A Postcard A Day - Friday 24 June 2022 - Friday Smiles

 Hello lovely ladies, how are you all?

Today we are counting our blessings and remember the smiles of the week.

A postcard in my mailbox always makes me smile and I have a sweet little card for you today:

It comes to me from Germany. From Astrid who lives in Trier. She tells me that Trier in Germany's oldest town as it dates back to Roman times.

Viel Glück means literally much luck.(We would say: Good Luck!)

The stamp is spectacular:

A brand new David Bowie stamp! What's not to like!

There is not much to report from the K household. We are getting as much bio fuel as we can get as prices will go through the roof this winter, so we've made another trip to Zujar to get a trailer load of almond shells, which we burn in our stove.

First we have to weigh car plus trailer on the weigh bridge:

Then we follow the man into the huge warehouse where almond shells are piled up to the ceiling:

The guys fill the sacks:

The other guy sews them closed with a hand sewing device:

They get loaded onto the trailer:

I think we got 10 sacks. We paid 14 cents per kilo as we had the extra fine, which are the most expensive ones. One sack will last us two days of heating, and it will have cost us 4,50 Eur for one sack. I don't know how that compares with other means of heating. I know that wood is dearer. When we lived upstairs, we used the woodburner and that worked out more. 

I'm keeping this short as we are having visitors from the UK. I will show photos next time. 

Now it's time to join Annie at A Stitch In Time and the other smiling ladies.

Before I go of course there are some funnies. I apologise if there are some you have seen before. I am doing this in a hurry.

Have a great weekend,

and remember:

Keep smiling!

Hugs,

Lisca

A Postcard A Day - Tuesday 21 June 2022 - T for pizza, precious stones and bees

 Hello lovely ladies, How are you all? I hope you have had a good weekend and are now ready to join the ladies of the T-gang. Elizabeth and Bluebeard are hosting the T-Party and all you have to do is share a beverage with us. I have several to share with you but first let me show you my postcards for today:

This first one comes to me from the Czech republic. Kristina sent me these beautiful stones. There is an amethyst and two agates. They were found in Novopacko, the eastern gate of the Cesky raj geopark. I looked it up and it is in the north of the country.

Kristina is a vet and she has added a sticker of a dog and a round postage stamp.

I found out that 'Postovni urad' means 'post office' and it is a sign from 1919. 

Here is another postcard with precious stones:

These are called Petoskey Stones (Hexagonaria percarinata). Really they aren't precious stones. Petoskey stones were once living coral that existed some 350 million years ago! Over time the coral fossilized and glaciers scattered the stones along Lake Michigan near Petoskey and across Michigan to the Lake Huron shoreline.

Petoskey stones are grey and rough when found, but when polished the beautiful rich coral pattern emerges. Polished Petoskey stones have a smooth surface and are highly prized gifts and jewelry.

The stone visible behind the poinsettia stamp is a polished Petoskey stone.

Here is an image (from Wikipedia) of unpolished Petoskey stones:

And by contrast this is polished stone:

Beautiful isn't it?

Our area has a Geopark too. We actually live in between a national park and the geopark. They have only recently starting advertising these beauties. My blog friend Kate recently saw the geopark advertised on the local buses, and she sent me these photos. 

What you see are badlands and a bit of the lake (a reservoir, that is such a beautiful turquoise color!). It's not far from us and when we have visitors, we always take them to see the lake and the badlands.

Our village is Caniles and it is mentioned on the bus:

We are doing well this week. I still have a stinking cold with a bit of herpes on my lip, but that is now healing. Hubby is feeling okay and has even put on 1.7 kilo in one week! Hurray! 

Mind you this is all due to the lovely ice cream our friends serve in their shop:

We went out to eat pizza with our friends on Saturday. The first time we have been out in a long time.

Hubby doesn't tolerate bread, so he can't eat pizza. But they were happy to make him some ham, egg and chips (which were not on the menu I might add).

Here you can see our drinks. I had a red wine. Our friends drink beer and hubby has a drink called Aquarius, which is one of those electrolyte drinks for sports people. He likes that, so that is ok. Also on the table you can see the remnants of the tapas, which are little snacks served free with every drink.

That is it from me today. Lastly I have something for all you coffee drinkers out there:

And the next one is for Erika:

Well done Morgan! (We like Morgan Freeman, don't we!)

Well lovely people, have a good week and wishing you all

Happy T-Day

Hugs,

Lisca

A Postcard A Day - Friday 17 June 2022 - Friday Smiles

 Hello lovely ladies,

How are you all? Here things are much better. Hubby has had a good week, so we're both smiling.

My postcard for today made me smile for two reasons. The first is the subject matter: Tiramisu!

Tiramisu is my favorite dessert. I have lived in Italy for many years so I have eaten it the way it is supposed to be made. Yumyum! The card was sent to me by Marie in Canada. I belong to Postcrossing, an online worldwide organisation for exchanging postcards. My username there is Olddutch. Real name and address are only given to the person sending the card. 

What she wrote on the back is the second thing that made me smile: she wrote that in Canada, my Postcrossing username (which is Olddutch) is a brand of potato crisps!

The stamp is tiny but very nice:

It is the Cabot Trail. Looping nearly 300 kilometres around the northern part of Cape Breton Island, the Cabot Trail offers you stunning coastal views, rugged highland panoramas, and this world-famous tourist destination that turns into a spectacular fall scene as the leaves of old-growth forests turn beautiful colours.

This post is about the things that made me smile, so here goes:

As I mentioned above, we are doing really well. Hubby is feeling better and is able to eat more. And of course I am making him nice things. He is still on the Ensure drinks. He has chocolate flavored ones but they still taste a bit 'artificial'. I have now dug up my little ice cream maker and I turn the Ensure drink into a nice ice cream (I add some whipped cream too).

On Sunday I went out with some friends from the Photoclub. (I wrote about it in my previous blogpost). Here are a few more photos:

The place was called Cueva del Agua (Water cave).

There were water falls.

Caves and water.

One of the things I have been making is a pineapple upside down cake. Hubby requested it the other day. The top of the cake with the pineapple goes in first. So this is what the beginning looks like:

Then the cake layer goes on top and the cake gets baked. When ready, I turn it upside down and, hew presto, we have a pineapple upside down cake!

It is so dark because I use brown sugar which is caramelized in the melted butter. Yumm!

I also made some crumpets. Hubby still can't eat bread for some reason, but he can eat crumpets.

I should have turned them round so you could see the holes.

It's very hot here at the moment. Unseasonally hot. It is not even summer yet and we have had temperatures in the high thirties. The other morning hubby went to have a blood test, and even in the morning at 8:30 it was already 24 degrees.

It means we are staying indoors as much as we can. We don't have air conditioning but our downstairs flat is very cool. (We built it ourselves and it is super insulated!)

That is all I can tell you this week. Of course I am adding a few funnies and thinkies at the end. I'm going to link up with Annie at A Stitch In Time. 

Have a lovely weekend.

Keep smiling,

Hugs,

Lisca