A Postcard A Day - Tuesday 5 December 2023 - T for

 

Hello lovely ladies, How are you all?

Here the weather is getting nasty. We've had some night frost, and I really need to think about protecting my lemon tree. 

But let's start this blog post with a postcard as per usual:

I received this card from a person called Peter  from Birmingham, Alabama in the USA. It's called the Reading Woman (1877). It's a painting by Frank Duveneck (American 1848-1919). I really like it. He plays with light in the way that Rembrandt did. This oil painting can be found in the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston.

Kentucky-born painter and teacher. He studied at the Munich Academy and developed a loose, broad painting style in the manner of Hals and Rembrandt. Whistling Boy (1872) is a signature work.

Frank Duveneck’s parents were German immigrants. He showed talent at an early age painting signs and decorating coaches, and by age fifteen was apprenticed to an altar-building shop in a German-American neighborhood of Cincinnati. (Quick, An American Painter Abroad: Frank Duveneck’s European Years, 1988) His teachers encouraged him to travel to Munich, where he could study the works of Europe’s masters. The training at Munich’s academies influenced a generation of American painters, who adopted their professors’ confident brushwork and direct application of paint. Duveneck established himself as a successful portraitist and teacher in Cincinnati and Munich, and toward the end of his life created landscapes during summer vacations in Massachusetts.

The stamps are really nice:

This new Forever® stamp celebrates women’s soccer in the United States. From youth leagues to the elite world champion U.S. national team, millions of girls and women throughout the country participate in the fast-paced, competitive sport of soccer.

The stamp on the right (The farmer's bank) comes from a beautiful architecture series:

This block in the series was issued on August 28, 1981 at the National Building Museum in Washington, DC.  The buildings in this group date from the late 1800s to the early 1900s, a period when architects stopped sticking to particular styles and began exploring new directions.  The eclectic architecture of this era often took inspiration from any styles or buildings that came before it, and might even combine elements from multiple styles into one building.

The stamps show the New York University Library by Stanford White, the Biltmore House by Richard Morris Hunt, the Palace of the Arts by Bernard Maybeck and the National Farmer’s Bank by Louis Sullivan. I found some photos of this last one, that is on my stamp:

It's a beautiful building

One of the nation's most enduring and significant architectural buildings used to be called the Farmer's National Bank in Owatonna, Minn. It might never have been built in 1908 if it hadn't been for a couple of anti-establishment architects and a wealthy local banker who were not afraid to invest in new ideas.

Louis Sullivan and George Grant Elmslie were hired though their own studio was in a chaotic state. Sullivan had become an excessive drinker, and the gifted Elmslie was left to shoulder much of the design work.

The details are stunning.

I'd better stop drooling and tell you what I've been up to.

Here in the village the Christmas decorations have come out:

It's really pretty.

Wednesday was a difficult day as it was exactly a year since my husband died. But I got lots of encouraging messages and phone calls, so in the end it wasn't such a bad day.

The next few days were uneventful, then on Saturday night I went out to dinner with my friends .On the photo you see our Caprese salad with tomatoes and mozzarella. Very nice it was.

We had lots of delicious food. My glass of red wine just about visible for Elizabeth and Bluebeard's Tea Party.

The meal was a resounding success at our favorite restaurant.

On Sunday apart from going to church, I was invited to a Dutch Sinterklaas celebration. When I was a child we always celebrated it on the eve of St Nicolas (6 Dec) so that is the evening of the 5th, but my friends wanted to do it on the weekend. According to tradition Sinterklaas, who arrives on a steamer from Spain (It's actually televised on Dutch national television) rides a white horse. He is assisted by his black helpers all called Piet. Nowadays that is controversial, but of course historically there were Moors in Spain, so it's not so unusual. Nowadays Piet can be any colour except black. Anyway Sint rides his white horse across the roofs and throws present down the chimney or if there are lots of presents, he will leave a large jute sack by the front door after banging loudly on the door (usually a kind neighbour will oblige).

This is what happened at my friend's house. Actually it was a large basket:

Another tradition is to write anonymous rhymes. These usually poke fun of the recipient. I received some fun poems, which have to be read out loud:

And I received some sweet little presents:

My favorite is the felted flower. Made by my friend Maaike, who also wrote a lovely rhyme to go with that.

After all the presents have been opened, it's time to play with our new toys:

That is a really fun box of construction bits. 

Before going home my friend asked me to take home some produce.I chose one of these squashes (the smallest):

and a bag full of red peppers:

That is all from me today. I will leave you with one last image that some of you might be able to identify with:

Happy T-Day,

Hugs,

Lisca