About Me

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Antwerp, Belgium
Welcome to the new, and improved version of Heaven in Belgium. I am Jientje. "Jientje", like the boys name Gene, followed by "chu"? "Gene-chu", that's how you pronounce my name. Yes!!!!That's it!! So now you know huh? I am an addicted blogger. I was born and raised and am still living in Belgium. Yeah, the "this-is- Tuesday-so-this-must-be-Brussels" kind of Belgium .. There, you see? Maybe you couldn't find it on the map, but at least I'm trying to change that a little by sharing lots of pictures. I really love to cook and create new things, like this blog for instance. I am a mother,a grandmothe and a wife too! They say I'm a traveler, and a photographer. Well that's just what they say, I love to make pictures, but I am far from professional ... If my English is not perfect, that would be because it's my second language. I do hope you'll forgive me any possible misspellings or strange vocabulary ... Now, as a result of all of the above, I get way too little sleep and my days are always much too short!

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Heaven is in Belgium

Friday, April 3, 2009

Friday's Fave Five


It seems as if time and my days swift away ( yeah, I know that's not a real verb, but I like it) each week. Come Friday I find myself thinking, "oh my, where has my week gone to"?
And then when I look back ....


1. We're on daylights saving time now!! That is something I look forward to more than my birthday, Christmas and Easter packed together. I'm the kind of girl that needs a lot of light, and an hour extra daylight makes the days seem just a wee bit longer.
On the down side, my biological clock still is not functioning the way it should.
I'm used to waking up spontaneously at 6.45 am, but now I wake up at seven.

2. On Saturday I had a meeting with two blogger friends and my sisters in Bruges.
We took a trip on the canals, had diner in a lovely restaurant, took lots and lots of pictures, and it was fun! I love Bruges, it's the town where I was born, lived and worked until I moved to Antwerp when I was 23. Each time I visit Bruges I find that I've missed it ... so much.





3. The weather. I know this Fave Five has a tendency to look like a weather report each week, but if you lived in Belgium, you'd understand. Blue skies and sunny days are very precious to us, and we've been spoiled again this week! We had gorgeous Spring weather, nice and warm temperatures, flowers, blossoms .... sheer heaven!

4. Violets!!! I just LOVE those little violets, they are such sweet little flowers.
I enjoy looking at them, but I use them in salads and starters as well.
I just need to plant them on my patio each year. I bought some this week.



5. Another award!!! My friend Thom gave it to me last week, and it had already been passed on to me by Jan as well. It's an award with a very special precious meaning.




“This blog invests and believes in ‘proximity’ [meaning that blogging makes us 'close' - being close through proxy].”

Proximidade, created by Dawn at Twisted Sister and passed on to me by Thom and Jan is described as follows:
This blog invests and believes in proximity- nearness in space, time and relationships. Nominated bloggers are exceedingly charming, they aim to find and be friends. They are not interested in prizes for self-aggrandizement. Our hope is that when the ribbons of these prizes are cut, even more friendships are propagated. This blog award should be sent to another eight bloggers and they, in turn, should forward it to eight of their favorites. You should include the text for Proximidade in your blog announcement. And please note that all awards and tags are optional…Twisted Sister.

I'm going to pass this one on to:

Libby, at Neas Nuttiness
Jacki at Moving at the speed of life
Nicole B, at NicoleB Photography
Maggie, at Maggie's Mind
Sassydog, at Becky and her babies.
Mar at Maremagnum
Robin, at Around the island
And Evelyn at the Red Bell Farm

because of that sense of propinquity I have with each and every one of them.

I could have added so much more to my Fave Five's list today.
Such as blogging with the door to the patio wide open, children's voices at the school playground nearby, that first butterfly of the season I saw yesterday , the sun on my skin and the promise that today is going to be a beautiful day as well ...

But this is it from me today.
I hope you'll all have a great day as well.
For more Fave Five's visit Susanne's blog Living to tell the story.

28 comments:

Kari said...

Looks like you had a great week. I just love your pictures and I'm guessing you like the color purple.

Happy weekend and long days.

MaR said...

You are a very positive person so I imagine you find beautiful things all around you! lovely shots as always, I am glad you had a nice week.

Congratulations on the award, Jientje. And thank you very, very much for passing it on to me! I am thrilled to say the least, you truly made my day!

Robynn's Ravings said...

Don't know all of those receiving the award but I know a few and couldn't agree more with your choices! :)

Lovely photos as usual. And glad you're enjoying the beautiful weather and sunny skies.

Becky said...

I feel so honored, many thanks, Jientje! You have such an interesting blog and I have fallen in love with your country. I look forward each time to seeing more of your pictures of this beautiful place. Looks like you had a wonderful week. You can eat violets??? When I was a little girl, my grandmother grew them in her little beauty shop. Such dainty little flowers!

ellen b said...

Glad you have more daylight and you've been blessed with sunshine too! Love all your photos Jientje!

Melli said...

I do enjoy your Friday Fav's! I used to do Sunday Seven - and I should again... but I don't think anyone ELSE does that one anymore... I might occasionally chime in on Friday Fav's ... we'll see! I was noticing on your photos that you have had green and black OLIVES this week. I had green and black olives JUST last night with my dinner. The idea of photographing them never even crossed my mind! THIS is why you have such fun photographs!!! You snap EVERYTHING!

Christine said...

Bruges looks like a place out of a fairy tale. No wonder you miss it. Hope next week is a sunny as last week.

Brenda said...

I love long hours of daylight as well, everything just seems happier. I like all the pictures of your violets, very nice.

Susanne said...

What a great fave five. I smiled all the way through it. Your hometown looks like a lovely place!

We're on daylight savings time here too and I like it once the ol' body kicks in but I'm telling ya, the first week is hard!

Willow said...

What a great week you had, sunshine, a canal trip (I'd LOVE to do that!), meeting up with sisters and friends, little flowers.

Have another great week!

Unknown said...

Ah. Warm and sunny Spring days. Nothing better. And your photos capture so much of it so wonderfully.

Nessa said...

Beautiful collages.

Cherie said...

I love how you illustrated your week! Very pretty, and it sounds like you had a good time doing it. :)

Jerralea said...

I always enjoy visiting your blog. I love to see what photos you've taken this week. Bruges looks so charming! And I didn't know you could eat violets!

The Correspondent said...

A trip on the canals at Bruges -- Ooh la la! I wish I could have such an experience.

I absolutely love your breathtaking pictures of violets.

Jientje said...

@ Kari: Purple is indeed my favourite colour! How on earth did you guess? ;-)
@ Mar: I could write another one from this day alone! And I'm glad I made your day!
@ Robynn's Ravings: I'm a Libra. I spent some thought on this!
@ Sassydog: yes, you can eat violets. They're delicious!
@ ellenB: Sunshine is a blessing. It is!
@ Melli: Yes, I snap everything, that's so true!
@ Christine: I hope so too!
@ Brenda: happier yes.For sure!
@ Susanne: It'll get better next week. I hope.
@ Willow: Have a great week yourself!
@ Lou: Nothing better.
@ Nessa: thanks!
@ Cherie: Yes I had a good time, I enjoyed every second of it!
@ Jerralea: Bruges IS charming.
@ the Correspondent: I know. Bruges is stunning.

Anonymous said...

Your pictures are just awesome and what a wonderful FFF. It amazes me how many people have a problem when the time changes. You should all move over to Hawaii ... we stay same time all year round...boring LOL And you are most welcome for the award my Belgian Bombshell...very deserving.

Anonymous said...

The pansies are lovely!

sauerkraut said...

ut oh... sweetsauer has already been here.

think something clever, quick!

propinquity... is that a word for use in mixed company?

Oh, and those swans. Any idea what type? Mutes? Tundra?

Momisodes said...

You've definitely had a busy week! Congrats on the awards. So glad you had a chance to meet up with some bloggy friends. So much fun!

Libby's Library said...

Thank you, thank you, thank you, Jientje!
I'm thrilled that you shared this with me, and even more thrilled that you shared it with my wonderful sweet Becky (aka SassyDog).
I'm so glad that you got to meet up with some blog friends...just wish that I had been one of them!

Tatersmama said...

I was going to say that your pansies are lovely... and then I realized that EVERYTHING in this post was lovely as well... including the writer!
You have such a comfortable way and homieness (homey-ness?)about you... and I always look forward to visiting!

Jientje said...

@ Thom: Hawaii, boring? I don't think so!
@ Sweetsauer: Thanks!
@ Sauerkraut: are you related to sweetsauer?
About the word: no
About the swans: I have no idea!
@ Sandy: Meeting bloggy friends is fun, indeed!
@ Libby: You're welcome!
@ Tatersmama: Awww, I'm flattered!

Evelyn said...

You are so sweet to give me an award! After the week I've had, it made me a bit teary to know someone so far away is thinking of me! Love your new pansies, by the way.

Becky said...

Where oh where is my brain??? I forgot to thank you for the award! Thank you, Thank you, Jientje!!!! And I love the new pansies, so bright and colorful!!!

Unknown said...

Oh, thanks for this sweetness!!
Thanks a million :)!!

It looks like you had a wonderful day!
I would love to visit Belgium again. Well, one of these days.

I love the flowers you have there.
I can almost smell them :)

Robin said...

Thank you Jientje, that's so sweet, and the admiration is definitely mutual. I'm always delighted and inspired by what I find here on your blog.

Maggie's Mind said...

Aw, thanks for the award! Also, I really love those flowers, and I'm glad you had such a great week!

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