A Postcard A Day - Friday 3 April 2026 - Friday Smiles

 Hello lovely peeps. Here I am with some more smiles. Of course first I'm going to show you a postcard that made me smile:

It comes to me from Germany and was sent by Jenny who lives in Berlin. She writes that she started junk journaling last year and enjoys it.

The stamp is the standard German European stamp with mail related items imagined in paper:

My week has gone by quite quickly. This week is holy week in Spain. The schools are off and people are busy getting ready for Easter. There are lots of processions. Every evening. I haven't gone to see any of them so no photos, sorry. I'll post some photos next week when the Town Hall releases the official ones.

On Wednesday my friends came to lunch. I had made a lovely cottage pie. Not a normal one but a 'devilled' one. That is a lot spicier than the usual cottage pie.

Here is Kim:

There is no gym or Pilates this week so I have been having lovely lazy days, reading, doing my jigsaw,, writing postcards and scrolling on my phone. I have spent more than an hour this afternoon deleting unwanted emails. I don't want to delete everything, so I go through them and delete only the ones that I don't need.

The weather is gorgeous. Warm and sunny, so I am spending a lot of time on my patio. The furniture is out and I have ordered a lot of (artificial) plants and flowers to put in the pots. The weather here is extremely hot in summer and no plant survives this harsh climate. (I have learnt the hard way). 

Of course Ronnie the cat loves it out here. 

He jumps onto the window sill and loves sitting (or lying) in the window box.

And in the evenings he lies on my lap when I'm indoors:

As always I have some funnies for you at the end.

Happy Easter to those who celebrate it!

Enjoy your weekend,

Lisca

A Postcard A Day - Second on the 2nd - Thursday 2 April 2026 -

 Hello! No postcard today!  Today Elizabeth and Bluebeard will be expecting to see a blogpost that was published before so I'm posting an old blogpost from 2014. It was published on the 5th of April. 

Perhaps you have seen it before. It is after all one of my favorites. The photo is a favorite and so is the song. 

Hi everybody! Thanks for stopping by again at my blog. This time it's about scrapbooking.

Depending on where in the world you live, you may or may not have seen a man in a kilt. Although my husband Graham was born in Guernsey, he is of Scottish descent and is allowed to wear a MacKay kilt.(The one in the photo has the hunting tartan).  He used to wear it a lot on stage when he was front man of a ceilidh (pron. kay-ley) band (folk band) but nowadays it's only for special occasions. I think he looks very smart in his kilt. I have this photo from our son's wedding and have been wanting to make a scrapbook page of it for a while.  

I've used the lyrics of 'In My LIfe' by the Beatles. I love this old song. It’s from Rubber Soul, the album I have many sweet memories from.... I heard it the other day and thought the lyrics are so appropriate for me. 

So I’ve had some fun over the last few days making this layout from the CSI (Colors, stories, inspiration) challenge. This was their ‘Case File’:

 I used all the colours in their palette.

Then from the ‘Evidence’ I used a solid black background, a circle, and used a sewing machine and a heat glue gun (Using electricity). I thought that the song lyrics would count as a music element. I only needed to choose two pieces of evidence but I got more....

The ‘Testimony’ I used (only one is needed)of course was using song lyrics to inspire my page.

Here are the lyrics, written by John Lennon:

There are places I’ll remember

All my life though some have changed

Some forever not for better

Some have gone and some remain

 All these places have their moments

 With lovers and friends I still can recall

 Some are dead and some are living

 In my life I've loved them all

But of all these friends and lovers

There is no one compares with you

 And these memories lose their meaning

When I think of love as something new

Though I know I'll never lose affection

 For people and things that went before

 I know I'll often stop and think about them

In my life I love you more

Though I know I'll never lose affection

For people and things that went before

I know I'll often stop and think about them

In my life I love you more

In my life I love you more

In My Life is a song from 1965. For those who weren’t around then and for those who can’t remember, here is the link to listen to the song: http://www.last.fm/music/The+Beatles/_/In+My+Life

I hope you enjoyed that song. 

That's it for today. Thank you for looking.

God bless and keep scrapping!

Lisca

A Postcard A Day - Tuesday 31 March 2026 - T for Montana, a boxer and a car inspection

 Hello lovely peeps,

The last day of March! How time flies! 

I have a black & white postcard for you today:

It's right up my street as I have a thing about railways.

It comes from Helena in Montana. On the back of the card is this information:

And on the Internet I found this:

The town went wild as the first long-awaited locomotive steamed into Helena on June 13, 1883. The momentous arrival of the Northern Pacific linked Montana to national markets and assured Helena a permanency not previously realized. 

I have tried to find a picture on the Internet of what this location looks like now. This is what I came up with

This building has two storeys, so it could be the part at the back of the building on the postcard. (I don't know)

AI comes up with this information: The Helena Railroad Depot Historic District in Montana is a preserved commercial area featuring early 20th-century architecture, anchored by a 1903 depot designed by Reed and Stem. Located along Railroad Avenue, it features historic frame buildings, trolley tracks embedded in brick pavement, and Beattie Park (1930). The district reflects Helena's boomtown era and transportation history.

So the red building in the Internet photo is a depot built in 1903. Not the depot on the postcard...

The stamps are really special:

Top left there is a stamp with Cassius Clay (Or Mohammed Ali as he was later known)

The USPS writes: The U.S. Postal Service honors Muhammad Ali, known as “The Greatest,” with two stamps. Ali once said, “I should be a postage stamp, because that's the only way I'll ever get licked.” Born Cassius Marcellus Clay Jr. in Louisville, KY, Ali was known across the globe as a champion in and beyond the boxing ring. He was a champion in the ring and for humanity causes.

Top right there is a stamp with a bare tree and a mail carrier. USPS writes:

Issued to celebrate a major U.S. Postal Service anniversary, 250 Years of Delivering is an illustrated pane of 20 interconnected stamps representing the ubiquitous presence of USPS throughout the years — and the vital role the postal system has played in connecting Americans since 1775.

The meticulous artwork shows a bird’s-eye view of a bustling town. Each individual stamp is a frame of sequential art, telling the story of a mail carrier’s journey as she walks her daily route. Laid out in four rows of five stamps, the story progresses through a year’s four seasons, from top-left to bottom-right.

What have I been doing this week? 

I had to take my car in for the annual technical inspection (called ITV in Spain). There are special stations to have your car tested. Every town has one and they are all exactly the same. In the photo I hasd finished he drive-through process and was waiting for the attendant to give my my sticker, so I got out of the car and took a photo.

The rest of the week was quite uneventful and on Saturday I met with the Intercambio group. We practice English and Spanish through conversations and we talk about all sorts of things. I think on Saturday we talked about Easter traditions in different countries.

Afterwards we went to a restaurant for a drink:

As it is T for Tuesday today, I am showing you some drinks. Mine is a white wine (as per usual) And there are some beer bottles and a Fanta bottle on the table too. With every drink we get a free tapa. In this case it was half a baked potato each with a large dollop of aioli.

The next morning, Sunday morning, I went to church and discovered I was an hour late! I had completely forgotten that the clocks went forward that weekend. Silly me. 

That is all from me today,

Happy T-Day,

Lisca

A Postcard A Day - Friday 27 March 2026 - Friday Smiles

Hello lovely girls, Here am I on Friday! Have you all had a good week?

I got a nice postcard this week. It comes from the Netherlands as you might have guessed:

It just brings back memories from my childhood. It was sent to me by Chantal who lives in the province of Utrecht. (i.e. not in Holland).

The stamp is a normal Dutch stamp with a lighthouse.

 Let me tell you what I have been up to. On Monday morning I took my car to the body shop to have some scratches repaired and repainted. So on Tuesday, when I go to Pilates in town, I had to go by bus. This was the first time I had used a local bus and I enquired what time it went. It appeared there was only one bus into town at 8:30 and another one back at 11:45. That suited me fine. I even got a discount because I am a pensioner. 

I had purposely not had breakfast so I went to a well known coffee shop for my breakfast:

It is called Café Colombia and I had tomato and avocado on toast and a cappuccino and freshly squeezed orange juice.

I went to Pilates and then had some time to do some shopping. I bought a lovely Regatta rain jacket which I can use on my holiday in May.

When I was waiting for the bus back home, I saw this mural:

It certainly is Picasso inspired.

I've recently had a birthday and my friends gave me a jigsaw puzzle for my birthday. Well, I could not wait to start it and I did the outside border bit in one sitting and then this morning I sat out on the patio (in the sun) and got as far as this. Of course you don't know what it is supposed to be.... I'll tell you next time.

I will find you some funnies to smile about at the end.

Wishing you all a lovely weekend,

Lisca

 

A Postcard A Day - Tuesday 24 March 2026 - T for Islamic art, and three birthdays

 Hello lovely peeps,

I'm writing this on Monday evening the 23rd. It's my birthday and I've spent a lovely day at my friends', but more about that later. 

My postcard today is one that I send out to other people, as it features the Alhambra in Granada:

The Alhambra is a large palace and fortress complex in Granada, Spain. It is the only preserved Islamic palatine city, one of the most famous monuments of Islamic architecture, and one of the best-preserved palaces in the historic Islamic world.

I have visited it several times, as it's local, and it never ceases to amaze me, The craftmanship:

The gardens are beautiful:

And the views from the palace:

The famous Court of lions has been restored recently:

The courtyard floor is entirely of marble (as is the fountain). It's beautiful.

So, what have I been up to? Well, as I said it is my birthday today but I had a whole birthday weekend! I celebrated with my English speaking friends, who came to my house for a bring-and-share lunch and a Bible study.

One of them had brought a birthday cake (excuse my strange position. It looks like I was wringing my hands).

Then in the evening I went out for a drink with another set of friends but I forgot to take any pictures.

On Sunday I went to church and after the service we had a bring and share lunch. I had made a cake:

There was lots of food:

Considering we are only a small group of people.

Eventually I cut the cake:

And people sung Happy Birthday in Spanish.

That was Sunday. Then on Monday my friends Kim and Andy had invited me to their house for a BBQ, and they picked me up from home so I didn't have to drive and could have a drink.

So this glass of bubbly can be my 'ticket' to Elizabeth and Bluebeard's T-Party. The banner reads: Feliz Cumpleaño and the hat is just for fun.

Lots of chicken thighs on a rotisserie thingy. It was very yummy and cooked to perfection. The weather was sunny but when dinner time came round, it got cloudy and cooler, so we ate inside.

I had a lovely day and felt very loved and very blessed.

That is all from me today,

Happy T-Day,

Lisca