A Postcard A Day - Friday 12 August 2022 - Friday Smiles

 

Hello lovely ladies, How are you all? Today my blog is about the smiles we have had this week and there have been many. 

Of course I also have a postcard to share. In fact I have two as there is a large pile of cards still to get through.

Both cards reflect summer holidays. The first one is this:

It is the current Dutch king Willem-Alexander when he was a toddler. His father Prince Claus (Queen Beatrix's husband) is keeping an eye on him. The photo was taken in 1971 in Porto Ercole (Italy) where the royal family always went on holiday. They have a villa there where they have privacy. 

They would always have one photo shoot at the start of their holiday and after that the press would leave them alone. The above photo I found on the Internet and it features from left to right Prince Bernhard, (the then) Queen Juliana, Beatrix and Claus.

On this photo I recognize Prince Bernhard on the left, then his daughter Princess Margriet and her husband Pieter van Vollenhoven, Then I see Princess Irene, who later married a Spanish prince, and Queen Juliana.

The stamps have a royal theme too. The one on the right celebrates Queen Juliana's 70th birthday. She was born on the 30 April 1909 and died on the 20 March 2004 and was Queen of the Netherlands from 1948 until her abdication in 1980.

The other stamp is upside down, but it is a child's drawing. These stamps are sold with a surcharge that goes to children's charities. They have been released every year since 1924 (except the war years) on the last Wednesday of September. Of course the design is different every year.

My second card is by the famous Inge Löök from Finland:

The naughty aunties are spending a day on a lake. And are singing loudly by the looks of it.

The stamps are really nice:

The red one in the middle is a Christmas stamp, and the beautiful one on the right is from a series of 'Experience Nature' - Amphibians:

Aren't they gorgeous.

I have no info on the other two stamps.

Right, so much for my postcards. What have we been up to?

We were in Portugal last week. (see also last Tuesday's blog). The town of Portimao, on the south coast has a yearly sardines festival. We went there 30  years ago, but it has grown out to a huge festival with thousands of people and hundreds of booths selling drinks and sardines. 

Of course they also sold other things. Here hubby has got a type of churros, but a bit flatter and dipped in sugar.

We sat at long trestle tables, watching the people go by and the occasional brass band. The atmosphere was great.

This was the festival photo thingy. We waited a long time for the lady behind us to move, but she didn't. As there were other people waiting for us, we just went ahead.

On another day we paid a visit to the local ceramics place:

DIL wanted to buy a whole service of plates and bowls. In fact she bought ten of everything. She had asked us if we could bring them back to the UK in the car as they were flying. 

The choice was endless. I bought a bowl and a jug. 

Hubby is doing fine. He had a reservoir put in under his skin a few weeks ago and this week the stitches (staples) have been taken out and the would is healing nicely. Still no word from the hospital as to when he starts his chemotherapy. We are leaving for the UK soon and they know that, so we hope it will be when we come back.

That is all from me this Friday. As you can see there were many smiles. Now over to Annie at A Stitch In Time for more smiles.

Of course I will put some funnies at the end.

Have a great weekend.

Keep smiling!

Hugs,

Lisca

A Postcard A Day - Tuesday 9 August 2022 - T for summer holidays

 Hello lovely ladies,

We have safely returned from Portugal, where we stayed with family in a lovely villa on the south coast. My postcards are in the theme of summer holidays:

This summery card comes from the south of France. It is a resort on the Mediterranean coast with beaches and marinas. 

The stamp is a normal French stamp featuring Marianne. 

Marianne  has been the national personification of the French Republic since the French Revolution, as a personification of liberty, equality, fraternity and reason, as well as a portrayal of the Goddess of Liberty.

My second postcard comes from the USA and features beauty queens from the 40s and 50s:

The person that sent it to me is a history teacher from Philadelphia. Her husband is a firefighter. 

The stamp is a very nice floral one. I have received this one before but I particularly like this pink flower.

Let me tell you about Portugal. When driving from where we live in Spain to the western part of the Algarve, one has to count on 6 hours driving. We stopped every two hours for a stretch of the legs and some refreshments. Finally the bridge, which is the border, came into sight:

At the other side the road becomes a toll road and foreign cars (we have a Spanish car) must introduce their credit card as the toll gets electronically charged (with number plate recognition).  The road is beautiful and after about an hour we arrived at our destination. The family had food and drinks ready. And here we are at the table in the pool area having a great time:

You can tell by my cardigan that it is a lot cooler there then where we live. I had to borrow a cardigan as I hadn't brought anything with me. Portugal is on the Atlantic ocean and there is a lot of cool wind. 

They had cooked a large bream on the BBQ. It was delicious.

Another day we went to a small local restaurant:

 We sat at the table that is visible through the door. We actually booked a table as we were 7 people (including 3 children).

The food was delicious. I chose a squid kebab:

As today is T for Tuesday, the party hosted by Elizabeth and Bleubeard, I must show some drinks or drink related items. In the above photo hubby's glas of non-alcoholic beer is visible. By the way he ordered an omelet.

We're not really beach lovers but the children do love the beach so one morning we went to a non-touristy beach that is known to the locals (and a few hippies). It was stunning:

There were very people there and the children enjoyed themselves. Us oldies sat and watched the fun.

I hope that you all have been able to do something summery this time of year.

I'll sign off for now. More photos in my Friday blog post.

Happy T-Day all!

Hugs,

Lisca

A Postcard A Day - Friday 5 August 2022 - Friday Smiles

 Hello lovely ladies,

Those of you who read my Tuesday blog will know that we are in Portugal, visiting son, DIL, and 3 grandchildren (all boys). They are there on holiday too and have invited us to stay in the villa with them for a few days. I am scheduling this post as I don't know how things will go. Better be safe than sorry.

My postcard today comes from Norway and features a goodlooking young man called Joey Tempest:

I recognized him immediately as one of the Swedish rock band Europe.

Europe is a Swedish rock band formed in Upplands Väsby in 1979, by frontman Joey Tempest, guitarist John Norum, bassist Peter Olsson, and drummer Tony Reno. Wikipedia

Currently known by his stage name, Joey Tempest, Rolf Magnus Joakim Larsson gained recognition as the lead vocalist in Europe. The band has created many songs that impacted the metal scene. His passion for music began at a very young age, and he tried to learn how to play piano and guitar. The musician was interested in Thin Lizzy and Led Zeppelin during his teen years.

In the late ’70s, Larsson established the group Force along with John Norum, Peter Olsson, and Tony Reno. The band instantly started gaining recognition and reaching an audience. The members changed their name to Europe, and their reputation escalated over time with big international hits like ‘The Final Countdown. 

Do you remember that song? I do, and I just played it again and sang out loud to it! Here is the link. to the YouTube official video.

This is what Joey Tempest looks like now:

The card was sent to me by Inger who is a medical secretary on southern Norway. The stamps are cute. They are two different stamps (look carefully, they are not the same).

They are two stamps from 2017 and are meant for inland post. 

I haven't any photos from Portugal in this blog as I'm writing this in advance, but I do have some photos from two weeks ago when Tracey visited. Tracey and I went on a night walk organized by the local council. It is just too hot to walk in the day. The aim was to look at the stars. Registration was free and more than 50 people joined in. We got given a head torch, a reflective arm band and one of those straws that light up when you bend them (don't know what they are called). We sort of fooled around while we were waiting to start:

 I hope this makes you smile. If it doesn't, there will be some funnies at the end. 

So now I hope you will all link up with Annie at A Stitch In Time. If I somehow haven't been able, will somebody please link me?

Have a lovely weekend, Keep smiling,

Hugs,

Lisca

A Postcard A Day and Second on the 2nd - Tuesday 2 August 2022 - T for autumnal scenes and a blast from the past

 Hello lovely ladies,

How are you all? We are in the Algarve (southern Portugal) visiting son nr 2 and his family. They are holidaying in a large villa that belongs to DIL's mum & dad. There is internet in the villa but I am scheduling this just in case.

My postcards for today are two black and white cards with an autumnal theme:

It was sent to me by Jana, who lives in Brno, the second biggest city in the Czech republic. The photographer is Michal Vitásek, a 39 year old Czech photographer.

The stamp is really lovely with a wild cat. I have never seen a wild cat. We have many streetcats here, but I don't think there are wild cats in our natural park. (We have lynx though).

My second card is from Russia

The photographer is Eunice (Yuni) Stahl, who is based in Surprise, Arizona. 

She specializes in wedding and family photos.

The card was sent to me by Olesy, who is 37 years old and lives in Moscow. He tells me he was a dance teacher before Covid ruined everything. His hobby is West Coast Swing Dancing! (In Moscow?).

I had never heard of it but here is a link to a video that shows what it looks like (video is 5 min).

The stamps are spectacular! The berries are lingon berries. Vaccinium vitis-idaea, the lingonberry, partridgeberry, mountain cranberry or cowberry, is a small evergreen shrub in the heath family Ericaceae, that bears edible fruit. It is native to boreal forest and Arctic tundra throughout the Northern Hemisphere, from Europe and Asia to North America.

The stamp on the right is obviously a Russian dish bit I haven't been able to find out what it is.

But I do see a jug of something that looks like stout. That could be my ticket to the T-Party hosted by Elizabeth and Bleubeard.

Today is also the second of the month and Elizabeth and Bleubeard also celebrate this with a blogpost from the past. Well here is one from August 2015 and hopefully it will put a smile on your face.

Happy T-Day, Keep smiling,

Hugs,

Lisca

Here is an old blogpost from August 2015:

Good Morning!

This first 'notice' I picked up this week is for all of you who can't resist a nice piece of material. Yes, I mean You!

(Libby Woodlands‎Quilting For You)

But I normally show you a postcard... Here is one from my collection of  postcards designed by Inge Look. Even the 'naughty old ladies' are enjoying their holiday. One of them has her bum in a tub of water! 

It was sent to me by Sakari in Finland. He lives in Turku, the oldest city in Finland. He told me he was a retired hospital chaplain. 

He did put a special I Love Postcrossing stamp on  it! How cool is that!

In case you don't know what postcrossing is.... here is the link www.postcrossing.com.

If the above images have not made you smile then the next one will and I'll end on that note.

Have a good weekend everyone and remember: "Every cloud has a silver lining".

God bless,

Lisca