Spring in Bruges

 

Spring is back in town, and that makes my blood run through my veins again. It's been a long winter, and up until last week Mother Nature held her breath. But now my favorite season has at last finally arrived...

This is the view from my kitchen balcony. I planted my favorite Spring flowers, and the first tree has burst into lucious green leaves ...

The beguinage is at the peak of it's beauty, on a beautiful, beautiful day this time of the year. 

I intend to share some of my photo's from my photowalks and bring this blog back to life again...  

Willow trees bursting with new life, and a blue sky fit for Provence, only it is my beloved Bruges.
This is the Church of Our Lady, a famous landmark in the skyline of Bruges. The city of Bruges chose espaliers to protect the view on this beautiful monument. Other trees would hide it, and that would be a real shame.



Ballooning season has begun again, and I'm very much looking forward to see them appear. Instant happiness for me, they are!

So is this ... eating outside in the golden light of the setting sun. The weather has been wonderful this past week, such a treat when you're living in Belgium. This feels like vacation in Provence, and I just love it.

The horses can't wait to show you my beautiful city, and neither can I...
Please leave me a comment, that's part of the fun of blogging for me!
See you soon!

Sorry it took me so long, but I haven't used my laptop and this blog in ages that I completely forgot how to use it. I spent hours and hours struggling with lost paswords and unvalid email adresses but I am getting there finally!

If only Van Gogh could see this ...

Van Gogh should have lived here, what masterpieces he would have made?
This is the humble view from my kitchen window, now how blessed am I to live here?

Early in the morning...

... or late in the afternoon ...

Even the gods look ashtonished, can you see that?

I bet Van Gogh really does envy me!

Happiness is a piece of cake ...

 Hello dear friends, it's been a while since I last posted, but a lot has happened...

Two years ago we moved to Bruges, to a lovely appartement with a stunning view on Bruges, the most beautiful city of Belgium, the town where I was born!

Photo opportunities gallore, within walking distance of where I live.

This was taken from my kitchen window...

As you can see, my hubby is in perfect shape, and we're very very happy here!

Two years ago my lovely daughter Valérie got married to her knight on a white horse Peter. It was a lovely day, a fairy tale wedding, complete with sunshine and nice weather.

She got pregnant and gave birth to the cutest little baby you've EVER seen! Believe me!
I know I KNOW, I'm her proud grandma, and I love her to pieces!

Our other daughter Patsy is very happy with her husband Geert. They look radiant, don't they?

My little sister ( and my other sister ) live right across the street, and we are now able to spend a lot of time together.
Cats rule in her hous, LOL!
 

I still love to cook ... :-)

Yesterday the Easter bunny brought some presents for Olivia.

Isn't she pretty? Ok, Blogger won't let me post any more pictures right now, but I'll be back tomorrow because I have a hell of a lot more to show you! There was a birthday party for my father who is turning 85 this weekend, there are cure baby pictures, pictures of Bruges... Plenty to show you!

I hope you are all doing well, please let me know? 

Bye for now, I really do hope you are still reading this blog! 

What I've been up to this last year ...

It's a typical November day today. It's very wet and terribly grey outside, and I don't really feel like going out today even if this is my day off from work.. Instead, it's time to get into cocooning modus -  ( I'm still in my jamies ) - and check out the new toy  laptop my hubby surprised me with two days ago. I did need some time to get accustomed to the new Windows 8 but all seems to be going  well and I have now access to all my photos and favorite programs!  Yaaaay!!
While exploring my new laptop something happened. I began to miss blogging, and the good old days of Nablopomo so many years ago when it all started for me. It was where I met friends all over the world
Some of you are on Facebook now, some of you I have lost track of since I lost my favorite Google reader.( I was too busy with real life stuff when Google decided to deactivate the google reader. )
So I have no idea who is still out there, still interested to see what I've been up to lately. I have no idea if I'm still in your reader or not.
Life has been so hectic this past year, you can't even begin to imagine!
Shortly after I posted my previous post on this blog my dear husband had a little stroke. Don't worry, he's okay now, but it scared the hell out of me!
Anyway, every time something bad happens, something good is bound to come out of it. At least that's what I believe. The good thing was I restored contact with a IRL friend I had lost over the course of the years. She was the shoulder to cry on in those difficult days!
Since then we started longing to start a new life at the other side of the country, closer to my family and my friend. So we started looking ... And we found our dream appartement soon after!
To cut a long story short, we have moved to the coast in June, and since then I have been working full time again. The first few months were sheer hell to me, it really took time to adjust to this new lifestyle.

Anyway, the moving boxes have all disappeared now and I'm kind of used to my new life. Winter is approaching, the days are shorter and the evenings are longer. Looks I could make some time now and again to post something. No more blogging every day though, I won't promise you that. Just keeping in touch.
Please tell me, who is still out there? Leave me a comment and tell me how you're doing?

The Sinterklaas Parade in my Town

Lots and lots of little children together with their parents or grandparents were gathered in the main street of my town Saturday afternoon. They came to see the Sinterklaas parade. Sinterklaas is a holy man, a friend of the children, a colleague of Santa Claus, let's say. He lives in Spain, but he arrives in Belgium at the end of November, and on the evening of the 6th of december, he brings toys and sweets to all the children.
I did not want to miss the parade, so I was there with my camera ...

The black faced men are the Zwarte Pieten or Black Petes. They are the helpers of Saint Nicholas. They help Saint Nicholas to distribute all the gifts and candy on the 6th of December. But above all, they have to keep an eye on the children to make sure they're good. When I was a kid, Black Pete told me he would come and fetch me and put me in a big brown potato bag if I did not finish my soup. I had many nightmares and sleepless nights over that!

But now, all they really do is throw some candy ...

... and pose for me!

Autumn 2012

The last two weeks have been rather busy around here,  that's why I haven't gotten round to posting the rest of my pictures from that gorgeous photo walk yet! The weather has been dull, rainy and gray since then, and that's a pity. The leaves haven't all fallen just yet, and their colors are still gorgeous. I have the afternoon all to myself today, so I'm gonna see if I can take some more Autumn pictures. I'm sure It won't be the same without the blue sky, but I'm gonna try it anyway!  

  

 

The walk continues ...

It was a beautiful sunny Sunday afternoon when we made this long photo walk. Part one of this series of photos is here if you're interested. 

We continued our walk. It was a photographers dream, behind every curve of the path, there was another great photo.

Patches of sunlight highlighted beautiful details ...

and threw shadows on the trees... 

Blue skies and gorgeous Autumn colors reflected in the pond...

 

I will be back with more photos from this beautiful walk sometime later this week.