Happy Birthday . . .

to the most beautiful girl in the world - inside and out!

And here are just a few of my favorite photos - old and new.  

(AFTER you click the ARROW to play, you can click the BOX in the bottom right hand corner to make it full screen - and turn up the volume 'cause there's music :)

Gelukkige Verjaardag, Joyeux Anniversaire, Alles Gute zum Geburtstag, Buon Compleanno

in other words . . . 

Happy Birthday, Randi!

Fleabitten

This past weekend we went to a couple of flea/antique markets.  Belgium, perhaps like every other place, has a multitude of flea markets and antique markets.  Some are every weekend and some are only once or twice a year.  No matter, they are always worth a visit.

Our first stop was Liege to the La Brocante d'Amercoeur.  There was plenty to see, but nothing I couldn't live without - at least for now.

After Liege, we decided to try to find another market in Germany, but we arrived as they were packing up . . . so we visited the nice town of Aachen instead.  

The last time we visited Aachen was in pouring rain so it was a nice day to revisit it.

As you could guess, there is a really beautiful cathedral, appropriately named Aachen Cathedral.  It was completely under renovation on our last visit.  It was consecrated in 805 AD so renovation has probably been ongoing :)  

In addition to the remains of Charlemagne (also known as Charles the Great, King of the Franks) being buried here, the real claim to fame for this cathedral are some serious relics. 

This fancy gold box is called the Shrine of the Virgin Mary and, as you may know, inside are:

1) Mary's cloak

2) Christ's swaddling clothes

3) Christ's loin cloth

and

4) St. John the Baptist's beheading cloth

Since 1349, every 7 years, these relics are taken out and put on display.  Perhaps we can remember to go over there in June 2014 and see them for ourselves.

The ceiling of the entire cathedral is covered in these mosaics of tiny little tiles.

Fortunately it was a sunny day so the detail was more visible than on our rainy day visit.

Then on to Tongeren.  Tongeren is the oldest city in Belgium and about a 20 minute drive from Hasselt.  It is only 1 km from the part of Belgium where they speak French so you hear plenty of both Dutch and French, plus plenty of English! 

Every Sunday morning in the city of Tongeren, there is a huge antique market.  We've gone many times and always enjoy it.  It was even more enjoyable this time since it may be the first time I've been able to go to Tongeren without a coat!

This was a new addition to the Tongeren market - a booth completely dedicated to Bakelite.  I didn't buy anything this time - maybe next time.  Doesn't everybody need a Bakelite clock radio?

Not To Be Missed

I read our local newspaper mostly because it's a good exercise in Dutch and every now and then I learn something about the country we call home.

I also translate some international news articles from time to time in an effort not to be the typical American I once was - completely out of touch with the rest of the world.

The U.S. makes the news in Europe for the same reason it makes the news in the U.S. - mostly politics  or natural disasters.  Or are those one and the same?

There are a few things I miss in the States.  A little.  And a few people I miss in the States.  A lot.  But there are some things I don't miss.  At all.

Like when I see Americans portrayed in local newspapers like this . . .

Amerikaans politicus: "Vrouwen worden zelden zwanger bij verkrachting"

In English:

American politician: "Women are rarely pregnant by rape"

Of course, the article simply reports the astonishingly boneheaded remark of one of our own politicians.  But perhaps the worst part is the few comments following the article that serve to confirm . . . well, I'll let you fill in the blank.

I'll spare you the Dutch - the comments, from people in my neighborhood, here, in English

"Yes, and the earth is flat and the sun revolves around this flat earth, moreover people never landed on the moon because that is indeed filmed in a Hollywood studio."

"And this nation will dominate the world, tush tush tush ... what a short-sighted, backward reasoning, and in 2012!"

"The normal IQ of an American politician is zero!"

Ouch.

In a French newspaper an article on the same subject states just the facts . . .

Non seulement le pays se voit de nouveau entraîné dans des débats moyenâgeux (qu'est-ce qu'un "viol forcé" ?)

And in English:

The country is caught up in medieval debates (what is a "forced" rape?)

I'll spare you the remaining French - here, a few lines of the French article in English:

The case became more and more embarrassing when the press revealed that one of the proponents of this theory is a physician associated with the Romney campaign in 2008. Dr. Jack Wilke, former chairman of the National Committee for the right to life, supported Mr. Akin as the evangelical Family Research Council.

Fortunately, according to the Ohio Board of Medicine, Dr. Wilke no longer holds a medical license in Ohio, where he apparently practiced for 40 years!  I will assume his specialty was not OB/Gyn.

Damn those inconvenient facts about biology that just keep getting in the way of what I want to believe. You mean to tell me that in cases of legitimate rape, women don't rarely get pregnant?  And women really don't have the superpower to just shut that whole thing down?

And I was so liking that make-believe world of science and the celebration of ignorance.

As Gail Collins of the New York Times so eloquently put it . . .

In colonial America, conventional wisdom held that women could not get pregnant unless they enjoyed the sex.   People, who would have thought I’d have an opportunity to bring up this factoid right in the middle of a presidential race? Thank you, Representative Todd Akin of Missouri! Without you, we might have been condemned to spend today reinvestigating the Congressional Budget Office Medicare cost projections.

But it just gets better and better.  Did you know Mr. Akin is a member of the House Committee on Science, Space and Technology?   Well, he is.

Gail Collins  . . . 

Since Akin’s debacle, we’ve learned that a former member of Congress once told the House Appropriations Committee that when people “are truly raped, the juices don’t flow, the body functions don’t work and they don’t get pregnant.” And that James Leon Holmes, a federal judge currently hearing cases in Arkansas, once said that “concern for rape victims is a red herring because conceptions from rape occur with approximately the same frequency as snowfall in Miami.”

Okay, I know he's from Arkansas, but still.

And speaking of Arkansas politicians . . . fortunately the U.S. was spared from most international news stories on that recent somber day on the wrong side of history - Chick-fil-A Appreciation Day.

I could say more . . . and I have.

As with voting women and segregated schools, history will right itself.  

And who knows . . . maybe one day there will be no one left to discriminate against.

Now that's the day not to be missed.

Philly Cheese Chuck

A few of Jim's co-workers have recommended a barbecue restaurant in the nearby town of Tongeren.  Mostly because the guy who owns it says he's from Texas.

So, this past Friday night, we checked it out.

It's called Chuckwagon and believe it or not, the owner's name is . . . Chuck.

Our neighbors joined us.  That's Pieter and Annemie.  They asked if we'd know which one was Chuck and I said if he says "where y'all from?" then that's Chuck.

Well, he didn't say that nor is he from Texas.  He's from Philadelphia.  He just says he's from Texas because 

1) it sounds better to be from Texas than from Philadelphia - I'm not so sure about that

and

2) he moved to Belgium from Texas so he thinks that counts - we actually did the same thing

They even served Budweiser beer, which only Jim would drink.  I had a margarita that was not spectacular.

So, Chuck married a Belgian woman, been here 15 years, has owned the restaurant for 7.

He's also very familiar with how things work in Belgium and he was eager to share his dismay at the Belgian system.  It was my opinion that he has obviously been away from the States too long because everything Chuck said about Belgium could have been said about the U.S. as well.

Chuck indeed served MEGA Texas burgers and they were pretty good and thoroughly cooked.  Here in Belgium, you have to order your burgers "well done".  Otherwise they may come rare, like steak.  I had the jalapeno burger and it almost felt good for my mouth to be on fire.  That rarely never happens with Belgian cuisine.

We'll probably go back one of these days since we promised Chuck a Jefferson T-shirt to add to his wall of Texas T-shirts and in return we'll get a free hamburger.  We may even show him how to make a proper margarita.

Delta Dawn

At least once a week, sometime during the early morning hours, I get an email from Delta Airlines.  That's because there was a time when we earned a lot of sky miles using our American Express card. We put nearly every purchase on that card just for the sky miles.

But not anymore - mostly because almost no business in Europe takes American Express.  Good information for the international traveler.  Get a Visa or Mastercard.

So I now have my Delta Dawn emails sent to Spam.  They almost always involve earning sky miles, but since it takes roughly 100,000 miles for one ticket to fly to the States and back, a few extra miles doesn't help us much anymore.

Before deleting one of my recent Delta emails, I was enticed to read on when I saw "6 bottles of wine".  

The incentives used to inspire me to "earn" those extra miles is, well, not very tempting.  Here's the most recent email I received . . .  

Earn 5,000 miles and 6 bottles of wine!

Hello Mrs. Frazier, For a limited time . . . enjoy great tasting wines delivered right to your front door -  you'll receive 2,000 miles with your first shipment, 3,000 miles with your second shipment  and 5 miles per dollar spent on all other wine orders. The wines in your first shipment are only $6.99 a bottle (that's 50% off) and we'll include the shipping for 1¢.  Also, we'll include 6-piece Cellar Master wine tote (a $37.95 value) with your third wine club shipment. The finer print: You'll find that each shipment is a great value — featuring superb quality wines* at superb prices averaging just $12-$15 a bottle. *Because these wines are all in very limited supply, substitutions for wines similar in character and of equal value may occasionally be made.  So, I know math is hard, especially for me, but  . . . my first shipment of superb quality wine is about $42 with the added bonus of 2,000 sky miles! My second (and future) shipments are at the superb price of $12 - $15 per bottle = $72 - $90 with the added bonus of 3,000 more sky miles! Am I making money yet?  Maybe not, but so far I have 12 bottles of superb quality wine.  Ooh, la, la. Somehow, someone may be able to justify those first two shipments that come with the 5,000 sky miles but . . . - if I earn 5 miles for every dollar spent on wine - and every monthly shipment costs $72 - $90 - I earn 360 - 450 sky miles?! Really?  I'm going to spend nearly a hundred dollars for less than 500 sky miles? Despite the higher math, please correct me if I'm wrong, but I think this calculates to . . . - 263 monthly shipments (that's 22 years!) at the superb price of $12 per bottle (that's $18,936!)  or  - at the superb price of $15 per bottle (that's $18,990!), I'll need 211 shipments (that's over 17 years!). I do like wine and I'd love that 6-piece Cellar Master wine tote (a $37.95 value) and with this unbelievable deal, I can double all those shipments and have enough sky miles to take Jim with me . . . in 17 to 22 years. Either I've totally missed the math here or I think all the folks 'round Brownsville'd say she's crazy?