WOYWW 349 - a postcard, a jigsaw and lacemaking

Good morning deskhoppers,

I am really reluctant to show you my desk this morning. It is an almighty mess. But this is what Whats On Your Workdesk Wednesday is all about. If you want to know more, Julia at Stamping Ground will explain all.

There are my head phones, a diary/journal, a water bottle, my Bible, my lacemaking cushion, some loose bobbins, and some tiny boxes I have made out of left over Christmas cards.

I have started a new lace project. I want to make some small stars to hang in my Christmas tree next Christmas. Lacemaking takes ages to do, so I am starting now.

Here is a better picture of the cushion:

Speaking of lacemaking.... Through Postcrossing I received a lovely postcard recently from Russia.

I think this Russian lace is really beautiful, don't you?

The other thing I have been doing is... starting another jigsaw puzzle! Yes, I love doing jigsaws. Dear son-in-law gave me this one. It shows all the kings and queens of England. 

This is as far as I got so far.

That's it from me today. My Wednesdays are always very busy but I will do my best and visit as many as I can. 

Have a good week,

Blessings,

Lisca

A Postcard a Day - 9 Feb 2016 T for cave houses and drinking tea from a saucer

Hi folks! Happy Tuesday! Hello Tuesday gang! 
(Yes, I am linking up with Elizabeth at T for Tuesday. Here is the link: Do stop by and you might also get a glimpse of Bluebeard.)

My postcard for today comes from Russia. Sent to me by Marina, who lives in Nizhny Novgorod.

Marina writes:"The painting depicts a rich merchant's wife drinking tea. Only in the 20th century tea became available not only to the richest, so it seems that she enjoys her drink (and drinks from the saucer)."

The painter is Konstantin Makovsky (1839-1915). He painted this canvas, called 'Drinking Tea', in 1914. Oil on canvas. It is now in the Ulyanovsk Regional Art museum.

The flat we are building next to our cave house is nearing its completion. We will then move out of the cave, into the flat next door and start renovating our cave house. We have spoken to our builder and a few days ago he took us to his current project of cave houses so we could get some inspiration as to how we wanted our cave house renovated.

These are the two caves we visited (seen from the swimming pool). My photos are concentrated on details that i wanted to remember. One of them was the shower. I really liked that idea.

The toilet is behind the right hand wall and the shower behind the left wall.

Here is a detail of the floor. They cement the floor and then somehow make it shiny. Some little pebbles and some bricks in the cement give a really nice effect.

And these steps are lovely, simple but effective.

The pool was not in use (and very dirty) as they are still building. It is an infinity pool with a beautiful view. When switched on,  the water will run over the edge (which is not in the picture) onto a lower level and the pumped up again. 

We have no room for a pool, but it's nice to drool and dribble over all these nice things.

That's it from me today. Have a good week, and see you all next Tuesday,
Blessings,
Lisca

A Postcard a Day - Friday 5 Feb 2016 Friday Smiles

Good Morning! It's Friday again. 

For those of you who have read my Wednesday blog, I want to tell you that I am feeling much better. (I knew it wouldn't last long).

Today I will show a postcard, as usual. Then I'd like to tell you how my week has been, concentrating on the positive things, and then I hope i can make you smile with a little 'funny'.

But first my postcard:

 As you might have guessed it comes from India. Kamran, who sent it to me, says it is a village girl in the Kutch District. Isn't she colorful! The Kutch district is a district of Gujarat state in western India. Covering an area of 45,652 km², it is the largest district of India.

The stamp is very interesting. It features JRD Tata, whom I'd never heard of. Apparently he founded Air India and Tata Motors. Jehangir Ratanji Dadabhoy Tata was a French-born Indian aviator and business tycoon. He was the Chairman of Tata Sons. He became India's first licensed pilot in 1929. 

My week has been good. The weather is still warm and sunny. The almond trees are in blossom (see Wednesday's blog)

The weekend was full of socializing as usual and during the week my DH is working hard at our new living quarters, which are nearing completion. I've ordered my kitchen yesterday. I'm having it made by a local carpenter. And my cooker has arrived:

 It has 5 burners and is meant to look a bit rustic. There is not much choice in cookers for bottled gas.

I have always dreamt of a large oven as I use the oven a lot and like baking too This one even has a spit to grill a chicken. How cool is that!

Wednesday my DH drove me to the nearest town so I could meet a fellow lace maker. I had found (and I have now met) two ladies in our nearby town that do lace making. I'm really thrilled. 

We then also walked through the market as it was market day.

I bought nuts and seeds and dried fruit.

Now for something funny:

I'm linking this with Annie's Friday Smile and later on with Virginia at Celtic House to 'rock our Friday'.

That's it for today,

Have a good week and... keep smiling!

Blessings,

Lisca

WOYWW 348 Wednesday 3 Feb 2016 Lacemaking, mice, blossom and urgh!

Hi everyone! Happy WOYWW!

Don't be fooled by this enthusiastic opening, I'm feeling pretty lousy. I suffer from winter blues and even though I live in a sunny country I still get it from time to time. I feel like i want to curl up in a corner (or in bed) and sleep, I can't be motivated to do anything. It's difficult to explain. From experience I know that I will feel better tomorrow or the day after. I still have my lightbox and that usually does the trick.

Needless to say my desk is not very interesting at the moment. But I do want to show you this:

It's one of my lace making projects. It is finished but I don't know how to finish it. I've found a lady in our nearby town who does lace making and is willing to help. I'm going to see her later this morning. I will put my camera in my bag and perhaps have more photos next week.

This project has been hanging around for ages (more than a year) as i haven't been able to find anyone who does lace making here. When I found the bag with my spare cushion in it, it has been nibbled by mice (a common problem when you live in the country).

Time for a new bag don't you think? When I go into town tomorrow I will look for some material to sew a new one. Watch this space.
I'll leave you with something positive:

The almond trees are in blossom. A little bit early because of the warm weather. This photo was taken yesterday near our house.

Have a great week everyone,

Blessings,

Lisca

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 - Friday 29 Jan 2016 Peace doves, olive pips and Friday Smiles

Good morning! Happy Friday!
I'm sitting by the woodburner, enjoying the view, and thinking what sort of week we have had....
But first my postcard for today:

It was sent to me from Brazil, Sao Paolo. It's a black and white photo by the famous Soviet photographer Vladimir Lagrange (1939). The photo is entitled:'Peace Doves, 1962'. There had been an exhibition in Brazil by this photographer. See more of his work here.

At Virginia's blog Rocking your world Friday I usually tell about all the positive things that have happened in the week. What did I do this week? Lots of nice things....Saturday I spent mainly baking. I did orange muffins, double choc muffins and a coconut cake. (Sorry, forgot to take pictures)
There is an international group of evangelists/missionaries visiting our church. Eleven, mostly young people. On Sunday morning we went to see their performance (they did dance, mime, sketches, songs and gave testimonies) in the local cinema. Then they all had lunch at my friends' house here in the village. We arrived after lunch and brought the above mentioned cake and muffins, which went down well.

On Monday we went to buy olive pips. They are what is left over after the olives are pressed to get olive oil.

 We use it for fuel. It gets mixed with the almond shells and burnt in the stove.

It's not expensive (about 10 eurocents a kilo) so we buy it by the trailer load. More pictures this coming Tuesday.

On Wednesday my Flow magazine arrived in the post. It is my favorite magazine, wit lots of art, articles and photos as well as things to cut out or draw. 

I managed to get a telephone number for someone to teach me lacemaking. I do lacemaking but it's difficult to learn from a book. I definitely need a teacher. Watch this space.

I'm going to link up with Annie at A Stitch in Time for Friday Smiles. So here is my smiley:

I do feel sorry for the folks in parts of the world where it has been snowing heavily, but this car did make me smile.

That's it from me today.
Have a good week and a fun weekend if you can,
Blessings,
Lisca

WOYWW 347 - hearts and a cushion and a crib in a pill box

Good morning! I've been away over the holiday period (and longer) but now we're back home and things are more or less back to normal.

I have even started crafting again. Here is my desk:

I'm making cards. The one you can see on my desk I have copied from Carol Norby at stampincarol.blogspot.com. This is my version close-up:

The sentiment hasn't been added yet.

I have opened a few Christmas presents that were waiting for me when we came back. Here is a lovely cushion from my step-daughter. 

 I really love it. And it is also comfortable as it fits snugly in the small of my back.

And this is the teeniest nativity scene I have ever seen. My cousin sent it. The box it is in would normally be used for a ring, it's that small. Isn't it gorgeous?

That is it from me today. I'm linking up with Mrs Dunnit at Stamping Ground for Whats on Your Workdesk Wednesday, and later on today I will be doing some visits to see what you are all up to.

Have a good week,

Blessings,

Lisca