Photohunt ... Free

It's a great day for a Photohunt today!
Visit the other players here ...

This week's theme is "free"!

Matthias is free ...


Matthias is a street artist in Saint Rémy de Provence.
He does a robot dance act, and the golden morning sun lightens up
the colours of his costume and makes him look like something out of a fairy tale.
For years and years, he has been waring the same blue outfit.
He stands in the hot sun all morning on Wednesdays, "le jour du marché".
And when he really gets too hot, he pours a bottle of cold water over his body.
I have seen him do it.
The sun is for free.
So is the water from the fountain.
And the candy he hands out to the children.

Matthias merely collects a few coins.

But the smile on that little boys face is priceless....

Saint Rémy de Provence
June 2007

Fridge Friday!!! The make over

How fast time flies huh, Friday again!
Where's the rest of the week gone to?
Fridge Friday, although I think I might be the only one this week?
Where is everybody?
Anyway, I was alone last night, and I had a long conversation with Grammy!
Grammy?
Yes! Grammy!
Oh yes, you've already met her I guess, but you didn't know her name?




Say hi to Grammy, because she's a very shy fridge you know!
She's a European fridge and that means she's very sensitive ...
oh, and just a teeny weeny bit old fashioned too!
Of course, at her age, she's allowed to be the kind of ... per.... fridge that she is!
She's done a terrific job! She has been with us for quite a number of years now.
And she's still not thinking of retirement, why would she?

She's just not up to that photoshooting business, she told me!
In fact it almost freezes her to think I would show her insides on the internet like that?
She's had some issues on that one before,
I don't think I'd want to scare her any more than I have to!
She complained that she looked very messy, so I gave her a good clean last night.
I know I know, it was Valentine's day but my husband had to work,
and what is a girl supposed to do on Valentine's night when she's all alone in the house?
Talk to the fridge, clean ... oh and blog of course!
Right!
Exiting huh?
Anyway ...
I have removed all of the expired stuff that was bothering her!
I even took a picture of it! Look ...

A note from the pharmacy telling me they are going to be closed
.... until the fifth of january!
Yikes!!!
Disgusting isn't it!
And a pizza hut coupon expired 3/12/07!!!
Gross! Yuck!

Anyway, I gave her a complete make-over!
She now looks like this, great huh?

Okay, okay, now you'll all want to know what is up there?
Take a closer look...


From left to right:
I love magnets, and I collect them, but using them on the fridge is not always such a great idea, as some of them tend to drop off and break sometimes!
So I'm mostly trying to use the unbreakable ones.
The red one with the cat has a cute quote: it says "Nine lives and I had to choose this one!"
The other one says " People who do not like cats were probably mice in their previous life!"
They were gifts by a friend of mine who takes care of my cat sometimes!
Since it was Valentine, I decided to put the Valentine cards up too.
The red card says "I love you so much", and the one next to it is the one my husband gave me.
And of course it has the same message!


Above the badge with Gram's name ( we changed it to Grammy later!)
is a sad little magnet that misses a piece, illustrating why I prefer to use unbreakable ones!
A little bag of basil seeds, to be sown when summer comes,
is a present from my Dutch blogging friend.
A garbage callendar, that's the red and green one.
This one has to stay up there for the rest of the year! Ewww!
Left of it is there's a drawing by my nephew, whose birthday it is today!
Forgot to send a birthday card again, I'm always late with them!
The cook's hat magnet is one his sister Paulien made for me. It's very unique, I love it!
The green ones are from the flower shop, reminding you to buy flowers on a Friday!
Flower Friday, oh I kind of like that!
Underneath the hand magnet it are some recipes I plan to make in the near future .
And the little furry bear on top I bought in Spain, he's cute!
It's not a bear, it's a lion actually but I didn't notice it when I bought it!
There! What do you think?
Any more questions?

Thirsday thirteen, thirteen pictures....

As it is Thirsday Thirteen AND Valentine's day today,
I'm sharing something very very special today.
I featured a picture yesterday, one that obviously didn't need any words ...
Today, I'll try to tell you the whole story, with thirteen pictures ...
... and some very dramatic music.
The colours of the pictures have faded a little, the memory hasn't ...

(I really can't find another way to get the music in this post, so please click on the video to hear the music. No, not just now, wait just a little bit, I'll tell you when !!!)
20th October also happens to be my birthday, what a coincidence!)



It was in the month of October, 1990.
We had just moved into our new house.
We invited some friends ....

and threw a housewarming party.

As it was also my birthday ...
He had bought me a surprise gift.
Wich was not really a great surprise,
because as soon as he walked into the room, I knew what was in it!

He had selected some very dramatic music for his big entrance.
Also Sprach Zaratustra ....
(Click on the video if you have not added the music yet)


I acted a little surprised ...
Unpacked it...
Of course, I already knew what it was, so I wanted to thank him for it.

But then he said I had to open it.
The music had reached it's most dramatic point
"tatààààà!!!"
I opened it ...
and found a little envelope ...
I thought I was getting a birtday card, so I opened it and read it.



My friends were getting very curious and a little impatient to know what the letter said,
and asked me to read it out loud ...
My voice trembled ...

"Keppeke, will you please marry me"
He proposed to me, right there and then, and nobody knew exept for my stepdaughter.
We had been together for ten years and we were happy the way we were.

I had no idea!


It was one of the most precious moments in my life ....

It's all a long time ago now, we got married in the month of May.
And have been happily married ever since ...

Wordless Wednesday ... a little romance?

Wordless Wednesday again.
Please visit some of the other players there as well, it's fun!


I think this is the perfect wordless picture for a little bit of Valentine mood?


Since this is a wordless day, I am not really supposed to say anything more.
But I'll answer your questions in tomorrow's post!

Confessions of a blog addict

I have a confession to make.
One I'll probably regret in the near or the not so near future, I don't know? ( I'm sure!)
I'll probably get an avalanche of them ...
Yes, (come to think of it), I 'll (most certainly)/(probably) will drown in them one day!
I'll have huge desk drawers stuffed with them...
They will probably keep me awake at night! (I sincerely hope not!)

But as for now reading a comment on this blog saying "you're being tagged"
makes my heart jump!
It flushes adrenalin down my veins, and a certain calm descends upon me ...
( I know ... it all happens at the same time ....
Yes I know it's not logical from a medical point of view, but that's what happens!
I must be the most unimaginative blogger ever, to be happy with a meme,
... but I am!
At least I'll know what to write about.
Having made my vows to do 365,
( for better or for worse, remember?)
it comes in handy to get some or other assignment!
That's why I find it very thoughtfull of PG to tag all /(some?) 365-fools with this!

You know, being tagged with this one, I can post something really silly
and not being held responsible for it?
It was not really my idea was it? Hehehehe!

Okay, okay I'll cut the crap!
Let's get down to business!

1. Pick up the nearest book ( of at least 123 pages).

2. Open the book to page 123.

3. Find the fifth sentence.

4. Post the next three sentences.

5. Tag five people. & post a comment here once you post it to your blog, so I can come see.

Now let's see?
I think I'll do number five first! That's the fun part !!!
Make someone happy with a meme!!!
The nominees are ...
all who happens to read this.
And I'll keep the names of the real winners to myself for a little while longer! (BIG GRIN!)
I can hear Sandy yelling ... oh you're such a tease!!!
Right Sandy?
Right!

Okay, okay, I'll cut it again ( that crap I mean!)
I have even gone through the trouble of shooting a picture.
You know, just in case one of you would not believe me?


Now folks, look at this ... what do you see?
The nearest book?
Can you read the titles?
Can you see the post I'm working on?
Can you see the picture of my cat burgling the fridge?
Okay.
The nearest book...
Since I am lefthanded, that would be the Oxford Wordpower Dictionary.
You see, where I come from we speak Dutch.
Or Flemish. That's almost the same.

I was foolish enough to join 365,
and write a post every day in a foreign language !
I'm not kidding, you know ... that's why the nearest book is a dictionary!

Page 123 ... let's see ...
Chickens!
There is a drawing of a cock, a chick and a hen!
I'll count them as the first five sentences.
Underneath the drawing it says :
CHICKENPOX/noun [U] a desease, especially of children. When you have chickenpox you feel very hot and get red spots on your skin that make you want to scratch.

There!
What do you think?
I loved it!

And now for the fun part! I love this even more!
Tagging ... * insert drumroll*
Christine, those chickens made me do it!
Eve, she's doing 365 too
Storyteller, who is in on it as well!
Julie, I hope nobody else tagged her yet!
And Chando, because this is a very suitable meme for a librarian!

And I am letting Sandy off the hook, she will get tagged in due time I'm sure!
In fact she already wears that meme crown! That same meme is up there as well!

There, that's all my crap for today!
* drumroll again please? *

Fun Monday ... Favourite music

This is the new assignment , hosted by ooh a shiny pen...
Make sure you visit others there as well ...

Music plays a vital role in most of our lives. It is everywhere. I want to hear the ONE song that is you. The song that whenever it is heard, you smile. I am not looking for the soundtrack of your life, just that one song. Your friends hear it and think of you. You can post the video, the lyrics, the wav file. However you want to post it is great.

This is my favourite band.
Their name is Gig Street, and they play out on the streets in the south of France.
We have met them about ten years ago,
ever since we started taking our vacation in the Provence,
and ever since they started playing together.
They play their swinging jazzy music on the streets of Saint-Rémy,
l'Isle sur la Sorgue, Nyons ... Uzès .
This video is made in l'Isle-sur-la-Sorgue, on a Sunday "le jour du marché."
The weekly market is held just around the corner from where they play,
and a lot of people stop by to enjoy their music.
This is happy music ...
It says holliday ...
Provence
and
"joie de vivre" ...

I took this picture while we were on holliday in l'Isle-sur-la-Sorgue, in June 2007.
I found the video on You Tube.
Some other great fan of theirs has been uploading a lot of video's he has recently made.
I saw this guy filming them, and I thought to myself, "please put it on You Tube!"
He must have been reading my mind!
Well, anyway, it's not about just one song ... I love all of their music!

I did a Google search and I just found their brandnew website.
If you want to visit their website and hear their latest CD, just click here ...

I've got all of their music here at home, exept for that last one.
We're going to buy it when we meet again, in June ...
Can't wait ...

Weekly winners, The chateau at the park ...

This series of pictures is made a little bit closer to home.
It is the "chateau" at the municipal park ...

Remember the street with the white trees I featured a few weeks ago?
The park is at the end of that street.

I took my bike ... ( that gave me some exercise at the same time)
And I took my camera ...
Of course I wanted to be part of it this week too!
I would not miss it for the world!

Do join us at Weekly Winners, everybody is more than welcome there!
Oh, and visit some of the other players while you are at it!
They love comments!

See you all again next week?