HODGEPODGE DEC 31

 

1. Did you make resolutions or set goals for the year we're waving goodbye? How did that work out for you? Will you set any goals for this new year, new season, or new month? Share one or two if you'd like to share. 

I have never made resolutions or set goals for nothing. I just let it go, what comes comes and what doesn't just doesn't. I am not a person who stands for he resolutions or goals, I may change, or I may not.  

2. When did you have the most fun this year? 

Ever since I live in "my castle" I have often fun, couldn't say when I had the most. There are so many funny things going on here every day ! 

3. What's a song or song lyric you'll associate with 2025? Tell us why.

I have no song which would fit on 2025, I think from 2022 I always have this song in my mind, and I guess it will continue until ??? 

 

THE SHOW MUST GO ON

4. Best (or a favorite) bite of something delicious you tasted this year?

Maybe the Christmas dinner, I am not a food fun, I eat to stay alive !

Roast turkey stuffed with chestnuts and hazelnuts, bundle of three vegetables, potato madeleine, praline log with butter.

5. What do you want to do more of in the new year? Less of? 

More ? that would be difficult ! In the mornings I am busy with my computer, and in the afternoon with our activities, there is no room left for more ! Household and cooking is done by the staff.  

6. Insert your own random thought here. 

Today is the last day of this year. On TV, they keep asking how 2025 was for me and everyone else. For me, it was a year in which I really settled in here. Now I know everyone and how everything works. Yesterday, we talked about customs in different countries and whether we knew what a "list of resolutions" was and whether we make one. Apart from me, nobody knew what it was, and I thought if I hadn't read about it in blogs, I wouldn't have known either. Nobody wanted to make one, because just as me I probably would change all the time.

Tonight we will have a nice supper and probably get some visitors. I personally want to stay in my cozy room watch TV with cat Rosie and then go to bed. I am not in a mood to celebrate as we used to do, dancing and playing funny games the whole evening, watch the firework and continue to celebrate the New Year as long as we could.

I also noticed that in this year a lot of celebrities died mostly  at a ripe old age, between 90 and 100, and they certainly hadn't had an easy life, nor had they lived healthy lives. I felt especially sorry for one of them, and that is Brigitte Bardot. She created a completely new image of women and dedicated half her life to fighting for animal welfare. She was fed up with show business and men the poor thing couldn't go nowhere, she was hunted like an animal. With her last (to us unknown) husband  she was married for over 30 years, he protected her from the hysterical crowd. 

My female friends are all slowly dying too, and what's so strange is that many of them pass away around Christmas. That's life. Hope that cat Rosie makes her 20 years for next New Year.

 

 

 

 

 

 

WORDLESS WEDNESDAY

 Chinese New Year celebration on the Grand'Place in Brussels. (don't remember which year !)

     

more participants here and Image-in-ing here

AWWWW MONDAY

My grand dog Leia exhausted at Christmas ! 

 

For all my friends in Blogland !!!

 

 

 

Linking to AWWW MONDAYS 

 

 

FRIDAY's FAVE FIVE

 

 

Christmas was very nice this year, a bit strange but I have to be flexible, now that I am alone. I celebrated twice, on the 20th with my family and then on the 24th here with the residents, and it was very, very nicely organized.

It was quite cold on Monday, and I sent out Christmas cards by email. Unfortunately, I accidentally downloaded a Firefox update, and as is often the case, instead of making things easier, there are so many new things that it took me a whole morning to find what I needed. The worst part is that I lost the email addresses of my blogging friends; they're probably hiding somewhere in a corner of the new, SIMPLIFIED Firefox. I normally never update until I'm forced to. Nobody can help me, my personal tech support guy is no longer around.  

I'm so sorry I can't send you a personal card. Maybe in the new year, or in the worst-case, next Christmas! 

Christmas was lovely nonetheless. We always celebrate on the 24th, and I did too. I preferred to celebrate alone, just with Rosie and Rick in his frame.  Our cook had made us a very good dinner. Unfortunately the french names are so complicated that it doesn't say anything in English !

The Christmas Eve dish

 

On Christmas day we didn't starve either ! The starter was trout with asparagus and fennel salad, followed by a mango cake with white chocolate for dessert. On Christmas Day, I thought Santa Clauses were multiplying like rabbits, all the staff were dressed in black and white, including Santa hats. It looked very elegant. Many residents had their families with them, and our large restaurant  was quite full.

  

 

Our 101 year old Jeannie with her family ! Three generations. The great great grandson came later for the coffee.

our nurses also had fun

 

And this was the menu : 

Terrine Bretonne aux noix de St. Jacques, Roti de Dinde (turkey) farcis aux noisettes et marrons, fagot de 3 légumes, madeleine de pommes de terre, and the Christmas cake. Out cook had done miracles, it was real good. 

Our (female) manager, with a Santa hat on her head, went from room to room to personally wish a merry Christmas and gave to each of us a nice warm scarf. She admired my room decorated for Christmas and said hello to Rosie ! 

After the lunch which lasted from noon til 4 pm, we all had coffee together. Nobody touched the cake, we had eaten enough. 

The staff and our entertainers made sure everyone was cheerful and we laughed a lot. It was truly festive but also fun.

Rosie didn't eat anything from our Christmas menu and also refused to pose for Father Christmas. 

I hope you also had such a nice Christmas and wish to all of you ...
 

more participants at Susanne at Living to tell the Story.

 

 

 

 

 

 

MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY NEW YEAR

 

 

 

and for my cat friends, Rosie is well she is 19 now, she likes being here very much and feels home, she never leaves my room, even when the door is open ! 

WORDLESS WEDNESDAY

 Calamity Jane ...... (98 years old, shooting on 5 plastic cups, got 5 cups in one shot !)

 

 

 

more participants here and Image-in-ing here

AWWW MONDAY - WEEKEND DECEMBER 22

 

 

 

 

 

 

Linking to AWWW MONDAYS 

 

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WEEKEND 

This Weekend was real nice. We celebrated Christmas a bit earlier, so the "children" could celebrate with the other parents too. They arrived quite early from Amsterdam, and I had just finished gift wrapping and hadn't even painted my face yet! Leia the dog naturally wanted to sniff Rosie, but Rosie hadn't even taken her head out of her tail, so my son took Leia next to him. They were both peaceful. Of course, Leia had to sniff everything first, but then she was well-behaved. Then we unwrapped our presents and listened to traditional Christmas carols thanks to YouTube. I had to laugh when I unwrapped my present; it was a lovely warm scarf, and at the same time, my son unwrapped his present, which was also a lovely warm scarf. We had the same idea.  

Then we went to "our" restaurant, like last year, since they have the best steaks there and the two men were in the mood for steaks. My DIL doesn't eat meat and had salmon, and  I had what they call an "Americain", which is fresh minced beef nicely seasoned with fries and salad.Then we had dessert and went home. 

My grandson has grown again and is now a bit taller than his 2-meter-long father! He has to duck his head when he goes through a door !! His appetite is corresponding to his height. Before going to the restaurant, he ate my lunch here at the castle, then half a cow at the restaurant, and since there was our Christmas market going on, he also ate, I think, five crepes !

in the restaurant

 

and in our restaurant where the Christmas market has taken place. I was so busy that I forgot to take pictures of the stalls. 

 

We ended the week "peacefully" with shooting on plastic cups ! That was real fun. The killer lady above is 98 years old and took her job very seriously. After having learned how to pull the trigger, she managed to shoot 3 cups ! She was so proud, that she jumped as high as she could and we applauded !   

FRIDAY's FAVE FIVE

We started the week with a concert by the Waterloo Choir. They sang very beautiful Christmas carols in French, English, and Russian. It almost put me in the Christmas spirit. In any case, it gave me the courage to do some Christmas shopping. I did that the next day. I was missing a few garlands and a bit of decoration; I couldn't do more that day. My breathlessness slowed me down, and I went back home, it was just coffee time so I spent the rest of the afternoon with my friends.

I finally finished decorating my room and was pleased with the result. Now I was finally done with the preparations. I don't know if it's my illness or my age, but I feel like a snail trying to compete in Formula 1. 

 

A bit of my decoration, Rosie for once sat still !

I still had no Christmas gifts, fortunately I knew what I wanted to buy so I didn't have to run around. Jeanine came with me, she likes to go out a bit and I like her company. She is 10 years older than me, but she's young at heart. She wanted to buy some slippers but couldn't find her size. I found everything I needed. I didn't need to buy anything for Toby, he prefers an envelope (with something inside of course).

When we came home our group was sitting at the tables and drank a glass of Champagne ! One of the nurses wore a Christmas Pajama ! It was a fun afternoon, the homemade cookies were a little hard, but they tasted good!

 See you after Christmas!

 

 

more participants at Susanne at Living to tell the Story.

 

 

 

 

 

 

HODGEPODGE DECEMBER 18

1. What's one thing on your to-do list that you want to get done, need to get done, or that must get done before the year ends? 

Youpee ! Nothing, my list is as empty as my wallet ! 

2.  December 17th is National Maple Syrup Day...are you a fan? Do you like maple flavor in other food items such as candy, cookies, donuts, oatmeal, hot toddies, coffee? 

I love Maple Syrup ! 

                                                                         Grand Canyon

I first ate it in 1971 at my aunt's house in America! We were visiting her in Madison/Wisconsin, and from there we started trip across the USA. From that day on, I ate a stack of pancakes with maple syrup every morning! Unfortunately, it wasn't available in Brussels at that time. Now of course it is ! 

3. Time magazine names a person of the year every year.  The tradition started back in 1927 with a 'man of the year' but has since changed to recognize not only an individual, but also to consider the impact of a group, movement, or idea that most influenced the year. The selection is not always someone or something good (think Hitler in 1938 and Stalin twice).  

This year they've named The AI Architects as their 'person of the year'. What say you? Is this a good choice, an obvious choice, a logical choice? Who do you think should have been named person of the year? 

I was never interested in "the man of the year" I had one at home. I would prefer a George Clooney and not two mass murderers or a Donald Trump, if ever he should become the man of the year !  

I'm also not very familiar with AI Architects (yet), or AI in general. I did see a woman talk into her phone so that AI could create a Christmas card and write a message for it. The result wasn't bad. I also saw an interior designer furnish a child's room with AI, and that was good too. AI is certainly useful for people who lack imagination when it comes to interior design or writing love letters. Personally, I don't really need it yet. Maybe just to figure out how to teach my cat Rosie to play during the day and not at night!

That's my AI, I make my cards myself with the help of photo fun or others 

4. What's a city, state, or country you've visited that you never care to visit again? Tell us why. 

Acropolis  

Greece !! Not the islands, but the mainland. We did a tour around Greece and, of course, visited all the important sites of Greek mythology. The Acropolis was once again crumbling, and you couldn't walk far. Athens was dirty, the people unfriendly, and the Greek food was awful. Most of the historical sites were in ruins and were somehow propped up to keep them from collapsing. I have only bad memories of this trip, and this was supposed to be a 4-star experience; I wonder what a 2-star one would be like.

5. Next Sunday (December 21st) marks the first day of winter (or the opposite if you're living down under). What's one thing you love about this new season? 

I don't know anymore what the word "season" means. It is cold in summer and now as we are approaching winter we have warm temperatures. Winter and summer clothes remain together, it's not necessary to separate them. Today I wear a T-shirt and a jacket !  A part from that I enjoy a blue sky and sunshine !

6. Insert your own random thought here. 

I was busy with decorating my room, as my son and family arrive on the 20th and we will celebrate Christmas together. Now I can think of what I want, everything is ready, the most important things was to wrap the little gifts and to find them. Now I rest my brain !