Halloween in my Town

Halloween has become quite a commercial success over the last decade here in Belgium, and for the second year in a row a big Halloween event was held in my town yesterday evening. The shops were open until ten, and there was a Halloween Market at the market place. Of course, I had to be there with my camera ...




Some of the kids were dressed up and went from shop to shop trick or treating.
There was even an inflatable castle for the children.

The whole town was decorated with pumpkins and skeletons.

Shop keepers were dressed up as witches ... 

There were special treats on sale like pumpkin soup with spiders or these pretty Halloween muffins at the baker's shop.

I've never seen so many witches, and they happily posed for me.

some  sweet ....

some a bit evil ...

... and scary ones

Those lovely colors of Autumn ...

Thanks for those lovely comments on my last blog post, it was so nice to find out I still have some readers left after such a long break! Your comments made me realize I DO miss blogging more than just a little bit.

This week is a holiday week, a lot less busy than my usual weeks, so I have more time on my hands. I also have loads of pictures to share for now. We'll just have to wait and see how it goes beyond that, won't we?

Let's just pick it up where I left off ...

 

What a beautiful beautiful blue sky, we don't get that every day around here! 

 

 Those leaves had such a beautiful color I just had to pick some to make a Fall decoration at home.

 Me, waving at you!

Anyway,  on with the walk ...

I really loved this quaint little house, I've never seen any like it!

The shrub with the blue flowers echoed the color of the shutters ...

It was even prettier than the photo!

The walk continued, I so enjoyed it, taking it all in, paying attention to every little detail. I still have lots more to share, so I'll be back!

My weekend in Pictures, I'm BAAAACK!!

I got an email from a befriended blogger asking me if I was okay, because it's been so long since I last posted. She told me she missed my stories and my photos. I was very surprised, I never thought anyone would care whether I blog or not.
To be honest, I do miss blogging sometimes too, it's just that I don't get around to it as much as I did before.
I still take pictures - not as much as I used to though - but they just seem to linger around on my computer. And that's a shame, really.
Maybe I should publish something from time to time eh?

Maybe I should just begin by telling you what I've been up to this weekend eh? The weather was gorgeous, crisp, cold and very sunny. Unlike the west of the country where my Mom and my family live, we did not get any rain around here.
On Saturday, we got up early because my hubby had to catch a train to Brussels and we still wanted to go to the market before he left. I had to keep myself busy all afternoon, so I baked four loaves of bread ...  

... and made some new Fimo jewelry beads. I had gotten a birthday gift in the mail from my sister the previous day and I wanted to play with some of the new colors I got.

Anyway, here is what I made ...

Saturday evening we were invited by our daughter Patsy and her hubby for a little dinner party for my birthday. Her food was delicious, as always!

Sunday was an even sunnier day, so we decided to go out and capture some of that stunning beauty of Autumn ( which never lasts all that long) with my "Big Guy" camera. We had a very long photo walk and I took over three hundred photos! Not all of them good, mind you, but still... And at the end of our walk we met a falconer, and I was able to take amazing photos of the man and his bird. It would be a shame to waste such beautiful pictures, so I will publish more from this walk later this week. 

Friday's Fave Five, Chocolate and Good Music

Friday already! After an uneventful weekend I've had a pretty busy week with a lot of good stuff going on. Time to join Susanne's Friday's Fave Five and share some of the highlights from it ...

1. A day out with my friend Nana on Wednesday. At ten in the morning when we were supposed to meet up it was still raining cats and dogs. The rain really was poring down with buckets, and at first we didn't really know what to do with our day. Nana bought herself a cute umbrella and put on some good music in her car. It was an hour's drive to reach our destination in Holland and we sang along with the music the whole time. That cheerful mood of ours must have changed the minds and the moods of the weather gods, because by the time we were halfway there the rain had stopped! Later in the morning we even had sunshine! We went to Etten-Leur, a small shopping paradise in Holland.

2. Shopping for shoes at bargain prices. I've been looking out for red shoes for quite a while now, but had not really found them until now. Nana took me to her favorite shoe shop.The shoes over there are a lot cheaper than in Belgium, and not only did I find the red shoes I had been dreaming of, I also found two more pairs! A girl can never have too much shoes now can she? I paid only as much as one pair would have cost me in Belgium! 

3. Alcohol free Pastis. Pastis with the taste but without the sugar and the alcohol of our regular aperitif.
We stay away from alcohol during the week but me and my hubby are addicted to our aperitif ritual whenever he is home. This is a perfect alternative!

4. Toblerone mini chocolate bars. When I was on holiday in Switserland as a teen I tasted Toblerone chocolate for the first time in my life. Although I haven't bought it much over the last decade, I still think it's a heavenly treat. I found these individually wrapped minis in a local supermarket, and now I can enjoy the almond and nougat laced milk chocolate with a nice cup of Senseo coffee!

5. A hand written card from Kamil Vojnar. We bought one of his art photos about two years ago, and he let us know he will be in his galery in Saint Remy in France during Summer. Too sad we're not going to Saint Remy this year, but it was nice hearing from him. I'm sure we'll get to visit him and see his latest work when we go there next year.

Friday's Fave Five, Summer Days

We've had a couple of nice "warm-weather-feels-like-Summer" days the past two weeks, so I spent more time outdoors rather than behind my computer, that's why I haven't posted in over two weeks!
June already, I just knew the month of May would whiz by in a jiffy!
It's Friday, that means it's time to look back upon the week that has passed and post some favorites. Time to join Susanne's Friday's Fave Five!

1. Last Friday was our 21st wedding anniversary, and my husband surprised me with a lovely bouquet of roses. He knew I would most probably welcome him on the patio, when he parked his car down below. He didn't want me to see the bouquet just yet, so he smuggled it in through the front door before he parked the car! That man is so smart, he still knows how to surprise me even after all those years!

2. I've got my camera back!!! My Big Guy has been fixed, and it cost me nothing! This time they had to replace the shutter, but there was a six month warranty on the previous repair job, so they did it for free!
I'm a happy camper now!

3. The roasted pineapple we had on the barbecue. We injected it with rum and coconut liqueur and roasted it for an hour. Served with some ice cream it was delicious!

4. We were invited to spend a day in the Ardennes by our daughter Patsy last Sunday. It was a beautiful day, and we made a nice long walk before lunch. After that, lunch was prepared on the barbecue. It was wonderful to be outside all day and enjoy each others company in the warmth of the sun.

5. We love to experiment and try new flavors on the new barbecue, and with the warm weather we had last weekend it was time to enjoy our patio! This time we tried shrimps with a raspberry dressing, served as an appetizer. I would never have imagined shrimps with raspberries, but it's wonderful!

Friday's Fave Five, November Weather

You're probably wondering why I'm using a fall button to this post? Well, that's because of the weather we've been having here lately. It's been cold and wet and gray, not at all the kind of weather one would expect in a beautiful month of May! It doesn't feel like Spring at all, it feels like November around here!
Phew! I had to get this off my chest, the weather is definitely NOT in my favorites these past few weeks. We're desperately in need of some sunshine and stable weather.

That said, over to the real business of the day by sharing my favorites from the week. It's time to join Susanne at Living to Tell the Story in this weekly meme.

1. Highlight of the week was my Mom's birthday on Sunday. The whole family got together to celebrate her 79th birthday.Read all about it and see more pictures in this post.

2. Breakfast and a day out with my friend Nana. It's always great to spend time with her. This time she found us a very cozy vegetarian restaurant. The food was great, and time flew by way too fast.

3. Shopping for clothes. After breakfast we browsed some clothing stores together and fitted a couple of dresses. I found three dresses, a white cardigan  and a very cute polka dotted T shirt.

4. Fimo fun. Ever since my daughter gave us a workshop on how to make polymer clay beads, we've been bitten by the Fimo virus! This week I made a necklace to match my beige dress and I'm rather proud how it came out.

5.The Senseo coffee maker my hubby surprised me with yesterday. I found a package of coffee pads in the shopping bag and thought he had gotten a free sample at some supermarket. He acted as if he had forgotten something and came back with the coffee maker!

6.Our new barbecue. Despite the poor weather, we've been cooking outside a couple of times this week, and I love my outdoor kitchen a lot!

My Weekend in Pictures, Happy Birthday Mom!

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 ...



The weather was incredibly cold on Saturday, it was wet and cold, it felt like November!
We ran some errands and went to the weekly market as usual, and in the evening we pulled the barbecue a little closer to the kitchen and used it anyway! We made grilled vegetables and lamb chops and it tasted delicious.

I got up at seven in the morning on Sunday because I still needed to bake a cake for my mother's birthday.We were due at my sister's house at noon as we were invited for lunch, and after that we all gathered at my Mom's to celebrate her 79th birthday.

We had all baked something for tea, my sister Bientje baked a chocolate cake, my other sister baked an apple pie with lemon and I had brought an apple raspberry cake which is the one in front. There was also a delicious strawberry crumble and chocolate chip cookies my daughter Valerie had baked. Yum!

 

 That chocolate cake was to die for!

 Here's the Birthday Girl opening her first present, a picture of my dad with his cat.

Here is my Dad showing off his new sunglasses, a birthday present from all of us for his 80th birthday. Isn't he handsome?

After tea we had a little creative session with polymere clay. We're all into that since my daughter Valerie had taught us how to make our own jewelry a few weeks ago.

All the paparazzi were there too!

All too soon it was time to dress the table again and serve supper...

And then it was time for another present from all of us ...
The day went by much too soon, today it's a very happy memory with lots of precious moments.

These are the flowers I got from my daughter Valerie. She was one week early for Mother's Day! Beautiful eh?