A Postcard A Day - Tuesday 22 May 2018 - T for North Carolina and patios

Good morning all! Here we are again sharing some things which include a beverage. Elizabeth and Bluebeard welcome us every Tuesday for the T-Party.

My blog is about postcards so here is my first postcard. I have stated in my Postcrossing profile that I love maps, so I regularly receive map cards. I love maps from the States. 

My geography is not that brilliant and I wouldn't be able to point out N Carolina on the map, but now I know the shape and I have also looked at a bigger map to see where it is in relation to other states. Lovely card with lots of information about the state.

It was sent to me by someone who works for a university. He/she wrote that this is a very busy time of year because of the preparations for the graduation. Once the academic year is finished, the work is less hectic as there are less people about.

My second card is an ad-card. The sort of card you get in cinemas and restaurants to advertise themselves or other services. I found this card in Córdoba when I was there recently.

The place looks really inviting and i decided I would go for a drink there if i had the chance. The chance came when my travel companions went to visit a museum I had already been to, which gave me an hour or so to be on my own.

This is the entrance to 'El Patio de Maria'. (You will find a  close-up of this sign at the end of this blog post.) 

It reads: 'Sit long, talk much, 

laugh often, drink wine, 

eat a flamenquín. 

The Patio is open and beautiful. 

Welcome to the Maria's Patio'. 

At the bottom it says in Spanish: 'If you want to see it, you have to come.' So I did....

I went to sit at the end table on the right (the only free table) and looked around me.

To my left was a wall with climbing plants and a water feature.

Looking up I saw lemons hanging above me.

My order, lager with lemon juice, came with a dish of olives. Very nice. I could have stayed there all day, it was so beautiful. But I had to watch the time as it would be at least a 20 minute walk back to the coach. 

That was my beverage for today's T-Party. What have you been doing/making/drinking this week? Join me at Altered Book Lover.

Bye for now,

Lisca

I didn't have a 'flamenquín', but this is what it looks like. It is made with cooked ham, Serano ham and eggs.

A Postcard A Day - Friday 18 May 2018 - Friday Smiles

Good morning lovely people!, How are you all? Have you had much to smile about? I am here to show you a few postcards I have received and to show you a few things that have been happening here in Caniles. Life is full of smiles.

First of all here is a wonderful vintage postcard from Finland. It is a 1939 travel poster. Quite frankly it baffles me as I found that Helsinki hosted the summer Olympics in 1952. So why they would issue a poster or a card with the Olympic rings in 1939? Perhaps they bid and didn't win....I don't know.

The card was sent to me by Sari in very good English. She wrote that she was recovering from breast cancer and all the treatment.She also mentions that Finland does not have a royal family, but that "Our president and his lovely wife and newborn baby are almost the same!" There is an image of the president on the stamp but I forgot to scan it.

Then  this black and white (also vintage) image comes from Germany. 

 The sender, Martin, lives near the Dutch border in a town that is known as bicycle heaven. He writes: "Nordhorn is one of the finest bike towns in Germany".

For Friday smiles I always link up with Annie at A Stitch In Time and with Virginia at Rocking Your World Friday. Last week Virginia had made fluffy scones and added the link to the recipe. So I made some too this week. Thank you Virginia!

Here they are just being egg washed.

And this is what they looked like when they came out of the oven. A bit irregular, but they tasted lovely. Really Fluffy. We don't have self raising flour here so I used normal flour and added a sachet of baking powder. That is probably why they have risen so much.

My hubby has been really busy getting the last details of the ground floor flat ready. The gates and railing were ready and the man came to place them. Here is the door from the carport to the patio.

This is the door from the carport into the kitchen/lounge.

Here is hubby painting the railing for the main windows.

That certainly made me smile. This weekend we will be having a house warming party/bring and share. So we are busy getting everything ready.

I will be taking pictures, which I shall share at some stage.

Now for some funnies:

This last image is a postcard I received from Holland. It has a greeting on it: "Fijne Dag", which means 'fine day'. It is what the Dutch say in stead of 'Have a nice day'.

So I wish everybody 'Fijne Dag'!

Keep smiling,
Hugs,
Lisca

A Postcard A Day - Tuesday 15 May 2018 - T for Córdoba, paella and a water tower

Good morning lovely people!

Here we are on Tuesday again. I'm visiting Elizabeth and Bluebeard bearing beverages and photos.

First off some photos from my visit to Córdoba a couple of weeks back.  We visited several typical patios as it was the flower and patio festival. 

It was lovley! I really enjoyed seeing all the different patios and I got quite a lot of inspiration for our own patio.

This patio has lot of beautiful flowers. And below you see a detail of the wall in another patio.

The flowers in pots were amazing, Here are a few photos.

There was even a lemon tree, which is unusual because the climate is not hot enough.

This is a lemon tree. Quite unusual as it really not warm enough in Cordoba.

This sculpture made me smile.

This street was named after hasdey Ibn Shaorut, who born about 915 at Jaén, Spain; died about 970 at Córdoba, was a Jewish scholar, physician, diplomat, and patron of science. An interesting man. Read more about him at the end of this blog.

I walked past the old walls.

I love these steps where they have used pebbles in a certain pattern. Very effective.

There was water running all along the wall and it made for a pleasant walk.

Just a scene from that street.

When I met up with the group again, I found them browsing in a souvenir shop. Of course I had to go in and buy some postcards. Below on display are not postcards, but metal plaques.

Our lunch was good. The first course was pella of course, and the main course was chicken. All very nice. Lets not forget the beverage. I was having wine as usual. (But that was not very nice quality. It was all included in the price so I am not moaning)

Now for my postcards. I received this beauty from Germany last week. It is the water tower in Monchengladbach. It is built in Art Nouveau style and I like it very much. The more I look at it, the more detail I see. There is not much info to be found about it. I don't even know if it is open to the public.

The stamp is great. Snoopy and the Peanuts. What a fun stamp!

The second postcard came to me from Taiwan. Yes, I know it doesn't look Chinese. The pub is the Sherlock Holmes in London. It was sent to me because I like windows and doors, so I got one from this pub. I cringe at the sentiment under the photo. (It doesn't make sense to me)

But the stamps are cute: a puppy chasing a butterfly and some berries.

That is all from me today. I am writing this at midnight, so I'm going to bed now and will comment after I've had some sleep.

Wishing you all a very happy T-Day and  a good week,

Hugs,

Lisca

Info about Hasdey Ibn Shaprut taken from Wikipedia: His father, Isaac ben Ezra, was a wealthy and learned Jew of Jaén. Hasdai acquired in his youth a thorough knowledge of Hebrew, Arabic, and Latin, the last-named language being at that time known only to the higher clergy of Spain. He also studied medicine, and is said to have discovered a panacea, called Al-Faruk. Appointed physician to Caliph Abd-ar-Rahman III (912-961), he, by his engaging manners, knowledge, character, and extraordinary ability, gained his master's confidence to such a degree that he became the caliph's confidant and faithful counselor. Without bearing the title of vizier he was in reality minister of foreign affairs; he had also control of the customs and ship-dues in the port of Córdoba. Hasdai arranged the alliances formed by the caliph with foreign powers, and he received the envoys sent by the latter to Córdoba. In 949 an embassy was sent by Constantine VII. to form a diplomatic league between the hard-pressed Byzantine empire and the powerful ruler of Spain. Among the presents brought by the embassy was a magnificent codex of Pedanius Dioscorides' work on botany, which the Arabic physicians and naturalists valued highly. Hasdai, with the aid of a learned Greek monk named Nicholas, translated it into Arabic, making it thereby the common property of the Arabs and of medieval Europe.

A Postcard A Day - Friday 11 May 2018 Friday Smiles - nature photos and some yumminess

Good morning! I have been retired for several years now, but I still wake up on Friday thinking: It's nearly weekend!

Let me show you some postcards from my collection that i have sent this week. 

The first one is a strange fantasy image "Ixtlan Airlines" by a Russian artist called Alex Andreev. 

The next one will make your mouth water! It is from the same Russian source where I buy my postcards. 

Lovely chocolate! These two postcards are on their way to Germany and Belarus.

Remember i told you that I went to a macro photography workshop in the mountains. Well in the afternoon we went for a walk and I spotted trees that I thought were diseased:

But someone told me those are the holes that the woodpeckers make. There were many trees like that.
I do love old trees and this gnarled specimen got my attention:

There were large bushes of rosemary, some of them came to my shoulder (admittedly I am 5 ft nothing, but nevertheless, that is a large bush)

Many were flowering:

I think the yellow bush is gorse:

There was an abandoned hamlet, with houses without roofs. That is interesting as I could see the floor plan of the house from above. (They are so tiny!)

There are still traces of blue paint they used to paint their houses with.

Now here are a funny, a cake for Annie and something to think about (Not necessarily in that order):

OK, I'm going to visit Annie at A Stitch In Time and Virginia at Rocking Your Week Friday. Why don't you come and visit too with something that made you smile this week!

Wishing everyone a wonderful weekend,
Keep smiling,
Hugs,
Lisca