A Postcard a Day - Tuesday 2 Feb 2016 - T for mugs, olive pips and coco cats

Good Morning! Happy Tuesday!

A bit later in the day today...I had a lie-in. 

I'm showing you a very comforting postcard today, especially comforting for those in the Northern hemisphere where it is cold and miserable. It is a card from my own collection that I have sent to someone. It is by a Russian artist who's name escapes me now. The card has been sent so I can't check. Sorry. 

Coffee, chocolates,cakes and a cat are all comforting things don't you think?

I'm linking up with Elizabeth and Bluebeard at T for Tuesday. The link is here. Please join us with anything drink related.

Last week we went to the olive processing plant to buy olive pips to burn in our stove.

When olives  get pressed after they are harvested, you get cold pressed olive oil (the best), what is left gets pressed again, and it gives normal olive oil. There is a further process that yields more oil but I think that is more  low grade stuff (I don't know what they do with that) but you end up with crumb like pips that look like this:

It's very cheap and we buy it by the trailer load.

A guy with a tractor just scoops up a load and dumps it in our little trailer.

We pay by weight so car and trailer have to be weighed on the weigh bridge before and after.

We mix the pips with the almond shells so the almond burner burns more efficiently and longer. This lot will last us through the winter and into the next. They are only for sale at this time of year (after the harvest).

I feel I almost have to apologise for the blue sky and the sunshine. I am very much aware that there is much bad weather around at the moment. Sorry folks. 

One more photo before I call it a day:

This is my kitchen in our holiday cave house (where I am at the moment). The rack and the mugs were all bought from Ikea (a few years ago). And at the moment I am enjoying a cup of chai tea with a dash of milk. Please share your drink with us. We'd love to see what you are drinking....

Happy T-day, have a good week,

Blessings,

Lisca

A Postcard a Day - Tuesday 10 Nov 2015 - T for Tiffany's

Good Morning! Good Tuesday!

I'm linking up with Elizabeth at T for Tuesday. Why don't you join us? Anything tea related or even drink related is most welcome.

My hobby is Postcrossing, (send a postcard and receive a postcard from a random person in the world), I have a large collection of beautiful postcards. Today I would like to show you this one:

It's the lovely actress Audrey Hepburn in the film Breakfast at Tiffany's. 

Audrey Hepburn (born Audrey Kathleen Ruston; 4 May 1929 – 20 January 1993) was a British actress and humanitarian. Recognised as a film and fashion icon, Hepburn was active during Hollywood’s golden age.  She was ranked by the American Film Institute as the third greatest female screen legend in Golden Age Hollywood  and was inducted into the International Best Dressed List Hall of Fame. Born in Ixelles, a district of Brussels, Hepburn spent her childhood between Belgium, England, and the Netherlands, including German-occupied Arnhem during the Second World War where she worked as a courier for the Dutch resistance and assisted with fundraising. In Amsterdam, she studied ballet with Sonia Gaskell before moving to London in 1948 to continue her ballet training with Marie Rambert and perform as a chorus girl in West End musical theatre productions. She spoke several languages, including English, French, Dutch, Italian, Spanish, and German.

Being Dutch myself and having seen many of her films when I was young, I have always been a fan of Audrey Hepburn. In later life she was a goodwill ambassador for UNICEF (United nations Children's Fund). A remarkable lady. Read about her war years in occupied Holland if you are interested (Wikipedia). Her story is similar to that of my mother.

As we are in Dutch mode I would like to share what my friend Antonia brought me from Holland:

 A mug with the Dutch national anthem on it. The anthem is called 'Het Wilhelmus'. The mug plays the song when raised.
Antonia went to Holland to attend the wedding of her daughter to a Dutchman. He comes from a place called Staphorst. Here you see my friend Antonia with the bridegroom's grandmother in national costume:

In yesterday's blog I wrote about a card I received from Michigan, I described the stamps. I forgot this one: The Toleware coffeepot. I didn't 'forget' on purpose but as it is T for Tuesday I might as well add it here:

This stamp features the image of a painted toleware coffeepot from the Winterthur Museum in Delaware. Toleware refers to items and object made of tin that are japanned or lacquered, and adorned with a picture or design. Developing in the early 18th century, this technique spread across Europe and America, and flourished until the end of the 19th century. Also known as tôle peinte, (French for painted sheet iron), painted tin, or simply tole, the technique was applied to a variety of household things - from humble utilitarian household goods to decorative fixtures - and in a range of styles.

That's it from me for today. Have a fantastic Tuesday!

Blessings,

Lisca

A Postcard a Day - Friday 9 Oct 2015 Friday Smiles

Good Morning! 

I didn't do a blog yesterday. I felt so tired I had a sleep day. Do you ever feel like that? 

But today I feel fine again and I can share a few things with you all. The weather here is on the turn. I still wear sandals and T-shirts but in the evening we certainly need a cardigan or jacket. Today it started to rain just as we started to eat and we had to stop and put table and chairs indoors. (Yes, we still eat outside). This is what we had today: bubble and squeak! 

A typical English winter dish! But my DH fancied it, so I went: 'Your wish is my command', got some leftovers out of the fridge and there we are. Very nice it was too!

And here is my postcard for today:

It was sent to me by Olga who lives in Moscow, Russia. She tells me she likes reading and that she is enjoying historical novels at the moment. I love the card. It shows how you can lose yourself in a book and visit a different world. The watch on the floor seems to indicate that time stops when you read. I'm into fantasy novels at the moment and have just finished reading the Farseer Trilogy by Robin Hobb.

The stamps on this card are fabulous:

The stamp on the left is from a series called Culture of Russian People. It is a National Head dress - Middle of XIX Century, Nizhniy Novgorod Province.

The middle stamp is from the series of Kremlins (=fortifications). This one is the Kolomna Kremlin.

The triangular stamp on the right is from a series of decorative and applied art: Lace. 

I'm linking in with 'A stitch in time' for Friday smiles.
Here is my contribution

One of my Canadian relatives shared this with me. She is a quilter and cannot resist a piece of nice fabric!

That's it from me. 

Have a great week everyone.

See you tomorrow,

Blessings,

Lisca

A Postcard a Day Tues 7 Sept 2015 T for Empress..Whaaat?

Good Morning lovely people and lovely Tuesday girls.

Hope you are all well. I am joining in with T for Tuesday at Elizabeth's altered booklover blogspot.

For that I must show you something drink related.... well here goes:

It is a postcard of the Russian empress Elizabeth Petrovna (1709-1761). It was sent to me by Marina from Voronezh in Russia. She tells me that she likes good food, quiet romantic evenings and interesting books. (That's my girl! I do too!) And she dreams of going to Australia and the Maldives. (Can I come with you?) But what has this to do with drink?

Well, look at the beautiful stamps:

The one on the left is of a gastronomy series and features a samovar (urn) with blini (pancakes) with red and black caviar. 
Here is a video of  how to make blini.

The stamp on the right is a joint issue of Russia and Monaco - History of Automobile Production - ZIL-111B.


And if a samovar wasn't drink related enough, I'm going to leave you with  my latest mug:

I haven't been sitting outside sipping wine lately as it has been raining the last few days! It doesn't rain much here. In fact we haven't seen any rain for about three months. And when it does rain, it washes the top soil away which is not nice for the local vegetable patches . 

I like to sit in our little courtyard under the shade of the vine. When it started raining, we forgot to check if there were any leaves on the drain hole.... result... a flooded courtyard! Here is DH trying to brush away the leaves so that the water can drain away, but couldn't quite remember where the hole was!

That's it from me today. Have a great Tuesday!

See you tomorrow when I link up with Whats on Your Workdesk Wednesday (WOYWW).

Blessings,

Lisca