A Postcard A Day - Brooklyn Bridge

Good Morning! 
I have another lovely postcard to show you. I did not receive this one this week, but as it Independence Day in the USA I thought it would be appropriate to show you an American card.

The photo is entitled: 
"Girl on a Swing, Pitt Street, New York 1938" 
The photographer is Walter Rosenblum (1919-2006). 
Other info reads: 
Gelatin silver print, 16.2 x 20.3 cm. 
The Jewish Museum, New York. 
Gift of the Rosenblum Family.

I love this photo as the swing depicts fun and freedom. I also recognise Brooklyn Bridge in the background and that for me (a European) is typical American.

The stamps are also very interesting:(info from Wikipedia)

1. T. S. Eliot

   Essayist
2. Thomas Stearns Eliot OM, usually known as T. S. Eliot, was an essayist, publisher, playwright, literary and social critic, and "one of the twentieth century's major poets". Wikipedia
4. Born: September 26, 1888, St. Louis, Missouri, United States
5. Died: January 4, 1965, Kensington, London, United Kingdom
6. Full name: Thomas Stearns Eliot
7. Books: The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock, Four Quartets, 

1. Denise Levertov

   Poet
2. Denise Levertov was a British-born American poet. Wikipedia
4. Born: October 24, 1923, Ilford, United Kingdom
5. Died: December 20, 1997, Seattle, Washington, United States
6. Awards: Robert Frost Medal, Guggenheim Fellowship for Creative Arts, US & Canada, Lannan Literary Award for Poetry
7. Nominations: National Book Award for Poetry, National Book Award for Translation

1. Asher Brown Durand

   Painter
2. Asher Brown Durand was an American painter of the Hudson River School. Wikipedia
4. Born: August 21, 1796, Maplewood, New Jersey, United States
5. Died: September 17, 1886, Maplewood, New Jersey, United States
6. Period: Hudson River School

That's it from me today,

I wish all my American friends and bloggers a happy Independence Day!

CU tomorrow,

Lisca

A Postcard a Day - Year of the goat

This week I got an interesting card from Australia. It was depicting The Year of the Goat 2015.

According to Chinese astrology  each year (starting with Chinese New Year) is associated with an animal sign. 2015 Is the year of the goat.

It came with a matching stamp from the Christmas Islands. Don, who wrote me the card, writes: "Christmas Island is a 135 sq km Australian island territory in the Indian Ocean. Its 2072 population comprises 70% Chinese, 20% European and 10% Malay, all of whom are Australian citizens. Because of Christmas Island's geographical isolation and its history of minimal human intervention, its flora and fauna are of special interest to scientists and naturalists. Phosphate has been mined on Christmas Island for many years."

Isn't that interesting?
CU tomorrow!
Lisca

A postcard a day - my first post

Hi, I'm joining Bridget in Australia. She has started A Postcard A Day blog (http://bridgetlarsen.blogspot.com.es/2015/07/pcad-postcard-day-11-maps-rr-agnes-in.html).
And as I receive many postcards (because I do Postcrossing https://www.postcrossing.com/), I thought I'd join.

My postcard for today is also a map card. I love maps and have put in my profile that I do, so people often send me one. 

This is a card from Belarus, a country that I had to look up, as it was part of the Soviet Union when I went to school.

The pictures are all about architecture. 
The picture in the middle is: Residential and cultural complex of the Radziwill Family in Nesvizh.
The top picture is: St Barbara's church in Vitebsk.
The picture on the right: The town hall of Mahilyou.
Bottom right:Palace and park ensemble in Homel.
Bottom left: Kosava Castle.
Left:Mir Castle complex.

I looks like this last castle is also on the stamps....

Bye for now'
CU tomorrow,
Lisca

WOYWW 317, chocolate brownies, the vine and a plastic bag...

Hi desk hoppers! Happy Wednesday and happy WOYWW! 

(If you have no idea what I mean by that, have a look at Julia’s website where all will be explained: http://www.stamping-ground.blogspot.com.es/)

I have no desk to show you as I am not home. We’re staying at our (cave) house in the country for a couple of days’ rest. That’s not to say I have been sitting still. I recently acquired a cookbook by Paul Hollywood (in the UK well known for being a judge in the TV programme Great British Bake off) 

and I made his chocolate brownies (with cranberries) Yumm, scrummy! Very nice indeed. (and not at all difficult).

Remember I mentioned we had so many grapes on our vine? Well, our lovely neighbour Serafino, who pruned it so effectively, told us that we needed to treat it with anti fungal powder. So I went out to buy the stuff, which cost all of 60 euro cents, (the price of a litre of milk). Serafino would do it for us and bring his own equipment. So he arrived the next day, pulled a plastic bag over his head (!).....health and safety you know.... this stuff is toxic. 

Then filled his ‘equipment’ 

and then went round puffing the powder over the grapes. 

I just stood there speechless. If I hadn’t photographed it, nobody would believe me. Within minutes he had ‘puffed’ the whole courtyard. Plastic bag was removed and off he went! I didn’t know whether to laugh or to cry. Never a dull moment here in Spain!

That's it from me today. I'm leaving you with a funny postcard. The 'naughty' old ladies by Inge Look. I love them. 

I hope I will be like that when I'm older. A bit like the woman who wears purple with a red hat (a poem by Jenny Joseph... http://www.laterbloomer.com/jenny-joseph/ ).

Have a great week everyone!

Lisca

WOYWW 316, messy desk, chocolate cat and chocolate medal.

Hello deskhoppers! 

It’s Wednesday again, which means we get to snoop around each other’s desks to see what we are up to (or not). If you have no idea what I’m on about, have a look at Julia’s website where she explains all about this WOYWW (Whats on your workdesk Wednesday). http://www.stamping-ground.blogspot.com.es/

This is my desk last night. As you can see it’s an almighty mess. But a good mess as I’m actually making stuff. I’ve made a card for one of the grandies’ first birthday.(left of the paper trimmer)

It was inspired by something I saw on Pinterest (using buttons and Kraft paper).

I also made a ‘thank-you card for my aerobics/gym teacher with a chocolate medal. The gym closes for the summer and all us girls have put money in the hat as a thank-you for the teacher. It normally just gets put in an envelope but I made a card. The Spanish don’t ‘do’ cards at all so I hope they all think it’s a good idea. (I’ll let you know next week).

In the desk photo you can also see the little concertina books I’m working on for the grandchildren. I’ve been painstakingly stamping Bible verses on each page. I had to finish all that last night as I’m going to the post office this morning to send the whole caboodle off to the UK.

This week I received ten postcards! (from Bulgaria, Slovenia, Finland x 2, Japan, Germany x 2 , Hongkong, USA, Netherlands). I'm a member of Postcrossing  (https://www.postcrossing.com/). So today I will send postcards to other fellow Postcrossers. One of the cards I’ll be sending today is by artist Oxana Zaika. She paints cats in a special way. I buy the cards from a Russian website, so when my Postcrossing recipient put down Oxana Zaika as her favourite, I found one in my collection. I love them.

That's it for today. Thanks for visiting. I'll try and visit as many as I can this week.

God bless y'all.

Lisca

WOYWW 315, tortoises, vines and a different Dunnett

Hi folks! Sorry I had to miss last week, we were still travelling through Europe. We've now finally arrived home (Thursday). Oh its good to be home! I'm still not completely sorted out and I haven't washed everything, but hey, easy does it.













                       Here is the photo of my desk. No project on the go as yet. (although I should be making a card for the first birthday of one of our grandchildren) Instead you can see two scrapbook albums with page protectors that I bought in the UK. In the foreground is some artwork by Hannah Dunnett, whose work I love.

Work on our house is continuing and we now have window frames in both arches. Hopefully the glazier will put glass in soon.

I've had to stop Postcrossing the two months I was travelling but I'm back in the swing of sending and receiving postcards again. Here is one of the cards I received. I love turtles and tortoises, so I really love this card. 

Today was the first sunny and warm day after a cold spell. I'm sitting in the shade of the vine.  Our neighbour pruned it (the vine) properly at the right time of year and the right position of the moon etc. Look at the abundance of baby grapes growing!

That's it from me today. Hopefully I'll have a more interesting page next time.

Have a great week everyone, 

God bless,

Lisca

WOYWW 313 Holland, Friesland and a felted scarf

Hi everyone,

It’s Wednesday again and time to do some desk hopping. Via Julia (http://www.stamping-ground.blogspot.com.es/) we get to see each other’s desks and say our weekly hello.

Well, I am not at home, in fact, I’m still travelling. At the moment I’m in Holland visiting my mum who will be 91 on Friday.

 The desk I’m going to show you belongs to my cousin’s wife Ina. 

She loves sewing and has recently done a course in felting and has made this scarf. She gave it to me as a present. I love it!

 Ina and her husband live in the north of the Netherlands in an area called Friesland. Friesland has its own language and is famous for its black & white cows (Friesians). Also there are beautiful lakes so sailing is very popular in Friesland.

On the way back from Friesland we visited friends who have a farm (beef cattle, not Friesians).

This is my friend's vegetable plot

Here are some pictures of this typical Dutch landscape.

That's it for today. Thank you everyone for following my travels in spite of the non-crafty content. I will try and visit as many of you as I can politely get away with. (I have internet as I am staying at someone's house, but I believe it is quite rude of course to be on my tablet all the time when I am visiting someone....)

God bless you all! 

See you next week,

Lisca