A Postcard A day - Friday 10 JUly 2026 - Friday Smiles

 Hello lovely girls,

I must apologize in advance for not having many photos from this week. Life has been happily tripping along as Virginia used to say. But I do have a postcard for you:

It was sent from a Postcrossing Meet-up in Dortmund, Germany.

Above you can see the location in Germany. The water depicted on the card is an artificial lake called the Phoenixsee (See means 'lake'.)

The Phoenix-See is located on the area of the former blast furnace and steel plant site of ThyssenKrupp in the middle of an urban environment. The lake is now a recreational area with a 3,2 km long pedestrian and bicycle path. Among the birds species you can observe on Phoenix-See are Tufted Duck, Canada Goose, Reed Bunting, Black-headed Gull, Eurasian Moorhen, Egyptian Goose and Mute Swan. (Wikipedia)

The members who were gathered at the meeting place signed (or stamped) many cards to be sent to people around the world. I was one of them.

It is very tiring and time-consuming (as I found out myself) to sign hundreds of cards, so many people have a little stamp with their username on it.

The postage stamps they used on my card are really nice. 

Udo Jürgens is a very famous Austrian singer of the so-called Schlager genre. I used to listen to his music back in the day. He had a lovely voice and sung clearly so I could understand what he was singing.

Udo Jürgens (1934-2014), was an Austrian composer and singer of popular music whose career spanned over 50 years. He won the Eurovision Song Contest 1966 for Austria, composed close to 1,000 songs, and sold over 104 million records. In 2007, he additionally obtained Swiss citizenship. Wikipedia

Here is a bit of music from his farewell concert: 

I think Iris has  had something similar in one of her blogposts a while ago.

Enough of Udo, what has been happening here in Spain? What has made me smile?

Well, my cactus has flowered for the second time:

And I have finally finished putting all the photos in a large multi-photo frame. 

It has photos of all the people that I love, family as well as friends. It's hanging in a prominent place in my flat. I'm very pleased.

Of course Ronnie is a never ending source of pleasure and smiles:

Here he is drinking from his fountain.

And this is where I found him one afternoon when I couldn't find him anywhere. He was asleep under the coffee table.

That is all for now. Of course there will be some funnies at the end. But for now, I wish you all a lovely weekend,

Lisca

A Postcard A Day - Tuesday 7 July 2026 - T for weird, Kendo and drinks

 Hello lovely girls,

A big Happy Tuesday to you! I have a weird postcard for you and of course a drink to qualify my for the T-Party hosted by Elizabeth and Bluebeard.

But first my weird postcard:

It was sent to me by Alessia, who lives in Italy. There is no description or copyright, photographer, artist or anything. It seem to me a bad photograph of a strange work of art. Not my favorite....

The stamp is much nicer:

Wikipedia writes: The 19th World Kendo Championships (19WKC) took place from July 4 to July 7, 2024, at the Unipol Forum in Milan, Italy. The tournament, organized by the International Kendo Federation (FIK), was a massive success, with Japan dominating the competition across both individual and team categories.

(Sorry, I don't seem to be able to get rid of the yellow background colour)

I have heard of kendo as a friend of mine's daughter,  married a kendo practicing Spaniard some years back. I have photos of him but have not been able to ask him if he minds being in my blog so I'll show you some images from the Internet.

What is kendo? It's a traditional Japanese style of fencing with a two-handed wooden sword, derived from the fighting methods of the ancient samurai (warrior class). 

The unification of Japan about 1600 removed most opportunities for actual sword combat, so the samurai turned swordsmanship into a means of cultivating discipline, patience, and skill for building character. In the 18th century, practice armour and the shinai, a sword made of bamboo, were introduced to allow realistic fencing without risk of injury. The study of what came to be known as kendo was even compulsory in Japanese schools from time to time. An All-Japan Kendo Federation was formed following the end of the occupation in 1952, and an International Kendo Federation was founded in 1970.

It is being practiced by women and men alike and there are schools all over the world.

Below children in Istanbul:

What have I been doing these last few days? 

The week has started well as I heard from the bank that they have provisionally refunded me all the monies that had been spent through my account (by thieves that cloned/hacked/somehow accessed my bank card). Hopefully that is the end of that. I have now ordered RFID protective covers (anti-data theft).

Summers here are long and very hot. I'm coping alright with the heat at the moment. I have not needed the air conditioning yet (just a ceiling fan). The temperatures have not hit 40 C yet (104 F). 

All my gym and Pilates classes have stopped for the summer. But I have found two Pilates classes (air conditioned) and two aquaerobics sessions in the local swimming pool so I can keep doing something. It's too tempting to do absolutely nothing in the summer.

Of course my social life doesn't stop either. On Saturday evening I went for a drink with friends:

I'm showing you this because I need a drink for the T-Party.

This was our tapa:

I'm writing this on Monday and tonight Spain is playing a match in the World championships. It's being shown on the big screen in the main square in the village.

One of my daughters-in-law has a Portuguese dad, and they will be cheering for Portugal. They sent me this:

That is all from me today.

Happy T-Day all! 

Lisca

A Postcard A day - Friday 3 July 2026 - Friday Smiles

Hello lovely peeps,

How are you all? Have you had lots of smiles this week?

I've had a few 'groans' initially, but lots of smiles lately! More about that later. Let me show you a postcard:

It was sent to me by my lovely friend Maggie back in November. She was visiting the Tate Modern in London where there was an exhibition of art from Australia. She saw this particular artwork by Emily Kam Kngwarray. She said it was 'huge and impactful'. 

I stole the next two photos from the Tate Modern website:

Wikipedia writes:

Emily Kam Kngwarray, (c. 1910 – 1996) was an Aboriginal Australian (Anmatyerr) artist from Alhalker, in the Sandover region of the Northern Territory. Kngwarreye's unique style and powerful creative vision came to redefine contemporary Aboriginal art and gained worldwide attention.

As an elder and ancestral custodian of the Anmatyerr people, Kngwarray had for decades painted for ceremonial purposes in the Utopia region. She became known for her precise and detailed approach she worked with batik for 11 years until 1988, when she was introduced to acrylics. She created more than 3,000 acrylic paintings over the next eight years, and became one of the most prominent and successful artists in the history of Indigenous Australian art. She is particularly notable also for being a female artist, for having only started painting in her 70s, and for her prolificacy: over her eight years as an artist, she produced more than 3,000 paintings – around one per day.

What an amazing lady!

What has been happening with me here in Spain? I had my bank card hacked or cloned (don't ask me how) last week. So I had my account blocked, which is a nuisance as I couldn't do anything. And it had cost me a lot of money (The thieves went on a spending spree). Well, it's been all sorted now. I have a new bank card and the bank have provisionally given me the money back. Happy days.

Yesterday I had my toe nails painted. I had never done that, but my sister convinced me to do it.

Wednesday I had 'breakfast'  with all the gym/Pilates ladies as the season has come to an end. We won't start again now until October. (too hot).

As you can see by the beers, it was a brunch/late breakfast. The teacher is second from left., the rest of us are older ladies.

I had wine, I'm not a huge beer drinker. I only drink beer if I have to drive in which case I'll have a non-alcoholic beer which is very tasty, but there is no non-alcoholic wine.

Here I am with my friend Patricia.

Ronnie the cat is sleeping beside me as I speak/write.

We've had a little drama when he brought me a 'present'. It was a lizard with his tail already chopped off. Poor thing. But it was still alive and I know that they shed their tail easily and it grows on again. I rescued it and when I could see it was still alive I put it outside in the morning sun to warm up. It's no longer there so I hope it has crawled to a safe place (away from my cat).

That is all from me today. I will post some funnies at the end like I always do. Have a chuckle!

Enjoy your weekend,

Lisca