Friday 14 April 2017

A Postcard A Day - Friday 14 April 2017 - Good Friday



 Hello lovely people,

Here we are again on Friday, to share the smiles and silver linings in our week. Why don't you join us at Annie's A Stitch In Time with something that made you smile.

Today, Good Friday, Christians remember Christ's death on the cross. But because I know He rose again, I am not sad. In fact I am smiling.

I always smile when the postman brings me some nice mail like a postcard from a faraway country. I am a Postcrosser, meaning that I send and receive postcards from all over the world from people and addresses randomly generated by the computer out of the more than half a million members of postcrossing.com

 Here is a card from Japan. 



 It is a card from the series 'Greetings from...' They are very collectable as almost every country has one.The card also gives information about that country. The unusual thing about this card is that it was sent from Taiwan (Not Japan). The stamps are also from Taiwan, and very beautiful they are too.
On the left you see rhodomyrtus tomentosa, or in English, the downy rose myrtle, indiginous of Asia. Unfortunately this evergreen shrub has become a pest in some regions, especially in Florida where it is on the noxious weed list.
On the right is lantana camera, a flowering plant in the verbena family. In some countries known as Big sage or wild sage or red sage. Lantana is listed as a Category I invasive exotic species by the Florida Exotic Pest Plant Council, which means that it is known to be "invading and disrupting native plant communities in Florida". 

So, what have I been up to this week...
Friday after I posted my blog, we got a phone call to say somebody wanted to buy our campervan. We said it was not for sale. But the sum offered was large and not to be sniffed at, so we agreed that they could come and have a look at it. So Friday was spent tidying the camper up and giving it a bit of a clean. 
The couple loved it so much they made us an offer we couldn't refuse and we agreed to sell it.

Saturday was spent taking all our belongings out and deep cleaning everything.

As you know we had picked up our new car a few days earlier
And Saturday I drove it for the first time. I have to get used to using a gear stick, but it is a lovely drive and I am feeling more confident already. Sunday I drove it to church. I promised myself I would try to drive it at least once a week to keep myself in practice. (I walk everywhere).

On Monday we took the campervan to its new owners. A very nice English couple. We are glad it is going to a good home. Once all the business was done it was gone 2pm, so we went to the local bar in our village and had a meal out as I hadn't cooked anything.
On Tuesday we just relaxed and I managed to finish my jigsaw:
I buy my jigsaws second hand in a thrift store (charity shop) in the UK as they are difficult to find here. I don't think the Spanish indulge in these things.
Do you recognise this?
My Fitbit had given up the ghost and I was tempted to stay in bed all week!

On wednesday I had happy mail again: my Fitbit replacement had arrived.

The Fitbit is one of those trackers that count your steps and encourages you to walk at least 10,000 a day. Well, as I said, after two months of use it packed up. I did all the things recommended in the forums and in the end I got in touch with the company and they sent me another one as it was still under garantee (without the armband as there is nothing wrong with that).

Thursday I spent quite a lot of time reading on the terrace, as the weather is gorgeous (not too hot) and my book was really good. I have now finished it.
It is called Invisible Threads by Lucy Beresford. About Sara, a psychotherapist who had always believed her husband was killed in Afghanistan. When she learns that he died in India, she travels to India to find out what happened. There she finds herself appalled by the treatment of women. She discovers temple prostitutes and becomes entangled in the dark side of Delhi. 
I can reccommend this as I really enjoyed it. I learned a lot about India I hadn't realised. And yes, she does find out about her husband in the end. 

Enough of my waffling. Lets have a few smiles:

I laughed out loud at this one, and again as my husband tried to read them out loud!
I like this one. I have to be reminded of this every now and then when I get really annoyed with people.

That was my week. I'm going to link with Virginia at Rocking Your World Friday as well as Annie. Hope to see you there.

Happy Easter,
Hugs,
Lisca


14 comments:

  1. Ive smiled lots while reading your post this morning Lisca. It's so lovely to share a little of your life out there. Thanks so much for sharing it each week.
    Hope you have a wonderful Easter.
    Hugs,
    Annie x

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  2. Your posts are so uplifting and always make me smile :-) . I love this week's postcard it was so interesting to read and I loved finding out about all those pretty postage stamps too, thank you. Wow, I'm surprised you sold your campervan you always had so much fun on your travels, will you be getting another? Your new car is lovely and it's such a good idea to drive regularly to keep up your practice, I admire you because I haven't driven a gear stick for years :-) . The local bar looks a wonderful place to eat and it looks like the rest of your week was perfect, I bet you were glad you decided to get out of bed in the end ... lol! :-) Wishing you a very Happy Easter! J :-)

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    1. We surprised ourselves by selling the campervan. We were offered in euros what we paid for it in sterling (in 2011). That's a lot of money. And as we will probably be without healthcare once Brexit get underway, we need to have some spare cash to cope with medical bills. I never mention that as it is not something to smile about....

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    2. Wow, that's great and such a lot of money :-) . It also sounds like the perfect plan to solve any medical bills so that's smiles all round :-) . I hope you are having a lovely Easter weekend so far, have fun! J :-)

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  3. How nice to sell your camper van-but what will you do now? Hope you have a fantastic Easter holiday too. Enjoy your spring. Hugs-Erika

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    1. We have a new tent which we bought for the children and grandchildren to use, but we can use it ourselves now. Plus that hotels are not that expensive here. I'll miss the freedom though. And also.... see my reply to (Let's art journal) Jo.

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    2. With your lovely new car, you are all set for new adventures whether it's camping or hotels - sounds perfect :-) . Happy Saturday! J :-)

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  4. What a fabulous post, as always. We were wondering how 'Brexit' might affect the LARGE number of peeps living in Europe from Britain....so, this was interesting to me! Good on you doing such a good deal on your van - & I'm sure it was in perfect condition, which would make the new owners very happy. Good on you also making sure to practise your driving....& I hope you have a blessed and joyous Easter time:):)

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  5. Loved your post today Lisca. The smiles at the end had me chuckling.
    I had, of course, read about the camper van on Facebook, and I was surprised, but sometimes you just know it is the right thing to do.
    Did you know that around here Lantana is know as the Spanish flag plant because it has the red and yellow in one flower head. We had some in our garden but it really is very invasive and we thought we had dug it out several years ago, but this year it has popped up again. I am keeping an eye on it this time ready to chop it back when it gets too big. It is also very poisonous.
    You do get lovely stamps on your cards. I even had a nice UK one this week with the race horse Shergar on it.
    I have several jigsaws in my cupboard, but it is a long time since I tackled one. perhaps I will get one out for the summer when I am too warm to knit.
    Wishing you every Blessing this Easter. Kate x

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  6. Ah you sold the camper van - what will you do when you want your weekends away now? I love the new car it looks fabulous and glad you are getting used to driving it. I had to drive hubbies car recently for the first time which was a bit of an eye opener!

    The cards and stamps you receive are fabulous, I bet its great getting mail in your house!

    We go through phases with jigsaws if I'm honest, although said 16 year old did treat us to a jigsaw storer that allows us to put it away when we aren't doing it.

    I hope you have a lovely Easter weekend

    Hugs

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  7. Hi Lisca, it's a wonder you had time to breathe! There is so much going on for you this week! The Chinese in 5 mins. is so funny, I must read it out to my hubby tomorrow he will love it. We were once at a shop looking for wall tiles and they had a Shar-pei dog which originated from China. I asked them what his name was and the said Ti Ling or so I thought but being thick it didn't click that his name was actually tiling but it sounded Chinese the way they said it, the fact we were looking for wall tiles should have been a give away I guess! Have a lovely Easter, Angela xXx

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  8. Thanks for all those smiles and the heads up on the book - sounds my type of read. Wonder if it comes on Kindle, will explore.
    Great sale with the mobile home - will you replace it with the money or does that go towards the new car (congrats on the driving of it by the way).
    Loved the postcard and the jigsaw was jaw dropping. I would never have the patience but my friend would, I try to buy her really difficult ones and succeeded this Christmas - she was 'cussing' me!
    Hugs, Neet xx

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    1. I read it on my Kindle as I can't get English language books here. It probably was free or cost only 99p. I get all my books through bookbub.com, who select about 7 or 8 different free and 99p books every day. Under each book is a button so you can buy it if you want. Most of them are through Amazon.co.uk. I seem to remember that you live in the UK (and not USA) The photo is from the internet as I can't photograph a Kindle book. Before buying a book I also look at the reviews on Goodreads.
      As for the money, we will keep it for a rainy day. We might find ourselves without healthcare after Brexit, so best to keep some money for medical bills as we wouldn't be able to afford private insurance with our basic (UK) state pension.

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  9. You have received some super postcards over the weeks. I'm glad you told us how it came to be.
    Sounds like it's been a good week with a good balance of recreation and activity and sunshine. Can you send some over here please xx

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