A postcard a day - Two Edmunds

Good morning!

I'm a bit bleary eyed this morning. There is a cricket/cicada just outside our bedroom window and it's making an enormous row. It's hard to imagine that a little insect like that can make so much noise!

Today two cards with images by a painter called Edmund. Two different Edmunds though.
The first is by Edmund Leighton

 Edmund Blair Leighton was an English painter(1852-1922) of historical genre scenes, specializing in Regency and medieval subjects. Wikipedia

This painting is called 'Sweet Loneliness' (1919). I received this card this week from Hannes, who lives in Bavaria in Germany. He chose it as I like any card with a book in it.... 

The other Edmund is Edmund Dulac and the card i have is this one:

It is called 'The tempest' and is an illustration from 'Shakespeare Illustrated'. It reminds me a little bit of the style of Arthur Rackham (whose work I like).

   Edmund Dulac (1882-1953) was a French-born, British naturalised magazine illustrator, book illustrator and stamp designer. Born in Toulouse he studied law but later turned to the study of art the École des Beaux-Arts. Wikipedia

It was sent to me by Iris in Estonia. I love the stamp with the national costume:

That's all for today,

Have a great weekend,

I'll be back tomorrow,

Lisca

Friday Smiles - 14 August 2015 Pussy's breakfast

It's late in the day but it is still Friday! We've been away for a few days and I have just come home. Just in time to quickly post a smile:

It's a postcard I received from the USA a while ago now but it is just funny. I call it Pussy's breakfast, but it might have been the cat owner's breakfast. Who knows. Her expression is priceless.

The stamps are really nice:

The trees represented on the stamps are, on the right: Blue Spruce and on the left: Eastern Red Cedar. 

That's it from me and my postcards. Tomorrow I will post another postcard. The photos of our few days away will be posted on Wednesday.

Good night all, 

Lisca 

WOYWW 323 – black sheep and agaves

Good morning deskers,

It’s Wednesday again. Yes, I know… it comes around so fast! If you don’t know what I’m talking about, visit Julia, our chief 'desker' at Stamping Ground.

My desk is a bit of a mess, but that’s good, because it means I’ve been crafting. I’m card making as there are three birthdays coming up that I want to send cards for. You can see the gate fold card I'm doing there on my mat.

Also on my desk are some fine liner pens that I bought at Lidl (European supermarket) yesterday for my doodling. They are different widths (0.4, 0.5 and 0.6) as well as some scrapbooking papers (7 sheets in a booklet).

Andalucia is very hot and humid at the moment. When it’s nice weather in UK we normally get the cloudy weather. The temperatures are still high but there is little or no sun. It feels very ‘close’ if you know what I mean. But I’m not complaining.

I’d like to show you the agave that is flowering near our house. I photographed it this morning (no sun, as normally it would not be possible to photograph against the full sun.) 

Agaves are large succulents also called century plants. Well, they don’t usually grow for a century but 20 or 30 years is no exception. Then eventually they flower (only once) and then they die! (This is called monocarpic). Well, the one down the road is dying as you can see and has a stem as thick as a telegraph pole and the flower is about that tall too. Very impressive. We drive past it almost every day and I decided to show you all. It’s a beauty!

We have a little property in the country where we escape to one day a week. Last week, I was sitting outside the house and a flock of black sheep came wandering past! I have never seen sheep like that (I assume they are sheep….)

 I could see a lot of udders bobbing about and the flock seemed to be mainly females (but not all). They looked healthy and well looked after, not like some poor things we see trotting past on occasion.

I’m going to pack some clothes as we’re going away for 2 or 3 days to the mountains (as soon as I’ve posted this). I found a campsite with a pool and I’m looking forward to cooling down. There is no Wifi so I won’t be able to visit anyone today or tomorrow but I will later in the week if you don’t mind.

Have a super week all of you,

Bless you,

Lisca

T for Tuesday 11 August 2015 T for unusual tea pot (no postcard today)

Good Morning and good Tuesday to all!

Writing a post about anything drink related is not difficult at all. That makes me sound like a real boozer, but I'm not. We all drink. We have to or die. Especially here in this warm climate liquids are essential.

But today I will post a 'boozy' photo because we went out last night and had such a lovely time. There is a house about 100 m from us that is owned by a Danish couple. They use it for holidays and this time this holiday for the first time they brought their (adult) children with them. 

We all met up last night at a local bar and drank Tinto de Verano (translated: Summer Wine=a mixture of red wine, lemonade and ice cubes). Here in the village (as everywhere in the Granada province) you get a free tapa (a snack) with every drink. 

Cheers!

But these are not my T for Tuesday photos really.  What I really wanted to show you is a photo my friend Regina took and sent me when she went to an antique exhibition.

It's a tea pot. If you look closely you'll see there is a perforated septum, a sort of divider with holes in it so that when you turn the pot up right the tea leaves remain separate and the tea stops stewing. Clever idea. When I asked Regina where she saw it, she told me the Shipley Art Gallery in Gateshead, UK.

That's all from me this morning. I'm linking this with T for Tuesday at altered book lover, so have a fabulous Tuesday all of you!

CU tomorrow!

Lisca

A Postcard a day - 10 August 2015 Monday Map and jellyfish

Good Morning! Good Monday! 

Hope you have had a good weekend.

We had a relaxing day yesterday... church in the morning. Afterwards we went to say goodbye to a friend who is travelling to Argentina (Patagonia) on Tuesday and we wanted to wish him 'bon voyage'. Then at 2pm we were back at the church for the monthly 'bring-and-share' lunch. I'd made a tuna potato salad and DH (dear hubby) had made a bread and butter pudding, which turned out really yummy.
The rest of the day we just relaxed. That's what Sundays are for.

Here is my postcard for today: 

It is the map of Taiwan made out of beautiful patterned papers or perhaps even fabric. Formosa is the name it was previously known as. Hakka, I had to look up, but it appears to be a language of the Han Chinese that is spoken (among other places) in Taiwan.

The stamps are gorgeous:

Jellyfish! I would rather not meet one when I go swimming but they are beautiful. 
The one on the left is Pelaga noctiluca. Pelaga is latin for 'of the sea', nocti means night and luca is light. So this little beauty glows in the dark.
On the right is Physophora hydrostatica. This is what is called a siphonophore. That is a colony of small organisms that all perform different tasks. The physophora hydrostatica is one such colony. Amazing!

That is my contribution for today. Tomorrow I will be linking up with T for Tuesday, so my post will be drink related. (I could write something drink related every day..!)

See you tomorrow!

Lisca

A postcard a day - 9 August 2015 Two cathedrals and beautiful stamps

Good morning! 

This cloudy Sunday morning I'm going to show you a card from a place called Vladimir in Russia. It shows two cathedrals.

They are the cathedral of the Assumption on the left and the cathedral of St Demetrius (on right) with the 18th century administrative building in between. It is part of a World Heritage Site called White Monuments of Vladimir and Suzdal.

The stamps are absolutely stunning:

They depict the central Sikhote-Alin mountain range. (In the south-eastern corner of the Russian Federation). It contains one of the most unusual temperate forests in the world. In this mixed zone between taiga and subtropics, southern species such as the tiger and the Himalayan bear, cohabit with northern species such as the brown bear and lynx. The site stretches from the peaks of Sikhote-Alin to the Sea of Japan and is important for the survival of many endangered species such as the Amur tiger.

There you are: the things you can learn from a stamp!

Have a blessed Sunday,

See you tomorrow,

Lisca

A Postcard a Day 8 August 2015 American Red Cross Canteen and envelope exchange

Good morning peeps, It's weekend!! Have you had a lie-in? 

Today an interesting postcard and a beautiful envelope.
Here is the card. It was sent to me by Scott from Kansas City. He tells me Kansas City is known for jazz music, BBQ cooking and fountains.I knew the first two but I didn't know about the fountains...

The card shows the American Red Cross Canteen at Union Station in Kansas City, MO. The Soldiers' and Sailors' Refreshment Booth officially became the American Red Cross Canteen at Union Station on September 2, 1917. The rules for the canteen stated that volunteers were to be "always kind, smiling and cheerful with these men", Image from the collection of the National World War I Museum.

The stamp is the famous 'global' one.

Then finally the third envelope from the July exchange:

Beautiful handwriting and a fun drawing. I love it. Thank you Carroll. 

These are the stamps in close-up:

I'm a happy bunny!

That's it from me today.

Have a lovely weekend all,

blessings,

Lisca x