Second on the second - Wednesday 2 April 2025 - Here's one I did before....

 

This is an old post from April 2016:

Good Morning Friday! Good Morning Smiley friends!

The week has really flown by. The weather has improved immensely and the temperatures are now in the 20s (Celcius). I love it. 

My postcard for today comes from Russia

It is a painting by Anna Silvonchik and is called "Stork's Gift", oil on canvas 2012. Svetlana sent it to me quite recently. There are some lovely stamps on it too:

How has your week been? Mine has been fine. (I will be linking up with Virginia for Rocking Your World Friday). I finished the lace project I was doing (the bell) and you can see that on my previous blog (Wednesday). All I have to do now is starch it.

My DH has finished the bathroom, and is doing the lights on the terrace. Saturday he will start on my craft room downstairs. I had been using this craft room on concrete floor and with bare bricks. Even the shelving was made out of bare bricks. Now it's going to be done properly. So of course I have had to take everything out! All my craft stuff is now in the old kitchen in boxes on improvised shelving (again). My desk is there too so at least i can do something. I'm looking forward to it being finished. That has to be in the middle of June as we are expecting guests then.

My magazine from Holland (that I subscribe to) Flow has arrived today and I spent quite a lot of time relaxing and reading it. 

Isn't it colourful? It has a little booklet inside to practice drawing letters. And I loved reading about Frida Kahlo. 

Today I have been hanging curtains. Half the window is done. I have not taken a photo because the room is still in a mess. Next week.

That sums me up....

But I keep smiling. I've reached my target weight: 60kg! Hurray! No more diet, and I can drink wine again!

I'm also linking up with Annie at A Stitch In Time for Friday Smiles. I don't really have any funnies today. But I did see this posted by one of you (can't remember who it was) which is very appropriate for me at the moment. I have been potting my geraniums and my chilli pepper seedlings are reading to be potted too.

Monday we plan to go away for a few days in our campervan. We'd like to go to Portugal and stock up on wine (vinho verde is a type of white wine I like and it is not readily available here, so it's an excuse to go to Portugal and buy it there).

That's it from me. Sorry it was a bit hurried and rambling but I want to get those flipping curtains done today.

Have a good week all of you,

Keep smiling,

Lisca

A Postcard A Day - Tuesday 1 April 2025 - T for Golden Years

 Hello lovely girls,

It's the beginning of a new month and hopefully a warmer one than last month. 

I have a lovely postcard for you:

It features an old fashioned sight: washing hanging out to dry in the wind. The card comes from the Netherlands and was sent by Marleen who wrote that she had got the card at a book presentation of a book called Gouden Jaren (Golden Years) by Annegreet van Bergen.

In the speech bubbles in the photo below are some quotes from the book: "In 1965 we had to go to the neighbours to make a phone call" and "In 1952 I shared a vacuum cleaner with my mother-in-law" and "In 1960 one in every three Dutchmen had false teeth". 

The book is about how our lives have changed since the 50s and 60s. Comments at the bottom of the card: "Ice flowers on the windows, the coal stove and the preserving jars, a riot of memories!"

It really resonated with me and the memories of my childhood. I looked on the Internet to see if it was still available. Yes, it was, so I've ordered it and now I am enjoying it myself. Well, thank you Marleen for this excellent suggestion.

The stamp is a normal International stamp with the typical Dutch tulips. 

As for my life here in southern Spain, I haven't really got a lot to report. It has been a quiet week. 

Here is my cat Ronnie:

And I can also show you a new plant, that was a recent birthday present:

Today is T for Tuesday where I really should have shown a drink. I have been out a few times but have forgotten to take any pictures. So here is one from the Internet:

That's it from me today. 

I'll be posting something tomorrow for Second on the 2nd (if I remember) so enjoy your week.

Take care,

Happy T-Day,

Lisca

A Postcard A Day - Friday 27 March 2025 - Friday Smiles

 Hello lovely peeps,

How are you all? Has it been a good week? Lots of smiles? I've had a good week and I'll tell you all about it, but first let's look at my postcard first:

It comes from the UK and it shows  a caricature of the Lord Mayor in a (horse drawn?) carriage. It was sent to me by Charlotte who lives in Dorking in the South East of England.

 It's what they call a 'maxi card'. It has a stamp on the picture side of the card. And that stamp has the same image as the postcard.

According to the info on the back of the card, the original stamp was designed by Paul Cox. 

The functional stamps are beautiful. 

Of course there is the lovely Paddington Bear and on the left a Christmas stamp. In the middle there is a stamp about the 150th Anniversary of Queen Victoria Accession. It features the Albert Memorial, a ballot box and Disraeli.

And also on the card is a fun sticker of a snail (as in snail mail):

Right then, what have I been doing? I guess my most exciting day was Tuesday. It's the day that my friends Kim and Andy come and I cook for them. I had been to the fishmonger to buy fish and I had prepped a fish pie. But we never got to eat it.

 Andy does little jobs around the house but there weren't any this week. He did offer to get a sack of pellets (for my pellet burner stove) from the storage cave next door as they are heavy. Now because the weather has been so bad and wet, my outdoor cat called Scallywag was allowed to sleep in that cave. She sleeps on top of the bags of pellets. My cat Ronnie does not like that at all and gets very agressive if he smells this other cat. So when Andy came down the steps with the bag of pellets Ronnie got very agressive as he could smell the other cat, who had been sleeping on top of the bag. I could see that Ronnie was about to attack the bag and in my mind's eye, I could see all the pellets strewn all over the stairs. So I stretched out my arms to stop him and he attacked me in stead of the bag. He bit me really hard in my arm. There was blood everywhere and I ended up spending the afternoon in A&E waiting to be seen and eventually had stitches put in. I won't show you the wound but this was my arm after I got home from the hospital. 

Today my arm is bruised black and blue. I saw my doctor today and it's OK. I have no infection (I have started antibiotics).

I was supposed to go to Granada that afternoon with my friend Antonia for a concert. We left an hour later than planned but made it in time to have something to eat before the concert. (The fish pie never got cooked, so I was hungry)

It was a vegetarian restaurant and the food was delicious. I had falafel in pita bread (not in the photo). I also had Moroccan mint tea (sorry, again no photo).

That was the door to the toilet. All very Alhambra inspired.

The concert was Mozart's Requiem and Orff's Carmina Burana. 

The choir came from Moldavia and the orchestra was from Minsk, Belarus. It was amazing, especially the Carina Burana.

That is all from me today. There will be some funnies at the end.

Have a great weekend,

Lisca

A Postcard A Day - Tuesday 25 March 2025 - T for postcards, birthdays, and good friends

 Hello lovely peeps,

What a lovely week this has been! I have lots to show you so let me crack on with my postcard:

A beautiful picture of the north side of the  Aachen cathedral (called the Dom), Germany, near the Dutch border.

Wikipedia writes about the cathedral: One of the oldest cathedral buildings in Europe, it was constructed as the royal chapel of the Palace of Aachen of Emperor Charlemagne, who was buried there in 814. From 936 to 1531, the original Palatine Chapel saw the coronation of thirty-one German kings and twelve queens. Later, much expanded, it was a minster and collegiate church, becoming a cathedral briefly from 1803 to 1825, and again in 1930 when the Diocese of Aachen was revived. 

In 1978, Aachen Cathedral was one of the first 12 sites to be listed on the UNESCO list of World Heritage Sites, because of its exceptional artistry, architecture, and central importance in the history of the Holy Roman Empire.

Seen from above:

The Palatine chapel reminds me of some mosques I've visited:

I grew up in the Netherlands, and I've been to Aachen, but I have never visited the cathedral, regrettably.

The stamps are colourful:

The stamp with the bear is about the annual film festival. 

The 75th annual Berlin International Film Festival, usually called the Berlinale, took place between 13 and 23 February 2025 in Berlin, Germany. American filmmaker Todd Haynes was named the Jury President for the main competition. Wikipedia

The other two are from the new definitive stamps (replacing the flower stamps). The series is called World of Letters and features images of things made from paper:

Quite fun don't you think?

Now, what have I been up to? My friend Antonia's daughter who lives here in the village, is married to a Dutch man (Arris). His parents from the Netherlands have been my friends ever since their son got married. They were visiting last week and of course Antonia and I incorporated a visit to the farm in one of our walks:

The fist decent day after 5 weeks of rain. My friends enjoying the evening sunshine. Their son Arris in relaxing in his hammock.

After saying goodbye to the Dutch (they were leaving the next morning) Antonia and I stopped at the bar for a drink:

She treated me to a Baileys!

Then on Saturday I celebrated my birthday:

I had loads of friends come and I felt very blessed.

My friend Dian bought me a Sachertorte to put the candles on:

The cake was delicious. We had a lovely party. Here I am with my Dutch friend Arris:

What else? Yesterday I had to get up early to take my car for its yearly technical inspection (The Spanish equivalent to the British MOT or the Dutch APK). It was cold (4 degrees):

And when I came out (yes, my car passed with flying colours) I looked at the mountains and it had snowed again:

Today is the T-Party hosted by Elizabeth and Bluebeard. For that I need a drink. Well, I think there are plenty of drinks in the above photos for me to qualify. But here's another one:

Just to finish, a photo of my cat Ronnie while asleep on the couch:

That's all from me today.

Happy T-Day all,

(Ronnie sends his love to Bluebeard and Squiggles)

Lisca

A Postcard A Day - Friday 21 March 2025 - Friday Smiles

 

Hello lovely peeps,

The week has sped by and it's Friday already. I have smiles and a special card to share with you. 

The card comes from Hungary and was sent by someone from Postcrossing called Viki:

It's the first time I received a birthday card from a Postcrosser. It will be my birthday on Sunday, so it's bang on time. 

I love the cute otter. In fact I love it that I got  card at all as I don't get many birthday cards these days. (Since writing this I have received, not opened, two more cards).

There are lovely wishes  and pretty stickers in the card. 

The stickers on the back are, well, Hungarian:

And the stamps are spectacular:

The stamp on the left is about Bánk bán. Wikipedia writes: Bánk bán is an opera in 3 acts by composer Ferenc Erkel. The work uses a Hungarian-language libretto which is based on a stage play of the same name by József Katona.  The main storyline is based on the assassination of Queen Gertrude, wife of Andrew II in 1213. 

The stamp on the right clearly features the Rubik cube. 

Hungary has honoured one of its most iconic inventions, the Rubik’s Cube, with a commemorative stamp celebrating its 50th anniversary. Recognized globally as a symbol of Hungarian ingenuity, the puzzle has left a lasting mark on science, education, and design.

Linn's Stamp News writes: In the mid-1970s, Rubik was a teacher at Budapest’s Academy of Applied Arts and Crafts in the Department of Interior Design. Although most accounts of the toy’s creation suggest that Rubik built the cube as a teaching tool to help his students understand three-dimensional objects, his actual intent was to create a device with moving sectional parts in an attempt to solve the structural problem of moving those parts independently without comprising the integrity of the entire mechanism.

At the time, Rubik didn’t realize he had created an imaginative logic toy until the first time he scrambled the various sections of the cube and tried to restore them to their original positions.

On Jan. 30, 1975, Rubik applied for a patent in Hungary for his “Magic Cube,” receiving the patent later that year on Dec. 31.

In the years since its creation, the toy has become an international phenomenon, reaching the height of its popularity in the 1980s, and is estimated to have entertained more than 1 billion users. Even today worldwide competitions are held in which entrants are timed in their efforts to unscramble the squares of the device.

The Hungarian Conservative published this on 03-02-2025: Celebrating 50 Years of the Rubik’s Cube and Ernő Rubik’s 80th Birthday in New York

A new exhibition, Rubik 80/50 — Fifty Years of Magic, has opened in New York’s TriBeCa district. Celebrating 50 years of the Rubik’s Cube and its inventor Ernő Rubik’s 80th birthday, the exhibit offers a dynamic journey through the legacy of a global icon.

Let's move from Hungary to where I am: Spain.

What have I been up to?

This week I have been in Granada to meet with my childhood friend Jenny. We hadn't seen each other for many years so I was very excited to see her. She was on holiday on the south coast, not at all near here but she was willing to get on a bus and we arranged to meet halfway in Granada.

We met at the bus station and we walked towards the bull ring. In the pouring rain! I was chatting so much that I didn't pay attention to where I was going and we walked too far. We ended up having to walk 20 min back again. 

The bull ring is still in use and this poster announces upcoming events.

 At lunch time it had stopped raining we stopped at a little tapas place to have something to eat We sat outside as it wasn't cold.

Eventually we walked along the Avenida de la Constitución (below an archive photo) which has ten sculptures dedicated to historical figures of Granada.

The first statue that was placed there is dedicated to Federico García Lorca, almost seventy years after his assassination. It is the work of the artist José Antonio Corredor

Here I am with the statue of Lorca (It looks like they have given him a new bench to sit on):

We had a lovely time in spite of the rain.

The other thing that has given me a lot of smiles this week is Ronnie, my cat. He has so much fun with this box:

Cats love boxes, don't they?

That's enough for today. I'm going to link up with Annie at A Stitch In Time and I will put some funnies at the end as per usual.

Enjoy your weekend,

Lisca