A Postard A Day - Tuesday 4 August 2026 - T for Stars & Stripes, a walk and Ronnie

 Hello folks,

I have a postcard that might help you cool down in this hot weather. Even if it is only an imaginary 'cool down'. Then I will also show you something to do with a drink for Elizabeth and Bluebeard's T-Party, and tell you what I've been up to.

But first off is my postcard. It comes from Alaska:

It was sent to me by Linda who took a cruise in May with three ports of call: Juneau, Sitka and Ketchikan. All three are on the card in the lower right hand corner. I have visions of 'cold' when I think of Alaska. I have been to Minnesota in the summer and on a different occasion to Vancouver and surroundings. On both occasions I was cold! And that was summer! So Alaska must be super cold!  Has anyone been to Alaska? What was it like? I have seen documentaries and they say it is beautiful.

The stamps are pretty:

The yellow school bus is iconic and the stars and stripes flag of the USA is to remember the 250th birthday of the US. As is the large stamp on the right with 1776 on it.

USPS writes: The Declaration of Independence Forever stamp, issued in panes of 20, features a vertical design in red, white and blue set against a deep navy background. The year “1776” runs down the center, with each number rendered in the shape of a white feather quill pen to represent the writing utensils used at the time to draft and sign the founding document.

The design was created by typographer Juan Carlos Pagan under the art direction of longtime USPS designer Greg Breeding.

The US flag stamp in the middle is part of a series of 13 stamps designed by Ralph Lauren called 'American Idols'

USPS writes: American Icons, an inspiring and visually exciting pane of 13 stamps curated by Ralph Lauren himself, speaks to diverse but essential aspects of the American experience.

Selected from his own unparalleled archive and from visuals that have inspired him, the images Ralph Lauren chose for the stamps embody our shared values and reflect the unique fabric of our nation: freedom, independence, equality, opportunity, and the pursuit of happiness.

Many of the stamps include the American flag shown in different settings or seen from varying perspectives: sometimes on a grand scale, sometimes as a smaller design element paired with another icon or enhancing a larger scene. The flag is perhaps the most recognizable American icon in the world, and Ralph Lauren has said that it holds special meaning for him as someone who has worked hands-on with fabrics.

In 1998, he took the lead in the fundraising needed to help the Smithsonian Institution save the original Star-Spangled Banner. The 1813 flag that inspired our national anthem required extensive preservation work before it could return to public display.

The above stamp features a knit 13-star flag, a detail from an iconic sweater introduced by Polo Ralph Lauren in 1989. The flag design itself is intarsia-knit, created using a technique that allows for smooth color transitions during production.

What have I been up to in rural southern Spain? In summer there is always lots going on in spite of the heat. All activities just moves to night time. There was a charity walk on Thursday night which my friend and I (and half the village) went on:

It was organised to support a cancer charity and here are the ladies collecting the money. It was 21:30, so it was still light. On the right are two water bottles. My 'ticket' to the T-Party.

We are waiting for the walk to start.

And below are my friend and I during the walk when it was dark:

When I got home at midnight the temperature had gone down to 31 degrees C (88F). Still quite warm though.

What else can I tell you: 

I bought two bags. 

I love turtles and I love my cat. So I bought both (online). They look like they are embroidered or stitched, but in fact it is a photo on plastic. So It was a bit of a scam, but I decided to keep them as I actually like them (I just paid way too much for them. Oh well....)

And here is Ronnie, looking at his image on the bag.

I've just realised there is a cork screw on the table. Another drink related object for Elizabeth and Bluebeard.

That is all from me this Tuesday. More on Friday.

Happy T-Day all!

Lisca

 

A Postcard A Day - Friday 31 July 2026 - Friday Smiles (and a little cat face for Friday Face-off)

 Hello lovely peeps, I'm going to show you what made me smile this weeK. Well, a lot of things have made me smile, but I haven't taken photos of everything.

I did get a postcard from Japan with ice cream on it.

It was sent by Hisane, who was also a palliative care nurse (like me) and said she used to give her patients ice cream.

She has used many stamps, all with an animal on it.

I'm going to write something about each stamp. If you are not interested, please just scroll down. I have some funnies at the end.

Top left, the orange stamp features a dog, and celebrated the Year of the Dog. 

 1969 First Day Cover YEAR OF THE DOG:

The stamp next to it  shows a tiger:

1998: Year of the Tiger: January 28, 1998 – February 15, 1999 (Earth Tiger)

Then underneath is another tiger.

1986:Another Year of the Tiger: February 9, 1986 – January 28, 1987 (Fire Tiger)

Here is the pretty First Day Cover:

Japan Post Co. announced on Jan. 28 that it will issue limited-edition 1-yen stamps based on a design using the company's "cute" character "Posukuma" from April 14, 2021.

Posukuma is the cuddly bear mascot of Japan Post — the post office for Japan.  This is a Japanese children's picture book highlighting the day-to-day of Posukuma, who loves honey toast and delivering handwritten letters! 

Below is a definitive 2 yen stamp released on February 2, 2015. 

It features an Ezo snow rabbit designed by  Kaifuchi Junko.

Below an lovely First Day Cover:

Phew, that were a lot of stamps. 

Let's go to something else. I was looking through the photos of my recent visit to Istanbul and I found this photo of a girl's bag. It made me smile.

She was waiting at the pedestrian crossing in front of me and I saw her bag.

Another thing that makes me smile is my cleaner. She comes once a week and cleans my little flat in a couple of hours. She does a really good job:

My cat Ronnie is an older cat and not really into toys. I have a drawer with cat toys and every now and then I will get something out to see if I can tempt him with something to play with:

Like this tunnel. He was very cautiously exploring and then popped in.

I think he was a little surprised when he found a 'window':

It's Thursday evening and I am going to get ready for the annual charity walk through the village. Of course it happens at night as during the day it will be too hot to walk. I'll be home around midnight, so photos Tuesday or next Friday.

That is all from me today. 

I will leave you with some funnies at the end. 

For now I will say: Keep smiling!

Lisca

A Postcard A Day - Tuesday 28 July 2026 - T for a meal, a turtle and a cat bag

 Hello lovely peeps,

Here we are again at the beginning of the week. How time flies! 

I have a lovely postcard to show you today, and some drinks for Elizabeth and Bluebeard's T-Party.

And did I tell you I love turtles?....

Let me show you my postcard:

It was sent to me by someone in Indianapolis, who forgot to put his name on the card. It shows a turtle, an endangered honu Hawaiian green sea turtle. 

(Scientific name: Chelonia mydas.) 

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service website writes this:

Honu are a migratory species, traveling hundreds or thousands of miles from foraging areas to nesting beaches. Over 95% of the Hawaiian Green sea turtle population nests in French Frigate Shoals in Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument. They largely travel to the main Hawaiian Islands to forage for food and bask on the beaches. Limited nesting and foraging occurs in other locations in the Pacific such as America Samoa, Guam, and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands. When they are not migrating, honu remain in shallow waters like lagoons, reefs, bays, and shoals to feed and nest along open, undisturbed beaches. 

Green sea turtles are also found throughout the world.  Other genetically distinct populations range all over the Pacific, the Caribbean and Atlantic coasts of North and South America, the Mediterranean Sea, and northern parts of the Indian Ocean. But the Hawaiian Green sea turtle exists only in Hawaiian archipelago.

Hatchling honu eat a diet of fish and plants, but then switch to a mostly herbivorous diet of algae and seagrass between ages 5 and 7.  Less frequently, juveniles and adults may eat invertebrates like sponges and jellyfish.

 Their lifespan is estimated to be 60 to 70 years, but honu do not reach sexual maturity until 25 to 40 years!  And the length of reproductivity varies: ranging from 17 to 23 years.  

Once a female can reproduce, she will return to her nesting site every 2 to 5 years and lay anywhere between 3 and 9 clutches.  Each clutch varies between 75 to 200 eggs, with an interval of about 12 days between each clutch.  After months of laying eggs, she returns to the sea to forage. Depending on the temperatures, the eggs may hatch after 45 to 75 days; and the hatchlings emerge usually at night to travel toward the brightest horizon: the ocean.

The stamps are really cool:

The stamp on the left features a humming bird. For us Europeans this is a real treat as we don't have them in Europe. The middle stamp carries on with the ocean theme: it's a manatee. Also unknown in Europe as far as I know. 

Wikipedia writes:

Manatees (family Trichechidae, genus Trichechus) are large, fully aquatic, mostly herbivorous marine mammals sometimes known as sea cows. There are three accepted living species of Trichechidae, representing three of the four living species in the order Sirenia: the Amazonian manatee (Trichechus inunguis), the West Indian manatee (Trichechus manatus), and the West African manatee (Trichechus senegalensis). They measure up to 4.0 metres (13 ft 1 in) long, weigh as much as 590 kilograms (1,300 lb), and have paddle-like tails.

Manatees are herbivores and eat over 60 different freshwater and saltwater plants. Manatees inhabit the shallow, marshy coastal areas and rivers of the Caribbean Sea, the Gulf of Mexico, the Amazon basin, and West Africa.

Amazing animals!

What have I been up to? Not much. In this heat I stay indoors. Summers here are boring as all my clubs and groups etc have stopped for the summer months. I do go to Pilates twice a week in the morning, but I don't have any photos of that to show you.

I do have a confession to make: I have succumbed to advertising and bought  (online) a handbag with a ginger cat on it.

The price was reasonable and I only realised after I pressed the button, that there was no delivery date. This usually means, the article comes from China and might take months to get here. Oh well, it will be a nice surprise when it does, as I will have completely forgotten about it.

On Saturday evenings I lead a group called Intercambio. It's a Spanish-English conversation group. We have all become friends and we regularly go out socially. 

There is a restaurant in our village that only opens in the summer. It is called Angela's Patio. 

The food is exceptionally good and we had booked a table (inside) last Saturday:

The roof opens up, so at night it is lovely. 

Below is a photo from the Internet.

Here is the menu (in English), as I know some people like to see it:

One of us ordered the dry aged 750 grams rib steak (not visible in the photo). It was enormous and we all got to sample a little bite (delicious).

I had pork shank (knuckle), which was simple but delicious. It fell apart and was actually too much for me to eat so I took some of the meat home and I had another meal on Sunday. 

Visible is my glass of white wine for Elizabeth and Bluebeard's T-Party. I could have had red wine (with meat) but I was so used to saying white wine, that I completely forgot.

Here we all are. You probably recognise them all by now, as I always go out with the same friends. (I'm the one with the black top.)

That's all from me this Tuesday,

Happy T-Day,

Lisca