December in the Bayous

December is a great month for going to the street flea market in Liège. In summer, one has to be early there to get a nearby parking space and usually it is quite busy, especially when the sun will be out. But in winter, it is different. The dealers are having a hard time to wait in the cold for customers and the customers won't be there before daylight - searching for vintage items in the dark is a very difficult task. As the place has to be cleared again before 13 o'clock, there is less time to make business. I love to go when it is a cold but dry day, there are always interesting things to bring home at reasonable prices.

Christmas presents are getting ready and it was big fun to prepare it all because the snow came early and put me in the right mood to transform some of these nice fabrics I had bought recently at the haberdashery fair in Sprimont.

Not only many birds were attracted by the seeds but also this fellow.

EG is not amused as he believes that he -or she- is guilty to have stolen his rare acorns from Bodnant gardens which he had planted in pots in the little greenhouse.

Other fellows are not amused by his presence, neither.

There was permanent competition between the little robin who thought he was the king, as he had already his crown.

And there was even more competition to come.

Pictures are taken through the kitchen window, sorry.

Plenty of different finches this year.

The boxwood knot looks only good covered in snow - I fear that the plants will not survive next year and I have to do it all again.

More competition for the little robin.

The house gets slowly ready for Christmas. What a joy to have the piggery finished and to be able to have not only a parlour but also enough space in the annexe for the big table.

Some new christmas tree decoration had been bought two years before but I forgot all about it until I opened the boxes again.

Last year we had no tree and special decoration out due to work on piggery so it was a great discovery!

Our family Christmas meal happened on 27th and we were all together :-)

We had a fabulous time and even the dog had a treat which was found by the wee twins under their Christmas tree.

With those impressions I will close the year and send my best wishes to all my readers for a very happy New Year.

Precious Memories - Bruges

Perhaps there might be other pictures coming from dear Honora at Pondside but these, so I find, are worth showing:

During the fabulous week we spent together in September, we went to Liège, chez Darcis and tasted some of his delicious sweet creations.

We also went to Bruges, this gem town in Flanders. Whilst some people think it is too crowded with tourists, we both enjoyed to be two of them.

Bruges is not only packed with tourists on certain days, it is also packed with really old buildings and every house is charming and reflects much of its Hanseatic history. We learned that Bruges also belonged to the Hanseatic league. This was a commercial and defensive confederation of merchant guilds and their market towns that dominated trade along the coast of Northern Europe.

As my prayers for good weather had been sucessful, we decided to take a little guided boat tour which was big fun in such fine sunshine.(Nothing worse than Bruges in the rain and all tourists with their umbrellas taking twice as much space in the narrow streets).

I never got tired of all the details in the facades or on the roofs.

How might it be inside those houses?

After all these impressions, we went straight to the market place where we had wonderful typical regional food:

Mussels with chips and Gentse Waterzooi. Absolutely delicious!

And in such a nice environment.

After that, we went to Maastricht - more fun, more nice food, more cake and ... a great shopping tour.

Thank you again, dear Honora, for those lovely moments together.

P.S. The picture in the header is of EG's viburnum Bodnantense, flowering now.