A Postcard A day - Friday 14 February 2020 - Friday Smiles

Hello lovely ladies,
Happy Valentine's Day!
I don't celebrate Valentine's Day (My hubby doesn't even know it is today!) but I've chosen some postcards to do with the heart.

The first one comes from Germany. It is entitled Beach Romance. It dates from 1953 and the photographer is Ralph Crane.

 Ralph Crane was a German-born photographer for Life magazine for several decades, but only lived in the Los Angeles area for seven years during the 1950s. Ralph (Rudy) Crane was a colourful character who travelled with a stepladder and usually had three cameras strung around his neck. He died in Geneva in 1988.
I love his photos. Here is another photo of his I found on the Net:

I remember those three wheelers very vividly. I think they were called Messerschmitts.

The next card comes from China and is entitled ´Love from A to Z´ . 

 The text on the card reads Keeps you close at heart. The stamps are gorgeous as you can see:

Now for my smiles this week.
I had many smiles this week, but I just forget to take photographs. I did manage a few photos.
Here are two collages from this week.

Hubby and I had taken the car for its ITV (vehicle Inspection) which went totally wrong (read Tuesday's blog) and we consoled ourselves with a coffee and Baileys at a local bar.

Tuesday I spent a lovely morning with my friend, who since last month lives in our village. I have been able to drag her away from the building work to visit the market and have a coffee together. (And a catch-up of course. Virginia calls it Putting the world to rights)

That is it from me today. Lets go visit Annie at A Stitch in Time to link up with our smiles. And Virginia at Rocking your world Friday.
I will leave some funnies at the end as usual.

So wishing all of you a very happy Valentine's Day, and a super weekend. 
Stay safe,
Hugs,
Lisca

A Postcard A Day - Tuesday 11 February 2020 - T for shipping lines, wedding rings and beer vats

 Hello lovely ladies, buenas días. 

Here is a lovely cup of coffee for you. The translation of the above is: Good morning! The joy of living. 

Today when you go down the street, give away smiles, give away joy. If there is no answer, give away more anyway.

That is a good way to live. Always smile. I live in a (large) village where people still say hello to each other even if they don't know you. I greet people I meet in the street and I always smile when I greet.

Of course I have some postcards for you. The first one is very colourful and comes from Germany. It is one of those old posters. I haven't been able to find out much about the Germany-Africa line. Only that it was a shipping line, established in 1890 as an alternative to the existing shipping services to East Africa, including German East Africa (1891–1919), then dominated by United Kingdom shipping lines.

 The stamps are beautiful. The one on the right is an image of Beethoven. I assume the stamp was brought out to celebrate the 250 years since his birth (in 1770).

 The flower on the other stamp is Wiesenschaumkraut, which in English would be Lady's Smock or Cuckoo flower.

I am a bit envious of the German postage. They pay 95 cents and we pay 1,45 for a postcard within Europe.

This second card also comes from Germany. It is an ad-card. It means that it advertises something. I use them too sometimes if they are pretty. This one is rather nice too. It is about hand-made rings. It reads: "Your rings, our handiwork. 

Are you wondering which engagement or wedding ring suits you best? We are happy to help you find the right one and look forward to hearing from you."

 The stamp is the usual German  flower stamp. This time it is knapweed.

I wouldn't be here for the T-Party if I hadn't a drink to share with you all. 

There is a story to these pictures. Our car is now nearly 5 years old and in this country every car older than 5 years has to submit to a regular technical inspection, so when we got a letter explaining this fact, we went and made an appointment for Saturday morning. I had agreed to take the car through as I speak better Spanish, and hubs gets rather nervous when people call out 'orders' he doesn't understand. When we got there (and patiently waited our turn) the lady told us the documents I had given her were for a car, but the appointment was for the motorbike! It turns out that our motorbike is also 5 years old and has a number plate very similar to that of the car! In the end the (very kind) employee made another appointment for us for the motorbike, and then one for the car next month as it was due in March. By the time we left the building, it was midday and we decided that we would pop into the nearest bar for a coffee.

 As we had had such a frustrating morning, we treated ourselves to a glass of Baileys, a very popular Irish alcoholic drink  flavored with cream, cocoa, and Irish whiskey.

 The large vats hanging above the bar are beer brewery vats. I'm sure they were there purely for decoration because as far as we are aware this place does not make its own beer.

But we thought it was rather unusual.

That is it from me today. I'm going to join the T-Party hosted by Elizabeth and Bleubeard. Please join us with a blog post that has a beverage or is drink related. 

Happy T-Day all!
Keep smiling,
Lisca

A Postcard A Day - Friday 7 February 2020 - Friday Smiles

Hello lovely ladies (and the occasional gent),
It's Friday again and time to share what made us smile this week. However hard your week, there is always a silver lining.

My week has not been hard at all. And I have received many cards (always makes me smile that).
The first one I want to show you is by the Finnish illustrator Inge Löök. I love her 'Naughty Aunties'.
Here they are paddling in the pond, apparently retrieving their bottle(?). It was sent to me by someone  in Germany who knew I would like this.

 The stamp is one of the latest German stamps about freedom of press. I shared last Tuesday that it has been designed by Christoph Niemann. He says:
"I wanted to visualize both the struggle of journalists to uncover hidden but relevant facts and the increasing number of journalists around the world who are thrown in jail for doing their work ."

 The second card comes from Finland and is another Inge Löök creation. The Aunties are having fun with some candy canes. 

 Candy canes are something typically American associated with Christmas. I have never seen them here. But they have arrived in Finland it seems.

The stamp on this card is lovely. It has a butterfly on it. I've not been able to find out which butterfly it is.

Now let me tell you how my week has been. On Saturday we got together as agroup to learn/practice our Spanish. There was one Spanish guy, so our meeting could go ahead. It's always fun and I always learn something.

On Sunday after church we were invited by some friends to have a cup of tea. But the weather was so nice, I suggested we go for a walk. We had a lovely walk on a path that we hadn't been on yet. The almond trees have started to flower and that really makes me smile because it means spring is on its way!

On Monday I had to go to the dentist again. Hubby came with me as we would go shopping too. I wasn't long and we had a coffee in the bar right next to the dentist. Perfect!

On Tuesday two friends came over for coffee. I had made up some small bunches of oregano which another friend had picked and given me. Then we (Hubby and I) went out for lunch. The first time since December (we have been on a detox fast until the end of January). In the picture you can see the cold soup called 'salmorejo' which I like. There were quite a lot of police there today. Nothing going on. They were just having a drink.

Then on Wednesday I had to go into town again to pick up my old iPhone that I had repaired. I now have a spare phone. You never know...

I visited a photograph exhibition about Iran (very interesting) and I watched palm trees being trimmed along the high street. It caused traffic chaos but it was interesting to watch (I was on foot)

That is it from me this week. Let's go and visit Annie at A Stitch In Time for some more smiles. I'm also visiting Virginia at Rocking Your World Friday.
Of course there are some funnies at the end (Sorry, I could only find a few)

Have a great weekend,
Keep Smiling,
Hugs,
Lisca

 The writing says: Don't forget to update you 50 Euro bill.

Only in Ireland.....:

A Postcard A Day - Tuesday 4 February 2020 - T for winter scenes and dentists

Hello lovely ladies,

Here we are again to join the T-Party hosted by Elizabeth and Bleubeard.  First of all I would like to apologize to Elizabeth for forgetting the 2nd on the second. in spite of her reminder. I have no excuse. I just forgot.

My postcards have slowly started to arrive. I started sending them again last month after the Christmas break. Yesterday I received this one from Germany. In fact, as you can see, it's from Hamburg, entiteled Winter Impressions.

The stamp is very nice. I hadn't seen this one before. It's about freedom of press.

The artist is Christoph Niemann: Pressefreiheit (Freedom of the press).

"I wanted to visualize both the struggle of journalists to uncover hidden but relevant facts and the increasing number of journalists around the world who are thrown in jail for doing their work ."

I didn't take many photos this week and I struggled to find one with a drink in it.  Until I found this one from Monday. had to go to the dentist on Monday (nothing serious) and we also needed to do the weekly grocery shop, so we decided to combine the two. After the shopping I went to the dentist (in the photo on the right), while hubby waited at the bar next door. (On the left in the photo).

In winter the terrace is protected by a 'plastic' wall, so we could still sit outside. When I had finished at the dentist, we had our coffees, but you can't see them. But you can see the drinks of the gentleman behind us, and that will have to be my qualifier for the T-Party.

Short and sweet today. 
Wishing you all a happy T-Day,
Take care,
Lisca

A Postcard A Day - Friday 31 January - Friday smiles

Hello lovely people, 

It is Friday again and time to share what made me smile this week.

I have not been writing many cards as we've been away, so I haven't received any either. But last week I started sending cards again and the first 'counter' card has arrived. It comes from Germany. I love maps and map cards so this lady from Munich has sent me this map card of Bavaria.

She has put lots of fun stickers on the back and two lovely stamps:

 On the left the Greifswalder Oie lighthouse.
  (Greifswalder Oie (literally "Greifswald's isle") is a small island in the Baltic Sea, located east of Rügen on the German coast. The island covers an area of about 54 hectares.)

And on the right the Falshöft lighthouse on the Baltic coast. The Falshöft Lighthouse is located directly at the border of the nature reserve Geltinger Birk and is a textbook example of a lighthouse. With its red-and-white colour and constructed from cast iron elements it towers 25 metres high.

Any more smiles? Of course. On Saturdays we always have pancakes for breakfast. We like the little fat ones and use this special gadget that I bought very cheaply at one of those Chinese super websites. We can buy oat flour here so we  made oat pancakes. Very nice too.

Sunday could have been a sad day as it would have been my dad's birthday. Either my sister or i try to be with our mum for that day. This year it was my sister. We Skyped of course and it was just quality family time with a lot of laughs.

My friend brought me a bunch of oregano, so that is now drying. That evening I made arepas (south american corn pittas) and I roasted some of those lovely little peppers and we had a wonderful supper.  The breads open up like a pitta bread and can be filled with whatever you have lying about in the fridge.

Tuesday was another day that could have been sad but wasn't. Our pastor's wife has died after a long battle with cancer. But her funeral was a celebration of her life in the knowledge that she is now in a better place.

As we were in town, hubby went to the ironmonger to find a piece that fitted a chimney pipe. We have these fabulous ironmongers that have absolutely everything! We have been coming to this shop for 14 years. Even in the beginning, when we didn't speak Spanish, they always seem to understand what we wanted.  

There was a lovely red sky as we drove home that evening. That evening I made a tasty potato soup in my new pan. 

Yes, I have a new pan. I bought it this week in a local shop. I saw it and had to have it, if you know what i mean...

I love it and have used it every day since I bought it.

That is it from me today. Have you had a week to smile about? Tell us about it and link up with Annie at A Stitch In Time and Virginia at Rocking Your Week Friday.

As usual there will be some funnies at the end. (Cats and dogs this time.)

Have a lovely weekend,

Hugs,

Lisca

This one translates as: Lets just recharge.