De Haan / Le Cocq

This is what life looks like in Belgium beach town Le Cocq/De Haan on a Sunday afternoon.  Have you ever seen a more attractive decorated police station,  painted in pink? 

Averbode

 There is more to Averbode than ice-cream - topic I have touched more than once- as some of you might conclude after reading a previous Averbode post. There is also the new beer called "Averbode", cheese, bread and goodies. 

The abbey was founded in 1134 by Count Arnold II of Loon founded and know. It flourished, grew through the centuries, had its own printing office and published books and magazines ( Zonneland, Zonnekind, Tremplin, Bonjour, Doremi.. ) for the Belgian schools. The abbey was during a long time the motor of the village and surroundings with  "also a school, a harmony, a library and a thespian society. It was the center of Marian-centred pilgrimages, which attracted many visitors and benefited the local shops and bars....

In 1896, the abbey first started with missionary work, when two canons left for Pirapora, Brazil,... A second mission started in 1903 in Denmark, where the abbey founded the parish of Vejle, with a new Roman Catholic school and from 1913 on a hospital...."

^]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Averbode_Abbey

Stalking

Believe it or not,  a few days after spotting Jan De Cock at lunch time and showing off about this good fortune @ http://whatisbelgium.blogspot.be/2014/09/jan-de-cock.html,

I noticed him again. It happened  just before my visit to the wonderful exhibition in Strombeek  As I feared this might be too much of a good thing, I procrastinated a bit.  

I do not know the guy but I do fear that one day he will look for the author of TiB in order to accuse him/her of stalking. 

Alexandra Cool, Moments of Being

Alexandra Cool's exhibition opens tomorrow in Etterbeek.
Excerpt from a review by Bernard Dewulf:

"When I first saw the “Alzheimer heads” by Alexandra Cool, those residents immediately came back into my head. I could again hear some of them chattering, while others appeared quiet and uncommunicative. Also, Louise’s beady eyes came back vividly to me.Thus, more or less, I imagine it will be for me one day. Meanwhile, I look at the heads Alexandra Cool has ‘made’.How quiet they are. But perhaps how feverishly they are working inside.
Who can tell?
Perhaps this question inspired Alexandra Cool when she embarked on these heads, faced with the ineffable, or speechless faced with speechless...."
http://www.alexandracool.com/reviews-the-time-being-who-can-tell-by-bernard-dewulf/

Approaching Kemskerke

Jacques Brel sang about "Le Plat Pays" and I drove through it today after I left Ostend. Klemskerke is typical, a beautiful little village in the Polders not far from De Haan/Le Cocq.  Its windmill from 1693 and its restored church (picture 2 if you look carefully) are protected monuments. "The flat land at its best, where quiet country roads invite walking and cycling. Klemskerke is a very old polder village. The first written document in which the town is mentioned dates back to 1003".

 http://www.dehaan.be/vertaling_engels/Laat_je_verrassen/F_6kernen_K.htm

Unusual or not?

And yes, we are still being treated well, weather-wise  ... people are taking advantage and enjoying the outdoors to the fullest, even in the city.

Josaphat Park by Mirjam Devriendt

                                photo: Mirjam Devriendt

If you happen to be in the neighbourhood the coming days, do go check out this exhibition of photographs by Mirjam Devriendt. 
Josaphat Park is a wonderful public part designed years ago, a remainder od "the old Linthout forest that began at Dailly square. It was inaugurated by King Leopold II on June 6, 1904. Its name comes from the resemblance between the valley of the Roodebeek (a tributary of the Maalbeek) where the park is located and the Valley of Josaphat in the Holy Land, noted by a pilgrim back from Palestine in 1574"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Josaphat_Park

http://allesesjust.be/FR/