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This building is stunning. I wonder how often they have to refresh the paint.

Detail, because. I’ve tried doing some basic research, like why these buildings are painted, not finding much and not in the mood to dig deeper, so just enjoy

It is in a row of lovely Art Nuveaux buildings. Although, on the other side there is a modern building – such is life – there was a time and place for this level of decoration. Btw, in my neighborhood someone decorated an apartment building with some Art Deco elements – the purists scoff! Faux Deco! So you can’t win, you can’t save all the old and if you try to create some beauty you get ridiculed. No wonder most modern buildings are -meh.

On the main square. btw, cars aren’t allowed here, but early in the morning, the delivery trucks come in mass – two hours later and the square is packed with people. All three buildings are nice, of course my favorite is on the left.

Because of the color of course, I need to refer back to these when I quilt or stitch.

Ahh, those details! Below the second window looks like there is a place for flags, none were flying when I was there.

The roofline, true to Art Nuveaux or Beaux Arts as well call it in the US, large overhanging roof.

Franciscan Church, right on the square, the images are painted, not mosaic.

Yup, even ice old buildings get graffiti, grrrr.

The Old fashioned department store.

With the glass canopy over the entrance.

Look at the staircase inside.

Nobody builds or decorates like this anymore. One thing not to do, is look at the prices. I saw shoes for 400 Euro… designer athletic shoes… at that point I stopped looking at the merchandise. No, I had no intention of buying anything, but I was getting heartburn just from the price.

A river runs through town.

What a nice way to get around.

I do not like graffiti, I know, this in itself is a form of graffiti, and yet, here I soften. It is small, unobtrusive, and as you will see later, graffiti has been with us forever. If these little mosaics survive, that is ok by me. also, they are mosaics.

Leah

We drove through the countryside to another gorgeous lake. The countryside and the villages are so picturesque!

It was about crossing this bridge to see the old church, might be the oldest in Slovenia – my information is sketchy.

How they brace an old bridge. Cars and buses drive on here, so it needed some shoring up. I wonder if I’m the only one who noticed this. I see these kind of things.

This is an original fresco outside the church, although one side does look like it’s been refurbished.

The inside is so colorful. I’m only sharing one picture.

We went to a cute old town for a traditional dinner with local song and dance. this place is known for making gingerbread hearts which are a big thing. They aren’t to be eaten, they are shared with loved ones, many are the size of a Christmas tree ornament, this bakery restaurant has been making them for hundreds of years.

Me eating dinner, first course was mushroom soup in bread – yummy. As for Creation- Slovanian food – it was ok, a little monotonous, when I got home I made roasted chicken, something they don’t serve there – it was sooo Good.

Onto Ljublianja, the capitol. Another grey day. This is a lovely little city, with amazing architecture. But now I will share other than that.

A lot of kids on a field trip. I think this guy is some important poet, please do pay attention to the pigeon on his head.

How cool is this sign!!

Just look at these tomatoes. I bought strawberries instead, easier to eat and yes, they were red all the way through as well.

I guess you can weigh your own purchases to make sure you weren’t cheated.

I notice a lot of owls here, I didn’t buy one of these, I bought a small ceramic one made in a workshop for people with special needs.

The symbol of Slovenia is a dragon. Anne, in our group bought on because she was born in year of the dragon. I told her that I am in the year of the pig – so no thanks, I won’t be buying pigs.

Next post, all about the gorgeous Art Nuveaux architecture.

Leah

Oh my, is Slovenia gorgeous. It is a tiny country mostly in the Julian Alps. I just saw a small part – but amazing.

First stop, Lake Bled. Its’ one of those places that is on all the lists of amazing things to see. It really is something, so here is the church on the Island in the middle of the lake.

One has to be rowed over on special boats, no motor boats allowed here.

Arriving at the Island, and yes, the water is that aqua green, it has to do with the limestone, which is what all of this area is made of.

Climbing the stairs.

The Church tower, I know, the image is somewhat fuzzy, I could blame jet lag, or I could simply blame my own camera skills.

I climbed the Campanile, the Bell tower, I of course was interested in the weights and counter weights.

Some people rang the bells and asked for a wish. some asked for no rain, that wish wasn’t granted, but I will say that most of the days, when we had an activity the rain held off, not always.

The interior clock that tells the time for the bells to ring.

View from the Island looking towards the castle.

Back on shore, looking at that huge rock with its’ castle.

Me in the foreground, I am so grateful to have brought this warm jacket, it got much more use than all of my short sleeve shirts put together.

The castle, one thing I really love is the painted decorations on the buildings.

Just look at the shutters, even they are painted.

A peacock weather vane.

and the original medieval peacock that inspired it. The inside of the castle is a museum with many locally found objects. Among them a sword that a colleague of Yasminas’ found in the lake – this was in the days when she was a working archeologist. Didn’t make much money – which is why she is now a fabulous tour guide.

At the castle, looking down at our hotel in the background, yes, that big black building was where we stayed.

Leah

Look down, Manhole covers can be very interesting. I had noticed how shiny this was and has the city Emblem. What I didn’t notice until a close look at the picture was the Jewish Star and the Muslim moon (the castle is probably a church, a lot of crosses). Hmm, should I be impressed?

No, not really, because the only above street parking lot in the city was the site of the old synagogue. there is a new Jewish community center and our guide said they’d build a new synagogue here – for what a community of 1000? Most of whom are probably secular- so they enjoy a community center but don’t really have a need for a synagogue.

I can’t read the Croatian, but I can read the Hebrew, it says the old synagogue was built in 1867 and destroyed by the Fascists in 1941. So I googled, and sure enough, most of the work of killing the Jews was done before the Nazis arrived. The Ustase were the Croatian Fascist party – aligned with Mussolini, but Italian Jews weren’t eliminated until the Nazis got involved – no so in Croatia. The problem for me in Europe is all the dead Jews, we later saw more Jewish sites – but basically – dead.

Is this meant to be a Star of David? Is it just happenstance that it looks like this? Am I wrong about the star and the moon on the symbol of the city? Lets go ask Google. Well, not much help there, they simply describe the emblem, and to add to my discomfort – it is supposed to be on a blue background and the star is yellow- So the Nazis just appropriated a symbol that was already there? Makes sense, since they didn’t create anything, they appropriated and then destroyed. Oh well, lets move on.

Croatia is Roman Catholic – the last Catholic nation until you get Far East to the Philippines. This church is undergoing earthquake renovations, and yes, the tile roof is lovely.

1841, not bad.

Another nearby church, which I guessed was Orthodox because of all the mosaic, but no, it is Catholic-Eastern. When you are on the border, things do get mixed up.

You know me, I love mosaics. didn’t go inside, but I’m sure it was equally beautiful.

I think this is about the workshop that made these mosaics in 1910. I’m too lazy to go for translation. Of course the capitol of all mosaics is just across the Adriatic in Ravenna so makes sense they’d have them here as well.

I don’t know what this building is, all I know is that I love the rooftop. And using Google I figured out that this was built in 1888. I have such a problem doing crossword puzzles when they ask for the date in Roman numerals…. I’m fine until about 20…

this is how the whole group will look for the next week, bundled up against the cold. And here I am again, showing arrested decay – because it’s one of those things I love. I”m blaming the earthquake for revealing this, I’m also fascinated at what went into to making a brick wall.

OK, so here is some famous annoying graffiti, but what really caught my eye was the worn down poster. Octavia Butler, her famous book the Parable of the Sower! She was a native of Pasadena, lived for a while and is buried back in Mountain View Cemetery in Altadena, just north of Pasadena. On a tour of the cemetery (yeah, I have a thing for cemeteries) I saw her grave – just a simply marker. Good to know that someone here likes here, even if pasting this is a form of graffiti.

Next, we drive north to Slovania and Lake Bled.

Leah

I’m back! from an amazing three week trip. Yes, that is a long time, and we did so much, so I’ll try to include more than just the trip in the next few weeks…

But here it is, we started out in Zagreb.

The train station, no didn’t come in by train, we flew, but in the morning, taking our walk, it was one of the first things we saw. My first few photos are sort of fuzzy, lets’ just say jet lag.

Some famous Croat from a very long time ago, I’m happy to see that they haven’t torn down statues here, although the amount of graffiti we saw everywhere was unbelievable.

Same guy, welcoming people at the train station.

Croatia has been part of many things, among others – the Austro Hungarian empire – so plenty of late 19th c. Austrian architecture – in this case- Beaux Arts.

I didn’t realize until later that just 3 years ago there was an earthquake here in Zagreb that did a lot of damage. One person was killed, this is the one time that the lockdown actually saved lives…. So the Cathedral tower had just been repaired and down it came again, so the repairs start anew.

Croatia is very hilly, I climbed a lot here, great exercise and good views.

Which means resting by fountains. You see the shorts and short sleeves? – last time you’ll see that for over a week – from the evening on- it was rain, rain, rain.

More lovely architecture.

The main town square, another guy on a horse, also, sad to point out graffiti upon the roof. I will share some at some point, but in general, I tried to cut it out.

I mentioned stairs, I took this picture before walking down them. Look how green! It is springtime, and oh my, the rain!

Didn’t take these stair, but people here sure love the cats, I’ll have another post with cats from all over.

There were also some buildings that leaned more into the Art Deco. Honestly, I only took a few pictures, and I’m sharing less than I took.

Art Deco! I wish I knew what these people represent other than just trade. Here I can clearly see earthquake damage.

Modern Vs. old. I didn’t get too much of the old yellow building – the Crafts museum – that I would have liked to visit – a lot of damage, so it’s closed. Right next door is the music academy. Very very modern Music academy next door. Many people complain that it is the only modern building on the block, so it doesn’t belong there. I disagree, cities always change and evolve, keep what you can from the old – (like renovating the museum) but build new.

This is a mausoleum in the old cemetery, I think it honored one of the first rulers of free Croatia, I”m not sure, it’s a lovely building also undergoing repairs.

More tomorrow.

Leah

I’ve been working on Abigail Adams,

It is 36 count fabric, and I’m wishing I had done one thread rather than two. sure the coverage is lovely, but it hurts my hands more

I was beginning to worry that I might run out of some of the threads – this is due to the fact that I made many mistakes on the border and ripped a lot out. Now,I’m not pointing those mistakes out, the work looks lovely. Btw, Nicola of Hands Across the Sea Samplers – recreates old samplers – there are mistakes in all of them, we are human – no AI.

Fully finished as a flat fold, I really enjoy making smaller items into a flat fold. Although this is probably as big as I’d go. I just to a close look in person and I still know where the ‘new’ threads are, no I didn’t go buy the same color, I went into my stash and found colors that are as close as possible. Once the work is done, one sees the overall work, not each individual stitch, and it is lovely.

I have enough of the owl fabric to use it on the inside as well, but being a quilter, I love the contrast.

I like the fabrics, the cording, which yes, I could have made a little tighter.

As well as the buttons that cover the raw edge of the cording.

I love this owl fabric, I have had it for years, it has shown up in many projects. I still have about a third of a yard. I will miss it when its gone, but then again, it is in many of my works, so what am I complaining about being gone.

Close ups, I love this quilt block. and the flags are great.

Usually you need a magnifying glass to find my name or initials. This time I went big and bold. Also, I removed a few elements, I’m finding that I like work with a little more negative space. I’m happy with the layout.

I now have 3 4th of July cross-work projects, in about a month they will be coming out on display.

Leah

A year and a half ago I went to the Fair in Pasadena, not many exhibitors and way too many masks. Last year I went to the Fair in Burbank. Many more booths – still too many masks. Burbank and Pasadena are practically neighbors – so that tells you something about the density of population here, that Jackalope can have two fairs, one month apart – essentially in the same area.

This year I went to Pasadena and there were 200 hundred booth, a ton of people and too many masks. A lot less than before, I’ll pretend that the older people have some compromised immune system, the Asians are just used to it. But why oh why! I see a family, mother father don’t have masks and the five year old kid does??? If I had asked they would have said: he is comfortable – that is exactly the problem – you conditioned him to hide his face and will continue to do so forever.

All of the artisans are local to the area – which is wonderful. I was eyeing one of these, but didn’t end up getting one. Who knows, maybe in the future.

How about these baskets! Adorable.

The craft of quilling is very interesting to me, not one I will ever try, but I do know that it takes time and effort. But also, Not sure I’d want it on my walls

There is soft sculpture, how about these for someone who even kills succulents.

Speaking of soft sculptures. How cute are these, especially in their old radio flyer wagon

Someone made owls, as well as other colorful creatures.

These would be great in an ice cream parlor or donut shop. Or, yes, just up on the way. I know my granddaughter would like the unicorn donuts.

Now I’m sorry I didn’t get the name of this company, I think I’d like one of these in my back yard.

Something else I didn’t buy, this book is from 1962, I used to have the Paris book. What can I say, we are getting rid of books, so why buy more. The style is sentimental to me – but that is all.

So what did I buy? these three old restaurant menus, the actual menu is on the back. I chose a color theme and a Los Angeles theme. Joel had gone to Ships as a child, I remember seeing the Westwood location sign. I never went to the Ambassador hotel where the Cocoanut Grove was – once again I don’t think it was still open. I never heard of the Sky Room, this was at the Lockheed terminal at Burbank Airport – or whatever they call it now. These are the P-38s which were made through-out all of WWII.

The wall is not empty anymore, I guess I have some space left for something else as well.

I bought this platter, from an Israeli woman who is practically my neighbor.

Looks good with the owl.

I won’t be posting for a while, we are off to Croatia, I will post pictures on IG, but won’t take the time to try and figure out creating blog posts. I’ll be inundating you with that when I get home.

Leah

Here is the unicorn in all her glory, flowers, buttons and a lovely tutu.

I’m not sure the tail will last, it is a very cheap felt, already falling apart.

with her buddy the tiger

Having a very nice tete-a-tete. This is the last quiet chat they will have.

Staring at me while I have breakfast

Welcome to your new home and new owner – I’d say Eyal looks pretty happy!

He is hugging him tight! I hope I reinforced the tail enough, because this boy is rough on toys.

Einav pulls the unicorn out of the bag!

I think she likes her!

Then they both go flying! So girls are no more gentle than boys. She already lost a flower.

They went to the Renaissance Faire this weekend and got me this wonderful owl mug.

It is huge, more like a beer stein, so I don’t think I’ll be drinking morning coffee in it. We shall see.

Leah

Yup, that time of year again, the artists open their studios at the Brewery. This time I dragged Joel along – on the pretext that we’d have a cocktail and fun conversation with Teale and Marshal after the show.

Here is proof that he was there. He did admit that this is something he’d never do if I hadn’t dragged him along. He also said it was a fun afternoon-evening.

The Brewery is right next to the 5 freeway. Something interesting here, there is some barbed wire right next to a fence that is cut and broken through. Something we see all over the city, especially next to freeways – where the vagrants build tent upon tent.

The large smokestack, the two buildings beyond are the Edison steam powered electric plant (1902) and the Iron works, the lower building. As we walked around, we went up to that top story of the Edison building, a lovely couple has a crazy loft up there, see the very large window. we looked out that that window.

The view from that window – towards downtown. Jason O’sliva is an author and he wrote some children’s books that I am hoping are right up Shira’ Alley. So I bought the first book, in hopes that she likes it and I will buy more.

We are also looking down on the Piggyback Yard. Owned by southern Pacific, this is where many of the containers come from up from the port. Right next door is a huge UPS facility, so maybe a lot of the goods then get loaded on their trucks and distributed. Also, about 2 years ago there was a scandal about a massive drop of Amazon packages, just off the tracks – that too happened here. In there left side, you can see the frame that lifts the containers onto the back of big rigs – hence – piggyback

Another view, from the bridge, here you can clearly see the piggyback machine. The city would love to take over this land, either build an Olympic Village or a park – problem is – Southern Pacific really isn’t interested in selling.

Looking towards downtown over the UPS yard.

The bridge. We may not have walked a lot of steps, but we did climb up and down a lot of stairs.

Back on the ground, looking up at the bridge from a different angle and seeing the moon rising.

There was people watching, I could have taken so many more pictures, in many cases the people were more colorful than the art.

The massive climbing wall inside the old ironworks. This is just a part of it.

This guard house stands between the Edison and ironworks and other buildings on the property. It was all heavy industrial buildings – at some point a Brewery took over some of the building and gave the complex it’s name.

Some art. We did end up having a lovely time with Teale, Marshal and their guests, but then as the sun went down it also got cold so we went home. Happy for a fun local adventure.

Leah

Driving back from our beach walk, we stopped at the Wayfarers Chapel, boy am I glad we did. There are so many hidden gems all around us – it’s not like a I have a bucket list – I just am thrilled to see so much beauty and interesting things around me.

I didn’t get a picture from the road down below. Honestly as one is driving the curvy road, one often misses this.

Designed by Lloyd Wright, son of Frank. Who also built some homes here on the PV peninsula – one was just torn down a few years ago – not every house by a famous architect can survive.

When he designed the chapel in the 60s’ he planted redwood trees around it – for many many years the glass chapel stood out, but these days, the trees are reaching maturity so its’ more like a chapel in the woods

How beautiful is this! I think the guy in the suit may be a groom! This is because outside, I saw a bride! Many people do get married here.

Because Frank Lloyd Wright is the famous one – his son doesn’t get as much recognition -in many ways he is a better architect – because he didn’t drop out of school, so if Frank has attempted this – someone else would have had to figure out all the trusses and all the way the glass stays stable.

The view is gorgeous of course.

Looking from the small pool, through the redwoods to the actual chapel. A very interesting roof line, when seen from outside.

Another wonderful view, of the stone, glass, wood and metal and the beautiful design that brings it all together.

Roses and an old olive tree. I just planted new roses, I’m beginning to see buds, but nothing like this yet.

A visitor center was built in 2001, one of the designers was Eric Lloyd Wright, son of Lloyd. I didn’t go in because Pat wasn’t interested, so I guess I’ll have to stop by another time. Notice all that mustard in the back!

And finally the bride! Speaking of the bride, it is Mandy and Elks’ 10th anniversary! What a great celebration and how much they have accomplished in 10 years!

Leah