A Postcards A Day - Tuesday 17 June 2025 - T for shells, cats and coffee

Hello lovely peeps,

How are you all? I'm fine, although it's hot and because it's unusually cloudy, it feels really muggie. I stay home a lot apart from going to Pilates four times a week.

Let me show you my postcard first of all:

It's all about sea shells. The sender doesn't give her/his name but it was posted in Florida. 

I'm not going to go through all of the shells in the picture. Most are well known. 

The only one that I had never heard of is the Paper Fig. The paper fig shell, scientifically known as Ficus ficus, is a species of sea snail, belonging to the family Ficidae, according to Wikipedia. 

It is also commonly called the Atlantic Figsnail or Common Fig Shell. These shells are known for their thin, pear-shaped appearance and are found from North Carolina to the Gulf of Mexico, with a preference for warmer waters, according to Mitchells Publications. 

I wouldn't have thought that a sponge is a shell, as they are 'spongy'. Apparently there are a few calcareous sponges, but the one in the picture seems to be a soft one.

The stamp is a very colourful one. It's a US Forever stamp issued in 2024 to commemorate the beauty of autumn in the United States.

It pictures a photograph by nature and garden photographer Allen Rokach (1941-2021).

USPS writes:
Special design details: Rokach was known for using what he dubbed the “Rokach effect,” to give his photographs an impressionistic quality. This sometimes adds interesting and unusual colors to the landscape shown.

The First Day of Issue Ceremony was held at the Great American Stamp Show in Hartford, Connecticut.

About the Autumn Colors set: Includes 10 different designs featuring photographs by nature and garden photographer Allen Rokach (1941-2021). Each photograph was taken at a different location across the United States, a perfect way to emphasize the nationwide beauty of autumn.

 So what have I been up to then? I've had a visit from Ronnie's previous owner. She is my friend Antonia's sister who doesn't live locally but had come to house-sit while Antonia was visiting her daughter and grandchild.

I'm not sure Ronnie recognised his former mamma, but he was quite happy to be cuddled.

I bought an old car last year to travel to my plot of land, but I've decided to get rid of it. A local guy wants it for spares, as he has the same car. He came round yesterday and wants to buy it:

Of course having sat there all winter, it wouldn't start. Here we are jump-starting it.

On Saturday evening I went for a drink with my friends after Intercambio and I came home to this:

Ronnie the cat had vomited all over the sofa! Poor Ronnie! And also poor me as I spent the next hour trying to clean it with special foam I have for that sort of thing. It's now practically gone, but it was not a nice surprise. I'm feeding Ronnie plain home cooked chicken for a few days and see how he goes.

Here he is sleeping:

He seems to be fine now.

Here is a rare photo of my other cat. 

It's my outdoor cat, who in winter resides in the unfurnished part of my cave house. She's very timid and doesn't like to be touched although we have had her from kitten. Her name is Scallywag, (name dating from the time we thought she was male).

Today being Tuesday, of course it's T for Tuesday, hosted by Bluebeard and Elizabeth. All I need is a drink. So here is my summer drink:

Iced coffee. I had this brought over from the UK especially as I can't get it here.

My friend Maggie and her hubby are visiting Italy and they sent me this photo from Termoli:

A shop called La Lisca! That's funny! Unfortunately I happen to know that 'la lisca' means 'the fishbone'!

On that note, I'll leave you.

Happy T-Day all,

Lisca

A Postcard A Day - Friday 13 June 2025 - Friday Smiles

 Hello lovely peeps,

I have a postcard from Lithuania for you today which made me smile, so I hope you will like it too.

Lithuania is one of the Baltic states (Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania) 

It borders Latvia in the north and Russia, Poland and Belarus on the south and east.

I can never tell the three Baltic states apart. (Sorry). The card is from a place called Kaunas. It is about 60m miles from Vilnius (about 100 km).

What you see on the postcard is the old town. Wikipedia writes:

Kaunas is the second-largest city in Lithuania after Vilnius, the fourth largest city in the Baltic States and an important centre of Lithuanian economic, academic, and cultural life.

It had about 400,000 permanent inhabitants and thousands of students.

The stamp is beautiful. It has a crayfish on it.

Astacus astacus, the European crayfish, noble crayfish, or broad-fingered crayfish, is the most common species of crayfish in Europe, and a traditional food source. Like other true crayfish, A. astacus is restricted to fresh water, living only in unpolluted streams, rivers, and lakes.

The postcard was sent to me by a guy called Mante, who tells me he is a man of 3 kids and 2 dogs.

He has also added a fun sticker of a parrot:

OK, what has been happening here? Again, not much. On Sunday I went to the huge weekly rastro in Baza (car boot sale in UK) I needed a small white handbag and I found one I liked. Then I went to the Moroccan stand to have some mint tea and a snack:

My sister had told me she bought a new skirt. I had a similar one in a different colour, so I photographed myself to show her:

To finish I will add a few Ronnie photos, however he was not in the mood to be photographed:

That's it from me today. I will join Annie at A Stitch In Time. See you there!

Have a lovely weekend,

Lisca

A Podtcard A Day - Tuesday 10 June 2025 - T for Belarus, pastries and a handsome cat

 Hello lovely girls,

I have another postcard to share with you with some really lovely stamps:

This is a special postcard called a Maxi-card. It means that it has a stamp on the front of the card that is the same (or similar) to the postcard picture. They are issued through the philately department of the postal service of a country just like they issue First Covers and suchlike things. 

This card comes from Belarus.

 It shows a cold soup, which is nice on hot days. It is Belarusian cuisine. I can spot beetroot so it might be a type of borscht.

It was sent to me by a married couple called Natasha and Sasha. They told me the temperature (5th of April) was just 1 degree C (33F). 

They have used some really spectacular stamps:

This stamp is from a series dedicated to Brest. Brest is in the west of the country near the border with Poland.

More stamps. The top right stamp features the Resurrection church in Brest, and is from the same series as the previous stamp.

I was surprised to read it is a relatively new church.

The Resurrection Church (Svyato-Voskresenskaya Cathedral) in Brest, Belarus, is a large Orthodox cathedral built in 1995 to commemorate Victory Day in World War II. It's the largest religious building in Brest and one of the largest in Belarus, able to hold 5,000 people on two levels. The domes are decorated with gold leaf, a tradition in Orthodox architecture. 

The bird in the bottom stamp is falco columbarius:

In English this is a merlin. 

From a website called 'All about Birds' I got this information:

Merlins are small, fierce falcons that use surprise attacks to bring down small songbirds and shorebirds. They are powerful fliers, but you can tell them from larger falcons by their rapid wingbeats and overall dark tones. Medieval falconers called them “lady hawks,” and noblewomen used them to hunt Sky Larks. Merlin populations have largely recovered from twentieth-century declines, thanks to a ban on the pesticide DDT and their ability to adapt to life around towns and cities.

The left stamp is a Christmas stamp.

What have I been doing with myself? Nothing spectacular. I had my hair cut on Thursday (sorry, forgot to take a picture) and I was too early for my appointment, so I popped into a coffee shop and had coffee with a pastry:

As this is T for Tuesday, I'm going to join Elizabeth and Bluebeard with this drink.

The saying on the wall translates as:

'A good cup of coffee helps those who get up early'.

There were lots of nice cakes and pastries to choose from, and since I hadn't had breakfast (naughty girl!), I was sorely tempted.

My friend and neighbour Søren (he's Danish) took this shot this evening from his terrace. It's a lovely sunset through the clouds. My house is on the right, the white building seen from the side on. From this angle you can see it is over four floors. All the windows are at the front to take advantage of the views.

And just to finish here are some photos of Ronnie:

He's lying behind me on the sofa.

The reflection of the tv gives this pic a strange hue.

He's yawning, and so am I. It's late so I will stop here.

Happy T-Day all!

Lisca

A Postcard A Day - Friday 6 June 2025 - Friday smiles

 Hello lovely girls,

Here we are again counting our blessings and remembering the things that made us smile this week. 

First off is a postcard:

It was sent to me by Kirsten in Berlin, who writes that she is so happy that spring has come and is enjoying some sunshine through her kitchen window.

The stamp is one of the newer German stamps with the paper castle.

What have I been doing? A lot of Pilates and stretching, and yesterday I had a pedicure.

Here I am soaking my feet before the girl started fiddling with my toe nails. I have not had my toenails painted as I need to go to the podiatrist too (next week).

The weather is very warm already, temperatures in the low thirties. So I have started to drink ice coffee.

 My friend brought this over from England. It's a concentrated thing. I pour a little bit in a cup and fill with ice cubes and cold water. Very nice.

I'm sat on the settee writing this and Ronnie, my cat, is curled up in a box of papers next to me:

It's not a big box and he's a big cat. Of course he doesn't fit in there, but cats love to try don't they.

Here is another photo of Ronnie (officially named Roneo) looking rather stern:

Of course I have some funnies for you too, at the end.

So, I will go and join Annie at A Stitch In Time and 

I will wish you all a pleasant weekend with lots of good weather and many smiles,

Lisca

This is why these sort of toys are so important: