Golden Gate Bike Adventure

I had quite the adventure on Saturday. My friend Rachael picked me up and we went over to San Francisco.

 

This would be a rare summer day where the Golden Gate isn't covered by fog

Before the bike ride we went to the farmer's market at the Ferry Building. We both bought some fancy cheese. I got the Bleu Mont and Red Hawk. Both are quite yummy.

Among other things, Rachael bought some fancy mushrooms. 

After putting our groceries in a cooler in the car, we picked up our bikes and went from the Bay Bridge...

 

Across the Golden Gate Bridge. (Thanks to the guy with pretty grey/blue eyes who lead us through some weird construction traffic and gave us directions to the bridge.)

All the way to Sausalito. We had lunch before getting on the ferry. The fog started to roll over the hills as we skimmed across the water.

All in all it was a wonderful day. It was a 9 mile ride, but it felt like more due to the wind we were riding into. You can see part of our ride in the picture below. We started at the bridge on the left side and went along the entire shoreline.

Now back to work on The Book. 

The Wizard In The Middle Of Nowhere

Today Dad and I went to the Matakana Farmers' Market. It wasn't nearly as big as the one back home, but it was still quite nice.

I can't say I've ever seen beer for sale at the market back home.

We came away with two beers, one apple cider, and a canvas bag.

We poked around Matakana for a bit. I learned that the reason I haven't found a thrift store in New Zealand is because they are not called thrift stores. If ever you find yourself in New Zealand, look for the opportunity shops. I found a cute little dish for my bar soap.

We were rather hungry after seeing the farmers' market, but the cafes were all full (and a bit overpriced) in Matakana, so we continued on to Leigh.

We had a nice mocha, chocolate cake, and sandwich at the Swell Cafe.

We weren't ready to be done with our adventure, so we carried on. The road we ended up on seemed quite narrow. That was until we saw a sign that said, "Narrow Road Ahead." Dad said, "I though that this WAS narrow."

I spotted a sign that said Pakiri Beach, so we headed down bumpy road until we found this.

I don't think I've ever been on such a large, almost completely deserted beach. It went on forever.

The adventure was nearing a close. We were still in the middle of nowhere. And I do mean nowhere, when I saw this guy. Seems that a farmer had a good sense of humor, and perhaps a little too much time on his hands.

Emu Exploration

Goodbye old room. Goodbye old house. You had lots of character and plenty of memories.

I found my camera cord, so here is sneak peek of my new place. I haven't finished putting it together just yet, so I'll take a better picture once it is more presentable.

Here's the view from my front porch. Right across the field is my place of employment. In the morning, I just hop a fence (a lower one next to the high one in this picture) and cross the field. I've been keeping an eye out for Walter. He has it in for me.

Yesterday I spent the afternoon knitting in the warm breeze.

When the evening came for a visit, I started to explore.

The sky was stunning. I kept walking across the property until I reached the dividing fence.


The neighboring farm has some Emus. They were grooming themselves and largely ignoring me, which was just fine.

Law, Order and Knitting

Just a little update. I've knitted three tams this week for farmer's market. Unfortunately, I didn't see Jane. I guess this gives me more time to find a model. Anyone want to model a tam this week? I'll put you on the blog. Until then, here's what they look like sans model.

Now that I don't have school and my jobs are only part time, I've had lots of time to knit. For the past two days (maybe four... who knows at this point) I've been watching Law and Order: SVU and knitting. The Shipwreck Shawl is coming along nicely. I can feel my knitting skills improve. Today I was able to spot a mistake with the lace within ten stitches, which is much better than yesterday's, "Hmm, I have two extra stitches at the end of this round, I wonder what went wrong."

Another Scooter report for everyone. Usually Scooter goes under the bedsheets and sleeps all curled up. Today he decided that having his head outside of the covers made it easier to breathe. I managed to get a picture of his right before he noticed I had the camera and flashed an irritated "not another picture of me" look.

Labels Are Only The Beginning

I've made some labels for my knitting and it only took forever. Photoshop decided to close on me right as I was saving. How kind. Even though the tag is based on my blog header, it still had to be made nearly from scratch so that all the trees and type would fit.

Looks familiar doesn't it.

I was happy to find that I had some ribbon. I knew that one day my obsessive yarn/ribbon hoarding would come in handy.

The collection has grown since this photo was taken

I took the cowl and headband to the farmer's market. I brought an extra tag for the bear hat I brought by last week, but as it ends up a half hour after I left, it was bought.

I'm hoping to open an etsy store some time in the near future. Labels down. Everything else to go.