Precious

Sophie is Michel’s big sister. She copies her mother all day long.

Poetry in a jar

I love the concept of conserving poetry – as seen in the Permeke Library.

Waking up

Adorable

Michel

Burg di burg di burg

Ee’m feeleeng loocky : I was invited to our mayor’s cooking demonstration of “Osso bucco”. It was first class entertainment à la Swedish Chef (The Muppets) and even though he proposed ’ leevink ze peel onz ze cerret fer ze vaidameens’ the food was delicious and many, many bottles were used(consumed by all) to prepare this flemish variation . Grazie a tutti.

An ocean of buddies

Buddha : http://www.kladblog.be/

Zoë : http://www.myboyfriendisatwat.com/  a lovely person with a sharp pen and a great book. 

Q(uarsan): alias The Twat :her adorable boyfriend , nibbling away at a plastic plant.

(Top left )Tine : http://tine.blog-city.com/ My wonderful friend who flees from every lense but never leaves the house without her camera.

(Top middle) Smiling Cobra http://losseflodders.wordpress.com/ the multi-talented wordartist

(Bottom) Kim : source of so much inspiration at http://littlesomethings.blogspot.com/

Strange how sometimes people you’ve only met through the web sometimes seem like neighbours. Sprang into my mind when I put  new fishes in the aquarium.

Bathroom in the sky

My brother P. is an incredible handyman. There’s nothing he can’t fix.(well maybe the bad weather in Belgium) His biggest handicap is having five sisters, a mom and a wife . The latter decided, after waiting two decades, that she wanted to have her bathroom properly installed. So this is what he came up with, as a temporary solution.That was last spring, and with frost and snow arriving in Belgium, I’m guessing the temperature is rising in that household.

Opa

My granddad was an amateur photographer during the Great War. The photo’s he took of his comrades, the ‘trench rats’ as he called them, and the villages they passed through are memories of an era that should not be forgotten.

Official Radio from Paris – 6:01 A.M., Nov. 11, 1918. Marshal Foch to the Commander-in-Chief.1. Hostilities will be stopped on the entire front beginning at 11 o’clock, November 11th (French hour). 2. The Allied troops will not go beyond the line reached at that hour on that date until further orders.

[signed]            MARSHAL FOCH 5:45 A.M.

De Loteling (Hendrik Conscience)

The illustration is a page of a book ‘The Conscript’ by Hendrik Conscience.

In 1833, when the newborn Belgian kingdom still fears a Dutch invasion, recruits were selected annually from an age cohort by a draw of lots in each locality.  Jan Braems, a poor and naive farmboy, accepts the  offer by a rich family to sell his lucky ticket out to their son for a big sum compared to the miserable labor wages at the time. Sub sole nihil novi est – There’s nothing new under the sun …

This is one of the pages of the copy I cherish. On different pages members of the army’s library left their comments, even though they were ‘en campagne’ , on the battlefield of WW1 at that time. I am still very grateful they were willing to give their lives so we could live in a free world.

Being polite in Rotterdam or why do we park on a driveway and drive on a parkway?

Translation of the sign on this garage door in Rotterdam : Forbidden to park on driveway.If , due to special circumstances,u are compelled to park your car here , do leave a message , stating your whereabouts so we will be able to contact you.

The question is to be pondered upon during sleepless nights.