A Postcard A Day - Friday 31 May 2019 - Friday Smiles

Hello lovely people,

Here we are again at the end of the week (and at the end of the month). I hope you are all well.

We have just come back from our trip to Italy. I'll tell you more, but first let's have a look at my postcards. This postcard with the stamps was included in an order I did for postcards from Poland. The company is called Postrabbits. Someone called Sylvia wrote the card thanking me for visiting Postrabbit (and ordering) and she hopes their postcards make me smile. Well, they certainly do. 

 The next card comes from the USA. It features the Miller High Life Girl In The Moon through the years. Emily writes: "Hello from Wisconsin. I hope you like the Girl in the Moon, the mascot for Miller beer which is made locally. The card shows how she changed over time."

 The stamps are great and Emily has added some cute stickers too. The stamp in the middle shows Cordell Hull. I have written about him before in my blog of the 26th of April (Link here). He is a Nobel Prize winner. Benjamin West:

Benjamin West  (October 10, 1738 – March 11, 1820) was a British North American history painter around and after the time of the American War of Independence and the Seven Years' War. He was the second president of the Royal Academy in London, serving from 1792 to 1805 and 1806 to 1820. He was offered a knighthood by the British Crown, but declined it, believing that he should instead be made a peer.^[1] He said that "Art is the representation of human beauty, ideally perfect in design, graceful and noble in attitude."

As you might know the weather in Italy was awful. It rained almost non-stop for two weeks. So lots of indoor activities. My four year old grandson goes to a little swimming class every Saturday morning. They teach them to swim doggy fashion with these foam things.

And as it is Friday Smiles, I can tell you that this photo of my grandson made me smile. 

They were encouraged to jump into the water. And, bless him, he did indeed. I remember when I learned to swim, I was afraid to jump into the pool, so well done little grandson.

One evening I heard some music outside my son's house. I went to investigate and saw a brass band walking down our street.

It was dry for a bit and they stopped just past the house and began to play another couple of tunes. Brilliant. Smiles all round.

 The town I was staying in is called Guardiagrele and it is in Abruzzo (in the middle of Italy. Like half way down the 'boot').

This is an old tower which is the highest point in the town.

This is a fountain made with the sort of metal work the town is famous for. 

I'm going to link up with Annie at A Stitch In Time and with Virginia at Rocking Your Week Friday and of course there are some funnies at the end. The Christmas one might come across as blasphemous, but I think it is just ignorance and I could laugh about it.

Have a good weekend all of you,
Hugs,
Lisca

A Postcard A Day - Tuesday 28 May 2019 - T for Chief Joseph, and Italy in the rain.

Hello lovely peeps, we're back in Spain! It's so good to be home!

I will show you some photographs of our stay in Italy a bit further down the line but first off is a beautiful postcard from Christel, a Facebook friend.

As you can read here, it is a photo of Chief Joseph.

The stamps are beautiful too. The stamp on the left is about zip codes, the equevalent of our European postal codes. The stamp on the right shows the most active volcano to be Kilauea.

Christel has stuck some info next to the stamp. It reads: "Fiery eruptions are common at Kilauea, a volcano in the southeastern edge of the Big Island of Hawaii. Kilauea has had 55 eruptive episodes since 1983. It typically produces more than 10 million cubic feet of lava every day."

The bell on the last stamp I assume is the Liberty Bell.

My next card comes from the Czech Republic. It features Tábor. 

Tábor is situated in the Czech Republic, in South Bohemian Region, 100 kilometers away from the capital city Prague.

On the photo you can see Zizka Square and the town hall.

The statue is that of Jan Zizka

Overlooking the main square in Tabor, the monument gives you a powerful impression of the leadership qualities Jan Zizka had in the leadership of the Hussite forces engaged in a long period of confrontation and battles with the forces of the Pope.His military strategy was far ahead of his time particularly in use of wagons as prototype tanks.
Around the base of the monument are plaques showing some of the famous victories in which he was intimately involved. A man of great religious commitment and a man dedicated to the defence of what he saw was the national interest of his time.

Czech Republic postage stamp E denomination Jan Kaplický (Architect) commemoration issued 4th April 2018 


Theme

the original Jan Kaplický’s design of one of the proposed Czech National Library versions.

Jan Kaplický (18 April 1937–14 January 2009) was a Czech architect and a visionary of modern architecture, living in the United Kingdom after his emigration in 1968.

He set up the architectural studio Future Systems with David Nixon. He won the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) Stirling Prize, considered the most prestigious architecture award in the UK, for the new media centre at Lord’s Cricket Ground.

Now let me tell you about our trip to Italy. We went to see my son and his family. The little town is called Guardiagrele, and can be found in Abruzzo, in the middle of Italy near the Adriatic coast. We travelled by bus to Alicante in Spain (5 hours), spent the night at a hotel and got our flight out in the morning. In Rome, we got on a bus to Chieti, on the other side of Italy. It was mostly motorway so it only took 3 and a half hours. My son came to pick us up with my 4 yr old grandson. I hadn't seen him since he was a baby, so he doesn't know my really and was very shy.

Sunday is market day in Guardiagrele, so we went to get some fruit and veggies. Here is hubby with my son and his wife.

The weather was really awful. It was cold. Much colder than I expected and I didn't have warm enough clothes. And it rained every day.

My d-i-l stopped to buy some flowers under the eves of the church (as it was raining). You can see my little grandson in his orange jacket.

It started to rain even harder so we just had to wait and take shelter in the side porch of the church:

The paintings on the side wall are very old and they are protected by glass.

Here you can see the length of the porch. It runs along the side of the church.

The vaults are beautiful.

A close up of the wrought iron lamps, made by the local artisans.

This is where we were, behind those tables and chairs.

 Here is a photo of the church from the front.

By chance I found this old image . By the looks of it, it used to have a belfry.

As it was market day, the other shops were open too. My son needed to buy some wine and to the wineshop we went. This section of the shop sells teas and coffees, also coffee pads loose.

This side had lots of wines. In the foreground are two gift articles with an alcoholic beverage in it. I admit, I forgot to ask what was in it.

I think these photos qualify my for Elisabeth and Bluebeard's T-Party, where we post a blog with a beverage in it.

Hubby contemplating the ceiling, where barrels hide the lighting. Very clever. The local wine is excellent and cheap. My son buys a 5 litre box of rosé.

Then it was time for a coffee and we wanted to buy some pastries too. It was Mother's Day that Sunday, so all the pastries were gone. Only dunking biscuits and Mother's Day cakes.(And we hadn't ordered in advance)

So we went somewhere else. One of my son's friends have this pastry place. Her name is Maria and she is here putting small pastries on a tray.

They also make ice cream, which looks lovely, but it was just too cold to contemplate eating that!

More ice cream. I shiver as I look at it.

And a glimpse into the kitchen to see the chef at work.

I hope you enjoyed the first Italy photos of our stay. There will be more next time and also in my Friday blog.

Wishing you all a happy T-Day,

Take care,

Lisca

A Postcard A Day - Friday 24 May 2019 - Friday Smiles

Hi guys and gals,
This is the last blog from Italy. I hate using my iPad for this as I can’t scroll up or down, so I can’t see whether it has turned out ok. Also it is temperamental in adding photos. Well, fingers crossed, here goes.
I have been buying cards and writing them here for Postcrossing. As we are on the edge of a national park I have cards of wolves and bears for those who like animals. Also some images of the stunning scenery.

This last one is the lake of Scanno. The beauty of this place lies in the fact that the mountains are so close to the sea. (Adriatic).

Yesterday the flowers that my d-I-l had ordered, arrived. 

We had a house full of flowers. Then in the evening they were all put in window boxes.

Now the terrace looks even more beautiful. Let’s hope the weather will improve from now on.

I’m writing this at midnight. I’ll post it as soon as I wake up at 5 on Friday morning. We will be catching a bus at 6:30 in the morning, so Annie, please link me. Also Virginia please if I am not able to do it myself. The WiFi on buses doesn’t always work.

Have a lovely weekend and I will try to post some funnies if I can find them.

Hugs,

Lisca

People that sew must know to watch the pattern. This is an example of someone who didn’t..