A Postcard A Day - Tuesday 3 September 2025 - T for Paradise Bookshop, rumba and paper art

 Hello lovely peeps, How are you all? I am back from my travels and it was wonderful to be reunited with my Ronnie (my cat). I missed him a lot.

My postcard today comes from China:

It was sent by surface mail so it has been in the post since June! The sender writes his/her name in Chinese characters so I have no idea how to say that.

The characters at the top of the Ex Libris card read "Old Paradise Bookshop" (courtesy of Google Translate).

The stamps are beautiful:

The two on the left represent the 2020 Shanghai Expo and The bird on the right is a stork or a crane. The red 'thing' looks like macramé. It is called Chinese knots.

"Chinese macramé" refers to Chinese knotting, a decorative Chinese folk art that uses a single length of cord to weave intricate, symbolic shapes. Popular since the Tang and Song dynasties, it is a form of macramé involving knotting techniques, not a different craft altogether. These knots are known for their aesthetic appeal and are often imbued with symbolic meaning, serving as good luck charms or talismans.  

I think it's very beautiful. I might have a go at that....

I wrote about my trip on Friday. I'll tell you some more. 

I attended a concert. I had bought a ticket as that was the only thing that was going on as far as I could see on the Internet. It was called 'A Rumba', so I assumed it was rumba music. Well it wasn't. It was a group of musicians and singers who were playing songs that were popular in the 60s and 70s. (Songs I didn't know) 

They were good and I enjoyed it. It was typical Spanish music, famenco-ish. The audience was full of older people.

Another thing I visited is the Origami museum. That was all about the history and origin of origami in the far east and also in Europe.

I was given a folded 'kiss' when I entered:

There were other rooms dedicated to art with paper:

Amazingly beautiful.

Zaragoza has many impressive churches, as you would expect of a Catholic country. The biggest was the basilica of Maria del Pilar (Mary of the Pillar):

Wikipedia writes: The Cathedral Basilica of Our Lady of the Pillar (Spanish: Catedral-Basílica de Nuestra Señora del Pilar) is a Catholic church in the city of Zaragoza, Aragon. It is dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary under the title of Our Lady of the Pillar, praised as "Mother of the Hispanic Peoples" by Pope John Paul II. It is reputed to be the first-ever church dedicated to Mary.

Local traditions take the history of this basilica to the spread of Christianity in Roman Spain attributing to an apparition to Saint James the Great, the apostle who is believed by tradition to have brought Christianity to the country. This is the only reported apparition of Mary to have occurred before her reputed Assumption.

The architecture is of Baroque style, and the present building was predominantly built between 1681 and 1872.

This last photo is from the Internet, the others are mine. Below another photo from the Internet that shows the beautiful roofs:

Today I will be joining Elizabeth and Bluebeard for the T-Party. Of course I will bring a drink to the party.

I have a photo of a lunch I had at a Japanese restaurant but my glass was still empty....

I thought I'd take a picture before other people entered.

Below are the sushi that I had:

Very nice it was too.

That is all from me today. 

Happy T-Day,

Lisca

A Postcard A Day - Friday 26 September 2025 - Friday Smiles

 Hello lovely girls, Let's see if Blogger behaves itself this time. Friday was a nightmare and I ended up having to write two parts.

Today I have a really beautiful postcard to show you. It's a Maxi card:

Maxi card means there is a stamp with the same image as the card on the picture side. In this case it features a sheepdog and a 'hunk' of a rancher.

Here is a close-up of the stamp:

The cancellation stamp is fun as it has the dog's paw print on it.

There is another stamp in the back as it has come by air mail from Australia and the stamp on the front was probably not enough postage:

The person that sent it to me (through Postcrossing) is called Sam. I don't know if Sam is a Samantha or  Samuel. 

It's a tiny but very cute little sticker.

Let me tell you what I've been up to since my last blogpost. After a very pleasant weekend in Granada, I went on a train journey. This is the railway station of Granada:

I had a ticket for a fast train. (Haha that reminds me of a song called 'My baby just wrote me a letter.' - Boxtops 1967).

In Spain these trains are called AVE. I had to go through security like at the airport and all luggage goes through a scanner.

Inside was modern and comfortable:

The journey was four and a half hours. That is very fast considering my destination was Zaragoza in the north.

I arrived in the evening, settled into my accommodation and the morning after, I got another train. A very slow local train to Canfranc, a railway station in the Pyrenees. 

I have always wanted to see this beautifully restored building.

It is now a very posh hotel, and only the lobby is open to non-guests.

There were old railway carriages in the station:

I assume they are still being used.

There are only a couple of trains a day, so to go back to Zaragoza I had to wait until 6 pm. So after I had some kunch, I went on a long walk. But boy was it cold!

Do you remember it was 42 degrees C in Granada, well here it was much colder! I had brought warmer clothes but it was still bitterly cold. 

I took a walk that was part of the Camino de Santiago and I found myself near the tunnel with France. 

The scenery is beautiful, very mountainous. I walked as far as the Fusilier's Tower :

(Sorry for the bad photo.) I climbed up, but the building was closed. But I did find a place to sit in the sun and out of the biting wind which was very pleasant.

I did catch my 6 pm train and after a well deserved G&T, I went to bed.

That is it from me today. The highlights of my week so far. 

There will be some funnies at the end for you to have a giggle.

Enjoy your weekend,

Lisca

A Postcard A Day - Tuesday 23 September 2025 - T for meet-up, hot weather and baby squid

 Hello lovely peeps, Let's hope Blogger behaves itself today and I had problems on Friday. 

I have an usual postcard for you today as it is the card made specially for the Postcrossing Meet-up in Granada that I attended.

It is a drawing made by one of the girls (Silvia). I had never been able to attend a meet-up. Postcrossing is a thing that one does online (although the postcards are physical postcards) so I've never met any fellow Postcrossers. (And there are more than 500.000 worldwide). 

So when I saw that someone was organising a meet-up in Granada, I put my name down.

We were 10 ladies all together. The man in the photo is the husband of one of the girls who came to pick her up.

Each of us had ordered a certain amount of cards and then everyone signed the cards which we passed round the table. That is quite a job as Most people had 30 or more cards. Some 100. I got cramp in my fingers signing so many cards. Most girls had little stamps made with their Postcrossing name:

Good Idea. I'll make sure I have one when I go to another meet-up.

Before leaving we had our photo taken:

I can be seen second from the left.

I shall show you a few more photos of of Granada:

This is a door in a palace called the Madras.

This is just any old street in Granada, and you can see the famous Alhambra in the distance on top of the hill.

This photo is to show you that it's still very hot here. 42 degrees C is 107.6 F. That's hot!

I can't remember what this building is. It's next to the cathedral. I just thought it was interesting.

And now for an image of a beverage as today is the T-Party, hosted by Elizabeth and Bluebeard:

It was my supper the other day. The drink is white wine and I'm eating 'chipirones'. (baby squid)

This is the restaurant. I sat outside as it was still very hot.

That is it from me this Tuesday,

Happy T-Day all!

Lisca