About Me

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Antwerp, Belgium
Welcome to the new, and improved version of Heaven in Belgium. I am Jientje. "Jientje", like the boys name Gene, followed by "chu"? "Gene-chu", that's how you pronounce my name. Yes!!!!That's it!! So now you know huh? I am an addicted blogger. I was born and raised and am still living in Belgium. Yeah, the "this-is- Tuesday-so-this-must-be-Brussels" kind of Belgium .. There, you see? Maybe you couldn't find it on the map, but at least I'm trying to change that a little by sharing lots of pictures. I really love to cook and create new things, like this blog for instance. I am a mother,a grandmothe and a wife too! They say I'm a traveler, and a photographer. Well that's just what they say, I love to make pictures, but I am far from professional ... If my English is not perfect, that would be because it's my second language. I do hope you'll forgive me any possible misspellings or strange vocabulary ... Now, as a result of all of the above, I get way too little sleep and my days are always much too short!

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Heaven is in Belgium

Tuesday, August 31, 2010

Ruby Tuesday, One of Each, Please!

 

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I could not resist this superb display with all the old tomato varieties when I passed by a tiny grocery store in Goult. It made me greedy, I wanted to buy one of each!
My favorite tomato is the Coeur de Boeuf tomato, it’s the one on the bottom row right next to the pink bulbs of garlic.

 

More Ruby Tuesday pictures at Mary’s Work of the Poet.

Monday, August 30, 2010

Macro Monday, Prince Frog

 

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This is the latest addition to the small collection of frogs I own. I bought it at Macey’s in Chicago last year, and it was not until weeks after I bought it that I discovered I could actually open it!

 

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Discover more Macro Monday pictures from all over the world at Lisa’s Chaos.

Sunday, August 29, 2010

Weekly Winners, The Diver and the Little Giant Girl

 

 

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Two giant puppets were roaming the streets of Antwerp last weekend.

The diver

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and his niece, the little giant girl.

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He was looking for her

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while at the other side of the city


the girl was looking for her uncle.

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They were operated by an army of puppeteers

 

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who looked like Lilliput men compared to the giant puppets.
It took ten puppeteers to move one leg, can you imagine?


When she got tired of walking,

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  they let her sleep for a while.

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while her uncle continued his search.

 

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The story took three days to unravel. They finally found each other at the end of the third day. 
For three days, the giant puppets and their puppeteers were the talk of the town …

 

I found this video on You Tube, it was not made by me but I’m adding it anyway, just to give you some idea of how huge this whole project was. It was shot on the first day of the event, the arrival of the little girl giant, whereas my own photos were made on the second day.

 

Weekly Winners is hosted by Lotus, AKA Sarcastic Mom at I Am Lotus.

Friday, August 27, 2010

Friday’s Fave Five, Family, Friends … and Giants!

 

 

FFF spring

 

The last Fave Five of the month of August! Can you believe Summer is coming to an end already? Time to look back and share some of the highlights of the week.

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1. Family. My husband went on a business trip to Germany so I spent the weekend at my parents house. My daughter and my sisters came over to see me, and it was just wonderful to be together again. I slept in my old room, my father made orange juice for me, my mother and I cooked together … it was just like old times!
2. The company of a good friend. My friend Nana and I spent Saturday morning in Antwerp together. We both love the weekly market, we both love to take pictures, and we’re both coffee lovers, so we had a great time together.
3. A “big” event in Antwerp. Two giant puppets and their human Lilliput puppeteers were roaming the streets of Antwerp and everybody in the whole city was looking out for them. They were really amazing.
4. The French Toast we had for breakfast. I did a bit of research, I believe what you call eggy bread is a savory variety, but we use milk and eggs in the recipe and we eat it with brown sugar on top. It’s something my grandmother used to make me when I was a kid and I LOVE it!
5. Olives with basil and garlic. Yummie!

 

Friday’s Fave Five is hosted by Susanne at Living to Tell the Story.

Thursday, August 26, 2010

Window Views, Window In Bonnieux

 

 

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I found this pretty window in Bonnieux, a tiny perched village in Provence, France. Click the link above to learn more about Bonnieux, or find more pictures from this lovely village here.

 

To see more windows – and doors – from all over the world, visit Window Views, hosted by Mary the Teach

Wednesday, August 18, 2010

Midweek Blues, Siesta Time

 

 

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I took this photo in Lourmarin, in the south of France.
Chipped paint, old wood, a rusty rain pipe, closed shutters …
… and two chairs waiting for their owners to come out when their siesta is over.
Perfect ingredients for a Provence picture.
And because of the blue paint it makes for a perfect Midweek Blues picture as well.

 

Play along with Midweek Blues. Post a picture with a little or a lot of blue in it and join the fun at the Dusty Cellar.

Tuesday, August 17, 2010

Ruby Tuesday, Little Gnomes

On one of my recent photo walks in the forest I came across these little gnomes.
Aren’t they adorable?

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Ruby Tuesday is hosted by Mary the Teach at Work of the Poet.

Monday, August 16, 2010

Macro Monday, Piece of Cake

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Yesterday people in Antwerp celebrated Mother’s Day and this is the cake my hubby got me. It says “ Long live Mama” and it tasted as good as it looks!

 

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Macro Monday is easy to play, snap a macro (or any close-up) photo, and post it on your blog. Join the fun at Lisa’s Chaos.

Friday, August 13, 2010

Friday’s Fave Five, Ice Cream Cones and Coffee

 

FFF spring

It’s Friday AGAIN, the month of August is almost halfway. Time flies.
Time to look back and share the favorite things from the week.

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1. The weather has been rather unstable this week, but turned out to be a lot better than predicted, so we were still able to enjoy the outdoors a lot.
I did a bike tour with my husband on Sunday and with a friend of mine on Tuesday and we managed to keep our clothes dry on both occasions!
2. Meetings with friends. A bike tour, a lunch appointment and a photo walk with three different friends of mine. It’s been a busy week!
3. Breakfast at my friend Nana’s. Our days are always too short so in order to get an early start we had breakfast together at her place, which was a real treat!  
4. Ice cream cones. I had two this week! The one I had yesterday was one of the best I had in a long time. It had vanilla and speculoos (cookies) flavor. Yummie!
5. Coffee breaks. Nothing better than catching up with friends over a nice cup of coffee. There have been many this week!

Friday’s Fave Five is hosted by Susanne at Living to Tell the Story.

Wednesday, August 11, 2010

Midweek Blues, Laundry Day

 

 

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There is something very photogenic about laundry hanging from a balcony, at least, that’s my opinion. I can never get past it without pointing my camera at it! 

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Play along with Midweek Blues. Post a picture with a little or a lot of blue in it and join the fun at the Dusty Cellar.

Tuesday, August 10, 2010

Ruby Tuesday, Red Poppies

 

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There is no other flower that reminds me of Spring and Summer so much like poppies do. They’re my favorite wild flowers. I photographed this little alley in Ménerbes. I took a couple of photographs but now I find I can’t decide which version I like best?

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So tell me, which version do YOU like best?

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More Ruby Tuesday photos from all over the world at Mary’s Work of the Poet.

Monday, August 9, 2010

Macro Monday, Patchwork and Quilting

 

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Macro Monday is easy to play, snap a macro (or any close-up) photo, and post it on your blog. Join the fun at Lisa’s Chaos.

 

 

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This week I’m sharing some close ups of the patchwork pillow I’ve been working on.

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Sunday, August 8, 2010

Summer Stock Sunday, Ice, Ice Baby …

 

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Nothing represents Summer more than ice cream. This was one of the best I had this Summer. It had rich dark chocolate, rum and raisins and tiramisu flavor and we ate it in Bonnieux, while enjoying the view on the Mont Ventoux.

Summer Stock Sunday is hosted by Robin at Around the Island.

Friday, August 6, 2010

Friday’s Fave Five, Photo Walks and Bike Tours

 

 

FFF spring

Another week has gone by. I can’t believe it’s August already!
Time to look back on the week that has passed and highlight some of our favorite things by joining Friday’s Fave Five
This meme is hosted by Susanne at Living to Tell the Story.

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1. Phone calls with my Mom. We’ve been phoning each other a lot more lately. I need to hear her at least every other day.
2. My husband’s new bike. No more hired bikes for us, we both have our own now!
We made another tour last Saturday. You can see the pictures here.
3. A little bit of camera fun in Lier while I was waiting for my husband. He had an appointment there so I made a little photo walk on my own. I enjoyed it.
4. Meatballs in tomato sauce. The weather has been a lot cooler these past few days, which made me crave old fashioned comfort food. Need I say more?
4. Patchwork and quilting class. We’re making a patchwork pillow in only four lessons.  I learned how to quilt yesterday. The teacher even let me borrow her quilting hoop because they were out of stock at the shop. I would never have thought I would be able to pull this off  - it looked so difficult at first - but I am, and it’s looking good!

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