A Postcard A Day - Friday 28 November 2025 - Friday Smiles

 Hello lovely peeps,

We've made it through another week and there have been lots of smiles and positive moments.

A postcard always makes me smile, and particularly this one:

It comes from Russia and was sent to me by Boris. I had never heard of this book. I looked on the Internet and found this:

These three charming books were printed by Puffin Books in the 1940’s. They don’t seem to have been reprinted, not just by Puffin but by anyone, which bearing in mind that they are for very young readers, or more likely parents reading to young children, and their inherently fragile nature consisting of just eight sheets of paper, including the covers, folded and stapled in their centre makes finding them in good condition extremely difficult.

The Holiday Train Goes To The Moon is the last book in the series, not just of the Holiday Train but of Baby Puffins themselves as an imprint was published in April 1948 as the ninth Baby Puffin.

The book tells the story of The Holiday Train being surprised by Carrumpus, a magical character who introduces himself saying “I come to visit trains when they get tired or overworked and cheer them up.” He does this by granting them a wish.

As you can see above The Holiday Train wishes he could fly and soon he has wonderful golden wings so he could fly around rather than running on rails.

Soon he decides to travel to the moon where he finds a railway, but not one like at home as here the carriages pull the locomotive rather than the other way round. But nevertheless The Holiday Train sets off to explore.

A fun story. The stamps are great too:

The stamp on the right features S. V. Kovalevskaya. Wikipedia writes: Sofya Vasilyevna Kovalevskaya  born Korvin-Krukovskaya; 15 January [O.S. 3 January] 1850 – 10 February 1891) was a Russian mathematician who made noteworthy contributions to analysis, partial differential equations and mechanics. She was a pioneer of equality for women in mathematics. Kovalevskaya was the first woman to earn a doctorate in mathematics, in the modern sense of that term, the first woman appointed to a full professorship in mathematics (and one of the first appointed to a full professorship in any discipline), as well as one of the first women to work for a scientific journal as an editor. According to historian of science Ann Hibner Koblitz, Kovalevskaya was "the greatest known woman scientist before the twentieth century"

Clever lady!

The left hand stamp celebrates 450 years of Ufa.

The postage stamp provides an image of the monument to M. Shaimuratov, the building of the Bashkir State Opera and Ballet Theatre against the background of the city panorama.

The query "450 years UFA" refers to the 450th anniversary of the city of Ufa, the capital of the Republic of Bashkortostan, which was celebrated in 2024

The city was founded in 1574, and this milestone was marked by official celebrations, congratulations from figures like Vladimir Putin, and commemorative events, according to Russian sources and news outlets. 

Apparently there is a beautiful mosque in Ufa:

This photo is from 2015 and it looks like they are getting the mosque cleaned up before the big celebration.

What has been happening here in Spain? Well, Monday saw me driving to Murcia airport again as my daughter was leaving. On Tuesday my friends Kim and Andy came to lunch.

My cat Ronnie loves to sit on Andy's lap. When they arrive I call Ronnie and say: Your favourite lap has arrived.

On Wednesday I go to the gym. 

We do all sorts of exercises with weights on our ankles and sometimes we use dumbells or elastics. The chairs are there for balance as most of us are older ladies.

Here is my teacher Ana:

And here am I posing with Ana:

Yesterday evening I went to yoga (no photos) and on the way home I photographed the Ginko Biloba tree in our village . There are several, but this one is pretty as its leaves are changing colour:

The ginko biloba leaves are very recognisable:

The look like wings.

Also yesterday my dinner consisted of lamb's liver. I like liver and I like to eat it at least once a year. 

I cooked lots of onions and then some French green beans. Then I flash fried the liver slices. Very nice it was too. Of course I didn't eat all that. That were two portions.

That was my week. Lots of smiles.

I will leave you some funnies at the end like I always do, but for now, I will say: Have a lovely weekend and keep smiling!

Lisca

A Postcard A Day - Tuesday 25 November 2025 - T for Thermal springs, pizza and a foal

Hello lovely ladies,

As you might know I love turtles, so I was very pleased with this lovely postcard of a turtle:

It was sent by Peggy from Monterey in California. She writes that it made her think of the turtle she saw on the beach in Kihei, Hawaii.

The stamp is this one:

It's the compass (2025), unfortunately it was canceled by hand with a ballpoint.

I have had a very pleasant few days. My daughter came over from the UK to see me. She flew from Manchester to Murcia airport, so I drove to Murcia to collect her. It was just over two hours drive. 

I had organized some nice things to do and after just chilling on Wednesday, we had a massage on Thursday. (absolute bliss). On Friday we went swimming in the thermal baths/spring.

On the left, where the people are, is the place where the hot water comes out of the ground.

It was a cold day, but the water was warm of course.

I didn't go in the water myself, and I just took lots of photos of my daughter.

On Saturday we met with our friends David and Patricia and we decided to have pizza:

David took the photo so he is not in the picture, but his glass of wine is (and mine is in my hand). I'm mentioning this drink as it is T for Tuesday today and I need a drink to be able to join this party hosted by Elizabeth and Bluebeard.

On Sunday we went to 'house church' which was held on a farm. There were lots of horses milling about when I parked the car. Then all of a sudden I spotted a foal!

I don't know who the mother was as there were quite a few horses and mules.

That was my week. Yesterday I drove to the airport again and we said goodbye. Until next time.

And it is goodbye for us as well as this is it from me for today.

Happy T-Day!

Lisca

A Postcard A Day - Friday 21 November 2025 - Friday Smiles

 Hello lovely peeps,

Have you all had a good week? Here it's all 'hunky-dory' (a very English expression meaning 'Okay').

My daughter is staying with me at the moment, so I'm enjoying her company. I'm going to show you my postcard and other things that made me smile this week.

This delightful postcard shows beautiful Thai ladies greeting us with 'Sawasdee'. It was sent to me by Ewa who lives in New York but loves to travel to Thailand. She goes there every year she writes. Ewa is from the Ukraine, from a town called Kropyvnytskyi(formerly: Yelisavetgrad,      Kirovohrad) 

Wikivoyage writes: It is the administrative center of Kirovohrad Oblast. It is an industrial and cultural center of Kirovohrad Oblast. Kropyvnytskyi is located on the Dnieper Upland, on the banks of river Inhul. It is a motorway junction. There is a train station (Znamyanka - Pomoshnaya line) and a civilian airport. Kropyvnytskyi is not famous for its places of interest, but the downtown still bears the remnants of old architecture. 

Some of the old buildings are renovated and some are still in the process of renovation. The city administration is doing a good job of making Kropyvnytskyi a better place both for locals and tourists. The locals like to call Kropyvnytskyi "a little Paris" due to its resemblance to Paris before the Soviet Union have destroyed the look of the city in the 20th century.

Ewa writes it's called The City of One Million Tulips.

The stamp is the forever stamp showing the sempervivum:

She also added a beautiful sticker:

So, here in southern Spain the weather is getting cooler. I have had the stove on several evenings and I have put a duvet on my bed. I've also put away all my summer clothes (keeping a few bits and pieces aside for when I visit the Costa del Sol where it is always warmer).

Tuesday is the day that my friends Kim and Andy usually come to lunch, but on this occasion his car wouldn't start and he diagnosed that the alternator had packed up, so the rest of the day was spent (unsuccessfully) trying to get the part. In the end we did have a belated lunch and I took them shopping (as they live out in the country with nothing within walking distance) and then I took them home. 

On Wednesday morning I drove to Murcia Airport:

It's a two hour drive from here. I had (with Andy's help) rigged up my phone to play an internet radio station and my satnav, so it was a pleasant drive.

I parked in the covered car park (on the left in the above photo) and then waited in the cafe:

The flight was on time.

I've only just realised (now that I am looking at the photo) that the name Murcia is on the cladding of the building. You can see the big R and then the CIA.

I introduced T to my cat Ronnie:

 Yesterday, Thursday, we both went for a massage.

My daughter took a picture of me by the colourful hedge:

The jacket is the leather jacket I bought in Lisbon last year (for those of you who remember me writing about that trip).

I get the evening sun at he front and my daughter sat outside the front door for an hour basking in the sun:

Tomorrow, Friday, we are going swimming in the lake where there are thermal springs. Hot water comes out of the ground. That's very nice. I'm looking forward to it.

That's all for now from me.

Enjoy your weekend,

I'll try to find some more funnies and add them at the end.