A Postcard A Day - Friday 27 May 2022 - Friday Smiles

 

Hello lovely ladies, It's Friday again (well, nearly, as I am typing this on Thursday evening). Time to think back on the happy moments, the smiles and the silver lining of the week. 

I always start with a postcard, because happy mail always makes me smile:

It comes to me from Russia, and was sent by a guy called Alexei. He is a doctor in the Center of Hygiene and Epidemiology of Yekaterinburg (the 4th largest city in Russia).

The card depicts an illustration to the Russian folk tale of The Frog Princess.

This is what Wikipedia says of the story: (Are you all sitting comfortably?)

In the Russian versions of the story, Prince Ivan and his two older brothers shoot arrows in different directions to find brides. The other brothers' arrows land in the houses of the daughters of an aristocrat and a wealthy merchant, respectively. Ivan's arrow lands in the mouth of a frog in a swamp, who turns into a princess at night. The Frog Princess, named Vasilisa the Wise, is a beautiful, intelligent, friendly, skilled young woman, who was forced to spend 3 years in a frog's skin for disobeying Koschei. Her final test may be to dance at the king's banquet. The Frog Princess sheds her skin, and the prince then burns it, to her dismay. Had the prince been patient, the Frog Princess would have been freed but instead he loses her. He then sets out to find her again and meets with Baba Yaga, whom he impresses with his spirit, asking why she has not offered him hospitality. She tells him that Koschei is holding his bride captive and explains how to find the magic needle needed to rescue his bride. In another version, the prince's bride flies into Baba Yaga's hut as a bird. The prince catches her, she turns into a lizard, and he cannot hold on. Baba Yaga rebukes him and sends him to her sister, where he fails again. However, when he is sent to the third sister, he catches her and no transformations can break her free again.

In some versions of the story, the Frog Princess' transformation is a reward for her good nature. In one version, she is transformed by witches for their amusement. In yet another version, she is revealed to have been an enchanted princess all along.

We've had a good week, but nothing much has happened and I have very few collages:

I had ordered several things online and they all arrived at the same time. One of the things was a cast iron pan. I get all my orders delivered to the post office so I had to carry it all the way home, hence the Ikea bag.

I had also done an order at a Dutch/Scandinavian supermarket on the Costa Brava coast, that takes orders online. Particular biscuits that hubby likes (called Knappertjes) and coffee pads for my Senseo coffee machine. And, as you might have spotted, some Oxo cubes. I can't order those from England as I would have to pay too much import tax on them.

On Wednesday we drove to Granada (a two hour journey there) for a scan. The hospital phoned up the week before saying hubby needed to come in for a scan. They gave all the instructions about preparation and nil-by-mouth etc. But when we got there it turned out to be a mistake. The scan is not due until July! They apologised profusely. We did go and say hello to the nurses, and then went for a coffee in the sun. And on the way back we stopped at our favorite restaurant and had a meal. A nice day out was had. (I photographed the dollies in the gift section. My friend Paula, who is originally from the Caribbean, bought several of those dollies for children in her family, when she came to see me.)

We laughed about the booboo as mistakes do happen. Luckily it wasn't a serious thing. We traveled a few hundred km for nothing, but hey...

Thursday I went to have my bloods done and Friday morning I have my yearly mammogram. I also see the oncologist once a year, just to be sure. (I have been cancer free for ten years now).

Hubby is doing fine. He has even put on some weight, which is good news.

I have put some funnies and thinkies.  The poem about bees I also published last Tuesday.

That is it from me today. Have a lovely weekend.

Hugs,

Lisca

A Postcard A Day / Tuesday 24 May 2022 / T for harmonica players, seeds and wholesome food

 Hello lovely ladies,

How are you today? Are you ready for the T-Party? It's being held at Elizabeth and Bleubeard's and everyone is invited. Of course we are expected to bring a beverage (not necessarily tea). 

Let me start with my postcard, which is an interesting black and white photo entitled The Harmonica Player(2013):

The photographer is Jessy Libik.  I've not been able to find much info on her. Not even where she lives. I think it might be Sweden. Anyway, I did find a photo of her:

The stamp is gorgeous. It features baby mountain goats. To be precise they are capricorns.

Things are a bit better here this week. Hubby is feeling better and he is eating more. I still have to stick to simple meals, but he has gained weight this week so that is a winner! Yesterday I made meatballs, and a friend had brought me some spinach (grown here in the village).

This is also my 'ticket' to the T-Party as my glas of Tinto de Verano is clearly visible.

Hubby helps me a lot around the house doing little jobs. For instance he hung a bracket on the patio wall:

It was to hang up this glorious fuchsia. That was last week. This is what it looks like now:

I love it!

Hubby also loves pottering about his plot, which is still overgrown and looks like this:

I've been planting herbs from a seed strip. 

I had never used this method but it is very easy. I still had some seed trays and I sowed four seed trays with these strips. Already the middle row is sprouting.

Yesterday we went shopping at Lidl, our local supermarket. They were giving  little pots with seeds if you spend a certain amount. We got six of these little seed pots:

There was dill, borage, carrot, cilantro, watercress and parsley.

Here is hubby dipping his aloe vera babies in the rooting powder.

Strangely enough, hubby doesn't tolerate bread, but he has no problem with cake or muffins. So I made some muffins:

And a rice dish with bacon bits, carrots and broad beans that I have peeled twice (I only used the tender insides without the skin around the bean).

And semolina pudding with almond biscuits.

Sunday we went to see our friends that have the ice cream parlor. And of course we had to have ice cream!

We were allowed to sit in their kitchen, behind the shop. Hubby is wearing a bike jacket because we'd gone on the bike. He really enjoys his ice cream. This was our lunch as you can imagine.

I have been looking for a pan that has removable handle, so that we can put the pan in the oven. I couldn't find what I wanted and I ended up buying a cast iron pan with a handle. I forgot to take a picture of it, and it is midnight now, so I will take a picture in daylight tomorrow and show you next week.

Here is the parcel (I had ordered a few other things too):

That is it from me today. I wanted to do some book reviews but it's late and that too will have to wait until another day.

And to finish, here is a little poem about the importance of bees (I'm thinking of Erika's bees):

Let's enjoy the T-Party. 

Happy T-Day!

Take care,

Hugs,

Lisca

A Postcard A Day - Friday 20 May 2022 - Friday Smiles

Hello lovely ladies, how are you all? My husband and I are finally home after being away in the 'big city' for more than a month! Hubby's treatment is finished and now he has to regain his strength and a bit more weight for an operation at the end of July.

I have lots to smile about and that is the theme of this blog. Please join us at Annie's (A Stitch In Time) and share your smiles from this week.

I have two postcards for you and I hope they will make you smile. They are illustrated by the Finnish illustrator Inge Löök:

The two 'Aunties' have found some bleubells and other flowers and it makes them smile. The card was sent to me from Sarah in Germany. She has drawn a little tortoise on the back.

The stamp is the regular German stamp which features knapweed (or Centaurea). It is a genus of over 700 species of herbaceous thistle-like flowering plants in the family Asteraceae.

I am envious of the cheap postage in Germany. I pay 1,65 Eur for a postcard.

The next card is also very smile-worthy. The 'Aunties' are sitting on a viewpoint, with a picnic basket, blowing bubbles. 

This card was sent by Esa, a retired seaman in Finland.

I love the stamps. The gnome is cute and the ducks are Clangula Hyemalis. The long-tailed duck, formerly known as oldsquaw, is a medium-sized sea duck that breeds in the tundra and taiga regions of the arctic and winters along the northern coastlines of the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. It is the only member of its genus Clangula. 

 

Quite a pretty duck, don't you think?

OK, so what have we been up to this week?

Our week has been good. We came back from Granada on Thursday evening, and Friday we just chilled (while I did endless washing). The weather is really nice and sunny, so we wanted the sunscreen over our patio, but the chimney pipe is in the way, so one of the first things hubby had to do was remove the chimney pipe.

Saturday we went to our plot of land, which was totally overgrown! There had been a lot of rain and the weeds were thigh high! Lots of poppies, which was a delight, but we couldnt walk and we could hardly find our young fruit trees! But we did find them and to our surprise there were many little mini cherry beginnings.

On Tuesday our friends came to visit. We hadn't seen them since they drove us into Granada last month. I baked a lemon drizzle cake. Hubby had a piece and didn't have any adverse effects, so he can have some again. (He needs to gain weight).

I needed a new watch and I had ordered one from Amazon over the weekend. I arrived that day and hubby kindly made the bracelet to size.

On Wednesday I planted some seeds strips that I had to grow herbs. Parsley, dill and savory. I hope they germinate. 

I had been gifted a flowering fuchsia before leaving for Granada. It temporarily lived next to the chicken shack so that my friend could water it when she came to feed the chickens. Now it has a place on the wall in the patio. Hubby has put up a bracket. Nice job.

As the lemon drizzle cake went down well with hubby, so on Thursday morning (while he was strimming his plot)  I made muffins with a similar recipe. He loved them!

I have met another Dutch person in our village. She is looking after her elderly mother . We met at the doctor's waiting room and we decided to keep in touch and meet up when things calmed down a bit. So this particular afternoon I met her for a drink. So we got to know each other a bit. The meeting was a success and we will meet again next week. 

That was my week. As per usual, I will put some funnies at the end. Not many this week I'm afraid.

Have a lovely weekend,

Keep smiling!

Hugs,

Lisca