A Postcard A Day - Tuesday 27 Sept 2016 - T for flights to England

Hi gang! When you read this I will either be in the UK or on our way. I'm writing this on Monday evening as we are leaving at 5 a.m. Tuesday morning to drive to Malaga airport, to catch a 10:30 flight to the UK.  Whoopee! Our cases are packed, my clothes for tomorrow are ready. All I need to do is get some sleep (or try to as I am too excited to sleep).

The card I am showing today is a card I sent to someone in the early days of Postcrossing. It is the card with the most 'favorites' of all the cards I have sent.

Pretty isn't it. I can't remember who the artist is I'm afraid...

We've had a busy week last week. Tracey, my stepdaughter, came for a three day flying visit. Of course we try to pack in as much as we can in 3 days and we also threw a party for her as it has been her birthday the end of August. (Any excuse for a party). I posted photos on my Friday blog. Go and have a look if you are interested.

Our friends from church have been away and brought me a lovely necklace, which was hand-made in Thailand. They make necklaces to keep the girls from going into prostitution. A very worthy cause i would say.

The brown beads I recognise to be tiger eye. I don't know what the turquoise is. 

I'm going to leave you with the sunset from our terrace a few days ago:

I am going to link up with Elizabeth at Altered Booklover. But I won't be able to do any comments. I know airports usually have wifi but I don't know how to do things like that on my tablet. (oh dear I'm such a luddite!).

Happy T-Day,
Have a good week you'all,
Many blessings, see you in a couple of weeks!
Lisca

A Postcard A Day - Friday 23 Sept 2016 - Friday Smiles

Hi folks! Are you all smiling?. Every cloud has a silver lining, as they say.

Today I have a few smiles to share with you. The big smile for me today is the fact that my stepdaughter is visiting. We drove to Malaga airport to collect her. She arrived at midnight, so it was a late night last night. (It's 3 hours' drive so we didn't get to bed until 4 a.m!). 

This morning we slept late and after brunch we went for a walk in the country to collect figs and wild grapes and whatever nature threw up at us.

These are prickly pears. We didn't pick those as they have barbs on them that hook into your fingers. Nasty!
We did get loads of figs! Fresh figs straight from the tree are delicious! Here Tracey is just clowning about.

This is our haul! Ready to be made into jam!

The postcard for today is a funny one. A typical British seaside card. Remember the saucy cartoon drawings? I don't think they sell those anymore but I received this one as a gift from a blog friend (Angela Radford):

I hadn't noticed the bag of cement immediately, had you?

I'm going to link up with Annie at Friday Smiles. Will you join us? Sorry Annie that I was AWOL last week...

Here are a few funnies that I found on the internet:
This one needs to be read out aloud, (because I thought 'who the heck is Philippe P....?')

And this kitty is enjoying his breakfast!

How about also heading for Rocking Your World Friday, where Virginia shares her week with you. That's where I'm going to link up after Annie's Friday Smiles.

 I hope you all have a fun weekend and a positive week ahead,
hugs,
Lisca

A Postcard A Day - Tuesday 20 Sept 2016 - T for wine

Good morning my Tuesday friends! I'm joining up with Elizabeth at Altered Booklover for T for Tuesday, a meme where we share something (it doesn't matter what) as long as it has a drink in it. 

Here is my contribution:

My friend in Italy had given me a bottle of organic local wine to take home. So when a few days ago I cooked pasta, we opened the bottle and very nice it was too.

My postcard today comes from Siberia:

It is from Nadya and she writes: "Hello Lisca, My name is Nadya, I'm 24 years old and I live in Irkutsk, Russia. My mother comes from Yakutia (it is a region in the north of Siberia) where people wear traditional clothes made from deer hide and decorated with beads and embroidery. It gets really cold in Yakutia, sometimes even -60 degrees C! Best wishes."

I love traditional clothing and the work that has gone it to it. These deer hide clothes look really beautiful!

What else can I tell you.... my craft room is finished!  Whoopee! I haven't taken a photo of it yet as there is now a bed in it. Our daughter is coming to visit and the craftroom doubles up as a guest room (hence the en-suite. Do I really need a shower in my craft room? Mixed media is messy but surely not that messy!) She leaves again on Sunday, so I could show you next Tuesday. Watch this space.

The other bit of news concerns this:

I just finished my last box of pills. I had to take these for 5 years! It means it is 5 years since my radiotherapy and I am now a 5 yr cancer surviver. I am a statistic! Yoohoo! The Lord be praised!

This is what we had for lunch yesterday: savoury bread & butter pudding (to use up my old bread). Two rows of buttered bread slices and in between each slice of bread is a slice of tomato and a slice of bacon. The whole lot is soaked in seasoned eggs and milk, sprinkled with cheese and baked in the oven. Yumm!

That's it from me today. I'm going to make myself some tea. This week we have started to drink hot tea again. Here in the summer we usually drink cold tea as it is so hot, but the weather is a bit cooler now, so I am enjoying a pot of tea. 

Happy T-Day all, 
and a good week.
Lisca

A Postcard A Day - Tuesday 13 Sept 2016 - T for travel

Hello lovely peeps, Here I am again after a short absence. I have been to Italy to celebrate my son's 40th birthday and to cuddle my nearly two yr old grandson. 

The place in Italy where I lived and worked for many years (and my son still lives) is called Guardiagrele. It sits in a national park called Parco Nazionale Maiella Abruzzo. Here is a photo of the town:

My son lives in the old centre in a modern house built on the ancestral site.

We live three and a half hours drive from the airport, and I had an early morning flight, so we left the day before in our campervan (RV) and parked near the airport. we also wanted to visit Ikea (a Scandinavian furniture store) as it's very close to the airport. We had needed bedsight cabinets and stupidly only bought one instead of two. So there we were to get cabinet number two!

I'm writing this because we had lunch in Ikea's restaurant and there is a drink in the photo:

Hubby had lasagna and chips and I had a slow cooked pork knuckle, which was delish!

The other reason is that from the restaurant we had a view on the car park. You might be interested to see that the entire roof of the car park is made of solar panels. They are too many to count. I have taken two photos in two different directions, and that is only the bit we could see from where we were sitting.

The journey went well. From Rome I had another three and a half hour journey by bus, but it all went smoothly. 

Here is my little grandson:

And here is my son blowing his 40 candles on his birthday.

I musn't forget my postcard. As you can imagine, there were lots of postcards waiting for me when I came home. 
I chose to show you this one:

As you know, I love windows and doors and this window, sent to me from Russia,  also has a cute kitty looking out of it. 

That's it from me today. I'm going to link up with Elizabeth at Altered Booklover. Why don't you join us? Just post anything as long as it has a drink in it.

I must rush now as I have two plum tortes in the oven (yes, the famous NY Times recipe. It works every time). Will show pictures next time.

Happy T-Day,
And a good week,
Lisca

A Postcard A Day - Friday 9 Sept 2016 - Friday Smiles

Good Morning everyone! I'm back!

I've been AWOL for a few weeks. I have been visiting my son, DIL and grandson in Italy. I have also met up with old friends and visited old haunts. 
So as this Friday blog is about smiles and positive things, the first photo is of me (on right) and my son and his MIL (who was my friend and neighbour even before her daughter was born):

It was an absolute delight to be spending time with my 22 month old grandson, but oh so tiring!

The journey to and from Italy went smoothly although it is a long trek as we live three and a half hours drive from the airport and so do they. Plus the fact that I have to be at the airport two hours before the flight... Yesterday I arrived home at 3 pm having set off at midnight. 

My postcard for today comes from Russia:

 I do like vintage cards and black and white photography. This is a ballet dancer around 1890. She looks as if she is wearing a corset for the photo. What do you think?
This card was sent to me by a 9 yr old. So sweet. 

I'm planning to link up with Annie at Friday Smiles. It is a blog about being positive and see the silver lining on every cloud. 

Here is something that might make you smile:

The caption goes: "The reality of online shopping!"

This one might be a bit risque but as I am a pensioner myself I can laugh at it and not feel offended:

I wish you all a fab week with lots of positiveness,

Keep smiling!

Lisca

A Postcard A Day - Friday 26 August 2016 - Friday Smiles

Hello everyone! It's Friday again. For me this is an exciting Friday as I am writing this just before going away (well, actually I have written the bulk of this last night and had it ready to copy and paste). Yes, I'm flying to Italy! Remember the photo last Tuesday of my elderly mother with my son and my grandson? Well, that was in Holland. And said son has now returned to Italy and I am on my way to see him and that lovely little son of theirs:

If that doesn't make you smile I don't what does.

We are driving to Malaga in the campervan and spending the night near the airport so I can get my early flight tomorrow. The other reason is that we like to go to Ikea, which is not far from the airport. Last time we were there we bought bedside cabinets. Only we forgot to buy two and bought only one! How silly. So today we have to get bedside cabinet number two!

The postcard today is one I received from South Africa:

This beautiful tiger was sent to me by Niki who wrote to me in Afrikaans. That is fun as it is very similar to Dutch. For my final exams (secundary school, in 1971) I did a special project about Afrikaans. My examiners were impressed and interested as it was something they didn't know much about. Needless to say I got good marks  just for trying something different. I can understand the written Afrikaans and I could write back to her in that language. I'm not sure how I would fare understanding the spoken word as I never hear it spoken of course.
The stamps are awesome:

The top left, bottom left and bottom right are all images of beadwork!

I am linking up with Annie at Friday Smiles and perhaps with Virginia at Rocking Your World Friday if we haven't left already by the time Virginia posts.

I've finished my list list of preparations like sorting out my PAYG phone so I can have 'roaming'. I've never taken it abroad. I don't use my phonemuch but my D-i-L does and she might be able to teach me a bit more. I'm a bit of a luddite when it comes to phones! I can just about make a phone call and send a Whatsapp message and that's my limit.

I have packed and weighed my case, printed out my boarding pass (No I don't know how to do it with my phone...) sorted out money and food for my hubby who will be 'home alone'. I have charged everything that needs charging and have put my clothes ready that i will be wearing on the journey. I will be arriving at Rome airport and from there taking a bus to the other side of Italy, the Adriatic coast, which will take three and a half hours. The bus company have let me know that all the roads are OK (there has been an earthquake) My son will pick me up and then we have another half an hour's drive to his house. So if all goes well I will be at my destination at 10 pm tomorrow night...

Here are a few funnies: 
Some of you might identify with this...

Or this?

I can definitely identify with the following:

Sorry that I won't be able to comment much. I'll try but we'll be on a campsite tonight and the wifi at the airport is not very good. (I've tried on previous occasions.)

See you all in a couple of weeks,
Be good,
Have lots of smiles,
Lisca

A Postcard A Day - Tuesday 23 August 2016 - T for coffee and grape tart

Hi Tuesday gals! I'm back! We've been away for a week in our campervan/RV. Here it is parked outside our house ready to be loaded.

We went to a camp site in the mountains with lots of trees as it is so warm here. We were parked up amongst the trees and it was bearable. It was a forced rest for my hubby. To make him stop working we have to literally leave the house. So that's what we did.

My postcard for today has a coffee theme:
(I'm going to link up with Elizabeth at T for Tuesday where we share drink-related things  and feature something with a drink in it.)

It was sent to me from Germany. It looks like 1930(ish) to me, looking at the shoes and clothes. Don't you think? Ingrid, who sent it to me writes that she lives near Koblenz, between large forests, old castles and rectilinear vinyards. How lovely!

I've been busy making lots of jam as people keep giving me plums. We also have loads of grapes and hardly know what to do with them. We took a large bag to church for people to help themselves. And brought a large bag to house group for people to snack on. I also made some tarts. (Very difficult in a hot climate). I made a pastry and blind baked it over the bottom of a round cake pan. Then made a pattisery cream and put the (halved) grapes on top and then just glazed it.

 It looks great, but the sides collapsed as soon as I tried to transport it. Oh well, it tasted yummy and that's the important bit.


I must say I'm getting excited! I will be driving to Malaga on Friday, spending the night there and taking an early morning flight to Rome on Saturday morning. Then I will catch a bus to the Adriatic side of Italy where my son will be picking me up. I will be spending ten days with him and his wife and my nearly two year old grandson. So I will probably not join you next Tuesday (unless someone can show me  how to blog on my Android tablet).

That's it from me this morning. Have a lovely T-Day and a fab week ahead!
Blessings,
Lisca