A Postcard A Day - Friday 29 June 2017 - Friday smiles

Hi folks, I have lots to smile about. What about you?


The week has flown by. It has been hot, hot, hot....


I have finished Reading another book, a quickie called Lost In Love by Leah Atwood.

A book about a marriage of convenience. The protagonist, Sunny, has inherited a Bed&Breakfast but she has to get married before a certain date to be able to inherit. She finds an internet partner.....
It's a very pleasant, clean, short romance that I read over the weekend.
I don't normally read romances but it was a freebie on my Kindle.


I have received several lovely postcards again this week.

This is one that I like and it made me smile. It is the Dutch royal couple. King Willem Alexander and queen Máxima. The stamp is also typical Dutch:

Clogs!


The second card on the same theme is this one:

It is of course queen Elizabeth II. I think those are the loveliest potos I have seen of the queen. All pretty and smiley!
The card was sent from Germany by Susanne, who lives near Bremen. She also used a lovely stamp:

The Volkswagen Golf. Who remembers that one? I do. I used to have one when we lived in Italy donkeys years ago. Then years later our Phil bought his very first car and it was an old VW Golf.


Last Tuesday we atended (and helped set up) an open air concert by a folk group called Papel Maché.

We put out 200 chairs, wiped them too. We had also scattered leaflets and hung up posters. It was a free concert to promote our church.

The music was folky and not overtly Christian as in Europe people don't wanna know.

We enjoyed ourselves immensely and so did 200 odd other people who were clapping and stamping along with the music.


While we were busy setting up, I spotted this fella diving into the rubbish bin!

How sad is that!


Lets have some funnies:
(I got these from Denthe's blog)

Do have a look at Denthes blog (see link), she is a gifted artist.


Talking about gifted, I am going to link up with the gifted Annie, who sews the most gorgeous things. If you have something to smile about, please join us.


That's it from me today,
Have a lovely weekend and....Keep smiling!
Hugs,
Lisca

A Postcard A Day - Tuesday 27 June 2017 - T for postcards, butterflies, cake pops and a British English translation

Good morning T-Gang,

How are you all this morning? 

This blog post has turned out to be all about words. Words on a postcard, a book, English slang words and a fun new word.

I'm joining Elisabeth and Bleubeard at T for Tuesday. Please join the T-party if there is  a beverage in our post.

I am just sorting out the postcards that have arrived this week. So I'll show you my first one now:

The writing at the top is in Danish (I think, it could be Norwegian for all I know). Is she winking? Or is she a Little worse for wear? Who knows. It has a drink in it so I have chosen this one to start off the T-party.

I received this card from someone in Singapore. He or she has used some special stamps:

The stamp on the left has 'Vanishing Trades' as theme and shows a 'Dairy man'. (Another drink reference for the T-Party).

The second card I have chosen is this one:

My mouth waters and it takes all my self control not to get up and find that slab of chocolate that has been hiding in the kitchen for a while!

The card was sent to me by Bartleby in Gimpo, South Korea. She has also used some beautiful stamps. They both have a food theme:

I finished another book yesterday. It is called The Butterfly Garden by Dot Hutchison.

It's set in the present with two FBI agents trying to uncover the truth behind the crime scene they have just discovered. What they know is that they have found "The Garden", a prison where the psychopath known as "The Gardener" has kept young women trapped for decades. He calls them "Butterflies", tattooing wings on their backs before renaming them, raping them and letting his violent son terrorize them.
It is a chillingly fascinating tale with beauty and horror in equal measures. The abuse stands in contrast with the love and care the girls have for each other. Not for the faint hearted but beautifully written. I couldn´t put it down and read it almost in one sitting.

The above photo of the tattoo I found amongst the reviews of this book on Goodreads. I personally don't like tattoos, but this butterfly is beautiful. It's just a shame it is on someone's body.
Anyway, I can say this book goes on my list of best books I've read, definitely.

Last week I read Jo's blog post and she had to 'translate' from British English into American English. I am very much aware that my American friends sometimes misunderstand me. So I have found a list of British English 'slang' words. I don't think they are bad slang. You will find most of them in a dictionary and I use most of them daily. Here they are (It's a long list, so if you are not interested just scroll down past it)

Last week we should have attended the dedication (in church) of our friend's baby. But a family member is seriously ill in hospital so the dedication has been postponed. Saturday is my baking day, and, not knowing about the postponement, I decided to make some cake pops. I had bought a silicon mould the week before and couldn´t wait to start experimenting.

They turned out lovely. I found a recipe for a caky sort of cake pop.

I piped the dough in one half of the  mold and then after closing it with the other half, I baked it for 10 minutes.
Then of course the fun begins! I made icing and covered them and then found some sprinkles and... Bob's your uncle! (see translation nr 42 in the list)

They were meant for the children that attended the dedication. We don't particularly care for them (too sweet), so I 'popped' them in the freezer!

I'll leave you with another word for you to learn:

Recognise this?

That is it from me today. 

Have a super T-Day,

Hugs,

Lisca

A Postcard A Day - Friday 23 June 2017 - embroidered shawls, Dutch girls and Sisi

Hello Peeps,
How has your week been? My week has flown by with everyday things. I don't know where it's gone!


I've just come back from the gym. Boy is it hot! (No air conditioning in the gym). I know you are having a heatwave in the UK, but so are we and it is stifling!


I did manage to send off quite a few postcards last week en consequently I have started to receive cards too now. Here is one that has my name on it (My official name is Elisabeth Catharina).

It is of course Empress Elisabeth of Austria (1837-1898). I remember a very famous film about her with Romy Schneider playing the role of Sisi. Oh sweet memories.
This is the stamp:

It's about type writers. And the inventor, Peter Mitterhofer. He was born in 1822 in Tirol, in the part that is Italian today, but was Austrian in the 19th century.
The second card comes from Germany and features the cover of an old Ladybird 'Easy-Reading' book:

I never had this particular book. It would have been interesting to see what they had to say about my native country.


We had our last embroidery group session on Tuesday. The last one before the summer. It was already almost too hot to work in. My hands were sweaty and it was really too hot to do anything.
I would like to show you what our 'teacher' made. She brought it in for me a few weeks ago so I could photograph it. They are all hand embroidered shawls. Here goes:

 The fringe is hand knotted.

 Here is a close-up:

She also did a coloured shawl:

 I think she hadn't finished the fringe yet.
Here is a close-up.

The front and the back are completely identical. I took this picture for you to see. I have folded the material back so you see the front and the back next to each other:

This is the third one. I asked one of the ladies to wrap it round her shoulders:

And this is a Little detail:

And finally, this is the lady that made all those beautiful things:

Her name is Encarna and she is a quiet unassuming sort of person.


Now for some funnies. They're about women and their period/time of the month. Or shall I call it Moonsickness!

I have the urge to eat chocolate too, (only I am in my menopause...)

I hope this has made you smile a Little bit.
Have a great week,
Keep smiling!
Hugs,
Lisca

A Postcard A Day - Tuesday 20 June 2017 - T for breakfast and railings

Good morning folks! It's Tuesday again! It comes round so quickly.
I have some postcards to share. This week I received eight(!) in one day after weeks of nothing! (Do you think the postman saves them up?)
It's difficult to choose, but I think I'll show you this one from Iceland:

It shows all the Icelandic weird and wonderful dishes plus Brennivín ( a type of gin).
This is the stamp:

I think it shows the Icelandic knitting (in the round).

Beautiful.

The second postcard comes from Germany:

It was sent to me by Petra, who writes:"After Reading that you do like to cook tasty meals, I remembered that I had taken a photo of my stepdaughter some years ago. She was working in a restaurant besides her studies then. And that is what she looked like. Hope you like this unusual snapshot."
And here are the stamps:

I think they are a bit out of focus. Sorry.

 The first apricots have arrived. I received a bag of them this week. Now I think that fresh apricots are a bit overrated. I don't care much for them. But as soon as you bake them or make jam with them, the flavour just bursts out! I made this cake Saturday, and although it was a bit burnt along the edges, it was delicious!

Yesterday I went to Baza (our nearby town) and had breakfast with my friends. We asked the waiter to take this photo, and it is fun to see his reflection in the window.
Breakfast here consists of coffee and a toasted baguette. They spread minced tomato over it and we help ourselves to olive oil and salt. Yum, lovely. I ate it so quickly, I forgot to take a picture. But here is my coffee. They call this a 'café cortado', which is an espresso with a dash of milk.

As we walked back to the car we passed some beautiful buildings. Look at this one:

The railings of the balconies are made of intricate iron work. I am noticing these things as we have just ordered our railings for our windows and I had to choose a design.
This is a traditional railing:

I will show ours when they have been delivered.
While we walked through that street with all those lovely old houses, all of a sudden we saw this:

It looks very out of place if you ask me.


That is it from me today. I'm going to visit Elisabeth and Bleubeard at Altered Book Lover and hope you will join me there,


Have a good week,


Hugs,


Lisca