEEKEND SEPT 27

happy dog

 

 

WEEKEND

On Saturday it was cold again, it's really to get crazy, in months where it should be still warm it is cold and the other way around. I didn't need anything and as it was also windy which is not good for my lungs, I stayed home and just did a very short walk through our park. the leaves are still green only a few once start to get yellow 

Those who made a walk picked up the typical fall signs and decorated our restaurant. 

while the others played a game which several of us didn't like, we chatted together and Mr. I know everything wanted to explain the chemical composition of I don't remember what, but this time nobody wanted to listen so he left us and was angry, while we had a nice time without chemical formulas On Sunday the sun was shining and it also was quite warm but not enough to sit outside. I did my little walk and then quickly got inside to warm me up.

This time we played cards. And that was really nice because we all were on the same level concerning our brains and not (yet) affected with dementia.  

Something has changed because there only were 3 brain damaged persons, but they slept. I think the renovation on the 4th floor where the more serious cases, like Alzheimer's or other diseases are, remain in the closed ward upstairs. It might not be nice to say we're happy about that.

and here we played cards maybe you know the game  UNO, it's not difficult but funny. The afternoon went by quickly and then it was time for supper.

 

 

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Linking to AWWW MONDAYS

FRIDAY's FAVE FIVE

It's still cool for end September, some have taken their winter coats out for a walk in the park. 

I preferred to stay inside and looked for photos from the past, not to say "old". I had an appointment with my friend Laure, we wanted to watch the last film of Downtown Abbey. We both had followed the story from the beginning and we were  both keen to see the end. 

The film was great and let me forget what had happened before. We found that the film explained very well why the UK is so different from the other European countries. Laure's son is married with a Canadian girl and they had chosen to buy a house in the outskirts of London, and my son had lived over 10 years there. Therefore we knew quite good the way of life in the UK. 

Unfortunately when we entered the cinema hall, it was very dark inside and you hardly could see the steps. As I sometimes have balance problems, I promptly tripped and fell, first on my knees, then one leg ended in the gap between the stairs end the wall  and the rest of me  "spread" across  a stair. The men standing behind us immediately tried to pick me up, which three of them managed to do. I felt like an elephant. When I was on my feet, everyone asked me if I was hurt, but I had nothing, and nothing hurt.  We sat down and enjoyed the film.

Then I drove home, of course nobody was in the castle's corridors not even a ghost and I got to my room, was tired and went to bed. 

During the night my arm started to hurt and I saw a big blue spot. I put a special creme on it and fell asleep again.  But in the morning when I got up and wanted to do my Yoga exercises, I suddenly felt like I'd been put through a mangle and my head felt like I'd been hit with a hammer, probably the shock from the fall.

 my nurse

So I lay on my sofa all day, and watched TV, only interrupted when someone asked how I was feeling. Luckily, I didn't need a doctor, and when I didn't move, I felt perfectly normal. This feeling lasted for three days, getting a little better each day. From the second day onwards I went to the others and watched them having fun, and of course I also had coffee and cake with them.

 

Trying out bow and arrow ! For a over 80 young lady she managed well and the arrow landed in the middle !

I had promised to Jeanine to go shopping with her and on Tuesday I felt normal again so we went. It was all little things I needed like napkins for guests, shampoo etc. and she also but found a very nice pyjama. We wanted to drink something somewhere, but were a little tired so we returned to the castle and arrived just at time for the coffee.

Our Italian Mamma Rina, had to move upstairs, her dementia became worse and she suddenly lived in the past, at 4 pm she wanted to leave to prepare supper for her 4 boys and asked everybody if they could drive her home. Now she comes from time to time to say hello, mostly after lunch, then her brain works well. I really miss her.  For me she was like a piece of Italy, the typical Italian mamma.

I finally saw the new manager  who will be here until a pearl is found. She's a head shorter than me and reminded me of those little yapping dogs. She's not strong enough to steer such a "ship." And it shows: the cook is sick again, the food is too salty, and this week I got a tray like this.

I get more and more complaints and my list becomes long and longer. Fortunately I don't mind and defend my residents and sometimes also the staff. Probably therefore I personally can't complain, this tray must have been for somebody else !
 

 

 

 

more participants at Susanne at Living to tell the Story.

 

 

 

 

 

 

HODGEPODGE SEPTEMBER 25

 1. Fall officially rolls into the Northern Hemisphere on Monday (9/22)...what's your favorite thing about fall ? 

Nothing, I hate fall, makes me depressive 

2. What's one thing on your real or proverbial autumn bucket list? 

Hanging around without energy it's cold, grey, dark. There is no autumn bucket list, I never make bucket lists. 

3. Apples, pumpkins, sweet potatoes, butternut squash and cranberries are some of the top fall foods. Which one is your favorite and how do you like it prepared? Any on the list you don't eat? Which one have you had most recently? 

Besides apples which I eat the whole year, there is nothing I like about fall foods. 

4. 'Fall is proof that change is beautiful' is a popular sentiment. Would you agree or no? Elaborate. 

  Our park in spring

I prefer to say that spring is proof that change is beautiful. Fall for me can be erased in the seasons. 

5. Is there a spot near you where people go to see the leaves change color? Will you try to leaf peep somewhere this fall? Lonely Planet lists the following ten places as the best for leaf peeping...of those listed which would you most like to visit?  

I can see the striptease of all trees from my window ! There are mountains of dead brown leaves and a special tractor has to come to collect them ! This alone is depressive ! It takes the last traces from the summer away. 

our park in fall

Stowe, Vermont~Shenandoah National Park, Virginia~Columbia River Gorge, Oregon~Zion National Park, Utah~Tennessee/North Carolina border~West Virgina~Northwestern Wyoming~Wisconsin Northwoods~Northern Nevada~Ozark Highlands Scenic Byway, Arkansas

 I have visited a few of these parks but fortunately in summer ! 

6. Insert your own random thought here. 

 

                      fall                                             spring

My random thoughts ........... (for the moment !)

 

 

 

WORDLESS WEDNESDAY

 

 

  : Medieval Festival in Tubize (Belgium) That's healthy food !

 

 

 

 more participants here, and Image-in-ing 

 

 

AWWWW MONDAY - WEEKEND SEP 20

 

 

I visited a cat exposition ! Very cute cats, but also expensive   

                   and the winner is ....... (priceless)
 

 

Linking to AWWW MONDAYS 

 

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WEEKEND 

Saturday and Sunday it was again cold and windy and I spent the whole morning ordering two tickets for the Cirque du Soleil Allegria It was as difficult as trying to break into the Russian embassy, with all the security codes.  But I finally managed it, and I'm really looking forward to it. Isabel, my bodyguard, is coming with me.

In the afternoon we played a real nice game ! Our heads smoked because we had to think so much. We had to find the inventors of the bicycle, the windmill, the water toilet, etc. Not so easy, but I found a few. Of course with the windmill everybody thought it was the Netherlands, but no, the first verifiable claim for a practically used bicycle belongs to German Baron Karl von Drais Sauerbronn, a civil servant to the Grand Duke of Baden in Germany. Drais invented his Laufmaschine (German) for "running machine") in 1817, that was called Draisine

Looks  quite funny !

Poor Mr. "I know everything", was unhappy because the only thing he "knew" was wrong ! The inventor of the car. 

On Sunday as usual, we got four croissants with butter and jam; otherwise, we get bread. After breakfast, I tidied my room and then went to Pauline's. We chatted a bit, and then it was time for dinner. I always eat in my room because the chatter is too loud for me when I eat in the restaurant, most people are hard of hearing. 

It was fun in the afternoon; one after the other, had a piece of paper stuck to their forehead with a word on it, like "giraffe," which I had on my forehead. Now I had to ask questions and figure out what the paper said. It took a while until I finally guessed the giraffe! And with that, the week was over.

 

 
 

FRIDAY's FAVE FIVE

Sometimes I think I just should copy and paste week after week. Because there is a certain routine in my days, at least in the mornings because, I am not at all a morning girl since my retirement. 

Usually I get up around 9 am and my breakfast stands on the table, sometimes I have to heat up the coffee a little, because they fill in the thermos very early and is served early too. A lot of residents still think they have to work and get up at 6 am or even earlier and get nervous because they have to wait until 8 ! 

We started the week with playing golf and as it rained (again)

The nurses making a cigarette pause 
 

 Therefore we played inside with a great creativity !

It looks easy but was quite difficult ! Mother of two golfers I made 0 holes ! 

The next day of course it was again sunny and unfortunately I didn't have any fruits in my fridge. I had to go shopping. At the same time I also went to the pharmacy and then got stuck in the traffic. I don't know what happens in the moment but the whole city is congested !

I just returned in time for coffee time. I hadn't missed an interesting game Darts ! I am a real zero in that game I am always out of the target and become dangerous for the other players. A few went to mass which is held each Thursday, but for the moment they have no priests, there are less and less and a woman (oh shame) replaced him. But she was only allowed to read some prayers. Belgium is a catholic land through and through. 

Sometimes real life calls me back and I have to leave my cozy castle

and had to go to the bank. I wanted to change an account to get a bit more interests. My bank is the only one here where real people are talking to you and speak to you directly and you don't have to go through a menu with 9 push ! We had a coffee together and when I got out I was a bit smarter.

We also had the visit from Darvin the "nurse" dog who took care of the most damaged people, the others got a friendly tail wave and at the end he collected a treat from everybody. It was so cute to see these often so motionless people trying to smile and suddenly move ! 
 

I had to buy food for Princess Rosie and Jeanine wanted to come with me I told her to wait at the delivery entrance, I would be there in 10 min. Of course she was not there, so I returned to the main entrance, nobody there. I drove back to the delivery entrance and went on to see the terrace. The whole staff sat in the park for the lunch pause and they laughed to see me driving back and forth and told me later that Jeanine did the same, so we were following each other but didn't meet. Finally I had enough and did my shopping for Rosie alone.

 

 

When I came back everybody was laughing, because they had seen both of us running one behind the other, for them it was a nice spectacle !

 

 

 

 

 

more participants at Susanne at Living to tell the Story.

 

 

 

 

 

 

HODGEPODGE SEPTEMBER 18

 1.  Are you more life of the party or more party pooper? If your answer is somewhere in the middle which side of the middle do you lean towards more? 

I was called a real party girl, even after my marriage, because then we were both a party couple, we loved to dance and loved life, there was no middle !

Above was a New Year party and below a ball

Now I am a widow and not a party girl anymore, but I am not a  party pooper either !

Birthday party, beach party, cocktail party, dinner party, charity fundraiser, surprise party, costume party, garden party, Christmas party, reunion...what's your favorite kind of party? 

All, we took each opportunity ! We also loved costume parties ! That was fun. When Rick met my (very stiff) parents, he had a wig with long blond hairs and a T-shirt with red stripes, he was a pirate ! Not to forget the eyepatch. My mother made a face as if she had swallowed a glass of vinegar, and said with an ice cold voice : "I hope to see you when you are normal".  

2. Cheese, wine, and balsamic vinegar all improve with age. What would you personally add to the list? 

Not really add but rather continue .... Champagne ! 

3. How do you feel about your birthday? How do you want to be celebrated? Or don't you? 

I never had a problem with my birthdays, the date was in my passport and that was it. We always celebrated and had fun. But that ended when I turned 80 and had lost my hubby just 2 month before. 80 what a number, I suddenly felt very very old. I even didn't want to celebrate my birthday. Now it's getting better I have accepted that I am 82 now, what is important is that my head is still working ! And thanks to years of Yoga, my body too. I (only) have this chronic lung disease. 

4. What remarkable feat, interesting piece of trivia, or historical event occurred on your birth day and month? Not necessarily your same birth year, just the same date/month.  

On July 8, 1918, Ernest Hemingway, an 18-year-old ambulance driver for the American Red Cross, is struck by a mortar shell while serving on the Italian front, along the Piave delta, in Worldwar I

5. Share two good things about your life right now.

First I don't have to worry about nothing anymore, paying only one bill per month, no cleaning, no washing no cooking. Second, I live my life as I want, I go to the theater and to the cinema and friends, I still drive my car and I can come and go as I want.

6. Insert your own random thought here. 

Sometimes I think that I started my adult life the same way, as I am now on the way to end it.

With 22 I had my own  apartment, which was only slightly larger than my room now. The only thing missing is the kitchen, and I really don't miss it. 

My  mother and me in my apartment, just before I was going out.

It was very rare for such a young girl to have her own apartment, but I worked as a translator, especially in German and English, because these languages ​​were rare at that time, in 1964

In Belgium, only French and Flemish (Dutch) were spoken. I earned good money and was even able to buy a (used) car. That was my freedom !

Piccola with me 

I lived there with my cat, Piccola, who choose my (boy) friends. The winner was Rick. ::::

 My room today

63 years later, I'm sitting alone again in a similar apartment, which is just a large room without a kitchen. In between lies a wonderful life with a very loving husband and the birth of a son. These thoughts came to me last night as I lay in bed, and I thought, actually, I'm lying here in almost the same bed with similar furniture, just a "little" older.