A Little Stitchin'

Gentle Friends...  I finished up the "bar and roses" band and the black and white check divider for the next band........

....... then I thought I needed to work on "July" on the Prim Animal Sampler......

....so I hauled it out of the old WIP basket, and converted the called for DMC to WDW floss and started in on "July"  ..... I think I'll also do "August" to finish up the Summer months.......

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It was a totally lazy weekend and I slept away most of Sunday......  lovely breeze and warm sun with the temps in the 70's make for one good ole nappin' day!!!!  Hope your weekend was as non-eventful!  Thanks for stopping by do stop again!

Take care,

edgar

Thrifty Thursday

Gentle Friends,  here are some things I picked up a couple of weeks ago, but never talked about......

....  a nice Belleek plate, two little Royal Doulton Dickens figurines, Micawber (from David Copperfield) and Sairey Gamp  (from Martin Chuzzlewit)....  some fun DVD's and a great little Peanuts Christmas book.  

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

Take care,

edgar

Playin' Softball

Gentle Friends....Sunday after Mass were the last two softball games of the season.  Rico, along with Ernie and Matt are cheerleaders for the F-Liners part of the SFGSL - (San Francisco Gay Softball League) and the tradition with the team they come in drag for the last game..........

.... Matt made the outfits and from left to right.... Ernie, Rico and Matt........

... not only do the cheerleaders do "dress up" but the team does also.......

.... all the teams in the League have sponsors and the F-Liners is sponsored by The Edge, a bar in the Castro.... 

... even though they played the two best teams int he league, they did a great job and had a super day out on the field in the sun!!!

......  the entire team .....  it was a great afternoon with lots of sun.....

 I am still burned a bit and red faced.

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

Take care,

edgar

A Little Stitchin'

Gentle Friends, I finished up the black-work band and moved on to the roses and bar band..... 

here's a snap.....

.... I really like the way black-work looks and after I got going it seemed to stitch up quickly.

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

Take care,

edgar

A Pooch Post

Gentle Friends, I'll finish out the week on a cute note........

......  warm socks and a quick who hound make for a darling snap!!  Lolly made a leap into the pile of socks before I got a chance to fold them up - she quickly settled down and took a nap.

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That's about it for today, have a great weekend, see you next week!!

Take care,

edgar

Something New

Gentle Friends, a couple of weeks ago I went for my annual eye exam and found that as I have in the last year my left eye has gotten a little more wonky than the right and so it was time for a new prescription and that means new glasses........  

I must have tried about 100 different glasses on and waffled back and forth between stainless steel and titanium frames.......  eventually settling on....... 

on a pair that comes in this great triangular "collapsible" case

- it folds almost flat when not needed......

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....  here I am with  my new glasses, from Gucci.  I choose them in the Matte Blue colour with steel frames....  they feel quite a bit lighter than my other daily glasses and I like that the ear pieces have a bit of a grip to them.  

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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 the queen stitched strawberries....

......the little checked dividing line and have started in on the floral black work band.....  so, I guess my goal is to have the black work band done by the end of the week.....  it seems to move rather slowly, but looks interesting!!

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

Take care,

edgar

Lovin' My Chi's!!!!!!!!!

Gentle Friends, I saw this and thought I would share.......

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Hope you're having a great Sunday....

it's bright and sunny with a wonderful cool breeze here by the Bay, in the low 60's!!

Take care,

edgar

Thrifty Thursday

Gentle Friends,  not much of anything going on around here.... it was very warm Monday - in the mid 80's.... then Tuesday it dropped back to the 60's with lots of wind and then yesterday it rained all day, so that was very nice.

Last Saturday we ran around and I found some fun things......

....  I found a great copy of an anime classic "Spirited Away", a little Peter Pan porcelain figurine -a favorite book from childhood and great Disney Movie so how could I pass on him, a nice older Belleek vase, a sweet little cup and saucer made in the German US Zone, and a little piece of tourist china from my favorite Chateau, Chenonceau built over the Cher river.  I've visited this chateaux a few times over the years and every time I go I become more and more taken with the house and gardens!!

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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 "Sojouner" and still working the strawberry band...... 

 here's where it stood as of last night.......

..... it's all those queen stitches....  I should be able to wrap up the strawberries and move on to the black work band by the end of the week...... or at least that's the goal in my head Monday morning!!

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There you go sports fans.  Thanks for stopping by do stop again!!

Take care,

edgar

Visiting the Legion of Honor Part 3 - Some of the Permanent Collection.....

Gentle Friends.....after viewing the temporary exhibit "High Style' we headed upstairs to the permanent collections to have a look.  There are some gorgeous pieces here and it was just fun  seeing some old friends.........

... you know me an how I enjoy religiously inspired art, well here is one of the pieces I could stand and look at all day long....  it's by the master of the Retable of the Reyes Catolicos, "The Annuciation" Spanish last quarter of the 15th century - oil on pine panel.

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Bartolomeo di Giovanni "The Adoration of the Magi" - Florentine ca. 1490 - oil on panel

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Master of the St. Lucy Legend "Virgin and Child Enthroned with Angels" Flemish ca 1575 - oil and tempera on panel

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The LoH has a couple of really wonderful "rooms" within the collection......  

 Here is the didactic panel.......

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In the area of the 18th century collections are furniture and decorative pieces....

... The portrait is of an unknown Gentleman by Nicolas de Largilliere, 1710 oil on canvas.  The Commode it hangs over is French made in Paris ca 1755 attributed to Joseph Baumhauer - Marquetry of bois satine (bloodwood) and kingwood, gilt bronze, ebony and marble.  The clock has figures of Study and Philosophy, made in Paris ca 1785-90 by Renacle-Nicolas Sotiau of patinated and gilt bronze, marble, enameled metal and glass.

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There is also a large gallery of piece by Auguste Rodin.....

"The Three Shades" ca 1880

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Here is another room that was recently finished and installed.....  The Salon Dore

.... and the didactic panel..

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I wrap up this last post on our visit with this painting, by John Spencer Stanhope, "Love and the Maiden" British - 1877 - tempera, gold paint, gold leaf on canvas.  Here's a great piece of info from the museum.......

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There are many, many more wonderful things to see in the museum and if you are in San Francisco and have a free afternoon I would highly recommend this as a destination!!!!   I hope you have enjoyed all the snaps and a little look at some Treasures here by the Bay.
 Thanks for stopping by do stop again!!

Take care,

edgar

Visiting Legion of Honor Part 2 - The Temporary Exhibit

Gentle Friends,  after our breakfast and walk-a-bout,we headed for the museum.......the Legion of Honor is a lovely classically inspired building just full of beautiful things to see.....

....the temporary exhibit we had come to see.......

......  the gowns in the exhibit were spectacular and so worth the visit!!!  Here we go...........

Gilbert Adrian, better known as just Adrian when designing for films, "The Tigress"

Evening ensemble, 1949 - black,gold and orange silk taffeta chine and gold lame....

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... I lost the info about these two pieces, but seem to remember the one of the left was from 1960 or so and the right one from the late 1980's (I do not care for the one on the right)

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This spectacular gown......

Charles James, "Four-leaf Clover" evening gown, 1953 - Duchesse satin, lace and silk Shantung

...close up of the lace overlay......

....and the back of the gown.......

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another lovely gown by......

Charles James - "Ball Gown" 1951 - Ivory Silk Satin - was a gown with four poufs reinterpreting the Victorian bustle...  the bodice looked very tight and not that comfortable to wear....

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This gown was one of the show stopper pieces of the exhibit.....

another Charles James creation called "Tree" Ball Gown 1953 - Dark Pink Silk Taffeta with red, pink and white nylon tulle......

.... here's the back of the gown...

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This ensemble was worn by Ava Gardner in the film "The Barefoot Contessa" 1954.....

Designed by Sorelle Fontana - 1954 - Pink Duchesse Silk Satin, black velvet applique with pearlescent and iridescent sequins and beads.

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Two earlier gowns......

................the one on the left is by J. Suzanne Talbot ca. 1925 - Rust silk crepe with gold, silver and white embroidery.  The one on the right is by Jean Patou ca. 1927 Ivory silk twill with a self-fabric belt.  The Cloche hat is ca. 1923 and is beige glazed linen with self-fabric band.

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Here's a much earlier gown from the House of Worth......

Jean Philippe Worth - Evening Dress 1907-10 - Cream silk Satin, silk tulle, and lavender silk chiffon embroidered with rhinestones, pearls and crystal beads.

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Arthur Silver - from Liberty & Co  - 1900-1915 - silk brocade woven in peacock pattern

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Callot Soeurs (The Callot Sisters) - Two Evening Ensembles ca. 1913 - 

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Elsa Schiaparelli - "Evening Dress" - Summer 1937 - Ivory crepe-backed silk patterned in multicoloured butterflies - with matching umbrella

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Madeleine Vionnet "Evening Ensemble" ca 1935 - magenta silk crepe

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Left - Yves Saint Laurent - "Refrain" cocktail dress - Spring/Summer 1958- White silk surah printed with grey and black pebble pattern

Right - Cristobal Balenciaga - Dress - Autumn/Winter 1957 - Black silk crepe

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There were quite a few other pieces in the Exhibit, but this post is getting, or gotten really long so I'll wrap it up. Do stop by tomorrow for the final Part 3 of our visit to the LoH.

Take care,

edgar

"Before" Visiting The Legion of Honor - Part 1 (lots of snaperoos)

Gentle Friends, another goal to achieve during the looooong weekend was a visit to the Legion of Honor, the second of the two BIG museums here in a City that has many lovely Museums to visit.

The day started off with another super de duper breakfast, at a place I have mentioned before.  We hadn't been to Louis' in quite a long time and since the LoH is on that side of town it seemed to be made to order.........  

... we got a window table so our view was great....  Seal Rocks and the ruins of Sutro Baths....

... a better shot of the Rocks and the Baths.....

...... I was still in a Benedict mood, so I ordered the Louis Benedict, were they replace the ham with bacon, and add tomato, it was delicious!!!!

... Rico had a cheeseburger and fries.......

.. from the Lands End Lookout parking lot you get this view of Louis', The Cliff House and the Baths, looking out towards the Pacific ocean....

... the whole area around Louis' and the Cliff house is a National Park and they have finally finished the Park Visitors Center building....and inside is all sorts of great information about the area and some interesting stuff to see..... like......

.....one of the original statues from the Sutro Baths, a Diana........

 after the Visitors Center we headed for the trails.......

..... there are quite a few choices to walk - all - with views of the ocean.......

.... and I took a ton a snaps of the trees and flora along the trail, here's one looking out toward the Marin Headlands and the ocean... the trail we took up over and around Lands End had a "photo op"....

....  of the Golden Gate and it's Bridge....... yes, it was totally foggy and cold, but refreshing....

..... I'll wrap up today's post with something from the Visitors Center building..........

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That's about it for today sports fans, do stop in for Part Two tomorrow.

Take care,

edgar