A Postcard a Day - Tuesday 19 April 2016 T for cakes and books and snails having tea

Hello lovely friends, Happy Tuesday to you!

I have some nice postcards for you today. I received so many this week, that I don't know which ones to show you. Here is one:

It came to me from Germany. I put in my profile what sort of cards I like and the theme 'books' is amongst them. Anything to do with books as I am a bookworm. This painting is by Frank Dicey and is called "The Novel, A Lady in a Garden Reading a Book". (1880)
The second one is this:

Again, this comes from Germany and again the theme is books. The text reads:'If you have a garden and a library, then you have everything you need.' I totally agree. There were some garden inspired stamps too:

I have been busy these days uploading all my postcards (1200 odd) onto Flickr. With our slow internet connection it took almost a minute per card but over a whole week I have now done it. Here is the link.
I'm now in the process of putting them (the card images) into appropriate folders. Little by little.

I'm linking up today as usual on a Tuesday with Elizabeth at Altered Booklover. She holds T for Tuesday where we all share something drink related. So here comes postcard number three. It is one that I am sending to Germany. (it's all German today, isn't it):

It's called "He just invited her for tea...." oil on canvas, bu Anna Silivonchik. I love it. I buy my cards online from Russia and they have some really talented artists.

Every Sunday I make a cake of some sort to share at our local church house group:

The base is cake and the top layers are made with greek yoghurt and whipped cream (and gelatine leaves). The coloured layer has instant coffee added to it. So come join us for a herbal tea and a piece of mocca yoghurt cake. Oh, coffee is your drink? Well that can be arranged....

Now I'm off to the hospital for a mammogram, ultrasound and x-ray. All in different departments so I have to queue up three times. This means I'll probably be hanging around all morning. Then my DH is taking me out to lunch so I will be late in commenting today. Will you wait up for me?

I wish everyone a great Tuesday, and I hope to see you all next week,
Blessings,
Lisca

A Postcard A Day - Friday 15 April 2016 - A Giggle a Day Keeps the Blues Away

Good Morning lovely friends,

You are visiting my page! Thank you, it means a lot to me.

Today is Friday (as if you didn't know) and today we think of all the smiles we have had this week.

My big smiles have come from the building work. We have nearly finished building a flat at the top of our house. We moved in after Easter. This is the view from the living room/kitchen:

Last weekend the railings were erected on the terrace. You can see them in the above photo. Next thing will be a sun shade. In the summer it is too hot to sit outside without shade. So next month my DH will erect a frame and put some 'green stuff' over it to keep the sun at bay.

On the right hand side I had a 'bar' made on top of the railing so we can put our drink there or even a plate when BBQ-ing.

There is a ventilation shaft that goes through all four floors of the building and ends here on the roof. We have bought a little 'house' to make it look a bit nicer as it is right next to the terrace:

The bit of building you are looking at here is the garage and the terrace by the garage. That is partly covered. 

Now for my card. This one arrived this week from Switzerland:

It was sent to me by René. It's an image from a time when flying was expensive and for many people just a dream.
The stamp is quite nice too:

75 Years Swiss Merchant Fleet. (I didn't know Switzerland had a merchant fleet, being a land-locked country).

Now let's see if I can find something funny for you to chuckle about:

I got this photo from my friend Anne. She goes to Glastonbury every year. She found this sign in a cafe on the High Street. (and has given me permission to show it you). 

How's my diet going? Not very well. I'm stuck on 61 kg, have been for two weeks. But hey, my flip flops stil fit!

I'm linking up with Annie at Friday Smiles. Do join us if you can and tell us what made you smile.
Later today I will also link up (if I don't forget... apparently I forgot last week) with Virginia  at Rocking Your World Friday.

Have a fab Friday all of you and don't for get to smile!
Lisca

WOYWW 358 - ongoing decoupage and a postcard from Andalucia

Hello lovely people,
You're here on my page again! That's great! Thank you so much for visiting. I really appreciate it.

Today I'm linking up with Whats On Your Workdesk Wednesday. Julia at Stamping Ground organises that. Do have a look and join in if you can.

In my previous posts I have been telling you that I have been fussy cutting. I found some decoupage sheets at the back of my craft supplies and remembered how I enjoyed the cutting. I found it quite relaxing. I took the sheets with me on our Easter holiday and now I have been making cards with the decoupage I have cut.

Here is my desk with a card in the making:

The blue is handmade paper and I want to tear it. I was debating whether to wet it a bit so it tears better...

Here are a few that are practically finished. The square card with the roses will get some bling, the lilies are condolences cards so no bling for those. What am I going to put on the 'male' card with the race car? Most embellishments are too feminine...

I'm off to the gym now and then I will enloy looking at your desks and leaving some comments. But before I leave you I will show you my customary postcard:

It is a not-so-spectacular postcard of La Calahorra, a village a little south of where we live in Andalucia. It has only 800 inhabitants but is famous for its castle on the hill (16th century). The final scenes from David Bowie's film Stardust (1974) were filmed there. Here is a link to some really nice photos on Wikipedia.


That's it from me today. Gotta go, I'm late. These photos took ages to upload! (Don't know why).

Happy WOYWW all of you,
Blessings,
Lisca

A Postcard a Day - Tuesday 12 April 2016 - T for Alhambra and more

Hello lovely friends,

Thank you for visiting me again. Today I'm linking up with Elizabeth at Altered Booklover for T for Tuesday, where we all post something together with a drink related item or subject. My drink related things will come up further down this page.

First my postcard. It is one that I have sent recently:

It is an image of the Alhambra, the beautiful palace of the last Sultan of Granada (13th century). It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and is stunningly beautiful. We live about an hour's drive from Granada city, which is of course the capital of our province and we have to go to Granada for administrative reasons sometimes but that is no hardship. It is a lovely city. Not too big. The old center is all walkable.

Lets not forget the drink related item. Here is a funny about making tea:

If you have been following my blog, you will know that we are building a newbuild next to the old cavehouse. The top flat is nearly finished and we have moved in just over a week ago. I have showed you the kitchen already but as my DH is now going to decorate the office/craftroom, my computer needed to come into the living area and I needed a desk. We phoned the carpenter and he came and made me a lovely little desk at the end of the kitchen, all in the same wood. I love it:

I'm pleased a punch as they say. 

I'm also near the teapot (under the tea cozy) and the cups. Ahah! Here is the drink related bit! 

Our cups are proper 'buckets'. I like my mugs big. The clock that you can see hanging up is a real find. It is a clock, yes, but it is also an electronic scales! So handy. In Europe recipes use weight (grams and kilos) not cups. So to bake a cake I need scales. In stead of rattling around in a drawer, my scales are now hanging within reach. So handy! I love it!

I'll leave you with an image and quote that I really liked:

 Have a wonderful Tuesday and a great week,
Blessings,
Lisca

A Postcard A Dat - Friday 8 April 2016 - Friday Smiles

Good Morning! It's Friday again!
For those nine to five people: It's nearly weekend!
I'm retired, and I like Fridays because I get to smile even more joining Friday Smiles at A Stitch In Time.

My card this morning arrived earlier this week from China. It had been raining and the postman throws the mail over the gate onto the patio, so it was a bit wet.... I dried it and pressed it and here it is for you to see:

It is a painting by Vincent van Gogh called Wheat Field with a Reaper (1889). When I looked closely I saw that the reaper was a bunny and that the scene only vaguely looked like the original! That made me smile.
The stamps are beautiful:

I had lots to smile about this week. Since the soggy reaping rabbit, DH has put our new postbox up by our front door! The red one! (I have shown this already)

Also this week my desk has been built. The carpenter came Monday to put it in.

I am super happy! This is where i am sitting at this very moment. You can see the socket hanging from the wall. The desk came exactly onto the socket, so DH ripped it out and will put a new socket (or two)  on the wall.

It's spring and many people have started spring cleaning:

This made me smile because I've been known to do that!

And the next photo is not a funny really but I wanted to share it with you nonetheless:

I do try to shop locally and I know many of you do too.

That is it from me today. 
Wishing you a lovely week with many smiles!
Blessings,
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 25 March - Friday Smiles

Good Morning!

I am already smiling as we are on holiday in our campervan, staying on a camp site especially for campervans. The weather is great (sunny and warm) and I couldn't be happier.

We left on the day of my birthday, and the card so far received are these:

The one on the right is from Michelle,a blogger who was making lots of cards and asked if anyone would like a card. I immediately answered:"yes, please as I don't get many". So this arrived some days before my birthday in the post. Isn't that nice! Another smile!

Here is a card I received this week that made me smile:

It is my first ever card from Kazakstan. (Yes, I had to look it up on the map too. It is west of Mongolia, south of Siberia, and north of Afghanistan and Iran.
Does this card look like Kazakstan? No, in fact I recognize the buildings. They are canal houses in Amsterdam! That really made me smile!
Here are the stamps:

What a hoot! The person that sent it to me, Ann, knows I like images of windows and doors and that is why she chose this card.

The other thing that happened on my birthday, just before we left, is that they came to place the granite worktops in the kitchen.

I am super pleased and am smiling from ear to ear. I haven't had the opportunity to cook in my new kitchen, but as soon as we come back from holiday (monday), I shall be there, moving things up the stairs (52 steps!). 
Photos next week. 

This is a funny I found:

Have a lovely weekend all of you and see you again next week.
Blessings
Lisca

A Postcard a Day - Friday 11 March 2016 Friday Smiles

Hi folks, sorry I am late to join this morning. So many things to do and not enough time. Sounds familiar?

My postcard for today comes from Germany. I only received it yesterday from Jasmin.

A beautiful Art Nouveau door from Darmstadt. I have since found out it is the door of the Hans Dieters house which was built by Olbrich in 1900. 
Here is a photo from the internet of that house:

Beautiful.

So what smiley news have I got other than the sun is shining here.... well, I have got a new computer!! Whoop whoop! It is a desktop this time with a huge screen (something I have always wanted). Here it is:

I am super pleased! I have spent all yesterday transferring stuff from one computer to the other and generally tidying up the files as I went along so my laptop has a bit more memory. The fan is broken or something and it heats up and then dies (my laptop) but the guy that sold me the new one is going to see if it can be repaired and then I will have a spare. One can never have enough computers hehe.

My other activities this week pale in comparison, but I continue to go the the gym, stick to my diet and lose weight. I treated myself to sushi the other day (OK from the supermarket, but it was nice). (the photo won´t upload... oh well, you all know what sushi looks like)

My DH continues to work in the new flat. He is painting doors, putting doorhandles and locks in (boy what are those things expensive!). Still waiting for the granite which will arrive next week.

I´ll leave it at that as it is getting late. The rest of the day I shall be busy trying to get my iTunes music transferred. Not an easy operation. I have tried it once yesterday, spent hours and then it didn´t happen. Hopefully today is another day and it will go smoothly.

Have a great week all of you. I´m linking up with Annie at A Stitch In Time and with Virginia at Rocking Your World Friday. See you there!

Blessings,

Lisca

A Postcard a Day - Friday 10 Feb 2016 Friday smile, postcard, blossom and ice

Good morning lovely people!

It's Friday again. Are you all feeling positive ? Are you all smiling? If you are not, please read on as I'm sure I can coax a little smile out of you.

My postcard today comes from Germany. It is a famous photo of the workmen with their lunch boxes apparently very high in the sky on a metal beam. 

 I get vertigo just looking at it!
The stamps are beautiful. I like it when people make an effort to find nice stamps.

The three flowers are from left to right: crocus, tagetes (marigold) and tulip. The other stamp is the city of Dresden, a view of the city and the river Elbe.

The weather has turned nasty here. All of a sudden it is cold. Last week we saw this:

Almond blossom.
Yesterday, after the frost we saw this:

It's not the same tree. This is an olive tree with ice on it. Luckily the harvest is over. I didn't take this picture, but it was taken not far from our house.

We have struggled to keep the two stoves going with the gales and we ended up buying new 'hats' for our chimney pipes, which did help. When there is a gale blowing we get a lot of smoke being driven into the house instead of out! Makes my eyes water. 

I have shared this already on Tuesday, but it is such positive news that I will mention it again: We have got compensation after our flight to Holland in December was delayed. A lot of money! After commission we got 569 Euros! So if anyone (in Europe) has had their flight delayed or has not been able to board due to overbooking, fill in the online form at flightright.com. They are very efficient and fast. Airlines have to compensate by law, and this company does the claim for you. All you have to do is fill out the details and wait. That is worth the commission I think. We are over the moon with the money. That paid for my new cooker, lol.

 I'm going to finish with a joke. Or did it really happen? Any woman who has been to the gynaecologist can imagine this situation. I wet myself when I read this:

I was due for an appointment with the gynaecologist later in the week. Early one morning, I received a call from the doctor’s office to tell me that I had been rescheduled for that morning at 9:30 am. I had only just packed everyone off to work and school, and it was already around 8:45 am. The trip to his office took about 35 minutes, so I didn’t have any time to spare. As most women do, I like to take a little extra effort over hygiene when making such visits, but this time I wasn’t going to be able to make the full effort.

So, I rushed upstairs, threw off my pyjamas, wet the washcloth that was sitting next to the sink, and gave myself a quick wash in that area to make sure I was at least presentable. I threw the washcloth in the clothes basket, donned some clothes, hopped in the car and raced to my appointment.
I was in the waiting room for only a few minutes when I was called in. Knowing the procedure, as I’m sure you do, I hopped up on the table, looked over at the other side of the room and pretended that I was in Paris or some other place a million miles away.
I was a little surprised when the doctor said, “My, we have made an extra effort this morning, haven’t we?” I didn’t respond.

After the appointment, I heaved a sigh of relief and went home. The rest of the day was normal .. Some shopping, cleaning, cooking. After school when my 6 year old daughter was playing, she called out from the bathroom, “Mommy, where’s my washcloth?”

I told her to get another one from the cupboard.

She replied, “No, I need the one that was here by the sink, it had all my glitter and sparkles saved inside it.”

Never going back to that doctor again……….. never..

(Linking up with Annie at A Stitch in Time for Friday Smiles)

Have a great week, you'all.

Blessings,

Lisca