Freedom!

8 AM.
That's it.
Three more hours with a grumpy boss,
after that I'm officially on holliday!
I can start packing, do some last chores at home,
make sure I have everything for my catsitter ...
A thousand (and one more) things to do
before we can hit the road tomorrow night!
I have planned posts for each day on both of my blogs,
so I don't have to worry about that any more ...
I'm so looking forward to this trip, I don't think anyone can imagine.
Leaving all of this grey weather and rain behind will do us the world of good.
It's time for my hubby to get out of the rat race for a while too,
I think he needs this vacation even more than I do!


12:05 PM
It's official, no more grumpy bosses for two and a half weeks!!
The rain has been pouring down here all morning.
The things to do notes I had in my head,
are transformed to lists on all kinds of scraps of paper.
Later in the day, they will become piles of stuff
ready to fill my suitcases.
Still a lot to be done, but this is the fun part.
I'm looking at two weeks of sun and joie de vivre!
Never mind the rain now ...

Wordless Wednesday, Going on Holliday

Message to all of my visitors:
We will be on holliday for two weeks,
we're leaving for the South of France on Friday.
But I have planned a couple of posts on that subject,
and if all goes well every day something new should appear.
I've got pictures, videos and recipes,
guided tours for my Weekly Winners,
I'll still be doing Wordless Wednesdays and Photohunt.
I've got the whole two weeks covered with planned posts!
So please stay in touch and keep visiting me,
and leave me a comment every once and a while,
because I won't be able to sign any Mr Linky's to join in on all the fun.
I promise I'll make it worth your while, okay?


For more Wordless Wednesdays,
(with probably less words)
you should go visit the others here!

Project Blue, the Final Episode ...

Bruges is to Belgium what Venice is in Italy.
That's why they call it Venice of the North.
But if you're born there, and your family lives there,
you hardly ever get the opportunity to be a tourist there,
and enjoy the beauty of that city.
Up until last Sunday, I did not have one picture of Bruges in my archives.
I thought this was a real shame and
I was really looking for an opportunity to do something about that.
I had a meeting with a Dutch blogfriend and my sisters
and we did a photostroll in Bruges.
Like most of the tourists visiting Bruges, we took a boat ride on the canals.
That boat went terribly fast!
The whole thing was over in twenty minutes
while it was supposed to last at least half an hour!
We were being ripped off as tourists in your own city, oh my!

Nevertheless, I was able to make some pretty pictures ...


I saw this pretty balcony
and all I could think of was,
Project Blue!!!


We took a walk "on land" later on
and we passed the exact same house, and I thought
... Project Blue!!!

I do hope the blue comes out enough though!



For more Project Blue pictures,
visit Anna's blog!
And keep visiting it,
she has such great pictures every single day!

Project Blue, Souks of Marrakesh

If you're looking for Fun Monday
please scroll down to the next post please?


This is my Project Blue picture for today.
The souks of Marrakesh, Morocco,
november 2007


I'll be back tomorrow with a final series for this
Project Blue.
Save the best for last, I hope?


After that, I'm planning on doing a series of posts
about La Provence in France.
We will be on holliday for two weeks,
we're leaving for the South of France on Friday.
But I have planned a couple of posts on that subject,
and if all goes well every day something new should appear.
So please stay in touch, keep visiting me,
and leave me a comment every once and a while,
because I won't be able to sign any Mr Linky's to join in on all the fun.
I promise I'll make it worth your while, okay?


Now, if you want to see more Project Blue
pictures, go visit Anna's Blog!

Fun Monday, Childhood Memories

Molly is our host for Fun Monday today.
For your assignment tell us about a happy memory from your childhood.
If you have pictures, please show us your pictures.



A lot of the happy memories are from when I was
with my grandparents who lived in this small rural village.
I spent summer vacations there.

Every Sunday she would take me to church here.

During the sermon, I used to get very bored.
I looked at the ceiling, counted the windows
and looked at my reflection in the brass ball of that chandelier.

Parts of that service you were sitting on your knees,
and I can still remember how relieved I was
when we finally could turn that chair and sit down,
because by then, your knees really hurted ...

Every time you had to turn that chair around,
you could have a look at the people behind you ...


I tried to look at the paintings on the walls,
or tried to locate befriended people
in the other parts of the church.

I tried to decipher what it was
that was written on the floor, but I never could.



And then ... at last ... the service was over,
and you could head towards that door ...

and enjoy some fresh air again.
I remember looking up at the sky ...
The people gathered together in small groups
in front of the church
to exchange the latest town gossip.
That social gathering must have been
one of the highlights of the week for my grandmother.

And then finally, we left, and we could go home again ...

We rode on our bikes on those very small roads.



Sometimes we'd stop and pick flowers at the side of the road.


There was this tiny chapel at the corner of the street.
I always wanted to stop there and take a look inside.

And when we got home,
my grandmother would make me breakfast.
I was very, very hungry because
you could not eat before going to church in those days.
Freshly baked sweet bread, with butter and cheese
homemade jam and hot chocolate...

I loved my grandmother ...
Life was so beautiful there ...


For more Fun Monday happy memories,
visit Molly's blog!

Weekly Winners, the village of my grandmother.

My weekly Winners tour for this week is at my grandmother's village.
It's a very small farmer's community called Meetkerke,
not far from Bruges, in Belgium that is.

We were there to put some fresh flowering plants on my grandparents grave.

While my dad was busy doing this I made a few pictures.



This is the view when you come out of the church.




This is where the parish priest used to live.

I remember visiting there once, and it had this exact same floor inside.
Don't worry, I didn't burgle the house.


Across the street, where the local pub used to be
there is a small restaurant/tearoom now
and that's where I took this floor picture.
I made this one for Project Blue by the way ...


And this is a view I saw so many times as a child ...

I was taking this picture, and a little boy asked his mother
why on earth I would want to make a picture of a cow ...
Little does that boy know ...
Maybe, twenty years from now, he'll want to do the same ...
I hope it 'll still be as untouched then as it is now ...


If you're interested in seeing some more pictures of this village,
please visit tomorrow's post, my entry for Fun Monday.
Tomorrow is all about my childhood memories,
I know I have a lot of them from this place ...


Don't forget to visit the other players
at the homepage of Weekly Winners,
the one and only Sarcastic Mom.
If you want to see more Project Blue,
visit Anna's blog.

Photohunt / Project Blue #7

Photohunter wants us to show pictures of "bad hair" today.
There's no way I'm going to show you mine, uh-uh!

In fact, these guys were very reluctant to pose for me too!

They did not want to see,

... hear,


let alone talk about it ...

This is a little statue my husband once bought.
I never liked it very much, thought they were ugly.
And although it's been gathering dust for some years
because I neglected them,
that grey stuff is not dust, it's their patina.
I should know,
I was the one polishing it with a toothbrush
before I took the pictures!
Anyway, while making this series,
I've started to like them a little bit more!
And I like their message ...


Can you see how I have draped that gorgeous blue scarf behind it?
In a very creative, artistic and skillful way? Ahum ...
And the shades of blue in that silk? Hmm?

Multitasking again today,
it's also my post for Project Blue.
Clever huh?


For more bad hair and Photohunt,
visit the homeblog of Photohunt.
And if you want to see more Project Blue pictures,
visit Anna's blog!