A Postcard A day - Tuesday 16 April 2019 - T for Mexico, succulents and Baileys

That your day begin with a smile.

Good Morning.

How are you all? As you can see by the above photo, I can't wait to join the T-Party at Bluebeard and Elizabeth's. Anyone is welcome with a beverage in the post somewhere.

I always start with some postcards. I belong to an online community called Postcrossing. We swap postcards. I get an address randomly selected to send a postcard to. The postcard has an ID code. As soon as the person receives the card, he/she registers the ID code and writes a thank you note to me. Then I receive a card from another member (not the same one as I sent the card to). There are 762000 members in 215 countries of the world. Awesome. I love it.

One of the cards I received last week comes from the Czech Republic:

A work by Blanka Tomsova (2016). I've not been able to find out much about the artist other than that she designs postcards. (http://www.yourpostcards.cz/blanka-tomsova/). Anyway I like this card very much.

The stamp celebrates Postcrossing, which I think  is great. Several countries have stamps dedicated to Postcrossing.

My next card come from the USA, from someone who had been to a Postcrossing Meet-Up in Mexico City. 

The text on the card reads: "Hello, & Greetings from New Mexico (USA!). My name is Sam. On the 12 Jan 2019 I attended a Meet-up in Mexico City and it was a wonderful experience to meet 20 Mexican Postcrossers. The weather was much warmer  compared with the freezing weather at home. The Meet-up was held in a beautiful colonial old building. Have you attended a Meet-up? What was your experience?"

 The stamps were very beautiful. The first one (on the left) is a 5c stamp from 1965. 

This Florida Settlement Issue stamp commemorates the 400th anniversary of the settlement of Florida and the first permanent European settlement in the continental United States. The earliest known European explorers came with the Spanish conquistador Juan Ponce de León, who named it “La Pascua de la Florida,” which refers to the Easter season and the flower-filled landscape. Pedro Menéndez de Avilés founded St. Augustine which is the oldest continuously inhabited European settlement in the United States. The stamp features an image of Spanish explorer, the royal flag of Spain and a ship.

 The two stamps on the right are  2017 issued Christmas carol stamps. Sam had also stuck a Mexican stamp on the card just for fun in another corner. 

I would like to show you one of my succulents I have. This one is called Huernia Hystrix. It was given to me by one of my prayer partners Pilar. She had several big plants on her balcony. She just broke off a significant chunk and I planted it. Look at it. It is doing so well, it is now going to flower! (Then Pilar unexpectedly died a month after she gave me this plant, so I treasure it).

There is one large bud. I have looked on the internet and the flowers are beautiful. I'm so excited. I'll show you when the time comes.

 How do you like this coffee set? It was my mother's but she doesn't use it anymore. And it's coming my way! 

 Of course it is not in this country. It sits in my sister's garage in the UK I think. So next time we travel by car, this will be in our trunk/boot. It will grace my glass cabinet.

Sunday after church, as we're in town, we go to a particular bar to have coffee. I have a cafe cortado (espresso with a dash of milk) and a Baileys.  

 Hubby has a cafe con leche (coffee with milk) and also a Baileys.

It's a typical Spanish bar, with the Serrano hams hanging above the counter. The little conical thingies, are to catch possible drops of grease (I have never seen hams leak, it's too dry a climate here). But it's a new European law.

There we are. That's it from me today.

I wish you all a great T-Day,
Hugs,
Lisca

A Postcard A Day - Friday 12 April 2019 - Friday Smiles

 Good morning, or Buenas días as they say here.
It's Friday again. The week has flown by and I am here to share some postcards with you and because I'm going to pop by Annie at A Stitch In Time, I have also got some funnies at the end. I should really be giving you a report of what I have been doing this week, but i haven't been doing much, and I have no photos really. But photos or not, I'm going to join Virginia at Rocking your Week Friday too.

My first card comes form Germany and is a black and white photo of two ladies in the bath. This really makes me smile as I can't see the point of having a bath with just your bum in the water!

 The second card comes from the USA and is a map card of the state Michigan. A few interesting facts printed on the back:
Michigan: "Wolverine State",
 Capital: Lansing, Area: 58216 sq miles,
Population: 9,969,727,
Motto: Si Quaeris Peninsulam Amoenam Circumspice = "If you seek a pleasant peninsula, look about you".
Flower: Apple Blossom,
Bird: Robin,
Tree: White Pine,
26th State admitted to the Union.

 The stamps are pretty. I hadn't seen the one with the hearts before.

I've been busy writing card for my Postcrossing group. I had ordered new cards from a website in Poland. People love cats and kittens, so I ordered quite a few catty card. The envelopes are printed from a website that does 'mail art'. I have coloured them myself with normal colouring pencils. I have better photos of those envelopes in last Tuesdays blog.

This is what I took to the post office this week!

We always go shopping in town on Monday afternoon, and then we drive straight to our 'weekend' home, 40 km down the road. Then we relax, have a drink and watch a DVD. We spend the night there, go out for lunch the next day and then head for home in the afternoon.

We were given this impressive box set by our son-in-law, and we have been working our way through the large amount of CDs. This week we watched the second CD of the Return of the King. So now we have finished to story line. Next week we shall start on the Appendix, where they show how the scenes were made. Absolutely fascinating.

Would you like to see our weekend cave house? I'll give you a tour with the photos I can find.
This is what the house looks like from the opposite field:

Our house is the one on the left. These are all cave houses, i.e. built in the rock. Here is a better picture of ours:

We have leveled the top and built a nice terrace.
This is what you see when you walk into the tiny lounge.  The chest and the mirror were made by handicapped people from a local charity. They sell their products occasionally. You might be able to see my jigsaw puzzle on the chest.

There is a small cupboard and a coffee table. 

That table is rather special. We had that specially made because of the metal grid under the glass. 

The grid is antique and originally sat on top of the old door in the entrance:

 The doors you see here are in the position of the old outside door. We extended the house and built a cloakroom toilet and storage space and found another antique door to go outside.
This is part of the lounge with the stove that burns wood (on the right) or almond shells in the hopper on the left.

The curtains on the right lead to the kitchen:

 The cooker looks extra large, but the right hand part houses the butane gas bottle.

 The table is made out of a solid slab of wood. One of our friends is a 'rustic' carpenter and has made this table (and also the coffee table),

On the other side of the lounge is a book case and the corridor to the right leads to two of the bedrooms.

  The door leads to the garage and a service bath room.

Sorry, I have no idea what that bottle is doing there.

 This is our bedroom. A large chest again to put the bedding in, and the door to the left is the en-suite. We have very few doors in the house. Only the bathrooms and the front doors. We use curtains. Here is a typical Andalucian curtain that divides my bedroom with the corridor. Along the corridor is wardrobe and storage space, but I have never got round to hanging curtains up there. The curtain rail is there, but no curtain as yet!

That's it more or less. We have two more bedrooms, one of which I use as a studio. 

I will finish with a few funnies as usual.
But for now I wish everyone a fab weekend,
Hugs,
Lisca

A Postcard A Day - Tuesday 9 April 2019 - T for stamps, mother and coffee

Good Morning!

"That life may always serve us little cups of love".

Here we are on Tuesday, ready to join the T-party, organized by Elizabeth and Bluebeard. Do join us with a blogpost that has a beverage in it.

As you know I usually start by showing you some of the postcards that i have received this week. This one comes from the USA and pictures the  French quarter of New Orleans. Isn't it pretty. I have never been to new Orleans and what I know of it is the devastation of hurricane Katrina. 

 It was sent to me by someone who had visited new Orleans and had bought this card. The blurb on the card reads: "Along the narrow streets of the French Quarter, visitors discover lacey iron balconies, quiet courtyards, legendary old buildings and the historic St Louis Cathedral."

The stamps are lovely.

 The red stamp bottom right is the 2017 Lunar New Year stamp, designed by Kam Mak and issued by the United States Postal Service.

“We give red envelopes, called ang pao, to kids on the Lunar New Year, full of money, to protect them from evil spirits. If you’re over 30, you shouldn’t be taking red envelopes. It’s embarrassing. It’s for kids.”

The other red one is interesting as it looks quite old. I looked it up and it is a was issued in 1948:

This 1948 5¢ New York City Jubilee stamp commemorates the 50th anniversary of the consolidation of New York’s five boroughs  into a central government of New York City, encompassed by wedding ring as symbol of its incorporation. It was the first airmail stamp to commemorate an event not related to airmail history.

The seashell stamp was issued in 2017 and features an Alphabet Cone: The word "POSTCARD" on the stamps indicates their usage value. Like a Forever® stamp, these stamps will always be valid for the rate printed on them.

The next card comes from Russia. I have put in my profile that i love cooking, so people sometimes send me recipes. This card is about a soup called borscht.

 The ingredients are on the front and  the recipe is on the back:

There was hardly any room left to write as there were so many stamps on the back, and they are really stunning. I always research the stamps because I find them really interesting. 

I don't collect stamps or know much about them, but as i scan these to show you, I find the designs pretty and fascinating. So I go to good old mr Google and look for some more info....

The brown one on the left celebrates the 225th Anniversary of the Insurance industry in Russia.

And the pretty lady with the elaborate hat is from the series Culture of Russian people - National Head dress - Middle of XIX Century, Nizhniy Novgorod Province.

The stamp with the flowers is a joint Russia & PDR of Korea issue: Gladiolus gandavensis.
The stamp on the left with the building features the Pekrovsk Cathedral.

Contemporary Russian art:

I have been sending a lot of postcards this week and I have written some letters. Remember I said I had downloaded some letter art. Well here are some more. I coloured them with normal coloured pencils (I don't think I've done any colouring since infant school!). These two letters are on their way as from today.

Apart from writing cards and letters and playing my favorite online game Elvenar we haven't been up to much. The weather is absolutely foul. Storm raging, rain and mist. Snow on higher ground. Typical weather to stay indoors.

Luckily there is always some sun during the day, and I was able to take this photo out of the window to show you that there is snow in the sierra (I know they don't look very high, but we are on 3000ft, so they looks like little hills)

I am a member of the local photo club and last month the theme was 'old age'. After everyone had entered their photos, we gather at the pub and go through the photos to discuss them. I am the third on the right with an orangey cardigan.

My photo was one of my mum (95) that I had taken in Holland when I was visiting. A cousin of mine has photo equipment such as lights and a black curtain. She did a photo shoot, but when she had finished she let me take some with my camera. This is the result:

Unfortunately my photo got disqualified as I had reduced it, but I had reduced it too much. They had changed the parameters for 2019 and I hadn't cottoned on. Oh well...

But we did have drinks and tapas with some friends  this week:

And breakfast in town one day. I had my usual 'cafe cortado' and hubby had his 'cafe con leche'. With tis coffee I am joining the T-Party!

That's it from me for today. I wish you all a very happy T-Day.

Many blessings,

Lisca