.... as another year ends........

....... I hope for everyone....... a wonderful and happy........

......and an open champagne bottle with clover leaves don't hurt either!!

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Have a super evening see you next week!!

Take care,

edgar

A Little More Christmas....

Gentle Friends, our Christmas started off with a visit to the Flower Market Christmas Eve morning so that Rico could pull together one of his table arrangments for Dinner on Christmas Day.... 

here's the result....

... I failed to get a better picture before dinner so here's the best shot I have.... made up of roses, lilies, nandina berries, pine, juniper, laurel leaves, and some super variegated cabbages, it was another tour-de-force al la Rico!!  and the table was all the better for it!!

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We attended Midnight Mass (at 10 pm) and it was a lovely, we got home around 11:30 pm and it was off to bed.... the next morning we had a sour cream coffee cake and some sausage pinwheels... we had some friends coming over for Christmas Dinner so I got moving on that meal mid morning.....

Here's the table before we sat down.....

...  to eat at around 4....  the menu was...

Baked ham

Dinner rolls

cranberry /dried cherry sauce

green beans with toasted almonds

mashed potatoes 

Melon Pickle

... and as the tradition in my family I had made a Birthday cake for baby Jesus...  this year it was...

... my take on a traditional Sugar Plum Cake with a cream cheese frosting, 

which we served with a nice champagne....

... the cake was deliciously moist if a bit crumbly, but everyone enjoyed it and was a total winner!!

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There you go sports fans, some highlights from our Christmas by the Bay. 

Thanks for stopping by do stop again!!

Take care,

edgar

A Little Stitchin'

Gentle Friends,  just a quick post today with a snap of where I am with 

Sarah after the long weekend....

... I finished up the vine, berry and grape border and have started to stitch away on one of the alphabets...  

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

Take care,

edgar

A Little Wish

Gentle Friends, Just thought I'd stop in before the long weekend and wish everyone...a very.....

.....  I'll be back next week!! Have a super weekend and a wonderful Christmas!!!

Take care,

edgar

A Little Winter

Gentle Friends, on this first day of Winter I thought it appropriate for some more music... and Vivaldi's "Winter" tops the list....  this is a lovely version, enjoy!!

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There you go sports fans, thanks for stopping by, only one more day in this short week!!

Take care,

edgar

A Little Night Music

Gentle Friends, one of the highlights of the weekend was attending a performance of Handel's Messiah....  and I took some snaps....

 ... I had ordered the tickets a while back... since there were only to be three performances by the SF Symphony I wanted to make sure we had decent seats on Saturday evening...

 ... instead of driving downtown we Uber-ed there, so much easier than trying to find parking.... this is the War Memorial Opera House decked out for the Nutcracker....

 ... and even City Hall is decorated and lit up for the Christmas Season...

 ... and our final destination Davies Symphony Hall....

 ... all decked out with lovely big Christmas trees....

 ... looking out towards City Hall...

 ... we attended the pre-concert talk given by Scott Foglesong of the Conservatory of music.  

It was a sort of quick history and background of the piece and was very interesting!!!  Then it was on to our seats...

... on the first tier to the right of the stage so we could see backstage a bit ....though the open door,,,  this is the stage before the chorus and musicians come on ... 

...  and here is everything going strong, chorus, musicians, conductor and the four principle singers.  It was a wonderful evening and such a stupendous piece of music to hear live.  If you ever get the chance I highly recommend hearing the messiah live and in full music rig!!

a little edit:  everyone (or most everyone ) jumped to their feet and stood for the Hallelujah Chorus, it was a great moment and so very traditional!!......

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

Take care,

edgar

A Little Shoppin'

Gentle Friends, I've done next to no stitching over the past week, but yesterday we did finally get downtown to do the last bit 'o shopping that needed to be done.  

I had my camera so I took some snaperoos.....

We parked in the Mission Street garage and since we got there early we got prime parking next to the elevator on the second floor!!  WooHoo!!... the trotted over to have some breakfast... next up was Bloomingdales so I could pick up some Kusmi Tea, they are the only place in the city that carries it...  then over to the Westfield Center... and this year under the dome is this enormous upside down Christmas tree looking thing... that twinkles and sparkles....

... a shot from the second floor looking up at the Santa Tree and the hanging "ornament"...

... we headed to see it up close, and it's hard to imagine but the twinkling lights kinda make this a nicer looking thing than just an upside down looking tree....

... and Santa was there - the line was huge, but he was a great Santa!!

... here's another shot at the tree level so you can really see just how big it is compared to everything around ... the large clear ornaments fill in the open spaces nicely...

We were here specifically to go to Victoria's secret, now whatever secret she has must be a small one because the tiny lacy things I was seeing looked to be basically butt floss.... and would certainly not leave much to the imagination much less contain any secrets!!.... but I was not there to buy "floss" I was there to get some perfume for my niece...

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After the Center, we headed out and over market street to the Converse store and although saw some fun things didn;t get anything, but they have this hanging decoration of shoes that is interesting.....

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Next, we walked up to union Square to Macy's and once again they had really nicely decorated windows ......here is one of the windows, sorry about the reflections...

some of the windows had puppies and kittens from the SPCA, the puppies were all napping... 

after some heavy hitting shopping, we headed upstairs to Holiday Lane....

... there was a ton of folks up there so I was unable to get any shots without some people....

 ... notice the "sale" signs already up and prominently displayed.....

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...heading back downstairs I got this shot of the ice skating rink on Union Square......

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It was a nice feeling to be leaving with all our shopping completed by about 1:30 when the crowds really started to thicken....  now everything is wrapped, packed and ready for shipping pick up this afternoon......  we also got most of the Christmas cards out over the weekend so that is also done...  just ticking off the list things to do before Christmas so I am a happy camper!!

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

Take care,

edgar

A Little Letter

Gentle Friends... I've always loved this part of Christmas folklore...... 

in 1897 a letter was sent by a child....

... and the editorial written by Francis Church of  "The Sun".......

Virginia, your little friends are wrong.  They have been affected by the skepticism of a skeptical age.  They do not believe except they see.  They think that nothing can be which is not comprehensible by their little minds.  All minds, Virginia, whether they be men's or children's are little.  In this great universe of ours, man is a mere insect, an ant, in his intellect, as compared with the boundless world about him, as measured by the intelligence capable of grasping the whole of truth and knowledge.

Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus.  He exists as certainly as love and generosity and devotion exist, and you know that they abound and give to your life its highest beauty and joy.  Alas! how dreary would be the world if there were no Santa Claus!  It would be as dreary as if there were no Virginias.  There would be no child-like faith then, no poetry, no romance to make tolerable this existence.  We should have no enjoyment, except in sense and sight.  The eternal light with which childhood fills the world would be extinguished.

Not believe in Santa Claus!  You might as well not believe in fairies!  You might get your papa to hire men to watch in all the chimneys on Christmas eve to catch Santa Claus, but even if you did not see Santa Claus coming down, what would that prove?  Nobody sees Santa Claus, but that is no sign that there is no Santa Claus.  The most real things in the world are those that neither children nor men can see.  Did you ever see fairies dancing on the lawn?  Of course not, but that's no proof that they are not there.  Nobody can conceive or imagine all the wonders there are unseen and unseeable in the world.

You tear apart the baby's rattle and see what makes the noise inside, but there is a veil covering the unseen world which not the strongest man, nor even the united strength of all the strongest men that ever lived, could tear apart.  Only faith, fancy, poetry, love, romance, can push aside that curtain and view and picture the supernal beauty and glory beyond.  Is it all real?  Ah, Virginia, in all this world there is nothing else real and abiding.

No Santa Claus!  Thank God! he lives, and he lives forever.  A thousand years from now, Virginia, nay, ten times ten thousand years from now, he will continue to make glad the heart of childhood.

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There you go sports fans, something to think about as we head into the last week before Christmas....  Have a super weekend!!

Take care,

edgar

A Little Bakin'

Gentle friends, we've been busy little elves around my house lately and the oven has not cooled off in the last few days.....

...  and my two shortbread pans are smokin!!  Some of them I'm leaving plain and some of the "petticoat" style I'm dipping the edge in chocolate and rolling in chopped pistachios - yummers!! Our next move is the passing and shipping out to family and friends and neighbors.

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Not much stitching with all the Christmas stuff starting to pile up....  thank goodness we have massages on tomorrow evening to relax us going into the weekend and the last week before the Big Day!!  Thanks fro stopping by do stop again.

Take care,

edgar

A Little Stichin'

Gentle friends, just a quick update on Sarah's border......

... I've turned the corner and only a few more inches and it'll connect!  The plan was to have it finished up, but we were busy Christmasing all weekend so there was little time left over to stitch.  

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

Take care,

edgar

A Great Friday Bit o'News

Gentle Friends, as you know I was doing the Jury Selection thing off and on this week,...  and it started off with me going in on Monday... after hearing all about serving on a Jury and how things work in the courtroom the Judge lets us know that this case could drag on in late February.... you read that right, February!! or even into march!  So when she asked about "hardship" issues that we potential jurors might have and who couldn't serve, about 80% of the folks raised their hands. 

I didn't because I didn't have any "legitimate" hardship issues as spelled out by her Worship.  She let us go telling everyone that was leaving without hardship issues to return on Thursday Morning at 9:30.

So I trot back to the Court yesterday and we stand around in the Hall in front of the Courtroom waiting until after 10:00.... eventually we all file back into the courtroom, find seats and have roll call taken.  Next enters the Judge.... she explains that the hardship cases from Monday have been dealt with and now there is good news and bad news......  the bad news is that she was letting us go in a few minutes and we would need to return at 1:30 in the afternoon, the good news was that the lawyers and what-not associated with the case are coming together and are near to resolving the case......

Flash forward to 1:30 pm and once again we are all gathered and waiting in the hall in front of the court room.  Time passes and it gets to be 2:00... a few minutes later we are let into the court, we all find seats and roll call is taken once again......  with quite a few folks missing, which I found odd.  Enter the judge and again good news, bad news.... the bad news was that they had not reached a resolution.....  good news... they were super close so she asked us to sit still for about 15 minutes at which time things could go either way, either a resolution or starting Jury selection........ so we're all sitting there just waiting and watching the bench...  after  a few minutes out comes the judge from her chambers and it's only good news this time - a resolution!! As soon as she released us, which took about 2 minutes I was headed back to work.  So I've served my Jury Duty for 12 months!!!  Woo Hooo  

The week ended on a .....

High Note!!!!

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That's about all there is sports fans, thanks for stopping by, do stop again!  Have a great weekend!!

Take care,

edgar

"English for Beginners".....

Gentle Friends, every year somewhere, somehow some marketing person just gets it right... and puts together a super commercial.  Now, you all know my disdain for commercials....... but this one's a doozy.....  from Poland....

.....  funny and heart warming...

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Not much else but Jury selection going on....

Take care,

edgar

A Little Christmas Cheer

Gentle Friends, Saturday evening was the annual Christmas party we go to and i have posted about in the past.... as usual, it was a lovely evening.... 

... we started off with some friends that were going at Super Duper Burger for dinner....

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 ... and after dinner, we headed over to Alamo Square and a warm welcome....

 ... the front hall...

... the dining room...

.. the back parlour...

... looking omnto the front parlour ....

... and the candle-laden tree....

... this great party really gets me in the Christmas spirit!!!

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

Take care,

edgar

A Little Stitchin'

Gentle Friends, I'm still plugging away at the border on Sarah....

... as you can see I've been stitching the berries in all the shades of pink, there are three basic pinks, a light, medium and a dark....

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That's about it for today sports fans, I've got Jury Duty this week,so I'm not sure when I'll get to posting about the weekend.... but I'll try.  Thanks for stopping by, do stop again!

Take care,

edgar

A Few Fun Things

Gentle Friends, wrapping up the last of my trip  I mentioned I would take a snap of the things I bought - now you must remember I usually don't buy much when I travel, mostly just small trinkets that can work as Christmas ornaments.....

I found the matching pair of Adirondack frames in North Carolina at a small antique shop.  They came with prints - that I left in NC - next, there is the early 19th-century transferware plate, a great piece of "Wild Rose" - which is a pattern I collect, also from an Antique Mall near New Bern, NC....

 ... I picked up these three ornaments in Washington, the little plate, and teapot came from Mt Vernon, the plate is a reproduction from a gift of hard paste porcelain tableware in 1782 to George Washington from the Comte de Custine who owned the Niederviller Factory in Strasbourg, the gifted porcelain featured Washington's initials on a cloud crown by roses, the little green chicken came from the Museum of the American Indian and was carved by a Navajo, and the little pink transferware teapot features the colonnaded front of Mt Vernon...

... this Christmas Chihuahua came from a great Christmas Shop in Greenville, NC...

and this little kit came from Mt Vernon, they had quite a selection and I thought this would work up nicely as anther little ornament... and there you go.

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

Take care,

edgar

A Little Update...

Gentle friends,  while we were over at Alcatraz I had my sister take some new snaps of Rico and me.... and so I've updated my "About Me" snaperoo in the right-hand column.... here tis...

... I had my Santa hat  just for the occasion and Rico had the crazy antlers on....  yup, we're nuts!!

Have a great evening!!

edgar

A Thanksgiving Weekend - Lots of Photo's

Gentle Friends...  our Thanksgiving weekend started off with us heading over to Pier 39... 

... to meet up with Vonna, The Twisted Stitcher!!  

She was out here visiting her brother and his family for Thanksgiving.

... we had a lovely long lunch ... and I knew from our years of cyber-friendship, she was a delight!!!

... here we are in front of the giant tree ... Rico , Vonna and me.

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My sister, BiL and niece were all in attendance for Thanksgiving......

... my annual shot of us sitting down to dinner,....  the menu : 

Rosemary Roasted Turkey & Gravy

Cornbread & Sausage Stuffing

Triple Cranberry Sauce

Dinner Rolls

Watermelon Pickle

Sweet Potato Casserole

Caramelized Brussels Sprouts

Green Bean Casserole

Marionberry Pie

Peach Pie

Pumpkin Cheesecake

Cream Puffs

Christmas Cookies

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On Friday we headed to Alcatraz, my sister had gotten tickets a few weeks before... you get catch the ferry to Alcatraz at Pier 33....

... the gun to the left in the picture is a replica Model 1861 10 inch Rodman Cannon since Alcatraz began as a US Army Fort it was designed to defend San Francisco Bay from enemy attack.  at the height, of the Civil Was, there were more than 100 heavy cannon the island.  The Rodman Cannon ranged in size from 8-inch caliber guns up through 15-inch caliber models - the largest could weigh in at nearly 50,000 lbs.  by 1869 the US Army had shipped 39 Rodmans to the island.  The last of the cannons were donated to a scrap drive in 1943.  This replica weighs in at about 20,000 lbs, could fire a solid 128 lb cannon ball, with a range of 2.75 miles... 

before getting on the boat we had our picture taken....

 ... although I took this shot as we were leaving this is where you land on the "The Rock."

... there are still signs of the Native occupation - 1969-71.

... a cell block...

.. a typical cell...

... the is one of the cells in "the Hole" - or solitary confinement....

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 ... the views from the island are spectacular......

.... the approach to the island has this sign  for all who came here when it was a prison....

leaving the island....

... and returning to the city...

...  it was a really fun trip and one I had been looking forward to.  I've lived here more than 20 years and have never visited...  it was so worth a visit, my only recommendation is to get tickets before you visit, as they sell out early .

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

Take care

edgar