A Postcard A Day - Friday 26 September 2025 - Friday Smiles

 Hello lovely girls, Let's see if Blogger behaves itself this time. Friday was a nightmare and I ended up having to write two parts.

Today I have a really beautiful postcard to show you. It's a Maxi card:

Maxi card means there is a stamp with the same image as the card on the picture side. In this case it features a sheepdog and a 'hunk' of a rancher.

Here is a close-up of the stamp:

The cancellation stamp is fun as it has the dog's paw print on it.

There is another stamp in the back as it has come by air mail from Australia and the stamp on the front was probably not enough postage:

The person that sent it to me (through Postcrossing) is called Sam. I don't know if Sam is a Samantha or  Samuel. 

It's a tiny but very cute little sticker.

Let me tell you what I've been up to since my last blogpost. After a very pleasant weekend in Granada, I went on a train journey. This is the railway station of Granada:

I had a ticket for a fast train. (Haha that reminds me of a song called 'My baby just wrote me a letter.' - Boxtops 1967).

In Spain these trains are called AVE. I had to go through security like at the airport and all luggage goes through a scanner.

Inside was modern and comfortable:

The journey was four and a half hours. That is very fast considering my destination was Zaragoza in the north.

I arrived in the evening, settled into my accommodation and the morning after, I got another train. A very slow local train to Canfranc, a railway station in the Pyrenees. 

I have always wanted to see this beautifully restored building.

It is now a very posh hotel, and only the lobby is open to non-guests.

There were old railway carriages in the station:

I assume they are still being used.

There are only a couple of trains a day, so to go back to Zaragoza I had to wait until 6 pm. So after I had some kunch, I went on a long walk. But boy was it cold!

Do you remember it was 42 degrees C in Granada, well here it was much colder! I had brought warmer clothes but it was still bitterly cold. 

I took a walk that was part of the Camino de Santiago and I found myself near the tunnel with France. 

The scenery is beautiful, very mountainous. I walked as far as the Fusilier's Tower :

(Sorry for the bad photo.) I climbed up, but the building was closed. But I did find a place to sit in the sun and out of the biting wind which was very pleasant.

I did catch my 6 pm train and after a well deserved G&T, I went to bed.

That is it from me today. The highlights of my week so far. 

There will be some funnies at the end for you to have a giggle.

Enjoy your weekend,

Lisca

A Postcard A Day - Tuesday 23 September 2025 - T for meet-up, hot weather and baby squid

 Hello lovely peeps, Let's hope Blogger behaves itself today and I had problems on Friday. 

I have an usual postcard for you today as it is the card made specially for the Postcrossing Meet-up in Granada that I attended.

It is a drawing made by one of the girls (Silvia). I had never been able to attend a meet-up. Postcrossing is a thing that one does online (although the postcards are physical postcards) so I've never met any fellow Postcrossers. (And there are more than 500.000 worldwide). 

So when I saw that someone was organising a meet-up in Granada, I put my name down.

We were 10 ladies all together. The man in the photo is the husband of one of the girls who came to pick her up.

Each of us had ordered a certain amount of cards and then everyone signed the cards which we passed round the table. That is quite a job as Most people had 30 or more cards. Some 100. I got cramp in my fingers signing so many cards. Most girls had little stamps made with their Postcrossing name:

Good Idea. I'll make sure I have one when I go to another meet-up.

Before leaving we had our photo taken:

I can be seen second from the left.

I shall show you a few more photos of of Granada:

This is a door in a palace called the Madras.

This is just any old street in Granada, and you can see the famous Alhambra in the distance on top of the hill.

This photo is to show you that it's still very hot here. 42 degrees C is 107.6 F. That's hot!

I can't remember what this building is. It's next to the cathedral. I just thought it was interesting.

And now for an image of a beverage as today is the T-Party, hosted by Elizabeth and Bluebeard:

It was my supper the other day. The drink is white wine and I'm eating 'chipirones'. (baby squid)

This is the restaurant. I sat outside as it was still very hot.

That is it from me this Tuesday,

Happy T-Day all!

Lisca

 

A Postcard A Day - Friday 19 Sept Second Part plus funnies

Hello lovely peeps, I didn't have a chance to finish my blogpost or give you some funnies as Blogger wouldn't let me add anything, so here is part two:

Three really interesting stamps. On the left is Allen Toussaint (Whom I didn't know). Wikipedia to the rescue:

Allen Richard Toussaint (January 14, 1938 – November 10, 2015) was an American musician, songwriter, arranger, and record producer. He was an influential figure in New Orleans rhythm and blues from the 1950s to the end of the century, described as "one of popular music's great backroom figures." Many musicians recorded Toussaint's compositions. He was a producer for hundreds of recordings: the best known are "Right Place, Wrong Time", by longtime friend Dr. John, and "Lady Marmalade" by Labelle.

The middle stamp has a book theme and it features the children's bed time story Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown.(Published 3 September 1947) 

This gentle bedtime story, which has lulled generations of children to sleep, is the perfect first book to share at bedtime. In a great green room a little bunny is tucked up snugly and safely in bed and is getting ready to say goodnight to all the familiar things in his room, one by one. Margaret Wise Brown's comforting, rhythmical text accompanied by the warmth of Clement Hurd's classic mid-century illustrations make GOODNIGHT MOON a timeless picture book, which is known and loved around the world.

I read somewhere that the book was criticised at some point because it wasn't educational enough...

Then the stamp on the right features a singer that needs no introduction for those of us of a certain age. It is Pete Seeger of course.

(Here pictured with Bruce Springsteen).

Wikipedia writes:

Peter Seeger (May 3, 1919 – January 27, 2014) was an American singer, songwriter, musician, and social activist. He wrote songs like 'Where have all the flowers gone' and 'If I had a Hammer', and 'Turn, turn, turn', as well as 'We shall overcome'. 

I have had a lot of smiles this week but I'm going to finish here and not tempt fate anymore as Blogger seems to be behaving itself at the mo....

So have a lovely weekend all of you,

Keep smiling!

Lisca

At last my Mac supports Windows!

 

A Postcard A Day - Friday 19 September 2025 - Friday Smiles Part one

 Hello lovely girls (and guys),

It's been one of those weeks I'm afraid. One of those weeks where lots of things go wrong. Do you get those? Life trundles on quite nicely and then all of a sudden one, two, three and sometimes four unrelated things go wrong one after the other. I'm even having difficulty with Blogger today. So don't be surprised if you only get half the blog. I have no idea what's going on. I'm jinxed!

I'm not going to dwell on all of that as today we focus on the things that went right, the things that made us smile and the silver lining around that stormy cloud. 

One thing that always makes me smile is a postcard in my mailbox:

As far as I know this is a sequel to Willy Wonka and the chocolate factory. 

Wikipedia writes this:

In Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator, the Bucket family and Willy Wonka accidentally launch into space in the Great Glass Elevator, encountering a Space Hotel USA and battling monstrous aliens called Vermicious Knids. After saving the hotel's staff, they return to Earth, where the President invites them to the White House. The story also features Wonka's experimental pills, which have comical and bizarre effects on Charlie's bedridden grandparents, including turning them into babies. 

The illustration on the card is by Quentin Blake.

Sir Quentin Saxby Blake (Born: 1932 (age 92 years), Sidcup, United Kingdom.) is an English cartoonist, caricaturist, illustrator and children's writer. He has illustrated over 300 books, including 18 written by Roald Dahl, which are among his most popular works. Wikipedia

It is interesting to read about his meeting and subsequent 

 

collaboration with Roald Dahl in this article.

These are the stamps but I don't seem to be able to add anymore , so my blog post might just finish here.

 

A Postcard A Day - Tuesday 16 September 2025 - T for hiking, good food and new friends

 Hello lovely girls,

Has anyone walked the Appalachian Trail? Or part of it? I received a postcard from Valerie from Virginia who has always wanted to do that, but never got round to it and now it's too late. But she managed to get this card and sent it to me (as I love map cards).

She told me she lives where the red dot is.

Wikipedia says about the trail: The Appalachian Trail, also called the A.T., is a hiking trail in the Eastern United States, extending almost 2,200 miles between Springer Mountain in Georgia and Mount Katahdin in Maine, and passing through 14 states. Wikipedia.

When I sent her a message to thank her, I mentioned that there is such a thing as Walking4fun, where you can walk virtually by entering your total of steps you do each day on the website and the trail of your choice. You will then see photos of that bit of the trail that you have just 'walked'. So Valerie has now registered for that website and we are both going to start to walk the Appalachian Trail tonight (Monday). Isn't that fun. 

This is an example from the website. This is not the one I'm (we're) doing.

Sharon (Foxy Stamping) also used to do it. Are you still walking a virtual trail Sharon? Fancy doing the A.T.?

Valerie has used really gorgeous stamps:

The two on the left are about lace making. Beautiful! She knew from my profile that I used to do lace making. And in the same way she knew I love turtles, so there I have my own little turtle on the card. The little 3 cent stamp features a Canada goose and the forever stamp has blue hearts on it. Thank you Valerie.

What have I been doing this week? On Saturday we (my English speaking friends) had a Bible study at somebody's pool side. Of course we also had a bring-and-share lunch afterwards:

I'm showing you this photo because I need a beverage to be able to join Elizabeth and Bluebeard's T-Party. We are drinking Tinto de Verano, which is a bit like Sangria without the fruit. (Sangria is supposed to be Spanish but I have never seen it here).

This is some of the food:

I'm still trying to eat plant based (although I do eat fish) and I made a bean and pasta salad: above in the storage box and below in a bowl:

Remember Carola Bartz made a cherry clafoutis last week? I was a copycat and made one too:

I substituted the cherries for raspberries. Very nice it was too.

On Sunday night I went to the theatre with a few friends. The theatre is in the nearby town of Baza. It's called the Dengra Theatre:

There is also a sort of cloister inside, which you walk along:

Then you get to the theatre which looks like this:

We saw an orchestra of bandurrias, a typical Spanish instrument similar to a mandolin:

The bandurria is a small, pear-shaped, plucked string instrument from Spain, similar to a mandolin, with a tear-drop body, short neck, and 12 steel strings arranged in six double courses. It produces a bright, vibrant sound and is a staple in Spanish folk ensembles.

It was absolutely delightful. Many genres of music. 

Then yesterday I met a girl (my friend's daughter's best friend's mother, are you following me?). I had never met her but we hit it off immediately. She has a plant based diet and I wanted to ask her lots of questions but didn't really get round to asking her everything as we were chatting away over a coffee. Then another friend of hers joined us and we had a wonderful time. So I've made two new friends in one day!

That is me done for this Tuesday.

My next blogpost will be on Friday with my sniles of this week.

Happy T-Day all!

Lisca