A Postcard A Day - 5 April 2016

Good Morning! Happy Tuesday!

I hope you've all had a good week. I certainly have. We're in our new kitchen! We have moved upstairs from a grotty cave to a new, light and airy appartment above. My husband has spent more than a year building it, but it is nealry finished and certainly useable. I am a happy bunny.
This is what it looks like:

As I'm going to link up with Elizabeth at Altered Booklover for T For Tuesday, I will add a photo of me drinking something. This is lunch (I made a risotto).

I am drinking plain old boring water, but I'm trying to lose a bit more weight so no wine yet for me.

Now for the postcard. This is one I have sent (rather than received). I buy my postcards in Russia (online) and this is a very popular one:

It is by Russian artist Oxana Zaika, who is famous for painting cats. This has a coffee cup in it so qualifies also for the T for Tuesday...

It is raining here! Which is great by the way as we live in a very arid area and it hardly ever rains. The land needs it desperately. It usually rains in winter but this winter we have had no rain at all. I never thought I'd be ecstatic about rain (having lived in the UK). But there you are.

That's it from me this time. I will visit you all later today.

Happy T-Day and a great week ahead,
Lisca

A Postcard A Day - Friday 1 April 2016

Good Morning folks. It's the first of April, but I'm not going to play a joke on you. 

Instead let's share some smiles!

Lots of nice things happened this week. On Monday we took our campervan to a repair place on the coast where we were staying. Easter Monday is a normal working day here in Spain, so it was open. Our water pump was not doing its job and we had another one fitted. (No photos as water pumps and repair shops are boring).

We were back home on Tuesday and went to eat lunch at our usual restaurant.

The photo is an older one taken before I had my hair cut. But it's just to show you the inside of the restaurant. We chose to eat in the bar rather than the dining area.

Wednesday DH connected the water in my new kitchen and we prepared to move on Thursday. I unplugged the fridge, and on Thursday morning I moved the contents in two coolboxes and one of our younger neighbours came to help move yesterday. The fridge and sofa have been moved and yesterday I cooked my first meal in the new kitchen: roast chicken and roast potatoes with veg.

The new kitchen is operational. I am still in the process of allocating cupboard space to different things. DH hung up those Ikea bars and hooks. So handy. Here is another photo. I apologise for the bad quality.

Anyway, I am a very happy bunny!
Now for the postcard:

Pussycats! It's a watercolor by artist Alena Dergileva, a Moscow artist, who generally paints the streets of Moscow. The painting is called: "Old Zaraysk. Meeting". Zaraysk is a town 150 km from Moscow. It has some old buildings. 

This could well be the house on the painting....

The stamps are really beautiful:

I always try to find out more about the pretty stamps. The bottom one is from the series arts and crafts, but I don't know what it represents. The top one is from the series Culture of Russian People - National Head dress - Middle of XIX Century, Yaroslavl Province.

I will finish with a funny:

 Read it out loud and... laugh out loud! Got it!

Have a great week everyone, wishing you lots of smiles. I'm linking up with Annie at A Stitch in Time who leads our Friday Smiles. And then later I will link up with Virginia who does Rocking Your World Friday.

Blessings,

Lisca

A Postcard a Day - Friday 18 Dec 2015 - Friday Smiles

Good Morning! 

It is Friday. Only three more sleeps before we fly to Holland! The suitcase is on the spare bed and every time I remember something I want/need to take, I fling it in the suitcase. Sunday night we will be packing and weighing seriously. I have made two Christmas cakes and they are flippin' heavy (full of brandy).

I'm joining in with Annie at A Stitch in Time for Friday Smiles, where we focus on the good and the positive.

Today I will (hopefully) make you smile with this postcard I received this week.

What a sweet kiss! It was sent to me by Irina from Tyumen City, Western Siberia. She writes that she has 'charged' it with "good luck and only positive emotions and happiness".
The stamps are really beautiful:

There is a bee, some gladioli and a 'pandion haliaetus' which in English is an osprey or a sea hawk. It is a fish eating bird of prey.

Now for a couple of Christmas funnies:

I'm making this into a Christmas card for a scrabble playing friend. 

Our little cat is doing fine and growing. He's still very playful. It's just as well that we are going away this Christmas, so we haven't erected a tree. I don't know how we could have put up a tree with so many shiny and dangly things that cats love. I found the solution on the internet:

I came across a lovely story, that really gets the positive message of Christmas across. It moved me to tears. It's a bit long so I'll put it right at the end. 

So if you haven't got time, you can stop right here and accept my best wishes for a peaceful Christmas and a very happy and healthy New Year.

Blessings

Lisca

Here is the (anonymous) story: (It's in the vein of Papa Panov by Leo Tolstoy. Don't know that one? Google it, and read it with your tissue ready.)

Grandma and Santa Clause....

I remember my first Christmas adventure with Grandma. I was just a kid.

I remember tearing across town on my bike to visit her on the day my big sister dropped the bomb: "There is no Santa Claus," she jeered. "Even dummies know that!"
My Grandma was not the gushy kind, never had been. I fled to her that day because I knew she would be straight with me. I knew Grandma always told the truth, and I knew that the truth always went down a whole lot easier when swallowed with one of her "world-famous" cinnamon buns. I knew they were world-famous, because Grandma said so. It had to be true.

Grandma was home, and the buns were still warm. Between bites, I told her everything. She was ready for me. "No Santa Claus?" she snorted...."Ridiculous! Don't believe it. That rumor has been going around for years, and it makes me mad, plain mad!! Now, put on your coat, and let's go."

"Go? Go where, Grandma?" I asked. I hadn't even finished my second world-famous cinnamon bun. "Where" turned out to be Kerby's General Store, the one store in town that had a little bit of just about everything. As we walked through its doors, Grandma handed me ten dollars. That was a bundle in those days. "Take this money," she said, "and buy something for someone who needs it. I'll wait for you in the car." Then she turned and walked out of Kerby's.

I was only eight years old. I'd often gone shopping with my mother, but never had I shopped for anything all by myself. The store seemed big and crowded, full of people scrambling to finish their Christmas shopping.

For a few moments I just stood there, confused, clutching that ten-dollar bill, wondering what to buy, and who on earth to buy it for.

I thought of everybody I knew: my family, my friends, my neighbors, the kids at school, the people who went to my church.

I was just about thought out, when I suddenly thought of Bobby Decker. He was a kid with bad breath and messy hair, and he sat right behind me in Mrs. Pollock's grade-two class. Bobby Decker didn't have a coat. I knew that because he never went out to recess during the winter. His mother always wrote a note, telling the teacher that he had a cough, but all we kids knew that Bobby Decker didn't have a cough; he didn't have a good coat. I fingered the ten-dollar bill with growing excitement. I would buy Bobby Decker a coat!
I settled on a red corduroy one that had a hood to it. It looked real warm, and he would like that.
"Is this a Christmas present for someone?" the lady behind the counter asked kindly, as I laid my ten dollars down. "Yes, ma'am," I replied shyly. "It's for Bobby."

The nice lady smiled at me, as I told her about how Bobby really needed a good winter coat. I didn't get any change, but she put the coat in a bag, smiled again, and wished me a Merry Christmas.

That evening, Grandma helped me wrap the coat (a little tag fell out of the coat, and Grandma tucked it in her Bible) in Christmas paper and ribbons and wrote, "To Bobby, From Santa Claus" on it.
Grandma said that Santa always insisted on secrecy. Then she drove me over to Bobby Decker's house, explaining as we went that I was now and forever officially, one of Santa's helpers.
Grandma parked down the street from Bobby's house, and she and I crept noiselessly and hid in the bushes by his front walk. Then Grandma gave me a nudge. "All right, Santa Claus," she whispered, "get going."

I took a deep breath, dashed for his front door, threw the present down on his step, pounded his door and flew back to the safety of the bushes and Grandma.

Together we waited breathlessly in the darkness for the front door to open. Finally it did, and there stood Bobby.

Fifty years haven't dimmed the thrill of those moments spent shivering, beside my Grandma, in Bobby Decker's bushes. That night, I realized that those awful rumors about Santa Claus were just what Grandma said they were -- ridiculous. Santa was alive and well, and we were on his team.

I still have the Bible, with the coat tag tucked inside: $19.95.

May you always have LOVE to share,

WOYWW 341: desk, workshop and kitty

Hello folks! 

Here we are again at WOYWW (which stands for Whats On Your Work desk Wednesday) where we have fun blog hopping and looking at each other's desks. Come and join the party. Here is the link for Julia who leads us in the fun: Stamping Ground.

The photo of my desk was taken yesterday afternoon, when it was warm and sunny.

I have received a few Christmas cards, two robins (what is it about Christmas and robins? I don't see the connection....), but the middle one is from Kate. She made this with her die cutting machine in vynil. It's very intricate and very beautiful.

The booklet in the fore ground is a 'Traveling Notebook'. It gets sent to different people from all over the world (who have signed up). The idea is to write something about yourself, your city, your country, your job or whatever you want to write about. (Some of these TNs are about recipes, but not this one. This one is a general one). I have written in two before so I still have the photos on my computer from the last one. The page that i am working on is about Caniles (where I live).

Apart from a Sudoku book and a doodle/tangle book, there isn't much on my desk.

Earlier this week I did a workshop for some ladies in the village and we made some Christmas decorations:

In this photo it is really evident that I live in a building site and that it is a work in progress....
Anyway, I did the white star for the absolute beginners as it is the easiest thing to do. And we also did the red star and the bauble (made out of die-cut shapes). One of the ladies is English and the others are Spanish speaking. The Spanish speaking ladies are desperate to learn English, so we decided we would speak only English! That was a laugh!

I'll leave you with our little kitty called Precious:

He's gorgeous and has beautiful coloring and stripes. Here he is playing with a piece of rope that hubby was hanging  up (or trying to) to exhibit the Christmas decorations we made at the workshop.

Monday we will be flying to Holland, so my next post will be from the Netherlands.
Have a good week you'all and remember the Reason for the Season!
Blessings,
Lisca

A Postcard a Day - Friday 20 Nov 2015 Friday Smiles

Good Morning! 

It's Friday today and I hope life has given you plenty to smile about. If you are going through a bad time, Think of the little blessings and acts of kindness that have come your way.

Life is good for me (for us) at the moment. the building work is coming on and I have some photos to share, but first my postcard. I got it this week:

 It was sent to me by Joni in Finland. He apologised that it was not a subject from my wish list. Actually, it is very timely as my husband and I will celebrate our 23rd wedding anniversary on Sunday. It was love at first sight and we still love each other as much now as in the beginning.

The stamp is another example of Finnish design. I love Finnish design. The artist is Birger Kaipiainen, who specializes in ceramics. The plate on the stamp is from 1970 and is from the 'Arabia' range:

I found it for sale in this Etsy shop for 61.84 Euros.

My husband has been working on our funny shaped bedroom and little en-suite toilet. We found some tiles left over from the main bathroom in the other house so He used them for the little loo.

The pattern is a modern version of the Andalusian/Islamic art of the Moors. (I live in Granada, so in the middle of it).
The bedroom is getting its last coat of paint.

 This is what I mean by funny shaped.... triangular! This little corner is going to be a wardrobe.

 Here is a photo of our little Precious. She has turned out to be a 'he', but we still call him Precious. I've posted this already on Tuesday, but not everybody joins in with T for Tuesday.

 And finally, this is my 'funny' for this week. It's a bit disgusting really, but it did make me smile at the same time....

 As I said before, my husband and I will be celebrating our 23rd wedding anniversary this Sunday and we will probably go out for lunch somewhere. It doesn't matter really what we do. As long as we're together.
We married each other later in life, but these have been the happiest years of my life. (My husband will be 69 next week).

This says it all....

I wish you a Friday full of smiles and a good week ahead,

Blessings,

Lisca 

A Postcard a Day - Tuesday 17 Nov 2015 - T for.... corkscrews

Good Morning! Good Tuesday!

Today I'm going to show you something that is drink related so I can link up and join with T for Tuesday. Do join us if you can. Here is the link: altered booklover.

As you all know, I do Postcrossing. So what I'm showing you here is a postcard. I received this one from Germany a while ago. Can you see what they are? They are cork screws! Aren't they amazing? Some of them I wouldn't have a clue how they would work.

And some of them look quite familiar.
I love to drink wine so the cork screw is an important item in our house hold.
My favorite is this one:

This is what we use at home (not featured on the postcard). These are expensive and bulky so in the campervan we have this one:

I think a version of that is on the postcard.

As we are talking about wine.... This was our dinner table on Thursday. 

I cooked guinness pie. I only got one bottle of Guinness, and that got used to cook the meat. So we didn't have Guinness with our dinner but good ol' red wine. As you can see, we are still eating outside in the day. In the evening it gets cold, but in the day it is quite hot in the sun.

Now just one final 'Aaah!':

This is our little Precious. The kitten that turned out to be a 'he' and not a 'she'. But we still call him Precious!

Wishing you all a lovely T-day,

Blessings,

Lisca

WOYWW 335 - about Flow, kittens and computers

Hi Folks, 

It's Wednesday again! Peekaboo! We're going to have a peep at other people's desks to see what they're up to. If you have never done this before, visit Julia to know how this works. It's great fun.

But if you have come to see my desk, you will be disappointed. I'm not at home, but at our weekend home. This is what the desk there looks like:

On the left you see my diary (the large A4 thing) with some postcards that arrived today on top. Then in the middle is the latest FLOW magazine. It is the international version which I subscribe to. Have you heard of Flow? 

It's a Dutch magazine for paper lovers. They also do a  a once-a-year paper crafting issue with lots of stuff like mini-envelopes, posters, a letter garland, stationery, craft paper, coloring pages, gift wrapping, labels, a flip-up house, stickers, paper dolls, gift bags and more. A real treasure trove! The yearly issue comes out this month and I have mine on order.

The kitten we rescued is doing well. He (yes, she turned out to be a 'he') is getting used to us and is letting us touch him. Since a few days he has even sat on DH's lap:

 I'm still trying to sort out my computer. It's old (Windows Vista) and software or accessories that I buy, are no longer compatible. There is nothing wrong with it but I'd like to buy a newer version of PSE, but none of the newer ones work on Vista. So I'm reluctantly looking for a new desk top computer. I'm looking online as there are no stores that sell computers in this backwater. Watch this space....

That's it from me. I'm staying in all day today so I will visit as many as I can. Hopefully all of you. I'm really looking forward to seeing what you are all up to.

Have a good week,

Lisca   

WOYWW 333, Kitty story continued

Good morning everyone! 

This is WOYWW 333! What a great number. I know it's not a 'significant birthday', but 333 sounds great nevertheless.

If you don't know about Whats On Your Work desk Wednesday, now is the time to have a look and look at other people's desks to see what projects they are involved in and what they are up to (or not). Here is the link:
Julia at Stamping Ground.

Thanks for all your reactions about my kitty story last week. We tried to get a stray kitten to the vet to have her neutered, and one hour into the journey she managed to get out of the cat carrier and was roaming the back of our pick-up.
Here she is:

We call her Precious, because she was blown onto our terrace by a gale when she was little and was taken under the wings of another stray cat, and somehow she survived and she is precious.
Because she had a very small body and huge eyes she also reminded us of Gollum in Lord of the Rings (he always said: Precioussss).

Friday we took her to the vet again. This time the journey went without a hitch. When we got her back (still sleeping) the vet said: Do you want the good news or the bad news? Oh dear.... lets have the bad news first then.... Well, she is not a 'she' but a 'he'!
The good news is that he has been 'done' and the price is much lower for males! Well, you could have knocked me down with a feather! What a surprise. 
We still call her Precious. Ahem, 'him'. Will have to get used to that.

Now to my desk. 

Not much going on, because what was going on has been finished. I.e. a first birthday card.

The fork is still on my desk because I used it to make the little bow.

Here is the little person that the card will go to: My gorgeous grandson in Italy.

That's it from me today.

Have a good week all of you,

Blessings,

Lisca

A Postcard a day - Friday 16 Oct 2015 Friday Smiles

Hi folks, good morning. Hello Friday Smilers!

My DH fancied liver and onions. I love liver & onions but am reluctant to cook it as the liver works as a filter to remove toxins from the body. Supermarket bought liver might contain goodness what sort of toxins.... But our butcher round the corner sells local meat and he slaughters on Wednesday so on Thursday the meat is very fresh. I asked for pork liver and I got a whole one! 

It's enormous and will feed us for four meals at least (I'm freezing most of it) with plenty left for our friend's dogs and a treat for our little kitty (Apparently it's not so good for cats so she can only have a little titbit once a week). Now what did that 2.5 kilo liver cost me? 1 (one)Euro!
Well our meal was lovely and we had it outside (yes, we still eat outside.... winter hasn't arrived here yet) with a cold beer in the blazing sun.

Now I don't think this qualifies for Friday Smiles as some people might not like liver and are pulling a face rather than smiling.

So what about this card then that I received two days ago from Russia.

This particular Russian, Aleksei and his family, wanted a 'Greetings from Spain' card (some people collect those). It is a series of cards from countries all over the world. They are made in Poland and I have ordered the Spanish cards obviously. Here it is:

We agreed to do an exchange. I sent this one and I got the colourful card above in return.
Aleksei put some really beautiful stamps on the card too:

The stamp on the left is the standard stamp for letters in Europe. The one on the right has a Penny Black on it (the rarest stamp) and it is too recent for me to find any info on it.
Aleksei lives with his family in Nizhny Novgorod, a city on the river Volga. Aleksei tells me that the FIFA World Cup (soccer) will be held in his city and that  construction of a new stadium and airport are in full swing.

Now if you haven't smiled yet, you will do it when you see this:

It appeared on Facebook. The translation goes: "It's in difficult times that you discover who your real friends are".

Have a relaxing weekend and a really good week with lots of smiles.

Blessings,

Lisca

WOYWW 332, aboriginal art, kitten and paella in the street.

Hi folks, Here we are again, peeping at each other's desks. I'll show you mine quickly and get it over with:

This was my desk last night. Not much going on. I bought another photo frame for the lovely card Bridget sent me recently. (I managed to get a matching frame.) Bridget had sent me a postcard of Aboriginal art which I loved so much I framed it! Then she sent me another one (the one on the left) 

and that is now duly framed too. Thanks Bridget!

The pile in the foreground are more postcards that I have received recently, which I use as  subjects to write my daily blog.

Look what's under my desk:

She is a little stray kitty that lives on our building plot ever since she was a tiny kitten. One of the other stray cats had taken her under her wing and she survived. The other cats have moved on but she has stayed. She lives on the roof terrace and we feed her daily. Yesterday we had an appointment with a charity that neuters cats. We enticed her into the travel 'catcot' thingy, and off we went. We have a pick-up utility truck with a cover over the back. Well, to cut a long story short, kitty managed to get out of the box somehow, when we stopped for a drink an hour into our journey (the flap wasn't secured properly it appears). There was no way we could safely get her back in. Feral cats won't let you handle them, so she might have bolted as soon as we lowered the tailgate and we would have lost her in the middle of nowhere. So we cancelled the appointment and turned back. We decided to keep her indoors and she really loves it. She has found this mat by the bed and has been sitting there contently all evening. She didn't seem to be stressed at all by her 'adventure' in the back of the truck.

What's happening here in Spain? Well this weekend there was a charity paella organised for a little boy called Santi to raise money for a special treatment for him in Madrid. People paid 3 Euros for a plate of paella.

 This is in the main square of our village. The paella (a rice dish) is cooked over a wood fire. The building in the back ground is the town hall.

 Here in the background is a small church. (there is a bigger one in the next street).

This is looking up the High Street. We live at the end of that street. 
See how people queue up to get their portion and the volunteers spooning up. I think there must have been a few thousand people. I don't know how much money they raised. But it certainly was well attended.

That's it from me today. If you are wondering what this is all about, visit Julia at Stamping Ground who leads us into all this desk snooping....

Have a good week all of you,

Lisca