A Postcard A Day - Tuesday 15 October 2024 - T for kittens and more kittens and a cake

 Hello lovely ladies, How are you all? I'm feeling a bit better after having spent a week still coughing and spluttering in the aftermath of a nasty flu. I'm still not right but I'm just ignoring that and carrying on regardless. (I'm still coughing)

Let me show you my postcard for today:

It comes to me from Finland. The title of the photo is: Cleaning fish, Suursaari 1930s.

I had to google Suursari as I had never heard of it. 

Suursaari is the Finnish name for the island of Gogland, (or Hogland in Swedish). Wikipedia writes:

Gogland is an island in the Gulf of Finland in the eastern Baltic Sea, about 180 km west from Saint Petersburg and 35 km from the coast of Finland (near Kotka). Hogland has an area of approximately 21 km² (8.1 sq mi); its highest point is 173 m (568 ft). It belongs to Russia's Kingiseppsky District in the Leningrad Oblast.

I tried to draw an arrow indicating where the island is and it took me half an hour! (I'm not that computer savvy), but you get the gist.

Wikipedia also writes:

Gogland's tourist industry was growing in importance, with most tourists coming from St. Petersburg, and some from Finland. In 2006, however, Russian authorities declared Gogland a "border area", which means that foreign nationals are not allowed to travel to the island without special permits. This limits tourism from abroad to small groups, admitted one at a time, and adds extensive bureaucracy to applications for permission to visit the island.

The stamp is really nice:

Designed by Illustrator Emmi-Riikka Vartiainen. The stamp is one of a set of two.

The stamps feature two goddesses mentioned in Kalevala poems, among other works. On the shape-cut stamps, Päivätär and Kuutar spin gold and silver thread from the rays of the sun and moon, from which gold and silver clothes are woven.

Its companion looks like this:

So what is happening here in Spain? I have not been that active but I continue to do archery, which I started two weeks ago. Here I am having a go:

I really like it.

Over the weekend I had two 'gatherings'. One of them on Sunday afternoon was a social for the Intercambio group. One of the ladies hosted a BBQ at her house. The weather was lovely and I was asked to make dessert. I made a cherry yoghurt cake:

It turned out well, but it could have been a bit sweeter, I thought. Oh well, next time...

Since Thursday I have a kitten! I'm calling her Frankie as she has blue eyes (Frank Sinatra was called Ole Blue Eyes):

She's into everything and at the moment she is on my legs behind the laptop. (So I can't see her but she is clawing at my jeans)

 

Today is T for Tuesday hosted by Elizabeth and Bluebeard so I need a drink. The other day someone gave me an aubergine (egg plant in America). They are nice in ratatouille but  I get one given to me often as everyone grows them. So this time I air fried them in slices and then drizzled Miel de Caña (it's like honey) over it. Yummy!

My glass is visible, but still empty. So this time it's a drink reference in stead of a drink.

Oh here is some coffee:

Thats it from me today. 

Happy T-Day!

Hugs,

Lisca

A Postcard A Day - Friday 11 October 2024 - Friday Smiles

Hello lovely ladies, 

It's Friday already! That week has tripped by very fast! I have been poorly, but I'm better now. Still got a bit of a cough, but I'm up and about. Things are getting back to normal.

Let me show you my postcard for today:

It comes to me from Russia. It was sent to me by Nastya, who writes that she thought this lady could be me, as I love reading. Well, I am grey haired, and wear glasses, and I would sit by the window. But I don't have such a lush sea view, my  outlook is a bit more mountainy and arrid.

The painting is by Marina Molodchaya, and she calls it: Grandma.

The stamps are beautiful:

The stamp on the right dates from 1994, and it features a snuff box from 1752 and was issued for the 250th anniversary of the Imperial Porcelain Factory

The other two stamps are from the series Novgorod Kremlin. This features the Kukui and Knyazhaya Towers.

And this one is the St Sofia Cathedral

So what has been happening here? Well, apart from me being ill, I have two new things to mention:

This is Frankie. She is my new kitten. She arrived this afternoon and we are getting to know each other. Frankie got her name from the colour of her eyes. The blue reminded me of old Blue Eyes, (Frank Sinatra)

She is very gentle, a proper little lady.

The other novelty is that I have started archery. I started last Friday and I did enjoy it although I was coming down with the flu. Unfortunately I've not got any photos. I'll try and get some this week.

I'm going to visit Annie to share my smiles, so I might see you A Stitch In Time. In the meantime I will add some funnies at the end.

  

A Postcard A Day - Tuesday 8 October 2024 - T for snail houses and kittens

 Hello lovely peeps,

I'm home now. I travelled home on Thursday because of a much coveted hairdresser appointment that Friday. My hairdresser is very popular and to get another appointment (should I have missed this one) within the month is impossible. 

I started sniffling on Wednesday, and by Thursday I had a full-blown cold, so I had to travel with a mask on. I felt even worse on Friday, but managed to stagger to the hairdresser and then quickly do some much needed grocery shopping. I've been in bed ever since...

But let me show you a fascinating postcard:

I love it! It's a bit steampunky in an organic sort of way. 

It is called 'Snail-housekeeper' by Kseniya Naumchik. (To see more of her art look here)

It was sent to me from Voronezh, south-west Russia. She posted it in September and writes that they are enjoying an Indian summer with temperatures at 29 degrees C.

I have also learned (from the news) that the province of Voronezh has become a warzone a few days ago. 

The stamps are lovely:

The gentleman on the left is Alexander Ostrovsky. 

Wikipedia writes this:

Alexander Nikolayevich Ostrovsky was a Russian playwright, generally considered the greatest representative of the Russian realistic period. The author of 47 original plays, Ostrovsky "almost single-handedly created a Russian national repertoire." Wikipedia

Born: April 12, 1823, Moscow, Russia

Died: June 14, 1886 (age 63 years), Shchelykovo, Russia

The stamp on the right is beautiful:

It features a Fedoskino miniature lacquer painting called Ivan da Marya (1989) by Yu.V. Dotsenko. 

Wikipedia writes:

Russia Post issued a set of 4 stamps on the Fedoskinskaya lacquer miniature on 17th March 2021. Fedoskino miniature lacquer painting is folk artistic craft, a kind of traditional Russian miniature lacquer painting with oil paints on papier-mâché that took shape at the end of the 18th century in village of Fedoskino located near Moscow.

The postal stamps provide images of boxes from the collection of the Moscow Regional Museum of Folk Art Crafts:  Ruslan and Lyudmila (1971) by M.S. Chizhov; The Firebird (1959) by S.V. Monashov; and Tea Party (1946) by V.I. Lavrov;

I haven't got much to say about my week as I've been ill. But I can tell you that I'm going to have a kitten! It's still quite young and I'm in no fit state to have kittens, so she is living next door with my friend Dian until I'm well enough:

She is all white with blue eyes. Before I knew she was female, I was calling it 'Frankie' in my mind (as in Frank Sinatra, Ol' Blue Eyes). But now I know she is female, I'll have to have a re-think, or leave it as Frankie.

Today is Elizabeth and Bluebeard's T-Party and I need a drink reference. As I've not been anywhere I will share these:

I hope that brought a smile to your face.

Happy T-Day all!

Keep smiling!

Lisca

A Postcard A Day - Friday the 4th of October 2024 - Friday Smiles

 Hello lovely peeps,

Today it's time to share all the smiles if this week. There have been many, but I have to say that I'm not smiling at the moment as I'm in bed with a really bad cold. I must have caught it on the bus from Lisbon to Malaga. It reared its ugly head last night when we (my sister, hubby and friends) were just going out for an Indian curry. I chose a fairly spicey one so it would clear my sinuses. Which it did, but the next day I had to travel home and I was feeling quite ill. I dosed myself up with Paracetamol and I have just come home. I'm now in bed with a hot lemon drink.

It's also my eldest (English) grandson's birthday. He is 19 today.

My card for today is another Naughty Aunties card by Inge Löök:

The Aunties have done a spot of gardening. It comes to me from Germany. Sent by a 48 year old lady who has a cat named Roxy.

The stamp is cute:

It features a mouse on a windsurf board with a sail that looks like cheese. I know there is a children's tv programme in Germany called Die Sendung mit der Maus. I have never seen it so I don't know if this is Der Maus, the famous one.

I've been to see my sister in Marbella for a few days. That was nice as I don't get to see her that often.

I know that some people like a lovely red sunset.When we went to the Indian restaurant, the sun was just setting:

Here I am posing with my sister's friend and a beautiful sky.

There were also funny shaped clouds in the sky that were reflecting the red sky.

Some of them looked like space ships.

That is all from me lovely ladies,

I will add some funnies at the end like I always do.

Have a great weekend,

Keep smiling,

Lisca