There's a beautiful park over in Brussels ... Tervuren Park.

It's a massive space where anything is possible ... families with babies in strollers, large groups of Scouts covered in flour, massive planes bound for places unknown - still in an almost vertical climb from their take-off nearby and then there's the people riding beautiful horses.

It's an open-air space, city-style and yesterday Tervuren was full of people making the most of a warm autumn day.

We met under the statue of elephant, near the Congo Museum at 3pm - a family of four expat-Americans, Gert and I.

The weather had held; a thunderstorm during the night and heavy rain later, as we drove home from Brussels at 9pm. Writing this at 10am on a Monday, all seems serene weatherwise for the moment.

It seems I'm hanging out with the Americans these days ... Shannon is popping over from Brussels sometime this morning and I've had various American guests come stay this year ... it's lovely, and do you know, they make some really good food.

Pam cooked her Fish Wednesday while she was visiting, Mary and Al wined and dined us as we travelled with them, Cindy threw a Tex-Mex farewell party over in Brussels, Erin introduced me to the delights of Spanish tapas food, and last night we were served up stunningly tasty burgers with salad and the best homemade baked beans I've had in my life.
Really!

It was a lovely day out.

Immigration has been on my mind this morning.
I've been a little embarassed about my process ...
Mentioning it here made me feel like a baby and yet I was compelled to mention it because it was changing my life in ways that were completely out of my control; changing it in ways that were often difficult to stand.

But it seems that the more I talk of my experience, the more I hear of similar experiences... and there's this attached embarassment because we're living in Europe, our lives are exciting and different at times but for me there's also this anger that sits just below the surface.

It's almost as if those who work in immigration ... those who make the rules about immigration - want to make it as painful and as difficult as can be imagined which stuns me when you realise that many of these countries were colonisers who stole land, moved settlers on and took the best for themselves ... then again, perhaps that's what they protect themselves from now.

On the bright side, and there is one, I wouldn't have had this time to explore what was possible under normal conditions ... and I understand that but I want to start breathing properly one day soon.

I was talking to my sister this moring and she said, 'Take up yoga or tai-chi'.
I said, 'Sure, in Dutch?'
She said, 'Watch what the other people are doing.'
I told her I would, as long as she came over and attended with me.
She laughed ... my sister has an evil streak that reveals itself in her laughter. She has already told me she would never take me to yoga again ... apparently I fell asleep last time we tried back in New Zealand, there on my mat on the floor next to her and my sister would have me and everyone else believe that I even snored quietly.
She still laughs when she talks of it.

But the thing most likely to convulse her in gales of hysteria would be me phoning up to tell her I'm pregnant. It's her dream I think ... she's that kind of little sister, a really naughty one who is entirely lovable when I'm not driving her crazy with the weird and unusual things that seem to dog my occasionally shambolic life.

Gert's was fussing over my birthday gift ...
I finally asked him if he would just give me his time and build me my photography website.

He wasn't sure it was a gift.
I'm sure ... it's going to take hours and hours, I've since told him he should resign himself to being my man-slave this year as I set up the business.

It seems my sister and I share a similar humour ;)