A Postcard A Day - Tuesday 30 June 2026 - T for white nights, sweeties, and paella

 Hello lovely peeps,

Are you thirsty? Then join me for a drink at the T-Party hosted by Elizabeth and Bluebeard. But before we indulge, let me show you a postcard...

It is a map card of Michigan in the USA. It was sent to me by Erik, who is an academic librarian in Tennessee but is originally from Michigan. I have never been to Michigan but I have been on holiday on the north coast of Lake Superior (still in Minnesota) and have visited Duluth.

Michigan has many Dutch settlers and immigrants. That is another reason why Michigan rings a bell for me.

The stamp is the weathervane forever stamp:

The cancellation stamp features love birds. Probably because this card was posted a couple of days after St Valentine's Day. 

What have I been doing? Well, on Saturday our village organised its yearly 'Noches Blancos' (White Nights').

The poster announces live music, tourist train, sports activities, caricaturist, bouncy castles, master classes etc.

The two main streets were closed to traffic and there were many bouncy castled and other attractions for the children. Most shops in the centre had a stall outside their shop, offered discounts etc. 

Local groups held demonstrations:

The streets were full of music and laughter. It was fun. I popped into the boutiques as they were offering discounts. But my bank card/account has been cloned (while I was in Madrid) and I had to freeze my account and now I'm waiting for a new card. So I can't buy anything. I lost a lot of money and I hope I will eventually get it back but it has to go through the process. I spent all morning yesterday going to the police and to the bank doing all the paperwork. There is nothing more I can do. So no more new clothes for me for a while.

A more positive thing is that I have visitors again in my flat upstairs. They are Flemish from Brughes in Belgium. They have bought a dilapidated house about 40 minutes from here and are spending their holiday doing it up. They brought me some goodies from Belgium. Chocolates were out of the question with this heat, but I received this:

The box on the top had raspberry flavoured jellos covered with a coating:

They are absolutely delicious!

Then there was a box of cookies, half covered with a chocolaty salted caramel coating:

And last but not least, a bag of sour boiled sweets, which I have not opened yet, but are destined for my car.

I remember these sour balls from my childhood.

Sunday I was invited to dinner after church by some friends. Church finished early and I didn't want to turn up at their house at 12:30 when dinner is at 14:00. So had an hour and a half to kill. I stopped at a nearby bar that had recently changed hands and I ordered a Tinto de Verano, which means red summer wine. It's a lady's drink and it is red wine with lemonade (I was driving).

Of course I got a tapa with that and in this case it was paella, a traditional rice dish. This one was very tasty indeed with lots of seafood and I was sorry I couldn't stay for a meal, (which I am tempted to do next week.)

My friends are from Ecuador and there is always something Ecuadorian on the menu. In this case there were fried bananas:

These bananas were savoury and crispy. Very nice.

She had also made a beef stew and a beetroot and carrot salad.

I took some photos and because I am never in the photo myself, someone else took this one:

This time I am in it.

That is all for today. I will link in with T For Tuesday hosted by Elizabeth and Bluebeard as my Tinto de Verano drink will qualify me for that.

Happy Tuesday and happy T-Day all!

Lisca