Back From Christmas Holiday

GR&DF I have returned to the world of blogging. I got back yesterday and started in on the bajillion emails - both the spam and real - and have finally finished going through all three email accounts. There was close to 1000 emails and only about 50 worth reading - what's up with that??

I have a bunch of snaps to show of my Holiday. I will spread them out over the next couple of days. For Christmas this year we all gathered at my sisters home in Vancouver, Washington. It was a great family gathering as always my DS and BIL gave us a super Christmas.

The first weekend I was up there we went out to a great breakfast at the OPH - Original Pancake House - over in Portland before visiting Saturday Market.


I had a great waffle and sausage links and my sister had...


Which made a much more interesting snap. You know me - if it sits still longer than about a second I am going to take a picture of it!! On her plate is a Denver Omelet and a short stack. If you look closely you can see a gorgeous brown sweater she is wearing that she made.

Then it was on to Saturday Market - as you can see from the first snap it was rainy and very overcast - but it is the Northwest and there was some beautiful sky's brewing that morning.

Saturday Market is basically lots of local talented artists and crafters selling what they have made. If you are ever in the Portland area I would highly suggest a visit - its free and lots of fun.

The Market from a distance...


and a rainy snap of the front of the Market -


- an arcade of metal leftover from a 19th century building that once was here -


The Market is under the west end of the Burnside Bridge - 1926 -
that crosses the Willamette River -


- the "Made in Oregon" sign.... a symbol of the city -



- looking across the Willamette River - with a great cloud ceiling -


-this is a park that sits next to the Market and runs along the river
- although it looks like dusk it was actually late morning -


- a snap of the Salvation Army Building with lots of birds perching -

I did want to thank you all for the kind Christmas Wishes!!
They were great to read and made me feel all warm and fuzzy!!!

Thanks for stopping by.
Take care,
edgar

Christmas Wishes

GR&&DF this is the last post for a week or so as I will be leaving on my Christmas travels at the crack of jack in the morning - with a 4:10am Super Shuttle pick up it will be a longish day. I did want to leave everyone a little card....


and a quote from my favorite - "A Christmas Carol" - by Charles Dickens

".... I have always thought of Christmastime when it has come around, apart from the veneration due its scared name and origin, if anything belonging to it can be apart from that; as a good time, a kind, forgiving, charitable, pleasant time, the only time I know of in the long calendar of the year when men and women seem by one consent to open their shut up hearts freely and to think of people below them as if they really where fellow passengers to the grave and not another race of creatures bound on other journeys.... And therefore uncle, though it has never put a scrap of gold or silver in my pocket, I believe that it has done me good and will do me good and I say: God Bless It!...
- Fred, Scrooge's nephew

I also wanted to post a progress snap of Alphablocks....

Last night I got a bit of Christmas cheer watching the annual production by the Mormon Tabernacle Choir on the tube. This year it was called "Ring Christmas Bells" with guest soloist Brian Stokes Mitchell and guest performer Edward K Hermann. What a treat, as it always is!!! If you get the chance to see it you will not be disappointed!!

After the concert was over I popped in a DVD - "The Sea Hawk" -1940 - starring Errol Flynn, Brenda Marshall, Claude Rains, Flora Robson, Allen Hale and Donald Crisp. What a super swashbuckler type movie. Beautifully shot in B&W and wonderfully directed by Michael Curtiz.

I wanted to also answer some of the super comments from yesterday... Sharlotte mentioned "The Ghost and Mrs. Muir" - 1947 - starring Gene Tierney, Rex Harrison and George Sanders - I love this flick and would highly recommend it to anyone!! Gene is at her pinnacle of loveliness - between this flick and "Laura" - 1944 you got two super Tierney flickers!!! Lorraine mentioned another flick - "The Parrots of Telegraph Hill" - 2003 - what a great little film. We live on a promontory called Red Rock on many older maps of SF and the cliffs around us are heavily laden with scrubby trees - these trees often have these city parrots roosting in them. We see lots of birds up where we sit overlooking the city and a colorful parrot or hummingbird really adds to our city wildlife. Wrapping up with a comment from Karen about "The Bunny House" - she mentioned a quote about a single mahi - a totally funny line - another really funny moment was also in the restaurant with a little table and a piece of gum!! I was LOL at that!!

There you go sports fans!! I'll be back in a week or so - have a great Christmas and Holiday season!!!!

Take care -
edgar

It was 70 years ago...

GR&DF once again I must take a moment to thank you for your kind comments and thoughts.

Last night TCM aired one of the great flicks - "Gone With the Wind" - 1939. Starring Vivien Leigh, Clark Gable, Thomas Mitchell, Barbara O'Neil, Hattie McDaniel and Butterfly McQueen. The occasion was the 70th anniversary of the premier in Atlanta at the Loew's Grand Theater. Here is a still photo taken during production in 1937 or1938 -

This AP Photo / New Line Cinema - shows from l to r - Evelyn Keyes - "Suellen," Vivian Leigh - "Scarlett" and Ann Rutherford - "Careen." They are standing in the hall of Twelve Oaks in the costumes for the Wilkes Barbee Que.

I always enjoy watching this film and have seen it dozens of times. The film is so good on so many levels - historical fact is not one of them - by costuming, sets, cinematography are all top notch.

GWtW was followed up with a Netflix pix - "The House Bunny" - 2008 - starring Anna Faris. A very light predictable comedy that was really quite funny in spots. A sort of Cinderella story set on a College campus - easy to watch and aimed at the tinny bopper crowd.

I worked exclusively on the vine around the blocks and it was a pretty boring snap - so I'll not post it - maybe one tomorrow.

Donna asked about the card in the picture yesterday - yes - it is a greeting card that Shay had in the box and I thought was very pretty.

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

Take care,
edgar

A Box of Christmas Cheer

GR&DF you know it -your the best!! Thank you once again for your kind comments!! I so enjoy reading them and usually get such a warm feeling of camaraderie and stitchity love!

Yesterday brought a wonderful Christmas surprise from Shay. A while back she emailed me about the Joyeux Noel Book from BBD - she is a model stitcher (with her beautiful and perfect stitching) and was finishing up with her copy and wondered if I would like it - Like it, oh my, YES - I was debating if I was going to get a copy as I love BBD, but just hadn't been able to swing it as a stash purchase - and here one comes like manna from the heavens - here is a snap of the goodies the accompanied the book....

A totally sweet snowman sucker (who is now nestled in our tree, looking super cute), some Valdani Floss (just beautiful, and I have never tried them before) and some delicious sugared Christmas Pecans - just like Granny used to make. Such a special, kind gift - Thank you so much Shay!!!!!

I did read some rather sad news yesterday at different places on the Internet - This will be the last year of the BBD Loose Feathers Club - I love these little projects and will miss them when they are gone - but the bright spot would have to be that now the ladies will have extra time to make bigger designs!!

The comments yesterday got me to thinking about the CHS Alphablocks - both Patti and Jennifer suggested leaving the boxes alone and unfilled. I had thought about that, but know that once I finish and have it framed - in the far future - I will not be happy with them as unfilled. I just need to "Sh-- or get off the pot" as my Father would say. I was playing around with some floss' to see if I could get it together to make a decision..... that wasn't working - so I worked on the next block "I" and got the black box lines stitched. Hows that for putting off today what can wait until tomorrow!! Loraine asked about what floss' I was using for the vine and bud border - I am using GAST Forest Glade for the vine - I tried a couple of other greens and found that I liked this best on the linen. For the Buds I am using WDW Raspberry for the dark pink and WDW Red Pear for the light pink. I like these two colours together and have used them on other projects.

The flicker last night was an On Demand Comcast choice of Rico's - "The Proposal" - 2009 - starring Sandra Bullock, Ryan Reynolds, Mary Steenburgen and Betty White. A predictable comedy/love story that I thoroughly enjoyed!! Funny where it should be with the leads doing a very good and believable job throughout. The director was Anne Fletcher who also directed "27 Dresses" - 2008 - another cute and predictable love story/comedy film. The Alaska scenery is just beautiful and makes you want to jump in a plane and go for a visit!! I can recommend this film as cute and entertaining. At a short 108 mins what have got to loose??

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

Take care,
edgar

Christmas Treats

GR&DF thank you for your kind comments regarding our tree - eclectic doesn't seem to cover all that is on that sucker. I will post some of the more odd ornies later this week - :)

Friday the mail brought two lovely things - a present from a dear friend and another gorgeous ornament through the HOE Exchange. First up would have to be this beauty -

- from Becky - she knows how I love reindeer and the carol and here they are together looking spectacular. I put it with my other stitched treasures and it looks so perfect - thank you so much sweet Becky!!!

The mail also brought a beautiful ornament through the HOE Ornament Exchange. Carol B was my stitching partner and she sent me this beautifully piece -


I hung it in the willow for the snap and now it is nestled in with the rest of my pieces on the stitching tree. Thank you so much Carol it is really beautiful!!!

It was a super craptastic weekend here in SF as we had our really first big winter storm - basically all day on Saturday with much of it spilling over into Sunday - Not that I was going anywhere, but the weather for those that were still out shopping just bit the big one!! My shopping is finished and everything was mailed and expressed last week - so I don't have to fight any crowds anywhere - woo hoo!!!

There were a few movies watched so lets start off with a really powerful one - "Into the Arms of Strangers - Stories of the Kindertransport" - 2000 - Narrated by Judi Dench this interview style film told a few of the 10,000 stories of the children that were sent to Britain to escape the Nazi Holocaust. This was a piece of history I had not heard of and was amazed. The Kindertransport lasted the nine months leading up to WWII and with the beginning of hostilities it ended. It is told by those that were sent from Germany and Austria and settled in the UK. Absolutely worth seeing as those that forget history are doomed to repeat it!

I also had a cartoon from Netflix - I am almost always surprised at what I have put on my queue so that when I get a DVD I am stunned at my choices. Oh well - the flick was from Disney and is called "The Rescuers" - 1977 - starring the voices of Bob Newhart as Bernard, Eva Gabor as Miss Bianca and Geraldine Page as Madame Medusa. I hadn't seen this film in years and was pleasantly surprised at how much I once again enjoyed the story and the antics the swamp critters get up to.

Yesterday was a real treat filled day as I got me a glass of delicious Egg Nog -

Buds is de bomb!!!! I scape on the extra nutmeg and a shot of nog and it's perfection!! Along with this nectar I settled in to watch one of my favorite versions of "A Christmas Carol" - not the most accurate but a real favorite - and it is "Scrooge" - 197o - starring Albert Finney and Edith Evans. It is an all musical and dancing version that I really enjoy - and the glass of the nog doesn't hurt either!!

All this weather gave me plenty of time to stitch a bit on my ABC piece and here is a crooked snap of the progress -

I have finished the main stitching up to H but am still being a wienie about the fill - I did pull some colours I like and might just start some fill soon. As I was stitching that horse all I could think of was this beast looked more like a cross between a donkey and a camel... does that make it a Camkey??? or a Donkel???

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

Take care,
edgar

Decorated for Christmas and some Commenting

GR&DF I am so glad that you enjoyed seeing "the Banner." There were actually two made. A couple of years after Granny made this one she made another for my Mother, although this second one is now MIA in my Mother's attic I am sure at some point it will turn up.

I took some snaps of a few ornaments from the tree. It is always interesting to see what goes on from year to year. I grew up with Christmas trees that where eclectic and had all sorts of ornaments on them. We also had the blinky lights, bubble lights and big old fat lights.... and usually way too much tinsel - but we where kids and I think my parents just let us do our thing with the tree. I do remember once it did get out of hand as there was so much tinsel you couldn't see the tree for the tinsel. It was always fun and I have some great tree going up and tree coming down memories. So here are a few of our ornaments ....

this little lady looks just like the Peach when there might a snack in sight - all perky and eyes glazed over!!

This is one of the flock of birds that get on the tree - you know me and birds... and this one is even dressed up for the Holidays.


I love this little Noah's Ark box - it looks a bit crowded but how cute!


and another Chihuahua ornament (can there be too many??) - all made up for Christmas.

I had an email from a reader and she wanted to see the mercury glass Snow family a little better - ask and ye shall receive......


and for the last Christmas decoration is my Grinch - he sits on the TV table and if you push his left hand he says Grinchy things -

Last night the flicker was "It Happened on 5th Avenue" - 1947 - as part of the TCM Thursday evening Holiday movies this was the lead flick last night. It was a movie I hadn't seen before but knew of and I thoroughly enjoyed it. The plot was predictable and the situations a little silly but it was a really nice feel good Holiday film. It was this film that Frank Capra originally optioned for production but eventually passed to make "It's a Wonderful Life" (a favorite all time flick of mine!!)

There were a couple of questions in the comments so here are some answers.....

Michele asked if I were of Norwegian stock because of our oyster stew tradition - we are English through and through from way back into the early 18th century - pretty white bread actually - I think the tradition has to do with our NC background and living close to the Atlantic coast for the last 300 years.

Loraine asked about the CHS Alphabet Blocks and the floss choices - I am using the suggested floss where I like it and doing my own thing when I don't care for the colour. I chose the vine and bud colours as there are no suggestions for that. I think there will be more changes to the floss colours as I go along.

and - Peg asked about what I am going to do about the block fill in colour.... I am still waffling about that and am really leaning towards all different colours instead of a single unifying fill. I have sort of mapped out the colour changes I like and may just pull them from the stash heap this weekend.......

There you go sports fans!! Thanks again for joining me here this week - only 2 weeks left!! Have a great weekend -

Take care,
edgar

"E" is for Elaphant and an Old Tradition

GR&DF I was so happy to read in the comments from yesterday that others also enjoy "Hoarders." I thought I was the only one that sat there with mouth hanging open and shaking my head at others accumulations. I have often wondered about my collection's and keeping of stuff but after a watching the show a few times I can honestly say to myself - self you ain't got nothing on those folks!!!

I finished up "E" last night and here is a snap of the progress....

The flicker last night was "The Young Visitors" - 2003 - starring Jim Broadbent, Hugh Laurie and Lyndsey Marshall. The story was written in 1890 by 9 year old Daisy Ashford. It is about a Mr Salteena's plan to woo the lovely Ethel Monticue. A charming tale of Victorian social climbing and love among the rich very well done by the BBC.

Also last night I hung up my last bit of Christmas finery - my Granny's Christmas banner -

Sorry about it being dark but it was hard to get a decent snap of it. This is one of things that she made for her own Christmas decoration and got the idea after seeing one in Rich's Department store in downtown Atlanta. It is made of felt pieces and is about 6 feet long so it hangs on the long wall of our staircase. It would have been made in the late 50's early 60's and is one of the Christmas things I have to have out for it to really be Christmas in my home!! My how I do hang on to family traditions!! Another tradition in my family would be having oyster stew on Christmas eve. I love the stuff and only have it on that one night - it wouldn't be Christmas without it!! The count down continues with only two weeks until Christmas Eve!!

That wraps up another posting my Dears - thank you for stopping by - do come again.

Take care,
edgar