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

A Postcard A Day - Friday 6 March 2026 - Friday Smiles

 Hello lovely peeps,

Here I am and I've made it to the end of another week. How have you all been? I'm going to tell you about my week after showing you my postcard and at the end I'll post some funnies.

Here is my postcard:

It is entitled: 'Glam'  by Sanna Mander, but to me it screams 'David Bowie'!

It was sent to me by Laura from Germany. She also like geology and wrote that she was looking forward to the Carnival party in Cologne (Köln).

The stamps look like this:

There is the Angel Peacock and the large one features Tom and Jerry.

Now, let me tell you about my week. On Friday I welcomed three ladies to my top floor apartment (I do HomeExchange and my flat seems to be quite popular). They were two sisters and a friend. They were very nice and were no trouble at all.

Saturday I had a lazy day. I discovered a new (to me) detective series set in Bari (southern Italy). It is called Lolita Lobosco and the detective is a rather good looking woman. 

It's on Channel 4.

In the evening I went to our language exchange group (Intercambio) and afterwards we went out for a drink and a bite to eat.

These three are all Spanish. Below is my friend Brenda (English) tucking into a bit of fish:

On Sunday I went to church in the morning and later on said goodbye to the three ladies, who had cleaned up and even mopped the floor and stripped the beds, so I didn't need to do much cleaning.

On Monday a friend from church suggested we go out for a hike to see the source of the river Castril. I published lots of photos on my Tuesday blog. 

I also took pictures of flowers and blossom. This was a tree or large bush:

And we saw a lot of these;

I'm sorry but I don't know any names and I had to delete the plant finder app on my phone as it took up so much memory.

On Tuesday I had to go to the dentist for treatment. Not my favorite activity but he did a root canal treatment and I didn't feel a thing. 

I walked home along the market and bought the my first strawberries of the season! (Spring is coming!).

Normally my friends come to lunch on Tuesday, but I expected I wouldn't be able to eat after dental tresment so I asked them to come another day.

On Wednesday I went to the gym. And I was on stand-by for one of my friends who had to go to hospital for a procedure, just in case she wouldn't be able to get home under her own steam. But she was fine and I didn't go out the rest of the day. 

I finished the book I was reading, The Familiar by Leigh Bardugo. 

It was one of the books that my blog friend Mae read and reviewed on the 21st of January.

It's a historical fantasy novel. Historical because it was set in Spain during the time of the Inquisition. Fantasy because one of the protagonists is a 'familiar', someone who is immortal. There is a lot of magic and some romance, in an almost gothic setting. It wasn't bad but not quite my cup of tea.

On Thursday my friends came to lunch. I had cooked a lovely Moroccan inspired lamb dish, and I forgot to take any pictures, only of Ronnie, my cat:

I also finished my audio book (I have two books on the go, one Kindle book and one audio book).

The book I just finished was a freebie from Audible when I subscribed:

This cozy mystery is set in an English village in 1941. It features and American woman getting away from London in the blitz and inheriting a coffee shop (a very predictable theme in cozy mysteries) she makes friends and together they solve a murder. 

It was well written as far as the genre goes and perfectly narrated in 'the Queen's English'. The story was entertaining but cozy mysteries is not really my taste and I'm glad I didn't have to pay money for it.

Now it's Thursday evening and I'm writing this. 

Now I will find some funnies and wish you all a lovely weekend,

Lisca

A Postcard A Day - Tuesday 3 March 2026 - T for mountains and rivers

Hello lovely peeps,

Happy Tuesday! 

It's Monday as I write this and I have just come back from a day-long hike in the mountains with a friend. But before I show you the photos, let me show you my postcard:

It comes from The Netherlands and it shows the window of a book shop where the sender, called Yvonne, buys her postcards.

The shop is called Alternote:

I would love to visit that shop!

The stamp is a special Postcrossing stamp:

Today I went for a long hike with a friend. This region is very dry and usually there is no water in the rivers, but after the latest bout of rain and storms, the rivers are flowing and the waterfalls, spectacular. There is also a lot of damage and sometimes the path was interrupted by a landslide and we had to find an alternative route, but it was a wonderful day.

We went to the source of the river Castril.

We left at 9 a.m. and it took us more than an hour to drive to the location, and by the time we had safely parked the car and started our walk it was 11:00

The river at lower level was wide and full. 

The top signpost was our route (to the source of the river).

Trees and bushes had been uprooted during the latest storm and floods.

We came across a small weir where they I think had a turbine to create electricity.

This is an image of where we walked. The red arrow is where we walked up the valley. The black arrow is where we found the river coming out of the rocks.

And here it is! I had expected a small trickle, but it is literally gushing!

On the way back we took another track which led us to a waterfall, which is part of the same river.

We got back to the car at about 3 pm and I was hungry so we decided to drive to Castril, the village named after the river, and have some lunch. 

This is a little side street in the village:

That is all for today. 

Those of you who live in wet countries, won't find the sight of a gushing river very exciting, but here in this arrid country, it is a sight for sore eyes! It was the best hike I have done in a long time. (Even though I now have sore feet and legs).

Now I have just remembered I need a drink or drink related image. I don't think the river counts (although it was very clean water).

So here is the fish dish from Saturday night when I went out with my friends:

A beer bottle is visible. That is my ticket to the T-Party hosted by Elizabeth and Bluebeard.

Wishing you all a Happy T-Day!

Lisca

 

Second on the 2nd - Monday 2 March 2026 - A blogpost from 2015

 Hello lovely girls,

I'm going to show you an old blogpost from more than 10 years ago. It features the motorbike my dad had, called a Maico Mobil. (These two photos are from the Internet)

It was developed in Germany after WWII. 

I have many happy memories sitting in front of my dad.

As you can see there is a (for a child) comfortable bit to straddle between my dad's legs.

Anyway, let me show you my Second on the 2nd from 03-03-2015:

Maico Mobil 

–

Here is a blog post about the latest scrapbook page I made.

I found these awesome pictures of my parents and our beloved motorbike, the Maico Mobil, taken in 1955. 

The German factories that had been making military motorbikes during WW2, were now producing motorbikes designed for comfort. This Maico Mobil was unique in that respect and my dad loved it. He rode it for many years and I, when I was a child, would ride with him. Happy days!

This is my dad on the (then) new enclosure dam of the Zuider Zee, called the Afsluitdijk. 

This is mum posing.

I made this layout for the CSI challenge (Colors, stories and inspiration http://csicolorstoriesinspiration.ning.com/  )

Their ‘Case File’ 155 had a certain color palette, a sketch and some other guidelines that I followed to make this page.

The journaling reads:

“My dad had an interesting scooter in the fifties. It was called Maico Mobil. I have happy memories as a child, sitting very comfortably on the shaft in front of my dad.  Here are some photos taken during a holiday in Germany in 1955. (Note the empty motorway!) Top right is my mum, just posing, as she was always the passenger.” 

Thank you for visiting my page,

Have a good week,

Lisca