A Postcard A Day - Friday 22 Sept 2017 - Friday Smiles

Hello lovely people,

This blog is supposed to show postcards, but we are travelling at the moment and I have no scanner available, so no postcards until we get home. Sorry.

And today,Friday, is about smiles. Those we do have! Lots of smiles as we are seeing friends and family (which include grandchildren). e have 8 grandchildren. Seven of which are in the UK. Here is hubby playing with one of them:

We also have met up with many old friends and driving through the beautiful Somerset countryside (which is where we are based for the moment).

Here is my hubby (on the R) with our friends enjoying the beautiful view outside the restaurant where we had lunch.

The other day we went to a lovely place for a drink. The lamps made me smile. They were made in the shape of hats. These are top hats:

And these are ladies' tweed hats:

Sorry about the legs sticking out. That was a bit unfortunate.

Annie hosts 'Friday Smiles' at her blog 'A Stitch In Time', so if you have something to smile about, please join us.

My friend found this funny sign in Clevedon:

And my sister, who recently got married, showed me one of her wedding presents which made me giggle:

And finally another funny thing that a friend spotted:

I'll be linking up with Virginia at 'Rocking Your week Friday', although I haven't exactly told you what I have done all week. But hey....

That's it from me this Friday. Hope you all have a lovely weekend.

Keep smiling!

Hugs,

Lisca

A Postcard A Day - Tuesday 19 September 2017 - T for Stately home

Hello everyone,

Sorry I haven't been able to blog last week. We are travelling and it is not always possible.

We have been travelling all over the UK and last week we were in Plymouth (Devon) where my hubby's sister lives. They took us over the border into Cornwall to visit a beautiful medieval/Tudor house called Cotehele. I have already shown some photos of the exterior and the gardens in last Friday's blog post.

The National Trust is a British charity that buys, restores and maintains these old properties and opens them to the public. This particular one has stayed the same for 500 years. (Often these stately homes get modernised through the eras, but this one hasn't).

We first went to have lunch in their lunch room before the kitchen closes. And because I will be joining Elizabeth and Bluebeard for the T-Party, where we all share a beverage....here is my drink:

Cornish cider! Lovely! The cafe had a beautiful ceiling:

Would you like a tour through the main house? I warn you, it is photo heavy!

The main house was beautiful. 

 This is part of the exterior.

I just loved all the furniture. This chair of turned wood is exquisite.

 Fancy a dining room table like this? I do.

The walls of the rooms were all covered in tapestries. This was against the cold as much as for decorative reasons.

 Behind one of the doors was a wine cupboard. 

Here is a closer look.

There were many bedrooms. All beds with heavy curtains. Again probably for the cold but perhaps also for privacy as all the rooms are adjacent, so you have to go through other bedrooms to get to yours.

The bedspread is lovely:

Here is another beautiful chair:

I love doors, as most of you know. So here is one that I liked:

Here is another bed:

It had rather fancy decorations. It was all made of ribbon:

It's not such a clear photo I'm afraid.

Then there was this impressive ebony cabinet:

Here is a detail:

Even in those days they had a children's high chair:

Another bed. I liked the wooden bed head:

Finally we got to see the kitchen:

I love that high bench/pew probably protecting them from the draft.

What a fantastic fire place! I'm sure whole animals would have been roasted on that fire.

Well done if you are still with me! It was a wonderful trip into the past. On the way out we enjoyed the stunning view over the river Tamar.

That is all from me lovely peeps,
Have a great week,
Happy T-Day,
Lisca

A Postcard A Day - Friday 15 September 2017 - Friday Smiles

Good morning lovely girls, how are you all? Have you had a good week? Plenty to smile about?

Well, no postcards today. We are travelling and I have none at hand. But my week has had lots of smiles. 

We visited my S-I-L in Plymouth and she and her hubby took us to a National Trust property called Cotehele:

It is a medieval house with Tudor extensions. It has been left untouched for 500 years.

I will show some photos of the interior another time. The view from the garden was stunning:

Down below runs the river Tamar (the border between Devon and Cornwall):

We walked through the gardens and I saw this enormous mushroom:

My camera case lies next to it to show you the size.

I'd love a mirror like that in my garden.

Me and my hubby by the entrance.

I'm off to join Annie at A Stitch In Time and Virginia for Rocking Your World Friday. I apologise if I can't comment much these days, but we are staying at friends' and family and we don't always get the chance to get the old laptop out. (I'm writing this at night when everyone is in bed, shhh...)

I managed to find some funnies. I got them from Denthe's blog. I admit that I stole them. I'm sure she won't mind as long as I tell you where I got them. By all means have a look at her blog. She is a very talented artist.

And some food for thought (also from Denthe)

And just to get a little bit political:

Sorry for the bad language.

That is it from me this week,
I wish you all a wonderful week with lots of smiles,
Hugs,
Lisca

APostcard A Day - Friday 8 Sept 2017 - Friday Smiles

Hello everyone! It's Friday again and time to share our smiles. I'm linking up with Annie at A Stitch in Time, so please join us with the silver linings of your week.

My week has been one long smile as we are visiting friends and family in the UK. One of the highlights was a visit with the grandchildren and their parents to a lovely park (I forgot the name of the park) near Windsor. 

This little man is very tired, (and I was too) but it was a great day out.

There were lots of climbing things, and I had a go at them too:

That was a laugh, but I did get to the end:

At a certain point we walked in Windsor past a lovely sports car. It was a Lamborghini. Not a car we see every day. So that made me smile:

(It was parked on the double yellow lines and in England that means no parking!)

This owl surprised me:

Until I got closer and realized it wasn't real. (Nice touch though)

My last photo is from the village where my sister lives. Outside the same pub that had the sign about life giving you lemons (blog post 29 august), they now have this one:

Are you smiling? I am. 

Now I'm off to see Virginia at Rocking your Week Friday.

Wishing you loads of smiles this week,

Hugs,

Lisca

A Postcard A Day - Tuesday 5 Sept 2017 - T for the queen's guards and a castle

Good morning all!

We are still in the UK. Since  last week we have moved from the north of the country to the south, namely Windsor (near London) where queen Elizabeth has a residence in the form of Windsor Castle, and also one of our children lives there with his family (not far from the queen, how cool is that!).

As we come here every year, we have visited the castle several times and did not go there this time.
This is the castle with tourists waiting outside (to see the guards):

 We did however see the changing of the guards. The queen has her own guards, but the barracks is two streets away from the castle. Here they come out of the barracks:

So the changing of the guards is spectacular as they have to walk two blocks. They close the streets to all traffic at 11 am.

Then there is a band preceding the guards:

Then the guards walk past with their bear skin hats and polished boots:

We enjoyed watching it.

Our daughter -in-law is a good cook. We had a lovely meal:

 Chicken with potato wedges.

And some Portughese wine. Yum! 

This wine is perfect to 'share' at Elizabeth and Bluebeard's T-party. By all means join us with any blogpost with a drink in it.

I hope you enjoyed our visit to Windsor,
See you all next week,
Have a good week,
Hugs,
Lisca