800 Posts - So its Time for a Drawing!

GR&DF (I like that better!!) Yesterday was a bust-o-matic at work. Usually I come in, make a pot of coffee (I need the fuel) and have my thoughts coagulate in my brain a minute or so before I get a start to write a post, but yesterday I walked in on a pile of stuff and had to get right in on getting it done. I hate when work interferes with my pleasure!

This past weekend went about the way they usually unfold - so let me start off off with a snap of some stitching I can show. Here's a crooked snap....

"Garden Path" is coming along a stitch at a time. I worked lots on exchange stitching an only a little bit on this, but I finished up the trees (how odd is that pink fruit) and a couple of flowers on the border. I am really enjoying this piece, as I do all samplers, go figure.

I also solidified my plans to make a visit to my Mom in Florida - which means I will be away from the Blog for about a week the first part of November. I planned my visit around the Halifax Art Festival. I haven't been home in a couple of years or been to the Art Festival in many years so it should be a good time.

On Saturday we Dale and I ran around to some sales. There was not too much out there, but I did find a few things -

From l to r - an Icon of St Joseph, a nice little older frame, a DVD and a frog warmer. A Frog Warmer you ask - my sweet little sister has become a Scentsy Consultant and sent me a few of the flame less candle samples. I really wanted to try them out and I didn't have a warmer so I bought him. I burn lots of candles and incense as you know, but Scentsy was new to me and I am totally sold on these wax melts. Scentsy sells and warmer that is really wonderful if you have small children and don't want to burn tea lights. I love having another option for "smelling" up my house!! Cissy is up and selling them so if you are interested you can click on over to her site and find out more about this great product.

On Saturday evening we were hanging out by the pool being lazy and watching the fog roll in and wondering what to do for dinner - get take out, get something delivered..... then Rico had an idea!! The building owners have not only fixed up the pool area they bought a super grill for us to use -

So I defrosted a beef tenderloin et voila -

Pepper-marinated with summer squash and onion packets, so quick, so easy!! - we are totally loving the new owners!!!

Sunday we ran over to the Farmers Market - Rico wanted a new orchid (since the orchid death numbers where falling, he need something else to murder!! :) There are always a couple of plant people selling them.


There were some lovely squash.....


and a ton of grapes are appearing...


On the baking front I made a plate of brownies late Sunday afternoon - so easy and so delicious!!!


With this posting I reach a huge milestone!! I have made 800 Blog Posts. When I started writing a few years back I couldn't imagine I would have anything to say or talk about, but here I am with 800 Posts under my belt - will miracles never cease?? So I think I will have a little drawing - stop back tomorrow and find out the details.

Thank you all so very much for your continued kind words and thoughts - warm fuzzies in an otherwise cold and cruel world!!!!!

Take care,
edgar

Friday Posting

Gentle Readers and Dear Friends - I am so glad you enjoyed the little "clip" of the Fog rolling over the hill. I have seen it many times and always enjoy watching it cover Noe Valley like a shroud.

On the way home yesterday we decided to have tacos for dinner - always easy and tasty. Knowing there where no avocados in the house we needed to make a stop at 24th and Harrison at Casa Lucas for some. I took along the camera to get some snaps......

Here is a shot of the front of the Market -with a couple of empty parking spaces, you never see them empty!!

All over the store are pinatas hanging from the ceiling, making your shopping experience very festive!

This is the wall of peppers from the sweetest bell to the hotter than heck habanero and scotch bonnets.

Here are two boxes of small red and green grapes - I thought looked nice.


We had to get Miss Lolly a new piece of "equipment" this week.

Here she is sporting her new Rumba Panties and lounging on the clean and warm laundry I did last night. Her old Rumba Panties are less than lovely - she just about tore those suckers up so now they are raggedy Rumba panties - she hates wearing either new or old panties with a passion - and after this "moon tyme" we are having a little appointment with the fix-it Doctor so that she will never have to Rumba away a week again!! and I'll get a break from having to wash her panties out and blow drying them back to wearable - woo-hoo -

I think I will leave off the week with this snap -

The Peach and Rico


That about wraps up the week - thanks again for stopping by and for the kind comments.
Have a great weekend!!

Take care,
edgar

A Sweet Gift, the Farmers Market and a Fog Film

Gentle readers and Dear Friends - the weather shifted dramatically yesterday - and we are now back to a city that is cool/cold and breezy!! I actually got some sleep last night which made up for the lack of sleep the night before.

The mail yesterday brought a sweet gift from Natasha - she knows I love black licorice and handmade soaps - so she sent me -

- this super piece of licorice -soap. How great is that!! Thank you so much, Natasha.

Yesterday I made my visit to the Farmers Market - and here are a few snaps -

a gorgeous assortment of potatoes


this both was just next to the potatoes - and I couldn't pass it without a snap -


and here are baskets full of shallots and garlic with some delicious fingerlings in the back.

Yesterday after getting home from work I wanted to try a feature on my camera I really hadn't tried before. It is a movie feature - so we were down at the pool and the fog was just pouring over Twin Peaks - so I tried my hand at getting a little film of that. Here is the result....



The splashing sound I didn't realize the camera had picked up - is Rico in the pool. I love watching the fog spill over into Noe Valley and have seen it many times. Hope you enjoy!

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

Take care,
edgar

Wednesday Movies

Gentle Readers and Dear Friends - the heat was got brutal yesterday. We hung out by the pool after we got home with a bunch of the neighbors for a few hours because like most homes here in SF we do not have air-conditioning. It really isn't worth it for the few days of heat we have. Last night with no breeze the heat sort of held on and the air was very still - if it weren't for the fans we had going it would have been impossible to sleep. Today the breeze is to kick back up and the temps drop down into the low 70's. When we were coming into work this morning you could already feel the cool back in the air and the wind was starting to blow back in - so I guess our natural "air-conditioning " was turned back on.

There are four flicks I wanted to mention - the first are kind of a pair - starting off with "Susan Slade" - 1961 - starring Troy Donahue, Connie Stevens, Dorothy McGuire and Lloyd Nolan. A beautifully shot film. The story revolves around Stevens, a very sheltered girl who in the throws of a ship board romance gives into a world wise playboy whom she thinks "loves" her. This premarital tryst produces a child that the world thinks is her little brother being raised by her mother. The movie wraps up with some dramatic scenes at the end. Although handled well, I felt the movie was a bit melodramatic and campy, but of its time. The second film "Parrish" - 1961 - starring Troy Donahue, Claudette Colbert, Karl Malden, Dean Jagger and Connie Stevens - made and released the same year as "Susan Slade" - it is also a soap opera type film. Set in the Connecticut Valley on tobacco farms (who knew they grew tobacco in Connecticut) it is the struggle between the haves and the have nots -with lots of rich folks being bad and the poor folks being good - predictable at times, but some nice scenes and good acting. For the Troy Donahue fans or the fans of early 60's film these are nice films to see.

The next film is "Zero Hour" - 1957 - starring Dana Andrews, Linda Darnell and Sterling Hayden. This is the film that was spoofed in the film "Airplane" - 1980. Almost scene for scene and many of the same lines are used in both films. In "Zero Hour" the same plot exists - a flyer from the WWII made a mistake in battle and has not flown for 10 years. Now on a plane that had a dinner service choice of both lamb and tainted "fish" that takes out the pilot and the co-pilot - he has to step up to the plate and fly the plane in some crazy bad weather. If you see this film you should certainly watch "Airplane" soon after and see how funny the remake/spoof really is.

The last film for today is "Lady Killer" - 1933 - starring James Cagney, Mae Clarke and Margaret Lindsey. The story of an usher - Cagney - who is fired from the Movie House for his bad habits and customer complaints - he is out of work and falls in with a gang of criminals. They inadvertently kill a maid during a robbery and have to get out of town fast. The gang scatters with Cagney and the maul played by Mae Clarke ending up in Hollywood. There he is arrested for being in the gang. The girlfriend get scared and disappears, with his bank roll. He is eventually released, but with no resources and told to get a job or get out of town. While eating a bowl of soup he is "discovered" by a movie person looking for new faces - this ends him up in pictures -starting off with bit parts that eventually leads to becoming a star. With all the press surrounding a movie star this attracts his old gang - which is bad news for Cagney as he has gone straight and doesn't need a bunch of criminals around. There is a great chase scene at the end and some pretty funny scenes and moments - this is billed a s a comedy and has some really funny parts. The extras on the DVD are good also with a couple of super cartoons!!

There you go sports fans - thanks for stopping by.

Take care,
edgar

Summer Has Arrived

Gentle Readers and Dear Friends - I do thank you for your kind comments. As always my Morning is made so much nicer by your sweet words!!

I though it so nice to ask for the recipe for the cake - and it was soooo easy. Originally I was going to make something quite different than the Bundt cake, but after finding the pan I changed up and found a very easy recipe. As usual I went to AllRecipes and once again found the perfect thing to make. If you click HERE it will take you to the recipe. It did seem to take a bit longer to bake, but other than that it worked a treat.

I thought today I would share a couple more snaps I took on Sunday -

This is actually where my doctors office - it is called Davies Medical Center. We stopped here because of the easy access ATM - I took the snap because of the play of light and shadow on the building.

On our way home we stopped in Noe Valley to get a new HMIDI cable for the DVD/Flat Screen connection. We walked past this great old building -

This is the Noe Valley/Sally Brunn Branch Library. Built with a Carnegie Grant in 1916 - in a Spanish Style with a brick and terra cotta tile facade. Here is a snap looking through the window

If you look through to the ceiling you can see the same fruit garland that occurs on the outside repeated on the inside. This branch was the 7th to be built in the city.

The post title refers to our city weather - yesterday we got into the mid 80's and today it is supposed to be in the high 80's - the temps will start to fall on Thursday and by the weekend we should be back at a comfortable 60 or so. I guess that would be our summer. We still have September and October to go through and we often get a few warm days in both months. What causes this shifting is the wind is blowing from E to W and that brings the warm weather off the land. Usually the winds are blowing from W to E bringing the cool marine winds off the Pacific ocean.

Still stitching away on my exchange piece.

Tomorrow there will be some flicker talk. Thank you for stopping by, do come again!

Take care,
edgar

Weekend Stuff

Gentle Readers and Dear Friends - once again the short weekend is over and the long week is here. Now why is it that two days speed by and the long 5 day week seems to drag??

Oh well, that's how it goes. This past weekend we didn't do much, just the usual stuff.

On Saturday Dale and I ran around to a few sales and thrift shops - and I pick up a few things - including a bunch of books. Here is a snap -

Along with the books I got a couple of DVD's and a Bundt Pan - I didn't have a Bundt pan and this one needed a new home. While running around we visited a favorite thrift shop on Valencia Street in the Mission - and I have been meaning to take a snap of the new tree grates the city put out along this street when they renovated the sidewalks a few months back -


Aren't they great - I love the Day of the Dead theme. The purchase of the Bundt pan motivated me to make this....

and here is this pecan butter Bundt all hacked up and ready -


I used so many pecans that it turned the cake a little dark, there are pecans on the top making the vanilla glaze a bit bumpy. It is a super moist and tasty cake that turned out rather well.

We went to lunch at and a new place - or at least it was new to me -

Park Gyro is at the entrance to Golden Gate Park - Lincoln and 9th Avenue - and of course I had a lamb Gyro - I love the combination of lamb and tzatziki used in these "sandwiches."

Instead of the usual Pita bread they use Lavash or cracker bread for their wraps - and I really enjoyed this change!!

The last of the peaches are just beautiful this year... so I picked up a few pounds.... skinned 'em, chopped 'em.......

a made some more.....

.... jam. I think that this will be all I can get done this season. On Sunday Rico and I got over to the little farmers market. I picked up some....

...gorgeous blackberries. I was only going to get 3 baskets as they where 3 for $5, but the girl running the berry tent offered - another 3 baskets for only a $1 more - so I got 6 for $6. I flash froze most of them, but last night we had some on vanilla ice cream, and they were just perfect!! The frozen ones will be super in pies this winter.

I did a lot of stitching, but it was for either an exchange piece of a Christmas gift so I have no snaps of any of that.

I think that about wraps it up for today. Thanks for stopping by - do come again!!

Take care,
edgar

A couple of Clips

Gentle readers and Dear Friends - Friday is here - woo hoo!! I haven't much to write about today so I think I will post a couple of clips.

This past week we lost a great Jazz Singer - Abbey Lincoln - (1930-2010) She appeared as herself in a film called "The Girl Can't Help It" - 1956 - starring Jane Mansfield, Tom Ewell and Edmund O'Brien. A really funny film satire about gangsters and their mauls. Here is the clip from the film of Abbey Lincoln -



A great singer that sang on the Verve Label - her recordings are great!! Her silence will be greater.

Here is the second clip - one of my favorite songs of all time sung by Julie London. The clip is from "The Julie London Show" and from the early 60's - even though the picture is not the best her voice is sultry and beautiful -



I hope you enjoyed those clips. Thanks again for stopping by. Have a great weekend.

Take care,
edgar

Almost the Weekend

Gentle Readers and Dear Friends from the post title you can see where my mind is focused this cool Thursday morning. Thank you for your comments - Maggee mentioned another film of Margaret O'Brien's - "Our Vines Have Tender Grapes" - 1945 - a sweet film with so solid performances I have seen many times. Catherine wanted to know where I found the picture of Gene Tireney - as with most of the film snaps I Post I just dig around on the Internet until I find a picture I like - that's probably not the most scientific way of doing things, but for my feeble brain it works. :) - and - Jeanne mentioned one of songs from "Meet me in St Louis" - Have yourself a Merry little Christmas - a true signature song from Judy Garland repertoire that is really sweet and wraps up the whole movie -

A bit more movie stuff.... yesterday on TCM the star of the day was ....

Ann Sheridan - 1915-1967

You can see why Warner Brothers nicknamed her the "Oomph Girl" - a nickname she totally despised!! I caught a couple of her films - both of them made in the same year and at the same time. You have to give credit to the studio system and those hard working actors - to work on two pictures with completely different stories a moods at the same time was a real test of skill. The first picture was "Kings Row" - 1942 - starring along with Sheridan was Ronald Regan, Robert Cummings, Betty Field, Claude Rains, Judith Anderson and Charles Coburn. A classic from the golden age of film with superior performances. The second film of the evening was "The Man Who Came to Dinner" -1942 - starring Monty Woolly, Bette Davis and Billie Burke. A super comedy that never slows down. I have seen this film many times and always enjoy it!! Both films a wonderful and should be seen.

Yesterday was my weekly trip to the Farmers Market and once again I bring you a couple of snaps of some super summer produce....

some great looking corn....

and a pile of lovely peppers.... and a shot of City Hall...

it was a lovely day with the temps almost to 70, great breeze and lots of wispy clouds....

Still stitching away on exchanges.

There you go sports fans. Thanks for stopping by! Do come again.

Take care,
edgar

A Flicker Posting

Gentle Readers and Dear Friends we are once again on the hump of the week - looking gratefully towards the weekend!! I do thank you for the kind comments. The cookies are totally easy to make so try them out. Carol R asked about the pool - the pool is on the lowest level of our Apartment property. Our Buildings are built cascading down the side of "Red Rock" mountain - and the pool is actually on the lowest level with more houses and buildings below built down to the street. Yesterday afternoon we again went for a swim, but yesterday the temps got into the lower 60's with no fog - so it was really quite warm and nice.

There have been lots of films lately - with TCM in the middle of "Summer Under the Stars" an annual event that showcases a different star for each day.

On Saturday the star for the day was the beautiful-

Gene Tierney - 1920-1991

Along with these wonderful films : "The Mating Season" - 1950, "Leave Her to Heaven" - 1945 and "Dragonwyck" - 1948 - TCM showed for the first time "That Wonderful Urge" - 1948 - starring along with Tierney, Tyrone Power, Lucille Watson and Reginald Gardiner. A fun comedy about an heiress and reporter.

On Sunday the focus shifted to a very talented child actress. I usually cringe with horror at child actors and actresses as too saccharin sweet or so very precocious they need a slap and smack about every 2 seconds. There are exceptions and -

Margaret O'Brien is one of them. Although her starring roles in films was shortish - she made an impact every time she got in front of a camera. She made a career of being able to cry on command and it should be noted that she cried in every movie she made. The films of hers that were shown are all very good - "The Canterville Ghost" - 1944, "Little Women" - 1949, "The Secret Garden" - 1949 - and a top 10 favorite of mine - "Meet me in St Louis" - 1944 - starring along with O'Brien in this wonderful film are Mary Astor, Judy Garland, Lucille Bremmer and Leon Ames.

There were also a Netflix Pix Disc - a really good film Noir - "Where Danger Lives" - 1950 - starring Robert Mitchum, Faith Domergue, Claude Rains and Maureen O'Sullivan. A bad girl - a good guy and murder!! On the lamb and trying to out run the law - They might just make it. I really enjoyed this film and the story line kept me guessing what might happen almost until the end - with some great cinematography. On the same disc was another Film Noir - "Tension" - 1949 - starring Richard Basehart, Audrey Totter and Cyd Charisse - another bad girl looking for fun, but she is married to a meek pharmacist - what's a girl to do??? Become the maul for an underworld henchman of course. Another murder and a frame up! These two films are short and worth a look.

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

Take care,
edgar

Visiting the Cement Pond

Gentle Readers and Dear Friends thank you for stopping by sharing a bit of your day - and thank you for you kind comments. Today will be a shortish post as there is not too much going on here. The weather is holding out in the mid 50's and will stay there for the rest of the week - or at least that's what the News reports - and they would never be wrong...... :)

Yesterday when we got home it was back to the pool for a quick plunge.
- here is a pool view snap...

There's Rico floating around - watch out Esther Williams!!! The city view of downtown is very good from where we are. As you can see it was still a bright blue sunny day - by the evening the fog had pushed in so much we couldn't see across Noe Valley.

J Rae asked for the recipe for the Cookies I made on Sunday - they make up really quickly -

Hawaiian Cookies

1 3/4 c Flour
3/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp Baking Soda
1/2 c Butter (room temp)
1 c sugar
1 c flaked coconut (I only had shredded and it seemed to work fine)
1 egg (room temp)
1 tlbs lemon juice
2 tsp Vanilla

Cream Butter and sugar until fluffy (for cookies I will cream this mix until the sugar is basically dissolved about 5-6 mins). Beat in egg, lemon juice and vanilla. Sift together flour, baking soda and salt. Stir into butter mixture. Stir in coconut. (I just added a little flour at a time and kept the mixer on low, then added the coconut, keeping the mixer on low - this was a stiff dough.) Shape the dough into 2 (2 inch) diameter rolls. Wrap these rolls tightly in plastic wrap and chill for at least 4 hours. I chilled them overnight.

With a sharp knife, slice dough into 1/4 inch thick discs.

Place 1 inch apart on a slightly greased baking sheet (I used parchment paper). Bake in a 374 degree preheated oven for 10-12 minutes or until lightly golden. Remove to rack to cool. When cool roil in powder sugar. Makes about 2 1/2 dozen.

This was a nice recipe, and easy. Not overly coconut tasting, but pleasantly sweet.

Last night I was stitching away on an exchange.

There you go sports fans - thanks again for stopping by!! Tomorrow we'll have some movie talk.

Take care,
edgar

Monday Stuff

Gentle Readers and Dear Friends - thank you all so much for the kind comments regarding Fridays post. It makes this cool Monday morning so warm and toasty!! There were a couple of questions that were asked - The Memorial Sampler was designed by Midsummer Night Designs and is still in print - and so much nicer in person than in a photo - as are most things I guess!! -and- Ruth asked about the designer of the exchange piece, it was a freebie designed by La D Da.

Lets start off the morning with a wonderful package that I received. I won Lindsay's Birthday Mystery Drawing and what I received was just great!! Here is a snap -

This great Quaker star Heart chart was a freebie and designed by Aury - I so love the secondary finishing fabric with the Civil War flags - for those that don't know the flags - the r-w-r striped with the circle of stars on the blue field is the 1st National Confederate Flag. The rectangular stars and bars is the Confederate Jack that was flown on ships of war when in port. When the Stars and Bars flag is a square it is a Battle flag. The r-w-r-w-r-w-r-w-r striped flag with the multiple stars on the blue field is a Union flag that represents the original 13 colonies (this flag only has 12) It brought back some great memories - when I lived in Florida I was involved in Civil War Reenactments.

On Saturday Dale and I ran around to a bunch of Estate and Garage Sales - here is a snap of some of the things I picked up...

Some nice little Holiday books - a great piece of Christmas ribbon, a nice Icon, a white sage wand and a old Streamliner linen place mat - how great is that logo!!

I also picked up...

a new bigger home for Rico's fish Narcissus. His big bowl got a crack and broke so he has been living in a smaller bowl for a while. I found this for $2 and a yard sale - how could I pass?

I whipped up some Holiday cookies - or at least they remind me of the Holidays - on Saturday, but they needed to sit over night in the fridge - so on Sunday out came a stick of Hawaiian Cookie dough

sliced up for the oven....

and after cooling a quick roll in icing sugar and you have....

They are pretty tasty - crisp on the edges and slightly chewy towards the middle.

We also spent some time by the Pool....

The pool was deliciously warm - the heater was going - with the cold wind blowing and the fog rolling in (you can see it creeping over Twin Peaks in the snap) it was a refreshing break.

I'll wrap up today with a snap of my little start from last week -

... it is Shores of Hawk Run Hallow - stitched on 36 ct linen and using the recommended NPI. I am really enjoying this piece - as I knew I would.

That about does it for today. Thank you again for stopping by and for you super comments - I do appreciate them!!

Take care,
edgar

The last Framed Sampler, an HOE Exchange and some Hound Snaps

Gentle Readers and Dear Friends what wonderful comments for yesterdays post - I thank you!!

Today's framed piece will wrap up the framing for this week. This sampler was one I finished this winter and one I really wanted to have framed an up on the wall. Here are some snaps...

It is the Memorial Sampler I stitched up for my Dad - I was wanting to have this framed for the longest time. Here is a detail close up of the frame. It has a cushion-convex look that I think is nice for this piece...


I heard from Lilllie that the HOS "For the Birds" piece I made for her had arrived - I got a snap before I sent it out....

I used HDF silk on a piece of Mystery linen and think it turned out quite nice.


-------- lots of Hound snaps at this point----

Almost every evening we have the pre-dinner "grab ass" exhibition from the who-hounds. This event usually revolves around the chew toys and chew hide things that litter the floor. I have thought about taking some snaps but just never have - until last night..... so here you go....

You can see the three main chew toys in this snap - starting off with the Statue of Liberty squeaker - a gift to the hounds from Rory - then moving to the left you can see the newest one - a raccoon skin - which is an unstuffed squeaker that is really floppy - and then towards the back is the long legged blue rabbit - which is the one that Lolly like to play tug-o-war with.


the Peach usually throws her weight behind her attacks and here she has Lolly kind of caught...


a butt shot of Lolly with Pete hanging to the sidelines - he is so timid that he usually will not get near the girls when they start playing...


going for the Liberty squeaker and the tough growls ensue....


the Pete checking out the rough and tumble....


this is what Lolly usually does - she will stand on the Peach - and again Pete is looking on...


the Peach has Lolly down and right after this Lolly flipped over and was on top of her with that tongue of hers just licking away - you can see the Pete has unrolled the "lipstick" which he is wont to do when the "grab-ass" is going on!! He has also unbeknownst to the girls has gotten a good sniff of the "raccoon skin" - at this point he will usually just pick it up a trot off without them even knowing what has happened.


a chew, bite, growl moment to see who is the top dog at Hacienda Hound.


more of the chew, growl...


and now the fight for the "Raccoon skin" ... again....


I will leave off with the tough - Peach as top hound, holding down Lolly to make her point of " I am older, fatter and a bit smarter than you - so wise up new gal!!"

There you go sports fans - another week of stuff. Thank you so very much for all the kind and encouraging comments this week. Have a great weekend - do stop back again next week!!

Take care,
edgar