A Postcard A Day - Tuesday 27 June 2017 - T for postcards, butterflies, cake pops and a British English translation

Good morning T-Gang,

How are you all this morning? 

This blog post has turned out to be all about words. Words on a postcard, a book, English slang words and a fun new word.

I'm joining Elisabeth and Bleubeard at T for Tuesday. Please join the T-party if there is  a beverage in our post.

I am just sorting out the postcards that have arrived this week. So I'll show you my first one now:

The writing at the top is in Danish (I think, it could be Norwegian for all I know). Is she winking? Or is she a Little worse for wear? Who knows. It has a drink in it so I have chosen this one to start off the T-party.

I received this card from someone in Singapore. He or she has used some special stamps:

The stamp on the left has 'Vanishing Trades' as theme and shows a 'Dairy man'. (Another drink reference for the T-Party).

The second card I have chosen is this one:

My mouth waters and it takes all my self control not to get up and find that slab of chocolate that has been hiding in the kitchen for a while!

The card was sent to me by Bartleby in Gimpo, South Korea. She has also used some beautiful stamps. They both have a food theme:

I finished another book yesterday. It is called The Butterfly Garden by Dot Hutchison.

It's set in the present with two FBI agents trying to uncover the truth behind the crime scene they have just discovered. What they know is that they have found "The Garden", a prison where the psychopath known as "The Gardener" has kept young women trapped for decades. He calls them "Butterflies", tattooing wings on their backs before renaming them, raping them and letting his violent son terrorize them.
It is a chillingly fascinating tale with beauty and horror in equal measures. The abuse stands in contrast with the love and care the girls have for each other. Not for the faint hearted but beautifully written. I couldn´t put it down and read it almost in one sitting.

The above photo of the tattoo I found amongst the reviews of this book on Goodreads. I personally don't like tattoos, but this butterfly is beautiful. It's just a shame it is on someone's body.
Anyway, I can say this book goes on my list of best books I've read, definitely.

Last week I read Jo's blog post and she had to 'translate' from British English into American English. I am very much aware that my American friends sometimes misunderstand me. So I have found a list of British English 'slang' words. I don't think they are bad slang. You will find most of them in a dictionary and I use most of them daily. Here they are (It's a long list, so if you are not interested just scroll down past it)

Last week we should have attended the dedication (in church) of our friend's baby. But a family member is seriously ill in hospital so the dedication has been postponed. Saturday is my baking day, and, not knowing about the postponement, I decided to make some cake pops. I had bought a silicon mould the week before and couldn´t wait to start experimenting.

They turned out lovely. I found a recipe for a caky sort of cake pop.

I piped the dough in one half of the  mold and then after closing it with the other half, I baked it for 10 minutes.
Then of course the fun begins! I made icing and covered them and then found some sprinkles and... Bob's your uncle! (see translation nr 42 in the list)

They were meant for the children that attended the dedication. We don't particularly care for them (too sweet), so I 'popped' them in the freezer!

I'll leave you with another word for you to learn:

Recognise this?

That is it from me today. 

Have a super T-Day,

Hugs,

Lisca

A Postcard A Day - Friday 23 June 2017 - embroidered shawls, Dutch girls and Sisi

Hello Peeps,
How has your week been? My week has flown by with everyday things. I don't know where it's gone!


I've just come back from the gym. Boy is it hot! (No air conditioning in the gym). I know you are having a heatwave in the UK, but so are we and it is stifling!


I did manage to send off quite a few postcards last week en consequently I have started to receive cards too now. Here is one that has my name on it (My official name is Elisabeth Catharina).

It is of course Empress Elisabeth of Austria (1837-1898). I remember a very famous film about her with Romy Schneider playing the role of Sisi. Oh sweet memories.
This is the stamp:

It's about type writers. And the inventor, Peter Mitterhofer. He was born in 1822 in Tirol, in the part that is Italian today, but was Austrian in the 19th century.
The second card comes from Germany and features the cover of an old Ladybird 'Easy-Reading' book:

I never had this particular book. It would have been interesting to see what they had to say about my native country.


We had our last embroidery group session on Tuesday. The last one before the summer. It was already almost too hot to work in. My hands were sweaty and it was really too hot to do anything.
I would like to show you what our 'teacher' made. She brought it in for me a few weeks ago so I could photograph it. They are all hand embroidered shawls. Here goes:

 The fringe is hand knotted.

 Here is a close-up:

She also did a coloured shawl:

 I think she hadn't finished the fringe yet.
Here is a close-up.

The front and the back are completely identical. I took this picture for you to see. I have folded the material back so you see the front and the back next to each other:

This is the third one. I asked one of the ladies to wrap it round her shoulders:

And this is a Little detail:

And finally, this is the lady that made all those beautiful things:

Her name is Encarna and she is a quiet unassuming sort of person.


Now for some funnies. They're about women and their period/time of the month. Or shall I call it Moonsickness!

I have the urge to eat chocolate too, (only I am in my menopause...)

I hope this has made you smile a Little bit.
Have a great week,
Keep smiling!
Hugs,
Lisca

A Postcard A Day - Tuesday 20 June 2017 - T for breakfast and railings

Good morning folks! It's Tuesday again! It comes round so quickly.
I have some postcards to share. This week I received eight(!) in one day after weeks of nothing! (Do you think the postman saves them up?)
It's difficult to choose, but I think I'll show you this one from Iceland:

It shows all the Icelandic weird and wonderful dishes plus Brennivín ( a type of gin).
This is the stamp:

I think it shows the Icelandic knitting (in the round).

Beautiful.

The second postcard comes from Germany:

It was sent to me by Petra, who writes:"After Reading that you do like to cook tasty meals, I remembered that I had taken a photo of my stepdaughter some years ago. She was working in a restaurant besides her studies then. And that is what she looked like. Hope you like this unusual snapshot."
And here are the stamps:

I think they are a bit out of focus. Sorry.

 The first apricots have arrived. I received a bag of them this week. Now I think that fresh apricots are a bit overrated. I don't care much for them. But as soon as you bake them or make jam with them, the flavour just bursts out! I made this cake Saturday, and although it was a bit burnt along the edges, it was delicious!

Yesterday I went to Baza (our nearby town) and had breakfast with my friends. We asked the waiter to take this photo, and it is fun to see his reflection in the window.
Breakfast here consists of coffee and a toasted baguette. They spread minced tomato over it and we help ourselves to olive oil and salt. Yum, lovely. I ate it so quickly, I forgot to take a picture. But here is my coffee. They call this a 'café cortado', which is an espresso with a dash of milk.

As we walked back to the car we passed some beautiful buildings. Look at this one:

The railings of the balconies are made of intricate iron work. I am noticing these things as we have just ordered our railings for our windows and I had to choose a design.
This is a traditional railing:

I will show ours when they have been delivered.
While we walked through that street with all those lovely old houses, all of a sudden we saw this:

It looks very out of place if you ask me.


That is it from me today. I'm going to visit Elisabeth and Bleubeard at Altered Book Lover and hope you will join me there,


Have a good week,


Hugs,


Lisca

A Postcard A Day - Friday 16 June 2017 - Friday Smiles

Hello everybody!


How has your week been? My week was full of sorting out things after I came back from Holland, doing all the washing and catching up with the housework etc.


Last Sunday it was my best friend's 60th birthday and I spent Saturday making her a very special cake. As it is extremely hot here, I thought I'd do a cheese cake from the new  cake book that I bought in Holland recently. This is the book:

And this is the cake I tried to make:

 

It turned out very well and my friend was very impressed.

(Note the bunches of herbs in the background that she had picked that morning).

Earlier that day, in fact it was early morning, there was a mountain bike race in the village. They always pass by our house as we live on a 'precipice' at the edge of the village. (Beautiful views but oh so steep) I took lots of photos from the terrace and this one by the front door as they came up the hill:

Lets not forget the postcard. I haven't received any postcards lately as I haven't been sending them. (When I don't send, I don't get). So here are two postcards that I sent this week. They are both images of nearby villages and our village ,looks pretty much like them.

In the second photo you see a few cave houses, that are so popular in our area.

I received a little present this week:

 A piece of soap in a beautiful Little bag. The reason she gave this to me was that I used this soap in her bathroom. I came out with tears in my eyes as the frangrance just took me back. I recognised that frangrance as the soap my grandmother always used.

It has a very strong perfume and is still being made today (since 1905).

I finished another book this week. A thriller if ever there was one! It kept me awake at night, as I wanted to know what happened next. What you call 'superbly menacing'.

Alex Taylor wakes up tied to an operating table.The man who stands over her isn't a doctor.The offer he makes her is utterly unspeakable.But when Alex re-awakens, she's unharmed - and no one believes her horrifying story. Ostracised by her colleagues, her family and her partner, she begins to wonder if she really is losing her mind.And then she meets the next victim.

I have yet to write my Goodreads review but I am going to give it 5 stars. It is that good!


Finally here are some funnies as it is after all Friday Smiles:

That's all from me this Friday. I hope you all have a fantastic week with lots of smiles,
Hugs,
Lisca