A Postcard A Day - Tuesday 1 September 2026 - T for Mesa Verde, a birthday and nostalgia

 Hello lovely girls,

Happy September! How time flies! I can't believe it's September. It does mean that days will get cooler thank goodness and the summer season is winding down. Here in Andalusia,  children will be going back to school on the 10th, and most of my clubs and groups will start up again towards the end of the month.

My postcard for today comes from Colorado, USA:

It was sent to me via Postcrossing, by Deirdre. She actually lives in South Carolina. She sent me the card on the 31st of July and mentioned that where she lives, schools would be starting in two weeks (ie 14th of August). I'm in Italy now and my grandson doesn't start school until the 14th of September.

The card itself features Mesa Verde National Park.

Wikipedia writes: Mesa Verde National Park is a national park of the United States and UNESCO World Heritage Site located in Montezuma County, Colorado, and the only World Heritage Site in Colorado. The park protects some of the best-preserved Ancestral Puebloan ancestral sites in the United States.

With more than 5,000 sites, including 600 cliff dwellings, it is the largest archaeological preserve in the United States. Mesa Verde (Spanish for "green table", or more specifically "green table mountain") is best known for structures such as Cliff Palace, one of the largest cliff dwellings in North America.

Starting c. 7500 BCE Mesa Verde was seasonally inhabited by a group of nomadic Paleo-Indians known as the Foothills Mountain Complex. The variety of projectile points found in the region indicates they were influenced by surrounding areas, including the Great Basin, the San Juan Basin, and the Rio Grande Valley. Later, Archaic people established semi-permanent rock shelters in and around the mesa. By 1000 BCE, the Basketmaker culture emerged from the local Archaic population, and by 750 CE the Ancestral Puebloans had developed from the Basketmaker culture.

The Pueblo people survived using a combination of hunting, gathering, and subsistence farming of crops such as corn, beans, and squash (the "Three Sisters"). They built the mesa's first pueblos sometime after 650, and by the end of the 12th century, they began to construct the massive cliff dwellings for which the park is best known. By 1285, following a period of social and environmental instability driven by a series of severe and prolonged droughts, they migrated south to locations in Arizona and New Mexico, including the Rio Chama, the Albuquerque Basin, the Pajarito Plateau, and the foot of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains.

Isn't that interesting. I visited this site briefly (I would have liked to spend more time but we were on a tour bus) in the year 2000 and have always wanted to go back.

As for me now, I'm in Italy visiting my son who has celebrated his 50th birthday a few days ago.

(Yes, my grandson has very long hair, but he likes it that way)

We had a dinner at the restaurant for the extended family. There will be many drink references for Elizabeth and Bluebeard and this bottle of Spumante is the first.

The weather is extremely hot. The other night we were walking back at midnight and the temperature was 38 degrees C (100,4F):

My son lives in the old historic centre of a small town in Abruzzo, Italy. It's called Guardiagrele and I lived there from 1977 to 1988. This visit is full of nostalgia as I always loved living there. (Unfortunately my marriage failed and I had to leave)

Wikipedia writes:

Guardiagrele is the seat of the Maiella National Park, and is one of I Borghi più belli d'Italia ("The most beautiful villages of Italy"). It is a member of Cittaslow.

This is the Santa Maria Maggiore church in the center of town.

It has a portico on the side where people sit in the shade.

There are frescos on the wall in the portico. I took this picture the other night:

My daughter in law (in blue top) and her friends having a drink (Second drink reference). I'm not in it as I took the photo:

The famous pastry is called 'Le sise delle monache', which translates as 'nun's tits':

So for old times' sake, we bought some.

Nowadays the name is not considered politically correct and they call it Tre Monti (Three Mountains).

The other thing I wanted to eat for old times' sake were 'arrosticini  Abruzzesi'. Little pieces of meat (lamb in the old days) on a stick which are roasted on the coals.(Photo from Internet)

Last night we went to a restaurant at the bottom of the street to eat some.

On the left the old tower (Torre Orsini) which dates from the 13th century.

Our arrosticini were presented like this:

My drink was an Aperol Spritz (Photo taken before the arrosticini arrived).

On the (short) walk home I had my photo taken at the fountain:

The town is also known for its wrought iron artists, so there are examples here and there in the town, like this fountain. 

The pots are made by the copper smiths who work at the entrance to the old town.

That is all my friends. I'm going to link up with Elizabeth and Bluebeard for the T-Party with all my drink references.

Happy T-Day all!

Lisca

A Postcard A Day - Friday 28th of August 2026 - Friday Smiles (lots of stamps and funnies)

Hello lovely girls,

In my last blogpost (Tuesday) I mentioned I was traveling to Italy. The reason was that my son is celebrating his 50th birthday on the 28th (today). He hasn't been able to get the evening off, so there is a familia lunch planned for tomorrow, so I will be able to tell you about that on Tuesday.

 Although I am writing this in Italy, the card I am about to show you comes all the way from China.

It shows a high speed train. I love trains and train travel so I am delighted with this postcard. For those who are interested, it is a Fuxing CR400BF Electric multiple unit. 

 The Internet tells me: The Fuxing Hao (meaning “Rejuvenation”) is China's independently developed next-generation standard EMU (Electric Multiple Unit) train. CR400 Series: Flagship high-speed models running at 350 km/h on major trunk lines like Beijing–Shanghai.

The back of the card has multiple stamps:

The stamp in the top right corner is in commemoration of the opening of the Bejing-Shanghai High Speed Railway. 

Wikipedia tells me that The Beijing–Shanghai high-speed railway officially opened for commercial service on June 30, 2011, following construction that began on April 18, 2008. The 1,318-kilometer (819 mi) line connects Beijing South Station and Shanghai Hongqiao Station, slashing end-to-end travel times to under 5 hours.

The other train stamp features the China-Europe freight train (Yiwu-Madrid). 

Launched in 2014, Wikipedia writes this about the line: The Yiwu–Madrid railway is the world's longest freight train route. Spanning approximately 13,052 kilometers across eight countries (China, Kazakhstan, Russia, Belarus, Poland, Germany, France, and Spain), the trip takes roughly 16 days, connecting Yiwu, China to Madrid, Spain.

I wondered about the different track gauges of the different countries, as I can't even travel from Spain to the rest of Europe without changing trains. AI came up with the following answer: Yiwu–Madrid railway line encounters three distinct track gauge standards across its route, requiring physical container transshipment or bogie exchanges at major breaks of gauge in Kazakhstan, Belarus, and Spain. 

What a palaver!

The two stamps with the cranes have been jointly issues by China and the USA:

The endangered North American whooping crane and Chinese black-necked crane appear on stamps jointly issued in 1994 by China and the U.S., advancing wildlife conservation as they represent friendship. Artists at the Clarence Lee Design Studio in Honolulu developed eight concept designs; Chinese nature artist Zhan Gengxi created the final artwork, influenced by one of the concept designs.

Issued on July 6, 1997, the Ancient Temples of Wutai Mountain stamp set  features a 40-fen multicolor stamp depicting the Temple Complex in Taihuai Township (Taihuai Town Temple Group) alongside five other stamps showcasing historic structures on Mount Wutai in Shanxi Province, China.

Well done if you made it this far. That was a lodda stamps!

I have been traveling from Spain to  Italy. First I got on the bus to Valencia. 

That was a 7 hour journey. Below a photo I took out of the window (I think in Alicante):

Sorry for the reflexion in the glass.

Then I stayed the night at the airport hotel and the next morning I got a flight from Valencia to Pescara in Italy.

This is a photo taken inside the airport. They have an aeroplane hanging from the ceiling:

My son and family picked me up and this morning my daughter in law had to go out to have her nails done and my son and I went to have breakfast somewhere:

I look a bit tired (I am) and I still have a bad cold, but it's good to see my son again. 

That's all I have for today, but I will show you some funnies at the end, as per usual.

Enjoy your weekend,

Lisca

A Postcard A Day - Tuesday 25 August 2026 -T for China, nails and a cactus

Hello lovely girls,

When you read this I will be traveling. I'm on my way to Italy! 

 

But the postcard I'm showing you today is from China. It was sent to me by somebody called Albert as a 'thank you' for some stamps I sent him:

With the help of Google Translate's camera:

Mount Qiyun (齐云山), also called Baiyue, is a famous Taoist mountain in Xiuning County, Huangshan City, Anhui Province, China. Below is a map to give you an idea where in China it is:

According to Catherinelu Travel:

It is known for its red Danxia cliffs, ancient cliff carvings, and a Huizhou-style village built on the cliffside called Yuehua Sky Street. Emperors of the Tang and Ming dynasties respected it highly, and Emperor Qianlong later named it “The Premier Mountain of Jiangnan.”

What has been happening here in southern Spain? Well, I haven't been anywhere as I have been in bed a few days with flu symptoms and I still have a cough. 

My cactus, that had flowered last month was showing signs of flowering again:

And sure enough the next day I saw this:

Glorious isn't it!

What else have I been able to do this week? I had my nails done:

A bit of a summery theme there.

As I'm going to join the T-Party hosted by Elizabeth and Bluebeard, I need a drink:

I'm drinking a glass of rosé with, I think, a chicken curry & rice.

I'm afraid that is all for today as not much has happened.

I'll leave you with a photo of the lovely Ronnie:

Happy T-Day all!

Lisca

A Postcard A Day - Friday 21 August 2026 - Friday Smiles and Face Off

 Hello lovely peeps. 

Today I'm going to show you some faces for Face Off and also what made me smile this week. Of course a postcard in my mailbox is always worth a smile. 

This one was sent to me (through Postcrossing) from Edmonton in Alberta, Canada:

It shows a Cree Indian  in full regalia.

Wikipedia tells me:

The Cree are a North American Indigenous people, numbering more than 350,000 in Canada, where they form one of the country's largest First Nations macro-communities.

. In Alberta, they comprise both Plains Cree and Woodland Cree communities, living across numerous reserves and urban areas governed largely under historic treaties like Treaty 6 and Treaty 8.

Digging deeper into AI I found the following info:

Origins: Algonquian-speaking peoples who moved west into Alberta during the 17th and 18th centuries through the fur trade.

Lifestyles: Southern groups adapted to the plains as bison hunters, while northern groups lived in the forests as expert canoe-men and trappers.

Below the photo of a Cree woman.

 

Language: Cree (Nêhiyawak) remains one of the most widely spoken Indigenous languages

Women of Red River North heritage.

The stamp is one from the Far and Wide series of international stamps.

The Canada Stamp Store gives the following information:

The international rate stamp features a photograph of the Qarlinngua sea arch in Arctic Bay, Nunavut, by Canadian photographer Clare Kines.

Pronounced kar-ling-wah, the Qarlinngua sea arch is located approximately 85 kilometres southwest of the community of Arctic Bay, Nunavut, at the north end of Baffin Island.

The Inuktitut name means “like pants.”

Locals estimate that the formation is more than 50 metres high.

Wind and water erosion over many years likely contributed to the formation.

What have I been up to that made me smile? I was invited to my friend Antonia's daughter's 30th birthday. One of the daughters has a cave house a bit further along from where I live, so I could just walk there.

The view is the same as what I've got (Pretty good hey?) 

Anything festive here involves food and drink.

There was Antonia and her husband and me (with the orange top) below:

And Antonia's four daughters with husbands/partners and offspring.

The food was excellent. They had butchered and cooked a kid (small goat) and Antonia had made an amazing stew with that. 

That is all from me today. Of course, as per usual, I will post some funnies at the end.

Take care and

Keep Smiling!

Lisca