Thanksgiving prep!

How many times have you been to the grocery store in the past few days?! Each time I go I say, "this is it, I am NOT going to the store again before Thanksgiving". And then I find myself in the kitchen, having inexplicably grabbed jellied instead of whole berry cranberry sauce at Walmart, having to head out to Kroger. AAAHHHH! So, after Walmart, Aldi and Kroger in a 36 hour period I hearby pledge-- I am NOT going to the store again before Thanksgiving! Of course I might have to send Jerry!!

Danny was assigned desserts for our thanksgiving meal, and he made them both today after school and tuba lesson. Behold his Pecan Pie Bars and Cherry Cranberry lattice top pie! I told him Busia,Aunt Reg and Honey are all smiling down at him tonight! I made the mashed potatoes, and have the turkeys almost defrosted. In the morning my real cooking begins! Enjoy the prep for this wonderful family holiday!

Special Olympics Poly Hockey State Tournament Weekend

We had a busy weekend of hockey play and the girls did a great job. We were lucky to have Leah with us on Saturday taking on the roll of little sister/head cheerleader!  the first game was great, the whole team played well together and they won 14-6 or something. Charlotte scored 2 goals! Then we had a 4 hour wait until the next game and we fell apart a bit. That is a long time to sit around and athletes get sluggish and bored. Leah and I went to the craft area, but the girls just hung out in the hall. Finally at 5:30 the second game got underway. Unfortunately we somehow ended up laying the wrong team! Not our fault! The team was so frustrated but they continued to try hard, fighting for every shot. The final score, with a running clock, was 20-2. OUCH! Charlotte played center for much of the second game and was pouring sweat. She did get one of the goals, a blast from mid court! Coach Laurel protested the mix-up but there was nothing that could be done at that point in time. The team was also were unable to go to a medal ceremony because the other teams in the division hadn't completed tournament play. Which I get, but how anti-climatic is it to get your medal in the mail a few weeks after the tourney?  To shake it off and celebrate a great season we hit Leo's for burgers and then watched a movie. On Sunday the girls and I went to boxing, church and the school play again. You can never have too much theatre!

Molly and teammate and friend Liam

Uno is a  good boredom reliever

Charlotte works the court

Oh, A Hunting They Will Go!

Hunting fever has struck the Hincka House!

 Symptoms include but are not limited to;

Excessive studying of the Cabellas circular

Viewing Deer Cam footage on line

Making crockpots full of venison meatballs for camp food

Growing facial hair

Skipping school to get up to camp early and "get the blind ready"

Dirty boots and big smiles!

Last weekend and this, Jerry took the boys and headed up to Posen,MI. He and his brothers own a hunting camp together, complete with a house that they have been fixing up, lots of wood trails, apple and evergreen trees, a deer??! That is the million dollar question! Though big fun has been had, last weekend they didn't even get a shot! I guess there is a lot of the soybean crop the did not get brought in, so the deer are hanging out at fast food field instead of visitng the food piles like they should. 

Ah well, the spitzer games are being played, paying calls on the other hunting camps around town(the Hincka cousins have a game rom in their, complete with pool table! Doing shots, eating, and lots of sitting in the blind in the below zero temps.

Good Luck men, Molly,Charlotte and I will be down state, cozy and warm and waiting for news!

Jet lag has it's way with me!

Oh my gracious! I do not believe in jet lag, in fact, I REFUSE to have jet lag or acknowledge it in any way. Well, someone must have told jet lag about my attitude, and he decided to exact revenge and show me who was boss. On Tuesday morning we got up at 2:30am Brussels time (8:30pm detroit time) and headed to the airport. We returned the car, grabbed an espresso and hopped on the plane to Amsterdam. From there we hit the sky lounge for another coffee then boarded our flight for home. The flight was great, half empty, but I could not fall asleep. We were back in brighton by 12:30pm, thanks Karen! And all was well for the afternoon and evening. We were so happy to see the kids, they had done a great job holding down the home front, and we were right back into the swing, polyhockey, homework,etc. I went to bed around 11:00pm, after being up 26 ish hours....

and then Jet Lag made his move, sneaking into the bedroom and starting to pound my head, and render my eyes unable to stay open, and my head unable to stay upright. For 24 hours I basically couldn't move! Luckily Jerry was home and handled things, but seriously, I was flattened. And you guys know me--I do NOT do sick, nevermind bedridden. So when Thursday morning dawned and I felt like I could open my eyes after only 1000 mg of Tylenol and keep a cup of coffee down, I was feeling extremely grateful and blessed. Recovered just in time to go pick up Cassie for the weekend! Never a dull :)

Cassie and Harry looking for deer in the backyard!

Luxembourg

Today Jerry had a meeting in Luxembourg, just outside June city center and I decided to take a ride with him. He dropped me off in Ettlebrook, where the Patton Museum is...unfortunately that museum is closed from September through May, and since it was Monday the shops were closed until 2 pm. Alrighty then! I took a brisk walk around the town, which is no doubt charming on a warm day when it is full of people. It was not charming on huh is chilly gray November morning! I put in a good hour of power walking before retreating to a coffee shop with free wifi! Jerry's meeting went very well and only took about 2 hours so before I knew it he was picking me up and we were headed back to Belgium. The scenery on the two hour drive was beautiful. Rolling hills, old farm houses, cows and miniature ponies for the first half, then back to the freeway for the second bit, which was perfect from a speed perspective. We even passed a little shopping center that had a branch of our favourite sports store. YEs, of course we stopped, my excuse was a bathroom break!  But it was fun to browse around for a couple of minutes. Back in Brussels we took another walk around the city to stretch our legs after the drive. And then it was packing time! Got everything in and set for our early Tuesday departure.

Sunday--Choosing among the churchs.

Belgium is 90% Catholic, so finding mass should be no problem, right? However, finding one in English may prove to be!cwhen Jerry was here last month he went to mass in French, and I also find it available in Spanish, Dutch and German. I want English though,I want to know right when to say my prayers! We end up at Saint Nicolas, which is a very old church right in the center of Brussels, only about 3 minutes walk from our hotel.

This church has been destroyed and rebuilt a number of times, so pieces of it date from different time periods. The church itself has houses and other buildings surrounding it to the point where if you don't come upon it from the front you will not know you have found it! The choir and most of the attendants were phillipino, the priest was French and one of the readers was British. Quite international. They did not use the main, gorgeous altar but rather a table set up just in from of the seats. That was disappointing. While it is wonderful to be at mass and receive communion this is not a church I will seek out when we move next month. Of course having Father Karl has spoiled me,

As you can see from my blue sky pictures the day was lovely. After mass we walked around the old section of town, then after lunch we took a long walk along a canal we discovered. I love when you come upon murals and sculptures unexpectantly, it is delightful!

Later in the evening Jerry found a sports bar that turned on American football at 7pm and he enjoyed a Belgian beer or two with the game. Of course my game is reading, so I enjoyed a lovely demi-baguette and pumpkin soup!

 

Saturday is ALL about walking!

Want me to let you in on a secret??!!

The best way to explore a new city is by foot. I never go for those Hop On-Hop Off tours, why hop on? Just Walk! You will see and know about the city much faster and you are much more likely to discover hidden gems. Little gardens, old churches,and neat restaurants. It was a beautiful sunny mid 50's day as Jerry and I set out and we walked about 9 miles! We went left and right, up the cobblestones and down the marble stairs, around the gardens of huge palace and across the gardens of the municipal building. Busy streets with diesel fumes and charming pedestrian only alleyways. We saw the European Commision where the EU is headquartered, as deserted as Wall St. Is on a Saturday. We visited the Armed Forces Museum, previewing it for Danny and Jake of course, and climbed to the top of the building for the Panorama. We saw a wedding couple being cheered and photographed as the sun came out. We grabbed a coffee and a crepe with strawberries near Saint Michaels and some beer and snacks at the Carrefour Express market. We strolled through the jam packed shopping streets around our hotel (recession? What recession?!) amazed at all the people, dogs, strollers, smokers, beggars and lovers we came upon. In the evening we were happy to settle in to our lovely studio and eat our take-away...middle eastern of course! It doesn't get any better than The Sultan of Kebap after a day of walking! Viva la feet!

Great view of the city!

Touring Brussels Friday 07/11/2014

Funny thing, when it is raining and windy, you keep your head down a bit, and duck in wherever and whenever you see something cool...and that's great, but when you get home, you really have NO idea where you were! I tried to reconstruct some of my wandering to no avail. I saw three beautiful church's.  The first was very poignant, at the front entrance there was and exhibit on slavary through the ages,including human trafficking today. Then as I moved further into the church I saw they had tents set up in the front. There were refugees/homeless people sleeping right in the church. Talk about Christ in action

It was very moving to see the juxtaposition of the icon religious painting and a ladder holding shoes...I examined my conscience.

Then back out into the rain, trying to pick up the trail of a city walk I was following. I passed an old convent bombed in WWII and rebuilt so the facade contain pieces of all different eras, a random crazy statue that made me smile and think of Danny

I found another beautiful cathedral where I was able to light two candles and pray. 

I also viewed an exhibit by a deacon who is a photographer who uses a technique call spectrography. It takes a small view and spirals it outward, and then reverses it. I need to read more about the process, but the photos were taken on an island in the Mediterranean of the coast of Cannes which is used as a religious retreat and is home to monks. The photos are breathtaking and the quote at the end is very moving. I would love to visit that island.

Back out I went, through Brussels city park, filled with midday executives jogging a about, a cool old band stand and some random Greek statues!

Then I found my way to the royal palace ( I think!) where I asked a Japanese girl with a 5000$ camera to snap a photo with my clunky iPad!

Then I went into the Belvu museum, which used to be a hotel in the 1800's and saw a cool exhibit on King Albert of Belgium and his infatuation with the new invention of the movie industry. He was one of the first modern monarchs to have crews record his life and travels and it was fascinating to see Woodrow Wilson visiting Belgium after WWII, Prince Charles as a teen in a boyscout suit playing on the beach with King Alberts kids, and the King trying out the four man bobsled at the Olympic park in the 20's. He was an avid climber who was killed suddenly in a tragic climbing accident. 

The exhibit had screen grabs so as you watched the film bits you could see who people were and what was happening at each part. I thought jake would be interested to see the dog machine gun teams..

I observed people with selfie sticks, a collapsible rod you hook your phone to so you can get a good selfie...not me. I can only go out as far as my short arms can take me!

Then after 3 1/2 hours I tried to find my way back to the hotel, but I had forgotten to leave the croissant crumbs so I got a bit lost on the twisty streets. Like a mirage in the desert I saw the place we had lunch at yesterday blinking its warm lights at me, saying " Kerry, come in for the soup bowl of coffee and free wifi and warm yourself!" I happily agreed and even got lentil soup an une demi baguette!

Happiness! I read my book on my iPad and enjoyed the people watching and got reoriented enough to find my way to the Adagio! When Jerry got back we walked around together a bit then headed back to our apartment to relax.