A Postcard A Day - Friday 30 August 2024 - Friday Smiles

 Good morning lovely girls! For those of you who are working: It's nearly weekend!! So let me tell you what made me smile this week. Quite a lot actually, as life is less hectic now and I can relax a bit. 

But, let's start with my postcard:

It was sent to me by my friend Maggie. She had visited Malmesbury Abbey.

This is what it says on the back of the card:

This is what the cathedral looks like today (Photo from Wikipedia):

Wikipedia then writes: Malmesbury Abbey, at Malmesbury in Wiltshire, England, is a former Benedictine abbey dedicated to Saint Peter and Saint Paul. It was one of the few English religious houses with a continuous history from the 7th century through to the Dissolution of the Monasteries. Wikipedia

The abbey, which owned 23,000 acres (93 km²) in the twenty parishes that constituted the Malmesbury Hundred, was closed at the Dissolution of the Monasteries in 1539 by Henry VIII and was sold, with all its lands, to William Stumpe, a rich merchant. He returned the abbey church to the town for continuing use as a parish church, and filled the abbey buildings with up to 20 looms for his cloth-weaving enterprise.

The west tower fell around 1550, demolishing the three westernmost bays of the nave. As a result of these two collapses, less than half of the original building stands today.

The inside looks like this today:

Maggie put the card in an envelope so she could use all these beautiful stamps.

Beautiful images of a young Queen Elizabeth.

What have I been doing? We had some fun in the village last week with the Auto Locos (Crazy Cars):

I had found a place on a corner behind some straw bales:

I could see them careering down the first hill.

Lots of people on the other side of the street.

There were different categories.

Down this road there were ramps that caused a lot of laughs but I couldn't see them unfortunately.

It has been a quiet week as my car is in for repair. (Someone drove into my car while it was parked and it sustained quite a lot of damage). I'm not expecting it back until next week. I was offered a substitute car as I was insured for that, but I would have had to go and collect it in Almería, which is a long way away (165 km) and not easy to get to by public transport. So I will stay put in the village.

I have had time to have video calls with friends and family. My son celebrated his 48th birthday. He lives in Italy so I couldn't be there, but we chatted (Thank the Lord for modern technology) and I got some photos:

That is all from me today. I'm going to link up with Annie at A Stitch In Time and of course I will add some funnies at the end, but in the meantime, 

I wish you all a lovely weekend,

Lisca

A Postcard A Day - Tuesday 27 August 2024 - T for a fortress, a ballet and a beer

 Hello lovely ladies, How are you all? 

I have a nice postcard to show you with an amazing stamp:

It's a poster postcard of a place called New Brighton, which is opposite Liverpool on the other side of the river Mersey. The fort you see is Perch Rock fort.

Wikipedia writes: Fort Perch Rock is a former defence installation situated at the mouth of Liverpool Bay in New Brighton. Built in the 1820s to defend the Port of Liverpool, it is now a tourist attraction and museum.

Seen from the air it is clear that it was a real fort:

The stamp is amazing:

It looks like a scary monster. I had to Google it and found it, you guessed it, on Wikipedia:

In the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game, the mimic is a type of fictional monster. It is portrayed as being able to change its shape to disguise its body as an inanimate object, commonly a chest. The mimic uses a powerful adhesive that holds fast to creatures that touch it, allowing the mimic to beat its victims with its powerful pseudopods. The mimic was introduced in the first edition Advanced Dungeons & Dragons game's original Monster Manual. The mimic has appeared in subsequent editions. Several variants of the creature have been introduced, with a variety of abilities and sizes.

What's interesting about this stamp is that it has king Charles' head on it.  The first I've seen.

What have I been doing? I have been to Granada, to the Alhambra one evening to see a flamenco ballet.

We went by coach from our village. It was organised by the council, who paid for the coach. 

It was an open air venue in the Generalife gardens.

A beautiful view of the sunset over the city.

My friends John and Brenda came too and Brenda took this picture of John and me.

Mariana Pineda is a play by the Spanish playwright and poet Federico García Lorca. It is based on the life of Mariana de Pineda Muñoz, whose opposition to Ferdinand VII (and subsequent public execution in 1831 for treason) had become part of the folklore of Granada. The play was written between 1923 and 1925 and was first performed in June 1927 at the Teatre Goya in Barcelona. That production was directed by García Lorca, with scenic design and costumes by Salvador Dalí.

I took this picture just as it was about to start, but then they announced  that photos were not allowed. 

As I was not allowed to take any pictures,  this is a photo from the Internet.

It was absolutely amazing. The dancing was superb. Modern ballet with a flamenco twist.

I don't think I've got much news from the past week. Oh yes, we had a bit of rain on Sunday:

That's how much we got! We could count the drops! Everyone got excited when we saw the dark clouds and heard a distant thunderclap, but this is all we got.... how disappointing.

Well, today is Elizabeth and Bluebeard's T-Party so a drink is in order. 

I went to the post office this morning and it was closed as the post mistress had gone for her coffee break. I didn't really want to walk all the way home so I went to the nearest bar and had a drink as she normally is back within half an hour:

It's a non-alcoholic beer (it was only 13:00h).

That's all for now from me. 

Please leave me some love when you've visited.

Happy T-Day,

Lisca

A Postcard A Day - Friday 23 August 2024 - Friday Smiles

 Hello lovely ladies, How are you all? Have you had lots of smiles this week? I have had a lovely week although I haven't many photographs to prove it.

First let's talk about postcards. I have not one but two postcards for you today. Here is the first one:

It is a postcard from a German island called Poel. It is an island in the Baltic sea. As a holiday destination it has sandy beaches, and a lot of history. The island is connected to the mainland by a causeway. I'm sure I have featured a card from Poel before. Obviously a very popular place. 

Here is another card with Poel on it:

As you can see on this map, Poel lies  in the triangle between the three Hanseatic towns of Rostock, Wismar and Lübeck. 

Two cards means I have two stamps. The first one is the from the young wild animals series:

Young mountain goats. So cute!

The other one is this:

It celebrates 50 years German Children's Fund. (March 1, 2022)

I found a bit more information on the Internet (Bundesministerium der Finanzen):

When three Munich businessmen founded the German Children's Fund in 1972, they had a big goal: They set out to better equip playgrounds in Germany. A lot has changed in Germany since then. And the areas of responsibility of the German Children's Fund have become more diverse.

Today, 50 years later, the German Children's Fund is an organization that takes care of numerous issues affecting children in Germany. The heart of the work is to make children's rights known in Germany and to anchor their implementation - i.e. to strengthen the special rights that guarantee all children and young people up to the age of 18 special protection, support and participation in matters that affect them.

Design of the postage stamp:

Julia Warbanow, Berlin

Value: 85 cents

I'm just looking in my diary to see what I have done this week. On Saturday I spent a lot of time on the Internet trying to find out why every month some 44 euros goes out to Shop at Mars. I have bought a keyring or something on that website some months ago, that much I managed to establish. Eventually I found out that I, without knowing, had also  bought a membership of Red Planet which costs 45 US dollars a month. I have now canceled it and I haven't been able to find out exactly what it was I got for that money. I'm just glad I finally found it and cancelled it. 

On Saturday evening I went out for drinks in the village:

You will have seen a similar photo on Tuesday's blog.

On Monday I accompanied my friends to Granada, and, amongst other things,  we went to Ikea, which is in the Nevada shopping mall:

I had never been and it's huge! (Photos from the Internet)

On Tuesday I had to go into town to the electricity company's office and of course do my food shopping. I also bought two little dresses in the sale (15 euros each) and they will go into my suitcase for Lisbon next month.

On Wednesday I went out for lunch with a Dutch friend who is looking after her elderly mother. Her carer kindly offered to stay so she could go out.

We each had a salad. I chose smoked salmon salad. This is what I got:

Absolutely swimming in oil! The photo was taken after I had siphoned some of the oil off onto another plate. It also had smoked herring. The green bits are gherkins. All very nice, but because it was difficult to eat, I didn't enjoy it. When I complained I was told I was meant to dip my bread in it. Later I discovered that I had also paid separately for the basket of bread (that neither of us touched). Oh well, we did have a laugh about it. My friend's salad was lovely and I will go there again as it was a very nice place (but I won't have this salad again).

That is all for today

I will leave you with some funnies at the end.

Enjoy your weekend,

Keep smiling,

Lisca