WORDLESS WEDNESDAY

Sometimes in August there is a scarecrow exhibition on the Grand'Place in Brussels. It's interesting to see the creativity of the people.

 

 This is the Grand'Place in Brussels (Belgium)

 

more participants here 

 

 

 

 

AWWW MONDAY - WEEKEND SEPTEMBER 26

 

This is Spirou, a little Bichon, which my friend Isabel met in our shelter. He had been confiscated by the police along with other dogs because he belonged to Romanians who used them for begging. 

The little guy had never lived in a home before; instead, he had been kept in a cage. Isabel’s task was to get him accustomed to a normal dog's life. Naturally, she hadn't intended to keep him. But Spirou won her heart, and as soon as he was cleared for adoption, she adopted him herself ! He is so friendly, doesn't bark, is fine being left alone, and was in good health, apparently, he had been well-fed. The vet estimated his age to be two years at most. I also fell in love with Spirou, and bought him a stuffed animal. He has adopted it as his own little doll and carries it around everywhere with him. How lucky for Spirou that he was adopted by Isabel. The residents of our castle all fell in love with him too !

Linking to AWWW MONDAYS 

 

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WEEKEND 

 

 

 

 

We could sit outside, exchanged the last news and played Bingo. Unfortunately later, one resident who lives on the same floor as me, knocked at my door and came in. 

 

She was weeping and looked terrible. She stammered something and was hard to understand, but eventually I understood that she wanted me to go with her because she believed her husband had died.

 

Naturally, I went with her though perhaps it wasn't all that natural, but having seen several dead people  since Rick passed away, it didn't bother me anymore. I have changed. I looked at the man and initially thought he had passed away; his face already wore the mask of death, and his mouth was wide open.

 

 I stepped closer and saw that he was still breathing. Then I called a nurse, who took care of Ivette. 

We sat outside in the afternoon, and I went to bed early that evening because I wasn't feeling well. The next morning, I was informed that Ivette’s husband had died around 5 a.m. When I went to see her, the room had already been tidied up; I hadn't heard a thing—he had been taken away so discreetly.

 

We all agreed it was for the best; he had cancer, was over eighty, and didn't want any more chemotherapy. That’s just how it is here, people come and go, but such is life: you get used to everything, even the things you never wanted to get used to.

 

 

 

FRIDAY"s FAVE FIVE

Monday we celebrated the birthdays of the residents born in September. It has never been this bad since I’ve been here! An elderly gentleman was hammering on our old piano, while at the same time, pictures of all kinds of animals—from chickens to elephants—were projected onto an old white screen (I initially thought it was a bedsheet)..... This was supposed to be "Zen" music.

 

It was so "Zen" that many people fell asleep, left the restaurant, or played on their smartphones. I played Scrabble and tried not to listen, but after a while, I couldn't stand it anymore either and went out on the terrace. Amandine our manager agreed with me that it was rather funeral music then birthday. And the tip of the top was that we didn't even get the excellent birthday cake, but the one always get and I don't like at all. In short this birthday celebration was a real flop. The Birthday residents weren't even there ! They probably had smelled the disaster. 

The next day we had a game finding words, which was very funny. On Wednesday I went with Jeanine picking up her new glasses she had ordered and at the same time we ate in the Lunch Garden, for a change. The weather was nice and warm and we liked to eat something else, although our kitchen is in general good.

Thursday we were 12 to visit the African Museum in Tervueren, one of the municipalities of Brussels. 

 

It was a real nice excursion and we all enjoyed it very much. I will write and show photos tomorrow or Monday, because it would be too much. The museum is really very beautiful.

Yesterday was the "Open House" day, and relatives, acquaintances, friends, and so on were invited.

From morning on the busy bees prepared the restaurant for the residents and their guests

and on the terrace others took a glass of Champagne 

While Amadeo our cook prepared the BQ ! which was very good !

our "do it yourself" man who repairs everything, a nurse and Beti the good soul of the house who has always an open ear for everybody.

and my friends Isabelle (with Snoopy) and Ilona who came as my guests and spent the afternoon with me

We looked at the new rooms and made this picture with a "Selfie" machine

 

They stayed until 5, they didn't want to go home! Ilona said she couldn't believe we were in a retirement home! The music from our generation was playing just as loudly as it is for today's teenagers; people were dancing, and the atmosphere was fantastic! Then we had crêpes, fruit salad, and coffee. We all agreed it was a real wonderful day and I think the visitors agreed that there are also other retirement homes then like hospital looking once, with the same price range. 

 

more participants at Susanne at Living to tell the Story.

 

 

 

 

 

 

HODGEPODGE SEPTEMBER 24

 1. Fall arrives this week in the northern hemisphere. Does it look/feel like fall where you live?What's something you love to do this time of year that makes you feel its officially fall? 

2. What's a small daily task or chore that always seems to fall through the cracks when your schedule gets busy?

I really don't like filing papers or documents; I always put it off.

3. What's something you're falling for lately? 

Really nothing ! When autumn approaches I just fall for nothing, and certainly not for fall ! 

4.  Pumpkin is a popular flavor this time of year.  Are you a fan? What's your favorite pumpkin flavored food or beverage? 

I love pumpkins as decoration for fall or Halloween, but I can't remember  that I have ever eaten pumpkin. Neither soup nor any other dish. 

5.What's something you wish would never change? Explain. 

6. Insert your own random thought here.

As October is approaching my mind drifts back to Rick. Seeing the world change colors makes me look back at the chapters we shared, tracing the lines of when we were us; I am now alone with my thoughts, wondering how time managed to move so fast and how a life can change so completely. We would have been married for 57 years now in October 2026.

 

 

WORDLESS WEDNESDAY

 

 unusual pictures

 

more participants here 

 

 

 

 

WISE SAYINGS FROM OLD LADIES

 

AWWWW MONDAY - WEEKEND SEPTEMBER 19

 

with a little bit of AI 

 

Linking to AWWW MONDAYS 

 

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WEEKEND 

Saturday afternoon I went to my "old" friend Ilona, we know each other more then 20 years and had traveled a lot together. Unfortunately there had been a misunderstanding between us just during the time I would have needed her most, when Rick lived his last days and we were also locked in with the Corona Virus. 

But after 4 years we managed to reconnect and it is almost the same as before. I say almost because she belongs to my "old" life when Rick was still there and when we went together to our painting class. But she has broken all contact to them because it had changed so much. And I had decided to cut my old life off. So now we restart and it was a very nice afternoon.  

 

the two of us in Scotland 

Later, when I got home, I felt a strange sensation; I had put the past behind me, yet memories were surfacing again. But I quickly tucked them away, keeping only the ones involving Rick. He will remain in my heart forever.

On Sunday it rained, but in the afternoon I could walk a bit in our park, yesterday I walked better. Oh well that's the disease. We made cross words together and were proud because we found all words very quickly. There were a few visitors who watched us and applauded. 

 

FRIDAY's FAVE FIVE

On Monday afternoon we had a lot of fun ! We made pancakes ! As we didn't have a big pan, we used two rectangular cake pans! 

The participants wore hairnets so no hair would fall into the dough. The others (myself included) watched and had a laugh! I did "do a bit of work," though, since I was photographing the whole thing. Then we all ate the square pancakes which tasted delicious !

 

raw and below cooked

 

 

 

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Solange is 99 and was proud that she still could do it ! 

   

Jacqueline had broken her glasses and needed a new frame. So, I drove her to "Pearl Vision," which is located inside the "Carrefour" supermarket. Luckily, she quickly found a nice frame and ordered new lenses, too. 

Since there’s a restaurant inside as well, we took the opportunity to have  mussels and they tasted great! They were nice and big, and by the time we finished, I only had room for an espresso. We were full !

They say Friday the 13th brings bad luck, but for me, it was Thursday! It started when I was thrown out of my bed by a phone call at 9 a.m. because furniture was being lifted up to the third floor and my car was in the way.

So I crawled out of bed, threw on a coat, and ran like a snail, I couldn't go any faster because of my COPD to my car and moved it somewhere else. Five workers watched the whole thing; I must have looked like a scarecrow.

Breathless I returned to my room, fed the opera singing cat Rosie who was angry not to get her breakfast on time and then fell on my chair to have a cup of coffee and take my medication.  

Once I could breathe normally again, I looked for my phone, and naturally, I couldn't find it. I asked a caretaker to call me, and we both listened for the ring. Nothing, no ringing sound. Fortunately, she had a device for locating smartphones. She did find one my old phone from three years ago, which I hadn't seen in ages and had thought that it had disappeared during the move !

 not so easy to find ! Was I happy, my whole life is in there !

 On Friday I didn't like our activity so I decided to go to a big store which sold nearly everything and as nothing was really for me I bought a toy for Isabel's little dog, as he always eats the toy mice of Rosie. I found a nice one but couldn't find out what it was. Finally I found on a little label :

 It's supposed to be a SKUNK !!

more participants at Susanne at Living to tell the Story.