Thanksgiving Part II

GR&DF thank you for your very kind comments - you're the best!!

The day after Turkey Day we usually spend going or visiting in the city or doing something as a group. This year they all wanted to get out of the city and take a little road trip. We had talked about what might be fun and doable - and eventually narrowed it down to driving along the PCH US 1 south and visiting Santa Cruz.

We started off with a delicious breakfast at Louis' at Point Lobo. With some beautiful views of a very calm Pacific Ocean we had a great breakfast and then it was off on the days adventure.

Driving along the coast was just great. It was a beautiful day and not much traffic. We made it to Santa Cruz early enough that there were very few people about. We walked along the beach Boardwalk (more Santa Cruz Boardwalk INFO) and to the Arcade...

Inside this great old building are lots of shops and a video game arcade.

Matt and John are both video game fanatics and really enjoyed all there was to do. They even had a "historic" corner for those of us who where around in the early days of the video game...

I remember when this was a really popular game. Now it is consigned to a dusty corner.

We left the arcade and walked along the beach and to the Pier.

It is hard to see in this snap but this is the Pier looking from the Arcade Building. There are lots of restaurants and shops out on this Pier. You can drive out on it and there is parking all along the length of it.

Looking back at the park from the Pier.

Walking along the Pier you find this great old fishing boat, you also see

Tanks of Dungeness crabs

There was even this great old 1935 Ford Woody parked out on the Pier.

This is looking back down the Pier towards the beach - you can see that there were very few people out there with us.

We walked back to the park and John and the kids road some of the rides. Then it was back to the city.


We drove over to the Mission to Taqueria El Farolito - a hole in the wall small place that serves some very delicious Burritos. There a re few of these el Farolitos around but this one seems to turn out the best food consistently!!

That about wraps up Thanks giving and our adventures. Thanks for stopping by, do come again!!

Take care,
edgar

A Wonderful Thanksgiving!!

GR&DF I hope this finds you all doing well after the long weekend!!

Starting last Wednesday evening after running errands for most of the day - I finished up cleaning the crystal for the Thanksgiving Table -

I found and set out my turkeys - I love my paper turkeys - they add quite a bit of colour !! I usually only haul out my grandmothers crystal for big dinners and Thanksgiving is a "big" dinner in my book - and - I was having my family in so I wanted it all to look nice!! I also hauled out a ton of the flatware and polished that stuff up. The table sparkled so! I knew that my sister was bring two delicious pies - a pumpkin (no snap due to it getting gobbled up really fast!!) and a Marionberry...

If you ever get a chance to taste a pie from Lee Farms - you should as they are really delicious!!!! I also knew that another guest was bringing a delicious ice cream pie so there was no need for me to make any other desert - but I got a wild hair and had to have a cake. So, I got the stuff together....


I also had a nice little mug of the old eggnog, and what is a little extra nog to keep it all festive!!! Here is a snap of the cake ....

It was super easy and went over big time with everyone!! I will post the recipe on BB this week.

Another thing I tried making this year were diner rolls. I do know why but I really have no luck with them... this year was a bit different- I found an easy bread machine recipe and they turned out great - here is a snap of them on the rise...

They got really big but where pretty tasty, if I do say so myself!!

Here we all are sitting down to the first course - Virginia Peanut Soup -

and here is a snap of the table after dinner.........


What a mess!! We where all full and ready for naps!!

This ends part one of the weekend - thanks for stopping by, stop by tomorrow for the second part of the weekend!!

Take care,
edgar

Some Commenting and a Few Days Off

GR&DF thank you so much for your kind words about my sampler progress. It is a super piece and is working up pretty fast.

There where a couple of comments I wanted to answer -

Erica - I know what you mean about the wreath getting to big - even at 36 ct it is going to be about 14 or so inches across. I am not sure about the finish right now, but I am leaning towards an actual wreath to hang.

Margaret - the Christmas Cactus that I replaced bloomed tons and tons and all the time. I guess my continual neglect did it some good, it seemed that it was always either in bloom or just about to bloom. I do hope that this one follows that pattern as the blooms are really pretty.

Sandy, in my very humble opinion about silk stitching: I love the feel of the stuff and the look of the finished pieces. Don't get me wrong I love me some over dyed cottons, and have a ton of them and the way a piece looks when you use them - however, its the silk that really melts my butter. I have never had a problem with silk "melting" under the iron. I iron everything I stitch (not a very hot iron, but a warmish iron all the same) I also have a little steam flow to get out the wrinkles in the linen. I know that I run the risk of the colours "bleeding" but a little steam is what it takes sometimes. Since silk is a natural product and not synthetic I see no problem with a light iron across the needlework - and from behind. I would never place an iron directly on top of anything I stitched.

Last but certainly not least a question from Denise - yes, my sister and her family drive down Washington. It does take them all day, but the drive is lovely and pretty quick. They will usually see some snow in the mountains and that is always lovely.

I just wanted to wish everyone a great few days off and a wonderful Thanks giving!!!


There you go sports fans, thank you all for stopping by!! Do come again!!

Take care,
edgar

A Busy Damp Weekend

GR&DF - woohoo!! Only a two day week this week!!!! I love a short week! We will be super busy at home almost every evening and then Holiday Busy - and then if everything runs smoothly a very lazy Sunday will wrap up it all up.
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Saturday morning we got an early breakfast in the restaurant at the Flower Market -

... and after that went shopping at the different dealers in the Market. After 10 am it is opened to the Public. I had specifically wanted to get a new Christmas Cactus - since my big beautiful pink one had bitten the dust, I picked up this beauty...

It is a really pretty apricot colour and should do very well - I hope. Here are some snaps of the market. It was a lovely morning -




These looked very Christmas all lined up.


This was taken inside Fantastico's - they only do artificial and had all the trees up and decorated....
We where home by 11:30 am and before the rain really started to pour. We had some major showers during the night with lots of thunder and lightening, which is very unusual for this area. It scared the who hounds out of their little minds, but we didn't loose power so I was very grateful!!

On Sunday morning we started off with a 6:45 am grocery shopping extravaganza - I knew from stopping off the night before that the crowds would be getting bigger as Sunday wore on - since Saturday evening was a total nightmare!!! By getting the bulk of the Holiday shopping done - and I mean about 90% - done and out of the way so early we got over to breakfast at Eddies early and from there went on over to the Farmers Market to pick up some veggies. We had it all done and where back home by 11:00am. Even though we were scheduled for lots of heavy rain all day if just sort of rained off an on and steady, but not too hard.
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I have gotten quite a bit of stitching done on this piece...

it is the Mary Beale "Sampler Wreath" - I am stitching it on 36ct "Heritage" from Silkweavers. I shifted all the DMC recommended floss colours to my own silks conversion - so I am using HDF, Bell Soie and NPI. It is stitching up pretty fast and I am super happy with the way it is turning out.

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

Take care,
edgar

Wrapping up the Week

GR&DF once again we have arrived at the end of the week - and can look forward to two glorious days of blissful laziness. That would be the case at our house if I didn't have my family coming in from Washington for Thanksgiving. I think there will a really full table at my house on Thursday with family, friends and the hounds. I love having everyone over and a big group is just the ticket for a great Holiday!!! We will finish up the cleaning and polishing and get started on the dinner prep this weekend so that there will not be a giant crush at the last minute.

It will be a total stay in couple of days as the rains are to start up today around 4pm - after I get home thankfully!! I hate it like nobodies business when I am out in the rain and on public transportation - it just bites!! Coming into work this morning there was lots of misty something falling - not fog/not rain/not pigeons - but something damp was upon my baldness!!

Last night I finished up my HOE Ornament Exchange - no snaps yet. So that goes out in this mornings mail. It has a long way to go so I wanted to get it into the mail a little earlier so that it could arrive by Christmas. I think it is totally cute and hope my partner likes what I have sent.

I think that about does it for today - have a great weekend!! Do come again!!

Take care,
edgar

Only 1 More Day to Wait

GR&DF the weather has turned very cool here in the city. From last weekends balmy upper 70's to today's low 50's we are back on track for winter. Tomorrow we are supposed to have some thunderstorms with lots of rain - staying in with lots of stitching and getting numb butt sounds like a plan!!!

As you may recall or not I am a total nut case for the Harry Potter books - I have been ever since I picked the first one up in London a few years back - and the movies are very entertaining - some better than others but overall pretty good. Tomorrow we a given the gift of Part 1 Final Chapter - Deathly Hallows and with previews like.......



....it looks like the final two films will be winners and wrap the whole thing up very nicely!!

I am stitching away on an exchange so no snaps of that piece. I am also working on two other pieces, but have no snaps of either of them... and.. I had to order a piece of linen and some floss for a Christmas piece I wanted to stitch - I will get some snaps of that after I start. I have seen a few others out there stitching it up and just fell for how cute it is!

I also wanted to mention that Target is now carrying...

I couldn't believe it when I saw then there on the shelf. They are made and imported from Australia and taste great!! If you haven't tried them you are missing a delicious experience!!

Keeping it short today sports fans. Thanks for stopping by and for you kind comments!!

Take care,
edgar

A Movie Post

GR&DF not much going on - getting everything moving along and ready for Thanksgiving. Setting a menu, polishing up silver, getting down the stemware, going over linens.... and cleaning the house a little bit a time. I find if I break up the big jobs into smaller jobs they seem to get done faster and I am a much happier camper!!

I thought today I should talk about a few flicks.....

Lets start off with another in the ongoing series of Shirley Temple films - "Baby Take a Bow" - 1934 - starring Shirley Temple, James Dunn and Claire Trevor. This was a film that was a break in the all to familiar formula "Shirley" film. The story focused more on the adults and their story with some cute Shirley moments thrown in. If a bit creaky, overall a cute film and worth a look.

Now from reading this Blog and my film choices that I will watch almost any film and give most things a chance - so a while back I was listening to the radio and heard the Jeannie C Riley Song - "Harper Valley PTA" - 1968 - written by Tom T Hall. Here is a live performance of the song by Jeannie C Riley -



How great are her boots!! I remembered that there was a film made from the song and so I put it on my Netflix Queue - the DVD came over the weekend - "Harper Valley PTA" - 1978 - starring Barbara Eden and Nanette Fabray. Basically the film is all about revenge. It seems a bit dated and Barbara Eden might have been a bit long in the tooth to play the lead roll, but it was a fun flick with a few really funny moments.

The last film I wanted to mention is "The Great Caruso" - 1951 - starring Mario Lanza and Ann Blyth. I very nice film with some beautiful sets and costumes. The film tells in a bare bones Hollywood way the story of the great singer. Lanza is a competent actor with a gorgeous voice!! Watch this film for the music. Here is a clip of him singing "La Donna e Mobile" from Rigoletto - (the clip is a bit dark)




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

Take care,
edgar