Midweek Blues, Old Jaquar

Midweek Blues is hosted by Rebecca at The Dusty Cellar. You can be as creative as you like. Moods, poetry, photography, or music anything blue will do!



Project 366 #108

My Weekend in Pictures ...

Inquiring minds want to know "what have you done this weekend?"
This meme hosted by Gattina helps you to remember what you did on the weekend.
I agree, weekends always seem to whiz by so fast, one tends to forget.
That would be a pity because they're precious moments, worth remembering.
That's why I love participate and look back on Mondays to share these moments with you.
My weekend in pictures ...



Our happy moment this week was my father's 80th birthday. The actual birthday was on Friday, but Sunday the whole family gathered to celebrate. I'll just let the pictuyres speak for themselves ...


Project 366 # 105


Project 366 #106



Project 366 #107

Happy Birthday Dad!

Project 366 #104


It's my father's 80th birthday today. Happy Birthday Dad!

What Happened?

Remember the nesting doves on my patio? Mr and Mrs Dove taking care of their nest one at a time. The nest was never empty.

Then one day I found the nest had been abandoned. The many white feathers make a pretty picture, but also tell me some drama must have happened here ...

Project 366 #103

And now the eggs have been destroyed as well. I see only one dove anymore, I don't know what happened to the other one, maybe a cat got hold of her?

Error 99, Is This the End?

Project 366 #102

100 days into my Project 366 and my camera is acting up again. This is what happens if I try to shoot a picture. I get an error 99 code telling me shooting a picture is not possible and to switch the camera off and replace the battery.



I have googled err 99 and found out this is really bad news.
It probably needs servicing but I have already spent 229 € last time ( when I had problems with the shutter release button) and another 35 € to get the sensor cleaned, I don't think it is worth spending more money on it? I'm devastated, because I LOVE that camera, and I don't have the money to replace it right now. So I'll just downgrade to the old SX1IS, my bridge camera. It's not going to be the same anymore!

A New Beginning ...

Project 366 #101

" Before beginning, prepare carefully"
~ Marcus Tullius Cicero (Ancient Roman Lawyer, writer, scholar orator and stateman)

My Weekend in Pictures, Easter Weekend

Inquiring minds want to know "what have you done this weekend?"
This meme hosted by Gattina helps you to remember what you did on the weekend.
I agree, weekends always seem to whiz by so fast, one tends to forget.
That would be a pity because they're precious moments, worth remembering.
That's why I love participate and look back on Mondays to share these moments with you.
My weekend in pictures ...



I played the Easter Bunny on Saturday ...


My two sisters and two nieces gathered at my daughter Valerie's for a creative afternoon.

It had been years since we'd done anything creative together, so we all had a real good time. We made beads in artificial clay (it's called Fimo here in Belgium) to create our very own jewelry.

Project 366 #100

Here's what my neckless is going to look like. We're going to assemble them next week when we all meet at my parent's home for my dad's 80th birthday.

Hubbie and I stayed at Valerie's for supper and some good conversation over a glass of wine so we were home rather late in the evening.
We stayed up to watch Bird on a Wire with Mel Gibson and Goldie Hawn. I fell asleep before the end of the film. *rolleyes* Needless to say I was in bed much too late!
On Sunday morning I baked fresh rolls and mini croissants for our Easter brunch.

We had fresh Belgian strawberries which I had bought at the weekly market. They were a treat!

In the afternoon I took a little siesta, because I was still very tired. I felt like a new woman when I woke up! So I took to the kitchen and made quails with apple and Calvados (which is quite an elaborate recipe) for supper and it tasted heavenly. After that we watched the Ultimate Dance battle on television and went to bed.

Happy Easter!

Project 366 #98



Project 366 #99

Friday's Fave Five, an Eventful Week

There is a lot that made me happy this week and I want to share it with you. That's why I'm joining Susanne's Friday's Fave Five, looking back upon the week that has passed and sharing some of it's highlights.




1. A dinner party and a lovely evening at our daughter Patsy's. Patsy secretly invited more family. My husband's cousin Hugo and his wife Hilda showed up as well and that was such a lovely surprise to us. Patsy is an excellent cook, her food looked as good as it tasted!

2. A big event in my town yesterday. There was an important bicycle race going on in my town yesterday. The 100th edition of the Scheldeprijs departed and arrived in my town. Of course, I had my camera clicking! The photos are here if you're interested.

3. The new plates I bought earlier this week. They look adorable and they match the pink and green bowls and cups I bought last year.

4. The new kitchen faucet my husband installed. It's on the top left of this collage and I'm very happy with it!

5. A postcard from Provence, France. Nobody seems to send you postcards anymore, but my friend Nana does! It's on my kitchen table now, and it makes me long for our own holiday there.


Project 366 #97

In My Town, Yesterday ...

There was an important bicycle race going on in my town yesterday. The 100th edition of the Scheldeprijs departed and arrived in my town Schoten. Everybody was there, national and international press, television ...
Of course, I was there too and I had my camera clicking! I took more than 500 photos!
What follows is just an impression, I think I'll just let the pictures speak for themselves ...
Enjoy!












Project 366 #96

Tulips

Project 366 # 95

These tulips were adorning Patsy's dinner table last Saturday. I LOVE tulips, they're my favorite Spring flowers.
Note to self: go buy a bunch of tulips today, they're not expensive and yet they give so much pleasure!

Looking Back ...

Midweek Blues is hosted by Rebecca at The Dusty Cellar. Make a post with a little or a lot of blue in it and join the fun! You can be as creative as you like, poetry, colors ... moods .. music?



Spring is my favorite season, I just love it when nature comes to life again. But it always whizzes by much too fast. That's what I thought when I was scrolling through my archives a while ago. This picture was taken early March, when the grape hyacinths were nothing but little buds ...


Project 366 # 94




... and this was taken just a few days ago, they're past their peak already!
This is one of the reasons why I love this Project 366. It makes me grab my camera a lot more than I would otherwise. It makes me remember the way things were, sometimes only just a little while ago. Maybe I could do a couple more posts like this, make this a theme maybe?

My Weekend in Pictures

Inquiring minds want to know "what have you done this weekend?" This meme hosted by Gattina helps you to remember what you did on the weekend. I agree, weekends always seem to whiz by so fast, one tends to forget. That would be a pity because they're precious moments, worth remembering. That's why I love participate and look back on Mondays to share these moments with you. My weekend in pictures ...



There is no better way to celebrate the weekend but with a little Pastis on a cold and gray Saturday. This French aperitif is instant sunshine!



We were invited for supper by our daughter Patsy, so I made us a light salad with pink grapefruit and Roquefort cheese for lunch.


I made a dressing with the juice of the grapefruit and added a few drops of olive oil with chili pepper which we had bought at Oil and Vinegar the previous day.


As you can see, Patsy was over the moon with the olive oil gift set we had bought her. It contains the same chili pepper olive oil combined with another one from Italy. ( I forgot the name!)


Turned out we were not the only two guests in the house! Patsy secretly invited more family. My husband's cousin Hugo and his wife Hilda showed up as well and that was such a lovely surprise to us. We don't get to see them half as much as we'd like to and they're always such good company! Patsy is a great cook and she outdid herself this time. The scallops she made as a starter were to die for and we had salmon as a main course. Oh yes, her food was as good as it looks!

I'm glad I had my little baby camera in my purse, at least now we have a lovely momentum of a beautiful evening!

Sunday breakfast is becoming a tradition in my house, I want to make something special each week. It is no secret that I love to bake - even now when I'm still dieting - so this week I tried a new to me recipe from my Weight Watcher's cookbook. I made scones, and they were a treat!

I combined them with goat's cheese and smoked salmon as a savory treat and we ate the rest of them with jam, strawberries and a whipped cream for tea later in the afternoon.

Project 366 # 93

The weather was a lot brighter on Sunday and although it was still rather chilly, we did have sunshine and blue skies. My husband wanted to do some paperwork, so we stayed in. I spent the afternoon reading the weekend edition of the paper and blogging. In between that I took some photos on my patio practicing the manual settings on my camera.

Later that afternoon I prepared a turkey tajine for the next day and started supper.

I made a toast with pear and Camenbert as a starter, and salmon with lentils and sun dried tomatoes as a main course.
After that it was time to watch the Ultimate Dance Battle on television. I was very pleased to see that team Min Hee won again. I think that this choreographer works magic with her team!