FLOWER CARPET - GRAND PLACE, BRUSSELS

Belgium, 15 August 2008

The Grote Markt (Dutch) or Grand Place (French) is the central market square of Brussels. It is surrounded by guild houses, the city's Town Hall and the Bread House (Dutch: Broodhuis, French: Maison du Roi).

The Grand Place was named by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site in 1998. One of the houses was owned by the brewers' guild, and is now the home of a brewers' museum.

The Grand Place is well known for its large "flower carpet". This display of begonias is arranged on the square every two years for a few days in the middle of August, and attracts many tourists.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Place#Flower_carpet

CONTESA DEL SECCHIO

Sant'Elpidio a Mare, Italy - 10 August 2008

Sant'Elpidio a Mare is a town and commune in the province of Ascoli Piceno, in the Marche region of Italy. It is famous for having one of the oldest and most prestigious historical re-enactments in the region of the “Contesa del Secchio”.

The town was originally named Cluana. The village of Cluana acquired Saint Elpidius' relics in the 7th century in exchange for the donation of a piece of land. The relics of Elpidius and his companions Eustace and Ennesius were consigned to the local inhabitants, and the town later acquired the new name of Sant'Elpidio a Mare.

The relics of Elpidius are considered to have saved the town from a Lombard siege; tradition states that the saint appeared in the sky asking the inhabitants to defend the village.

GIOSTRA DELLA QUINTANA - ASCOLI PICENO

Ascoli Piceno, Italy - 3 August 2008

The Giostra della Quintana is a knight ring jousting tournament based on a historical event. It takes place in the Town of Ascoli Piceno, in central Italy.

The events take place in July during a Saturday night and the first Sunday of August.

The definition of Quintana comes from the 5th road of the Roman military Camps, where the soldiers were trained to the lance fighting. They run against a dummy-soldier, trying to catch a ring hanging from an arm of the dummy. Here the origin of the Tournament's name, but the first definition and documented "Quintana" as a knights' jousting tournament during a festival, dates back to 1448.

In 1613 the Priors included the Quintana in the events of Carnival festivals, and all has been hystorically documented.

During the events period, a number of happenings involve the whole town. A parade takes place with 1500 characters dressed in original-like precious dresses: a historically documented walk in the town during the day before the Ring Joust.



Il torneo cavalleresco della Quintana o giostra della Quintana è una rievocazione storica medioevale con giostra equestre che si tiene ad Ascoli Piceno.

Si svolge la prima domenica di agosto in occasione della festa di Sant'Emidio, patrono e primo vescovo della città marchigiana. Da qualche tempo vi è anche una edizione della Quintana in notturna il secondo sabato di luglio. Questa manifestazione si rinnova, ogni anno, dal 1955 quando, dopo un periodo di sospensione, ebbe nuovamente luogo su iniziativa di storici come Carlo Cardarelli, Carlo Baiocchi, Giuseppe Fabiani, dello scenografo Danili Ciampini, del professore Alberto Costantini, di Giulio Franchi, Aldighiero Batini, e Nazzareno Peci.

Ogni edizione ha visto l'aggiungersi di nuovi costumi e nuove figure fino a raggiungere l'attuale composizione dell'imponente e sfarzoso corteo storico che si muove, con il passo cadenzato dell'antica arte militare, accompagnato, per tutto il percorso della sfilata, dallo squillo delle chiarine, dal rullo dei tamburini e dagli sbandieratori che si esibiscono quasi ininterrottamente.

Di particolare intensità, suggestione e destrezza è lo spettacolo che i portatori dei vessilli offrono all'interno del campo dei giochi.

L'intero evento della Quintana si compone di più momenti che hanno svolgimento nei giorni che precedono la competizione dei cavalieri quali: la lettura del bando, l'offerta dei ceri, il palio degli arcieri, il palio degli sbandieratori ed infine la sfilata del corteo e la giostra nel campo.

Per la città di Ascoli rappresenta l'espressione e la sintesi delle tradizioni, della sua storia e dell'indissolubile legame al territorio ricordato dagli antichi patti di alleanza di cui, alla Quintana, se ne conserva la memoria. La manifestazione è molto seguita e sentita da tutti gli ascolani che si preparano per questo evento durante tutto l'anno. Nei sei sestieri cittadini si ascoltano sovente i suoni delle chiarine ed il rullare dei tamburi.

http://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Torneo_cavalleresco_della_Quintana

THE COUNTDOWN...

DO YOU REMEMBER WHEN YOU WERE A KID AND YOUR PARENTS LINED YOU UP AGAINST A DOOR FRAME TO MARK HOW TALL YOU WERE AND DATED THE MARK?

WELL, THIS CARTOON BRINGS A WHOLE NEW PERSPECTIVE TO THAT EXERCISE!

LAUGHTER WILL KEEP YOU YOUNG AT HEART!

TILL WE MEET AGAIN

Without you I could not have been the one who I was expected to be when
All you had to do is show me that I was the love in your life

As I try to learn to live without your friendship that I have grown accustomed too
I feel a great emptiness inside that is swelling more and more each day from this void
I have inside that use to be where your love use to fill

While the time passes, every second seems like an hour and every hour seems like a day
As I walk aimlessly through the places we always felt happiest when we just needed to
Be there for each other at the end of everyday

Now that you are gone I wish I was there with you to guide you and be beside you
Until you get to where you were are going now even though you have to do it alone
And my only conciliation is that we will be together again somewhere someday
With you there to guide me to where we can be together again


With the kind courtesy and permission of Sean Davis
http://seanspoemsandstories.blogspot.com/

THE ADVENTURES OF TINTIN IN THE METRO

Metro Stockel - Brussels, Belgium

The Adventures of Tintin (French: Les Aventures de Tintin) is a series of comic books created by Belgian artist Hergé, the pen name of Georges Remi (1907–1983). The series first appeared in French in a children's supplement to the Belgian newspaper Le Vingtième Siècle on January 10, 1929. Set in a painstakingly researched world closely mirroring our own, The Adventures of Tintin presents a number of characters in distinctive settings. The series has continued as a favourite of readers and critics alike for over 70 years.

The hero of the series is Tintin, a young Belgian reporter and traveller. He is aided in his adventures from the beginning by his faithful fox terrier dog Snowy (Milou in French). Later, popular additions to the cast included the brash, cynical and grumpy Captain Haddock, the bright but hearing-impaired Professor Calculus (Professeur Tournesol in French) and other colourful supporting characters such as the incompetent detectives Thomson and Thompson (Dupond et Dupont in French).

The success of the series saw the serialised strips collected into a series of albums (23 in all), spun into a successful magazine and adapted for both film and theatre. The series is one of the most popular European comics of the 20th century, with translations published in over 50 languages and more than 200 million copies of the books sold to date.

The comic strip series has long been admired for its clean, expressive drawings in Hergé's signature ligne claire style. Engaging, well-researched plots straddle a variety of genres: swashbuckling adventures with elements of fantasy, mysteries, political thrillers, and science fiction. The stories within the Tintin series always feature slapstick humour, offset in later albums by sophisticated satire and political/cultural commentary.

Tintin is a young Belgian reporter who becomes involved in dangerous cases in which he takes heroic action to save the day. Almost every adventure features Tintin hard at work at his investigative reporting, but he is rarely seen actually turning in a story without first getting caught up in some misadventure. He is a young man of more or less neutral attitudes and is less colourful than the supporting cast. In this respect, he represents the everyman.

Snowy, a white Fox terrier, is Tintin's four-legged companion. They regularly save each other from perilous situations. Snowy frequently "speaks" to the reader through his thoughts (often displaying a dry sense of humour), which are supposedly not heard by the characters in the story except in Tintin in America where he explains Tintin about his absence for a period of time in the book.

Like Captain Haddock, Snowy is fond of the Loch Lomond brand of whisky, and his occasional bouts of drinking tend to get him into trouble, as does his raging arachnophobia. The French name of Snowy, "Milou", has nothing to do with snow or the color white. It has been widely credited as an oblique reference to a girlfriend from Hergé's youth, Marie-Louise Van Cutsem, whose nickname was "Milou".

Another explanation to the origins of the two characters is possible. The first 3 adventures of Tintin visit places originally visited by photographer-reporter Robert Sexé, recorded in the Belgian press from the mid to late 1920s. At that time Sexé had made numerous trips round the world on a motorcycle, in collaboration with Grand-Prix champion and motorcycle record holder René Milhoux, and these trips were highly publicised at the time. Sexé has also been noted to have a similar appearance to Tintin, and the Hergé Foundation in Belgium has admitted that it is not too hard to imagine how Hergé could have been influenced by the exploits of Sexé. In 1996, a biography of Robert Sexé by Janpol Schulz was published, titled "Sexé au pays des Soviets" (Sexé in the Land of the Soviets) to mimic the name of the first Tintin Adventure.

More on: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Adventures_of_Tintin

THE FLOWERS OF THE BRUSSELS BOTANICAL GARDEN

THE INCREDIBLE SNAKE-EATING SPIDER

An office receptionist got the shock of her life earlier this week when she found a 14cm long snake entangled in the web of a deadly spider. Tania Robertson, a receptionist at an electrical firm, came in to work on Tuesday and spotted the sight next to a desk in her office. The snake, which had obviously died from the spider's poisonous bite, was off the ground and caught up in the web.

Leon Lotz of the arachnology department at the National Museum said it was only the second time that he had heard of a snake getting caught in a spider's web. It is believed the snake got caught in the web on Monday night. But it did not take the spider long to bite it. A red mark on the snake's stomach was evidence of where the spider had started eating it.

Throughout Tuesday, the spider checked on her prey, but on Wednesday she rolled it up and started spinning a web around it. She also kept lifting it higher off the ground, while continually snacking on it.

BRUSSELS ZINNEKE PARADE 2008 SLIDESHOWS

Zinneke Parade was born within the framework from Brussels 2000, European Ville of the Culture. It is the expression of a will to organize a great festival in the city, which would throw bridges between the 18 communes and the downtown area and which would mobilize all associations (socio) cultural.

The first Parade was in charge with emotions and joy and marked many memories. The idea was to show at the great day the multicultural richness districts and to cross the barriers of the fragmentation of the Area. It was one of the rare events created at the time of Brussels 2000 to perennialize the adventure. In 2002, the Parade crossed the capital of the south to north around the topic of the “Zinnergie”. In 2004, it followed the way of Zinnodrôme (the boulevard starting from Brouckère until Anneessens) and it was articulated around the topic `the body in the ville'.

 

ALICE'S FIRST COMMUNION

THE BRIDAL BOUQUET

SILVIA AND DAVID WEDDING - 17 MAY 2008

THE SEX FAIRY

This is hilarious! Be sure to read the warning at the bottom. I didn't change a word! I'm not messing with the Sex Fairy!

1. Sex is a beauty treatment. Scientific tests find that when women make love they produce amounts of the hormone estrogen, which makes hair shine and skin smooth.
=============

2. Gentle, relaxed lovemaking reduces your chances of suffering dermatitis, skin rashes and blemishes. The sweat produced cleanses the pores and makes your skin glow.
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3. Lovemaking can burn up those calories you piled on during that romantic dinner.
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4. Sex is one of the safest sports you can take up. It stretches and tones up just about every muscle in the body. It's more enjoyable than swimming 20 laps, and you don't need special sneakers!
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5. Sex is an instant cure for mild depression. It releases endorphins into the bloodstream, producing a sense of euphoria and leaving you with a feeling of well-being.
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6. The more sex you have, the more you will be offered. The sexually active body gives off greater quantities of chemicals called pheromones. These subtle sex perfumes drive the opposite sex crazy!
==============

7. Sex is the safest tranquilizer in the world. IT IS 10 TIMES MORE EFFECTIVE THAN VALIUM.
=============

8. Kissing each day will keep the dentist away. Kissing encourages saliva to wash food from the teeth and lowers the level of the acid that causes decay,
preventing plaque build-up.
=============

9. Sex actually relieves headaches. A lovemaking session can release the tension that restricts blood vessels in the brain.
=============

10. A lot of lovemaking can unblock a stuffy nose. Sex is a natural antihistamine. It can help combat asthma and hay fever.
=============

This message has been sent to you for good luck in sex. The original is in a room in the basement of the Dwight House Pub. It has been sent around the world nine times.

Now sex has been sent to you. The 'Hot Sex Fairy' will visit you within four days of receiving this message, provided you, in turn, send it on.

If you don't, then you will never receive good sex again for the rest of your life. You will eventually become celibate, and your genitals will rot and fall off. This is no joke! Send copies to people you think need sex (who doesn't?). Don't send money, as the fate of your genitals has no price.

Do not keep this message. This message must leave your e-mail in 5 hours. Please send ten copies and see what happens in four days.

EL ATARDECER DE LA VIDA

El sol se despedía del Imperio Tré. El vasallo caminaba junto a la anciana del molino amarillo. Iban conversando sobre la vida.
- ¿Qué cosa es lo que más te gusta de la vida, anciana?

La viejecilla del molino amarillo se entretenía en lanzar los ojos hacia el ocaso.
- Los atardeceres –respondió.

El vasallo preguntó, confundido:
- ¿No te gustan más los amaneceres? Mira que no he visto cosa más hermosa que el nacimiento del sol allá, detrás de las verdes colinas de Tré.
Y reafirmándose, exclamó:
- ¿Sabes? Yo prefiero los amaneceres.

La anciana dejó sobre el piso la canastilla de espigas que sus arrugadas manos llevaban. Dirigiéndose hacia el vasallo, con tono de voz dulce y conciliador, dijo:
- Los amaneceres son bellos, sí. Pero las puestas de sol me dicen más. Son momentos en los que me gusta reflexionar y pensar mucho. Son momentos que me dicen cosas de mí misma.
- ¿Cosas? ¿De ti misma...? – inquirió el vasallo. No sabía a qué se refería la viejecilla con aquella frase.

Antes de cerrar la puerta del molino amarillo, la anciana añadió:
- Claro. La vida es como un amanecer para los jóvenes como tú. Para los ancianos, como yo, es un bello atardecer. Lo que al inicio el precioso, al final llega a ser plenamente hermoso. Por eso prefiero los atardeceres... - ¡mira!

La anciana apuntó con su mano hacia el horizonte. El sol se ocultó y un cálido color rosado se extendió por todo el cielo del Imperio Tré. El vasallo guardó silencio. Quedó absorto ante tanta belleza.

La vida es un instante que pasa y no vuelve. Comienza con un fresco amanecer; y como un atardecer sereno se nos va. De nosotros depende que el sol de nuestra vida, cuando se despida del cielo llamado “historia”, coloreé con hermosos colores su despedida. Colores que sean los recuerdos bonitos que guarden de nosotros las personas que vivieron a nuestro lado.

BREAKFAST AT MCDONALD'S

This is a good story and is true, please read it all the way through until the end! (After the story, there are some very interesting facts!):

I am a mother of three (ages 4, 12, 3) and have recently completed my college degree. The last class I had to take was Sociology.

The teacher was absolutely inspiring with the qualities that I wish every human being had been graced with.

Her last project of the term was called, 'Smile.'

The class was asked to go out and smile at three people and document their reactions.

I am a very friendly person and always smile at everyone and say hello anyway. So, I thought this would be a piece of cake, literally.

Soon after we were assigned the project, my husband, youngest son, and I went out to McDonald's one crisp March morning.

It was just our way of sharing special playtime with our son.

We were standing in line, waiting to be served, when all of a sudden everyone around us began to back away, and then even my husband did.

I did not move an inch... an overwhelming feeling of panic welled up inside of me as I turned to see why they had moved.

As I turned around I smelled a horrible 'dirty body' smell, and there standing behind me were two poor homeless men.

As I looked down at the short gentleman, close to me, he was 'smiling'.

His beautiful sky blue eyes were full of God's Light as he searched for acceptance.

He said, 'Good day' as he counted the few coins he had been clutching.

The second man fumbled with his hands as he stood behind his friend. I realized the second man was mentally challenged and the blue-eyed gentleman was his salvation.

I held my tears as I stood there with them.

The young lady at the counter asked him what they wanted.

He said, 'Coffee is all Miss' because that was all they could afford. (If they wanted to sit in the restaurant and warm up, they had to buy something. He just wanted to be warm).

Then I really felt it - the compulsion was so great I almost reached out and embraced the little man with the blue eyes.

That is when I noticed all eyes in the restaurant were set on me, judging my every action.

I smiled and asked the young lady behind the counter to give me two more breakfast meals on a separate tray.

I then walked around the corner to the table that the men had chosen as a resting spot. I put the tray on the table and laid my hand on the blue-eyed gentleman's cold hand.

He looked up at me, with tears in his eyes, and said, 'Thank you.'

I leaned over, began to pat his hand and said, 'I did not do this for you. God is here working through me to give you hope.'

I started to cry as I walked away to join my husband and son. When I sat down my husband smiled at me and said, 'That is why God gave you to me, Honey, to give me hope.'

We held hands for a moment and at that time, we knew that only because of the Grace that we had been given were we able to give.

We are not church goers, but we are believers.

That day showed me the pure Light of God's sweet love.

I returned to college, on the last evening of class, with this story in hand.

I turned in 'my project' and the instructor read it.

Then she looked up at me and said, 'Can I share this?'

I slowly nodded as she got the attention of the class.

She began to read and that is when I knew that we as human beings and being part of God share this need to heal people and to be healed.

In my own way I had touched the people at McDonald's, my son, instructor, and every soul that shared the classroom on the last night I spent as a college student.

I graduated with one of the biggest lessons I would ever learn:

UNCONDITIONAL ACCEPTANCE.

Much love and compassion is sent to each and every person who may read this and learn how to

LOVE PEOPLE AND USE THINGS - NOT LOVE THINGS AND USE PEOPLE.

There is an Angel sent to watch over you.

In order for her to work, you must pass this on to the people you want watched over.

An Angel wrote:
Many people will walk in and out of your life, but only true friends will leave footprints in your heart.

To handle yourself, use your head.

To handle others, use your heart.

God gives every bird it's food, but He does not throw it into its nest.

Send it back, you'll see why !

A Box of gold
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
With a secret inside that has never been told
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
This box is priceless but as I see
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
The treasure inside is precious to me
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Today I share this treasure with thee
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
It's the treasure of friendship you've given me.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
If this comes back to you then you'll have a friend for life but, if this becomes deleted, you are not a friend.

Send this to everyone you consider a friend!

This is a magic frog. It will grant you one wish and only one wish, that is, if you decide to send this to others. You can wish for anything.

Repeat your wish until you have stopped scrolling. Make it count!!!!!!

FOR YOUR WISH TO COME TRUE YOU HAVE TO SEND IT TO:
3 PEOPLE - YOUR WISH
WILL COME TRUE EVENTUALLY
5 PEOPLE - YOUR WISH WILL COME
TRUE IN 3 MONTHS
10 PEOPLE - YOUR WISH WILL COME TRUE IN 5 WEEKS
15 PEOPLE - YOUR WISH WILL COME TRUE IN 1 WEEK

CAN'T WAIT A WEEK???
22 PEOPLE - YOUR WISH WILL COME TRUE IN 1 DAY!!!!!

**********REMEMBER**************
THIS MUST BE SENT OUT THE DAY YOU READ IT FOR YOU TO GET YOUR WISH

JAPANESE LUNCH BOXES

Bentō (弁当 or べんとう, Bentō?) is a single-portion takeout or home-packed meal common in Japanese cuisine. A traditional bento consists of rice, fish or meat, and one or more pickled or cooked vegetables as a side dish. Containers range from disposable mass produced to hand crafted lacquerware. Although bento are easily available in many places throughout Japan, including convenience stores, bento shops (弁当屋, bentō-ya?), train stations, and department stores, it is still common for Japanese homemakers to spend considerable time and energy producing an appealing boxed lunch.

Bento can be very elaborately arranged. Contests are often held where homemakers can compete for the most aesthetically pleasing arrangements. The food is often decorated to look like people, animals, or characters and items such as flowers and plants. This style of elaborate bento is called kyaraben.

History. The origin of bento can be traced back to the late Kamakura Period (1185 to 1333), when cooked and dried rice called hoshi-ii (糒 or 干し飯, literally "dried meal") was developed. Hoshi-ii can be eaten as is, or can be boiled with water to make cooked rice, and is stored in a small bag. In the Azuchi-Momoyama Period (1568 to 1600), wooden lacquered boxes like today's were produced and bento would be eaten during a hanami or a tea party.

In the peaceful and prosperous time of the Edo Period (1603 to 1867), bento culture spread and became more refined. Travelers and sightseers would carry a simple koshibentō (腰弁当, "waist bento"), consisting of several onigiri wrapped with bamboo leaves or in a woven bamboo box. One of the most popular styles of bento, called makuno-uchi bentō ("between-act bento"), was first made during this period. People who came to see Noh and Kabuki ate specially prepared bento between maku (acts). Numerous cookbooks were published detailing how to cook, how to pack, and what to prepare for occasions like Hanami and Hinamatsuri.

In the Meiji Period (1868 to 1912), the first ekibentō or ekiben (駅弁当 or 駅弁, "train station bento") was sold. There are several records that claim where ekiben was first sold, but it is believed that it was sold on 16 July 1885, at the Utsunomiya train station, and contained two onigiri and a serving of takuan wrapped in bamboo leaves. As early schools did not provide lunch, students and teachers carried bento, as did many employees. A "European" style bento with sandwiches also went on sale during this period.

In the Taisho period (1912 to 1926), the aluminum bento box became a luxury item because of its ease of cleaning and its silver-like appearance. Also, a move to abolish the practice of bento in school became a social issue. Disparities in wealth spread during this period, following an export boom during World War I and subsequent crop failures in the Tohoku region. A bento too often reflected a student's wealth, and many wondered if this had an unfavorable influence on children both physically, from lack of adequate diet, and psychologically, from a clumsily made bento or the richness of food. After World War II, the practice of bringing bento to school gradually declined and was replaced by uniform food provided for all students and teachers.

Bento regained its popularity in the 1980s, with the help of the microwave oven and the proliferation of convenience stores. In addition, the expensive wood and metal boxes have been replaced at most bento shops with inexpensive, disposable polystyrene boxes. However, even handmade bento have made a comeback, and they are once again a common, although not universal, sight at Japanese schools. The Bento is still used by workers as a packed lunch, by families on day trips, for school picnics and sports days etc. The Bento, made at home, is wrapped in a furoshiki cloth, which acts as both bag and table mat.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bento

A PRAYER

I asked the Lord to tell me
Why my house is such a mess.


He asked if I'd been 'computering'.


And I had to answer 'yes.'

He told me to get off my fanny and tidy up the house.
And so I started cleaning up... The smudges off my mouse.

I wiped and shined the topside.That really did the trick...I was just admiring my work..I didn't mean to 'click.'

But click, I did, and oops I found A real absorbing site
That I got SO way into.
I was into it all night.

Nothing's changed except my mouse.

It's very, very shiny.
I guess my house will stay a mess... While I sit here on my hiney.