A Postcard A Day - Friday 14 August 2026 - Friday Smiles (and Friday Face-Off)

 Hello lovely girls,

Today, as every Friday, I'm going to show you what made me smile this week. And of course, as every Friday, I start with a postcard. 

(I am a member of Postcrossing.com  It is a free online project that lets you send real postcards and receive them back from random people all over the world. Created in 2005, its core rule is simple: for every postcard you send to a stranger, you will receive one back from a different random stranger.)

It was sent to me from Japan, from a girl called Harka. It has the stamp on the illustration side of the postcard, but it's not a Maxi-card. To be a maxi-card, the stamp must be related to the image and it must be a first edition issued by the local postal service. 

Google Translate tells me that the 'cancellation stamp' reads: 'Cat Day'. 

The Meow Pun: The number two is "ni" in Japanese. Three twos (2/22) sound like ni-ni-ni, which mimics nyan-nyan-nyan (meow, meow, meow). 

The horse image on the card is by artist  Nishi Shuku (西淑)

Paperwhisper.com writes: Nishi Shuku is a Kyoto-based Japanese illustrator and painter known for her quiet, poetic, and story-filled world. Her work is widely featured across Japan in advertising, book covers, and packaging. Her serene depictions of forests and animals bring a gentle warmth and sense of wonder to viewers.

And hasn't she got a lovely smiley face for Friday Face-Off!

The written side of the card is interesting too:

I've blanked off my address, and the Apt 11 top left is our postmistress writing the number of my PO box on the card.

The stamps:

The stamps are pretty. The one on the left is about International Letter-Writing Week. The bird is the Java sparrow on a magnolia. The star balloon on the right just says Japan Post.

What a fun card! Thank you Harka.

What have I been doing here in Spain? Well, the weather has been changing. We've had cooler days and it has rained a couple of times:

This is so unusual that I took a picture.

Then the big event here in Spain was the solar eclipse! I had experienced one before (can't remember when) and remember it was very eery when night fell in the middle of the day. This time, where we live, it was near sun set at 19:35 and it finished after 8 pm.

 

I had my special glasses at the ready:

 Just as the eclipse was about to happen, it suddenly got cloudy and it started to rain!

But the clouds lifted and I had a good view of the phenomena. My friend took the following picture (my camera didn't capture anything useful):

Soon after that, night fell:

That is all for today. 

Ronnie says goodbye too:

(Another face for the Face-Off)

I will post some funnies at the end as per usual.

Enjoy your weekend,

Keep smiling,

Lisca

A Postcard A Day - Tuesday 11 August 2026 - T for a brief encounter, a little prince and fun at the fair

 Hello lovely peeps,

Here I am again with a postcard I received this week and of course I have a drink to join Bluebeard and Elizabeth's T-Party. Let's start with the postcard:

It's an image from the film Brief Encounter. In the photo Laura Jesson (Celia Johnson) leans out of the train window and shakes Dr Alec Harvey's (Trevor Howard) hand. 

It was sent to me by Jackie who lives in Northern France. Jackie's sister-in-law runs the café at the station it was filmed at in the UK. The station is now a heritage centre. It s called the Carnforth Station Heritage Centre. 

Carnforth Heritage Visitor Centre is the famous setting for David Lean’s iconic 1945 film “Brief Encounter”. This once significant railway station is situated at the junction on the West Coast Main line with the lines to Barrow-in-Furness and to Skipton and Leeds. 

The station has been lovingly restored and is now an award-winning Heritage Centre and unique conference venue. 

The Heritage Centre tells the story of the making of the film and the people involved, including the Life and Times of David Lean, the film’s Director. 

As Jackie, who sent me the card, lives in France, there was a French postage stamp ion the card:

It features an image of Le Petit Prince.  Le Petit Prince is a children's book, written and illustrated in 1942 by military pilot Antoine de Saint-Exupéry (29 June 1900 – c. 31 July 1944).

Le Monocle writes: He wrote Le Petit Prince while in exile on Long Island after being demobilised. In the story, a stranded pilot meets a prince from a neighbouring asteroid. After encountering six narrow-minded, egocentric characters, the young prince grows disillusioned with the meaning of life. It’s a wise fox who identifies the story’s moral: “L’essentiel est invisible pour les yeux” or “What is essential is invisible to the eye.” The message is impossible to misunderstand: the most meaningful aspects of life – love, kindness and friendship – aren’t visible. It’s a predictable moral, perhaps, but the book’s success is anything but.

 Wikipedia writes: By November 2024, the book had been translated into 600 different languages and dialects worldwide. It became the second most translated work ever published, trailing only the Bible.

Have you read it? I read it as a child when learning French, but I can't really remember much about it. I do remember the illustrations and the shiny paper the book was printed on. 

Enough about the little prince. What has been happening here in southern Spain?

Well, our village has had the Feria, the yearly fiesta that lasts a week and attracts a lot of visitors.

I went on one of the first evenings with my friends (I'm in the middle). It's not very busy yet as it is early. None of us are night birds and neither of us likes the crowds, so this was perfect.

We had the traditional 'pinchos', marinated chicken pieces on a stick and then BBQ-ed.  Here are my drinks for Elizabeth and Bluebeard's T-Party.

On a different evening I went again with a different friend and we went for a baked potato. I had 'the works'!

My drink was a beer. We bought two beers each, but I only drank one and the other one I stuck in my bag and put in the fridge when I got home.

On Saturday evening I walked through the village and chanced upon the 'foam fest'. It was probably just finishing because normally the foam is knee deep.

What else have I done this week? Oh yes, I had my hair cut:

Tomorrow, the 12 August 2026, a total solar eclipse will cross Greenland, Iceland and Spain, with Spain becoming one of the best places in the world to witness this rare event.

As you can see by the above map, I will not be able to see it as I live in the south.

So that was all the excitement of the past week.

Take care, stay safe.

Happy T-Day,

Lisca

A PostcardA Day - Friday 7 August 2026 - Friday Smiles and Friday Face Off

 

Hello lovely peeps! Happy Friday!

I'm going to show you what made me smile this week. Those of you who read my blog regularly will know that I always start with a postcard. Postcrossing (see here for more info on that) is one of my hobbies so I receive several postcards a week (depending on how many I send myself). 

So my postcard today is a really fun one:

It was sent to me by Marian from Michigan. She is new to Postcrossing. 

And it's a Maxi-card!

Wikipedia says: A maxi card is a postcard with a postage stamp placed on the picture side of the card where the stamp and card match or are in maximum concordance (similarity).

Not every country issues maximum cards (e.g. US did very few) and some which do (e.g. Germany) have only a limited number of releases every year whereas others issue maximum cards for every stamp (e.g. Australia).

On the back of my card it reads: " Did you know? More than 85 million postcards have been mailed around the world through the Postcrossing website."

There are many American postcrossers but the US doesn't do many maxi cards. So I am chuffed to bits (British colloquial for very very pleased). Thank you Marian.

The card I received is actually part of  a series. Read about them here.

Although there is a stamp on the front, because the card was going abroad, it has a stamp on the back too:

Now, what has been going on in my village here in southern Spain...

Because it's so hot, life evolves at night when it is a bit cooler. All the bars have tables and chairs outside and there is a lovely atmosphere around. 

On Saturday night I organise an 'in-person' chat group to practice our language skills. We call it Intercambio.

The local council have given us the use of the youth centre and we are half and half Spanish and English speaking. It's always fun and we do it for an hour and then afterwards we go for a drink somewhere.

Last Saturday we went to Angela's Patio again (see here). You saw the inside, and this is what it looks like from the outside:

This week is Feria week in our village. There are performances every night, the fair rides have arrived and set up at the designated space and people that have moved away from the village, all come home again. The population has tripled and the whole village is in fiesta mode.

There are performances of local dancers and musicians, but also hired bands for the young folk.

People party all night long. I don't usually. I might go for a drink with friends but it is all very busy and very noisy. (Dare I say I'm too old for this lark).

I like to stay home with my cat. His name is Ronnie and in these photos he was cuddling my sandals

and sniffing them.

Silly boy!

Isn't that a cute little face for Friday Face Off?

That is all I have to share today. Of course there will be some funnies at the end in case my cat hasn't made you smile.

Enjoy your weekend and don't forget:

Keep smiling!

Lisca