A Postcard A Day - Friday 20 May 2021 - Friday Smiles

Hello lovely girls. It's Friday again and an opportunity to look back on the week and pick out the good moments, the blessings and the smiles. We are feeling very blessed, although we are going through a more difficult time with my husbands chemo. He has to take things a day at a time and rest a lot. There are good days and not so good days. It is strange to have him around all day, but a blessing that he is able to get (free) treatment and that he is getting better every day. It is also a blessing that we have such a loving relationship, so I love having him around and doing things for him. 

Here is my postcard for today. I received it last month and it is stuck on the monitor of my computer as this is my state of mind at the moment.

The text reads: Be still and know that I am God (Psalm 46:10).

By the cancellation (on the front of the card unfortunately) you can see it comes from Birmingham, Alabama. It was sent to me by Jill, who also is a retired nurse and, like me she worked in a hospice. She also likes reading and crafting, so we have much in common. 

The stamp is a well know round stamp with a flower on it. I like it.

Hubby has had his chemotherapy last week and the first week is always the most difficult. It will get better as the weeks pass (Until the next batch).

Here are the collages I did this week. Not much going on as we have been taking it easy.

Hubby had his chemo and on Friday he did nothing but managed to check on our plants on our vegetable patch. He met the girl from the neighboring patch and she let him sit (not ride) on her horse. The horse has been lame, so this was just for fun and for the photo.

Our friends from Denmark have finally been able to move to Spain permanently. They have had the house next door to us for several years, visiting only during their holidays. They have decided to take early retirement (They are 60 and 56). I took them into town for some official things and acted as an interpreter for them.

In the evening we watched another episode of The Chosen. I can recommend it. Series one is available for free on YouTube. (The first 5 minutes is the director plugging the merchandise, just skip that).

The weather has been really nice. A heatwave in May, that can't be bad. Hubby just lying down most of the day, but in the evening we did go for a little walk and we piled all the recycling in two large Ikea bags and went to the village to empty them.

My Jasmin is flowering and it smells divine. Big smile!

On Sundays we follow two church services. Woodlands (the one we used to attend in Bristol) did communion. So I had two little shot cups with Port and a digestive biscuit in stead of bread. Even doing communion in front of the screen was still meaningful to us.

We do a lot of reading and I have finished a travel story called Cucina Tipica and it's about an American in Italy. It has a lot of food in it and it made my mouth water. It also made me smile, having lived in Italy for so long and reading about this American who doesn't have a clue! Very funny.

I'm now reading another book set in Italy (coincidentally) and this one is about a village not far from where I used to live, Castel di Sangro, and their soccer team that miraculously got into the first division of the Italian league. I don't know anything about soccer as i don't really care for it, but again, the book is funny as it's about an American (again) who is writing a book about this 'miracle'. It's a true story and the characters are all real and I'm really enjoying it.

My Danish friend has started coming with me to the gym, which is great. 

We still limit ourselves to one little 'outing' a day because of hubby's tiredness. Monday he went to the local builders merchant to buy a few bits and bobs.

Last year I made kombucha all over the summer months and I would like to start again . I had stored my SCOBY's in a pot and I'm hoping that they are still alive. I've started another batch, which will take some time to start fermenting, providing the scoby is still alive. It didn't smell 'off', so I'm hoping it's ok.

Tuesdays is market day in our village. Hubby needed new belts and some hats for work as he is not allowed to get sun on him so he needs hats with a rim rather than a baseball cap. He got three belts and two hats and that was our daily outing. (Excuse the bad photo. We were sitting under an orange sun shade).

I had also seen a stall that sold covers for iPads and the like but I didn't want to buy one without measuring, so we went home (we only live one block away from the market) and picked up my iPad. I found one that fitted and bought two (one each). At home we discovered that (being so cheap) they didn't turn off the screen when we close it. So we fished the old ones from the bin and cut off the bit where the magnet is situated. Then stuck that inside the new one. And 'Bob's your uncle' as they say in Britain.

These photos of the market were taken by a friend on the same morning. Colourful fruit and smelly fish.

Every day (sometime more than once a day) we have a loudly buzzing visitor. He seems very friendly although he is very large and looks rather threatening. It is a huge bee with blue wings. Really beautiful. I have found out that it is a carpenter bee. It really likes our Jasmins.

On Wednesday we had a quick 'in-the-doorway' visit from some Dutch friends. They had brought some Dutch goodies for me. Licorice, smoked sausage and pear jam. Lovely.

Yesterday we drove to town as Lidl were selling garden furniture. We bought a lounger type chair so hubby can rest with his feet up. 

In the afternoon I baked a cake and in the evening I went walking with my Danish friend and their dog Bonita. Here is another photo of Bonita.

As you can see, not much going on but a lot to be thankful for and many things I can smile about.

Do join us with a positive blogpost at Annie's A Stitch In Time and at Virginia's Rocking Your World Friday.

As usual I have some funnies for you at the end.

Take care everyone and...

Keep Smiling!

Hugs,

Lisca

Only people of a certain age will get this next one. (Radar)

As women we probably don't appreciate this next one.

A Postcard A Day - Tuesday 18 May 2021 - T for mountains

 Hello lovely ladies,

How are you today? Are you all ready to visit the T-Party? Get you beverage and join us at Elizabeth and Bluebeard's T-Party.

I would first like to show you some postcards. I have some mountain cards. The first one comes from Germany, but it doesn't actually say which mountain it is. 

The stamps are gorgeous. The stamp on the right is Lorelei, which I featured in my blog of the 4th of May

The flower on the left hand stamp is Wiesenschaumkraut. Cardamine pratensis, the cuckoo flower, lady's smock, mayflower, or milkmaids, is a flowering plant in the family Brassicaceae, native throughout most of Europe and Western Asia. The specific name pratensis is Latin for "meadow". Wikipedia

The second mountain card features the Yangtze River Gorge, and this is in China of course. The card was sent from Hongkong by Eden who tells me he lives in a small town near China (Hongkong is not so small I thought)

The stamp is a Christmas stamp (This card was sent in early January) and has Father Christmas practicing Tai Chi and the gingerbread men joining in. The dark part of the stamp is in reality gold foil, but it doesn't scan very well. 

Here you can see it better. (Together with the other stamps in the series).

The last postcard comes from the Philippines. It features the Mayon volcano. According to the info on the back of the card the Mayon volcano has the world's most perfect cone. It is pictured here with the Cagsawa Church, a reminder of the eruption of 1841 when 1200 people perished.

Wikipedia states that this eruption was in 1814. (Who is right?)

Here is another picture of the volcano

There was no stamp on this card, only a machine cancellation.

It's been a bit of a hospital week as Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday mornings were spent in the hospital for various things. Hubby had his chemo therapy and I had my oncology check-up, hubby had his Covid test and we both had blood tests on different days. 

This is the hospital entrance. A member of staff is  checking the temp of the gentleman coming in. I'm in the hall waiting patiently for hubby (I'm not allowed in).

He has not been feeling very well these last few days, but we know that the side effects of the chemo gradually ease off, so tomorrow he should be having a normal day.

I have had my hair cut, now that the warm weather has arrived. 

All of a sudden we are having a heat wave! (It was 32 C or 88 F)I have spent all yesterday sorting out my summer clothes.

Last Tuesday our friends came. He helps me with my photography and I give them lunch and Spanish lessons.

I made a another quiche:

The theme for the photo entry was: mirrors. So I borrowed a pair of mirror sunglasses and we set up on our patio:

This was the result:

And this was the lunch:

Wednesday afternoon we popped into the village to empty our recycling bin.

These things are colour coordinated. Blue is for cardboard and paper. Open the door and the paper/cardboard will fall into a large underground container.

The yellow container is for plastics and tetrapaks. 

Do you have Tetrapaks in the US? 

As far as I know it is a Swedish invention, so I just wondered...

They flatten very easily:

So they are easy to recycle.

Last but not least I would like to show you my jasmin, which is flowering and is giving out the most wonderful fragrance:

That's it from me today. Looking back I see that i have several beverages for the T-Party.

Happy T-Day everyone!

Hugs,

Lisca

 

A Postcard A Day - Friday 14 May 2021 - Friday Smiles

 Hello lovely ladies,

How are you all? Friday is here again! The weeks are just flying by!

I have two cards for you today. Both from the USA. The first one is from Savannah in Georgia. The street in the postcard is called River Street and runs along the river Savannah. It is famous for its shops, restaurants and hotels.

Here is another picture of River Street:

This building is visible on the card:

This is also in the picture on the card. It is called Fiddler's Crab House:

I would love to sit on that balcony with a drink and some lovely crab dish, looking over the river. This is what it would be like:

The statue of the Waving Girl represents Florence Martus.

Between 1887 and 1931 she would welcome every ship by waving a handkerchief (or a lantern by night).

I hope you can read it.

Here she is as an older lady, but still waving.

What a lovely story.

The stamp is one of those round ones . It shows a beautiful flower.

My second card comes from New York. It was sent to me by someone who lives in Brooklyn. Of course the card shows the Brooklyn bridge. (Very recognizable)

Again it has a beautiful flower on the round stamp. This time a poinsettia.

After our little excursion to the USA, I'm taking you back to Spain, and show you how my week has been.

On Friday we saw our friends as hubby is having another week off his chemo (Platelets were too low). So with sensible distance we had a lovely evening catching up and eating pizza which our friends collected from the restaurant behing our house. They do thin and crispy, which is what we like.

I had made a custard tart for the first time and it turned out delicious. I made it with bought puff pastry. I managed to find round puff pastry and had a cake tin in that size. Perfect!

The aloe veras have finally been moved to hubby's new green house. These plants don't seem to like the sun, even though they are succulents.

On Saturday we got a message from our friends who had just bought a new BBQ and needed to test it. So we walked over to their place and had another lovely evening.

Hubby cleaned the stairwell that had housed the aloe veras. Now it is all nice and clean.

We didn't do much on Sunday. We relaxed and watched our church services. I pottered on the patio and re-potted some plants. The little bug that landed on my iPad turns out to be a firefly, and harmless I've been told.

The weather is much better now and we can have breakfast outside in the morning. Lovely!

Hubby wanted desperately to have a proper ice cream before he starts his chemo again. (When he has this type of chemo, he can't touch or eat & drink anything cold. I even have to warm up the yoghurt! Yuck!)

Our friend Eusebio and his wife have an ice cream shop and he makes all the ice cream himself. It is delicious!

My favorite this season is the one below: Galletas Lotus. It tastes like speculaas.

The weather has been so good that we decided we wouldn't need the stove again. Hubby took the chimney pipe down so that we can extend the sun shade. The yellow orangey thing.

On Tuesday we had visitors again. We had to cram so much into hubby's 'good' week.

I had made a buffet lunch stroke tea (it was 4 pm by the time we had something to eat). It was perfect weather to eat outside.

My photo club has a theme this month: mirrors. So my friend came up with the idea to use sunglasses and photograph the reflection. Because the sun glasses are slightly 'bulging', it works like a wide angle lens. The result was great. I'll show you next week.

I made chaffles. They are savory waffles with cheese in them. Very nice too. What's in the cup is bouillon (broth).

On Wednesday we had to get up early as at 8 a.m. hubby needed to get his Covid test at the hospital. I waited in the entrance hall as they only let patients in. He was done in minutes and then we went to a local restaurant for breakfast. Then I was just in time for my aerobics class at 9.

After my aerobics, I found myself alone in the house, as hubby had gone to water his plants on our plot. So I went shopping. Our village has a little boutique that I had not been to yet, but I saw they sell underwear, and I needed bras. I really miss not being able to go to Marks & Spencers once a year to buy my bras. As expected, they did not have my DD size, but I found some D's that fitted, so I'm a happy bunny! I also managed to have my hair cut that same evening.

That evening we had a little disaster. My kitchen tap started leaking and when hubby touched it, it gushed! The evening before his chemo. (Once he's had his chemo, he won't be able to do anything for a week at least). So reluctantly hubby (an able plumber) layed down to have a look. Fortunately it was something that has worked its way loose and it was easy to repair. Phew!

I have no photos of Thursday, as we spent the whole day at the hospital. I had my oncology appointment too. (Everything is fine!) Now hubby is not feeling too good and has pins and needles and can't do a thing. So we'll forget about Thursday. 

That was my week. Lots of smiles, friends and good food. The coming week is going to be a bit quieter.

I'm going to head off to Annie's A Stitch In Time and then to Victoria at Rocking Your World Friday.

Of course there will be some funnies at the end. I haven't been able to find much this week, so I apologize.

I wish you all a lovely weekend and a good week ahead.

Hugs,

Lisca