Some Delightful Things!!!

GR&DF thank you again for the kind wishes and warm thoughts!! My Birthday continues to be a nice thing!!

Yesterday I got an early morning delivery - and not really expecting anything - when I opened up the box I found it was a present from my sister and her family!! She had told me to expect something to arrive, but I just thought it would come with the regular mail or deliveries later in the day. When I opened up the box I was super surprised to see ..........


These monster strawberries dipped in different chocolates and then sprinkled with more deliciousness!! I have seen them before but never had seen them up close. They are huge!! Last night we cracked open the box and had a couple and they are really tasty. What a sweet gift - many thanks to the baby sister and crew!!

I got these lovely roses from Rico.....

I got these on my B'day and then yesterday he gave me a great Gift card to NiaH - so now that I have had the GC for less than 24 hours it is totally burning a hole in my pocket!! Looks like a road trip in the very near future!! My Mom also came through with a super gift o'cash.... to spend as she put it "on something you want and not something you need." I guess that leaves out the underwear and socks!!! :)

You know something, I was looking back and noticed I haven't slapped a stitching snap up in the longest time - I have been stitching and the projects I have been working on are: "Garden Path", "SoHRH', a Christmas present and converting up the next project from DMC to various silks - I had to order a bunch of silk because of the number of greens, I just didn't have them in my stash. I'll get some snaps posted tomorrow.

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

Take care,
edgar

The Mail Brought - an Exchange, a couple of RAK's and we have a Birthday Winner

GR&DF thank you all for the warm Birthday Wishes!! It was a really nice day and this morning sitting here reading all the comments - was just wonderful!!!

The Mail brought my HOE Hllowe'en Exchange - and it is really cute...

My partner was Cindy - and she made this darling little Hallowe'en ornament - It is a Halloween Flip from Lizzie Kate. Included in the package where some sweet extras. Thank you so much Cindy!!

There where a couple of other packages that came also -

Carolyn sent me this wonderful side crank hand mixer - knowing how much I love kitchen gadgets, this will be a great addition!! It was wrapped up in the pumpkin fabric - wasn't that sweet!!

Robin rescued this lovely little piece of needlepoint and sent it on to me - I think it will make a really cute little pillow. What great RAK's to get on my Birthday!!! Thank you both!!

Last night we both felt like NOT going out so we ordered some delicious....

....Birthday Pizza!!.....

I love it when I don't have to hunt, gather, cook and then clean up!! and as my Mom always says - "Any dinner is delicious that you don't have to fix and wash up after!!" I brought the left overs for lunch - now how can you beat that!!!

After clipping and folding all the many paper entries we had the Hobbit Birthday Drawing...... as the Hag Hand fell on the entries and mixed them up - out of the BoD it plucked a name....

and that name is.....


Sharlotte - Congratulations!!!! I was blown away by all the sweet comments and kind words from all those that entered. I will be having another drawing next month so stay tuned!!

I think that about wraps it up for today sports fans!! Thank you all for stopping by and for the kind comments - they make my mornings brighter and my days warmer!!! Do stop by again!

Take care,
edgar

47 is just a number

GR&DF another Birthday has arrived - fizzle and pop!! I think about the only thing I want to do is go out to dinner somewhere nice and call it a day. I never even think about my age, no matter the large number!! As I move further away from my teens and closer to Social Security it is amazing that the only thing that I really miss about getting older is the lack of follicle action on my pointy head!! Oh, well whats one to do - those hairs fall out fast enough without my worrying them put of place!!

On Saturday Dale, Carlos and I ran around to some estate and garage sales - and I picked up a few things - I even got an early B'day present - Here's a snap...

I picked up some books - another copy of "A Christmas Carol" to add to my ever growing "CC" collection - this is a very short version for very small children - great illustrations. I also picked up a copy of 84 Charing Cross Road - one of my all time favorite books, this one will be a gift - the film "84 Charing Cross Road" - 1987 - starring Ann Bancroft, Anthony Hopkins and Judi Dench is charming and delightful and I can not recommend it highly enough. Based on the book the film follows the two main characters from the late 40's through to the late 60's - If you see the movie you should read the book also. I also picked up a couple of DVD's and a great piece of transferware the pattern is "Lasso." Another older long handled flipper was acquired and my early B'day present was the "water lily" fish handled cream pitcher by McCoy. This dates to the mid 30's and are pretty hard to find. I have the water pitcher that matches and another matching cream pitcher - both of those took forever to find. For some reason the McCoy kitchen pieces are very scarce, but I love them!!

This lovely strip quilt small hanging I picked up for a $1 - at a garage sale. It is so charming and well made. On the back is an attached sleeve for a pole to hang it up with (someone had tacked it to the wall, as those tacks left rusty spots in the corners) and a small label on the back with the makers name, date (1991) and title (Now I know my ABC's) of the piece. I couldn't let it languish in a pile of scrap fabric or be throw away - and at a buck - that's what it amounted to!! I haven't a clue what to do with it, but it is rescued and safe with me.

The Birthday party on Saturday evening was really nice - and I got a few shots of the house-

this is the front parlour...

this is snap of the papered ceiling in the front parlour...


In the dinning room - this lovely Fall arrangement... the house dates to the mid 1880's and is really a gem. I will get a snap of the outside of the house at a later date. They just had it repainted and it looks beautiful.

The baking this weekend was a cake - Pumpkin-Chocolate Cake - Hare is a snap..

A deliciously moist and spicy cake - I do not have a final shot as the "glaze" the recipe calls for was got all clumpy and not pretty. I will need to adjust that when I make this again, and I will make it again. I will post the recipe tomorrow when I post the winner of the Hobbit Birthday Drawing - so stop back by.

Thank you all for stopping by and for the kind Birthday email wishes that greeted me this morning!! Do come again.

Take care,
edgar

Friday Posting

GR&DF your super comments on yesterdays post where great. That is a great movie and Myrna Loy could play just about anything, but in those comedic rolls she really was tops!!

Sorry about getting today's post out a bit a on the late side, but I needed to get out the Partner names for an exchange on the HOE I am organizing. The names are out and now it is a search through the stash to find the perfect piece to stitch - the theme of the exchange is "Fall" so it is pretty broad... and I already have an idea percolating about in the old grey matter regarding what I am wanting to stitch. I also need to finish up my Hallowe'en Exchange piece that is due in the mail on Monday. For some reason I stalled on the finish. I think it was the heat. When its hot I really get lethargic and don't feel like doing anything so taxing as actually moving - so sitting in front of the fan was about all I could muster for the first few days of the week. Now that is cool outside once again I am having all sorts of energy.

My stitching - pitiful as it was this week - has focused on "Garden Path" and "SoHRH." Not much to show so I skipped snaps.

I am looking forward to the weekend - as super low key. We have a big 50th Birthday Party to go to on Saturday evening - I think that will prompt some snaps for next week - as it should be very interesting and lots of fun!!

Thank you all again for stopping by and for your kind comments!! Have a great weekend and do come again!

Take care,
edgar

Market Shots and PIF Participants

GR&DF the weather finally broke yesterday and it was like the air-conditioning had been turned back on. We are so blessed to live in this perpetually cool city. I shouldn't complain about a couple of days here and there of heat - I know there are places that are still in triple digit heat. In the comments yesterday Maggie O mentioned a really great movie - " Mr Blandings Builds His dream House" - 1948 - a post war film if there ever was one!! Starring Cary Grant, Myrna Loy and Melvin Douglas. This super film has the NYC living Blandings moving to the quiet of the country to build a house - easier said than done. I can not recommend this film highly enough - great performances and a super story!! great choice Maggie!! Here is one of my favorite Myrna Loy scenes from the film....




Yesterday was my mid week Farmers Market visit - and the bounty was everywhere with Fall harvest pouring in for sale. Of course I got a few snaps.....


I usually don't see green tomatoes - but I was in luck and found this box full of them - I picked up some for delicious fried green tomatoes - yummy!!


These beautiful grapes are from the Valley - juicy and sweet!!

This mushroom stand always has some great variates. Along with my green tomatoes, I picked up some mushrooms, heirloom tomato, red grapes, plums and onions. It was a nice day at the market.

I had 9 wonderful stitchers want to take part in my PIF - and I would love to include them all, but I know that would be a a bite I would not be able to chew...... so I had a mini drawing to narrow the field down to 3. My PIF participants whom I will create each a piece to receive and who will set up their own PIF on their blogs are..... Deborah - over at "Cranberry Samplings" - Kielrain - over at "Kielrain's Stitches" - and, Maggie - over at "Stitching Devotee." I will get out follow up emails this morning - thank you all for wanting to participate. I really enjoy PIF's. These three ladies will be setting up PIF's so that opens up 9 more places to get involved.

I think that about wraps it up for today. A reminder for HOE and HOE II members - today is the last day to sign up for the Fall Exchange, partners will be assigned tomorrow. Also we are coming up on my Birthday Hobbit Gift-a-way Drawing - to throw your name into the BOD for this drawing you will need to post a comment on this POST only.

Thanks again for stopping by, do come again!!
Take care,
edgar

Movie Posting

GR&DF - oh my goodness - I am humbled by the PIF Stitching - I will take the names and do a drawing this evening for the 3 PIF Participants - Thank you so much!! Sharon asked a question about finishing, and how I learned. One of the best finishing sites has got to be Vonna's over at Twisted Stitcher - she runs her own finishing business and does a beautiful job, but she also has an area of Finishing Tutorials that is great. You will have to click under "My Other Blogs" to find the tutorials - they are clear and have pictures.

There have been quite a few flicks lately - some good, some not so good and a couple of really bad ones. I think I will talk about three pretty good ones..... the year is 1934 - early for many stars but the cameras where rolling and Hollywood Magic flowed to the masses.....

First up is "365 Nights in Hollywood" - 1934 - starring James Dunn and Alice Faye. Now you know I love me some Alice Faye - I think I have seen everything available with her in it - some of her early films come off a a bit creaky and stilted but her musical performances are top notch and lovely. "365 Nights" is one of the more creaky and stilted story lines and some of the acting is wooden, but there are some shinning points. It would seem that there is a single print left of this film and it is not as good as it could be - a bit grey and streaky. The story line is car hop makes good in film industry, while exposing a rigged acting school - in a nut shell - For all the film is the high points are the musical numbers - here is a really nice one from early in the film -



As I said the picture quality is not very good, but production value is great for 1934.

Next up was a DVD from Netflix that I didn't know would turn out to be a double feature. On one side I found "Little Miss Marker" - 1934 - starring Adolphe Menjou, Dorothy Dell, Charles Bickford and Shirley Temple. Notice who had 4th billing. A really cute Damon Runyon story about a very negative bookie who falls for the always effervescent Shirley Temple. The story plays out and there is a happy ending.

The last film is the flip side of the "Little Miss Marker" DVD - and a Shirley film I had never herd of or seen before called "Now and Forever" - 1934 - starring Gary Cooper, Carole Lombard and Shirley Temple. Gary Cooper and Carole Lombard are at their gorgeous best BTW. An interesting story and an odd vehicle for Shirley Temple - early in her career as she was just starting to make it big. This really is an adult film focused around Cooper and Lombard's characters that happens to have Shirley in it as the catalyse for the adults to go "straight."

There you go sports fans - remember to throw in your name for the Birthday Gift-Away Drawing - click HERE to add a comment and be included.

Take care,
edgar

Blacksheep's PIF and some Cookies

GR&DF thank you for stopping by and I am very happy that you enjoyed the snaps on yesterdays posting. It was a different kind of Saturday from the usual Estate Sale/Thrift Shopping and we really enjoyed it immensely.

I also wanted to announce a PIF - Lana over at "It Seams to be Snow" started the PIF, then Patti join hers. Patti listed the PIF over at "Tapestry of Dreams" - that's where I joined - now here is my call for people to take part in a PIF....


Blacksheep's PIF

Here's how it works - the idea is that 3 of you join my "Pay if Forward" and then I will send a hand made gift (made with love!!!) to each one of my THREE participants within the next 365 days! Then, those 3 people must also agree to host a PIF on their Blogs and ask for 3 people to join their PIF's - To Pay it Forward! So this is me, asking for 3 people to join my PIF - just leave a comment on this post only! That's it... no Catches!! If I have more than 3 stitchers interested then I will take those interested and have a little BOD drawing of 3 to take part in my PIF. Now.... I only need three - who wants to be my Three??

That's basically what Lana wrote and as with Patti I think that it explains it very well so I lifted it from Patti who lifted it from Lana. I was part of a PIF a year or so ago and really enjoyed taking part.

________________


The cookie recipe is very easy - I got the original from All Recipes - but of course I tweaked it a bit - so here is my version.......

7 Layer Cookies

Ingredients:
3/4 c unsalted butter
2 c graham cracker crumbs
1 c semisweet chocolate chips
1 c butterscotch chips
1 c chopped walnuts
1 (14 oz) can sweetened condensed milk
1 1/3 cups shredded coconut


1 - Preheat oven to 350 degrees
2 - Line a 13x9x2 pan with foil. Butter the foil
3 - Melt the 3/4c butter and mix with cracker crumbs. Evenly press the buttered crumbs into the bottom of the greased pan. Put the pan in the preheated oven for about 5 mins to set the crumb base.
4 - On top of the prebaked crust sprinkle evenly the chocolate chips, then the butterscotch chips, then the walnuts. Pour the can of condensed milk over the nut layer as evenly as possible. Then evenly sprinkle the coconut over the milk layer.
5 - Place the pan in the oven and bake until the edges are golden brown - about 25 or so minutes. Let cool.


It was a warm day and I let the cookies cool in the pan about a 1/2 hour - then took the entire thing by the foil out of the pan and cooled it for a couple of hours in the fridge before cutting.
_____

These tweaks came from the comments attached to the recipe and worked for me quite well. I think this recipe could take many adaptions, white chips, dried fruit, whatever - Enjoy!!

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

Take care,
edgar