The ALAN PARSONS PROJECT..
*Old and Wise*
As far as my eyes can see
*Old and Wise*
As far as my eyes can see
Dear blog..
Unfortunatly death is close these days.. We had to say goodbye to another dear member of the Korbi-clan.. a dearly old friend (Of 94) has recently left the living earth.. she was quite the weldoeer for my father.. as she had taken my dad in when he was just a young man way back in the eighties.. and in the end she really fostered him and was always in our lives as wel taking (young) me to disney on ice shows and many more things..
Thank you M,
I sincerly hope you have found peace..
The funeral was the coldest place i have ever been to.. and hope mine is more likely to be warm and not like yours.. almost a business transaction... not one kind word although you meant the world to my dad..
Rest in peace..
Xxxx
Me and my Brother..
Mic and the kids..
Hi dear blog!
Where at it again!
Going places with the kids.. but this time.. it's a place we've been before!
2 years ago we went to the grottes of Han, at Han sur Lesse in the Ardennes and stayed at the Mercure Hotel, this time we stayed at the mercure hotel again but travelled to some further away places.. like the Euro Space center in Transinne and we even went to DURBUY to go to Adventure Park..
And what a blast we had!!
the higlights this vacation:
- moonwalking on ESA
- VR glasses and flying to Mars.. (getting dizzy btw and nauseous..)
- riding with mini explorers on the surface of mars..
- Learning everything about the moon and the planets in the little planetarium..
- going for a space tour walk in all the buildings with cool stuff and effects (and audioguide)! (my personal favorite)
Loved going to the space! It's cool, you could really spend a whole day and do soo exciting stuff!! The bad part, i actually sprayed my shoulder on the 'free fall'.. soo that was a little downer for the trip.. but nevertheless, it's a cool place to visit! In my opinion there waren't many people, but the museum was quite full :) .. time passed very quickly and we stayed there from 10.30u till 16.30u!
You could even go for an all in - with sleeping over too! But unfortunatly i saw this quite late..
More info at: https://www.eurospacecenter.be/nl/
On friday:
- mm.. nice breakfast at the hotel!
- going to Durbuy and hiking for a little bit..
- seeing people from Asper in the tourisme center.. (Lieslot from grade 5) what are the odds????
- going to the adventure park on an indoor pass::.. this included bowling... laser shooting, fast tag and playing at the kids zone..
the kids really had a blast over there!!
- in the evening we went to dinner at 'chez Herman'.. mmmm..
On saturday: we left the hotel by 11.u
but first breakfast!! and then a little dive in the pool!! :D YAY.. luckily we still had the time to do that!
we went to a concert in Antwerp: 'the 4 seasons from Vivaldi'.. And it was sooooo lovely!
On sunday we had the kids enrolled at the 'literaire kermis' at Deinze...
An afternoon of workshops with wellknown authors and illustrators.. like Carll Cneut and Leo Timmers!
xxxx
Keiko
Dear Blog...
Yes.. like this title says.. I'm searching the net (yet again) to find long lost childhood memory's..
This time it's this Dutch 'book' (from the Netherlands) and a little story in it..
On the 23th of July 1993 I got this Tina booklet.. (the biggest magazine for girls) .. I was a little girl of 7 at that date! And got this book. (I still have it actually, resurfacing every now and then just like yesterday)
There is this one story (comic related) in the magazine that really caught my eye at a young age.. it's this one about a mermaid.. unfortunately this story was only 2 and a half pages going on and I never read the other parts in future books.. So .. what is a girl have to do?? I desperately wanted to know what followed next in this little story and off course.. Just looking it up on GOOGLE!!
(BTW.. Happy 25th Birthday GOOGSY*!!) :D (*nickname I choose, for men's best friend these days...)
I actually didn't have much to begin with, as there wasn't any title of this story or even an author.. .. and typed only captions like 'Tina, Mermaid.. but got nothing.
I actually thought of it first being a published comic book from back in the days.. but nothing came up. So yesterday I tried again.. as it has some fine writing D.C Thomson.. The last page on the story depicts the 'name' I would guess for the mermaid as written in caption: 'next week, a warm bath for ATLANTA'...
So I typed in... 'DC: Thomson, mermaid, Atlanta' and finally got some hits.
YAY!!! My crusade is halfway over! I got so much information! And I'm really happy about it..
My first hit was actually a link to a copy of this 'book' on AMAZON!
https://www.amazon.co.jp/-/en/D-C-Thomson/dp/0851164412
This had this picture on it..
This story came on in a magazine called MANDY back in 1990 (and whaddayaknow - it's a BRITISH magazine for girls!) So it must be more or less the same! This story is named: 'Atlanta's tale'.. (quite catchy right??)
On WIKI:
Mandy was a British comic book for girls, published weekly by DC Thomson from 21 January 1967 to 11 May 1991. The majority of the stories were serialized, typically into two or three pages per issue, over eight to twelve issues.
Mandy was published from 21 January 1967 (#1) to 11 May 1991 (#1,269),[1] at which point it merged with Judy to become Mandy & Judy (also known as M&J). Mandy & Judy was published from 18 May 1991 (#1) until 24 May 1997 (#315), when it merged with Bunty (Bunty ceased publication completely in 2001).
Mandy annuals appeared from 1972 until 2007.[2]
Then I thought 'jackpot!'.. It looked quite the same, but in non-colours.. and then I had to type:
Mandy - Atlanta - DC Thomson - Comic.. and came across this blog that explains it all!
https://girlscomicsofyesterday.com/mandy-stories/
YAY!!! I found the motherload I guess!!
On this website I found there are more stories about 'Atlanta'.. and that Atlanta's tale was actually a sequal..
Atlanta’s Tale is the sequel to Atlanta. Atlanta the mermaid returns and her secret is again under threat when photographers catch a glimpse of her tail in the water and become determined to capture a photograph of it and make themselves rich.
So .. I found much info about Atlanta's sequal.. but not yet the original beginnings.. This story is about (*insert my age) old.. quite baffling isn'it??? What snooping around on google and pinterest can do... I found the whole original story about Atlanta's tale on Pinterest!
https://nl.pinterest.com/leilaanani9/mermaids-in-comics-magazines/
This person has tons of pictures of every mermaid on earth (i believe)! from movies to comics.. and yes! I found Atlanta's tale on it too... Here you go!
AND YES..
I'm actually still into mermaids..
even watched the new LITTLE MERMAID on DISNEY+
It was okay... but Ursula?? Thats a story for next time....!
xxKeiko
WE ArE HAVING 'hoerenchance'..
The kids are having their birthdayparty in the back of the yard.. (Thijs turned 8 in August and Aurelie turns 6 on the 29t of September.. AND ITS JUST SMASHING GOOD WEATHER!!!!! (HAPPY BDAY KIDDOS)
Last thursday and friday were so heavily bad with lots of rain, but yesterday and today are just stunning! So.. it just came to mind.. we are having (H)OERENCHANCE..
This does not translate well in English.. the closest I would be getting this litarally it is..
WHORECHANCE or FUCKLUCK??? It basically translates and means something with 'prostitutes' and much luck!
It just means IM HAVING TOOOOOONSSSSS OF GOOD LUUUUCK!!!
YAYA!
This dutch word has it's offspring in a galaxy far far away.... nono, i don't mean you ASHOKA..
I was just contemplating the meaning and origin of this word and came on this explanation..
1) Hoerenchance komt van het werkwoord 'sjansen'. In Nederland betekent dat
succes hebben bij het andere geslacht.
Omdat hoeren belangstelling krijgen van het andere geslacht, bestaat de kans dat
het woord hiervan werd afgeleid.
2) Hoeren moeten geluk hebben om te overleven, omdat het een gevaarlijk beroep is.
I'm kinda into looking up stuff..
I heard a classical piece in a movie and forced myself to try to find it online.., i heard it once before on this particular piece of 'America's got talent' and it quite stuck in my head!
I heard it again in this film with arnold Swarzenegger.. (or how is this even spelled correctly?!)
"TRUE LIES.."
And then it hit me.. and I looked it up..
this piece is actually made by Carlos Gardel
And it even has lyrics!
note to self.. beautiful lyrics in espanol! (and no.. i cannot translate these lyrics no more.. so 3 years of Spanish down the drain!)
Por una cabeza De un noble potrillo Que justo en la raya afloja al llegar Y que al regresar Parece decir "No olvides, hermano, vos sabés, no hay que dudar" Por una cabeza Metejon de un dÃa De aquella coqueta y risueña mujer Que al jurar sonriendo el amor que está mintiendo Quema en una hoguera Todo mi querer Por una cabeza Todas las locuras Su boca que besa Borra la tristeza, calma la armargura Por una cabeza Si ella me olvida Qué importa perderme Mil veces la vida ¿Para qué vivir? Cuántos desengaños Por una cabeza Yo juré mil veces, no vuelvo a insistir Pero si un mirar me hiere al pasar Su boca de fuego Otra vez quiero besar Basta de carreras Se acabó la timba Un final reñido yo no vuelvo a ver Pero si algún pingo llega a ser fija el domingo Yo me juego entero, ¿Qué le voy a hacer? Por una cabeza Todas las locuras Su boca que besa Borra la tristeza, calma la amargura Por una cabeza Si ella me olvida Qué importa perderme Mil veces la vida ¿Para qué vivir?
But as an instrumental it works too =)
Oooh.. how i want my hubby to be a little bit like mr Colin Firth in this movieclip.. 'Easy virtue'..
WOW.. I would love to dance like this.. doing this dramatic tango could be just what we needed..
the melancholy, the tristesse.. this is just over the top! Beautiful!
greetings from me.
xxx
Why yes.. everything is pointing towards BC.. (British Columbia)
The postcrossing card I just send...
the NUMEROUS tv shows AND movies i've been watching all points to the same place.. (Once upon a time,..) and Siren.. (even filmed in the same streets!!)
It's kinda spooky..
But i'm noticing a pattern right there!
EVEN THE BOOKS(movie) I'm currently reading points me in the canada direction!
But i'm still stuck here.. *puts little grunt*
It must be.. the HOLY GRAIL of some sorts?? Who knows.. (only the residents of Vancouver Island probably) But still.. the people in film business tend to know where the good stuff is located :D
I found at the end credits of the movie stated it was filmed on location at Cathedral and Macmillan provincial park:
-->where is it located?
-->A bit more info: (https://bcparks.ca/macmillan-park/)
Cathedral Grove, located in MacMillan Park, is one of the most accessible stands of giant Douglas fir trees on Vancouver Island. The park protects and preserves an internationally significant representative example of Douglas fir old-growth forest within the Coastal Western Hemlock Biogeoclimatic Zone.
Here visitors can stroll through a network of trails under the shadow of towering ancient Douglas fir trees, majestic pillars untouched by the modern world, some more than 800 years old.
Trails on either side of the highway lead visitors through the mighty stands of this coastal forest. On the south side you will find the largest Douglas firs, one measuring more than 9 metres in circumference. On the northern side of the road you’ll find groves of ancient western red cedar standing sentry over nearby Cameron Lake.
and on the side...
Even star wars has used this particular site for filming...
George Lucas shot scenes from Star Wars VI: Return of the Jedi in Cathedral Grove, and we can see why. The Grove was used as the backdrop for Endor, which is the planet that the Ewoks live on.
greetings!!
xx
Sara aka Keiko
No nonon.. no angry birds.. just an angry dream I got this night/morning..
And if felt quite bad/angry/good at the same time/bad feeling about it..
and now I had the whole day of angry feelings I just can't seem to shake off me..
WELL MOSTLY BECAUSE OF PMS (so you now..)
But when it interferes with my dreams.. and I can remember it so vividly..
Yesterday I saw a picture of all of my coworkers.. WITHOUT ME.. that somehow sparked some rage in me.. (some could say a little jealousy perhaps.. who knows..), although my dream wasn't really about that.. it somehow influenced my dream.. which involved my nephew (who was going to throw a weddingparty).. in my dream I learned that probably we weren't invited.. (because of .. to much of large family, many friends,.. you know, quite logical AND rational stuff).. but somehow I managed to be some kind of bitch in my own f** dream... and had some weird super powers to really ruine their lives.. :O and did a lot of meaaaaaan stuff..
One of the mean things I was doing ALL DAY LONG was turning their light on in the house! JUST BASIC DEMONIC STUFF isn't it! and when they switched it off,... I would doooo it just over and over again :D HAHAHAHA... welcome in hell.. it's annoying.
Ah well..
in the end it's just plain psycological stuff right, mixed in with some hormones and emotions and you get a fantasy dream..
it just comes to this... i don't like being excluded.. nor from my work, nor from my family.. and it quite hurts my feelings... cos this happend allready all of my life.. starting in elementary school.. just nog quite fitting in with the others.. not finding any 'contact point'.. (if you know what I mean)... and now happening all over again in my work and even in my own family... oh well... i'm not really that close anymore with everyone.. i'm just living my life, going through stuff, (like PMS) and a small depression it seems like..
In the end my dream ended with me swimming with orca's.. so all is well again... AND! As Lord of freakking whatever I just ordered the whales to come swim with me, like they did.. as in .. swimming in a large pool and stuff..
---->
as in today.. i asked my mother about their wedding.. As she tells me we probably wont getting any invites.. YES! fortune telling!!! :P i knew it all along..
AND PMS is a BTCH.
Something that truly baffled me today...
I just saw this on my facebook reel.. (yes.. the struggle is real)
and I just had to share it!! :)
that's how a song truly wil stick forever.. even if it's reused multiple time.. just like this piece right here..
it's that sweet destinct sample, that piece comes back almost every decade.. how can this be? is'nt there something called royalties for music pieces?
this piece is called 'MY WOMAN' by All Bowlly and the Lew Stone Monseigneur band: from 1932!!
than this one hits.. and you think.. this piece is actually quite inspired by the former piece right??
Dear blog..
The inevitable has happend.
My last grandmother has left the earthly realms..
My dear, beautiful Memeti, i'm so sorry, I was planning to come over and visit you one last time, but it's too late.
Rest in Heavenly peace.. my dear...
lots of love from your (great)grandchildren from Belgium..
Sara & M., Samir & L.
T and A
xxxxxxx
Dear Blog...
... yes, we do have holidays too.. the easter holidays! (We're nearly at the end though.....)
... yes, we did some amazing stuff!
1) We went to see the Super Mario Bros movie! (just on it's openingday (5th of April) (and it was smashingly GOOD).. and it did also hit me right into the feels! :) (oooh.. the nostalgia..)
2) We went swimming @de treffer (Wargem) a pool at about an halfhour drive..
3) We went to ROBOTland... at Essen...!! AND MANY MORE things..
See website @ https://robotland.tv/
And what a blast this turned out to be :D.. We worked, pulled, twitched, poked with so much tools and/or robot(parts) and got quite experienced with working tools, operating equipments and so on..
I quite enjoyed the 'lunapark' feeling of some of the 'gizmo's'.. and tried to grab with the robotic arm all sort of wooden blocks to get myself a small tower.. but it turned out quite difficult!
We even handled the buttons and levers of a big crane! and tried to catch a duck with a small crane :)
It was quite pricy, but nevertheless, we spent a whole day over there! We started at opening hour (10u) and stayed till 4u! It was a big room with lots of buttons to experiment with or to handle.. :) and in the end it was also really educational!
Then afterwards.. I surprised the peeps with a huge surprise.. we went to a hotel.. and in style with the porgrame: (the mole).. the others had to find out where our next visit (the day after) would be ...
(the children got in the morning some books.. - of suske and wiske) in the end Michael did fount out where we were going to..
We went for a nice stay at hotel Jerom.. And what a hotel that was!!!
https://hoteljerom.com/nl/ ... I want to go back.. allready!
It had a nice bed for the kids.. with a big ladder :D
The next day we did a very tasteful (yummie) breakfast at the hotel, a bit of hiking at 'the kalmthoutse heide'.. And we spent the afternoon at the SUSKE and WISKE museum!! (in Amerika this lovely duo is called Willy and Wanda)
==> see? :P .. https://sara-keiko.blogspot.com/2009/08/
But now.. nearly 14 years later.. we finally managed to get to the suske en wiske museum AND went for a walk in the famous 'Kalmthoutse heide'.. :)
We did the 'libelle' walk.. and this is about 4.7km long.. there were so much more walks, sometimes smaller, sometimes much longer.. this was just about right with the kids! The signposts were really clear! We even went up the watchtower and were amazed with so much calm nature.. and with a pinch of lovely weather, we just had a great morning :D
==> https://grensparkkalmthoutseheide.com/
What is it?
The Kalmthout Heath (Dutch: Kalmthoutse Heide) is one of the oldest and largest nature reserves of Flanders,[1] bordering the Netherlands and part of the Dutch-Belgian cross-border park De Zoom – Kalmthoutse Heide.[2] It used to be part of a vastly larger European heath landscape. Its name stems from its location: the Belgian municipality Kalmthout.[1]
It has been protected as a landscape since 1941, and officially became a state reserve (Dutch: staatsreservaat) in 1964 due to a petition of over 100,000 signatures.[3]
The heath is an infiltration area located in a cover sand region, in the north of the province of Antwerp. Its relief consists mainly of clay sediments from the Early Pleistocene Kempen Formation. Dunes formed during the Preboreal and the Boreal epochs. At least some of the heath's larger dune systems were still active up until at least the 1990s. In these dune systems, dune-forms (featuring dry podzols or undifferentiated soils) such as parabolic dunes and longitudinal dunes alternate with vast deflation planes (featuring wet podzols) with multiple moorland pools. All of the soils are sandy, transported by saltation. Its water is low in minerals and profoundly acid.[4]
(source - wikipedia)
So yes.. when am i going back?
Hopefully not in 14 years from now.. and a lot sooner!
Blink* .. The end..
xxxKeiko