A Postcard A Day - Friday 7 November 2025 - Friday Smiles

Hello lovely peeps,

Have you had lots to smile about? Or did you really have to search for those silver linings? Whatever your situation, today is Friday and we celebrate our smiles.

A postcard in my mailbox always makes me smile. This one comes from the US of A.

Sent to me by Kristen who lives in Fresno. (California). It features the Cuyahoga Valley National Park in Ohi.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia:

Cuyahoga Valley National Park is a national park of the United States in Ohio that reclaims and preserves the industrial, commercial, and rural landscape along the Cuyahoga River between Akron and Cleveland in Northeast Ohio.

The 32,783-acre (51.2 sq mi; 132.7 km²) park is administered by the National Park Service, but within its boundaries are areas independently managed as county parks or as public or private businesses. Cuyahoga Valley was originally designated as a national recreation area (NRA) in 1974, then re-designated as a national park 26 years later in 2000, and remains the only national park that originated as a national recreation area.

Cuyahoga Valley is the only national park in the state of Ohio and one of three in the Great Lakes Basin, with Isle Royale National Park in Lake Superior and Indiana Dunes National Park bordering Lake Michigan. Cuyahoga Valley also differs from the other national parks in the US in that it is adjacent to two large urban areas and it includes a dense road network, a railroad, high tension lines, small towns, commercial businesses, four reservations of the Cleveland Metroparks, four parks and one multipurpose trail of Summit Metro Parks, and public and private attractions. It was the twelfth-most visited American national park in 2023, attracting nearly 2.9 million visitors, primarily due to its proximity to Cleveland and Akron.

The stamps are colourful, all of which I have seen before. 

From the USPS website: The stamp with the heart Love (2025) features an untitled 1985 drawing by artist and activist Keith Haring (1958-1990) that includes two moving figures reaching toward a red heart. It was a theme Haring used throughout his career, making several variations, each in his signature style.

Centered on the heart with motion lines radiating toward two moving figures, Haring’s drawing suggests the figures are dancing. The image allows the viewer to project their own meaning of love in the context of their choosing.

The middle stamp features an orange dahlia and is part of a series about dahlias:

Dahlias

USPS writes: Radiating warmth, vitality and cheer, dahlias are beloved additions to backyard gardens and formal venues alike. This issuance includes 10 close-up photographs of dahlia blossoms available in booklets of 20 stamps and coils of 3K and 10K stamps. Greg Breeding, an art director for USPS, designed the stamps using photographs by Denise Ippolito.

On the left is a forever stamp with stars and stripes:

THREE OAKS, MI — Today, the Postal Service dedicated a new U.S. Flag stamp at a ceremony at the Vickers Theater in Three Oaks.

 

“An enduring emblem of freedom, national unity and patriotic spirit, the flag of the United States has flown proudly stateside, abroad and even on the surface of the moon,” said Donald Dombrow Jr., the Postal Service’s Michigan 2 District manager, who spoke at the ceremony.

Other speakers included photographer Doug Haight, whose artwork is featured on the stamp.

So what has been happening here in Spain? Not much. I am enjoying my peace and quiet and my little routines. It's getting cooler too and on Tuesday when my friends Kim and Andy were here, we tested the stove to make sure it was OK. (It was).

This weekend my friend Conchi is hosting some missionaries from England, and as she doesn't speak a word of English, she is quite nervous. I cooked a nice big Italian minestrone which she can serve when they arrive. Conchi's husband will pick it up this morning. 

I won't be there to meet her guests as I have a nail appointment and in the afternoon I'm going to a make-up class organized by the local Women's Association. That's going to be fun. I hope I remember to take photos.

I'm writing this on Thursday night with Ronnie 'helping' me do the typing.

But he's so sweet, who could get angry with him?

I have some funnies to add at the end. 

That is it from me tonight.

Have a lovely weekend,

Keep smiling,

Lisca

 

A Postcard A Day - Tuesday 4 November 2025 - T for palanquin, pasta sauce and cemeteries

 Hello lovely peeps

Tuesday has come round again and I have an interesting postcard to show you and because it's T for Tuesday, I have some photos of a lunch I had with friends from church.

Let me show you my postcard. It comes from China and it is a Maxi card. That means it's a special edition that the post office does, when the image on the stamp matches the postcard. They are being sold in the same way that First Day of Issue stamps with envelopes are sold.

It comes from India as you can see.It features a Meeana Palanquin. Decorativecollective.com writes: Palanquins were the most popular means of transport in British India before the introduction of horse-drawn vehicles and the the railway. This model is of a meehana or meena, a type of box palanquin developed and introduced from around 1800. 

 They resembled a large open chest, and were carried by four men, two back and two front, carrying the box with its passenger supported by long cane poles on their shoulders.

The sender tells me that this particular palanquin was use to transport married women.

This Maxi card dates from 2017 and as the stamp was probably not valid anymore, the sender (from New Delhi) had to use a current stamp on the back:

This Esmeralda Clarkei is a rare orchid.

The card was posted in August but took more than a month to get to me.

Enough of that. Let me tell you what I have been up to. 

It's autumn but here the leaves are not falling yet. This is one of the trees in the little park near my house.

This is a close up I took to look up what kind of tree it is, but I forgot I had deleted the app. So does anyone know what this is?

I had some lamb's meat left over from when my friends came on Tuesday and later in the week I made a lovely pasta sauce with it. So of course I ate pasta:

And there's my drink for the T-Party hosted by Elizabeth and Bluebeard.

Although here in rural Spain, Halloween is not much of a thing, the 1st of November is. It's a national holiday and everybody goes to the cemetery to honour the friends and relatives that have died. In the run-up to this day there has been frantic cleaning of graves and flower arranging.

I was there yesterday morning and the cemetery is a sea of flowers:

Even the graves in the wall had plenty of flowers:

People have to get the stepladder (provided) to get to the top ones.

Ronnie is doing fine. Here are some photos:

That is all from me today.

Happy T-Day all!

Lisca

A Postcard A Day - 2 November 2025 - Second on the 2nd, an old post from 2014

 Hello lovely peeps. Today is November the 2nd, so I am joining Elizabeth and Bluebeard in Second On The 2nd, where we post a blogpost from the past. 

Today I am posting one from 2014. I use to join What's On Your Workdesk Wednesday in the past as I did a lot of crafting then. I don't know if the web address is still correct. Angela/Felix The Crafty Cat might know...

In this blog I was making Christmas cards. I don't send Christmas cards anymore (Too expensive). Whereas in England people also give each other cards in person, we don't do that here (In Spain they don't send greeting cards at all, not even for birthdays).

My grandson, who was the recipient of the little card I made, will be celebrating his 11th birthday this coming week as this is a blog from 11 years ago. 

The house we were then building is finished and we/I am living there now. 

The pumpkin pie is reminding me to make one again soon. I'll be hosting a fellowship lunch next week, so that is the perfect occasion to bake one.

Hi Peeps! It’s Wednesday again! It comes round so quickly.

On Wednesdays around 80 crafters photograph their desk/work space and post it on their blogs. Then we all have fun hopping from one desk to another to see what people are doing. It’s a great source of inspiration and encouragement. Read more about it at Julia’s blog:http://www.stamping-ground.blogspot.com.es/

Here is my desk. I continue with my motto: ‘use up the stash that you have’ and I’m making Christmas cards with papers and elements from a cardmaking magazine from 2009! I love the colours.

The Christmas cards were pushed aside temporarily to make a very special card! My son in Italy and his wife have just had a baby boy! So I’ve made a little bassinet card from an Anna Griffin book. Anna Griffin was very popular a few years ago but I still like the style and from time to time I dip into my Anna Griffin box to do a project. 

Isn’t it cute? The colour is a soft olive green although it’s not very clear in the photo. My daughter-in-law doesn’t like the boy-blue/girl-pink thing and she has decorated and painted the nursery in green, so she’s getting a green card too!

I’m still crafting in the pantry and I’m finding it very cosy. As many of you have commented, I can just stretch my arm to get my hands on a large slab of dark chocolate..... (Oh temptation...)

The build of the house is going to plan although no work was done today as it rained. I had to smile at that. I’ve lived in the UK for several years. If builders went home every time it rained in England they would never ever get anything built!

Here is a photo of the building so far. It’s built over 4 floors. The men are working on the roof. We’re having a wooden roof with wooden beams, visible on the inside. (It will be tiled on the outside). The white building on the left with the green gate is also ours. The green gate is the entrance to a small vine covered court yard. From that court yard you can come into the (cave) house where inside I am typing this at the moment.

Do come in! It’s nice and warm inside. I've just made a pumpkin pie. (I made pumpkin soup the yesterday. These pumpkins are so big I have to continuously think of things to cook with it.) But the pie is definitely my favourite. I had some allspice sent to me from a friend in Mexico, and although I don’t know what it’s supposed to taste like, an American lady  in our church said my pies are delicious.

Thanks for visiting. I will try and visit as many of you as I can over the course of the week. Have a good week.

God bless

Lisca

A Postcard A Day - Friday 31 October 2025 - Friday Smiles

Hello lovely ladies,

Although Annie no longer posts her Friday Smiles, I like to continue the theme because I think it's important we remember good times, concentrate on the smiles and think positive. 

Here is another postcard that made me smile:

It's the naughty Aunties, causing havoc again with their antics. They always made me smile. They are the creation of Finnish illustrator Inge Löök.

The card was sent to me from Germany from a lady called Elisabeth (like me). She writes that Elisabeth means 'wellbeing'. She also writes that she loves doing Patchwork.

The stamps are beautiful:

The two stamps on the right are the post/mail inspired stamps. If you look carefully you can see the water lily is made of envelopes and the fish and his environment is made of stamps. Clever.

Charlie Chaplin of course is in a league of his own. On this occasion, it's a stamp with an extra charge which goes to charity (Welfare Services).

There is another stamp:

On the left is a stamp featuring Grethe Weiser, who turns out to have been an actress.

I had never heard of her so I Googled her:

Wikipedia says: Born in Hanover, in 1903, she spent her childhood in Dresden. She escaped from her dominant and sometimes violent father by marrying a Jewish confectionery manufacturer in 1920. Her only child, a son, was born in 1922. Quite quickly she established herself in the cabaret scene in Berlin, especially after her husband became a leaseholder of a nightclub on the Kurfürstendamm. Her film debut came soon after in 1927.

Weiser had a lifelong relationship with Hermann Schwerin, a UFA film producer, which began in 1934, but the couple were not married until 1958. Her previous marriage had been dissolved in 1934. Weiser avoided becoming a member of the Nazi Party. She managed to finance and arrange for her previous husband and her son to survive the Nazi years in Switzerland, as well as at the same time continue her career in Germany.

She died in 1970, after a road traffic accident, aged 67.

This is her in Berlin in 1932. Isn't that reminding you of Liza Minelli in the film Cabaret? Who knows if the writers of the film were inspired by Grethe...

Now, what have I been doing? Well, my car has been repaired. I wrote in my previous post that I had found the wheel rim that I had lost, at a junk yard:

There's a body repair shop a few minutes walk from my house. The guy there, José, promised to put it on for me and glue the rear one as well as it was kept in place by sticky tape.

He told me later it wasn't an easy job, but it's done!

Done!! Finally! Now I only need to take my car to the car-wash and I will be very happy.

My friends Kim and Andy came for lunch on Tuesday (as they do every Tuesday) and we cooked leg of lamb. 

I cooked bulgur and vegetables as side dished. 

I will look for some funnies to add at the end, but here is a photo of Ronnie, stretched out on the couch (he makes me smile:

In the meantime, keep smiling!

Have a great weekend,

Lisca

Mamma bird protecting her brood from the storm.

Yep, I still got one of those!