A Postcard a Day - 20 August 2015, A lovely Lithuanian lady

Good Morning! Good Thursday!

I've been itching to show you this lovely card that I received recently through Postcrossing. It's from Lithuania and came in an envelope. The sender is Dainara from the capital Vilnius. Dainara had read that I'm interested in national costumes so she sent me this:

Isn't she beautiful? I love the heavy (warm) skirts and the woven sash. The embroidered details on the head dress and the cuffs and collar.
I know practically nothing about Lithuania but Dainara writes something about her country:

I loved the stamps Dainara had put on the envelope:

The one on the left is from the year 2000 when Lithuania did not yet use the Euro. It is from a Christmas series.
The stamp on the right is (according to the philately website) the Brazen Nature Reserve.

Well, that was another day that my postbox was happy.

That's it for today,
Tomorrow I will be linking up with Friday Smiles, so I'll choose a funny card.

See you tomorrow,

God bless,
Lisca

WOYWW 324 - some far away mail

Good morning everyone! And a happy Wednesday to you!

It's time to share our desks again. (If you don't know what I'm on about, visit our chief desk hopper Julia at stamping ground.)

My desk is full of birthday cards that shouldn't be revealed just yet, but I'm banking on the fact that the recipients won't be reading this blog. Anyway, what is visible are the insides of four birthday cards I'm making. Three of our kids have birthdays in August. The twins in England and my son in Italy. Plus my cousin in Holland. I'll show you the cards properly next week.

 In case you are wondering what the two cans of coconut milk are doing on my desk.... I use them as dumbels when I do my exercises. 

I had lots of interesting mail this week from faraway places. 

The lovely Patsy sent me this card from the Philipines. It has lots of yummy snacks on it. Patsy tells me she likes the halo-halo, the turon and the bibingka.

Then I got two more envelopes from the July envelope exchange:

This one was from a lady who lives on Vancouver Island by the ocean and often sees orcas swimming past. (She enclosed the card of the orcas).

This one came from the USA, but had nothing in it. It has beautiful calligraphy and special stamps. Very nice.

To finish here is a photo of my DH and I at the lake/reservoir where we camped last week. (More photos on yesterday's blog). 

Yes, the lake was really that colour... a deep turquoise. Beautiful.

That's it from me for today. This week I will try to visit everybody. It might not all be today but I will spread it out over the week.

Have a good week and see you soon,
Lisca

T for Tuesday - breakfast at the campsite

Good morning, happy Tuesday!

I hope you have all been well and that you are able to enjoy the summer holidays.

My DH and I have been away for a few days. We have a campervan (I think the Americans call it an RV) and we stayed at a campsite not far from our home (45 minutes drive). It was called Camping de la Bolera .

It was situated among the trees, so there was much shade. Very needed in this hot country. 

Here I am sitting down to breakfast. My DH is British so we have tea for breakfast and cereal. The Spanish don't use tea pots like people do in the UK. They have herbal teas and (at least in our village) the herbs get collected and put directly in a large lidded kettle. Of course they also use tea bags bought in the shop. Do you use tea pots in USA? and in Oz? Also the Spanish have never seen a tea cosy, so I did get a few comments. 

There was a lovely lake (reservoir), called La Bolera, a few minutes walk from the camp site, so of course we had to go and have a look.

Believe me the colour was really that turquoise! Beautiful!

The campsite had a swimming pool which I won't show you because if you've seen one, you've seen them all. There was a little restaurant with most tables outside.

 They had rigged up a sun shade with that green stuff that people here use for all sorts of things. So handy. We have fashioned a cover for the campervan with it and we have a sheet hanging in front of the terrace doors at home.

That's it from me this Tuesday. Have a lovely day and a great week!

Greetings from Spain,
Lisca

A Postcard a Day - 17 August 2015 Map Monday Quebec

Good morning!

I hope you had a good weekend.
Map Monday means I show you a map card. This one is from Quebec in Canada. I have never been to that part of Canada but looking at the map it must be beautiful.
The motto of Quebec region is 'I remember'.

The stamps are fantastic:

Both large stamps are from the International Year of the Forest. 
This is the whole sheet:

The smaller one on the left is called Flag over Historic Mills - Keremeos Grist Mill

That's it from me today.
Tomorrow is another day....

God bless
Lisca

A postcard a day - 16 August 2015 Abruzzo, Italy

Good morning and good Sunday!

As it’s Sunday I usually show you something church related. Today it’s a card of Abruzzo. The part of Italy where I spent many years of my life. The words under the photo translate: Beautiful Abruzzo “places of the spirit”.

Top left is the convent of Saint Angelo of Ocre (province of Aquila)

Top right is the hermitage of the Holy Spirit on the Maiella. The Maiella was our local mountain, it has ski pistes and lots of paths to walk and ramble. It’s not so visible on the photo but the buildings are ‘stuck’ to the side of the mountain. Sadly they are no longer permanently inhabited, but the monks go there in the summer and hold retreats.

Bottom left is another of my fav places on the side of a mountain (different mountain though). It’s called the hermitage of Saint Bartholomew (near Legio in province of Pescara). San Bartolomeo short video It can only be reached on foot and when I was younger a group of us did the walk every year. One of the popes of bygone years was exiled there.

The bottom middle is in a church Santa Maria dell’Assunta in Bominaco (province of Aquila) and bottom right is the abbey of St Clement in Casauria, province of Pescara.

The stamps are nothing special as this is a card that I sent to my mother the last time I was in Italy.

Have a lovely Sunday all of you and bare a though for those who have to work today (nurses, doctors, fire fighters, police etc)

See you tomorrow with Monday map card,

Blessings,

Lisca

A postcard a day - Two Edmunds

Good morning!

I'm a bit bleary eyed this morning. There is a cricket/cicada just outside our bedroom window and it's making an enormous row. It's hard to imagine that a little insect like that can make so much noise!

Today two cards with images by a painter called Edmund. Two different Edmunds though.
The first is by Edmund Leighton

 Edmund Blair Leighton was an English painter(1852-1922) of historical genre scenes, specializing in Regency and medieval subjects. Wikipedia

This painting is called 'Sweet Loneliness' (1919). I received this card this week from Hannes, who lives in Bavaria in Germany. He chose it as I like any card with a book in it.... 

The other Edmund is Edmund Dulac and the card i have is this one:

It is called 'The tempest' and is an illustration from 'Shakespeare Illustrated'. It reminds me a little bit of the style of Arthur Rackham (whose work I like).

   Edmund Dulac (1882-1953) was a French-born, British naturalised magazine illustrator, book illustrator and stamp designer. Born in Toulouse he studied law but later turned to the study of art the École des Beaux-Arts. Wikipedia

It was sent to me by Iris in Estonia. I love the stamp with the national costume:

That's all for today,

Have a great weekend,

I'll be back tomorrow,

Lisca

Friday Smiles - 14 August 2015 Pussy's breakfast

It's late in the day but it is still Friday! We've been away for a few days and I have just come home. Just in time to quickly post a smile:

It's a postcard I received from the USA a while ago now but it is just funny. I call it Pussy's breakfast, but it might have been the cat owner's breakfast. Who knows. Her expression is priceless.

The stamps are really nice:

The trees represented on the stamps are, on the right: Blue Spruce and on the left: Eastern Red Cedar. 

That's it from me and my postcards. Tomorrow I will post another postcard. The photos of our few days away will be posted on Wednesday.

Good night all, 

Lisca