A Postcard A Day - Friday 20 March 2026 - Friday Smiles

Hello my lovelies, It's Friday and I will show you what I've been doing in the past week and what has made me smile. Of course a postcard is always the first thing in my blog:

It comes from Russia (St Petersburg) from Natalia. I love this card as I love books and reading. This would be me, surrounded by books! The stamps are the standard Russian stamps, but they are quite pretty I think.

I'm reading Precipice (Robert Harris) on my Kindle and I'm nearing the end. My audiobook that I have recently finished is Take No Farewell by Robert Goddard. 

Then I listened to The Unquiet Bones by Mel Starr, about a surgeon in medieval times. He gets involved in a murder case and turns into a sleuth. I enjoyed it. 

I have also finished A Study in Scarlet, by sir Conan Doyle. It is the first Sherlock Holmes story where Watson joins him and they solve a mystery together. This one is partly set in the USA and the Mormons feature in it. It is narrated by Stephen Fry. I love his voice. It is such an 'English' voice, perfect for this book. 

 What have I been doing since last Friday? We had a fellowship lunch at a house near me.

I walked over with my contribution. It was a 'bring-and-share' meal. I had made meatballs.

As you can see below the table was full of nice things to eat.

The man who built this cave house is a Scottish carpenter and don't you just love that window! It's like a Hobbit house:

That's me rummaging in my bag. 

 The rest of the week has been uneventful. On Tuesday's blog you will have seen that I've had a haircut. Yesterday I've had a massage (I treat myself every now and then). I also had another dentist appointment, so I felt I deserved that massage. 

 Of course I will try to find some funnies to put at the end. 

 In the meantime I wish you all a lovely weekend, 

 Lisca

A Postcard A Day - Tuesday 17 March 2026 - T for turtle, telescope and a haircut

 Hello lovely girls,

Another week has passed and I have another postcard for you. This one has been displayed (as I love it) on my dresser since last year but I don't think I've ever shown it you.

It is a Hawaiian Green Sea Turtle. The info on the card reads: The most commonly seen turtle in Hawaii is green sea turtle. The turtles of Hawaii are an endangered species so they must not be touched or harmed in any way. (Photo Mike Severns)

It was sent to me by Richard who lives in Oklahoma City, but writes in Dutch. (Google Translate?)

The stamps are amazing:

On the left is a small 'Additional Ounce' stamp with penguins. In the middle a stamp with a 'Droid' from Starwars called IG-11. 

On the USPS site I found this:

Droids have been a staple in the “Star Wars” galaxy from the very beginning. They are engaged as loyal companions, etiquette and protocol aides, and sidekicks. The U.S. Postal Service has embraced these engaging personalities and brought the droids’ unique appeal to a pane of 20 Forever stamps.

The stamps are a nod to the commitment of Lucasfilm and its parent company, The Walt Disney Company, to science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) learning and the continued collaboration between the “Star Wars: Force for Change” philanthropic initiative and global pre-K-12 nonprofit organization FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology). Together, “Star Wars: Force for Change” and FIRST are on a mission to expand access to STEM learning and robotics to more young people around the world.

On the right is a beautiful stamp with the image of the James Webb Space Telescope:

The USPS writes: The U.S. Postal Service celebrates NASA’s remarkable James Webb Space Telescope, the largest and most complex telescope ever deployed in space — capable of peering directly into the early cosmos and studying every phase of cosmic history.

Its gold-coated mirror segments form a 21-foot-wide lens that captures faint infrared rays from billions of light-years away that represent the universe’s first accessible starlight. Revealed is the universe in its infancy, including galaxy formation. The Webb Telescope can also analyze exoplanets for potentially life-supporting conditions and provide unprecedentedly high-resolution views of our own solar system.

The heat-sensitive telescope must operate in extreme cold. From its orbit of the sun about a million miles from Earth, it is constantly positioned above the planet’s night side, orienting its optics and instruments in perpetual shade from the sun and Earth behind its tennis-court-size solar shield.

Launched on Christmas Day 2021, the telescope represents multinational cooperation of NASA and the European and Canadian space agencies.

During the telescope’s expected five- to 10-year mission, scientists anticipate answers to age-old questions — plus introductions to new cosmic mysteries.

It's such a shame that the stamp were canceled by hand (one of my pet hates).

What have I been up to? I had my friends Kim and Andy for lunch (they come every week).

I had bought a slow cooked pork shank, and I cooked roast potatoes with veggies. A lovely meal.

As it's T for Tuesday, I call your attention to my drink (white wine) and Andy's alcohol free beer.

Ronnie loves to sit on Andy's lap:

What else have I been up to? I have had my nails done:

Again, there is a drink visible in the background. It's my coffee.

And yesterday I had my hair cut (very necessary as my hairdresser had been on holiday):

I will leave you with a photo of Ronnie this evening as he was playing with a large box. As soon as he saw me get my phone out to take a picture, he scarpered!

I just caught him escaping.

That is it for today. Wishing you all a happy T-Day,

Lisca

A Postcard A Day - Friday 13 March 2026 - Friday Smiles (in Spain Friday the 13th is a lucky day)

 Hello lovely girls,

This week has flown by. Sometimes I find it hard to remember what has happened during the week, especially in weeks where nothing seems to happen. But I will try to recall. 

First of all I would like to show you a very unusual postcard:

It is called a Maxi-card as it has the stamp on the front and the stamp has the same image as the card. It is sold by the postal service of a country as a first edition.

In this case it celebrates 50 years of colour TV by the Australian Broadcasting corporation. The program featured is The Aunty Jack Show.

Aunty Jack was a unique comic creation, an obese, moustachioed, gravel-voiced transvestite, part truckie, part pantomime-dame, who habitually solved any problem by knocking someone out or ripping their arms off. 

The character was devised and played by the multi-talented Grahame Bond and was partly inspired by an overbearing uncle of Grahame's whom he had disliked as a child.

She rode a Harley-Davidson motorcycle and referred to everyone as "me little lovelies" – when she was not uttering her familiar threat: "I'll rip yer bloody arms off!", a phrase which immediately passed into the vernacular.

In the Australian National Archives (online) I found this:

This special episode of The Aunty Jack Show, broadcast on 1 March 1975 two years after the series officially ended, was the first ABC program to contain a colour segment in its broadcast.

 The transition to colour was a significant development in television broadcasting and Australians quickly and enthusiastically adapted to the change. Almost 80 per cent of homes owned a colour television set within five years of its introduction.

How has my week been? Friday was my day for errands. I went into town to buy groceries and also bags of pellets for my stove. I can only fit 8 bags in my boot and they are 15 kilos each, so once home I have to drag them out of the car and into the house where I have to descend 56 steps into my flat. So what I do is leave them at the top of the stairs until a suitable male can help me carry them down.

Saturday was dry with sunny spells so I immediately turned the washing machine on and washed bed sheets and duvet covers as I had another guest coming that coming week.

In the evening I attended Intercambio, our language practice session:

On Sunday I went to church as per usual and watched Songs Of Praise on TV (an English religious program). In the afternoon I attempted to do a bit more on my jigsaw:

It is a painting by Klimt:

I'm finding it very difficult.

On Monday my friend next door gave me some organic oranges. I asked Chatgbt what I could do with them apart from the obvious. It came up with some recipes, one of which I used and baked this cake:

It was lovely. Here is the recipe:

I think that's enough of me. I'll post some funnies at the end for you to giggle at.

Enjoy your weekend,

Lisca 

A Postcard A Day - Tuesday 10 March 2026 - T for walks, wine and women

 Hello lovely peeps. It has been one of those weeks where nothing seems to have happened, but there is always a postcard to show you, so I'll start with that.

It comes to me from Finland, from someone called Michaela, who is a vegetarian and loves cooking and watching tv. She has sent me these cabin windows. Very rustic. I like images of doors and windows.

The stamps are fun:

The large one is part of a series celebrating Valentine's Day and friendship.

Sorry the resolution is not very good. It's the only image I could find.

In many countries Valentine's Day is also known as Friends' Day, so this is what the stamps represent.

Here is Spain (and all over the world) International Women's Day was celebrated on the 8th of March. In Italy women gift or send their female friends a sprig of mimosa. 

I have sent all my Italian friends the above photo as I couldn't send the real thing.  In Spain, this doesn't seem to be the tradition, but the local Women's Association had organized a walk and activities afterwards.

I didn't participate as I had promised I would be at church and the walk was 10 km and I wasn't sure I would be able to cope with that. I still feel very tired.

 I have been enjoying quiet evenings watching tv by the fire. On Channel 4 there is an Italian detective series with a female detective called Lolita Lobosco, which I am enjoying very much.

It is set in Bari, the 'heel' of Italy and the environment is very familiar to me although I never actually lived in Bari.

My friends Kim and Andy came for lunch this week and he installed the new, and more powerful router I had bought for my Starlink internet connection. I live on the bottom floor of four floors. The receiver is on the top floor, so I need another router/booster to get a good signal in my flat.

I'm enjoying my audio books. With Audible I get one book per month included in my membership plus several 'freebies'. While waiting for my monthly book, I read this freebie, which is another 'cozy' mystery. 

As I mentioned before, I don't really like cozy mysteries and this one was no exception. A group of lifelong friends, all in their sixties, meet regularly in a coffee shop. One of the friends is suffering from a brain tumor. The latest new treatment is too expensive for her and the friends conspire to get the money for her treatment by stealing a precious jewel from a local dignitary who many years ago killed one of their friends by pushing her off the terrace. He was never prosecuted and the 'girls' are also out for revenge.

OK, the plot is quite good and there are many twists, but it just isn't my genre. I have now finished it and I am starting a book by Robert Godard (Take no Farewell). 

I'm going to join Elizabeth and Bluebeard at T for Tuesday so here is my drink, I just photographed while having my dinner:

It's French rosé and I was having my dinner in front of the fire.

That's it from me today.

Happy T-Day all,

Lisca