A Postcard A Day - Friday 27 April 2018 - Friday smiles, good news, South Africa and chips.

Hello lovely people,

It is Friday and looking back on my week I have alot to smile about.

Let me start with the beautiful postcard I received from South Africa yesterday:

It was sent to me by Nadja. She tells me she lives in Germany but was visiting her parents in South Africa, where she herself had lived. Nine years in Cape Town and a year and a half in Vanderbildt Park, (one hour south of Johannesburg). The postcard shows Cape Town from the air with the Table Mountain in the back ground. She would love to move back there. "Despite the water crisis, we would move back in a heartbeat!" she writes.

By far the biggest smile this week was yesterday, when I went to the hospital for my cancer check-up and was given the all-clear for another year!

 I had breast cancer in 2011. I had an operation and all the treatment (radiotherapy and chemo therapy and tablets for 5 years). The above photo shows the little angels that my friends gave me at the time to remind me of God's presence and His angels around me. They are still on my bedside locker. So again, I am very thankful for another year in good health. God is good!

Monday we went shopping as usual at Lidl. They have a centre isle of non-food ítems on offer which are different each week. So if you see something you like, better buy it as it will be gone the following week. Monday I spotted this:

It is a hot air fryer. I had not heard of them and don't know anyone who has one (but my mum says they are very popular in Holland). Anyway I bought one as I have a husband that loves chips (or 'fries' in the U.S.), but I don't care for them and the smell of my deep fryer turns my stomach. (even though I use it outside on the terrace, it still smells).

This is what it looks like. And on Wednesday I chopped up a large potato and made some chips for hubby. This fryer does not use any oil although they recommend you brush or spray the chips with a tiny bit of oil otherwise they won't brown.

We were both very impressed with the result. The chips were tasty. Crisp on the outside and soft in the middle. Very nice. (the chicken was a left-over from another days' roast dinner). I will definitely use it again and I was not disappointed.

On Sunday I spent a day out in the mountains with the photo club to learn about macro photography. (Photographing very small things like flowers and insects).

The weather wasn't brilliant but it was dry and I enjoyed it very much.

At the end of the day we were given our certificate.

That was my week. Lots of good things.

Have you had some smiles this week? Please join me at Annie's at A Stitch In Time and at Virginia's Rocking Your World Friday.

I must admit I forgot to hunt for the funnies. So I have pinched Denthe's 'deeper' smiles. 

Greetings and keep smiling!

A Postcard A Day - Tuesday 24 April 2018 - T for eastern beauty, canyons and picnics.

Good Morning peeps, How are you all? Ready to face another Tuesday?

I have a nice postcard to show you that arrived two days ago from Russia.

It is called 'Eastern Beauty' by Delapoer Downing (1853-1926). I can't find much info on the artist other than that he/she was British, possibly Irish. 

The stamps are beautiful, as you can see:

The stamp on the right represents the 200th Anniversary of the Establishment of the sign of the Military Order of St George the Triumphant. The one on the left is actually about Postcrossing. This is what I do with postcards. (Have a look at www.postcrossing.com)

Last week Number 1 daughter came to visit, on her own without the family. She had lots of quality time with us.

One of the places we visited with her was Castril, where there is a river and a walkway above it, through a small 'canyon'.

Because of all the rain we have had, the river was the highest and the fullest I have ever seen it. The noise of the roaring waterfall was deafening!

At the end of the wooden walkway was a wobbly bridge. 

Daughter was determined to get close to the river and climbed down these rocks. (to my great dismay. I was glad when she had safely climbed back.)

As today is T for Tuesday, I am going to link up with Elizabeth and Bluebeard at Altered Book Lover, to show a drink. Well, here it is on the table, a bottle of water. (There is also a bottle of iced tea on the left): 

We went on a picnic to the reservoir on Sunday, as it was the only nice day of the week. The lake really is this turquoise colour. 

I had made this savoury 'cake' with ham and cheese in it.

Everybody had brought something nice.

The typical Spanish dish is of course the Spanish tortilla (tortilla de patatas pronounced tor-tee-ya  day pah-tah-tas). One of my friends made the one below.

That is it from me today. I wih you all a very happy T-Day.

Take care,
Lisca

A Postcard A Day - Friday 20 April 2018 - Friday Smiles Taiwan, painting, orchids, pasta and t-shirts

Good morning lovely peeps,
It's Friday again and the week is nearly over. I hope you all have something nice lined up for the weekend as it seems to be better weather in most parts of the world.

Hubby and I are going out with friends tonight and on Sunday I will be away all day learning how to take 'macro' pictures. (Photographing tiny objects, flowers or insects).

My postcard today comes from Taiwán:

The Sakizaya (Lit: 'Real Man') are Taiwanese aborigines, with a population of approx. 5000-10,000. Here is a photo from Wikipedia:

And as Taiwán forms part of Chine, the stamp is Chinese:

Yesterday I finished painting another two chairs.

Remember I painted a table and chairs? Well, I painted the table upside down and when the paint had dried and I turned it the right way up, I could see i had missed a few bits!

I have touched up those bits today and I painted another two chairs, and a wall cabinet which I want to hang in the bedroom with all my medical 'equipment' (You know: bloodpressure cuff thing, TENS machine, nebuliser, thermometer etc) and first aid kit and the usual painkillers.

But I'm pleased with how the table has turned out.

What else has happened this week... The weather has finally turned! It has been warm and sunny for most of this week. We went to the lake last Sunday with friends from church and we found some wild orchids:

Aren't they gorgeous?

I can't remember if I told you, but Dear Daughter came to stay (on her own without the children) and we took her to the market that is being held every Tuesday morning just two streets away from us.

I bought some veg and fruit. You can tell by the coats and jackets that it was still cold then.

Dear daughter wanted some olives, so we stopped at the olive stall. They sell all sorts of olives and pickles. The olives on the right have almonds stuck in them.

These are gherkins, olives and onions on a stick. Hubby likes those, so we got some. On the left is just a mixture of olives, gherkins and red peppers and onions. We had some of that too.

At the beginning of this month I have started going to the gym again. Half an hour aerobics and half an hour on the machines, three times a week. We have a really nice group of local ladies.

I've cooked some yummy things. One of them was this:

It's called Annabel's pasta. I found it more than 20 yrs ago when I was looking for cheap, nutricious meals for students when our kids were at uni (they are in their 40s now). It has pasta, boiled eggs, tuna and cheese in it. It is always a success.

If you fancy making that, here is the recipe:

(For imperial measurements: pasta 8.8 oz, butter 3.5 oz, flour 2.1 oz, tuna 7 oz, grated cheese 4.5 oz, milk 21 fl oz.)

This is it from me today. I'm going to link up with Annie for Friday Smiles at A Stitch In Time and I'll see what Victoria has been up to this week at Rocking Your World Friday.

I will leave you with some funny T-shirts.

Have a fun weekend and enjoy the good weather,

Hugs, Lisca