A Postcard A Day - Tuesday 5 December 2023 - T for

 

Hello lovely ladies, How are you all?

Here the weather is getting nasty. We've had some night frost, and I really need to think about protecting my lemon tree. 

But let's start this blog post with a postcard as per usual:

I received this card from a person called Peter  from Birmingham, Alabama in the USA. It's called the Reading Woman (1877). It's a painting by Frank Duveneck (American 1848-1919). I really like it. He plays with light in the way that Rembrandt did. This oil painting can be found in the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston.

Kentucky-born painter and teacher. He studied at the Munich Academy and developed a loose, broad painting style in the manner of Hals and Rembrandt. Whistling Boy (1872) is a signature work.

Frank Duveneck’s parents were German immigrants. He showed talent at an early age painting signs and decorating coaches, and by age fifteen was apprenticed to an altar-building shop in a German-American neighborhood of Cincinnati. (Quick, An American Painter Abroad: Frank Duveneck’s European Years, 1988) His teachers encouraged him to travel to Munich, where he could study the works of Europe’s masters. The training at Munich’s academies influenced a generation of American painters, who adopted their professors’ confident brushwork and direct application of paint. Duveneck established himself as a successful portraitist and teacher in Cincinnati and Munich, and toward the end of his life created landscapes during summer vacations in Massachusetts.

The stamps are really nice:

This new Forever® stamp celebrates women’s soccer in the United States. From youth leagues to the elite world champion U.S. national team, millions of girls and women throughout the country participate in the fast-paced, competitive sport of soccer.

The stamp on the right (The farmer's bank) comes from a beautiful architecture series:

This block in the series was issued on August 28, 1981 at the National Building Museum in Washington, DC.  The buildings in this group date from the late 1800s to the early 1900s, a period when architects stopped sticking to particular styles and began exploring new directions.  The eclectic architecture of this era often took inspiration from any styles or buildings that came before it, and might even combine elements from multiple styles into one building.

The stamps show the New York University Library by Stanford White, the Biltmore House by Richard Morris Hunt, the Palace of the Arts by Bernard Maybeck and the National Farmer’s Bank by Louis Sullivan. I found some photos of this last one, that is on my stamp:

It's a beautiful building

One of the nation's most enduring and significant architectural buildings used to be called the Farmer's National Bank in Owatonna, Minn. It might never have been built in 1908 if it hadn't been for a couple of anti-establishment architects and a wealthy local banker who were not afraid to invest in new ideas.

Louis Sullivan and George Grant Elmslie were hired though their own studio was in a chaotic state. Sullivan had become an excessive drinker, and the gifted Elmslie was left to shoulder much of the design work.

The details are stunning.

I'd better stop drooling and tell you what I've been up to.

Here in the village the Christmas decorations have come out:

It's really pretty.

Wednesday was a difficult day as it was exactly a year since my husband died. But I got lots of encouraging messages and phone calls, so in the end it wasn't such a bad day.

The next few days were uneventful, then on Saturday night I went out to dinner with my friends .On the photo you see our Caprese salad with tomatoes and mozzarella. Very nice it was.

We had lots of delicious food. My glass of red wine just about visible for Elizabeth and Bluebeard's Tea Party.

The meal was a resounding success at our favorite restaurant.

On Sunday apart from going to church, I was invited to a Dutch Sinterklaas celebration. When I was a child we always celebrated it on the eve of St Nicolas (6 Dec) so that is the evening of the 5th, but my friends wanted to do it on the weekend. According to tradition Sinterklaas, who arrives on a steamer from Spain (It's actually televised on Dutch national television) rides a white horse. He is assisted by his black helpers all called Piet. Nowadays that is controversial, but of course historically there were Moors in Spain, so it's not so unusual. Nowadays Piet can be any colour except black. Anyway Sint rides his white horse across the roofs and throws present down the chimney or if there are lots of presents, he will leave a large jute sack by the front door after banging loudly on the door (usually a kind neighbour will oblige).

This is what happened at my friend's house. Actually it was a large basket:

Another tradition is to write anonymous rhymes. These usually poke fun of the recipient. I received some fun poems, which have to be read out loud:

And I received some sweet little presents:

My favorite is the felted flower. Made by my friend Maaike, who also wrote a lovely rhyme to go with that.

After all the presents have been opened, it's time to play with our new toys:

That is a really fun box of construction bits. 

Before going home my friend asked me to take home some produce.I chose one of these squashes (the smallest):

and a bag full of red peppers:

That is all from me today. I will leave you with one last image that some of you might be able to identify with:

Happy T-Day,

Hugs,

Lisca

A Postcard A Day - Saturday 2 December 2023 - Second on the 2nd

 Hello again,

I'm joining Elizabeth and Bluebeard by posting something that I've posted before. In this case it was many years ago, in fact it was 8 years ago, when we still lived in the cave next door. That cave was deteriorating and I was so looking forward to sleeping in a proper room.

A Postcard a Day - Friday 4 Dec 2015 Friday Smiles

Good Morning! Are you having a good day? Are you smiling today?

I'm linking up with Annie for Friday Smiles, so think of all the positiveness in your life and count your blessings and share them here with us.

I've had a good week. The weather here is still sunny every day although the temperatures are down at night, I can still sit outside in the sun and that makes me happy.

The highlight for me this week was yesterday when I joined a friend from church to make bread. Most people here have land although they live in the town or village. The land usually has a house on it that people use to relax or for holidays and of course when they work the land. My friend's name is Juanita, and in her place in the country she has an old fashioned oven (which is on my wishlist of things I would like) and with two more girls we made 20 loaves of bread.

Here she is building up a fire in the oven to heat it up for the next batch.

And here below she has just made some almond meringue type cup cakes. Very clever as the oven must not be too hot. They turned out perfect. I like a meringue with a bit of chewyness in the middle.

Our new bedroom is nearing completion and we hope to be able to sleep in there on Saturday. The electrician hasn't quite finished and my husband  needs to grout the tiles, and place the toilet.

Also this week my Tangle it! Journal has arrived! (I already wrote this on my Tuesday blog), but here it is:

Then on Wednesday morning my copy of the Flow Book for Paperlovers arrived too! I'm in seventh (paper) heaven!

 Can you read what it says? "More than 300 pages of paper goodies. *mini cards *postman paper doll * pop-up house * glitter postcards *wrapping paper *folding houses *coloring pages *craft paper *posters *stickers *and so much more!"

Here is their website and here is the link for the Youtube flipthrough. Do have a look.

Now for my postcard:

It's from my collection of WW2 motivational posters. During the Second World War people were encouraged in the US as well as in Britain, to make do and mend. There was no manufacturing, so new clothes were not available. 

When Kansas Wheat realized that women were sewing children's clothes out of their old sacks, they started to use sacks with pretty patterns.

Isn't that great! This is a photo from 1939. I found it on the internet. 

That's enough for today. I hope I have made you smile today. 

I'm also linking in with Virginia at Rocking your world Friday.

Have a good positive week,

Blessings,

Lisca

A Postcard A Day - Friday 1 December 2023 - Friday Smiles

 Hello lovely peeps, welcome to December! How time flies! I hope you are all well and have some smiles to share with us from the past week. 

I have lots to smile about, apart from the fact that I am extremely late today. I didn't have the opportunity to write something last night (I usually write on Thursday night) and this morning I had lots of errands to run as next week there are three fiestas (Monday, Wednesday and Friday) and I had loads to do in town.

But I'm here now and I'd like to share a few happy flowers:

The flowers are Coneflower ´Goldsturm´. And that is what they are: a storm of gold. Beautiful! It was sent to me by Ksenia from Belarus.

The stamp is cute:

It features a little red squirrel. Ksenia also adds a triangular sticker with writing on it that translates (according to Mr Google): The starry skies through the eyes of Belarussians.

Friday was a busy day. I went to Pilates in town and did some other errands while there. When I got back the man checking my gas connections was there (unannounced) and I have new tubes on every bottle. These tubes have a date on them and have to be replaced every so often.

After a quick lunch it was off to the hospital to accompany an English friend who doesn't speak Spanish,

 to a hospital appointment. 

Afterwards as I was walking back towards the car park, a mother and a teenager were waiting at the bus stop. His arm was bandaged and he was clearly uncomfortable. They asked me if I knew about bus times. As far as I knew the hospital shuttle only runs in the morning. I was just about to walk away when I realized this woman could probably ill afford a taxi, so I asked them where did they need to go. They told me and I drove them home, so that was my second trip into town. The woman (and her son) were Lithuanian and we had a nice chat.

In the afternoon my hairdresser could fit me in and I had my hair cut:

Saturday there was a walk to raise awareness for domestic violence (see Tuesday's blog). We walked a few kilometres and honored a local woman who was killed by her husband:

And we planted pansies and elected a bench.

In the evening I did Intercambio. I lead a group of people to practice English/Spanish. 

On Sunday I went to church and in the afternoon I made some Christmas cards as I can't find the cards I made from last year. (I didn't send any last year because Graham had just died so I was not in the mood)

Nothing as beautiful as some of you do. I just cut out figures and decoupage them.

This sort of idea.

On Monday I went to collect this huge parcel and I can now say what it was:

My new airfryer! I had one, a small one with one basket. Knowing that I'm having a family with children staying with me over Christmas, I decided to splash out on a new one with two baskets. 

I couldn't justify the high price of the Ninja, but I have something similar made by Chefree. I already love it. I have cooked two meals in it and I use it to reheat/crisp up, and the two baskets can be used independently and can be synched to finish at the same time. the baskets each have a light and the front is transparent so I can see how my food is doing.

The only disadvantage is the fact it is completely black and every fingerprint is visible!

The weather this week is colder and I have lit the stove a few times. But in the day the sun shines:

Also on Monday we had a power cut. It wasn't until the day after that I found out what the reason was:

This is the corner shop behind my house! The wires had caught fire. Scary! Photo courtesy of one of my neighbors.

On Tuesday my friends Kim and Andy come to lunch. I always forget to take pictures. Andy usually does little jobs for me. I had asked him to bring his drill and he hung up the ceramic sign that my mum had by the door:

Wednesday was a sad day for me as it was exactly a year that my husband died. I had lots of supportive phone calls. One of them was my sister and she suggested some tv progams that I had not been aware of. I follow Shetland (that is on a Wednesday) but she also suggested a series on ITV called Payback, so I watched the first episode on catch-up. She also recommended Portillo's Andalucia. That's on channel 5 for those who can get that. Excellent series about the region I live in. So I had a TV evening. I made myself some roasted chestnuts (in my new air fryer!) 

and warmed up some glühwein and of course I had lit the stove. Bliss!

Thursday was a busy day. I spent most of the morning at the town hall, talking to people about a problem some of my friends have (they don't speak Spanish). And also organizing a different venue for my Intercambio group. In the afternoon I met the marble guy at the cemetery as I'm ordering a stone for Graham's columbarium (a niche to put ashes in). As he promised it would be ready before the 14th, I've messaged several of my friends to see if we can get together to honor  Graham when I put the ashes in the niche and close it. You might not think this is worth a smile, but for me it is. I'm so happy that I have  a sort of a final resting place for him. And this does make me smile.

That is all from me today.

I'll try and find some funnies to put at the end.

Have a lovely weekend,

Hugs, 

Lisca

Sign on a church pew: