Fri., Oct. 31st Sandy's Woluwe Walk

We all know where this photo was taken ... along the old rail road line in Woluwe! It does stand out from some of the other group photos. Here are 15 of the 16 of us portrayed early in this afternoon's outing. We started from the Tram Museum parking lot and made our way along the former rail line to Stockel before heading over to Av. Emile Vandervelde and then followed Blvd. de la Woluwe back to where we started.

Fri., Oct. 31st Sandy's Woluwe Walk

We stopped briefly at the small chapel of Marie la Miserable for those ladies who had not yet seen it. Here Lydia explains the story.

Fri., Oct. 31st Sandy's Woluwe Walk

On the way back we followed the ponds in Woluwe and enjoyed the fall leaf colors in the crisp air (it was about 6C and overcast)!

Fri., Oct. 31st Sandy's Woluwe Walk

After the walk we made our way to the home of Sarah who was kind enought to host all of us on Av. Parmentier near the Tram Museum where we began our excursion. I think the spirit of Halloween was in this photo! What do you think? Some of the walkers just could not wait for the food to be served. Lydia did give her approval on the plate of Macaroons! Thank heavens ...

Fri., Oct. 31st Sandy's Woluwe Walk

Do these walkers look hungry or what? Well, you would be too if you were faced with the lovely choices shown here ... the Ginger Cake whose recipe came from Sarah's Mother, the Brownies, the Macaroons and the Sugar Cookies ... Where does one start?

Fri., Oct. 31st Sandy's Woluwe Walk

Our special "Thanks" go to our hostess, Sarah, (grey top) who took such good care of all of us this afternoon. She provided hot tea, coffee, decaf as well as all the wonderful baked goodies that you see on the table. Since we had 18 participants today that was quite a crowd for her to cook for. She did it all so delightfully, too!

Fri., Oct. 31st Sandy's Woluwe Walk

Also relaxing in Sarah's comfortable living room were Inge, Marie-Paule and Angela. It was especially nice to have Marie-Paule join us this afternoon so that we had a chance to catch up with her.

Fri., Oct. 31st Sandy's Woluwe Walk

... and, finally it was time to sign those Proxy Forms for the Nov. 20th WIC General Meeting! We have a lot of work to do don't we ladies??? If you can't be at the meeting please advise Sandy so that we can make arrangements for your proxy vote to count. We need all the WIC Walkers participating...

Mon., Oct. 27th P's Neerijse Walk

Our thanks to P who led us this afternoon on a lovely walk around Neerijse. It turned out to be a spectacular weather day for this time of year and since we had some visitors with us it was nice that we could share the time with them under these conditions. As you will see though we did encounter some mud which slowed us down a bit but the weather cooperated.

Mon., Oct. 27th P's Neeijse Walk

Here is just a sample of some of the mud we encountered on today's walk. It was indeed a bit of a challenge especially navigating farm equipment which seemed to prefer our routes too! Our friend Jane reported later .... "The reason it was so very muddy at Neerijse is because they are redesigning that lake/pond we came across at the end of the walk. i.e. they are lowering the banks and redefining the depth so you have a proper view across it. They've only just started. They are using the earth they take away to fill in another two ponds further into the area. These ponds were not really proper ponds and they want to reinstate the woodland in that area. Hence all that heavy traffic. Just for the record hunting still goes on but not on Sundays. Even if there is hunting you are quite safe as long as you keep to the paths. This info came from my newsletter "Tijdingen" from my club Vrienden van Heverleebos en Meerdaalwoud Oct-Dec-2008". Thanks, Jane!

Mon., Oct. 27th P's Neerijse Walk

Twenty walkers were able to join for today's walk which included several guests!!! We were glad to see Maggie back for a walk, as well as Ann's sister and Alison who left us in March when she moved to Stockholm. In addition, it was great to have Sheila back with us after many months! We hope they all enjoyed the opportunity to participate.

Mon., Oct. 27th P's Neerijse Walk

We stopped at the duck blind to see what we could see out on the water. One of the ladies who brought binoculars spied a heron across the other side but generally it was a quiet day out there.

Mon., Oct. 27th P's Neerijse Walk

It was not all mud this afternoon and it was great to experience the continuing changing of the colours in the trees

Mon., Oct. 27th P's Neerijse Walk

At least through this stretch walking on the duck boards the group was spared some of the mud that we encountered earlier.

Mon., Oct. 27 P's Neerijse Walk

Here we are in the home stretch after almost 2 hours. The mud slowed us down a bit but we can't complain because of the clear skies and good walking temperature for today's walk.

Mon., Oct. 27 - P's Neerijse Walk

Here we are arriving back from where we started at the church of St. Peter and St. Paul on the main route through Neerijse. It was a beautiful fall day for our excursion!
Unfortunately, the cafe that we had hoped to visit in Huldenberg on the way back toward Brussels was closed today ... and, we had some miscommunications on where to meet instead. Some of the ladies went to a cafe in Overijse others to a cafe in Jezus-Eik. Other walkers preferred to forego the refreshements today. We all hope that this will not happen again!

Fri., Oct. 24th Sandy's Auderghem Walk

Sixteen of us congregated this afternoon for the outing under somewhat overcast skies. We took this photo at the start of the walk at the parking area and then headed down to the Dr. du Tambour and into the forest. What a great turn out for a somewhat gloomy fall afternoon. It is always fun when we get together!

Fri., Oct. 24th Sandy's Auderghem Walk

We paused here for just a moment to absorb the beauty of the fall colors around us in the Foret de Soignes. All too soon the leaves will be gone and we will miss the color until the new spring leaves come out next year.

Fri., Oct. 24th Sandy's Auderghem Walk

All too soon we were on the home stretch and finished up the walk in about an hour and a half. It was beautiful to see all the fall colors and we were quite lucky with the weather too. Although it was overcast and we had some sprinkles of rain it turned out to be very good walking weather for us.

Fri., Oct. 24th Sandy's Auderghem Walk

Most of the walkers were able to adjourn to the restaurant/cafe Au Diable Vauvert in Auderghem later to enjoy their refreshments. We were pleased that Sheila could join us for this portion of the afternoon's activities. The hot mint tea was especially refreshing for those ladies who requested it.

Mon., Oct. 20th P's Villers-La-Ville Walk

The changing fall colors were even more in evidence as we made our way around P's route today in the beautiful countrysides around the Abbey of Villers-La-Ville. We had done this walk with Sheila in the spring so it was fun to be able to see it at another time of year. We had a good crowd of walkers out to enjoy this continuing great weather. Our thanks to P for leading us this afternoon.

Mon., Oct. 20th P's Villers-La-Ville Walk

Refreshments followed on the terrace of the Cafe de la Foret where our conversations continued as we sipped our beverages. With 14 of us it was difficult to get everyone accounted for in the photo.

Fri., Oct. 17th Christa's Lasne Walk

Christa organized a lovely walk for us today from her home in Lasne. "Thank you, Christa"! It was wonderful to discover all sorts of little country paths in the sunshine across fields and meadows and to see the autumn colours of the trees. The doggies had a good time, too! Then Christa spoiled us with a special cake based on her Grand Mother's recipe. Have a look at the elegant orange floral and pumpkin decorations in the photo too. Halloween is not far away ... Comments from P.