A Little Stitchin'

Gentle Friends, two stitching posts in one week.... what is the world coming to.  I finished up "Swan Lake" and thought I'd wrap the week up on a couple of snaps of where I'm at before the long weekend.....

Here's a snap of the "Swan Lake" Block...

.... I've dedicated it to my Brother and SIL, they were married in July so I thought that would be appropriate... I added a heart - as I will throughout the piece - the only other small changes I made were to shift around the vines at the top to fit the "M" in, I also cross-stitched the "M" and didn't long stitch it - I didn't like the way the long stitch looked.  The only floss change I made was to use CC "Toasted Marshmallow" instead of "Magnolia" - I already had the "TM" so figured I didn't need another white skein of floss.

Here's how the piece stands with this Block...

... as you can see it's coming along nicely, and I am still really happy with the changes I've made.

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That's about it for the week sports fans.  I took off Monday, we're off Tuesday so the next Post will probably be Wednesday.  Have a super weekend and a safe 4th!!!

Take care,

edgar

A Little Calaveras

Gentle Friends, as you know I am a real fan of Converse shoes especially the special edition Chucks.  A few years ago, 2014 to be exact,  I was at the Mall and walking past Journey's - a shoe store - and saw in the Converse display...

 ... these Sugar Skull (or Calaveras) shoes....  I remember that I had to order them as they were out of my size...  then the next year I got their Fall catalog and once again they had a Special Edition "Sugar Skull" shoe....

 ...  here's 2015 Design...  

 ... 2016 Design, very similar to the year before, but this go round they were more pink and orange....

... and this year the Fall catalogue came really early and once again they had a "Sugar Skull Design.... that I couldn't live without....  and they were so different from the previous year designs...  the tongue of the shoes is really different being a deisgn of all roses and the skull's teeth this year are all sparkly gold... super design and I'm ready for Fall and .... The Day of the Dead!!

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

Take care,

edgar

A Little Sweet

Gentle friends, you may or may not know that Amazon is a place that you can find damn near anything you want, need or just plain desire....  well, one of my greatest temptations and favorite things are known well to my family and friends is my overwhelming love of black licorice.  Now, I'm talking deep lovely anise flavored licorice and anise flavored things... now I'm talking about some lovely Sambuca... back to licorice... a favorite of type of mine would have to be Pontefract cakes, - a delicious treat from England and in the past when to mood hit me I had to order them from sweet shoppes in the UK.  Well, I got the hankering the other day and started looking around on Amazon at the different black licorices available.... and found a trove of different kinds of licorice from Holland.  From past experience, I knew that the licorice from Holland was simply to die for...  I had tried lots of different variations of Dutch licorice ..... salt, double salt and sweet black licorice.  I really do not care for the salted kind, but the sweet black licorice ...yummy!! 

In my search, I ran up against something totally new to me..."Schoolkrijt," "Licorice Chalk " or "Licorice Ice" ..... I was intrigued... after I did a little looking around and reading I figured that there would probably be a 90% or better chance I would love this freaking stuff...so throwing caution to the wind I ordered a bag and....  here's what came...

... for those not knowing what you're actually looking at, "licorice chalk" is a black tubular piece of licorice that is covered with a very thin, crunchy deliciously minty shell.... well, I opened up the bag and out came a dusty, lovely mint odor... I popped one of these suckers in my gaping maw... and was immediately in a swoon!!  Just so you know...these are the bomb and my new very favorite candy!!!  

Just a little aside, peppermint is my next very favorite flavor so to combine these two together was right close to my nirvana!!!!  I immediately ordered another bag so that I won't run out of the stuff anytime soon..... so...  if you like black licorice and not many folks do, and you like peppermint then you should give these a try if given the chance.

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That's about it for today sports fans.... tomorrow's post is all about "sugar skulls"......

Take care,

edgar

A Little Stitchin'

Gentle Friends, here's an updated snaparoo of where I am on "Anniversairies" ...

... here's "Swan Lake"... I'm almost finished with this block and will soon be on to August - 

or as it is called "Clara Ellen." 

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It was a lovely low-key weekend here by the Bay at my house.  Out in the world, specifically downtown SF the annual Pride Parade and Festival were in full swing... which is something we've avoided and not been to in donkey's years.... in fact nobody I know was going and most were steering a clear berth of anything to do with downtown, Civic Center or the Castro.  We heard there were more than a million people attending the various functions..... what we've heard about past years and this year's events, that the majority of the crowds attending are made up of out of town and tourist folks.... here's a snap I lifted from the internet of this year's crowds...

... that's just too many folks for me to deal with... to drink a warm beer and sweat in the sun!!

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

Take care,

edgar

A Couple of Sweeties

Gentle Friends, let's wrap up the week with a couple of snaps of some Who Hounds...

 ... laundry day brought two of them looking for a warm spot.... I dumped the sheets on the sofa and within seconds both Lolly...

... and Wahumpa where burying themselves deep into them... 

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That's about it for today sports fans.  There are very few plans for the weekend, out to dinner with friends tonight and some running around Saturday..... have a great couple of days off see you next week!!

Take care,

edgar

A Little Thrifting

Gentle Friends, out and about again over the weekend and I found some fun things....

...  I picked up 3 things... the nice aquatint of a mill in the Calvados region of northern France...

... I also picked up this great little hard past porcelain cup, I think it's a punch cup, due to the decoration.  I've been looking at it for almost a month at the Goodwill, but I just couldn't justify the purchase until it hit the half price shelves on Saturday - 

... and I found this at a thrift store...It's a reproduction and contains stone removed from the Cathedral during restoration work. This is from Wells Cathedral c. 1240 - from the east aisle of the north transept and represents a sexless Salamander, a reminder to the monks of their vow of celibacy.

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There you go sports fans, thanks again for stopping by do stop again!!

Take care,

edgar  

A Little Summer

Gentle friends, keeping with the theme of Summer... I thought I would post a beautiful piece of music today... it's a bit on the long side at 10 minutes but so worth a look, especially the ending.....  here it goes...

"SUMMER" Allegro Non Malto: Adagio-Presto-Adagio; Presto (The Four Seasons); From The National Botanical Gardens of Wales; Julia Fischer on violin, accompanied by the Academy of St. Martin in the Feilds.

I hope you enoyed it!!

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There you go sports fans, thanks for stopping by do stop again!!

Take care,

edgar

A Little Stitchin'

Gentle Friends, we had our first really warm weekend.... in the low to mid 70's on Saturday and then a sweltering 83 on Sunday....  at my MIL's house down in the Valley it reached a whopping 108.....  I guess Summer is upon us at last....  even though it reached 83 by early afternoon... by nightfall, the breeze had picked up and the temps plummeted back into the upper 60's and low 70's.... so this morning we are back in the weather comfort zone!!  That's one of the lovely things about living here by the Bay, that the weather, even though it may get on the warm side usually breaks quickly and gets back to being cool.  Even with the heat getting turned up we still got some running about thrifting on Saturday and got some stitching done.... here's a snap...

...  although this is a pretty terrible snaperoo of the project you get the idea of where I've gotten to.... I've swapped out a couple of floss colours on this block and will mention them as I get along...I really am enjoying this piece quite a bit!!  I do enjoy BBD designs and even though I'm only at about the halfway point with this piece I'm already planning what the next project will be...pretty silly I know!!

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There you go sports fans, thanks for stopping by do stop again!!

Take care,

edgar

A Little Drag Ball

Gentle Friends, last Saturday evening was the "Switch Hitters Ball, " which is the wrap-up event for the SF Gay Softball League.  The "F Liners" is the team that Rico is on.  The Switch Hitters Ball is where the different teams have players dress in drag either as a group for the "Group Prize" or singly for the title of Miss Switch Hitter.  I've been waiting to do this Post to see if I could get better pictures - I was in a bad position so mine really weren't the best, but no other snaps have surfaced so you'll just have to make do with mine....

The theme for this year was a Look Back at the Past winning enteries....Rico and the other Cheer Leaders were part of a backup group for the "F Liners" effort - a recreation of their 2015 winning entry where they did a scene from Hairspray and the song "Welcome to the 60's"...

... Rico and Scooby outside before the evening got underway...

... it was packed and really warm at the venue...

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... here are some shots of the "Girl Group" in action...

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... the new Mis Switch Hitter on the left (an F Liner) 

and the outgoing Miss Switch Hitter on the Right...

.... the backup group... from L to R - Ernie, Matt, and Rico...  

... another shot of everyone after the show ended...it was a relly fun evening and was a fun wrap-up to a really great softball season!!

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That's about it for today sports fans, not too much going on around here lately.  No fun thrifty finds.... but, there are a few Estate Sales this weekend so hope springs eternal!!  Thanks for stopping by do stop again!!

Take care,

edgar

A Little Stitchin'

Gentle Friends, still stitching away on AotH, and here's where I left off last night...

... this block I'm stitching for my maternal grandparents.  I restitched the initials and dates all over this block - trying them here and there ..... the letters, as charted, really don't fit well and the square is a bit on the small side - so - I'm not sure what I'll put there, yet.

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

Take care,

edgar

A Little Thrifty Thursday....

Gentle Freinds, yes, I'm still going about thrifting, and yes, I'm still hitting the estates sales but for the past few weeks there's been next to nothing to buy - I've seen a few fun things, but nothing fun enough to bring home.  I've had quite a few emails recently about my not posting about the bits and pieces I find - but as I like to say.... "hope springs eternal!!"  This past Saturday I found some things...

... in addition to the DVD's, the bits of 1ate 18th early 19th-century porcelain I stumbled across were really unexpected... at a Goodwill, I found the Tremblant saucer, the small plate, and handleless cup - all beautifully handpainted and the gilt decoration still in super condition.  

The large beautifully decorated "shell" dish from a desert service was made by Spode in about 1810 - I found this lovely at a thrift store - I guess it's my innate tenacity that keeps me looking week after week.... but I love the search and will be out and about again this weekend!!

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

Take care,

edgar

A Little "Faire" Visit

Gentle Friends, over the weekend I headed over to Alameda Pointe with a friend to hit the monthly Antiques Faire held there.  There were supposed to be around 800 dealers present and after walking the whole thing I can believe it... here's a snap...

 ...   I only ran into a couple of pieces of silver I wanted but in the end passed on both of them and came home empty handed... we did stop and had a "small" lunch...

... juicy brat's with lots of sauerkraut and onions!!  It was a fun day and took us about 5 hours to walk the whole Faire so that we could see everything or at least try and see everything...  I'm thinking we'll probably get to the next one on July 2nd  because you never know what might turn up!!

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There you go sports fans, thanks for stopping by, do stop again!!

Take care,

edgar

San Rafael California - "The Mission San Rafael Arcangel"

Gentle Friends... on with the day.... after Sonoma, we headed back towards San Rafael, but first, we pulled off the highway and had lunch at A&W... it was Rico's choice he really enjoys their burgers and fries!!!

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Our next stop was to visit the site of the Mission of San Rafael Arcangel...

The statue of Father Vincente Francisco de Sarria founder of the Mission

...a little history.."Mission San Rafael Arcángel was founded in 1817 as a medical asistencia ("sub-mission") of Mission San Francisco de Asís. It was a hospital to treat sick Native Americans, making it Alta California's first sanitarium.^[8] The weather was much better than in San Francisco, which helped the ill get better.^[9] It was not intended to be a stand-alone mission, but nevertheless grew and prospered and was granted full mission status on October 19, 1822."

In 1949, a replica of the chapel was built next to the current Saint Raphael's Church on the site of the original hospital in San Rafael, California.

... the inside of the reconstructed Mission Church.  

... the lovley High Altar of the church....

...Originally the beams and exposed wood would have been heavily painted as would the walls...

... just inside the narthex is a prie dieux

... there is a small exhibit of the remnants from the Mission including the original Mission Bells...  the middle bell is the oldest bell made for the asistencia and placed by Father Amoros in about 1820.  The bell on the right was acquired by the Mission in about 1830 and the bell on the left was acquired in about 1833 - both bells placed by either Father Estemga or Father Mercado...

... there was also a display of the things from the archaeological digs from the original building of 1817/1822...

... this is a shot of the front with the replicated bells in place.  The complex was lovely and so serene.

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We had a wonderful day out of the City and visiting these two Mission sites was so worth it.  I would highly recommend the trip to anyone visiting the Bay area.  Getting to both Sonoma and San Rafeal is quick and easy, goodness knows that if I could do it anyone can!!  If you would like to read about the Mission here in San Francisco you can go HERE to my blog and read the Post about our last visit.

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

Take care,

edgar

A Little Stitchin'

Gentle Friends, a quick update on AotH.... I finished up the sixth block and have moved on to number 7.... here's a snap...

 ... the piece as it stands...

... and Block number 6... this I stitched for my parents... the year they were married and I stitched in 5 hearts representing the five of us in our family.  I also had to shift up the birds on that side to make the "hearts" fit.

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There you go sports fans, thanks for stopping by do stop again!!

Take care,

edgar

Sonoma California - Part II "The Colonial Plaza"

Gentle Friends, this second part of the Post about Sonoma is about the Colonial Plaza downtown and some of the historic buildings and monuments we saw... just down the street from the Mission are the remnants of the complex of buildings where Lieutenant Mariano Vallejo house "Casa Grande" once stood.  The Casa Grande was burned down in 1867 leaving the kitchen building and servants wing.....  Vallejo was the Military Commander of the Northern Frontier

 ...to the left is the servant's wing, the two storied building was Toscano Hotel Annex...

... another shot of the servant's wing... 

 ....  this building was the Toscano Hotel's Kitchen

... the is plaque from the Hotel...

... you can step into the Hotel's front door and there is this barred area to keep from going too far in...

... I stuck my camera past the bars and got this shot of the Parlour to the left of the front door...and 

... the saloon area to the right of the door.....

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Next to the Toscano Hotel is the "Barracks"

 ... the two-story, wide balconied, adobe barracks was built to house the Mexican army troops under the command of Vallejo.  They frist started to arrive in 1834, from then until 1846, Sonoma was the headquarters of the Frontera del Norte - the Mexican provincial frontier of the north.  

Actual construction of the building probably took place in stages but more or less completed by 1840-41.

... how the barracks may have looked when it was an army building...

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... also in the Barracks was this version of the Bear Flag.....

 ... this is the back baconly of the barracks building from the courtyard...

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Back on the Plaza is this great sculpture "Raising of the Bear Flag" by John MacQuarrie, 1914

...here's the plaque with more info...

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... I couldn't find much info about the Sonoma City Hall, but it sits in the middle of the plaza and is quite imposing...it was dedicated in 1908 and was originally designed with four identical sides.  The outside of the building is built with rusticated basalt stone from local quarries.

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That wraps up Sonoma.... I have one more Post that will complete our day of travel in the North Bay.  Thanks again for stopping by, have a great couple of days off!!

Take care,

edgar