Thursday Night in Brussels

Last night was the sneak-peek opening of the Brussels Flower Carpet & the girls and I got in on the action. The city only does this every two years & with Man's 3-year track record of changing jobs every time the wind blows, we couldn't pass up this opportunity in hopes of maybe making the 2010 shindig.

After a very European dinner at Pizza Hut (located in Brussels = European), we headed downtown on the Metro. It was getting dark so I didn't get the bright-sunshiny flower pictures that I'm accustomed to taking, but I was snappy enough to get a few more BTDT pictures for our photo albums.



Yes, the pattern is impressive, the flowers are petal-perfect & the whole concept a bit mind boggling. But, what I found the most intriguing is that the entire carpet is only 1-2 inches thick. These flower people didn't just arrange some nice potted begonias on the Grand Place & call it a rug. These flower people actually painstakenly arranged every petal and every blade of grass. Perhaps, I'll kick back with some cider & black this weekend and attempt to figure out how they did that & to where all the stems, dirt & roots disappeared.

I'm hanging my head in shame, because it if was moi in charge of the flower carpet, we'd be looking at something more like this:

Hey! Wait one minute here! As you may have partially noticed, there just happens to be an insane amount of stems, roots, dirt, dead leaves and shriveled up flowers on my patio.

Ooooohhhhh!

Do you think those hooligan flower people had the balls emotional fortitude to brave damn rooster & throw their leftover botanical rubbish into my garden?

Of course. That has to be it. I can't possibly be that unaccomplished when it comes to growing flowers - especially in Europe where everything grows beautifully for the natives.

Regardless, I'm still kicking back with some cider & black this weekend. Cheers!

Anyway, while we were downtown we had to check up on the Mannekin Pis. You know, to see if he was wearing any of his clothes. 300+ outfits & they left him naked for the big event this weekend. Maybe they, like me, were unsure about which outfit would have been most appropriate for a little boy to wear for a flower fest.

Since every other person in Brussels was looking at the flowers, we had the Mannekin all to ourselves. Laze-E wanted a really good shot of her with this national landmark - without some stranger's stray elbow in the way. It took some maneuvering, but I managed to line up this shot perfectly.

OK. There. Smile, Sweetie!

*************

I know, I know. I may have to transfer money out of her college fund to pay for therapy in the near future, but I swear, I just couldn't help myself. And, as you can probably imagine, I didn't try very hard either.

Ok, maybe I'm the one who needs therapy. But, I'm happy, so I can't possibly need that much.

Maybe just a little blue pill every now and then.

Or just a pint of cider & black. No doctors, no pharmacist, no papertrail documenting my instability insurance claim. It is always such a bother to seek proper reimbursement.

On our way back out of town, we practically had the Metro to ourselves too. The tourists chose flowers; we chose the pissing little boy & public transportation. In some cultures it's actually desirable to be cheap & easy low maintenance. Yes, I had my children out at 10:45pm and yes, this is how MiniMe chose to entertain herself on the way back to our privately owned vehicle.

Remember The Friday Night Special not too long ago? The tutu, the merlot & America's Most Wanted?

Now we have the Rockin'Bauer Thursday Night Special: Pizza, Pissing & Pole Dancing.

Yep, that's us, making the most of this unique European assignment.