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.

 

 

 

 

 

 

FRIDAY's FAVE FIVE

Hello my friends I am finally back ! It was nearly a month that I fought with heat, my CPDO  and on top of that, there was a Google update, supposed to make everything easier, that actually locked me out of my dashboard completely. I felt as though I’d ​​lost my job,  I never imagined I would miss blogging so much. Every day, I dug through the guts of Google and Blogger, using words a lady really shouldn't say while trying to find a solution, though the only new name I could come up with was "Gloggerboogle." 

Then, one day, without much hope, I decided to try accessing my old blog; it worked, and from there I clicked over to my new blog and there was the internal page I needed for everything. I was even able to create a new header. A huge weight was lifted off my shoulders, and I felt better right away.

During all this time I didn't participate in our games, because I was afraid of this old A/C which distributed gently microbes, bacilli, colds, cough, etc. 

Amandine our manager told me that I could sit in the new visitor lounge on the third floor, there was a brand-new air conditioning system; it was cozy, too, and had a beautiful view.

Here I sat and played scrabble. The normally green grass had become yellow it hadn't rained since ages.

Isabel takes care of me together with my son, came for a visit to show me her new dog. She had lost her two terriers due to age nearly at the same time and swore she would not take a dog anymore before her retirement. But not to walk without dog, which looks stupid when you are alone, she helped in a shelter and walked dogs. Until the day she walked this cutie below. 

The police had confiscated dogs from Romanians who were using them for begging. The little one was still young and evidently not badly treated, he doesn't bark like often little dogs do and stays well-behaved in his large cage in the car. He seems to be used to it. He is such a friendly, sweet dog—a real doll. It is a Bichon I think a French bread.

Isabel with "Spirou"                                                 And an AI photo putting Spirou and Rosie together it look so real. He met her, sniffed a bit at her basket but that was it. 

  

While my dashboard was out of work, I made some AI photos, a birthday card for my son who loves playing golf. AI made it possible that Rosie loved to play Golf too. 

 

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FRIDAY's FAVE FIVE

This week really wasn't good for me! After a spell of rather cool, damp weather, the temperature suddenly jumped up to over 30, without any sunshine, and the air remained quite humid. The result was that I had trouble breathing, especially when walking; just a few steps left me breathless, as if I’d been running to catch a train. I also didn't take part in every activity, since some were held in our restaurant which was freezing cold.

The problem is that no one knows how to manage the climate control properly; it’s far too cold, they leave the window doors open and by now, almost everyone has caught a cold. 

I made a picture and AI added icicles ! 

 In fact as it was so hard for me to move, I restored photos and made paintings all with AI. I love to do that. 

  My son during carnival, 1978, today there is even a grandma amongst them. The photo was like the others looking old a fade, now it looks like new

 

and beneath they are playing in our garden

 

 

This is my first marriage, unfortunately I don't remember the name of my "husband"

Then I tried out making photos without a photo just in writing !

Sea, sailing boat, sunset

 

girl with a cold
 

It's raining cats and dogs !

grass, flock of sheep, mountains behind 

I had never made landscape pictures without using a camera and just writing what I want. 

and here I am dreaming of holidays, this is a real photo from at least 40 years ago in Egypt ! Looks like new !

 

I hope that next week the air is better and the humidity gone ! 

more participants at Susanne at Living to tell the Story.

 

 

 

 

 

 

FRIDAY's FAVE FIVE

 I am sorry but besides I am still on antibiotics, so I’ve been feeling quite tired. I’ve spent the week resting as much as possible, so there are only two events to tell you about.

On Wednesday, we celebrated all the July birthdays; since mine was among them, I naturally had to attend. Fortunately, the entertainment was lovely this time: a fun female singer performed songs from the 60s and 70s and really livened up us oldies —they were waving their hands enthusiastically and even singing along. It was truly funny. I received a very sweet card signed by the staff. Aside from that, there was a delicious birthday cake!

 

 Jacqueline and me 

The singer

 

Our manager Amandine and Nurse Marina 

On Saturday was wonderful weather and I felt much better ! Fortunately ! My son and family came back from Italy and stopped in Waterloo to visit me. They had a long way behind them, first 800 km til France where they spent the night and then 400 until Waterloo where they arrived at noon. 

It was so nice to see them all ! With this nice weather I I thought it would be best for us to have a picnic in our park. My son bought ready-made cold salads that tasted excellent. We sat under our 200-year-old tree, and dog Leia was so happy to have such a huge property to run around on which is exactly what she did the whole time. We enjoyed the Oriental rice salad, and they told me about their vacation. 

our picnic with grandson and DIL, Son took the photo !

 

and here is the whole family Marie and I with our body guards ! 

 

Nonna (grandma) and Toby with Leia, after coffee, and then they left. They still had 250 km to drive ! 

It was a real nice day ! 

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FRIDAY's FAVE FIVE

The whole week we were sitting or laying in an oven ! It was hotter than ever! On Monday, I really needed to buy some things for Rosie, and since it was on the way, I called my doctor and went to see her as well. I just can't seem to shake this virus, and I’m having increasing trouble breathing whenever I do something physical.  She prescribed a medication that will hopefully help! Apart from that, not much was going on except for people repeatedly having to go to the hospital because they hadn't drunk enough. Old people don't have the feeling to be thirsty anymore. 

Things improved a bit starting Thursday, and we were even able to play boccia (except me); it was really fun. Afterward, Kim and Elinor brought out some tables so we could have our coffee under the giant tree. For refreshments, there was fruit ice cream, watermelon, coffee, and cake. Most people had never eaten watermelon before, but that has really changed; now, everyone dives right in whenever watermelon is served.

 

We all enjoyed the game very much and under this old tree it was nice and cool

 

The rest of the time I was spending in my room, windows and curtains closed and light on !! My ventilator turned full speed, so the room was nice and not to hot. I continued my new hobby, trying out the AI picture creations. My son and family are actually in Italy and now at the Garda lake his Dad's home..

 

He is like me homesick and goes there nearly each year, combining with other regions. He sent me pictures :

 

  Dog Leia in his normal look                                        Here I dressed her with a bathing suit and a cap

 

 

Father and son dressed normal and then as divers. 

 

Now I look at videos and photos with other eyes, you just can dress famous people like you want, put them where you want that could be dangerous. For me as a hobby and no celebrities it's fun.

 

I have written or rather AI has written an administrative letter, very nice. But other things I haven't tried yet. 

 

Next week we will get to normal temperatures again !  

more participants at Susanne at Living to tell the Story.

 

 

 

 

 

 

FRIDAY's FAVE FIVE

It was a terrible week; it got hot again, and just as I was feeling better, I suffered a relapse, this time with a head cold! I was sneezing as if someone had scattered sneezing powder around and right in the middle of the night. 

The next morning, I immediately started taking the antibiotics again; perhaps five days hadn't been enough. So, I spent the time from Monday to Thursday in my room, working on old photos either restoring them to look young again or completely transforming them. 

On Thursday, it was "only" 29°C; since I was feeling better, I made a quick shopping trip and appreciated the cool air in my car and the store. In the afternoon, I sat on the terrace playing Scrabble while the others played a game inside the air-conditioned restaurant. I’m convinced the A/C unit is so old that, while it still cools the air, the fan sprays cold air onto people and turns into a spreader of germs. Some people don't know what an A/C is, turn it on and open the windows and doors ! I have explained already several times but it just doesn't get in their brain. So, I prefer to stay outside, somewhere warm but in the shade, where the breeze is actually pleasant. In any case, I have no desire to catch another illness. Six members of our group are currently in the hospital, and one is even in the intensive care unit.

 It’s all because of the heat. Over 1,000 people have died in Wallonia alone, hospitals are bursting at the seams, and the government has finally decided to do something about it.

On Friday, almost all the men on our staff showed up wearing "Red Devils" T-shirts because Spain was playing Belgium that evening. Belgian flags were hanging in windows everywhere, and the kids were dressed up as "Devils." Our parking lot was full of cars decked out with all sorts of soccer-related gear. You couldn't hear anything else on TV, either.

Tomorrow I’ll find out who won! After all, there’s no Trump here who can interfere with the results. Poor guy, people just laugh at him now. He wanted to make America great again, but it seems he didn't have the expected success.

Let me show you a few pictures I created using AI!

My grandson, the original photo was him sitting on a chair in the living room playing on his phone !

My son as Superman, the original photo was one taken during a wedding 

 

and as Devil

That's me with Rosie who was sitting more to the right

 

I added this antique stone and dressed myself in Jeans

 

Rick as a young Dad, the photo was in black and white

The original photo was me in black trousers, visiting an exposition. I changed the trousers, the background and added our white cat Arthur. It's unbelievable what you can do ! 

 

more participants at Susanne at Living to tell the Story.