A Postcard a Day - Friday 24 March 2023 - Friday Smiles

 Hello lovely ladies,

I'm writing this on Thursday night and it's taking me ever so long because it is my birthday and I get phone calls, video calls and people popping in, so here I am late at night, and still nothing written. Of course I'm not complaining as it is lovely to have friends and family calling. This is Friday Smiles and I certainly have a lot to smile about.

My postcard today comes from Russia:

The postcard depicts Marya Morevna, a warrior queen from a Russian fairy tale. Read it here if you like. The artwork on the card is by Roman Papsuev 2015. He is a Russian  artist that turns Russian folk tales into modern fantasy. He is very popular in and out of Russia.

Here are the stamps:

The stamps are the traditional Russian ones. I never tire of them. They are really pretty.

This afternoon my friend Dian came by and brought me a bottle of bubbly (a Prosecco I think) and a tiramisu dessert. (which is not in the photo but i did enjoy it after my dinner). I ate out on the patio as the weather is lovely. What's not to smile about!

I had only come back from my travels the night before so I just got some home-made lasagna out of the freezer and that was my dinner. Very nice.

On Saturday I will celebrate with my friends . The weather is lovely so a friend is letting us use the pool house and the pool area which is ideal fo parties. (There is no water in the pool as yet as it's early in the season and the water is too cold to swim.)

Today I had to go into town to do admin things and I also needed a white t-shirt. They are difficult to find here as there are many lovely clothes shop but none of them have t-shirts.  I really need a department store but the nearest one is in Granada. Anyway, I came home with two pairs of shoes and a bag (as you do). Present to myself. (Big smile)

I had a lovely time with my mum. Here is a photo:

I think I have shared this one on Facebook so some of you might already have seen this.

On Tuesday I flew from Rotterdam to Malaga, then got a bus to Marbella, where my sister picked me up from the bus station.

I spent the night in Marbella, then in the morning caught a bus to Malaga, then a bus to Granada, then a bus to Baza, where a kind friend picked me up from the bus station to drive me home. The buses are very good and on time but the through bus gets here too late  at night so I have to do it in stages. 

I'm quite happy to travel by bus as I got a good book. Any Lucinda Riley fans out there? I'm reading her only murder mystery: The Murders At Fleat House.

I'm enjoying it. 

My new sofa, which I ordered before I left, is going to be delivered on Thursday! I'm very excited. I hope to be able to show you photos next week.

If you have had things to smile about this week, please share them with us at Annie's blog A Stitch In Time. That is where I am heading now. See you there!

That is all from me this week.

As per usual I have managed to find some funnies (not a lot this time) which will come at the end.

So I will wish you all a lovely weekend,

keep smiling,

Hugs,

Lisca

A Postcard a Day - Tuesday 21 March 2023 - T for

 Hello lovely ladies,

I'm still in the Netherlands as I am writing this on Monday evening. I'm having a lovely time with my mother. She will be 99 years old soon so I take every chance I get to visit her. We get on very well and I am enjoying my stay with her. More about what i have been up to a bit later, but first my postcard:

It is a lovely black and white photo of the Grossmünster door in Zürich.

Wikipedia writes this:

The Grossmünster  "great minster" is a Romanesque-style Protestant church in Zürich, Switzerland. It is one of the four major churches in the city  Its congregation forms part of the Evangelical Reformed Church of the Canton of Zürich. The core of the present building near the banks of the Limmat was constructed on the site of a Carolingian church, which was, according to legend, originally commissioned by Charlemagne. Construction of the present structure commenced around 1100 and it was inaugurated around 1220.

The Grossmünster was a monastery church, vying for precedence with the Fraumünster across the Limmat throughout the Middle Ages. According to legend, the Grossmünster was founded by Charlemagne, whose horse fell to its knees over the tombs of Felix, Regula and Exuperantius, Zürich's patron saints. The legend helps support a claim of seniority over the Fraumünster, which was founded by Louis the German, Charlemagne's grandson. Recent archaeological evidence confirms the presence of a Roman burial ground at the site.

Huldrych Zwingli initiated the Swiss-German Reformation in Switzerland from his pastoral office at the Grossmünster, starting in 1520. 

Zwingli won a series of debates presided over by the magistrate in 1523 which ultimately led local civil authorities to sanction the severance of the church from the papacy. The reforms initiated by Zwingli and continued by his successor, Heinrich Bullinger, account for the plain interior of the church. 

Below: Zwingli preaching.

The iconoclastic reformers removed the organ and religious statuary in 1524. These changes, accompanied by abandonment of Lent, replacement of the Mass, disavowal of celibacy, eating meat on fast days, replacement of the lectionary with a seven-year New Testament cycle, a ban on church music, and other significant reforms make this church one of the most important sites in the history of the reformation and the birthplace of the Swiss-German reformation.

The postcard shows one of the beautiful doors of the minster.There are two bronze doors with 42 panels showing Biblical scenes and texts. The door on the postcard was added in 1950.

There is an explanation of each square on this website if you want to know more. It would be too much to write it all here. 

But I will show you the bottom row in more detail as it features four women from the Bible:

1. Text: und das | wort ward | fleisch und | wohnte | unter uns - The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us (John 1,14)
2. RAHAB - Rahab the harlot, who believed and was saved (Joshua 2)
3. RUTH - The pious Ruth, who was born a pagan (Ruth)

1. BATHSEBA - Bathsheba the adulteress (2 Samuel 11)
2. MARIA - Mary, the Mother of the Lord (Matthew 1,18-25)
3. Text: Ja Ich kom | me bald | amen | komm Herr Jesus - Yes, I am coming soon. Amen. Come, Lord Jesus (Revelation 22,20)

The sculptor is Otto Münch (Meißen 1885 - Zürich 1985) Otto Munch added the bronze doors in the north and south portals in 1935 and 1950.

The stamp is a digital stamp from France as that is where the card comes from. The sender lives 30 km from Lyon but has grandparents near Zürich.

So what have I been up to? I am in Rotterdam as mentioned before. 

I had spent a few days with my sister in Marbella before flying to Rotterdam airport.

I always cook nice things for my mum because she is blind and cannot cook for herself. Here is a cottage pie I made (Her favorite):

Not a very flattering photo of my mum, but hey...

I try to go for a walk every day so I'm not indoors all day. Spring is arriving in Holland too and there were bulbs everywhere along the walking paths:

Daffodils just starting to show their little faces.

Some crocusses already flowering.

Lots of daffodils.

I love daffodils.

My friend Ineke came by and we talked about our holiday to Italy this June. We are planning to travel from Holland to Italy in her small campervan (I think it's a VW).

On Sunday afternoon she invited me out to  lunch in a nice restaurant on the harbour front. Two other friends joined us.

This is the restaurant (It's called Twenty7):

We sat inside as it was really cold.

This is on the other side of the restaurant (where the yachtclub is):

We looked out onto the famous 'Swan' bridge and it happened to be open to let a barge through:

You can see the road bit completely vertical.

And here there were daffodils too:

As a starter we had oysters!!

I love oysters but they are not always in my budget...

And because today is T for Tuesday, I am glad that there were several glasses of 'bubbly' in sight.

That is all I have to tell you tonight. Tomorrow (Tuesday) I will be traveling to Spain and will be spending the night in Marbella. Then on Wednesday morning I will tackle the long bus journey back home. I'm not sure if I will have time to visit. I will probably visit quite late if at all. We'll see. I'll do my best.

Wishing you all a very happy T-Day!

Keep smiling,

Hugs,

Lisca

A Postcard A Day - Friday 17 March 2023 - Friday Smiles

 Hello lovely ladies, 

How are you all? I have travelled from Malaga to the Netherlands and now I am staying with my mum who, as most of you will know, is 98 years old. She lives independently in her own apartment and it is always nice to go and see her.

My card for today is this one:

It comes from Germany, from a town called Hildesheim.

It can be found in the north of Germany and has a lovely historic centre. The photo shows a street called Brühl. 

The Brühl is a historic street in the southern part of downtown Hildesheim , which in addition to well-preserved half-timbered houses is home to several other significant sights.

The stamps are the normal run-of-the-mill stamps with the flowers. But they are very pretty nevertheless. 

On the left is the Centaurium. It is a genus of 20 species in the gentian family, tribe Chironieae, subtribe Chironiinae. The genus was named after the centaur Chiron, famed in Greek mythology for his skill in medicinal herbs. It is distributed across Europe and into Asia. (Wikipedia)

In the middle are the bluebells. Hyacinthoides is a genus of flowering plants in the family Asparagaceae, known as bluebells. (Wikipedia).

On the right is an aster. Asteraceae, also called Compositae, the aster, daisy, or composite family of the flowering-plant order Asterales. With more than 1,620 genera and 23,600 species of herbs, shrubs, and trees distributed throughout the world, Asteraceae is one of the largest plant families.

What else can I tell you? I have had a lovely time with my son who came over for a flying visit (just a weekend) but we managed to pack a lot into that weekend.

One morning we went to the plot to see what my fruit trees were doing. They needed pruning and watering. We also weeded.

On Saturday night he took me out to dinner.

We had croquettes, a Cesar salad, and a platter of 'all-sorts'. I must admit it was so much we couldn't finish it and had to take some of it home....

Then on Monday we drove to Malaga where he took his flight home and I met up with my sister at Ikea. A visit to Ikea is a treat for me as we live so far from the nearest store. So I checked out all sorts of side boards and tv furniture. 

I stayed two nights at my sister's in Marbella. 

They have a beautiful tropical garden and my b-i-l was picking lemons:

And this was the harvest for that day:

One last photo of my and my sister outside the restaurant:

That is it from me today. I'm going to link up with Annie at A Stitch In Time.

Have a lovely weekend and

Keep smiling!

Hugs,

Lisca

I am not at my computer at home so I don't have that many funnies. 

“Uh-oh! You forgot to circle back with Ravi and Jess about weekend plans. Spend the next turn seeing if Sunday is a possibility.” Cartoon by Lars Kenseth

“I may look goofy, but I’m in the New York ‘Times’ crossword puzzle way more than Alan Alda.” Cartoon by Ken Levine

I ran out of coins