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

 Hello lovely peeps.

Here we are again to go over the past week and remember the smiles and count our blessings. My week has been very blessed, but let me show you my postcard for today:

No prizes for guessing where it comes from. Yes, you guessed it: Ukraine.

The text on the card translates: 'Greetings from Ukraine' and the title is simply 'Sunflowers'. Usually sunflowers make me smile, but this one just makes me sad...

The card is not signed and he/she writes: "From a country that wants peace. However I am forced to defend myself from an invasion called Russia, which hates and destroys my nation with all its heart."

It's heart breaking.

The stamps are pretty. The left one is the shield of the village of Koropetz. The other one I can't read properly because of the cancellation stamp.

Enough about the postcard, what has been happening here?

Last Friday I had my nails done (big smile) and over the weekend I went on a Photoshop course (See Tuesday's blog).

The weather has been really bad, heavy storms with high wind speeds. I had several sleepless nights because of the whistling and howling of the wind and things banging outside. I have two car ports and I was afraid the roof was blowing off the downstairs one. Later my neighbour (and good friend) Tam told me it nearly blew off and tomorrow he is going to fix it properly.

Then the other day the clouds lifted and I woke up to this:

A little bit of snow in the sierra, but not a lot. So I immediately put the washing machine to work as I hadn't been able to wash for nearly a week. On a nice day, washing dries in a couple of hours. That also made me smile.

This morning my friend Kim and I went to the nearby town for our hair appointment. I usually only just have a cut as I like the colour of my hair.

An awkward selfie, and a half smile but you get the gist...

Tomorrow (Friday) I'm going to Pilates and I'm having a massage straight after that. (Big smile to come). Then I'll treat myself to a lovely poke bowl from the nearby Japanese take-away. I'll try to remember to take a picture of my poke bowl so I can show you next week.

I have spent my evenings cuddled up with my cat Ronnie:

He usually lays stretched out over my legs but yesterday slept on my hands. He didn't wake up even though I got my phone out and took this shot.

I've been watching Silent Witness. I've also started (re)watching The Prisoner, the series from the 60s. I saw it at the time, and as a result of that my family visited Port Meirion which really is exactly as in the film. Only we saw the series in black and white at the time as we didn't have colour tv back thenI also love Flog it! and was deeply saddened by the death of Michael Baggott.

I'm collecting English language books so we can start an English section in the local library. Of an evening I sit in front of the TV and I register all the titles. I do it one bag at a time. I have done over 80 books and am now on bag number 7. Three more to go.

That is it from me today. I will add some funnies at the end as per usual.(And some words of wisdom)

Enjoy your weekend,

Hugs,

Lisca

67. (Haha, 67 was my cat walking over the keyboard)

A Postcard A Day - Tuesday 28 January 2025 - T for Vermont and pink nails

 Hello lovely ladies,

It's Tuesday once again. The week has flown by and once again I'm going to join the T-Party hosted by Elizabeth and Bluebeard. But first let me show you my postcard:

And yes, it comes from the United States, but not from Vermont. It was sent by Pat who lives in Atlanta, Georgia. She says Coca-cola was invented there. 

What strikes me about the map are the many English place names: St.Albans, Bristol, Richmond, Manchester, Rutland, Chester, Plymouth. These are all places in the UK I have actually been to. Montpellier is a part of Bristol (UK). 

There is some information about Vermont on the back of the card:

I also find this info interesting as I don't know much about the different states.

The stamp was the lovely orange daisy (I call it a gerbera):

Well, what has been happening here in Spain. Not much. It's January, and not much going on.

There is an awful storm raging t the moment. I have hardly slept a wink last night for all the whistling and howling. Horrible. Temperatures are mild. That is a blessing. I hope tonight the wind will be less, so I can sleep. 

I've been to the beautician together with my friend Kim to have my nails done:

And here is Kim:

I now have pink nails:

I'm longing for spring and bright colours.

The other thing I did was attend a course in Photoshop, organized by the local photo club.

Here I am on the right with a green jumper. I found it quite confusing. Having used Photoshop Elements when I did digital scrapbooking, I thought it would be easy, but it is very complicated. I have learnt something, not much, but something. Next time I'll learn more.

Of course this is the T-Party and I should share a drink with you. This is what I have in front of me: A drink called Aquarius, an isotonic drink.

What you see in the background on the TV is the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz concentration camp.  I have been watching it this afternoon. Very moving. Heads of state and royalty from allover Europe and beyond.

That is it from me today.

Happy T-Day to all!

Lisca

A Postcard A Day - Friday 24 January 2025 - Friday Smiles

 

Hello lovely girls,

How has your week been? Lots of smiles to go round? Have there been clouds? Then there is always a silver lining.

I'm going to show you a postcard which will make you smile:

Yes, they are the 'naughty aunties' by Finnish illustrator Inge Löök. The card doesn't come from Finland though; it was posted in Germany and it has a normal, but pretty, floral stamp on it: 

And just for fun, the sender has added a colourful 'aunties' sticker:

My week has tripped along nicely (as my blog friend Virginia would say). I've done gym and Pilates and have gone for long walks, the longest one was yesterday when my friend Antonia and I walked for 6 km. At some point we saw a sign that said they were working on the 'Camino de Tia Antonia', (Auntie Antonia's way):

Of course she wanted to be photographed by the sign:

And he am I too, just for good measure:

I've this week booked a little holiday (next month). Resorts on the south coast of Spain are usually half empty out of season and because I'm over 65, I can go on a (possibly subsidized) holiday, full board, transport, 10 days for a ridiculously low price. So next month I will be going to Matalascañas in the Huelva province.

It's in the middle of the brown coastline.The climate is very mild so, although it won't be bikini weather, it will most certainly be short sleeve weather ideal for walks and sight-seeing.

That's it from me and I'll leave you with a photo of what gives me most smiles:

I'm going to check out my friends' smiles and head over to Annie at A Stitch In Time

Have a lovely weekend,

Hugs,

Lisca

A Postcard A Day - Tuesday 21 January 2025 - T for Sibelius, coffee and cat

 Hello lovely peeps,

A Very good morning to you all. Here is my postcard for today:

It comes to me from Finland and it features Jean Sibelius' house, from the film "Jean Sibelius at Home" 1927 and the book of the same name (2010, 2015).

Wikipedia writes: Jean Sibelius, orig. Johan Julius Christian Sibelius, (born Dec. 8, 1865, Hämeenlinna, Fin.—died Sept. 20, 1957, Järvenpää), Finnish composer. He played violin and composed as a child, and later he studied composition with Karl Goldmark (1830–1915). After initially concentrating on chamber music, he rapidly developed into an orchestral composer. He became involved with the movement for national independence from Russia, and his nationalism resulted in works based on Finnish folklore, such as Kullervo (1892), the Karelia suite (1893), Legends from the Kalevala (1893), and Finlandia (1900). His major achievements were his seven symphonies (1899–1924), the Violin Concerto in D Minor (1903), and Tapiola (1926). His works, marked by a sweeping but melancholy Romanticism, achieved international popularity. He wrote nothing in his last 30 years.

The house is called Ainola, which means Aino's place. Aino being Sibelius' wife:

Aino Sibelius in 1922

Again from Wikipedia: From the time of their engagement, Aino and Sibelius had talked about getting a house of their own in the country, and had looked for a house near Lake Tuusula as early as 1898. When Sibelius's wealthy bachelor uncle died in July 1903, they bought about 2.5 acres (10,000 m²) of land in Järvenpää near Lake Tuusula, using Sibelius's share of his uncle's estate to pay the architect. Lars Sonck was chosen to design their house, which they called Ainola. The Sibelius family moved there in the autumn of 1904, having borrowed a substantial amount of money to buy the land and build the house.

The house has been a museum since 1974.

The stamps are pretty:

I like the odd-shaped 5 cents stamp.

Today we are celebrating T-Day by having a T-Party hosted by Elizabeth and Bluebeard. We need a drink for that. Well, I'm bringing coffee. I make a cup of coffee as soon as I wake up. it needs to be a quickie so I use Nescafé ('Gold' is the only instant coffee I like):

But as soon as I come home from Pilates or the gym or whatever I was doing that morning, I will make proper coffee. 

I have two types of coffee:

I like the Colombia but it is not always easy to find as I live in a small rural village. I store my coffee in the fridge. Yes, weird, I know, but it is an old Italian habit that I haven't shaken.

I make my coffee in a French press:

This is a small one for one person. 

Then I heat milk up in the 'frother':

It comes out all frothy and fluffy like in a bar.

Enough about coffee. It's been cold here:

But at least the sun is shining:

Ronnie the cat is doing well. He still vomits occasionally, which annoys me no-end as he always does it at night, in the bed. (He sleeps on top of the bed at the bottom) He wakes me up in the middle of the night making gagging noises and then I have to throw him off the bed as quickly as I can or he'll vomit all over my duck-down duvet. (I've already had to have it dry cleaned once and that is expensive).

Apart from that he is an absolute darling:

That's all for now.

Happy T-Day all,

Hugs,

Lisca