by the way . . . . . . .

. . . did you know

? ? ? ? ?

my office -mates

was it not for the great people surrounding me at uni, i may no longer be here and stuck with dog wee and the quest for messages conveyed by it. this year 4 of them turn 30 and a few of us went to have drinks at cb2 to celebrate anne's transition to the 30s club.

on the left there is from the right anne, ngaio, lata, katja and daisy. on the right hand side this is the extended family, starting from the right with back turned towards us poshendra, ngaio, katja and francis, steven and anne, lata, daisy.

we are having sooo many giggling sessions at the office when we are supposed to do other more serious stuff. but laughing relaxes the mind and muscles, releases happy hormones, and cheers us all up, so i am looking forward ot many more of those sessions, girls and veggies.

if they knew i am going to bake another batch of chocolate chip cookies for them right now . . . . .

elie goes recumbant

for half a year now elie is the proud owner of a recumbant bike. he got it from . . . . . . . well, what do you think ? ebay of course, but in germany near frankfurt. it was really really really cheap (mon oeill), its pick-up gave philou and elie an excuse to take a trip to germany, it was brought to belgium by philou-courrier, then via a 1984 renault 5 over the channel to england, where it decorated elie's workshop for a few weeks before being brought to the bike pro for a check up. three weeks ago, their first day out !!

but the question of 'what is an artist' is a reoccurring topic in his mind. maybe he will find an answer within himself . . . . . ..


and the quest for the meaning of life may come to him with a good old belgian beer . . . . .


i don't even know what kind of beer that was even though i have been married to a belgian for over half a decade now . . . . . . (or the picture is not at high enough resolution and i cannot read the label on the glass). but you know what i mean, one of these dark smash-you-under-the-table-high-fermentation liquids.

and a few minutes later the electricity system at elie's favourite pub went bisonkas just to keep the local firemen busy. actually the shop right next door is the place elie works. so he often takes his portable phone over to the pub, has a few coffees over a few hours while still being connected to the shop. what a job !!

the little dog

finally i am sitting down again and writing some more blog stuff. funnily enough my inspiration is always enhanced by a drop of ethanol (or methanol ? can't remember which is compatible with human physiology, this is how serious the effect is on me ;-) ). nevermind.

here are some more pictures of the little nervous dog. he is almost approaching perfectness, and i love him to bits. for all those of you who could not care less about furry critters please close your eyes or look away while jumping to the next post.




. . . . alright, that was the wrong picture in the wrong post, with the wrong alignment on my post. that was a renault 4 that we saw parked in the flea market car park one sunny sunday morning. it is not well visible, but i am actually leaning against it in the back. let's try the next picture. for all ya' car freaks, you should probably visit hubby's blog on . . . . .sorry don' know, will let you know when i find out.




for some reason it is not horribly sharp. we do occasionally walk rio on midsummer common in the centre of town. it is lovely there with loads of flowers in the spring (can't wait !), masses of leaves in autumn, and always some action going on there. this tree trunk is one of rio's favourite. back in those times when he was mad for his ball he would not miss a single occasion to get that thing and do any sorts of tricks. he would say he still is mad for his ball, which is right, but i have massively reduced how much i kick it. 'cause it drives him nuts. so that is a remenant of the past and he can't help it and jump up on that trunk.


oh, gosh, that is an old one. little dog in the mountains. that was our first summer back in 2002 where elie's parents and aunts came to visit in the mountains. when i think about it i do horribly miss them (the mountains i mean, sorry, just jokin').







"why are we on that trip ? where is it we are going to ? why am i in that train with those mad people ?"

"what is going on in that little canine brain ? can that right ear not stand up as well ? how similar / different is his perception from mine ?"

so many questions, no answers. we were somewhere between florence and rome just before new year's a little under a year ago.


and finally, if anyone would like to know why rio is at 200 when my alarm clock goes off in the morning, this is the answer :

"While their owners sleep, nervous little dogs prepare for their day." (by Gary Larson)