Walking on the Beach

Gentle Friends, last weekend I headed to the beach for a quick walk about - and took the camera....  it was a brisk 50'ish and the wind was whipping about, but still a lovely day.......

.... that wraps up this week sports fans!!  

Thanks again for stopping by, have a super weekend and see ya' next week!!

Take care,

edgar

Thrifty Thursday

Gentle Friends, once again we were out and about "thrifting" over the weekend.  I found a few fun things and something I've looked for on and off for a long time.....

... here's a snap of the haul... from the top... a fun little toy from "Nightmare Before Christmas" of Lock, Shock and Barrel in their tub going after Sandy Claws - I do love that film...  it is sitting on a super redware plate with some great slipware flowers, and although its really not me, I think this is a great plate... now what to do with it???....  We got to a couple of Estate Sales and I found a hanging cast iron receipt holder - and the prize of the day was a nice miniature portrait - and although it was broken in two (being painted on white glass), it was the frame I was after.......  and here's the story...

.....  I've had two of these miniatures since we broke up my mom's house a few years ago.  The one of my mother in the "new" frame I've had since we broke up my grand parents house over a decade ago, it was in a less than attractive leather frame and I've been looking for years for one that - 1) fit and 2) I liked and 3) could afford.....  it all came together on Saturday in this frame.... so now I have out the set of three, my mom, my grandmother and great grandmother......

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

Take care,

edgar

260 Years Ago Today..........

Gentle Friends, on this day Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was born -

He was a genius who gave the world such lovely music.  

One of things I really enjoy in life is opera, and one of my favorite "fun" arias comes from an opera by Mozart, Die Zauberflote (The Magic Flute) - the aria is sung by the Queen of the Night and is only a few minutes long, here is the majestic Diana Damrau of the Bavarian State Opera totally inhabiting the role...

...... here's another gorgeous piece of music written in 1787...the first movement of Eine Kleine Nachtmusik, Allegro... enjoy....

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If you get the chance you should give "Amadeus" - 1984 - a look   It's a film version of a play about told in flashback of the later life of Mozart at the Hapsburg Court in Vienna.  Beautifully filmed in Prague it took home 8 of the 11 Oscars that it was nominated for.....the 8 Oscars Wins were... Best Picture (Producer Saul Zaentz), Best Actor (F Murray Abraham), Best Adapted Screenplay (Peter Shaffer), Best Art Direction (Karel Cerny and Patrizia von Brandenstein), Best Costume Design (Theodor Pistek) , Best Director (Milos Forman), Best Makeup (Dick and Paul LeBlanc)  and Best Sound Mixing (Mark Bergerm Thomas Scott, Todd Boekelheide and Christopher Newman) - so it  was a Winner film then and it still is a winner film now - on both DVD and Blu Ray!! 

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That's about it for today sports fans.  Thanks for stopping by dos top again!!
Take care,
edgar

A Little Bakin'

Gentle Friends, I was in the mood for coffee cake and found one at The Pioneer Woman, called "The Best ever Coffee Cake."  Now, I'm not too sure if it's "the best ever" but it was pretty dang good.  It needs to be eaten while warm or warmed up, as it was on the dry side when cold or room temperature.

The recipe is HERE and calls for things you would probably already have as they are basic ingredients.  The only thing I added was a couple of teaspoons of vanilla to the batter.  I also whipped up the egg whites before I started in on the batter so they were ready to go when needed.  Overall a pretty tasty cake!!

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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 finished up "Christmas Tree Farm" over the weekend... here's a snap...

... a change I made was to go back and took out the middle band of "Jolly Holly" I had stitched in the trees and restitched using the called for DMC green...  and went back to the first house and un-stitched the called for dark green DMC from the top and bottom and restitched with CC's Steamed Broccoli, the floss I am using for the pine bough decoration under each house.  There is only a single tree left on the bottom row which I will stitch CC/DMC/CC so there is continuity.  I kept looking at the "Jolly Holly" and it just didn't sit right - the colour was on the blue side and all the greens in this piece are on the yellow side..... I have looked ahead and see some other changes I am going to make, but will talk about them as I get to each house.

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

Take care,

edgar

A Little Touch of Spring

Gentle Friends, on our one foray out of the house Saturday to get some hound chow we 

picked these up.....

.... they were all buds in the evening and by late Sunday afternoon they had all popped open... so nice and bright, while out side it was gray and rainy!

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Short and sweet today sports fans, it's a dry one today after all the rain yesterday..... but there's more coming!

Take care,

edgar

A Little Stitchin'

Gentle Friends, for the first time in a very ling time we stayed in almost the entire weekend.  we stepped out twice once for a run to the store for some Hound Chow Saturday, and then yesterday to Mass and a quick breakfast then home again.  No Thrifting, no running around no9 nothing - just hanging about around the house.  In all the hanging out I got a little stitching done....... here's where Santa's Villages stands.....

... I can;t get over how much this house reminds me of the Alamo at this point....  I changed up the floss on the pine trees to reflect the pine change I made at the beginning from a DMC dark green to CC "Steamed Spinach."  The lighter green floss is also a CC, "Jolly Holly." 

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

Take care,

edgar

AHS - Another Season Over......

Gentle Friends, last night we watched the Finale of American Horror Story - Hotel.  It was the last episode this Season and it wrapped up many of the lingering story lines and opened the way for season 6.... which I read than Ryan Murphy has already started talks with the actors about upcoming characters... now, Horror, is a genre I steer clear of on most occasions, but for some reason I am totally obsessed with this show.  I especially enjoyed this season, and Lady Gaga's performance along with her costuming couldn't have been more over the top and flawless!!  Angle Bassett also brought it every second she was on screen and her final warning to "Billie Dean" was over the top!!!  

I found this little teaser video of Lady Gaga for AHS on YouTube...it was a foreshadowing of her superlative acting and Golden Globe win the other night!!!!

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I can't wait for this to come out on BluRay and re-watch the season from start to finish without adverts!  Thanks for stopping by, have a super weekend!!!  It's going to be a wet and cold here by the Bay!

Take care,

edgar

A Super Check-Up

Gentle Friends, if you've been reading the Blacksheep for a while you know the some of the health issues we've been having with The Peach for the past three years... well, yesterday was another six month check up and this wasn't just the blood work checkup like last time but the all telling ultrasound and x-ray one to see if any change has occurred in her heart and lungs....  and she is one of the very lucky ones in there has been no change whatsoever!! 

 So not only did she bounce back from the heart issues, but has actually held her own without any increase in medication over the past three years!!  Thank the Lord for Vetmedin, one of the pills she takes daily.  So we are very happy and with only a blood work appointment in April, no other appointments for 12 months!

The Peach

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

Take care,

edgar

Makin' Soup

Gentle Friends, it's been a wonderfully rainy winter so far, and with all the cold and damp I had a hankering for some soup.  I had baked a gigantic ham-a-saurus and even after giving away a ton of ham to Friends I was still left with quite a lot...I did some thinking and came up with "Split Pea" soup.  The Internet yielded a nice and easy recipe...from Taste of Home - "Hearty Split Pea Soup."

Here's a snap after everything went into the pot.....

 ... I liked this recipe because it was one covered pot and you simmered it for a few hours....

....  after a few simmering hours ... here's a snap of an overloaded bowl of this wonderful soup.  It is supposed to be rainy off and on for the next 10 or so days, and this recipe made quite a lot so we'll be having soup again soon!!

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That's about it for today sports fans, thanks for stopping by, stay warm and dry!!

Take care,

edgar

A Little Stitching

Gentle Friends, I've finished up #6 "Reindeer Stables."  Here's a snap......

... it's the half way point.... now on to #7  "Christmas Tree Farm."

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Short and sweet today sports fans, thanks for stopping by.

Take care,

edgar

Thrifty Thursday

Gentle Friends... I have found a few fun things lately....

 ...l to r - an old piece of transfer ware, a nice book about Princess Alix Viktoria Helena Luise Beatrice of Hesse and by the Rhine, aka "Sunny",  who to be know in history as Alexandra Feodorovna, the last Tsarina of Russia (can you tell I love me some Russian Imperial History)... also...this super "Grinch" mug, a great old piece of Nippon ware and a stoneware cookie jar with fun ducks on it!

...  here is the back of the cookie jar and the mug... 

I love that both Max and Cindy Lou Who are also on it.....

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That's all for today sports fans, again I do thank you for stopping by and invite you to stop again!!

Take care,

edgar

It Was a Happy new Year!!!

Gentle Friends, New Years Eve was as low key as Christmas... we stayed in and watched some movies and then as it got closer and closer to the witching hour I got some treats ready...

... I had bought a bottle of bubbly but a friend of Rico's had given him some of the Sofia's effervescent  Blanc de Blancs mini cans - so I got a couple cold and popped them open and along with some glittery chocolate covered strawberries we ushered in 2016.....

.... from our balcony we have a view of downtown SF all the way to the Bay Bridge so we can usually see any fireworks being shot off....... here are some shots taken just after 12..... 

....  you can see the traffic on the bridge just to the right....   

.... the fireworks went on for a little while and when they were done I had the hounds outside doing their business, then headed for bed... we were all asleep by 12:30...  woo hoo New Years!!

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Over the  weekend I made up some crunchy and delicious Sugar Peanuts.  

My friend in North Carolina sent me....

... the raw peanuts ( I can't get them out here on the west coast)

 ... cooking them in a simple syrup..

... after baking/roasting, then cooling, the nuts are ready - I made up the whole two pounds and packed up some to gift away to some friends out here.

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That sort of wraps up the weekend, thanks again for stopping, do stop again!!

Take care,

edgar

Christmas Cake and Christmas Day.....

Gentle Friends, I've had this Post in the works for about a week now....  the Christmas Cake I've been working on was really lots of fun and I learned so much in the doing...  you remember I made my own marzipan to cover the cake, and I was determined to make my own fondant also.  

Once again I turned to the Internet and watched a few videos of others making fondant and decided to go with the non-egg white version... the one I made was marshmallow based and like the marzipan, was not hard to make it just took some time and the doing to get it done.

It is made from basic ingredients and was really sticky.....

... but after kneading and working it I ended up with a good sized lump of the stuff.  It needed to sit over night so I let it rest and on Christmas Eve I rolled it out, made my trees et voila - 

Christmas Cake......

...writing on cake is not my strong suit, the little decorations on the trees I bought, after I settled the trees in place I sprinkled a little icing sugar over it all for a a snowy effect...I was very pleased with how it turned out looking...

Christmas Eve we all were heading for 10:00 pm Mass and I really was not going to be in the mood to make a big dinner so Rico suggested we go to Noah's and do a Bagel bar....

... it couldn't have been easier and everyone enjoyed it.....  for Christmas Day Dinner we had some friends over and I was told to keep it simple, nothing fancy so I made a eye of round roast, mashed 'taters, biscuits and Rico whipped up some of his green beans.....again a tasty dinner without much fuss...

...and after dinner I cut everyone slices of cake and everyone politely ate a piece, it was a nice fruit cake...I think I liked the marzipan the best of the whole thing!!  I am glad I learned how to make it.

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Christmas afternoon was spent lying around the house......

.... Lolly and Wahumpa....

.... and Smokie with the Peach.....  It was a lovely laid back, no stress kind of day spent with family and friends, I couldn't have asked for a nicer present!!!

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I think that about wraps it up for Christmas this year, thanks for sopping by, do stop again!!

Take care,

edgar

A Little Stitching

Gentle friends, just a quick post of the stitching I've worked on while watching Downton Abbey, Series 5 a couple of times over the last week......

...  I've finished up "Santa's Stocking Store" and have made a start on "Reindeer Stables."  I've only set two goals for my stitching this year - to have "Santa's Village" and that lovely sampler "Sojouner" completed - here's were I left off on that piece....

.... I think that these are both doable..... and I have a couple of other pieces I'd like to complete, but I'll keep the list realistic for now......

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

Take care,

edgar