A Postcard A Day - Friday 27 September 2019 - Friday Smiles

Hello lovely ladies,

We're back again after a few days of leisure on the coast. 

As this blog is about smiles, we've had nothing but smiles. Here are a few:

We drove to Granada and then took the motorway south to Motril. Granada province has a little stretch of coastline, but we were not impressed. It is full of greenhouses.

But the weather was lovely of course (southern Spain, what do you expect)

We found a hotel in Motril, as we wanted to visit a church in the centre, and this hotel would be within walking distance.

But on Monday we drove twenty minutes east and found this campsite. It is right on the sea.

 We pitched our tent and slept like babies with the sound of the waves.

 The camp site had a small pool.

 With a water feature. But we didn't go in the pool. Hubby prefers to swim in the sea.  (which he did)

 This large shrub was at the back of the reception building. I have no idea what it is (Kate might have an idea) but I thought it was beautiful.

 So, short and sweet today as we have not done much this week.
I'm going to link up with Annie at A Stitch In Time and with Virginia at Rocking Your Week Friday.

And of course as usual, there will be some funnies at the end.
Have a lovely weekend,
Take care,
Hugs,
Lisca

A Postcard A Dat - Tuesday 24 September 2019 - T for...

Hello lovely people!

I am scheduling this post as we will be away. We will have been away for a long weekend and we hope to be back on Tuesday evening, so I will be late in commenting too. I have my iPad with me and my iPhone but neither of them agree with Blogger.

I'm hoping to join the T-Party hosted by Elizabeth and Bleubeard on Altered Book Lover, but first some postcards. This first one comes from Russia, although it is clearly a Chinese scene (or Japanese). I have no idea what he is doing because I can't read the Chinese. The image is printed on a kraft coloured card.

 These are the stamps. They are much smaller than usual. (But still quite pretty)

 This young lady in traditional costume is from the Ukraine.The artist is Kateryna Biletina.

 The stamps are wonderful. I think the top one is my entry ticket to the T-Party. It has a coffee pot in it!

I have not been able to find out which church this is but it sure is beautiful.

Here is another qualifier for the T-Party:

 These are our friends Kim and Andy. They have participated in the Cascamorros in Baza. People paint themselves with black oil.

 It's good to cover your hair as well as the black stuff gets everywhere. Here is Kim with Inma (another friend of ours).

All these photos were taken by Kim and Andy.

 This is a messy one! One man plays the role of the Cascamorras (see below) dressed as a harlequin, carrying a large flag with him. He tries to run through the town to retrieve the statue of the Virgen de la Piedad, and the townspeople try and cover him in black paint and oil.

When he returns to his own town without the statue, the disappointed locals give him a second coat of paint!

Why: The most widely-accepted version of the story goes that hundreds of years ago, there was a dispute between Baza and Guadix, two neighboring towns.

A guy from Guadix (the ‘Cascamorras’) found the statue Virgen de la Piedad (‘Our Lady of Mercy’) in Baza, and tried to take it back to Guadix. The courts ruled that the statue should stay in Baza but the Guadix people could have it one day a year.

 
The people of Baza weren’t happy with this arrangement, which led to the tradition that the Cascamorras can only take the statue if he reaches it without getting covered in paint on the way!

 I personally didn't go. It's not really my idea of fun. But the weather was warm (two weeks ago) and the black stuff comes off with Fairy Liquid (a washing up product).

I'll schedule this for Tuesday and lets hope it works.
Happy T-Day everyone,
Hugs and see you soon,
Lisca

A Postcard A Day - Friday 20 September 2019 - Friday Smiles A hotel, hailstones and a tasteful nude

Hello lovely ladies! Here we are again almost at the end of another week.

Today it's about sharing smiles  and the first one is my postcard from the USA.  It is the Cavalier Hotel at Virginia Beach (Virginia).

 It reads: Established 1927 - Reimagined 2018. I don't know what 'reimagined' is but I assume they have refurbished and modernized. The sender of this card has taken her family there on holiday. They loved it because of the 'chef's garden'. (Does that mean the food is home-grown?)

The stamps were really beautiful too. There is a Tiffany lamp and a Chippendale chair. Then there are some lush cactus flowers. 

The next card comes from Germany. It is a very artistic nude by photographer Gordon Thye. He made a whole book of nudes and portraits, but I have not been able to find out anything about this man.

 The stamps are lovely. There is one of Pina Bausch. I had to look her up as I hadn't heard of her. 

Philippine "Pina" Bausch (27 July 1940 – 30 June 2009) was a German dancer and choreographer who, with a blend of movement, sound, and prominent stage sets, and with performers during the development of a piece (a style now known as Tanztheater), became an influence in the field of modern dance from the 1970s on.

We continue to have very erratic weather. After a few nice days, all of a sudden out of nowhere there was this hail storm! I was sitting in the sun outside when a few raindrops fell, so i went in and drew up the sunshade. Just as well I did as a minute late I heard these enormously loud bangs. It was hail falling on the patio table (which is glass!). This was the size:

 It only lasted 10 minutes and this photo was taken afterwards, before it all melted again.
Our car was under the carport so didn't get damaged, but cars and crops were damaged. I can't begin to think what it did to the grapes which are just about ready to be harvested here.

 The next day I walked through the little park where I saw the council workers busy clearing up. A lot of tree leaves and debris was on the floor.

 .They had already done half of it

The next day we were back having our meals outside.

This weekend our fast ends and we are planning a weekend away on the coast (locally). We are going to suss out a camp site to take the grandchildren next summer. It must have a shallow pool and it must be fenced (so they can't 'escape').

So more photos next week.
I am now going to link up with Annie (She should be back now) at A Stitch In Time and with Virginia at Rocking Your Week Friday.
As usual there are a few funnies at the end. Wedding funnies again.
Have a great weekend,
and keep smiling!
Hugs,
Lisca

A Postcard A Day - Tuesday 17 September 2019 - T for storms, swimming pools and dates

Good morning lovely people! Let's join the T-Party hosted by Elizabeth and Bluebeard. Link up with a blog with a beverage in it. My beverage this morning will be shown a bit further down.

You might have seen it on the news but Spain has had some atrocious weather lately. Thunderstorms and much rain. We welcome the rain as it hasn't rained for many months, but these were torrential rains and they did a lot of damage. Many places on the east and south coast are flooded. We are higher up but still, walking down the lane from our house we saw this:

 It's not a proper house. It's more like a shed. This elderly chappie kept his chickens and tools there.

 The photos were taken by our neighbour Martin Rawlings.

Our house is fine. (apart from a few damp patches on the ceiling. Hubby is investigating.) 

My postcard today is one from the USA. It is a 1976 photo by photographer Martine Franck entitled Le Brusc, France. To mark the fortieth anniversary of paid vacations in France, Martine Franck was commissioned in 1976 to do a survey of the French 'en vacances'. The Pool,in the town of Le Brusc. Provence, is designed by Alain Capeilleres. 

Martine Franck was a British-Belgian documentary and portrait photographer. She was a member of Magnum Photos for over 32 years.

I managed to find some images of that particular pool (It still exists).

The white oasis pool was designed by Alain Capeillères for his summer home hidden in the hills of Six-Fours-les-Plages (Le Brusc). 

 The stamps are really stunning too. 

The person that sent me the card, lives in central Alabama, and he managed to add a stamp of Alabama. The American Toleware coffeepot is my qualifier for the T-Party.

We are still on our Daniel Fast, and are eating vegan without refined sugar, coffee, alcohol,  and without yeast. I have had to be a bit imaginative with my meals, but thanks to the internet I have cooked some really great meals, which will definitely stay in my repertoire even after the fast.

Here is a photo of a cauliflower steak that I made the other night, served with some leftover stew from a couple of nights before. It was very nice.

Hubby misses his sweet things and as he is doing hard physical work, he also needs more energy. Last Tuesday at the market I bought a kilo of fresh dates. They are so good! So hubby can snack on fresh dates.

I'll leave it at that. 
Happy T-Day to all,
Hugs,
Lisca