Da Local Waterhole

At my first week of work I met another Aussie for a drink at the bar close to our work. It was a great night of delicious cocktails & sushi - this was my first bar experience in San Francisco, as I don't do much bar hopping anymore :)

Comin' to getcha!

Look out little girl these sculptures are on the attack! You can tell how huge they are in perspective to the people at ground level. The Bay Bridge is in the background & no they aren't as big as that huge thing! These are like huge sea creatures that escaped the black lagoon with their hands outstretched ready to capture someone or something to eat.

Pretty Zinnias

This is inside the Ferry Building a florist that has sustainably grown flowers. I felt very happy going in there as it reminded me of the Victoria Market but with a high-end price tag. There were lots of foodie hang outs & this great cheese shop called 'Cowgirl Creamery', the bonus was finding the Italian deli, like the ones back home in Coburg, I wanted to sample the food but it was too busy!

Sea critters sculpture

Along the lovely Embarcadero across from my work lives these little sculpures scattered on concrete benches. I really love the area around there with the Ferry Building with loads of food & the view of the bay & the Bay Bridge with it's double decker design (by that I mean there are two layers of traffic). Dunno what the black & white pole is in the background, it looks good though!

The city of his dream

Yep the city I am dreaming of being back in - lovely freezing Melbourne. For now I am trekking all the way into San Francisco each day - whew!

Da Social Security office...

Looking at this office you would think, man do I really need to go in here??!!! I had to go here as it was the closest to where I am working. As I was entering the SS office I had to declare my bag & go through a metal detector, I then ended up sitting next to a 19 yo who just got out of the can!!

Downtown SF Farmers Market...

I've been laying pretty low lately as I scored a full time temp (1 month) job in San Francisco at an architects firm. As I didn't have a social security number I had to go to the SF office to acquire one, of course with the necessary papers!

Is that Ashwin on the line??

After chatting on Skype the other night, we left the headphones on the table so Ashwin thought he would try them out! He is at the stage now where he imitates us by watching our actions. Ashwin & I were having a conversation through the headphones & having a great time!

Embarcadero Artwork

This public art is just across the road from where I am working. It is such a lovely area with the massive Bay Bridge above the vast panorama of water. It is incredible to see massive container ships go by the office window in the arvo. Oh here is where I am working for a short time in SF city, it is an excellent company to work for & the people there are so friendly!

Berkely LIVE kite flying action!

Here is some of the action from the Berkeley kite festival, we had an awesome time checking out the high flyers!

Is it a scuba dude in the sky?

Yep he was swimming around with the Octopus in the sky. This pic captures him diving through the sky & maybe into a cloud??

Ready for some wrangling?

Here are the Octopus kites with a shark rainbow kite in the foreground. They were wonderful to watch, it was as if they were underwater.

Blue skies, smiling at me!

Here is Mr Ashwin meserised by the kites in action. We ended up sitting near the area for a snack & before we knew it we were all mesmerised by the action of the kites. There was a Japanese kite demonstration with some live music too! It was excellent to watch the kite wranglers with their massive show kites - the highlights being the Octopus team, so colourful & huge!

Gonna get high till the day I die!

Last Saturday we planned a day out to Berkeley to go to the Kite Festival! It was such a picture perfect day for kite flying & as you can see in the distance a couple of the octopus kites are gently blowing in the breeze. Ashwin was wearing his new windbreaker we picked up at REI on the cheap. The usual food was on offer i.e. garlic fries, fried artichoke, corndogs & much more fried goodness??!!

A work in progress...

Here is the mohair scarf knitted up in about half an hour on the machine, it would have taken me forever to knit up with such a fine yarn! The plan for this is to shibori felt it - which means thrown it in hot water & see what happens... I'm looking forward to seeing the finished product :)

A bit of mohair action of the machine

At the Stiches expo I found this beautiful mohair & merino blend yarn which was as fine as a strand of cotton. The idea was to knit them on a size 7 needle & make a shibori scarf. I thought well why not see if it knits up on the machine & it did - yay!!

The answer is blowing in the wind...

Strange coincidence a song by Cat Stevens & this is a picture of 'Cat Tails' well they look like a cat tail to me - they may have another name?? I love how the flora constantly changes throughout the seasons & now in the height of summer I found these growing at Shoreline park. It is certainly a great place to hang out & relax, as it is so quiet away from the traffic noise.

Time for another squirrel pic...

On one of our little outings down to Shoreline we found this baby ground squirrel scurrying around the place looking for food. Ashwin & I had a fun time watching him doing his thing then Ashwin scared the little fella away with his screaming!