Sepia Scenes Old School Building.

Mary the teach, the famous host of Ruby Tuesday
has come up with a new meme called Sepia Scenes.
Click on this link if you want to find out more about this exciting new meme.
I'm thrilled, I really like sepia pictures a lot!

This is my nephew playing with a girlfriend in front of an old school building.
By now, this old school building probably does not exist any more,
it was up for demolition a couple of months ago when this picture was taken.
I made a series of pictures on this charming old building, maybe I should post it someday.


Anyhow, this is my first entry for Sepia Scenes, but it won't be my last ...

Wordless Wednesday Signed by Van Gogh

It says:
" I can't do any better"
Van Gogh.

Look for more Wordless Wednesday pictures here.

Ruby Tuesday, a Special little Ruby Moment

Todays Ruby Tuesday is about a "ruby" moment that happened to me yesterday.

On Mondays I cook for a family with two boys, age 10 and 13.
I have been part of this family for over two years now.
I have the key to their house, and by the time the mother
and her two boys come home their house is filled with the aroma's
of a couple of good home cooked meals.
I had been thinking about swapping yesterdays assignment to another day
since it was my birthday, but I had forgotten to ask last week.
I didn't want to disappoint the boys at last notice,
I know how they look forward to it and
they had no idea it was my birthday anyway.
So I kept my part of the bargain and went out to cook for them.
They came home around four o'clock,
and surprised me with flowers and a poem to go with it.
The poem was about how they loved me (and my cooking, hehe)
Getting flowers on your birthday is great, but they didn't know that
and that's the whole point!
They gave me flowers because they appreciate my cooking,
now, isn't that something? They made my day, they sure did!

When I came home I put them in a ruby vase, made a picture,
and decided that this precious little moment was to be my Ruby post for today.


For more Ruby pictures, visit Mary the teach, at work of the poet.

Happy Birthday to Me ...

This is a birthday card I got one year ago today.
It says " Another year older, but you still look good, how do you do that?"
Let me tell you, a year has gone by and I look even better today ...
Hehehehehe, I wish that was true!
It's going to be a bit of a busy day today, so please forgive me ...

Weekly Winners The Elephant Parade in Antwerp

This is a small selection of elephants that are on exhibition
in the city of Antwerp at the moment.
The exhibition called the Elephant Parade started out in Rotterdam
last year, and will be held in London next year.
They will be on display until November 6th, after that they will be auctioned.
The money will go to three different projects protecting the Asian elephant.
One of the projects is Miss Sozaida Salwala's elephant hospital in Thailand.
There are over 70 elephants in Antwerp. All of them hand painted,
some by famous artists, others by want-to-be-famous artists.
They're all different and very unique.
They come in all kinds of sizes ...

Out on the streets ...
I took most of my pictures at the Antwerp Festive Hall,
which used to be a dance hall but was recently transformed into a shopping mall.

There were some very adorable small ones ...

... and they all come with a certificate of course.

This is a public one, everyone can autograph this one.









The white one with the ballerina on top is my favourite one,
I made pictures from all kinds of different angles ...




For more Weekly Winners,
please click on the banners or click here, to visit Lotus' blog.

Photohunt ..... Family

This week's theme for Photohunt is "family". I saw this family of swans when we took a boat ride on the canals of Bruges this summer. Here's Mr and Mrs Swan proudly presenting their young ones.

If you should ever visit Bruges, you'll be charmed by the amount of swans that live on the canals . There's a historical reason for that, a legend. In the year 1482, after the death of Mary of Burgundy times were rather restless in Bruges. Maximillian of Austria summoned the people of Bruges to pay excessive taxes. One of his best friends and his personal councellor was called Pieter Lanchals. That would be"Peter Longneck" if you translate his name. The people of Bruges were not at all happy having to pay so many taxes, so they captured Maximillan and held him hostage at the House of Craenenburg, which is still one of the historical houses at the market place in Bruges. Through the barred window of his room, he was forced to witness how his friends were being tortured. Among them was his good friend Pieter Lanchals, whose head was being chopped off and placed on a stick outside one of the city gates. Once Maximillian was released, he ordered the people of Bruges to keep swans ( long neck's) on the lakes and the canals of Bruges, not just for a decade or so, but for all eternity ... Visit the other Photo Hunt players here.

Number 326

This is post 326 on this blog.
If I add the Nablompomo posts I blogged on Ning last year,
this would mean that I have already published over 365 posts.

It's been a wonderful journey.
I've met all kinds of different people who shared slices of their lives.
There are all kinds of stories with one thing in common ... we're all humans.
We all have our happy moments and our worries.
So many things happen in a year, it's not just the change of seasons.
I've seen Father Christmas in a swimsuit, now that's an unusual idea for a European.
I've seen the damage of an ice storm, I had never heard of that before.
I've walked the streets of New York and minutes later I was in Waikiki Beach.
People moved from one place to another, building new lives in different homes.
Young mothers getting pregnant, others hoping to.
Their mothers becoming grandmothers, it's all part of life.
Some of my friends have overcome major health issues,
while others lost a family member or even a partner.
There is kid's stuff and the wonders of nature.
Well, aren't they both ... wonders of nature, I mean?
Cats and dogs, squirrels and deer.
Amazing skies .... or even caterpillars.


Blogging has made me look at myself and my own life sometimes.
It had me thinking "I'm so lucky".
And every now and again I think others are the lucky ones.
Anyhow.
I still don't want to miss it ....