Paul Murray

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!

 

Visiting New York City

Today was our fourth day in NYC. So far we have had a pretty great time. Kind of different from other times we have visited the great city. We are taking a little bit more time to sit and soak in everything. I think it also has something to with with being 6 years older than I was when I was here last. This time I'm also suffering from a terrible sciatic nerve, which has slowed me down some.

April is a great time to visit, as flowers are in bloom all over the city. Everywhere you turn are tulips, and trees full of yellow, pink and green buds.

These are just two of the many photos we took in Central Park. We are in walking distance of CP, (on 88th between Central Park West & Columbus Ave.) We really love the Upper West Side of NYC.

We traveled to Harold Square to Macy's but there were way too many people for me, so we got the hell out of there! PANIC! Needless to say, this is still a great place to see The Empire State Building!

Times Square, and the EVITA marquee. We saw the show AND....saw Ricky Martin as he was leaving the theater. More about this later!

Street art on the Upper Was Side on Broadway. I love this piece. Art everywhere!!!

 

And quickly, a picture of me taken by Joe's sister Diane, and Joe's 50th Birthday dinner, at a wonderful restaraunt in the West Village called August. Amazing food!

 

So this a small overview of many things I'd like to tell you guys. I'll post more later, and hope you will check in. 

 

NYC and Milk Toast!

God...busy, busy, busy! Hi everyone out there! How are you? How have you been? Good, good...

Tomorrow we jet off to NYC for a small vacation. We will be there about 10 day, playing in my favorite city in the world. Joe's Birthday is next week, the BIG 50 and I decided to take him to New York for his gift, instead of staying home and having a party. Granted, it would have been a fabulous party that he would always remember. Problem with parties like that, they are a lot of work, and over in just a few hours. 

The next two days. are laundry, packing, banking, errands, trying to remember everything. Joe's sisters bought him an the New iPad (iPad3) so maybe I'll be able to blog while in NYC. 

 

Mixing the OLD classics with NEW classics:

How great are these old tins from The Queen's Coronation in 1953? My friend Tyn found them for me and I think they are perfect for the kitchen. Both tins have Prince Phillip on the other side, but who really wants to look at him?  :)  The large red tin now houses our Tetley Tea.

 

Sometimes, I think I grew up on another planet. A few years ago, I made myself some Milk Toast. Joe had never seen it or heard of it before, so I stated asking around. Nobody seems to have eaten this simple food before. 

Basically, what it is, is buttered toast cut into squares, with hot milk poured on top. In researching it on the web, some versions have the toast whole, some have sugar, some have cinnamon. Ours was simple, and I like it with butter and a tiny sprinkle of salt. I guess it was a cheap way to feed kids back in the day. Both my parents ate it and they made it for us. Helps with an upset stomach, or if you just need a little comfort! 

ANYBODY OUT THERE EVER EATEN OR HEARD OF MILK TOAST? I'd love to know!

 

Okay..see you from New York!