Bridging the Gap, Locked and Unlocked

Last Tuesdays discovery tour was not over yet.
I had found the right bridge for my Ruby Tuesday post, but I wanted more.
So I continued my trip on my bike, looking for more interesting pictures,
when I stumbled upon this ....

Can you see the different water level outside this lock and inside?
I walked up to the gate to take a picture .
"Bridging the gap!!" , I thought, "Yaaaay!"

And then I turned around and saw a boat approaching.
I had never witnessed a procedure like this before,
so I considered myself very lucky, to be at the right place at the right time!
I have so many pictures, I had to make another slide show!
Anyway, this is how it's done:

• The entrance gates are opened and the boat sails in.
• The entrance gates are closed.
• A valve is opened, this lowers the boat by draining water from the chamber.
• The exit gates are opened and the boat sails out.

And now ... from your reporter on the field ...

That was fun, and I owe it all to Alice!
She's the inspiration behind all this!
She's the one who made us find pictures with bridges on them in the first place, but this photo challenge has gone far beyond that. It even "bridges the gap" between bloggers from all over the world!
I could not agree more ...
If you're interested to see more bridges from around the world, then head on over to Alice's place!

Photohunt "Glass"

This week's theme for Photohunt is glass.
I was looking forward to this one.
As with every theme, there are different takes on the subject .
This one for instance, "a glass".

Or this,
... it's in my bathroom and it is fact a vase
that can no longer hold water, because I broke it.
I filled it with glass beads, and it looks lovely.


The third picture is artwork made by a Belgian glass sculptress.


The photo on top of this post shows some more of her artwork.

As it happens, we recently saw a demonstration on blowing glass.
I was able to make pictures of the whole procedure, and I put them in a slideshow.

This is my entry for this week,
I hope to see you again next week for another Photohunt.
Don't forget to visit the others!

Fridge Friday .... The Full Monty!

Okay, I promised you all the Full Monty.
But before we move on to that Monty stuff,
let's do a little bit of explaining, shall we?
I found the following explanation on the origin of that expression:

"It drives Brits nuts when people think ‘The Full Monty’ means stripping, because to a Brit it was a term used for decades and decades before as a catch phrase meaning to ‘go all the way;’ coined by General Montgomery’s cook as the military man always insisted on a full English breakfast before battle."

Breakfast ... fridge ... Okay, makes sense to me ...
Let's go ...




What?
Still not satisfied?
What did you say? It's not what you were looking for?
Well, at least it had a fridge?
Oh you want the REAL STUFF?
Okay, okay, here we go then ...
There ...




Still not right?
OK, let's try this then shall we?
(Click on the radio button to get the complete experience!
I have picked a different version of that same song)

I promised?
Whahahahahaha!

Happy birthday darling!

It's my husband's birthday today!

These are some of the happy moments we have shared in recent years.
We celebrated his birtday for the very first time 27 years ago,
and we haven't missed one since.

We have shared so much in all of those years.
Yes, we shared the good and the bad. The highs and the lows.
But even when things didn't work out, we always had each other.
I hope there will be many, many more!

Happy birthday Keppeke*!

(* Keppeke is my special name for him)

Throw me a hand!

There is a legend on how Antwerp got it's name, and it goes like this ...
Once upon a time, there was this terrible giant, called Antigoon.
The ships coming to Antwerp had to pay very high taxes,
and if they didn't he would chop off one of their hands.
But one very brave Roman soldier killed the giant.
He cut off the hand of the giant and threw it in the river, the Schelde.
The soldier's name was Brabo and he's the figure on the statue in front of the town hall.

So the first part "ant" means hand, and "werpen" is to throw,
That's why Antwerp means "throw a hand".


There's another saying I have read somewhere:

"If it's two o’clock in the afternoon on a Wednesday and you’ve got an amber colored Bolleke
in your hand while you watch a mythical giant get his hand chopped off... you might be in Antwerp."

That is true, look ...

Well, in fact it was on a Saturday, and it as about ten to twelve , but never you mind!
Drinking a Bolleke is an exellent idea if you come to Antwerp.
As far as the hand chopping is concerned, I am very happy to let you know ...
... that we don't do that anymore!