A Postcard A Day - Tuesday 27 Octiber 2026 - T for The Big Apple, Ronnie and some book reviews

 Hello lovely peeps,

Here I am with a beautiful postcard:

It was not sent in the post but given to me by my friends K & A who have just come back from a trip to New York. Lucky so-and-sos! 

I think it features Brooklyn Bridge.

Their son works there and he lives in Brooklyn. They had the time of their life as said son had taken time off to show his parents around. (mostly on foot as the son lives fairly central). My friends admitted that they had never really wanted to visit NY but now that they've been, they think it's amazing. They say the people were so nice and all the places they've seen were really impressive.

They gave me two postcards. The other one I will show on Friday.

What have I been up to here in Spain? Well, apart from my usual things, I have started my make-up group, where we learn how to make ourselves up. (sorry, no photos)

On Saturday I went out for a drink with my friends from Intercambio (our language conversation group):

Here in the province of Granada, we get a free tapa with every drink. Here is our first tapa:

Baked potatoes with aioli sauce. 

(There is a drink in the background: my friend's shandy)

Then on Sunday, after church, I met friends at a restaurant to have a drink (and a tapa):

The tapa in this case was meatballs. I'm having an alcohol free beer as I was driving.

There is a drink in the above photo and the photo below shows Ronnie drinking, so that qualifies me for the T-Party, hosted by Elizabeth and Bluebeard.

Here is a photo of Ronnie, my cat:

He is drinking from his new stainless steel drinking fountain. We had a plastic one before but I thought this one would be more hygienic and washable in the dishwasher. He likes it. Phew!

As nothing much has happened this week, so I  thought I'd review a few more books I read over the summer.

First of all: Fall of Giants - Ken Follett

Fall of Giants is a 2010 historical novel by Welsh author Ken Follett. It is the first part of the Century Trilogy which follows five interrelated families throughout the course of the 20th century. The first book covers notable events such as World War I, the Russian Revolution, and the struggle for women's suffrage. Wikipedia

I had this as an audio book and absolutely loved it. It's about five families during the run-up to the first world war. Some of them are involved in politics, so I learned about the political situation leading up to the war and also one of the protagonists is involved in women's suffrage, which I enjoyed reading about. 

It's one of those un-put-downable books as you want to know what happens to those families you have invested in.

Needless to say I immediately bought the sequel (More about that at a later date).

It's quite a tome, but I do like that.

 I gave it five stars (the maximum).

Next up: Adriana Trigiani's View from Lake Como:

Wikipedia writes: The story follows Giuseppina (Jess) Capodimonte Baratta, an Italian American divorcee from Lake Como, New Jersey, as she loses her uncle, inherits the family marble business, gets investigated by the FBI, unearths family secrets, and moves to Carrara, Italy. Tired of conforming to social and domestic roles that make her feel anxious and unfulfilled, Jess wants to find what makes her—not her parents, ex-husband, or tight-knit community—happy.

I like books about Italy as I lived there for many years, but this was set in Lake Come, New Jersey. Eventually Jess moves to Italy and there she meets a man.... You can imagine what happens. At first they don't get on and then they fall in love. Typical romance story. The kind that I don't like at all. Then the whole FBI story line was not very credible. So, to be honest, I didn't like this at all. I gave it two stars. (I read this on my Kindle.)

Then there was Fingersmith by Sarah Waters. 

Oh my golly gosh! What a journey that was! 

Wikipedia writes: Sue Trinder, an orphan raised in "a Fagin-like den of thieves" by her adoptive mother, Mrs Sucksby, is sent to help Richard "Gentleman" Rivers seduce a wealthy heiress. Posing as a maid, Sue is to gain the trust of the lady, Maud Lilly, and eventually persuade her to elope with Gentleman. Once they are married, Gentleman plans to commit Maud to a madhouse and claim her fortune for himself. 

It's quite a con and everything goes to plan but there is a twist in the tail. Then when you think the story has finished, it starts again from Maud's point of view. And then the mind boggles! I'm not going to give anything away. 

I listened to this on Audible so I didn't realise the book hadn't finished when the story came to an end. Then the fun began!

I must warn you, it is quite a long read/listen, but well worth it. The author is lesbian and there is a much publicised explicit episode where the two ladies are in bed caressing each other, having fallen in love. It's only one scene and it didn't bother me. But there is definitely an illicit undertow through the whole book.

Conclusion: I loved it and it surprised me. I like to be surprised. If it's too predictable I probably find it boring. This was anything but.

I gave it five stars!

That is all from me.

I will leave you with a funny:

Happy T-Day all!

Lisca