A Postcard A Day - Friday 8 April 2022 - Friday Smiles

 Hello lovely ladies,

Here we are again on Friday. It's been a hard week, but there certainly were smiles as well. It's good to focus on the good moments and the smiles, isn't it.

I received lots of postcards this week, and this was one of them:

It comes from Finland and was sent to me by someone called Heidi. I like this timeless photo of the child with that wistful expression on her face. 

The stamp is delicious! Chocolate!

Karl Fazer Milk Chocolate, commonly known as Fazer Blue , is a Finnish brand of milk chocolate owned by the Fazer corporation. The common name derives from the iconic blue color of its wrapper, which is a registered color trademark of the Fazer corporation.

Fazer Blue is often ranked as the best-selling confectionery in Finland. It also regularly polls as the most respected brand among Finns.

The chocolate is widely considered a part of Finnish cultural heritage and cuisine. It owes its unique taste to the use of fresh milk in production, as opposed to powdered and condensed milk commonly used in chocolate manufacturing. Compared to other chocolates, Fazer Blue also has a relatively high milk concentration. 

The chocolate was brought to market in 1922. According to the Fazer corporation, the Swiss recipe was a gift to the Fazer family from an Englishman. The recipe has remained unchanged since.

In 2001, the Fazer Blue color, Pantone C 280  , became Finland's first color trademark.^[3] At the 2012 Summer Olympics, Karl Fazer Milk Chocolate sponsored the Finnish sailing team.

My husband has started his radiotherapy in Granada.  Granada is an hour and a half drive from here, but the  transport is free. It's an 'ambulance' minibus that picks up other people on the way, so he gets picked up at 7 in the morning and he's usually back by two. It's quite tiring but we are so thankful that we have free healthcare and I don't have to drive there myself. What a blessing. 

Because my week has been a bit topsy-turvy, I haven't got many collages or funnies. I'll show you what I've got:

Hubby still has this low-residue diet, so our dinners are not very colorful.

Friday it was still raining and I went to the gym in the rain. Hubby spent most of the day in bed as he was not having a good day. I managed to coax him out of bed with pancakes! 

Saturday was a good day (and the sun came out!) We went to our plot for an hour or so to pull some weeds and after hubby had rested for a few hours he felt well enough to join us for Intercambio, the language exchange group. But the venue we normally use was being used by another group (there was a mountainbike race on Sunday morning and they were preparing stuff.) So, we just went to the bar!

On Sunday morning we made it to church, which was lovely. Again the weather was dry. 

Then from Monday onwards I have very few photos. But on Tuesday it snowed!

I forgot to take pictures of our patio but this is our friends' outlook.

This was our meal on Wednesday: Omelet and (air fryer) chips.

Then on Thursday we woke up to this:

Then I went outside to take a picture without the window:

Finally sunshine with a clear blue sky! Wonderful!

I haven't had time to find many funnies, but this popped up this morning:

I'll look through my old files and see if there is something you might not have seen....

That is it I'm afraid,

I'm going to link up with Annie at A Stitch In Time. By all means join me there for some more smiles.

Wishing everyone a lovely weekend,

Keep smiling,

Hugs,

Lisca

A Postcard A Day - Tuesday 5 April 2022 - T for India

 Hello, good morning lovely ladies. I'm a bit late today. I usually write this late in the evening and post it at midnight. But yesterday we spent a gruelling day at the hospital and we both flopped into bed as soon as we got home (around 9 pm).Hubby has started his radiotherapy treatment but then also developed a bleed, which later stopped. They sent him home. This morning the ambulance picked him up at seven for his appointment at 9:30 (we live a long way away from this hospital as our local hospital doesn't have radiotherapy equipment). We'll see how this pans out, in the meantime I have time to write this blog and it will take my mind off things.

Today I have a card from India for you. From Hyderabad in fact.

The Charminar (lit. 'four minarets') constructed in 1591, is a monument located in Hyderabad, Telangana, India. 

The landmark has become known globally as a symbol of Hyderabad and is listed among the most recognised structures in India. The Charminar's long history includes the existence of a mosque on its top floor for more than 425 years. The reason behind building such an architectural marvel remains unclear, though it is widely accepted that the Charminar was built to commemorate the eradication of the plague which was widespread during that period in the city. According to Jean de Thévenot, a French traveler of the 17th century whose narration was complemented with the available Persian texts, the construction was done to celebrate the beginning of the second Islamic millennium year. Others have come to believe that the king erected the structure at the very spot where he first laid his eyes on his future begum (wife), Bhagmati.

While both historically and religiously significant, it is also known for its popular and busy local markets surrounding the structure, and has become one of the most frequented tourist attractions in Hyderabad. 

Charminar is also a site of numerous festival celebrations, as it is adjacent to main mosque of the city Makkah Masjid across the road.

The stamps are pretty. This one is about the fashion industry:

It is part of a series called "Indian Fashion - Concept to consumer":

There is also a First Day cover:

I love those stamps. The subject is different to others I've seen.

There are two more:

The subject is Bal Gangadhar Tilak  born Keshav Gangadhar Tilak ; 23 July 1856 – 1 August 1920), endeared as Lokmanya, was an Indian nationalist, teacher, and an independence activist. He was one third of the Lal Bal Pal triumvirate.^[5] Tilak was the first leader of the Indian independence movement. The British colonial authorities called him "The father of the Indian unrest." He was also conferred with the title of "Lokmanya", which means "accepted by the people as their leader".^[6] Mahatma Gandhi called him "The Maker of Modern India".^[7]

Tilak was one of the first and strongest advocates of Swaraj ("self-rule") and a strong radical in Indian consciousness. He is known for his quote in Marathi: "Swaraj is my birthright and I shall have it!".

But.... he was very conservative when it came to women. I have very strong views about rights for women, so I didn't like this aspect of this apparently respected man. Read the following (or skip it if not interested):

Social views against women

Tilak was strongly opposed to liberal trends emerging in Pune such as women's rights and social reforms against untouchability.^[41][42][43] Tilak vehemently opposed the establishment of the first Native girls High school (now called Huzurpaga) in Pune in 1885 and its curriculum using his newspapers, the Mahratta and Kesari.^[42][44][45] Tilak was also opposed to intercaste marriage, particularly the match where an upper caste woman married a lower caste man.^[45] In the case of Deshasthas, Chitpawans and Karhades, he encouraged these three Maharashtrian Brahmin groups to give up "caste exclusiveness" and intermarry.^[a] Tilak officially opposed the age of consent bill which raised the age of marriage from ten to twelve for girls, however he was willing to sign a circular that increased age of marriage for girls to sixteen and twenty for boys.^[47]

Child bride Rukhmabai was married at the age of eleven but refused to go and live with her husband. The husband sued for restitution of conjugal rights, initially lost but appealed the decision. On 4 March 1887, Justice Farran, using interpretations of Hindu laws, ordered Rukhmabai to "go live with her husband or face six months of imprisonment". Tilak approved of this decision of the court and said that the court was following Hindu Dharmaśāstras. Rukhmabai responded that she would rather face imprisonment than obey the verdict. Her marriage was later dissolved by Queen Victoria. Later, she went on to receive her Doctor of Medicine degree from the London School of Medicine for Women.^{[48][49][50][51]}

In 1890, when an eleven-year-old Phulamani Bai died while having sexual intercourse with her much older husband, the Parsi social reformer Behramji Malabari supported the Age of Consent Act, 1891 to raise the age of a girl's eligibility for marriage. Tilak opposed the Bill and said that the Parsis as well as the English had no jurisdiction over the (Hindu) religious matters. He blamed the girl for having "defective female organs" and questioned how the husband could be "persecuted diabolically for doing a harmless act". He called the girl one of those "dangerous freaks of nature".^[43] Tilak did not have a progressive view when it came to gender relations. He did not believe that Hindu women should get a modern education. Rather, he had a more conservative view, believing that women were meant to be homemakers who had to subordinate themselves to the needs of their husbands and children.^[11] Tilak refused to sign a petition for the abolition of untouchability in 1918, two years before his death, although he had spoken against it earlier in a meeting.

As today is T for Tuesday, I will join the T-Party hosted by Elizabeth and Bluebeard. I need a drink or drink related photo. 

This is my white wine. As hubby doesn't drink, I buy these little monodose boxes of Chardonnay. They are quite nice and I occasionally indulge.

On Friday I had persuaded hubby to come along to Intercambio, our Spanish-English language exchange. But the venue was being used for something else and we couldn't use it that day, so we went to the bar. Hubby is having a cup of herbal tea and the rest of us had beers.

Excuse the mask on the table. That is not very hygienic.

I will leave it at that for today, as it is late.

Happy T-Day all,

Hugs,

Lisca

A Postcard A Day - Saturday 2 April 2022 - Second on the 2nd

 Hello lovely ladies,

No postcard today but an old post from 2015 to join Elizabeth and Bluebeard for Second on the 2nd, where we show an old blogpost. Mine is a What's On Your Workdesk Wednesday post where my friends Antonia and the two Patricias and me came together to do some crafting. You might recognize my friends as they feature in several of my blogs.

Here it is:

It’s Wednesday again and today I’m showing you the desk (i.e. table) with all the action. This is at my friend Antonia’s house (the lady on the right). My friends wanted to start scrapbooking and I had promised to do a session with them. We did A4 format as that format is easiest to buy things for in the local shops. I took a crate full of stash over to Antonia’s and here we are having scrapping fun. On the left is Patricia from Mexico and in the middle is Patricia from Peru. Antonia is Spanish and I am Dutch. Quite the united nations!

While we waited for the other girls to arrive Antonia showed me her cheese making equipment as she had made a lovely goat’s cheese the week before. The freshly made cheese gets put in the baskety round thing that then gets tightened. A weight is put on top so that the liquid is being squeezed out and runs along the little ‘channels’ into a bucket. Clever he?

Where in England people drink tea and in US girls drink coffee when they get together, here in Andalucia we drink ‘infusion’ or herbal drinks. Sometimes we use ‘tea’ bags we buy in the shops but more often than not they are dried herbs that have been picked locally. Some herbs are quite bitter so I usually add a leaf of Stevia ( the dried leaves in the plastic bag). 

They are real sweet. I want to watch my weight but don’t like to take artificial sweeteners. This is a really good solution.  Many of my friends are from South America, and they are in the habit of drinking a caffeinated herbal drink called ‘mate’ (pronounced: ma-tay).

 It is drunk from a special beaker and a straw. Drinking through the straw prevents you getting ‘bits’ in your mouth. 

The beaker gets passed around and everyone gets a turn. The same beaker gets filled up with hot water after each person has had a drink. These photos I got from Wikipedia as I forgot to photograph my friends’ beaker (which is a shame because hers is much nicer).

I’m sorry if I haven’t visited so many desks last week. It has been a hectic week. Will try to do better this week.

And if you are wondering what this desk hopping is all about, visit Julia’s blog at http://www.stamping-ground.blogspot.com.es/ where it all will become clear.

Have a good week everyone,

Greetings from sunny Spain,

Lisca

A Postcard a Day - Friday 1 April - Friday Smiles (No joke)

 Hello lovely girls, How are you all? Today is the first day of the new month. This year is tripping by at a fast pace, don't you think?

The weather here is still awful. It is still raining (which is good, I know) but I am a bit fed up with it all. It has been four weeks of almost non-stop rain and today we had a hail storm! I so long for the sun!

Let's all visit Annie at A Stitch In Time for some smiles and some fun. My contribution is this smiley postcard (it made me smile anyway):

The card comes from Canada, and it reminds us that the British royal family is also the Canadian royal family. 

I only recently received this card so it is totally out of season. The British among you will know that it represents Stir Up Sunday, Every member of the family has to stir the Christmas pudding five weeks before Christmas.

Good Housekeeping says:

It is a tradition that harks back to Victorian times when the family would gather together to stir the Christmas pudding five weeks before Christmas. The opening words of the Book Of Common Prayer, used on the last Sunday before Advent, reads: "Stir up, we beseech thee, O Lord, the wills of thy faithful people," so the tradition stands that this is the day to get stirring!

• Christmas pudding would traditionally contain 13 ingredients to represent Jesus and his disciples.
• It is traditionally stirred (while making a wish) by each member of the family from East to West, to remember the Wise Men that visited Jesus in the Nativity Story.
• 
  
• Don't know how to make Christmas Pudding? Here is the link: 

  The ultimate guide to Stir-up Sunday

• 
  
• This is the stamp. 

Canadian stamps are quite small, but they show the country's beauty spots.

My week has been so-so. But hubby has his good days and there is much to smile about and be thankful for.

Friday was a good day. It had been raining all day and apart from going to the gym in the morning, I hadn't been out all day. 

The dry riverbed is now a torrent and nobody can get to their plots of land until the water recedes. 

Our friends invited us round for the evening meal, so we donned our rain gear and walked round to their place. We had a lovely catch-up.

Still raining on Saturday and we had the heating on too. I desperately needed to do a wash, so I had to dry it inside.

We did remember to put the clocks forward on Sunday morning, but we didn't go to church as hubby wanted to stay in bed. He had slept badly. But he perked up in the day, so much so that he could go to a worship session in the evening. That is being held in an old farmhouse (hence the old pot stove).

Hubby slept well and Monday he was 'full of beans' and rearing to go. So we did the weekly shopping, drove to Zujar 20 km away to buy almond shells for our stove. In the afternoon, when the rain stopped for an hour, he went to our plot of land to cover the greenhouse as the plants were getting too wet.

Tuesday it was dry would you believe, so I quickly turned the washing machine on. I gave the washing line a good clean and hung the wash outside. The photo bottom left is the white wall of the terrace. Now not so white anymore....

On Wednesday I usually go to my best friend and prayer partner. We chat and we pray. Her house is a cave house. The visible bit is built onto the rock and the bedrooms are hewn out of the rock. There is also a large conservatory which you can't really see in the photo, but it has an amazing view.

We finally managed to get a bottle of gas (we were cooking on our spare bottle and I was getting worried) My friend runs a petrol station and she messaged me to say they had got a load in, so we dropped everything and drove out to get one.

Yesterday was another indoor day. It rained and it hailed! I made butternut squash risotto in the Instant Pot. Lovely comfort food for cold days. The other photos are Antonia's neighbors. Palm trees and orange trees remind me of sunshine. I'm longing for summer.

The following mural is my favorite. It can be found in Glasgow and is made by Smug. I think they call it Saint Mungo (Patron saint of Glasgow who restored life to a robin). I just love the expression of the man's face when he looks at the little bird.

The Australian-born artist – real name Sam Bates – is originally from Nowra in New South Wales. He has lived in Scotland for 16 years.

He also painted this (Honey, I shrunk the kids). People like to be photographed just beneath the mural so it looks as if she is picking them up.

I love this one:

And this one. They are so realistic.

That is it from me today. Of course I will have some funnies for you at the end. 

Have a good weekend,

Stay safe,

Hugs,

Lisca