A Postcard A Day - Tuesday 29 July 2024 - T for sailing boats and light houses,

 Hello lovely girls ( and T-Party goers),

It's Tuesday again and we will be joining Elizabeth and Bluebeard at their weekly T-Party. Of course I also have a postcard and some stamps to show you as well as some photo of what I have been up to in Spain, where we are still enduring a heatwave. (No, I won't mention it again, but it's veeeery hot)

Let's start with my postcard. It is the second postcard CJ sent me (first one last week):

It is the Cape Neddick lighthouse, also known as The Nubble. The Visit Maine website writes: This oft-photographed lighthouse was built in 1879 on a tiny, off-shore island, or 'nubble,' in York. It features a Victorian keeper's house with gingerbread trim and a lantern with miniature cast-iron lighthouses on its railing. It's so close to land you can view it easily from York's seaside Sohier Park.

Photo taken from the Visit Maine website.

The lighthouse is 41 foot high and the house and grounds are not open to the public, but can be viewed from the mainland.

The stamps are amazing! (Thanks CJ):

The first one, from 2020 is Bugs Bunny (would you believe) as a mermaid:

In commemoration of the 80th anniversary of Bugs Bunny’s official screen debut, the United States Postal Service rolled out a sheet of Forever Stamp designs featuring the iconic Looney Tunes character on July 28.

There are 10 designs in total, depicting Bugs wearing fun costumes that allude to various animated shorts films throughout his history.

The stamp above portrays Bugs as a sultry mermaid wearing red lipstick from 1944’s Hare Ribbin’.

I found another one:

This other stamp, from the same series I found on the internet, shows shows Bugs dressed as the powerful female figure Brunhilde from the 1957 animated short What’s Opera, Doc?, which spoofs a handful of operas from the 19th century classical c omposer Richard Wagner. 

Very unusual I thought, to see Bugs Bunny in female attire for a change.

Then there is a stamp about Ellsworth Kelly (May 31, 1923 – December 27, 2015).

Ellsworth Kelly was an American painter, sculptor, and printmaker associated with hard-edge painting, Color field painting and minimalism. His works demonstrate unassuming techniques emphasizing line, color and form, similar to the work of John McLaughlin and Kenneth Noland. Kelly often employed bright colors. Wikipedia

The US postal Service honors Ellsworth Kelly with a series of Forever stamps:

USPS spokesperson said: "Ellsworth Kelly honed his artistic voice as a soldier during World War II when he created camouflage patterns and designed posters for the U.S. government,”  “Today we celebrate the American master of abstract painting with these dynamic stamps that truly capture the creative talent of Kelly and will be seen by millions as Forever stamps on cards and letters.”

The third stamp is from a series called 'Let's go sailing!' issued on the 22nd of January 2022.

 According to the USPS website: Illustrator Libby VanderPloeg grew up in Grand Haven, MI, a little harbor town on lake Michigan, so sailboats were always dotting her views as a kid. With these memories in mind, she created two colorful, abstract images that capture the essence of sailing.

Now for some photos from Spain:

This is my son (left) in Almería in front of a mural depicting a bar. It looked very real.

More photos of Almería on my previous blogpost (Friday 26 July).

I have another little property nearby, a cave house in  the municipality of Gor. We visited Gor and lo an behold, the bullring was open. In the 20 years we have had this property, I had never seen inside the bullring. I think they were painting it for the upcoming corrida.

They are preparing for the upcoming bull run. Here the poster:

It's a bit like Pamplona, where bulls runs through the streets and young men show their bravery by running with them.

Here is a photo from the local newspaper of the 2019 bull run in Gor:

What else have we done? Ah, when we were in Almería, we stoped at the beach and had a drink. I saved that photo for today so I can join the T-Party with my Aperol Spritzer:

That is all for today. 

I hope you'll all visit Bluebeard and Elizabeth at the T-Party. Meantime, I will say Happy T-Day to all!

Lisca

Postcard A Day - Friday 26 July 2024 - Friday Smiles

 

Hello lovely ladies,  We are having a whopper of a heatwave. Temperatures have been pushing 40, even at night they are nearly 30. It is very tiring. Now a sane person would stay st home and keep calm. No, I have my son and his family over from Italy and they want to go places and see things. So we have been out every day. I am exhausted (but happy to have my family near, lots of smiles).

I will show you a postcard of a cooler place and then tell you what I have been up to.

Here is my postcard:

It was sent to me by Laurel, who lives in San Mateo, California. Of course the Redwood National Park is famous. But I didn't know there were more:

Google writes:

Redwood National and State Parks are a string of protected forests, beaches and grasslands along Northern California’s coast. Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park has trails through dense old-growth woods. Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park is home to Fern Canyon, with its high, plant-covered walls. Roosevelt elk frequent nearby Elk Prairie. Giant redwood clusters include Redwood National Park’s Lady Bird Johnson Grove. ― Google

With this heat, just looking at the shady forest in the picture is pleasant.

The stamp is the orange gerbera, my favorite of the flower stamps:

The cancellation stamp is about Dog bite awareness.

Today (Thursday) I stayed home and let 'the kids' get on with it. I was too tired. They have gone to visit Granada. 

Yesterday we visited Almería city. I love that city as it has lots of culture and things to do and also the harbour and the beach. 

We parked at the harbour and took a taxi to the Alcazaba, the fortress built by Abd al.Rahman in 955 

The above is an aerial photo from Wikipedia, as is the next one:

It's very big and we wandered about for a long time, climbing stairs and changing levels. 

The surrounding parks were beautiful too as the Arabs always had water running everywhere. Very pleasant when it's hot:

Me and my daughter-in-law:

In the same town of Almería we also visited the cathedral:

It's beautiful inside, but the outside looks like a fortress. I suppose it had to be a fortress in the days of fighting the Moors.

One of the large squares
looks like this:

It's called PLaza de la Constitución.

I think that's enough for today. I'll show you more on Tuesday.

Keep smiling!

Have a great weekend,

Lisca

The translation is: "Look, a shooting star! Make a wish!". "Thats you sell all your kayaks". "I'm sorry! It was a plane..."

A Postcard A Day - Tuesday 23 July 2024 - T for Swanboats and Westerns

 Hello lovely peeps,

Are  you ready to party? We are T-Partying today at Bluebeard and Elizabeth's Altered Booklover. Do join us and bring a drink (meaning: post and image of a beverage on your blogpost).

A while ago Elizabeth announced an exchange for the T-Party anniversary and CJ and I exchanged two postcards and two tea bags. My cards are on their way to CJ but she was quicker off the mark and I have already received my postcards. One of them is this one:

It features Swanboats at Dock. I read on the back: "Graceful swanboats await visitors to the Public Garden in the heart of Boston. Soon delighted children and their weary parents will glide around the pond... a Boston tradition since 1877". I have never been to Boston and I had never heard of these boats. Aren't they pretty.

Wikipedia writes: The Swan Boats operate in the same pond in the Public Garden in which they have operated for over 140 years. A Swan Boat ride is a peaceful experience, usually lasting about 12–15 minutes. Each boat is powered solely by a driver, often a high school or college student, who pedals the boat like a bicycle. The boats are steered by pulling one of two ropes connected to a series of pulleys and a rudder. The Swan Boats remain a Boston tradition and symbol of the city.

The stamp is a standard gerbera flower. But CJ might have remembered that the orange one is my favorite, so thank you CJ. 

Here in Andalucia it's all systems go. My son and his family are over from Italy so we are spending some quality time together. Today (Monday) we went to Oasys Mini Hollywood, a Western style theme park in the Tabernas desert. It was once a film set.

I got this photo from Wikipedia as I would not have been able to photograph from up high. 

Originally known as Yucca City, the set was designed by Carlo Simi and built for Sergio Leone's For a Few Dollars More in 1965. It was also used as a set for other films, such as The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966). 

(My son)

After filming of The Good, the Bad and the Ugly was completed, the extras in the project bought the set and ran it as a tourist attraction. 

(My D-I-L)

They were later bought out by a hotel group. The park features daily cowboy stunt shows, such as a mock bank raid,

and a re-enactment of the final moments of Jesse James. It also has a swimming complex, abandoned gold mine, Cowboy style saloon, a Fun Barn for children's activities, a zoo with birds and big cats in cages and many mock western stores.

My son and I (without glasses).

On the way out there was a bench with writing above it:

"Don't go without a kiss".

Now today is the T-Party so I need a drink (to show you).

My son and his wife fancied paella, the traditional rice dish from Valencia. We asked around and none of the bars had it on the menu. One of the bars, the Kiosko, said we could order it and they would cook it especially for us.

Here we are having a good time. I invited my Friend Dian too as the paella was for 5 people.

Drinkwise, I think I had a white wine. The small blue bottles are fizzy water, which by the way is more expensive than wine.

Now you are a bit more up-to-date about what I'm up to.

Happy T-Day to all!

Lisca

A Postcard A Dsy - Friday 19 July 2024 - Friday Smiles

 

Hello lovely ladies,

It's Friday again and I have a postcard for you from Japan. Friday is about the smiles of the week  (see Annie at A Stitch In Time) and this postcard (among other things) made me smile:

The artist is Noburo Baba, a famous Manga artist. The person who sent this to me is YaYoi and he/she was on a trip to Aomori Prefecture. She/he wrote the card at the Sannohe post office, the home town of above mentioned Noburo Baba.

A rubber stamp on the card made clear where Aomori is.

The stamps are beautiful:

They depict the Aomori Nebuta Festival.

The Aomori Nebuta Festival is a Japanese fire festival held annually between August 2nd and 7th in Aomori city. Every year more than 3 million visitors gather for the festivities from all over Japan and abroad to attend. During the festival, over twenty dynamic nebutas – massive lanterns floats based on kabuki or mythical stories – parade through the city of Aomori. 

On the evenings of August 2nd through 6th and daytime of the 7th, colorfully dressed Haneto (nebuta dancers) as well as flutists and drummers convey the nebuta floats through the city. On the night of the 7th, the nebutas are placed in boats and ferried around the Aomori Bay as fireworks light up the night sky to conclude the festival.

What an amazing festival! I've not done anything that exciting this week. My friend from South Africa was still here this week and we had many a pleasant night out:

With a drink or two.

Yesterday I drove her to the bus station where we said goodbye and I spent the day cleaning and preparing the room for my son and family. They arrived early this morning from Rome so I had to get up at an early hour to collect them at the airport at 8:30, which is 3 hours drive away. 

I let my son drive a bit on the way back.

My D-I-L and my grandson (yes, he has long hair).

So tonight I am going to flop into bed a bit early (It's Thursday night). It's 11:30 pm, that is early for me.

Have a great weekend,

Keep smiling!

Lisca