A Postcard A Day - Tuesday 12 August 2025 - T for fiesta and potatoes

 

Hello lovely peeps,

I had scheduled this post, as per usual, to be posted at midnight. But i have just discovered that it hasn't posted at all. So sorry....

I have another postcard for you:

This one was sent to me from the Netherlands. It has an old Vespa type scooter on it. That takes me back it does.

Hester, who sent the card, went through the trouble of using more than one stamp. Aren't they great!

Unfortunately I have not been able to find much information about these stamps. The one on the right reads 'aalscholver', which means cormorant and I can't read the small print on the photo below as the resolution is too low.

The second from the right is a Christmas stamp from this series from 2024:

No information on any of them. 

So, what have I been doing? It's been Feria (fair) time in my village, so the whole week went by with a sort of carnaval atmosphere. I went out a few times with my friends and the village itself is bursting at its seams with visitors.

I wanted to go and see a performance of a local singer called Maria del Tango. She is quite well known in the region and she grew up here. She has an amazing voice.

It's a bit flamenco-ish of course as I live in Andalusia. (I don't know if the video works).

My friend Antonia and I made sure we got seats so we came early and ordered some drinks and snacks:

As it's T for Tuesday, this will be my qualifier. They only sold beer, so that's what I had as I don't drink soft drinks (soda).

Antonia took this picture of me:

Then on another night I went out again with my friends Antonia and Patricia:

We went out at 9 and queued outside a baked potato place for some supper.

It was called Don Papón. (Papa is a potato, papón is a huge potato). And huge they were:

With the topping the potato is hardly visible. It was really delicious.

We managed to get a table behind and somebody was kind enough to photograph us three ladies:

On the way back we strolled through the old part of the village:

It was a super evening.

That is all from me today. I am going to prepare the upstairs flat as I'm having my first HomeExchange guests on Wednesday. I want everything to be perfect.

Happy T-Day all,

Lisca

I have noticed the video hasn't come through and I don't know what to do about that, so here are two YouTube videos, both filmed in Caniles where I live. The first (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=inVLRwYF9sA) is Maria with her mum and aunties who are teaching her an old folk song about the daughter of the miller and she does her own take on it of course.

The second (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8gqkbiqEKWU) one is in black and white and was recorded the winter before last, also in my village. 

This last one (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LoYiipVY8fo) is my favorite and it is also recorded and filmed in Caniles and has some lovely guitar playing in it as well. The venue is the recently restored tythe barn called the Posito.

A POstcard A Day - Friday 8 August 2025 - Friday Smiles

 

Good morning lovely girls! Here I am to tell you about the smiles of the past week, but first there's a cute postcard:

It was sent by Veronica who lives in Pilsen, in the Czech Republic. Pilsen is famous for its Pilsner beer.

Wikipedia writes:

Pilsen is a city in the Czech Republic. It is the fourth most populous city in the Czech Republic with about 188,000 inhabitants. It is located about 78 kilometres (48 miles) west of Prague.

The city is known worldwide as the home of Pilsner beer, created by Bavarian brewer Josef Groll in the city in 1842;

today, the Pilsner Urquell Brewery is the largest brewery in the Czech Republic.

Pilsner Urquell is the world's first golden pilsner, the source of inspiration for all pilsner beers since 1842. It inspired a worldwide brewing revolution – over 70% of all beer drunk today is in the pilsner style lager.

The stamp is an interesting one:

Oh, sorry, that is a bit out of focus. Rather than take another picture, I found one on the Internet:

Wikipedia writes: Immanuel Kant (born Emanuel Kant; 22 April 1724 – 12 February 1804) was a German philosopher and one of the central thinkers of the Enlightenment.

Wikipedia writes: Immanuel Kant's main philosophical focus was on transcendental idealism, which explores the relationship between experience and reason, and deontology, a moral philosophy centered on duty and the categorical imperative. He sought to reconcile empiricism and rationalism, arguing that knowledge is derived from both sensory experience and innate mental structures. His work also significantly impacted political philosophy, advocating for a world of constitutional republics and international cooperation. 

Heavens! That was a bit too highfaluting for me. Too many isms.I searched 'Kant simple' and got this: Kant's ethical theory is that morality is grounded in rationality and that any ethical principles must apply both universally and unconditionally. Kant emphasized rationality and autonomy, arguing that individuals must act without regard to personal desires or incentives.

What have I been doing? On Saturday, after our weekly Intercambio (language exchange) session, a few of us went to La Montija restauant in Baza.

They have a lovely outside seating area and one of their specialities is baked potato. I wrote about it on Tuesday.

Sunday is church and the rest of the week was generally relaxing.

I've been watching quite a bit of tv, and trying to rest after a very hectic July. 

I've started watching a tv program called Destination X, (BBC), a reality show where a group of people have to guess where they are based on clues they  earn through challenges or just through observation. It's a bit like the Traitors where  there is a lot of scheming and deviousness going on.

I'm also watching Sommerdal Murders on CH4.

They are doing season 6 but I've only just finished viewing season 1. 

Inspector Dan Sommerdal (on the right), his pathologist wife Marianne and their best friend Flemming (left).

The series is entirely filmed in Helsingør (Elsinore), Denmark, and the plot revolves around the fictionalized killings that take place in the town.

IMDb writes: "The Sommerdahl Murders" follows DCI Dan Sommerdahl as he investigates murders in the Danish coastal town of Helsingør, alongside his best friend, Detective Flemming Torp, and his wife, criminal technician Marianne. The series explores the complexities of their personal lives, as Dan and Marianne's marriage is strained, and Dan discovers Flemming is his romantic rival. The show balances murder mysteries with character-driven drama, including themes of betrayal and personal decline according to Nordic Watchlist. "

In my village we are celebrating the yearly Feria. 

It's an annual week-long festival 

of music, food, flowers, rides, sports events, fireworks, 

dancing. 

People come form far

 and wide and party all through the night.

This was the stage in front of the town hall the other 

night.

Tonight (Thursday) I'm going to see Maria del Tango, 

my favorite local singer:

That is all for today. Of course there will be some funnies at the end.

Have a lovely weekend!

Lisca

A Postcard A Day - Tuesday 5 August 2025 - T for snow, stamps and breakfast

 Hello lovely peeps,

Is it as hot over yours as it is here? I hope not. We are having an exceptionally hot summer. I can really feel the global warming already.

Well, I have a postcard to cool you down:

It was sent to me by Scott, who lives in Oak Ridge,Tennessee. He posted this in an envelope and also wrote me a letter, in which he tells me that he is working as a secretary at the local Democratic Party. The postcard features the Arboretum of the University of Tennessee.

The stamps   on the envelope are stunning. There are six in total. The first four are these:

They are beautiful flowers. A stamp website explains more about these:

A new series of low denomination stamps will debut in 2024. Each stamp will showcase a different flower design: 1-cent fringed tulip, 2-cent daffodils, 3-cent peonies, 5-cent red tulips and 10-cent poppies and coneflowers. Photographer Harold Davis combines innovative technology with digital painting and photographic techniques to arrive at his unique floral designs.

Also on the same envelope are two more stamps:

On the left is John Lewis. I had to look this man up as I had never heard of him. The USPS website writes: A key figure in some of the most pivotal moments of the Civil Rights Movement, John Lewis was the face of the Nashville Student Movement, chairman of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, an original Freedom Rider, and one of the keynote speakers at the historic 1963 March on Washington. Even in the face of hatred and violence, Lewis remained resolute in his commitment to what he liked to call “good trouble.”

Devoted to equality and justice for all Americans, Lewis spent more than 30 years in the U.S. House of Representatives steadfastly defending and building on key civil rights gains that he helped achieve in the 1960s. He was a staunch and unwavering believer in and advocate for nonviolent protests. The recipient of more than 50 honorary degrees, he was called a “saint” by Time magazine and “the conscience of the Congress” by his colleagues.

The lady on the right is Ruth Bader Ginsburg. CNN writes:

The late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg will be honored with a new postage stamp in 2023, the US Postal Service announced Monday.

Ginsburg, a longtime liberal member of the high court who died at age 87 in 2020, will be featured on a forever stamp that shows an oil painting of her “facing the viewer in her black judicial robe with an intricate white collar,” USPS said in a statement. Such collars came to be an iconic part of the late justice’s wardrobe.

“After beginning her career as an activist lawyer fighting gender discrimination, Justice Ginsburg became a respected jurist whose important majority opinions advancing equality and strong dissents on socially controversial rulings made her a passionate proponent of equal justice and an icon of American culture,” the statement said.

What an amazing woman! 

What have I been doing this week? Last week my eldest son came to visit with his wife and two boys (see Friday's blog) and I drove them back to the coast, before they got their flight on Sunday. On the way back I broke my journey (I don't really like driving long distances on my own) at an English restaurant for some fish & chips:

I substituted the chips for a salad. There is a nearly empty glass of alcohol free beer, which will be my 'ticket' for the T-Party hosted by Elizabeth and Bluebeard.

On Saturday we got together for Intercambio where English speakers practice their Spanish and Spanish practice their English. A new couple have joined us since a few months. They come from Barcelona. Normally we would go for a drink after the session, but this time they had their daughter with them and they proposed to go to a nice restaurant and invited me along. 

The entrance had a beautiful flower bush with orange flowers. I think it's a trumpet vine, but not sure.

We had baked potatoes, for which this place is famous. But we also had some grilled meat but I didn't take photos. (I forgot).

I took a photo of my breakfast this morning:

You can see the envelope with the beautiful stamps lying next to my plate. I had toast with avocado and an egg.

That's it from me today. 

I sincerely hope they're not biting. Luckily we don't have a problem here. It's too dry. Mosquitos need water and it's too dry here.

Happy T-Day,

Lisca