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

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