A Postcard A Day - Friday 24 July 2026 - Friday Smiles

Hello lovely girls! Is the sun shining for you? Or are there clouds on the horizon? Remember, every cloud has a silver lining.

Let me show you a fun postcard that landed in my mailbox the other day:

It was sent to me by Nadia, who lives in a small village in France. She tells me she is off sick at the moment for depression. She has to go back to work and is dreading it. She has to work another 14 years before she can retire and that is making her even more depressed.

Nadia I feel for you. I have been in the same situation, only I was much closer to retirement age fortunately. 

The card is fun. It shows small children playing with water. On the back it says:"Why don't we stay as enthusiastic as small children?".

The stamp is one I have never seen:

It reads 'French inventions, le cinéma' and it comes from a series about French inventions. The WOPA, stamps and coins website writes:

On June 16, 2025, La Poste is issuing a collector's booklet of eight postage stamps on the theme of French inventions.

This booklet illustrates the theme of French inventions with eight inventions from among the hundreds listed in France. Whether they were precursors, pioneers, or patented inventors, these French geniuses made it possible for everyone today to have access to technologies or objects whose use has become commonplace:

The calculator: the Pascaline, by the famous polymath Blaise Pascal (1623-1662).

The hot air balloon: an invention of the two brothers, Joseph-Michel Montgolfier (1740-1810) and Jacques Etienne Montgolfier (1745-1799).

The folding umbrella: by Jean Marius, inventor of a "broken parasol-umbrella to be carried in one's pocket," protected by a patent signed by Louis XIV. 

The Sewing Machine: by Barthélémy Thimonnier (1793-1857).

Cinema: The animated film industry owes much to Etienne Jules Marey (1830-1904), a physician and physiologist. Working on the locomotion of humans and animals, he took rapid-fire snapshots on a single gelatin-bromide-coated glass plate using his camera gun, creating chronophotography.

Radio: The principle of electrical transmission between two distant points was invented by physicist Édouard Branly (1844-1940). 

The soundtrack: Edouard-Léon Scott de Martinville (1817-1879), a typographer, invented a system that allowed acoustic vibrations to be engraved on lampblack-coated paper—in other words, the graphic trace of a sound. Forgotten in favor of Edison, this pioneer's voice was finally heard in 2008 (singing "Au clair de la lune") thanks to researchers at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in the U.S.A. His voice can be heard at http://www.firstsounds.org/sounds/1860-Scott-Au-Clair-de-la-Lune.mp3

The digital code: we owe it to Robert Carrière (1931-2007), an electronics engineer, inspired by a Popeye cartoon.

What has been happening here in Spain?

Well I continue to go to Pilates twice a week and do aquagym in the local swimming pool also twice a week in the evening. I have friends to lunch once a week and I go out with other friends over the weekend. That's my routine, and in summer it is so hot here that I stay in with the blinds down and the windows shut, not to let any hot air into the house.

I remember the hot summer of 1976 (in Europe) as my son was born in August of that year and it was the hottest I remember ever in the Netherlands.

It's nothing compared to this.

I had my nails done a few days ago:

We had a scare a few days ago when a farmer, who was working the land, accidentally hit (and damaged) a gas pipe.

The situacion was soon under control but gas supply had to be cut off in several towns. We don't have gas (only bottled gas) so I didn't notice it until I saw it on the news.

My lemon tree is doing well:

About six or seven mini lemons growing nicely.

And to finish off, a picture of Ronnie:

I had to take him to the vets this week as he wasn't well and the vet concluded he had an allergic reaction to something. So he's on steroids and I have to make sure I use cleaning products without bleach in it.

Time will tell....(he already seems much better).

I have put some funnies at the  end.

Enjoy your weekend,

Keep smiling!

Lisca

 

A Postcard A Day - Tuesday 21 July 2026 - T for an old clock, a world cup and a cat.

 Hello lovely peeps,

Have you read 'The Secret of the Old Clock' by Carolyn Keene? I haven't, but I have the postcard!

It's a children's book, I think directed to girls. Wikipedia writes:

The Secret of the Old Clock is the first volume in the Nancy Drew Mystery Stories series, written under the pseudonym Carolyn Keene. It was first published on April 28, 1930, and rewritten in 1959 by Harriet Stratemeyer Adams. On January 1, 2026, the original version of the novel entered the public domain in the US.

Nancy Drew is a sixteen-year-old high school graduate (her age was changed to eighteen in the 1959 rewrite). Her father, Carson Drew, is a well-known criminal defense lawyer. The Drews reside in River Heights and employ a housekeeper, Hannah Gruen. In early editions, she is depicted as a mere servant; later in the series, she becomes more of a family member.

The postcard is of the artwork (by Polly Bolian) of the 1959 version of this book , as far as I can tell from the info I have, although some sources have this as the 1966 edition cover. 

The postcard comes to me from Jane, who lives in S Suburban, IL. (Which I have found out is southern Chicago.)

The stamp is the beautiful orange gerbera (my favorite) but it is heavily cancelled by the 250 years anniversary stamp:

What has been happening here in Spain? Well, unless you have been living on Mars, you will be aware that there has been a World Championship football(soccer) going on in the USA.

Some of my friends are English, but unfortunately England got knocked out.

 I am not the least interested in soccer, but can't help being affected by the enthusiasm, especially since Spain managed to get into the final!

Sunday night was the final with Spain playing against Argentina. My friends and I booked a table in a restaurant to watch the game.

Every bar or restaurant had at least three or four television sets rigged up:

This was at the beginning of the match.

And this later in the evening.

We were inside a nearby restaurant:

My friend Patricia had dressed in Spanish colours (red and yellow). There was a large screen on every wall, but Patricia moved her chair next to her husband so she could watch the biggest screen just behind me.

Many people were wearing football shirts. 

I'm showing you this photo as it clearly shows the drinks on the table. The blue bottle is water, and there is a beer bottle too. My white wine is just visible next to the water bottle. With this I will join Elizabeth and Bluebeard in T for Tuesday.

The game finished in a draw, but Spain won in the extra time with one goal.

AI can be funny sometimes!

I will 'love you and leave you' as they say with a picture of Ronnie, kindly posing for me here:

Happy T-Day,

Lisca

A Postcard A day - Friday 17 July 2026 - Friday Smiles

 Hello lovely peeps,

Has it been a good week for you? Have you had many smiles? I have, especially this morning as I went to check my post box to find three postcards! Happy days!

One of them is this one:

It comes to me from Canada, from someone called Norm. There is no acknowledgement of the artist or copyright, so I have no idea who the artist is. But it is a fun illustration I think. A bit steampunky. 

The stamp is interesting:

The international rate stamp features a photograph of the Qarlinngua sea arch in Arctic Bay, Nunavut, by Canadian photographer Clare Kines.

Canada Post writes:

Pronounced kar-ling-wah, the Qarlinngua sea arch is located approximately 85 kilometres southwest of the community of Arctic Bay, Nunavut, at the north end of Baffin Island.

The Inuktitut name means "like pants."

Locals estimate that the formation is more than 50 metres high.

Wind and water erosion over many years likely contributed to the formation.

It comes from a series called 'Far and Wide':

Tongait KakKasuangita SilakKijapvinga – Torngat Mountains National Park, Newfoundland and Labrador (Michael Winsor)

Tehjeh Deé (South Nahanni River), Nááts'įhch'oh National Park Reserve – Northwest Territories (Colin Field)

Sunflowers – Altona, Manitoba (Mike Grandmaison)

Galiano Island, British Columbia (James Stevenson)

Abbaye de Saint-Benoît-du-Lac, Quebec (Ladislas Kadyszewski)

Point Prim Lighthouse – Belfast, Prince Edward Island (Sander Meurs)

Thousand Islands, Ontario (Ian Coristine)

Restigouche River, New Brunswick (Guylaine Bégin)

Qarlinngua sea arch – Arctic Bay, Nunavut (Clare Kines

What a fascinating natural phenomena.

Now back to Spain, where I am sweltering in the heat. 

My lemon tree is growing lemons again:

There are in total seven tiny lemons.

My week was good. I've had people to lunch twice but didn't take any pictures. I've gone for a drink with friends on Saturday night. Again no pictures. I've been to aquagym twice in the evening. Again no photos but I have a photo of the municipal swimming pool:

I really don't have much to show you.

Perhaps I can show you this picture which I have hanging on the wall. It features my mum with me (on the right) and my sister (on the left).

It must have been the summer of 1956 as I am not wearing glasses. It is taken behind the shopping street where the optician is, so perhaps we had gone to buy said glasses.

Rotterdam was bombed completely during WWII so in the 1950s it was slowly being rebuilt. 

ç

Here is a photo from the internet of the 'park' where our photo was taken.

And below you can see the shopping centre on the other side of the building:

The pedestrianised shopping centre is called the Lijnbaan and was quite a novelty in those days. Here is a photo of the Lijnbaan at night:

That is all from me today. Of course there are some funnies at the end.

Enjoy the weekend and don't forget to drink plenty of water during this heat.

Lisca

A Postcard A Day - Tuesday 14 July 2026 - T for cats and puppies

 Hello lovely peeps,

I hope you all had a good weekend and start to the week. 

Let me show you another postcard:

It comes from Belarus and the text in the middle reads:"Don't forget me". And bottom right says: "I am writing you."

The stamp is the following:

It's a scary looking monster scarab called Lucanus Servus also known as the European Stag beetle.

They are quite big (the males) it's very impressive.

The big horns of the males are not done to hurt, as it could be thought at first sight, but to grasp and to make rivals in love to fall from the branches. Once the field is free from other pretenders, then serve, folded to touch the branch in front of the female head, to imprison it, immobilizing it for the whole mating duration © Heinz Rothacher

I had a lovely few days. On Saturday we had a 'bring-and-share' lunch in a village an hour's drive way. I had prepared some dough to make savoury cinnamon rolls. The dough turned out beautifully:

In this hot weather the dough proves and doubles in size in no time. I rolled the dough out and spread a spice & butter mixture on it, then added grated cheese and rolled it all up. Cut it into slices and baked them. They came out perfectly but when I tried one, it was inedible! Way too salty! What with the cheese and the salted butter, I should have left the salt out but I didn't. They all ended up in the bin.

I had eventually cooked some pork chops so I didn't go empty handed.

There was lots of stuff as you can see.

This lady makes a mean trifle:

You can also see a jug of wine on the table, which could be my ticket to the T-Party hosted by Elizabeth and Bluebeard.

And our host, a German gentleman, had made a delicious semolina pudding with blueberry sauce:

The topic of conversation was the bush fires. Where we were was quite close to the fires you might have seen on the news. The death toll is 13 as I write this.

This little town is Garrucha, a seaside resort that my daughter Tracey and I have visited two yeas ago. You can see the fire in the back ground. It's very frightening, although it is more than an hour's drive from here, we all know someone who lives there. 

It's still very hot:

On Sunday I invited the pastor of our church to lunch. He is a widower and lives alone. He is a lot younger than me and he lost his wife a few years before my husband died. So we understand each other. We chatted so much I completely forgot to take any photos.

But I did take a picture of the sunset that evening:

Ronnie the cat is scratching himself a lot, so I think he might have fleas. I don't know where he got them as the only outdoor space he's allowed to be is the patio which is completely enclosed. But some street cats walk along the top of the (6ft) wall, so perhaps some fleas have fallen on top of Ronnie as he hisses at the 'intruders'. (How dare they walk along his wall!)

I bought a pipette at the pharmacy but it wasn't the brand Spot-On which I wanted. It was a Spanish brand. But it didn't work. Today I went to the vet in town and got the proper stuff. Lets hope that is better.

While I was at the vet I met one of my neighbours who's dog was having puppies. One was breached and so he ended up at the vets. Two puppies survived:

This is mother:

Here is a photo of my cat Ronnie:

I had just given him the medicine (in his neck) so I do hope it works. I haven seen any fleas but he has little bites everywhere and then scratches them so he ends up with scabs.

So much for my adventures.

Happy T-Day,

Lisca