A Little Thrifting

Gentle Friends, there's not been too many things out there to bring home.  I've been making the rounds and "pickins' is slim" to say the least.... however, at one of the Antique Collectives (Antique Malls) out here on Valencia Street, I found this...

...  great frame c. 1900.  I really like the brass mounted glass "jewels" on each corner... I popped the cabinet card that was in it out... and popped the photo of my Grand Mother (L) and her sister my great Aunt Mary (R) as children in place.  It was taken in Galesville Wisconsin in the winter of 1899.  I've looked for years for a frame that would be appropriate and as with most things... perseverance pays off.  Now, I need to get this sucker on the wall somewhere.....

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

Take care,

edgar

A Little Trip

Gentle Friends, I was away for a bit to visit my family up in Vancouver...  I went for my niece's Graduation from High School...  Saturday evening we headed out for a get together of family and friends for pizza and fun ...

...my sister had some really fun cupcakes made ... in Columbia River HS colors of purple and gold...

... I headed to the bar and got a beer to go with my pizza!!

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... Sunday was the Baccalaureate which was held at the High School...

 .... students marching in ...

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We headed out to dinner Sunday evening to a fun Mexican restaurant...

... The Margarita Factory is one of two Mexican places owned by the same guy and I am sure that the other location is just as good and totally as fun as this one in Hazel Dell!  If you're in the Vancouver area I would really recommend this place!! 

... when we sat down I ordered a "Trashcan" to drink not knowing that it came with an energy drink... the description was not as clear as it could have been... basically, it's a Long Island Ice tea with blue Curacao and then tipped into it is an energy drink... interesting taste.....

... for dinner my sister had a bowl of Taco Soup that looked really delicious!!

 ... and I ordered a Seafood Chimichanga... which comes with a great creamy wine/mushroom sauce... not too sure how Mexican it is but it was really tasty!!

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 .... we hit "Killer Burger" for lunch, this is another local chain in the Portland area and one in Scottsdale AZ

 ... I got a "Meathead" and it was a super burger!!  All the burgers come with bacon and fries!!

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.... my Niece and I went to downtown Vancouver to "Simply Sweets" for some cupcakes...

 .... this is a great bakery and such really delicious looking treats!!!

 .... I loved this cake on display.....  what fun!!!!

 ... and here are the cupcakes we brought home... two each starting from the top left, red velvet, Chocolate, S/Mores, Strawberry Vanilla, Key Lime and Vanilla!!

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 ... then Wednesday evening the big event... it was held at the County Fair Grounds in the Sunlight Supply Amphitheater.  Columbia High School's graduation was the last of four held that day...

 ... as the sun set the speeches were read the band played and the graduates marched across the stage... it was a lovely evening and so worth the trip!!

.... and here are the proud parents with my sweet niece all graduated and ready for her next step in life...college and my schooling!!

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There you go sports fans that about wraps up my quick trip north and a fun family visit!! 

Thanks for stopping by do stop again!!

Take care,

edgar

My Mom's Birthday

Gentle Friends...today would have been my Mom's 92nd Birthday...another snap from my album...

... this picture was also taken by my Dad and would have been in the Fall of 1963, in Gulfport, Mississippi.  Again what's up with my hair now...and truth be told my lack of hair then was a foreshadowing of the future since I've got about as much today as I did then.  I guess what goes around comes around!!

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I think this wraps up the Birthdays for a few months.  I'll be away from the Blog for a few days visiting North, but I'll be back!!  Have a great weekend!!

Take care,

edgar

My Papa's Birthday

Gentle Friends...today would have been my Grandfather's 111th Birthday... 

here's a photo from the past...

.... I'm pretty sure this was taken in the summer of 1968 in Mississippi... I totally remember this red swingset with the bright yellow plastic seats that was in our backyard.  The picture would have been taken by my Dad in the Summer.  My Grandparents would visit us in the summer and also at Christmas.  I think I'm holding up a Matchbox car ... don't you love my bowl cut.... who would do this you a child, I ask you!!  My Dad cut my hair until I hit middle school and started to hit those teenage years and I think the haircut fight was one my Dad gave up on.....  there were much bigger fish to fry so to speak!! 

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

Take care,

edgar

A Few Fun Things From the Looong Weekend.....

Gentle Friends, I'm back from my looong weekend of a few fun things..... so here goes...

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Once again TCM held their Memorial Day marathon... 72 hours of film covering the different American conflicts on film from the Civil War to the Korean War.  There were some super films shown!!  I also got some stitching done and here's a shot of Hannah as she is at the moment...

 ... I'm coming up on the finish in the near future and have already lined up my next piece..... 

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We also headed down to the pool a couple of times.  The weather was just gorgeous, in the upper 70's, bright and clear..... 

....  it's a Rico bobbing along in the sunshine!!

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We wrapped up the weekend yesterday evening with a celebration of Rico's big brother's Birthday!!  Happy Birthday, Torchy!!  We got a cake from our favorite bakery!!  It was chocolate cake with a chocolate creme filling - so delicious!!

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

Take care,

edgar

The day After.....

Gentle Friends...  with my family in town, on Friday we decided to do some shopping and looking around down on Market Street.....  of course there were about a bazillion other people also looking around and shopping, but it is that time of year and there were all those sales going on.......

....  one of the places we hit was the Westfeild San Francisco Center and up on the 3rd or 4th floor was Santa himself......  I got the stink eye from the "Helper Elf" with Santa when I was trying to get a snaperoo,  but I just let it go and walked around a bit and got this shot.... the Westfeild was decorated and looked really festive , up under the Dome they were projecting snowflakes spinning and falling, none of the pictures I took really show it - you can click HERE and see last years snap of the Dome, this year the snowflakes filled each lunette and were spinning additionally there were pinpoint lights moving about like falling snow.......

... for lunch we headed to a favorite burger place....

... Rico and I had burgers and fries.....

....  this is a close up of the garlic fries, and they were really full of garlic!!  

They had decided to stay in an Hotel downtown and here are a couple of shots from the room.... 

.... here we are Saturday morning at breakfast.....  my Sister, Niece, the Rico-nator and BIL....  we were sitting upstairs at the Grove, a nice little cafe near the Hotel.

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That about wraps up the weekend, thanks for stopping by do stop again soon!!

Take care,

edgar

Long Time No Post

Gentle Friends, when I last posted I mentioned I was going to share some family pieces of needlework I have...  and although I had every intention of posting right away - it seems that one thing or another just kept me from it... forgetting my camera , then may battery was all wonky, I have just every excuse out there, but never mind, today I have the snaps, and now I am going to share.....

This large piece is one from a set of three motto's, from kits, my mom stitched in the late 70's.  She really enjoyed working on printed linen.  I find that type of stitching a bit on the messy side, and prefer the even stitches of counted cross stitch.  I think it was the primitive, or more homespun look that my mom liked about this stitching.

This is another piece my mom did, she got this kit in Old Sturbridge Village when we were the on a family vacation.  I remember this vacation so well, and so not only do I have those vacation memories but this super piece.  I also remember when my mom had it framed...  the framer couldn't make the church "not" look wonky and keep the lettering straight, so they opted to keep the church straight.

My little vignette here includes a small piece of needlepoint my mom did, in the 70's.  She preferred to do needlepoint when we went on vacation, and I remember ongoing WIP's that only got attention during the summer when in the car going somewhere - we three kids squawking in the back and mom and dad in the front - dad driving and mom stitching away on something. 

Same vignette, different piece...  this piece was stitched by my maternal grand mother in the 1930's.  I don't know much else about it - I really like the soft faded colours that it has taken on over the years.

This quilt was made by maternal great grandmother in about 1897 or so - it has yellowed and is not in the best condition - with lots of fraying.  The Wahumpa hound jumped up and off in the flick of this picture - I think he was just checking out something "new"....Here's a close up of some quilting that my grand mother at the age on 10 or so did on this piece..

 It's a little man with a cane - all the other baskets have just three plain leaves in this spot, except this one.  I wonder how I would clean this quilt or have it preserved????  any suggestions from the Blog World???

  This footstool/slipper box has a piece of needlepoint on the lid that my great Aunt Mary did for my great grandfather - he kept his slippers inside.  It has seen better days, and at some point I will take it off so that it doesn't deteriorate any more and stitch something else for the top.

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That's a tour of some of my family's needlework.  For my part I am slowly stitching away on Elizabeth Shepard - I'll have a snaperoo tomorrow of the  progress.

Don't forget about the "St Patrick's Drawing" - you have until Friday afternoon to sign up.

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

Take care,

edgar

Thanksgiving weekend report..... (lots of pictures)

Sorry I missed yesterday - but the servers where down and I couldn't do the blog thing or my work stuff. Now that we are back - lets talk Turkey day.

My sister and her family drove down from Vancouver on Wednesday so we had a house full!! This has become such a super tradition as they have done this for the last few years and Rico and I really enjoy having them!!! For the big day we had nine people over and it was so much fun. Here is a snap ( that John reminded me to take) - as I am done in after I put the bird out... I start to just decompress and enjoy!!

Going around the table L to R - Rico, Mathew, Theresa, Katie, Mary, John, Dale and Cissy - I just love a table that is full of family and friends!!!!! After dinner we sat around feeling full - another Thanksgiving passes and we are together and happy and safe and very thankful!!!!!

On Friday we usually spend running around the city doing fun stuff and this year was no exception - Since the day started off kind of foggy -but no rain as predicted - we trotted down to Pier 39 and took in some fun touristy things - starting off with Lunch at John and every ones fav In and Out Burger!!!


You knew I had to take a snap of the delicious double cheese and fry lunch!! What is so super about this place is that the fries a fresh cut potato's and are really delicious!!!

At Pier 39 the Christmas tree was up -


and since the day had been foggy the crowds were non-existent!!
We walked around and saw the sea lions....

This one a was just lying there just "flipping" off all of us that were looking at him....

He was just rolling around waving that flipper back and forth - probably just bored!!!
You could look out over the Bay and see Alcatraz...

The sun started to come out and the crowds started to swell so it was back to the car and off to Golden Gate Park and a visit to the Arboretum
- even though it is getting into winter there is lots in bloom....




It was a full day and tons of fun!!!
I got some walnuts from the farmers market to make cowboy cookies but they need shelling.... I was wondering if there was an easy way to do this if you do not have a nutcracker... any suggestions???

Thanks for stopping by - and its almost the weekend - woo hoo!!!!!!

take care,
edgar