Fabergé - jeweler to the Tsars

Yesterday I visited the Bowers Museum, located in Santa Ana (about 45 miles south of LA).  I made a trip there almost 2 years ago (see it here).  This time I went to see a special exhibit of Fabergé.  Most people know of the Easter eggs the jewelers created for the Russian royal family, but the show included other examples of beautiful intricate enamel work combined with precious gems, such as jewelry, presentation boxes, picture frames and cigarette cases. There were also carved semi-precious stone figurines and bell pushes.  It was amazing - both in the craftsmanship and in the amount of money spent on everyday objects.  I'm including a few photos that show a sampling of the offerings.

BTW, the Bowers also had a wonderful exhibit of movie costumes by Cospros Ltd, London.  There were outfits from many movies I have seen, including Sense and Sensibility, Finding Neverland, The Golden Bowl, The Duchess, and Pirates of the Caribbean.  I'll have another post soon showing some of my impressions of the costumes.

Happy new year to all of  you :)

Golden brooch with gems and diamonds

Wood and enamel picture frame with photo of one of the Tsarinas

Diamond tiara

Snowflake watch, the "surprise" inside an easter egg created for Alfred Nobel

Carved obsidian gorilla

Gold and enameled cigarette case

Parrot carved from semi precious stone and hanging from an ivory ring

One of the beautiful gold and enamel easter eggs

The city at night

With sunset coming in so early lately, I tend to be out in the dark more these days.  LA looks different at night - lots of lights, bright colors, flickering images in the corner of your eye.  Here are some views of the city from this past week, clothed in its evening attire.  Enjoy.

November is almost over

Time goes by so fast.  My sister was in town for the past week and we had so much fun!   I think I almost convinced her to stay another week :) Ok, she wanted to, but her family wanted her back, too.

Here are some photos from this past week - no comments needed!

Just a few more

November is full of good things: guests, family, holidays, events.  I haven't had the chance to take some new photos, so I'm going to post a few more from Shenandoah National Park.  Happy Thanksgiving!

Shenandoah Valley, Virginia

Well, I was on vacation again last week.  This time I stayed in Massanutten, Virginia, located in the beautiful Shenandoah Valley.  For those of you have been keeping up with the weather, yes, I was in New England during hurricane Sandy!  Didn't know what the weather would be when I made the reservations last June, but went anyway.  I got there the day before and left afterwards.  Actually, since I was in the western part of Virginia, far away from the coast, the storm wasn't as bad as what you saw on the news: lots of rain and wind, but not destructive.  I spent a couple of days of quality time in my (extremely nice) timeshare unit reading and watching HBO.

I made up for my days of rest by traveling around a lot for the next 3 days.  I took many, many photos and I tried to narrow down a selection to share with you all.  This is the best I could do :)

There's a range of photos, but a lot of them involve the main reason I went to Shenandoah - the beautiful fall colors.  Oh, and history too.  Enjoy!

Just a reminder - click on a photo to see a larger version.

Shenandoah NP - Iron Mike

Snow on Massanutten Mountain

Outside Harrisonburg

Lexington - Stonewall Jackson's home

Helpful cadet tour guide at VMI

RAT guarding the Arsenal

Stonewall and the Barracks

Washington & Lee University

Why I came to Virginia - autumn colors

Halloween in downtown Lexington

Hill behind Monticello

The nickel-view of Monticello

Mulberry Row

Ash Lawn-Highland

Michie Tavern

Foamhenge

Natural Bridge

Lace Falls

National D-Day Memorial

Poplar Forest