FRIDAY's FAVE FIVE

Today marks four years since there is no longer a 'we' but only ' I '. Time flies so fast, I can hardly believe it, but unfortunately it's true.

1941 - 2022 

"When a husband dies, it's no longer us. It's just me. Not even death can steal the love I feel for you."

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This week it was very hot, over 30°C, which we're not used to at all. It was also Pentecost, a long weekend. Half of Belgium went to the seaside, and despite the train strike, they ran 30 extra trains so everyone could get there. Naturally, the motorway was completely jammed.

We sat comfortably in our lovely park under a huge tree that must be over 200 years old, chatted and had drinks. We were not many outside, a lot stayed inside the cool Restaurant with air condition. 

 

The next day was exactly the same, but in the morning I went to Amandine (our manager) to tell her that chairs were broken and we didn't have enough, same with a table and  that we badly needed bins in the park. The visitors and children are sometimes not very well educated. 

 

To our surprise there was no activity at all the whole week except today. This game was funny ! I was given five plastic balls and had to throw them into an umbrella, one after the other. Inside the umbrella, points were written on a slip of paper, and depending on where the ball landed, you got 10 to 50 points. You couldn't really aim because you couldn't see the points. So I just threw my balls aimlessly into the umbrella, and the first time, four landed in the 50-point range! The other times, I got zero! Anyway, I came in second!

This is the last survivor ! I wonder how long it will last. 

We all had for the first time a meeting with our new manager ! I felt really sorry for her. Instead of admitting that she didn't really know yet how things worked here, she acted like she understood everything, but I didn't believe her. I had the feeling she was swimming in unknown waters, but she will learn.

We have a new couple. Honestly, they are getting on my nerves. He is constantly making jokes that no one understands except him, and then he laughs loudly and heartily! His wife looks like a 14-year-old little girl and must have been very pretty once. She's always smiling or laughing, and as soon as she sees a man, she runs up to him, hugs him, and tries to kiss him. As soon as our men see a man, who's quite tall, they know the little girl is clinging to his arm, and they "run" away or try to hide behind a table. She does the same thing with women. I only just managed to dodge her at the last minute,  otherwise, she would have "attacked" me too. But I jumped aside (it's still possible), and her husband caught her again. I don't know what they're suffering from, but neither of them is normal.

The rest of the time I worked on my pictures to make old once new and they really look now as if I had taken the picture yesterday. 

  

We are the couple of the right side together with my American uncle in 1971

and this is in the Yellowstone Park

more participants at Susanne at Living to tell the Story.

 

 

 

 

 

 

HODGEPODGE MAY 28

 1. Do you like your name? Are you named after someone (grandparent, etc)? If you have children how did you choose their names? 

When I went to school in Germany I didn't like my name, because there were so many Ingrid s I think we were 6 in our class. This was probably due to the fact that Mr. Hitler loved everything which came from Northern countries like Ingrid Bergman.

But when I moved with my parents to Belgium Ingrid was a very rare name. I often had to repeat it or even spell it out. That's when I started to like my first name. With our son, it was a bit complicated. I wanted a name that couldn't be translated into another language. Besides, it had to be short because the last name was so long. Finally, we settled on "Dario," which can't be translated. We added the names of his two grandfathers, Paul and Gorgio. Rick initially wanted to name him Gorgio after his father, but in French, that's George, and it sounds awful! He finally agreed to that, he didn't like George either. .

2.  A piece of red velvet cake, a scoop of vanilla ice cream or a slice of blueberry pie? You can only have one...which will you choose? If you could pick any red, white, or blue dessert other than those listed here, what would you choose? 

If it's hot I would choose an ice cream, but otherwise I prefer blueberry pie ! I would choose Strawberry cake. But on both I would add whipped cream !! 

3.  What's a job you'd like to try for just one day? 

Working in a zoo 

4. Any patriotic decor in your home currently or coming up this summer? 

Patriotic ? We are 4 nationalities in our family ! Italian, German, German/Italian, Dutch, Dutch/German. Therefore the answer is No 

5. It's the end of May, so let's exercise our brains. Sum up your month with an acrostic using the word MAY. We can do it!! 

Many flowers start to bloom

After a lot of rain

You finally can enjoy spring   

6. Insert your own random thought here. 

Besides the hot weather, the moody Trump, the dangerous Putin I only hear about AI in the News. As there is no age to be curious I started to put my nose into AI. first with pictures, my wedding in new, my 2 m long son as a little Baby etc. Then I wanted to try if it is really possible that AI is able to write my last will, which I don't need, but it did !  

Very good indeed. How wonderful that AI can write such impeccable letters for authorities administration etc. 

But for personal things, like writing a book or my blog I would prefer to use OI for that, because I doubt AI can be romantic. You are probably wondering what OI is. I have discovered that besides AI (English), there is IA (French and Italian) and also KI (German), and they explain and answer in those languages.

That's really great, of course; you don't need a psychiatrist or psychologist anymore, just ask AI, IA, or KI. Personally, for private things, such as my blog or letters, I use OI, which stands for OWN INTELLIGENCE. I don't need Psy or Psy yet ! 

 

WORDLESS WEDNESDAY

My car was really dirty, so I drove through the car wash. While I was sitting in my car, I thought I could take some "modern art" photos, because what I saw was very abstract. I took the following pictures and found them rather"special."

more participants here

AWWWW MONDAY - WEEKEND MAY 23

 Dogs from my friends !

Linking to AWWW MONDAYS 

 

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 WEEKEND 

 

 

 

 

we are melting, since 3 days we have 31-32 °C and it will continue the next week too ! We poor souls are not used to such a heat and are not equipped for that. Fortunately in the restaurant which has the size of a ball room there is air conditioning Probably also on the 4th floor, which had just been renovated and where the severe cases are accommodated.

There is nothing to add, except that we played Bingo on Sunday on Saturday we were all hanging around. We got ice cream and water, because some of the very old forget to drink ! 

That was my hot weekend which I really enjoyed ! 

It's hot ! my ceramic pillow keeps my head cool !

FRIDAY's FAVE FIVE

To describe this week it was grey and cold fortunately we have always fun with our activities. 

Luckily, I'm very busy with my photos, either converting black and white ones to color, changing hairstyles, or altering backgrounds with AI. And I still have a lot to do! Here are a few examples

here we are a young couple

civil marriage

marriage in 1969

 

 

4 years later little son 

 

a happy Dad

 

14 year old Teenager  

45 years later with the help of AI I finally could cut him the long hairs !

The last day of the week it was the best at least for me. We were supposed to make flower arrangements.From the whole group of 20, there were only three of us: me, Therese, and Philip. The others watched and gave advice we didn't need. 

 

Therese 

 

Amandine and Philip 

Amandine, our director, also came, took pictures, and admired our creations. Kim, our entertainer's mother, had brought the flowers and all the other materials. She's a gardener. The staff also came, and, just for me they played Italian songs by Ramazotti, Zucchero, and others, and they danced ! I really felt like I was on vacation.

one of my flower arrangements

 

Kim's mother

 

 

And our nurses, who were finally able to relax and made us laugh and dance.Yes, after the truly awful April and May, we finally have sunshine again!

 

 

more participants at Susanne at Living to tell the Story.

 

 

 

 

 

 

HODGEPODGE MAY 21

 1. What do you make more complicated than it needs to be?

Nothing at all, I always try to take the easiest option, which usually works. I'm not for complications.

2. What impresses you? 

That's a difficult question, I have to think it over, I am not easily impressed. 

3. On a scale of 1-10 how picky of an eater are you?  (1=extremely and 10=not at all) If you had to eat a meal made entirely of one color what color would you choose? 

If I were a picky eater, I wouldn't try everything I don't know, except roasted worms or insects. Otherwise, I'm more of a curious eater, i think I earn a 10. As I love the color red I would try to find something red. 

 starter tomatoes and Mozarella

4. What does balance in life mean to you? Does your life currently feel 'balanced'? 

As I had to start a new life because of the death of my man, I am not yet feeling balanced ! 

5. If you could travel the world for a year what would be your first destination? 

The closest airport and then to Finland to see the Northern Lights, which I haven't seen yet.

 

 As I have already traveled a lot I think from there I will see.  

6. Insert your own random thought here. 

For the moment I have nothing else in my head then to improve old pictures from the 60 + and color them,  

and then I found photos from our first trip to the USA which was in 1971 and I guess these were the Rocky Mountains. 

I dared to try out the famous AI, without knowing anything and just typed "change the background to the Rocky Mountains". And this was the result :

 

So I am a little proud ! My son was surprised that his 83 old mother went into his footsteps. Of course he is professional and thousand times better.  

 

And here I only downloaded a photo and wrote what I wanted to change ! It's really amazing what you can do and il looks so real !