A Postcard A Day - Friday 4 September 2020 - Friday Smiles

 

Good morning lovely ladies! It's Friday again (already. Doesn't the week fly by).

This Friday blog post is all about sharing smiles and about postcards of course.

First off is my postcard for today. It comes from Russia, from Moscow to be precise. It features three Russian beauties. They must be princesses as they look bored and spoilt . They are drinking a hot drink from a samovar, and eating snacks and fruit.

The postage stamp is a pretty classic, and the doggie stamp is not a postage stamp, but I think it's very cute

So what have the smiles been in my week?

Definitely my walks with my friend Antonia. We go walking every Friday and Monday morning. The last couple of weeks we have been going to the sierra, the hills that we see from our window.

This was the UK Bank Holiday weekend, and we should have been in the UK, camping with the family. Above you can see a photo with five of our grandchildren.

Saturday was a big day. We were invited to a small wedding. I had the honour of being 'stand-in' mum to Andres, who's parents couldn't be there.

It was a great wedding, and the food was lovely.

On Sunday hubby had to sort out the coffee grinder part of the coffee maker, which had become a bit clogged up. It's all working fine now.

Another walk on Monday:

The trees are magnificent. The Atlas Cedars (cedrus atlantica) are impressive. They have started to grow little cones.

The encinas (quercus ilex), below, are indigenous here. 

Quercus ilex, the evergreen oak, holly oak or holm oak, is a large evergreen oak native to the Mediterranean region. It takes its name from holm, an ancient name for holly. It is a member of the Cerris section of the genus, with acorns that mature in a single summer.

They are protected now as so many were felled during both world wars. Again, they are quite majestic:

I love them. They dot the landscape, often just one or two. They are evergreen and grow quite old and large. I wish they could speak.

Locals from the village of Zarza de Montánchez in Caceres have always known and loved La Terrona , perhaps the oldest and biggest holm oak in Spain. It took a bolt of lightning to bring it to the attention of the outside world. The lightning split the tree in two and almost killed it. Biologists came to the rescue and discovered that the tree is perhaps the oldest and biggest holm oak in the country: it's 16.5m tall, with a girth of 7.8m and is 800 years old. The village's ex-mayor claims they used to be an even bigger one: La Governadora, but it was burnt after also being hit by lightning 27 years ago. Although the biologists may have saved the venerable old tree from a natural death, its newly-found fame has brought new dangers, as unscrupulous tourists are causing serious damage. The Spanish postal service paid tribute to the Terrona in February 2004.

Then on Tuesday hubby and I went to the sierra again, in the car, to collect pine cones to light the fire with. Also little pieces of wood that we use for kindling. We collected six large bags from different locations.

I found an old tin (that must have come out of the campervan as it is an English tin) and I decided I'd better open it and use it. But there was no ring pull! I haven't used a tin opener for years, so it was a bit fiddly. 

Our combi microwave decided to go on strike after we'd accidentally slammed its door a bit too hard. I found an electrician willing to have a look at it and he came on Wednesday.  He took the appliance away with him and I haven't heard anything yet. I must say, it is very awkward cooking without the back-up of my microwave/oven/grill. I use the combi settings quite a lot, especially for jacket potatoes. 

I have since ordered a new oven, and it has arrived yesterday. It has a steam option. Hmm, interesting.

That is it from me this week.Time to visit Annie at A Stitch In Time and Virginia at Rocking Your World Friday.

Of course I will finish with some funnies. (There is a doggie one for Angela)

Take care everyone,

Hugs,

Lisca

A Postcard A Day - Tuesday 1 September 2020 - T for mosaics, fizzer and a wedding

 Good morning lovely ladies,

It's the first of September! How time flies. The temperatures here in southern Spain have dropped, thank goodness and the weather is now very lovely. We can go outside in the day time and enjoy nature.

Let me start with my postcard, that this time comes from France. It actually came in an envelope. It shows the Calanques, in southern France. Very beautiful from what I can see. 

The card was a Fizzer card. They claim: Fizzer enables you to send real personalized postcards with your own pictures. Your online cards are printed within 24 hours and shipped in envelopes for you all over the world. 800,000 users turn their photos into postcards thanks to Fizzer! No need to find a postcard, buy a stamp or go to the post office: we take care of everything!

There was even a fake stamp on the back of the card, and a message from the sender. 

I went online to see what the Calanques really look like, and this is the photo:

Now look who's here! This is me and my little sister in 1956 in the main street in Rotterdam. I remember my coat was pale blue. 

The building in the background is the office where my dad worked. His office was right behind the mosaic. 

Here is a more recent photo of the same building:

The mosaic was created in 1954 by The Rotterdam artist Louis van Roode (Delft, 1914 - Rotterdam, 1964)

The building is called the Holbein House and here you can see it a bit clearer: 

This huge wall mosaic is called Erasmus trip by Louis van Roode, and it was commissioned by investor Der Baseler Versicherungs-Gesellschaft for the Holbein House. The mosaic contains numerous references to the life of Erasmus (1467-1536).

The mosaic shows two city views: Rotterdam and Basel, the cities where Erasmus started and completed his life's journey, respectively. Although Erasmus came from Rotterdam, he spent a large part of his working life in Basel. His most important works were published by publishing house Forben. Erasmus on horseback could be a reference to his book The Praise of Foolishness, because in his own words the idea for this book originated while Erasmus traveled on horseback from Italy to England in 1509 to visit his friend Thomas More, to whom he also dedicated it.

The name of Hans Holbein the Younger (1497 / 98-1543) is inextricably linked to the drawings he made in Basel in the margins of Erasmus's most famous book The Praise of Foolishness (1515) and the series of portraits that he subsequently made over the years  of the famous humanist. 

I think this is his most famous painting of Erasmus (by Holbein):

I also found a study of his hand, and on the left you can see a study of the head. (Very vaguely)

Now over to other things. What have I been doing lately? We have been to a wedding on Saturday.  The groom had no family present so he asked me if I would 'walk him down the isle'. I felt honoured.

And here is the happy couple. OK, two happy couples! (Quickly whipped off our masks for the camera)

Doesn't she look gorgeous? It was a very simple wedding. The bride comes from Honduras and works 

as a cleaner somewhere. He is Spanish and also has a modest job. They rented the back room of a bar/restaurant at a local petrol station.

The staff had made an effort to pretty it all up and I must say, it looked very nice. 

We were 18 people, and we had a lovely time. The ceremony was like a church service. There were worship songs, the couple made their promises and there was a blessing and prayers as well as a short sermon. 

After that they began to serve the food. This was my main dish: lamb cutlets. Very nice. You can just see the stem of my wine glass. That will have to be my drink reference. Sorry Elizabeth.

Yesterday we visited a friend who lives round the corner. This is what we saw:

A cat guarding the car. (I suppose the bonnet was still warm). I thought it was quite funny.

That's it from me. I'm going to visit Elizabeth and Bluebeard, who host T for Tuesday. I've just seen that there is another drink reference: In the Holbein painting there is an empty wine bottle on the book shelf (top right). So now I am ready for the T-party!

Happy T-Day,

Keep smiling!

Hugs,

Lisca

A Postcard A Day - Friday 28 August 2020 - Friday Smiles

 

Hello lovely ladies! Happy Friday!

Isn't he a cute little animal? He (or she) is called a quokka.

The adorable quokka — pronounced kah-WAH-kah by Australians — is a cat-sized marsupial, and the only member of the genus Setonix — their full scientific name is Setonix brachyurus — which is a small macropod. Other macropods include kangaroos and wallabies and like these animals, quokkas also carry their young — called joeys — in pouches.

I thought that would get you all smiling! Because that is what this blog is about: smiles! Let's join Annie at A Stitch I Time with the silver lining of our week.

Let me first show you my postcard from this week. I got another Inge Look postcard. Inge Look is a Finnish illustrator and I just love her images of the the naughty aunties having fun. Some of you might have seen this image before, because I already have this card. but I don't mind getting 'doubles'. They make me smile every time.

The card was sent to me from Germany and it has that lovely stamp on it about Freedom of Press.

So, what have you all been up to this week? I will show you what we have done. (Never a dull moment in our household).

We went to buy some essential oils and I met Jacqui who I had met at the Intercambio Spanish practice. We arranged to get together this week.

The book I read (Death at Eden's End) is set in the Lake District, in Derwentwater. A place that I have visited many times.

One of our grandchildren was being baptized in the UK and people had arranged a video link, but at the crucial moment (typically just as he was being 'dunked') the connection failed. It had been video-d so we watched it later.

Monday I went walking again and I managed to go to the post office to buy more stamps. 

Tuesday is market day in our village and we both went and had a quick look. Hubby had bought some trousers a few weeks back and he likes them a lot, so we looked to see if that vendor was there again. Yes, he was, so he bought two more pairs. (And a face mask as you can see).

I used my new pan again. I really like it.

Wednesday I spent a day in the kitchen. I had planned a roast dinner that day, as I had found a local chicken (corn fed), so I did an old fashioned roast dinner. (Yes, in this heat!) And it was lovely! I also cooked another lasagna, as Jacqui and her husband were coming the next day and i wanted to have it ready.

My sister sent me the black and white photo of us when we were children. (I'm the older one on the left). I will blog about that (and the building in the background) on Tuesday.

Yesterday we really had a fantastic day. Jacqui and Toni came. We didn't really know them, but we discovered we are on the same wave length and it 'clicked' and we had a really good time. We showed them around near our house (they don't live in our village) and we found this 'nest'. At least we think it is a birds nest. It has a small hole in the top. I'm sure Kate will be able to tell us yay or nay.

That was my week. How has yours been?

I'm off to visit Annie and Virginia at Rocking Your Week Friday

Of course I will put some funnies at the end. A mixed bag this week, interspersed with some words of wisdom.

Wishing you all a fab weekend and a good week ahead. 

Keep smiling!

Hugs,

Lisca