Photo Story Friday, the Halloween Edition

Hosted by Cecily and MamaGeek

Well hey hello there, dear visitors.
Now don't leave ... don't be afraid, just let me introduce myself.
I am Mrs Doubtfire, and I live at Jientjes house.
People commented on my portrait yesterday,
saying I could use a new hairdresser, and you'll probably
say that my clothes are in rags as well, but to be honest,
witches do not bother with stuff like that.
I'm way too busy to worry about my looks.
I know I look a little bit crazy, but to tell you the truth, I AM crazy.
Being crazy comes with the job, so ...



I died in the flames in the dark ages.
That was because people did not understand me.
I had a black cat, and my black hat and long nose may have scared people.
I still don't know why they did it, throwing me in the flames like that.
It was awful. Oohhh I had my doubts about those flames, I was so scared.
That's how I got my name in the first place.




I found out it's nothing really, you just stare in the distance
and try to keep your mind on more pleasant matters.
Because once you've you died in the flames, you get to become
a real witch, and I already knew witches can not die again.
So nothing can hurt me no more.

I've always been very eager to learn new stuff,
and do some experimenting of my own.
There's only one way to become a good witch, and that's to try things,
that's what my aunt always used to say to me.
If it does not kill you, it makes you stronger, so...
Mind you, I can be forgetful at times.
But that can lead to some very interesting new discoveries,
and I just love inventing stuff by accident.
Like that grape juice I forgot about a couple of months ago?
Well, I tasted it, and it made me a little giggly but I kind of like that.

What I really looooove to do is to go out in the woods and pick things.
And when I come home, I poor myself a nice glass of that giggly stuff
and start throwing a couple of things together.
I believe people call that cooking nowadays,
but don't forget that I was the one who invented that.
Oh and um, okay, I'll admit, not all of the stuff I try really works, but hey?
Like I said, if it does not kill you, it makes you stronger!
Mushrooms are really my favourites! You know, you would not believe
that purple colour you get from some of them when you throw them in the flames!
Mind you, some of those mushrooms I bring home
really can make you talk funny, but even that wears off in a day or two.
Oh but don't try this at home though, I've got to warn you!

Flames do not scare me anymore now, I've learned to love them.
It's my cat, she's not to keen on them though.

I think I'll have to teach her the hard way ...
Oh and um .... do not try this at home either!!

Click on the links to visit the other players.
Hosted by Cecily and MamaGeek

Sepia Scenes My Favourite Witch

This is my second entry for Sepia Scenes.
I love this meme.
I love trying new things, and I find it very interesting to learn from others.
The teach not only publishes a sepia picture,
she also explains how she did it, and that's what so exciting about this new meme.

I used the "time machine" on Paint Shop Pro X 12,
there are some interesting pre set features there,
(I used the oldest one last Sunday on the Weekly Winners post.)
and I used the second one this time.



This is someone I'd like to introduce tomorrow.
She's my favourite witch and she has a very special place in my home at this moment.
After all, tomorrow IS Halloween, right?
So if you would want to get to know her just a little bit better,
just come back and read tomorrow's post, okay?



See more Sepia Scenes here, or better still ...
join us if you're interested!

Wordless Wednesday ..... Spooky!

Okay, I know it's supposed to be wordless but
I'm going to spend some words on this one anyway.
The strangest thing happened.
I use Picture Manager to resize my pictures,
but when I hit the auto correction button
to see if I could make it a little lighter,
this is what came out! It turned pink!
But since it's Halloween, I think I can get away with it.
What do you think?



Which one is the spookiest?

See more Wordless Wednesday pictures here.

Ruby Tuesday The Marina in Lillo

For this week's Ruby Tuesday we made a photo walk in Lillo.
Lillo is a lovely village along the river the Schelde,
it's not too far from Antwerp and I always enjoy going for a walk there.
Click here to enjoy more pictures of Lillo.


Okay okay, I know. There's as much blue in this picture as there is red...
But wait ...

There ...

You see?

Okay. That's what it's all about.


Mooring bollards.
Aren't they great?
Perfect for Ruby Tuesday I thought!


To see more Ruby Tuesday pictures, visit Mary the teach
at work of the poet, and visit the other players as well!

Macro Monday ..... Hairy Scary

Monday is Macro Monday again.
I had a couple of options to choose from this week,
but since Halloween is coming up,
I'm bringing on
the HAIRY SCARY GUYS ....
Click on them if you have the guts to do that...
Whuhahahahaha.
*Insert wicked laughter*

Okay, so that last one is not that scary.
There's no spider here,
just click on this one then
to make it bigger.
Ohhhh, you guys are so chicken!

For more Macro Monday fun, go over to Lisa'sChaos,
and visit the other players, okay?

Weekly Winners Baarle Hertog-Nassau

For this week's Weekly Winners, I had some fun with my pictures.
I used the time machine feature on my Corel Paint Shop Pro x12.
This effect made my pictures look like a 100 years old.
I thought this would be kind of neat for the pictures I made
in Baarle-Nassau early this week.
If you care to read some funny stories on this very peculiar village,
click on this link and read Friday's post.
You'll find some more pictures of Baarle there as well.

The village of Baarle Nassau is a Dutch Belgian border village,
situated in Holland. There is no real border as we know it.
Baarle Nassau is a very complex jigsaw puzzle of pieces of Belgium
in Holland and vice versa.
There is a Wikkipedia map in Friday's post explaining
this rather unique situation. ( just click on the link)
If you're confused, you might want to look at it first.



This is a ceremonial bounder marker in front of the church of Baarle Hertog.


The Belgian/Dutch border cuts through streets ...


through the middle of properties ...


or right through the middle of a house.
This house has two door numbers, one is Belgian, the other Dutch.



Detail of the old water pump .






The statue for the war hero's of Baarle that were shot in the second world war.



Baarle has some very cosy hotels and pubs .



These were taken inside the pub where we had lunch.

For more Weekly Winners, visit Lotus, AKA Sarcastic Mom.

Photo Hunt "Scary"

This week's theme for Photo Hunt is "scary".

In July we visited the Planckendael Zoo.
I thought there was a dead animal in the river,
but at closer investigation, it turned out to be a fake.
The only thing that aroused my suspicion
was the fact that it did not have any insects on it.
But at first glance, it scared the crap out of me!

Visit the other Photo Hunt players here.

Photo Story Friday On the Border

Hosted by Cecily and MamaGeek

Last Tuesday I visited the village of Baarle Nassau.
The village of Baarle Nassau is a Dutch/Belgian border village
with a very unique feature.There is no straight border.
In fact, the actual border is a jigsaw puzzle of pieces
of Belgian territory on Dutch soil and vice versa.

Take a look at this map. ( Source: Wikkipedia)

Baarle consists of two municipallities, it has two nationalities, yet it is only one village.
Half of a street can be Dutch while the opposite side is Belgian,
and sometimes that border can run right THROUGH a house.
This house has two different house numbers, one in Belgium and one in Holland.

The people living here could sleep in Holland, and have breakfast in their kitchen in Belgium.
It can even get worse. If that border runs across your bed,
technically speaking your husband sleeps abroad every night!

There is a very amusing story about a pub with two doors.
Sadly enough, the pub is gone now, but still ...
This pub was called " 't Hoekske", which means " the Corner",
and it had the Belgian border running through it right across the pool table.
(You could play pool across the border there)
Closing time in Holland was slightly earlier, but the Belgian side of the pub
remained open, while Dutch pub door was closed, according to the regulations of the law.
The remaining customers enjoyed another beer at the right side of the border.

When real estate was sold there would be a Belgian and a Dutch notary present
and they would each (very conveniently) sit in their own national section
of the pub to handle all the necessary paperwork.



In the mid seventies, there was this Dutch movie which had been X rated in Belgium.
There is only one movie theatre in Baarle, and they were planning on showing it there.
So they built a fence that followed the borderline inside the theatre.
The audience and the projectors were at the Dutch side of the theatre,
while the Belgian police remained on Belgian soil to keep an eye on things ...

And this is how the Belgians and the Dutch live there in perfect harmony ...