Thursday, October 31, 2013

Thrifting Thursday

Gentle Friends let ms catch you up on some of my "thrifty buys" from the last few weeks.....

......  I picked up the double vegetable bowl for a couple of bucks and think it has great design, circa 1955 the stylised fish decoration is just great, the silver footed salver is an 18th century reproduction made in the 20's, it was almost black when I brought it home and has polished up nicely..... the early printing of "Cross Creek" I couldn't pass, living in Ocala, FL for a time, which is just south of the Cross Creek area, I came know the area well.... the other two books are, a nice little repro copy of "Night Before Christmas".... and a small book from 1900 with witty sayings......

...... some of the DVD's I have picked up recently..... and.......

..... two interesting books and a Souvenir guide of Morros Castle, which guards the entrance to Havana Bay in Cuba probably dates to the 1940's or 50's. I also picked up a sterling cigarette case - here it is before polishing..... and .......

......  here it is after ..... it was only a few dollars, I think because it is English without being marked "sterling" that they thought it was silver plate or German Silver, but the hallmarks are there and it is sterling and I got a deal!!!
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That's about it for today sports fans, thanks for stopping by, do stop again!!

take care,
edgar

Wednesday, October 30, 2013

A Little SF Shopping and it's Candy Corn Day!!!

Gentle Friends you know what a sucker I can be for advertising - and - when it involves a film and something Delicious, then I need to try it out!!  Well, a week or so ago I read on the Internet somewhere that Ben and Jerry's - the folks that make that delicious ice cream, where releasing a limited time only flavour inspired by Ron Burgundy of "Anchorman" fame.  It is tied to the new film "Anchorman 2 : the Legend Continues" to be released on December 20th.  The new flavour is called "Scotchy Scotch Scotch" - it is a butterscotch ice cream laced with ribbons of butterscotch swirl and has little pieces of butterscotch candy.  It is only available at scoop shops - I knew the scoop shop in the Haight would have it so I made a be-line to get me some........

... located at the corner of Haight and Ashbury it is easy to find, but often difficult to find parking.....

... the label in the shop.....

..... the menu board....  I picked up a pint of hand packed Sctochy Scotch Scotch and got......

.... Rico a cup of Chocolate Therapy.... deep flavoured, rich and delicious!!

... by the time we got home the CT was gone and the SSS had softened up for a taste - and let me tell you, if you like butterscotch then this is the ice cream for you!!  I loved it, creamy and sweet with the burned sugar flavour that is so delicious!!!  I am sure this limited flavour won't be around long, so if you get the chance get yourself some, get some,you won't be disappointed!!!!
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Over the weekend I made a visit to a favorite tea retailer, Lupicia, located downtown in the big fancy Westfield Shopping Centre....

 - I forgot my camera and found this snap on line of the store

I was looking for some of their seasonal tea - specifically the new Christmas teas - I know it's not even Hallowe'en yet, but I love the Christmas teas they make!!!  Well,  they were still pushing the Fall seasonal tea, called, Sweet Autumn, from the web site it is described as ...."This fall-themed, caffeine-free rooibos blend embodies the sweet bounty of the season. Nestled within the chestnut flavored rooibos tea are pieces of Japanese sweet potato and pumpkin" -  I don't care for rooibos teas and being decaffinated didn't help any, this was not a winner in my book. 

 I explained what I was looking for and was told that the Christmas teas would be in the second week of November, and I left my name and email to be notified when they came in - the little lady working there was really nice - as they always are and so helpful - she gave me some samples and I even found an Masala additive to make black tea more spicy!!

.... here are all the samples I got and the Masala of cardamon and pepper..... I am really excited that they are once again going to have "White Christmas" tea.  I am running really low on my supply.......

...."White Christmas"  is a delicious black tea flavoured with white chocolate and apricot, the silver bits are crystallized sugars covered in edible silver,  that when they melt, leave little flecks of silver floating in the tea, no additional flavour, but so very pretty!!!  They are also bringing back another favorite Holiday tea, "Jingle Bells" - a tea I ran out of a long time ago,  I can't wait to see and taste what comes out this year!!!!
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I couldn't let today go by without mentioning that it is National "Candy Corn" Day!!!!  Not officially anywhere, but on this Hallowe'en Eve, lets celebrate the Corn!!!!!

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That's about it for today sports fans - thanks again for stopping by , do stop again!!!

Take care,
edgar

Tuesday, October 29, 2013

If it's Tuesday, it Must be Cake Day!!

Gentle Friends, it's cake day.....  even though I've not posted much about baking recently, I've still been at it on Sunday afternoons.......a few weeks I wanted to try a new recipe so I pulled out one of the cookbooks from my overloaded "cookbook shelf."    The book I found is called "The Church Supper Cookbook" by David Joachim, it is a collection of 400 Potluck Recipes.  Its also a cookbook that I have found lots of tasty things to make so I knew I would find something interesting and good!!

  I chose to make "the Bohemian Coffee Cake" and what this cake has to do with Bohemia is beyond me, but it was a good cake and here's a snap......

...... full of spices, nuts and coconut we really enjoyed this cake as did our co-workers!!
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This past Sunday I pulled a recipe from on line at AllRecipe's - another Fall treat.....  Cranberry Upside-Down Coffee Cake.  The snap of the cake on-line shows a much lighter coloured cake than mine, and I figured that's due to the use of light brown sugar by the original poster, I used dark brown sugar (my preference)...... and here's a snap......

.....  I think this cake of the two I like a little better.  I think the reason being that you get a sour/sweet taste with the use of cranberries and the cake is really light - the recipe calls for this to be served warm, and with a cup of tea would be just perfect fro Thanksgiving Morning!!!!
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Talking about Thanksgiving, even if the calendar didn't tell me it was coming around I would know by just looking at my "ever blooming" Christmas Cactus......

..... I took this snap yesterday afternoon, this sucker seems to bloom about every 4 months or so, and we do enjoy the salmon coloured blossoms.

That's about it for today sports fans.  Thanks for stopping by, do stop again!!

Take care,
edgar

Monday, October 28, 2013

"Feast" Update

Gentle Friends the weekend by the Bay was laid back, sunny and breezy.  After our usual errand running around and shopping I spent the last couple of days stitching away......  and here's the result.....

...... the house uses three "blueish" flosses - "Uniform Blue", "Blue Corn" and "Tin Roof" - The left side is actually made up of two different flosses, although there is not much difference in the dyed floss - it really doesn't matter.  I am loving the "blue" colours and enjoying the "fill" stitching.  Since this piece is coming to and end sooner rather than later I have hauled out two projects to get a start on.... a Christmas piece and a Hallowe'en piece.  I have the linen and floss ready to go for both - so a new start on something is imminent.
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That's about it for today sports fans - thanks for stopping by, do stop again!!

Take care,
edgar

Friday, October 25, 2013

Wrapping up the Week

Gentle Friends so sorry to have not posted in a couple of days - a little "out of sorts" at this end  - I'll wrap up the week with a few snaps...... an update snap of "Feast"....

.... still working on the house, I changed one of the over dyed flosses in the roof so that the squares would pop a bit more.  The called for flosses were so dang close in colour that they all started to blend into one golden lump, and that just wasn't working for me.......I got a birthday prezzie from my friend Dale in NC......

..... a super t-shirt from the Ayden Collard Festival, it's the official Collard Festival of NC, and a cap from East Carolina, Go Pirates!!!!!  I love me some collard greens, and for those that don't know what a collard green is...... and there are some....HERE's a bit of info.

.......... and a shot of two of the Who Hounds from this morning......

 ........  it's the Wahumpa and Miss Lolly....
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That's about it for today sports fans, thanks for stopping by, do stop again!!  Have a super weekend!

Take Care,
edgar

Tuesday, October 22, 2013

Some Framed Stitchin'

Gentle Friends I picked up the three other framed pieces I had out - and here they are.....

... this was a great stitch-a-long from a few years ago - I am pretty sure it was called "A La Belle Etoile" as that was one of the labels I have used in the past.... I chose a white washed frame, since nothing to me really worked as well with the over dyed floss used.....

The next two pieces are more recent........

..... my version of "Elizabeth Shepard" - I chose a black frame (although it looks like there is some colour, it is black) I like the way that black frames really set off these repro Quaker pieces....  and the last piece...... my version of the "Mary Ann Hutton" sampler......

... sorry about the reflections, this is a charcoal coloured frame with a light beige line detail that matches the linen I used - since I used my conversion of Belle Soie for the stitching and shifted in my initials, and stitched the grass on the diagonal for a little interest - I didn't feel constrained to pick a more traditional frame.   I took these snaps with the pieces propped up and not hung.   Still stitching away on "Feast", I'll try and get a better snap of it up in a day or two.

Thanks for stopping by, do stop again!!

Take care,
edgar

Monday, October 21, 2013

Quick Stitching update.....

Gentle friends now that I have wrapped up my "Travel Log" I am almost at a loss as to what to post about....  I did want to thank you all for you kind comments and emails about the trip.  

Today I think I'll post a couple of stitching things....  

First up will be a piece  I stitched for an Exchange I did over on the HOE Blog.  My partner was Leigh at Kielrain's Stitches..... and here's what I made and sent.....

... if I remember correctly I stitched it on 32ct Silkweaver "Sterling" using Belle Soie "Plush Plum" silk, the chart is called "French Country Letter's" and is from JBW Designs.  I liked the idea of buttons (the model has a little button decoration) along the top and so I pulled out my button bag and found some older and newer ones that worked.
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I have been stitching along on "Feast of Friendship" and here is a snap of the progress.....


.... The colours are all wonky because the light was odd and photoshop didn't help a bit........  I am a bit further along than this as I took the photo on Friday.  I have switched up a couple of floss choices and will make sure to post them.
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That's about it for today sports fans - thanks for stopping by, do stop again!!

Take care,
edgar

Friday, October 18, 2013

Paris Part II

Gentle Friends today's Post will wrap up my trip to France.  I have really enjoyed reliving the trip and writing about the things I saw.  At some point I may even pull out these posts and have them printed into some sort of book form, sort of souvenir travelogue.
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Before I left SF for Paris I made a list of churches I hadn't seen,  it was not a long list so I knew it would be doable, and I even added a couple once I got there and started to get around the city on foot and riding Metro.  So, today let me start off with one of the oldest churches I visited.... Abbey Saint Germain de Pres, on the left bank.....

....the Benedictine Abbey of Saint-Germain-des-Prés, just beyond the outskirts of early medieval Paris was the burial place of Merovingian kings.  At that time, the Left Bank of Paris was prone to flooding from the Seine, so much of the land could not be built upon and the Abbey stood in the middle of fields, or prés in French, thereby explaining its appellation.  Built and rebuilt over the centuries the church is an amalgamation of styles -  the massively buttressed bell tower (c. 990) is the oldest still standing in France.....


... the interior is really dark, but the fresco's are lovely and you get such a great feeling of history here.....I also got some great shots of some of statues,,,,,


..... I loved the look of this piece and found this info on line....." This statue of the virgin with child is reassembled from three pieces of carved rock discovered in an archaeological dig near the church on the Rue de Furstenberg in 1999.  The sculpture, most likely intended to adorn the entrance to the old Chapelle de la Vierge, was probably left unfinished due to an error in its size, and the stones were reused in the foundation of a wall.  The simplified style of the crown and the lines of the virgin's face, and the slight incline of the virgin's head toward the child make this work a moving testimony to the great quality of Parisian sculpture in the 13th century."  It is amazing that this was just thrown in a pit to become part of the foundations...... carefully made by some anonymous artist, it was abandoned and ended up buried, helping hold up the building for the last eight centuries.....

another lovely statue.....

...and this much later one.....

... I thought this looked really pretty with the stained glass light filtering across the front and the candles flickering.
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Saint-Etienne du Mont was at the top of my list of churches to get to this trip.....

......there was lot of construction going on around this Church and at the Pantheon across the street (which I had been into before) so I couldn't get a decent shot of the front - this one I lifted from the net.....  a little history..."The successive stages of construction are evident in the mixture of Renaissance and Gothic architectural styles in this most unusual of Paris Churches.  The vaults of the apse were built in 1491, the chancel in 1537, the gallery in 1545 and the vaults of the nave and the transept were finished in 1580. The portal was built in 1610 and the bell tower in 1624.  The interior of the church is 223 feet long. The nave contains five bays containing dedicated chapels.The chancel is surrounded by an ambulatory. The pillars dividing the nave from the aisles are encircled halfway up by a stone railing."

 Two of the more important features of this church are the shrine of  St Genevieve, the patron saint of Paris - and - The beautiful Rood Screen........

First the shrine........(The majority of the relics of St. Genevieve were publicly burnt and dumped into the sewer during the French Revolution, but some small surviving pieces escaped as well as the rock her tomb rested, these are enshrined at St-Etienne-du-Mont)

 ... this is the rock that Sainte-Genevieve's tomb rested on before the desecration of 1793.....

....... the relics of Sainte-Genevieve......

...... the gorgeous Chapel of Sainte-Genevieve....

...... and the stained glass window from the chapel of the Saint showing the procession of the relics through the streets of Paris......

Secondly the Rood Screen.........

 ......."One of the most unusual features of Saint Etienne du Mont and probably its most beautiful element is the Rood Screen.  The Rood Screen is a double-stair arch that separates the choir, where the monks or canons sat, from the body of the church where the parishioners sat.  A reader would mount the screen by way of the intricately carved stone steps to do the readings for the day.  This Rood Screen is the only one left in Paris. It is a tremendous work of craftsmanship which adds a commanding elegance to the interior.

 ..... the main aisle with "The Pulpit - Another great treasure of the church is the wooden pulpit which dates from 1651. It is beautifully carved and has at it's base, holding the pulpit upon his shoulders, a sculpture of Sampson.  Ringing the pulpit are carvings of seven women who symbolize the virtues: Prudence, holding a book; Justice, a sword; Faith, a cross; Hope, an anchor; Temperance, pouring wine from a jug; Fortitude, holding a club and Charity, surrounded by children."
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 I got to visit two museums I hadn't been to before - The Musee des Arts Decoratifs - located in the Palais du Louvre's western wing, known as the Pavillon de Marsan.  There is a strict "no photographs" rule so I have no snaps.  I really enjoyed this museum - however, the layout (chronological, sort of) and map that I was given to follow was on the verge on incomprehensible.  It is one of the hardest museums I have ever tried to navigate - and I come from a museum education background.  The exhibits are beautiful and pieces are top notch, but if you go, and you should, throw the map away and just wander through the exhibits and enjoy what you are seeing.  The didactics are all in French, but you can get the gist of what You are looking at from the pieces themselves.

The other Museum I visited was the Carnavelet Museum -  Housed within the walls of two Renaissance-era mansions, the Hotel de Carnavalet and the Hotel Le Peletier de Saint-Fargeau (built in the 16th and 17th centuries, respectively), the Carnavalet Museum's permanent collection traces the history of Paris across  100 rooms. This Museum is free of charge to all visitors and tops my list of free places in Paris to visit!!  Photography was allowed, without flash, so I have some snaps to share.....

In the courtyard the first thing you see before going in is le Roi Soleil......

...... Louis XIV - (1638-1715)..... in Roman garb.....

 there are a ton of paintings.....  one of the most beautiful, IMHO......

.... Portrait of Juliette Recamier (1777-1848) painted by Francois Gerard in 1805 - it has always been one of my favorite paintings - and I had no idea was hanging in the Carnavalet.....

.... and of course a great portrait of Napoleon...


.......there are also room installations.... like this one of the Empire period.....and...


..... historic ones, like Marcel Proust's bedroom....  a very yellow room...... and again I can't stress it enough, there are lots of paintings, historical moments from Paris' past and lots of beautiful paintings of Pairs..........one that struck me as a typically lovely Parisian piece.....

....Louis-Abel Truchet - "Le Boulevard du Clichy"
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As I mentioned before I had a list of Churches and things to do while in Paris, but in just walking around I ran into other churches not on the list to visit!!  Like the Jesuit Church of Saint Peter and Saint Louis.....

 ......"In the Rue Saint-Antoineis the old church of the Jesuits, gorgeous in marbles, gilding and stucco, as is the wont of the architects employed by those wary fathers. It was built from the designs of Francois Derraud from 1627-41.  The expenses of the building were defrayed by King Louis XIII and Cardinal Richelieu, who celebrated his maiden mass there. It has the second cupola erected in Paris......"



..... and of all the large oil paintings hanging inside -  this is probably the most important
( it was hard to get a good snap)..........

"Christ in the Garden of Olives" Eugene Delacroix, 1824
It was a great addition to my itinerary as was this surprise ........

........The Basilica of Notre-Dame-des-Victoires, "On December 8, 1629 the foundations were blessed by the Archbishop of Paris, Jean-Francois de Gondi.  The next day, King Louis XIII himself laid the cornerstone in the presence of the Court's 'seigneurs' and the city's officials. The construction was funded by King Louis on the condition that it be dedicated to his victory over the Protestants at La Rochelle, which he attributed to the intercession of the Blessed Mother."  Here are some interior shots of this lovely little church.....




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Walking back to the Metro station I stumbled upon this..... the Fontaine Moliere......

.... and found this info at Wikipedia...."The Fontaine Molière is at the junction of rue Moliere and rue de Richelieu.  Its site was occupied by a fountain known as the fontaine Richelieu until 1838, when it was demolished due to interfering with traffic flow. Joseph Régnier, a member of the Comedie-Francaise, suggested a new fountain set back slightly from the previous fountain's site as a monument to the playwright Moliere. This was France's first national public subscription for a commemorative monument dedicated to a non-military figure. Built in 1844, the fountain was designed by several sculptors, headed by the architect Louis Tullius Joachim Visconti.
The main bronze sculpture, showing Moliere seated under a portico under an imposing arch, is by Bernard-Gabriel Seurre (1795–1875) and cast by the fonderie Eck et Durand. Under him is an inscription flanked by two marble female sculptures by Jean-Jacques Pradier (1792–1852), 'Serious Comedy'(L) and 'Light Comedy'(R) - each holds a scroll listing Moliere's works."
..... just walking around I got some snaps....I especially loved this sign...........
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That wraps up my trip to France, 2013.  Thank you all so much for putting up with all these Posts, I hope that you have enjoyed them as much as I have in recounting the trip. 

I am not much of a shopper so I usually don't buy too much when I travel, I already showed what I got at Des Fills une Aiguille, let me show what else I brought home......

...... I'm a nut for big coffee cups, so I picked up the Starbucks "Paris" cup, and I do love my honey, I loved my trip to Provence...and think this lavender honey would be tasty.... and I had seen lots of Saint0-Georges and the dragon in Brittany and in Paris so this icon will be a fitting reminder of my trip, I picked it up at the Church shop across the street from Notre-Dame-des-Victories, its certified  - and - made in France!!
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Thanks for stopping by, do stop again!!
Take care,
edgar

It's Spring!!

Gentle Friends, a lovely variation of Vivaldis's first movement of Spring....  bright and cheerful........ ________________ The year mov...