Hello lovely ladies,
Have you been smiling this week? It's March, so spring is on its way! It won't be long now! The days are getting longer. Hang on in there!
Let me show you a colorful card:
The card comes to me from Russia and was sent by Jana who was very much looking forward to Christmas and New Year (She sent it just before Christmas).
I used Google translate on the card as I was curious what the writing says (but it doesn't all make sense...):
You might have gathered that she lives in Samara. It seems a large and beautiful city. It is a city of more than a million inhabitants (and I've never heard of it! )
The city is located at the confluence of the Volga and the Samara rivers. It has a population of over 1.14 million residents, up to 1.22 million residents in the urban agglomeration.
Formerly a closed city, Samara is now a large and important social, political, economic, industrial, and cultural centre in Russia and hosted the European Union—Russia Summit in May 2007. It has a continental climate characterised by hot summers and cold winters. The life of Samara's citizens has always been intrinsically linked to the Volga River, which has not only served as the main commercial thoroughfare of Russia throughout several centuries, but also has great visual appeal.
Samara's riverfront is one of the main recreation sites for both local citizens and tourists.
The stamps are pretty
The stamp on the right is a painting by the artist Serebryakova. It is called 'At The Dressing Table', and is a self portret.
Zinaida Yevgenyevna Serebriakova; (12 December 1884 – 20 September 1967) was a Russian and later French painter. Zinaida Serebryakova was born on the estate of Neskuchnoye near Kharkov (now Kharkiv, Ukraine) into the artistic Benois family in the Russian Empire. n 1905, she married her first cousin, Boris Serebryakov, and took his surname. Boris went on to become a railroad engineer.
Serebryakova's most famous self-portrait, At the Dressing-Table (1909, Tretyakov Gallery), was painted while she was snowed in at her family home and models from a nearby village were unable to travel there. Her brother Evgenii encouraged Serebryakova to enter the painting in an exhibition mounted by the Union of Russian Artists in 1910, where it was received with enthusiasm and purchased for the Tretyakov Gallery collection.
After the outbreak of the October Revolution in 1917, Serebriakova's life changed. In 1919, her husband Boris died of typhus. She was left without any income, responsible for her four children and her sick mother. All the reserves of Neskuchnoye had been plundered, so the family suffered from hunger. She had to give up oil painting in favour of the less expensive techniques of charcoal and pencil. This was the time of her most tragic painting, House of Cards, which depicts their four fatherless children.
In the autumn of 1924, Serebriakova went to Paris, having received a commission for a large decorative mural. On finishing this work, she intended to return to the Soviet Union, where her mother and the four children remained. However, she was not able to return, and although she was able to bring her children, Alexandre and Catherine, to Paris in 1926 and 1928 respectively, she could not do the same for her two other children, Evgenyi and Tatiana, and did not see them again for many years.
In 1947, Serebriakova at last took French citizenship, and it was not until Khruschev's Thaw that the Soviet Government allowed her to resume contact with her family in the Soviet Union.
Self portrait in 1956, although the photo might not be of that year.
In 1960, after 36 years of forced separation, her older daughter, Tatiana (Tata), was finally allowed to visit her. At this time, Tatiana was also working as an artist, painting scenery for the Moscow Art Theatre.
We are all very proud of our association as we are only a small village but we have a large and very active women's association.
My friends Kim and Andy have come over for a meal and a Spanish lesson and a chat. I had prepared a meal with a Mexican theme:
Kim had prepared a spicy oven bake.
I will put some funnies at the end of this blog.
Have a lovely weekend,
Keep smiling,
Hugs,
Lisca
6 comments:
You are a lucky woman to have so many good friends Lisca. They must love you dearly. I hope all is well Lisca, and Happy March too. Have a great weekend. Hugs-Erika
The photo of the four fatherless children is very touching. They do look very bereaved and depressed. Such a sad story. Russian cruelty has been around for a long time and is manifesting itself again this decade.
best… mae at maefood.blogspot.com
The scene with the four fatherless children sure touched me.
I have a photo of my Brother playing that card-building game. It was taken by our Dad on a holiday the two went on.
Great you have such a good and yummy time with friends, hugs and to a nice weekend.
Hi Lisca, I am here at last had stuff to do. So pleased you have such good friends and spending time with them. I'm sorry but I cannot understand the people who rule Russia, the things they do make no sense to me. I saw your questions in your comment to me. The Lace papers are all cut with a die but not sure which machine they used. Thanks for asking about my mum too, she does know what's going on and the main problem was that the carers that were helping her at home didn't have the capacity to give her two people and one carer couldn't manage her on their own plus she needs help at night too. She has only been in the home for a few days but seems very relaxed and there are others like her that she can chat to. Take care and have a great week. Hugs, Angela xXx
My apologies for not visiting sooner. I had planned to leave Annie a comment before I left town, but because she didn't post at the time she normally does, I was forced to leave before I could link. When I got to my destination, I called my foodie friend Sally, who linked me. I had to leave right away because I have an out of town friend who is on hospice and I was informed if I wanted to say good bye, I should spend time with my dying friend, I just returned this morning.
That's a lovely postcard. So glad you tried to translate it. I was interested in that stamp you featured. For some reason, I thought you had featured this artist before. Her art is quite sad and emotive.
So glad you have so many good friends. You don't have time to get down or depressed. So nice the women's group won such a prestigious award, too.
LOVED the cat humor. I can relate to the couch and where I share my space. My cats aren't allowed in either of my bathrooms, so they have never had the chance to play with TP.
I hope you had a great weekend and I'll see you for T tomorrow.
Hi Lisca. I did not see you Friday Smiles so I have just gone to see whether you posted, and you did!:
The Rusian card is interested. We hear so very little about Russia so it was good to have a read. You do get some intersting stamps on your cards too.
How nice to have a friends round to share a meal. It makes it more worth making the effort to cook something special.
I smiled at your funnies. They are all so close to the truth! Kate x
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