Warning: Indecent Exposure!

Jen said in one of her earlier posts that maybe, one day she will show us her "ass" on F.B, well in expectation of that, I will show you mine here on blogger! A real “Belgian” ass!

Maybe it's a little over the edge but, it's the way it is!

What did you expect? That... I show you my "own" ass,..ha..ha ..I show you the ass of a real Belgian horse! In fact the real Dutch name is: Belgisch trekpaard! (the translator translates this literal as: appetite horse!! Ha ha ...funny..LOL!

Of course it must be: a Belgian draft horse or Belgian heavy horse. They are one of the strongest of the heavy breeds.

Are you curious...do you really want to see it? Then look at the end of my post. I have put it there so that it will not shock you immediately, I have warned you!

I took these pictures not so far from my home (approx.3km.).

In fact the result of the first picks. could have been much better (too much back light) but, because of the barbed wire of the fence i could not take the picks. from an other angle. They did not want to pose for me at another spot, and you can't ask them to do that:):)! I took these picks. on June the 1^st.

.

Because I knew that there were foals at an other place I went there on June the 15^th to take more pictures! Oh, it was so beautiful to see the foals romping in the meadow!

You must know in earlier times Belgian draft horses were famous in the whole world. In 1910, 34,576 draft horses were moved from Belgium to America, Canada, Russia, Swedes, Germany, France, the Netherlands and Italy.
In the port the horses were used to transport freight. There they were called nation horses. They drew the ships in canals and rivers. Along most of the canals still lies a towpath. That was the path for the horses. They were also used in the coal mines where they entered as a foal and never more came out because they became too heavy and so they could no longer be up hoisted.

After the second world war these splendid heavy horses were repressed by the motorization.

In 1950, there were still counted 200.000 draft horses on Belgian floor. In the eighties remained only 6,000. Now there are 15,000 Belgian draft horses in Belgium and there are again more foals born. .

Cutting the tail at draft horses happened for practical reasons. At the work on the land the horse sways with its tail to chase off the flies. So it was not easy to control the horse because at swaying it's tail the rein came under the tail with the result that the horse became uncontrollable. With a short tail one does not have this problem, but the horse has more charge of the flies.

Since 2001 it has been prohibited in Belgium to cut horse tails.

Now these days here in Belgium draft horses devotees and enthusiastic breeders are stimulated to keep this unique race alive.

I found out that there are at least five places in the U.S where they are still bred. One of those places is Blackleg Acres in Blackville South Carolina.

They are a living monument!

I have a living monument in my neighborhood that must walk around with an “indecent exposed” ass but, that does not disturb me, I like them as they are!

I hope that also you are not disturbed by it and that you can laugh with it!

Here it is!:):):)

P.S: Hm..hm.. Danger panda said in a comment to Jen: If you can make a blog banner out of the hind end of an elephant.... and so on!

Imagine yourself that this Belgian hind end would be “my” blog banner, ha ha!:):):)

That would be not very tasteful I think...too much exposer!!

Of course I would never change my blog banner, it will always stay Pipke's nest, she is a duck with a dog's nest! She is unique!

Not the Appropriate Time

The last 14 days I prepared a post about: my Belgian ass.

I had planned to publish the post yesterday.

After I was informed about the sad situation of *Jen's Grandfather, I have changed my mind. Now it is certainly not the right moment to tell naughty jokes about a Belgian ass!

Jen gave me the opportunity and a place in her own blog to write my first post. She inspired me to start my own blog.

Out respect for her, I let my "Belgian ass" wait and I hope that one day.... in the future...when she has processed a little what happens now, that postponed post... will cheer her up!

To Jen

Fran

P.S: *for those who don't know Jen yet, read my first post: Oei..oei..ai..ai..plop!

Photography: a New Challenge for me

In fact I had not planned this but I had so much pleasure when I took pictures* (see link below) during my running circuit that I have decided to do this more often!

The day after I took those first pictures, I went back to take some more!

This time from the part that is already history and that I run no more! (Until a few years ago I ran 3 km. more).

Now I have my complete running circuit of 9 km. on image!

I like to show you a few images of that last part! (Click on picture to enlarge.)

You must know that photography is something “new” for me although I am the daughter of two generations of professional photographers. My grandfather learned his profession during W.W 1 in Blackpool, England around 1915 and my father (who was born in Blackpool) learned it from his father. After the war they came back to Belgium.

Of course I know something about making and developing photographs, but... that was the photography from more then fifty years ago.

I can remember, my father used a camera like this (see picture) when I was a toddler.

I even have known that they used “glass platelets” instead of film. They also had to use a separate flash light, (they had to install it on the camera) and light bulbs to use the flash! For every flash which they had to make they had to change the light bulb!

Those used bulbs were very special and useful for us (it was just after the war).

We prepared them to decorate our Christmas tree! (On the link you can see the tree.)

We plunged them into glue and covered them with very tiny silver flakes (almost a powder) and so it became a very original and sparkling Christmas tree!

I think it must have been until around 1948, I'm not sure about that date because I was still too little.

Not so long thereafter came a flashlight with light bulbs they could use several times again (approx. 10 times max. I think).

They also had to use a separate hand light meter. They had to take into account that a moving object needs a shorter opening time than a stationary object and therefore they had to adjust the closure time of the lens manually every time the situation of the object changed.

In fact nothing went automatically!

I saw my father working in the dark room. That was a room with special red light, white light would have ruined the blank photograph paper. (We kids have sometimes ruined it, because we had put on the white light when the blank paper wasn't covered and so it could be used no more)!

First he developed the film and put it in a projector. Thereafter he projected the film on the blank photograph paper. It was fascinating to see “how” after been exposed to light and going in a development fluid the picture appeared on the photograph paper. The exposure to light and the development bath, they both needed an “exact” timing or, the picture became too light or too dark.

As a teenager I was sometimes his help and then I had to dry press the wet photograph sheets in a special machine, a hot press! (you can compare it with a big iron** machine in a laundry but smaller and not turning around).

In fact those days were the “middle ages”of photography!

And yes, I know “a little” about photography but now I must bring it into practice and I must learn to work with the new technology! I must enter the digital era! Once...I wanted to become a professional photographer but my father's opinion was that: it was not a profession for a woman!

So now: I am going to do it just for pleasure and.. practice...practice..practice !

*See my post: Will you be my running mate?

**Iron machine: I don't know if it's the good translation in this context but it's not easy to describe it.

P.S: Excuse me, although I left out many handling's and details, the explanation about developing and producing photographs became a little longer than I expected it would be.

It gave me the feeling that I stood again in the darkroom, beside my father!

I hope that you had a little bit the feeling that you stood there too!

 

 

About: Blah..Blah..Blah!

*Jeannie's last post gave me much substance to reflect on.

Why are we all blogging!!

That's a question I asked myself before I came on blogger.

Why do people blog?

I couldn't understand that someone could have to tell so much...and now... I am doing it myself. What is the purpose off this all? Maybe you also can wonder yourself : why do writers write books, what is their purpose? To tell a story, to share their thoughts with you, to give you their view on the world! Why is there spoken language: to bring over knowledge and that knowledge became the base of written language, and why do we read? I think everyone has a different reason for it. Some do it as entertainment, to learn or to be informed about everything that's going on in the world.

Of course I am not a writer and this is my first blog and it's also the first time in my life that I have written so much! (Except my love letters.)

Why I myself like to blog!

To learn from your experiences and to let you know mine. I think we can always learn from each other. To exchange thoughts and also maybe sometimes to release steam.

To read your story's and to tell you mine. Sometimes it will be “small talk” but it can better be “small talk” than calumny I think.

I have just started this blog and of course “now” I still have fun in it .

I hope that I will have enough inspiration to go on for some time and that I still enjoy blogging when we are a year further. I also hope that you will still be here then and that you still like to read it!

Maybe It will lose the luster that I have now and then I know that it's better to stop because you always must do things with pleasure, you must have fun in it.

I will do my best not to become boring!

Blog...blog..blog!

This was really bla ... bla ... bla!:) :)

PS: Goodbye Jeannie!

This was a beautiful written farewell!

Have much pleasure in reading!

* Unfortunately Jeannie's blog does no longer exists.