A Postcard A Day - Friday 8 May 2020 - Friday Smiles

Hello lovely ladies! It's Friday again!

Have you all been well? Are restrictions slowly being lifted where you are? Here we are finally allowed out for a walk (at certain times of the day according to your age).

So that is good news, and every week (I hope) there will be more restrictions lifted.

Yes, I want to concentrate on the positive things this week. There have been many. My biggest smile was that I got the all clear from the oncologist. I see him only once a year now, and yesterday I got the news that this time everything is fine again. Markers  (blood test) are normal, my mammogram is normal, and no lumps are to be found. Hurray! Thank God.

Other smiles have been some more postcards. I will show you one today. You might have seen these 'Aunties' before. They are by a Finnish illustrator called Inge Look. I have collected quite a few, but i didn't have this one. 

It was sent to me by Marianne from the Netherlands. In fact she is from Rotterdam (My home town!). She writes that she and her husband were still able to work (on the 19th of March) but that their kids (16 and 18 yrs old) had to study on their own and that was not easy.

The stamps are really nice. There is one with champagne, that is for me today. If I had any bubbly in the house, I would have got it out. The middle stamp is about Roermond, in the south of the country. A town that I have never been to I hate to admit. The stamp on the right is commemorating Dick Bruna, 

 Dick Bruna was a Dutch author, artist, illustrator and graphic designer. Bruna was best known for his children's books which he authored and illustrated, numbering over 200. His most notable creation was Miffy, a small rabbit drawn with heavy graphic lines, simple shapes and primary colours.

So a big 'thumbs up' for Marianne who made my day!

Let me tell you that I have a real problem with house work and cleaning. I'm not very good at it as I have always had someone else to do the cleaning. (Besides I actually don't like doing housework.) It never appears on my radar as I plan my day. Since we are retired, we cannot afford to pay a cleaner. 

A while ago I got this book on my Kindle, and I am now actually putting it into practice. I follow her advice day by day. 

 Well Friday it was clean the fridge day, so that is what I did. My hubby also had a special job to do. He had bought some insulation stuff and he climbed on the roof to cover the hot water tank. We get a lot of wind and with the bad weather we have been having, the water cooled so quickly, it was often not hot enough in the evening to have a shower.

Friday is also the day the The Graphics Fairy do a freebie (if you subscribe to their newsletter), Friday it was this image:

They are all old free-to-use images so I have no info whatsoever on this but I thought it nice to remember healthcare workers this way.

 Saturday, (just after hubby had covered the water tank) the temperatures went up and we started to have lovely weather. It's about time!

Sunday is the Lord's day and we watch church online. We 'binge watch' church services. We watched three again.

Hubby cut my hair, and I must say, he did a good job!

 On Monday my house work book told me to clean the spice drawer, which I did, plus a few other kitchen drawers.

I also baked my Herman the Friendship Bread. And it turned out great.

I gave it to a friend, plus a part of the starter and instructions of course. In case you missed what this is about, here is the link.
  
Hubby harvested more beans and peas. A big Ikea bag (nearly) full. I spent the whole afternoon shelling them.

I made a 'ring' cake with the Herman dough that was left on Tuesday.

On Wednesday I went shopping, and because we are still only allowed one person in the car, I had to go to the builder's merchant too and get some rubber buckets for him indoors. As for cleaning: today it was kitchen cabinets and I cleaned and sorted out the cabinet for teas and coffees. 

The photo at the bottom was taken on the 5th of May (Tuesday), but I  received it the next morning. It is the drone display in Rotterdam (Netherlands) that was shown to celebrate Liberation Day . The end of the display was in the shape of a throbbing heart dedicated to all the medical personnel. (It was quite near the big teaching/university hospital ). It was beautiful to watch. The structure you can see is one of the bridges across the river Maas. This one is nick-named The Swan.

On Thursday I went to the post office to collect my mail and buy some products at a local shop. 

Look what I found! Talcum powder. I thought that had been taken off the market, but I found some in a local shop. Talc is helpful with gloves. I always used to put a little bit of talc in my gloves at work.

 That was my week. It was a good week. 

Lets go and link up with Annie and with Virginia.

I wish you all a lovely weekend, with hopefully some activities that were not allowed last week.

As usual, I will post some funnies at the end.

Take care,
Hugs,
Lisca

In South Africa they give this advice:

And in Malaysia this:

 Only one Trump funny this week....

The following image will make sense only to ladies in the UK, as they will recognize this as a normal train ticket. (Or not-so-normal in this case)

A Postcard A Day - Tuesday 5 May 2020 - T for .. liberation, beautiful ladies and a haircut.

 Good morning ladies! Today is Tuesday, so it is time for the T-Party. Elizabeth and Bluebeard host this event every Tuesday, and you can join in the fun by posting something with a drink in it (or a reference to a beverage). My qualifier is a cute little coffee cup ballerina. (don't ask!)

As usual I would like to show you some cards and stamps that I have received recently. 

This black and white vintage looking card was sent to me by Kirsten in the Netherlands. She tells me the girl on the left is Anna Ondráková, or Anny Ondra. 

Anny Ondra (born Anna Sophie Ondráková, 15 May 1903 – 28 February 1987) was a Czech film actress. She began her career in 1920 and appeared in Czech, German, Austrian, French and English films. In 1933, she married German boxing champion Max Schmelling. (Wikipedia)

Here is a wedding photo of Anny and her boxer husband Max:

 Here they are many years later:

The girl on the right in my postcard is Hanni Weisse. 

Hanni Weisse (16 October 1892 – 13 December 1967) was a German stage and film actress. She appeared in 146 films between 1912 and 1942. (Wikipedia)

I've not been able to find much more about her.

The stamp shows a typical Dutch house, (like the one I showed last week). 

The stamp is part of a series on Dutch symbols:

When you think of the Netherlands you might think of bicycles, Friesian cows, canal houses, windmills or tulips. (And perhaps me).

Well, the second card comes from the USA would you believe. It shows a beautiful young lady sitting in a window. 

 The photographer is Uwe Ommer, a German photographer, known for photographing ladies.

The stamps are beautiful. The whole series of Tropical Fruit: papaya, guava, kiwi, pomegranate and star fruit.

Designed by Ethel Kessler of Bethesda, Maryland, the stamps went on sale nationwide April 25, 2008.

Today in the Netherlands it is Liberation Day. Liberation Day is a public holiday in the Netherlands celebrated each year on 5 May to mark the end of the occupation by Nazi Germany during World War II. It follows the Remembrance of the Dead on 4 May.

My home town of Rotterdam was liberated by the Canadian army, and my mother can't stop talking about it. The Dutch suffered a lot under the Nazi regime.
Every year there are parades where the veterans have place of honour. The Rotterdammers have a special place in their hearts for the food droppers. The crews of planes that dropped food on the starving city.

How are you all coping with the lockdown? Has there been some relaxing of the rules? Here, since Monday, we are allowed out for a walk at certain times!

We can go out between 10 and 12 midday and from 7 to 8 in the evening.

Because the hairdressers are still closed I have had to ask my hubby to cut my hair as it was growing much too long in my neck.

He did a very good job, although you can't see it very well on the photo. The wind whipped it up.

I didn't mean to be rude and turn my back on you! Want to see my face? Alright then:

I've been cooking and baking again. This week I was very excited about Herman,  my Friendship cake. 

Have you encountered Herman the German friendship cake?

It’s essentially a starter culture that you feed over a few weeks before making a delicious (apple) cake.

The idea is that you make your own sourdough starter and once it has grown to a certain size, you split the mixture and share it with friends everyone you know. Here is my first Friendship bread:

It is a chocolate and walnut cake (not apple) and it is going to my friend Patricia, together with a starter and the instructions, as the whole process of feeding and stirring takes 10 days. (Of course I made one for ourselves as well.)

This is it from me today. 

I hope you all have a very good week,

Keep smiling, and keep your (social) distance,

Hugs,

Lisca

A Postcard A Day - Friday 1 May 2020 - Friday Smiles

Hello lovely ladies, It is Friday again and time to look back over the week and count our blessings. 

I hope you are all well and coping more or less with these strange times. I am well and really feel blessed as there are no corona virus cases in our area, nobody in my environment is ill and I am happy to stay home with my lovely hubby.

Another one of my blessings is the mail i receive. It is still trickling in by dribs and drabs. I received two cards from Germany recently. This one comes from a place called Lubbenau. 

It was sent to me by Diane, who writes: "I live in Lubbenau, a little town south-east of Berlin and located in the UNESCO nature reserve 'Spreewald'."

The second card comes from Germany too and i like it a lot. Not only is it a great black and white photograph, but it reminds me of happier times, when we could travel and go to the beach.

The stamps are colourful and fun. Did you spot the Muppets?

How has your week been? I have had a good week. Our little plot continues to yield broad beans and now also peas. 

My cousin Ina in Friesland (Netherlands) was going to start a Herman, (Herman cake is a 'friendship cake', similar to the Amish friendship bread, for which the ingredients are passed from person to person and which continues to grow as it contains yeast and lactic acid bacteria. One starter can, in theory, last indefinitely.) So we decided to start together, so we can compare notes.

The weather has been bad almost all week and on Saturday it felt like winter. So I made rice pudding, the ultimate comfort food.

On Sundays we do church and relax.

On Monday it was Kings Day in the Netherlands. The King's birthday. Normally that is one huge street party, but this year, no festivities were allowed. I watched the King's speech.

Hubby and I have been playing an online game called Elvenar for several years now, and we play in a group. Every now and then they organize an 'Adventure' where the whole group has to work together. It is fun and one of those started on Sunday.

On Tuesday we enjoyed a video-call with all three of the kids and their families. We did it on Zoom and it was great fun. We are going to do this every Tuesday from now on. I also managed to get in touch with my son and family in Italy. 

Wednesday at last saw some sunshine! 

Hubby needed to go into town to look for a water but, and volunteered to do the weekly shopping at the supermarket (with my list). Hey Ho!

Then yesterday, I had to get up early to have my (yearly) bloods taken. The weather was lovely as i walked through the empty streets of our village. I also met the spray wagon. They spray (I assume some sort of disinfectant) in the morning. I wanted to get some sausages on my way back, but I got seen to so quickly, that the shops weren't even open yet when I walked home. Consequently I had to go back to the butcher's later. Luckily it is only a five minute walk from our house.

Hubby had not been able to buy the water container yesterday, as by the time he had done the shopping, the shop was closed. So he went today to get it finally. He also went and harvested more peas and spinach. I made an Italian dish with pasta, bacon, onion and peas. 

That was my week. I hope your week has been good too. Do tell us what your smiles were. 

I'm going to link up with Annie at A Stitch In Time and with Virginia at Rocking Your World Friday. And as per usual, I have added some funnies at the end. This time a few Trumpy ones, a few golfie ones and two about clothes hangers(!). Enjoy.

Many blessings to all,

Stay safe,

Hugs,

Lisca