Wrapping up the Long Weekend

Gentle Friends on the eve of this weekend I wanted to wrap up last weekend - we started it off last Friday (both of us taking the day off from work) with a new Breakfast place (or a new to us breakfast place) SF is full of places to eat and we will never run out of the "new."  A friend of ours suggested this place a long time ago, but with it being in Lower Pacific Heights we just never get over there, and tend to go back to the same places to eat.  But, last Friday we made the drive over and were pleasantly surprised to find a really tasty place......

... Sweet Maple.  It is a smaller space than I would have expected and I can imagine it being very crowded during the weekends - but when we got there we were immediately seated and soon our delicious breakfast arrived.....

I ordered Marnier French Toast - over hard eggs and house made kaffir lime sausage - the coffee was super dark roast (like I like it) and the breakfast was very good, Rico had the same thing but with the millionaire Bacon (a house specialty that was good, but a bit chewy for my taste).

After breakfast we walked over to St Dominic's....  (click and read more about the church)

 

I am pretty sure I have talked about this lovely church before but it is so nice that it is worth mentioning again.....  here are some snaps.....

looking from the transept crossing down the nave of the church.....  and here are some of the great stained glass windows....

North Transept window.... The Twelve Apostles as Dominicans

South Transept window.... Notable Dominicans

Sorry about the snaps  - but my camera is small and handheld - If you ever get to SF and have a chance to see this space it is worth a visit.

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

Have a super weekend!

Take care,

edgar

"Is that a puppy foot?"

Gentle Friends I thought I would talk a little about some thrifting today - I have seen lots of "Thrifting Thursdays" out there and like that idea so I will borrow it......

We actually made it to a few of the regular places and a couple of Estate Sales, but with all that running around it was more of a fun chase than great things to buy type outing..

Starting from the top left... you can see The Peach's puppy foot (feet) - whenever something is on the floor the "herd" runs over to investigate.  Usually I can get a snap without an intrusion, but no such luck with these pictures. 

 I found the yellow ware bowl at a consignment shop for a couple of dollars.  I do love yellow ware.  How could I pass on Miss Shirley's autobiography, and I'm a nut for Christmas, and added "Olive the Other Reindeer" to the ever growing Christmas Collection -  The last book "The King's Way" is an English translation of a french novel by Françoise Chandernagor.  I have a copy of it in French but my French is not a good as it used to be... but then again what is??  The two DVD's I absolutely needed, of course.  You would think with the 1000's of DVD's and Blu Ray's I have I would have these two, but I didn't and they were only a few dollars each so why not.  The silver plate jelly roll sever is monogrammed "US" so I think it is a piece of Military silver plate, and for .99 I wasn't going to pass it up.  

So there you go, my purchases.  there are a couple of sales this weekend so I'll be back out there looking.

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

Take care,

edgar

Weekend Finish and Autumnal Stitchin'

Gentle Friends sorry to not have posted yesterday, but I came back to a pile o'work and just dove into that.... 

It was a lovely looong weekend - the weather was just beautiful, bright, breezy and on the cool side until Sunday, it drizzled most of the day which carried over to Monday, which was alright.  

I finished up the Christmas piece I have been working on,  what a super fun piece to work on - here's a snap - 

Lizzie Kate "ABC's of Christmas"

36ct "Meadowlark" using the included floss

5/1 - 5/25

Although I really enjoyed this piece, I do have a couple of thoughts...  This would be a much nicer piece if there were a few more floss colours included, such as a gold or yellow, another shade of blue and another green would be nice.  Why this is a kit and not just a chart is beyond me, since I stitched this on a higher count linen I didn't need all the floss that came in the kit - and I already had the floss colours in my stash.  Overall it's a quick stitch and if and when i re-stitch it I will deal with the floss changes then.

After finishing up "ABC's" I was kind of at a loss as to what to pick up, so to the WIP basket I went and pulled out AaHRH - all I had completed was the border of the top section, I though I would work some on the Pumpkins.....  here's a snap...

Sorry about the wrinkles, but you get the idea.  This will be an ongoing BAP and I look forward to the stitching!!

I have a bunch more pictures to share from the weekend so stay tuned!!

Take care,

edgar

Holiday Stitchin'

Gentle Friends just a quick post to wrap up the week...  but its only Wednesday you say, yes, it is, but today is my Friday - I took off Thursday and Friday extending the weekend on either end -  since we have Monday off for Memorial Day I have made it a 5 day off "weekend."  Woo Hoo!!  No plans except loafing about  - and some stitching - and the usual weekend stuff.

I wanted to catch you up with my LK's "ABC's of Christmas" - it's such a fun piece to work on and moves along quickly....  here's were I am as of last night...

... way past the half way point and really moving into the home stretch.

Have a super weekend and I'll be back next week!!

Take care,

edgar

"There's nothing to see really, we're inside a Chinese dragon. "

Gentle Friends the Post title is a great quote from a really funny film, but first let me talk about how this past weekend were two really lovely days, warm (for SF) and sunny... Saturday we did our usual thrifting around.....  here's some things I picked up....

From l to r - a great brilliant cut glass compote, a blue banded TG Green Cornish Dark Blue milk jug, some local honey from a bee keeper in the Mission - he had set up a little stand on the sidewalk  -  it is some tasty unfiltered local honey, a really lovely Russian lacquered box, and an over sized cup and saucer in the "Harvest Time " pattern by Johnson Bothers.

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Now for the film reference.... after shopping we didn't want to go home so it was over to find the steps from one of the funniest films ever...  "What's Up Doc" - 1972 starring Barbra Streisand, Ryan O'Neal and Madeline Kahn. 

 It's a great funny film that takes place in and around the city of San Francisco.  The last part of the film there is a great chase sequence that involves locations all over the city....  here is a clip of the second half of the chase ...  (dubbed in German, I couldn't find it in English)..

...at about the 3 minute spot they going down the steps at Alta Plaza, the movie company did not have permission to do this scene, but it is a great one.  In doing this scene they did some pretty significant damage to the steps and although "fixed" the fix still fall apart....  we made a visit to Alta Plaza...  here are some snaps...

Looking down from the top  - the steps lead down to Pierce Street, Clay Street is the cross street and runs along the Park....

Looking up at the step from the across Clay Street.

Since Alta Plaza is at the top if Pacific Heights (an affluent area of SF) between the houses and buildings you can see the Bay and across to the Marin Headlands.  The views are really super!!

At the top of the Plaza is a great playground that on a sunny Saturday was full of Birthday parties.

Another shot of the City from the top of the Plaza looking SW, you can see Sutro Tower in the distance.  San Francisco has had so many films shot here, its kind of fun to see how things have changed or not over the years.

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

Take care,

edgar

Thanks!!

Gentle Friends, I wanted to thank you for the input about the SBBC, keep a look out for further updates in the next few months.

Thanks for stopping by - 

Take care,

edgar

What do you think????

Gentle Friends, I have been mulling over, on a way back burner in my mind, for a while now starting up or I should say re-starting the "Stitching Bloggers Birthday Club."  Although there were  a few problems -  overall it was a fun group  - and I think lots of fun to stitch and receive for Birthdays.

Now, my question to all you Blogging Buddies - how much interest would there be in my getting this Group going again?  Let me know your thoughts.....  Thanks.  

Clicking HERE takes you the old SBBC Blog "How it Works", a guideline of expectations for those participating.

Have a super weekend !!

Take care,

edgar

Polishing Silver

Gentle Friends I had a few questions about how I polish my silver and keep it shiny...  Let me say up front that if you use your silver pieces, that the tarnish will not build up (tarnish is the sulfur dioxide in the air reacting with the metal) - not only will it stay cleaner and be easier to polish, but you are building up that lovely warm patina that will make it move valuable.  The difference between "tarnish:" and "Patina" is that tarnish is over all discolored silver and "Patina" can only occur on a piece of silver after lots of use and handling.  Some silver pieces even come from the factory with an applied oxidation which is a darkening of the decoration or design, so be careful when you polish to not remove that which makes your silver lovely and valuable.

In the mail yesterday I received a small Sterling bowl (Towle "Normandy" pattern) that I had won on the Bay of evil, and it arrived, as most silver does, tarnished and filthy, notice the really black oxidized spots.....

Here's some of my silver with the "new" piece in front

So I pulled out a few smaller pieces to show the difference in "clean" and not so clean silver.  For the most part there is only one way to get silver beautifully clean, good old fashioned "elbow grease."  In addition to "EG" I like to use a nice paste cleaner...

I grew up using Wrights and have cleaned tons of silver, my Granny's, my mom's and mine over the years, there are other pastes out there but I always seem to come back to Wrights.  There are also some very abrasive "dips" that instantly "clean silver", and although they do get the tarnish off, they also strip a piece of all its warmth, turning silver into something that looks like chrome.  Yes, I do keep a bottle of Tarnex, but use it infrequently and when I do I use it, I use it sparingly to dab out black spots that I can not rub out.

I start off by getting my silver towels out, old bath towels I use for silver.  I clean my silver in the kitchen sink with running clean water...

...put a little of the paste on the sponge then rub any tarnish off, next rinse off and repeat as necessary until clean..... move on the next piece.  I do a few piece at a time...

... and let the clean pieces sit under running water until I am ready to switch to drying mode.  You have to either dry as you go or let a few pieces build up, if you sit a piece of silver to the side without drying it off you run the risk of water marks and that defeats your cleaning the silver to a lustrous shine.

When all the silver is clean and dried off you will have some lovely things to use and look at.......

... you can see that all the tarnish came off the bowl, even the black spots inside came off with a little extra rubbing and attention.  I love to clean my silver and usually haul out some of it weekly in rotation, if I have not used it in a while... I find it very therapeutic.  Let me know if you have any questions.

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

Take care,

edgar

PS I have not been compensated for this commercial by Wrights Silver Cream, I just love the Stuff!!

Some Weekend Things.....

Gentle Friends, sorry about no posting yesterday, but we had no connectivity at all until almost 9:30am , and by that time I needed to be in full "work" mode, and not "girding my loins" mode for the day....  

Our weekend started on Friday evening with a fun dinner at the Beach Chalet, not that the food is that good, it isn't, but the view is super and it was early enough to be able to watch the sun sink in the west (if the fog had not been so dense, that would have happened...)  we were having dinner with a friend of ours who lives out in the Outer Sunset, near this restaurant, so it was a good choice.  I got some snaps....

,,,,, looking north towards the Marin Headlands, the Cliff House is on the right... and we watched this...

... large ship bringing things from China into port... and watched this....

......... large ship going out of the Golden Gate on a cruise....

... and here they are passing each other, with some of wind surfers that were out that evening.

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Saturday found us out and about thrifting and at one of the estate Sales was the mother load of royal books - the focus was the 20th century and the Windsor, and especially Diana, Princess of Wales.  I found some things.... and here's the haul..

I found a couple of old Life magazines featuring the Duke of Windsor, also a couple of great books specifically about Royal "stuff" The Royal Jewels and 100 years of Royal Style.  In the piles of books and things I found 5 copies of "A Kings Story: The Memoirs of the Duke of Windsor. At one of the thrift shops I got a couple of DVD's and the Christmas Book and CD.  It was a pretty good day!!

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Here is a snap of where I am with the ABC's of Christmas...

... it's coming right along!!

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

Take care,

edgar

Watchin' TeeVee

Gentle Friends i thought I would wrap up the week with a little TV plug........ I finally got a copy of Rome Season II from Amazon ( to complete the set) and now I am re-watching the series.  What a super production - and you can see where the tons of cash were spent to bring it fruition!!

I am still stitching away on ABC's of Christmas and will have an update on Monday.  I wanted to thank everyone for the help in identifying the liquor box - I knew it was way under priced at the shop!

That's about it for today sports fans.  Thanks for stopping by, do stop again and have a super weekend!!

Take care,

edgar

Weekend Thrifting

Gentle Friends thanks so much for stopping by, I wanted to mention a few tings I picked up last weekend while out and about doing my usual thrifting and estate sale shopping.  Here's a couple of pieces I especially liked....

....  the silver piece turned out really nice, it started off really black with years of tarnish, and polished up beautifully, the pattern is "Navarre," the "deep Cut" plate is a piece from the Westmorelnad Company and was cheap to begin with, then when I got it to the counter it turned out to be on sale and was half price - now you can't beat that!!

This next piece I picked up at a thrift store and wanted to show some snaps to get other opinions....

Now I would call this a table top "cellarette,"  It looks kind of like a desk, made of mahogany with it's original or very old brasses, and the brass ball feet are either really old or original..  The finish is faded from sunlight on three sides, there is a chip from the mahogany veneer on the back left side, but overall still in pretty good condition on the front and top.  It has two of it's original decanters (or very old hand blown, gilt decorated ones)  The lining is in good condition on the interior and the removable dividers.  It stands about 9 1/2" tall and is about 7" square.......  what do you think?????  I can't find out anything on the Internet nor do I know where to start looking. 

That's about it for today sports fans - do stop again!!

Take care,

edgar

Christmas Stitching

Gentle Friends thanks so much for all your kind comments about our Friday upheaval...  we've not heard a word about "crazy" so we think he is gone for good. 

I stitched some on LK "ABC's of Christmas" and here's were it stands....

..... it's seems to be stitching up pretty fast, and I knew I would enjoy this little piece.

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

Take care,

edgar

A Little Friday Drama

Gentle Friends you never think about all the odd evil crazy that lurks in the world until it comes homes to roost....  well. Friday as we turned the corner to go up the hill home, we hit a wall of police, ambulances, firetrucks and crowds of people...... and our street .... had been yellow taped off without access.

The first thing we thought was "oh. my. god... that crazy fool has done something.... "  

Let me back track a bit - down the hall from us lives the oddest and most completely unbalanced person - who has sent odd letters to the neighbors.  He has also gone through two different room mates in the last year, usually ending up with screaming in the halls and stuff being thrown in the street in front of the building.....  basically the guy is just all around unhinged.  The building owners have been trying to get him out of the building for the last couple of months due to his odd behavior and threatening other residents - and it all came to a head on Friday afternoon.  

At around 2:00pm they evacuated the building (most people were at work) and at around 3:00pm or so we got home to find those that were home milling about just waiting to see if the Bomb Squad found anything or if anything detonated.  

Now, there are lots of kitties and hounds in our building, most tenants have one or the other - and all I could think about was our four who hounds.  You see, this crazy person - threatening to blow up our building lives 4 doors down the hall from us.  So for an agonizing couple of hours as the police, bomb specialists in anti-bomb suits...

searched all over the two buildings, and took apart his SUV - we waited, and waited and waited. 

While all of us were waiting the News Vultures showed up - two film crews, the newspaper reporters and two helicopters hovering.  It was a freaking circus.  

In the end they took "crazy" away - and let us back in without incident.  The only thing that turned up were two large bottles of acetone that the HAZMAT team found and took away - or at least that was what we were told........ and everyone is safe and sound.  

That's about it for today sports fans - nothing like a little excitement to start off the weekend!!

Take care,

edgar

Buying Some Incense

Gentle Friends I often come to the Blog with either way too much to yap about or zilch - today I could go on for pages - but I'll have to restrain myself to a single topic - our drive home the other day.  It was last Wednesday when we swung by Japan Town - we hadn't been over that way in a long time. 

I had run out of the "good stuff" and have burning some lesser incense.  Although much less expensive than what I like it is very smoky and way too ashy.   As you know I love the stuff - I either have a candle or some incense burning all the time.  

There is lots of different types of incense out there, I prefer Japanese incense - I've tried lots of different brands, types, combinations and have over the years just gravitated to the Japanese.  The best shop in SF, that I have found is in Japan Town, so it was there we were headed.  along with my camera....  

This is the fountain in front of the West Building -  it is next to the Peace Tower ....

...as you can see it's the tail end of the cherry blossoms.

The store I always go to is Asakichi, in the west building.  Asakichi is actually four separate stores in the Japan Center, but my focus has always been on the intimate store that sells incense.  It's small, like three people is a crowd small, but just packed with tons of choices.  Their focus is Japanese incense but they carry other types from other countries.  I picked up some Horin Niro (sandalwood coils), Daihtsu (sandalwood sticks) and some Sei Fu - (another woody stick type) -  we headed downstairs tot he Sanrio Store to check out some Hello Kitty things, Rico's great niece love her some Hello Kitty, so we thought we would pick something up....

There are walls of Hello Kitties... and shelves of Hello Kitties...

It's amazing to see what all can be emblazoned with Hello Kitty......  and there were even some...

Bad Badtz-Maru - the spiky haired penguin!!  Although we didn't stay to have a delicious sushi dinner we did stop a a KFC and had some tasty chicken!!

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

Take care,

edgar

Let's Talk About Some Trash......

Gentle Friends thanks for all then nice comments yesterday - yes, I was lucky to be able to find some things that were stolen from my mom, but there was lots of things that can never be recovered.   I had some questions from you all and so here is a bit more information ..........

 I think the thing that gets my goat the most is how much theft goes on that the police and the judicial system are completely overwhelmed.  Then there are the antique dealers and pawn brokers who knowingly are buying stolen goods, but it that thought is secondary to the almighty making a quick buck!!  

When I went to the police station to get a copy of the police report the police officer said to me ...... "oh yea, that family we know them from way back... they are bad news..."  I couldn't believe it - So here is so more specific information.....

 

Dale Sr's MugShot....  charming!!!

 

It's sort of a family business, so to speak, it's a father, Dale Sr.   and his sons working the Daytona/Ormond Beach/Holly Hill Area - or lets just say the greater Daytona Beach area - the sons are Dale Jr. and Daniel - (all the names are clickable to read more about their exploits) and the two boys are just as bad if not worse than the piece of crap father.  At this point the judicial system has let them loose again to prey on other people...... so they are running around doing what they do best, stealing from the unsuspecting.  

Since I have absolutely no ties whatsoever to Daytona anymore, my parents, and grandparents are gone, and I sold my mom's house a couple of months ago - I am just going to name names and call a spade a spade!!  These are career criminals and a menace to decent society.  

Sorry to be such a downer today, but I am still fuming from having to deal with this trash and the crap they stirred up. It'll be better tomorrow.  Thanks for listening.

Take care,

edgar

Tick Tock and Bong, Bong, Bong!!

Gentle Friends on the way home yesterday I picked up a clock that was being repaired.  It has been in the Shop for a couple of months and I couldn't be happier to have it tick-tocking away and bonging every hour - a sound I grew up hearing and hadn't heard in years.  Here's a snap...

In this little picture you can see the stuff from both sides of my family.  Starting with the clock..  a Seth Thomas clock ca 1840's - came from my paternal Great grandmother - has a little background.... she had a farm in Decatur Georgia and raised chickens, during the Depression she traded someone a chicken for this clock - so that's how it came into my family, and we refer to it as the chicken clock.  It sits on a washstand from my maternal Great-great grandmother, next to a ladder back chair from my maternal grandmother, the salt glazed pitcher is from my paternal Great grandmother, the blue German Jasperware plaque on the wall is from my paternal Great Great grandmother.  The 18th and 19th century English candle sticks I have collected - and the Gibson Girl picture is from my paternal Grandmother.  The large Virgina mahogany desk you can see a bit of I bought at an auction in Jacksonville or Bunnell when I lived in Florida - and is filled with a bunch of family stuff and things I have collected.

The clock has a bit of a past  - even with its chicken history - it was one of the things stolen from my mom's house last year that I recovered.  Although the police had been given a very specific description, and a colour picture, it was still up to me to fly home and scoured the local antique malls and pawn shops to recover some of things lifted from my mom's house.  I found the clock in and Antique Mall directly across the street from the Police Station, it took me about 3 seconds to identify it after walking in the door.  I found other things scattered in Pawn shops and Antique stores... all within a couple minutes of the Holy Hill and Ormond Beach Police Stations....   and every item I found, the police had been given specific, identifying descriptions and colour photos of the stuff that was stolen - which was a total waste of my time - don't get me started.
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On a lighter note, I frogged the stitching I had done and re-started on a darker piece of linen.....

.....it's Lizzie Kate's  "ABC's of Christmas - I am going with 36ct Meadowlark and using the over dyed floss that came with the kit.  I had thought of trading out the cotton for silk, but changed my mind.

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

Take care,
edgar