Paul Murray

Just For Fun....

I've been spending a lot of time on Face Book. Maybe too much, but whatever.

I have watched hours upon hours of the Diamond Jubilee today, and specials, not only on the Queen, but the entire Royal Family. I noticed that the Queen ALWAYS has her purse! So, I posed the question today on Face Book...

"What do you think the Queen carries in her purse"?

Here are just some of the great answers I got...

 

condoms, breath mints, a tape measure, opera glasses, tissues, a rape whistle, cherry-flavored Pez, a compact to refresh her always flawless makeup, lip gloss, credit cards, a spare tiara, Zantax, photos of her kids, an iPhone and a flask of Scotch, toilet paper, a whistle....for Phillip, pepper spray, birth control, a pair of Diana's old earrings, her AARP card, a flask of Scotch and some Valium, nose hair trimmers, a hair brush, gambling dice, sun glasses, chap stick, a rain poncho, a garage door clicker, a ham sammie just in case she gets hungry, Milk Bones for her corgis, the new iPad, an ID card that says "I am the Queen!" So she can get into bars when she's out partying with her grandson Harry, a political button that says "Honk if you Love Churchill!", a Zoloft prescription she sneaks into Charles tea when he ain't looking, A book titled " 10 ways to kill a princess and get away with it" anong with a map of Paris, $250 cash, lipstick, compact, nail file, comb, handcuffs, taser gun, a tupperware container full of leftover Bangers & Mash, cigarettes and a lighter, TideEraser, embroidered handkerchief, and an English tea biscuit!

 

Needless to say, I think these are very imaginitive and fun! Thank you all who helps come up with these! 

See you soon...and God Save the Queen!

 

The Garden Is Coming!

Joe does such an amazing job on our garden, he really does! I must admit, that although I love the garden, I don't really partake in the planting, and watering of it. I will, at times, help design where things should go, and I buy pretty things for the garden, like the rusty tin sculptures & the cement fountain.

 

 

Notice the sweet peas against the wall?

 

Flowers & vegetables grown together.

 

I love that Joe chose to use these old ladders for the tomato plants to grow up on.

 

 

We just got back from spending the night at Valentine Cottage in Altadena, which is above Pasadena. Our friend Tyn won a two night stay, and invited us up along with a few other friends. We fixed a big dinner, stayed up late and talked, woke up early and sat outside and drank coffe in the morning air. We made art, and played cards too. It really was quite magical. Yesterday we sat a beautiful table for breakfast...

How lovely is this?

Today we are thankful for all the people past and present that have served our country. Thank you you all, from the bottom of our hearts.

 

 

Sprinkler Heads

Time for new art! 

 

I went to a great estate sale last weekend, and found three ole water sprinklers. The moment I laid eyes on them, I thought, "DOLL HEADS"! Turns out I was right. And besides...they are so much cheaper than china doll heads from Germany.

 

 

Anyway, I think I'm in love with them. You can see more about them HERE on my Etsy site.

 

Thank you all....for being understanding about all my Barbra ravings! The latest news is that I will be going back to NYC for a week in October, to see.........wait for it........wait for it.......BARBRA! Yes, Barbra is planning on doing a concert in Brooklyn (where she was born and raised) it's called Barbra Back to Brooklyn. And I got a ticket! So hopefully this is the last you have to read on the subject, until the concert happens! Oy, now I'm verklempt!

 

PEACE.

 

 

So, This Is Me....

in front of (one) of Barbra Streisand's houses, that she designed and had built on her Malibu compound.

Why, you ask, am I standing there...where there should be a large gate or wall? Well, I'll tell you.

I've wanted to find Barbra's house in Malibu for months now. Today I kidnapped Joe, said we were going for a ride, got all the way to Malibu, when he turns to me and says, "We're NOT going to Barbra's house, are we"? As a matter of fact, WE ARE! Yay!

We get there, at the end of a very nice cul-de-sac, I stop, park the car and proceed to walk up the the wooden gate. "PLEASE GET AWAY FROM THE GATE" a big booming voice says. I back up slowly. "YOU CAN ALL THE PICTURES YOU WANT FROM THE STREET", which is about 6 feet from the gate. So, I take a few over the fence shots. I get mostly, the tops of a few buildings.

About 30 seconds later, the gate starts to open....and a guy walks out, smiles at me and says, "It's your lucky day". OH SHIT....Barbra wants to see me! I ask, "Why"? and he says, "You get to take pictures, because I have to get a pictures of your window decal, I'm going to send the picture to her...She'll get a kick out of this". 

Needless to say, I'm taking pictures. Oooing and Awwwing over it. I said, "How did you see my decal"? And he said, "Do you know how many cameras are on you right now"? Now, this property has three houses on it. The cy-lo house and barn (pictured here) as well as a recording studio house and the main house that they live in. 

The guard was so, so nice. And talked for a minute or two, gave me plenty of time to soak it all in. I did have to crop the photo of my in front so it looked like I was ON the property, instead of on the street in FRONT of the property. But Overall...it was a fun adventure!

 

Thank you Mr. Guard man...Thank you Barbra!

 

 

Something To Think About...

August

Restaurant!

For Joe's 50th Birthday, his sister Diane & I took him to a wonderful restaurant in the West Village called AUGUST.

It was the perfect place to celebrate a special occasion, and we all had wonderful meals, as well as specialty deserts! 

So, there are two parts to this restaurant (by the way, I just learned how to spell "restaurant" at age 48. I always type it, get the red line underlining it and have to correct it with spell check. Last week I was bored, and thought...I'm going to remember how to spell restaurant. Took 5 minutes and now I don't need spell check! The very next day I must how used it 6 times). Anyway....two parts. There is the inside part, cute, tables, the bar, etc.... and then you get to the patio!

 

AMAZING room! Look at those walls! This is where we had dinner, at the far right corner table. (I had to get this picture from the internet, since it would have been rude to take a picture while people were eating)!

 

Look at these dishes...

Our deserts were beautiful and delicious too, unfortunately, we ate them before we could record them. I don't know what it is about photographing my food before I eat it, but it makes me happy. August (my Great Grandfather's name was August Hoefer), was a pretty magical place to spend the evening.

You can bet, I'll be back!

 

Here's a random shot from NYC: 

Fairway market, on the upper west side.

 

Thanks for checking in.

 

April 24, 1942...

Barbra Joan Streisand was born. Today Barbra turns 70 years old.

You all know much I love Barbra, so this is a pretty big deal, and a reason for me to celebrate her and all the things she is. 

I first started loving and following Barbra in 1976, when I was 12 years old, (Barbra was 34). I was looking through my Mom's albums, found many with this unusual but beautiful girl, gathered them up, and started listening to them. Her voice just did something to me, and here we are 36 years later. Hard to believe.

Barbra in 1963.

 

Streisand by Scavullo, 1975.

 

Streisand in 1976.

 

The many faces of Barbra!

 

Emotion video 1986.

 

Barbra by Herb Ritts, 1991.

 

Barbra in 1994.

 

Barbra 2011, age 69.

 

So, Happy Birthday to my best girl! My freind...my muse...favorite artist of all time!

 

 

Gabriela's Mexican Restaurant & Tequila Bar

 

Yummy Mexican Food!

Yummy Mexican food is never easy to find in New York City. For years it was almost impossible to find. Maybe we were being overly picky because we live in Los Angeles where great Mexican food can be found on almost every other street.

 

Gabriela's is a wonderful Mexican restaurant on the Upper West Side. Joe's sister Diane took us there and we LOVED our meals and the overall atmosphere of the place. It's not only a restaurant, but a tequila bar as well! Here's what we had to eat.

 

Joe

 

Diane

 

Paul

 

Joe & Diane shared this, (that delicious looking Madori Margarita was mine)!

 

It really was a fun and relaxing evening, at the perfect restaurant. If you are ever looking for a good place to sit and have great food in NYC, this should be on your list of places to visit!

 

This is from the internet, so you can see what it looks like inside.

 

I will share a couple other places we ate that were kind of special,in my next two or three posts. 

 

 

 

 

Found Treasures

 

While in New York, Joe and I visited the Hell's Kitchen Flea Market, and the West Side Flea Market @ W 76th St. and Columbus Ave. Here are some of my findings:

 

 

 

 

 

Now these flowers are actually from Tinsel Trading. They were $1.50 - $2.50 each. Needless to say, this is about $40. worth of flowers. They were too cool to pass up....so I didn't!

 

Thanks.....

for stopping by.

 

 

The Blooms of New York City

We are home.

Happy?.....yes.

Sad?.....YES!

 

We had 10 wonderful days in NYC. We had many wonderful meals. Walked a lot. Shopped, took lots of cabs, but for some reason didn't take a lot of photos. I got grounded for a day and a half with a terrible sciatic nerve problem. It was hard to just lay there watching movies and icing it, when I knew there was a whole crazy world right outside the window.

 

I like this first one because you get the feeling of the pulse of the city. To me it shows "motion". A city on the move.

 

The tulips & trees are in bloom.

All over the city, in the streets, in the parks, everywhere you turn, more flowers and blossoming trees. The city is like one big garden this time of year!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It will take a day or two for life to settle down and to bring our heads back to reality. In my next post, I'll tell you about a few places where we ate.

 

Thanks!