Goodbye San Francisco

Dear SF,

For the past two weeks, you've fed, watered and entertained us.

We love your distinctive neighbourhoods, your eclectic and creative inhabitants, the fact that one minute we could be rubbing the cashmered shoulders of a dotcom millionaire, the next sharing a bench with an  odoriferous homeless dude.

We've been clasped to the bosom of your cool city, met incredibly nice folk on our various media gigs and made new friends who've invited us into their homes and been generous with their advice on where to go and what to do.    

But this visit has also been bittersweet: the thought clutches at my heart that this is the last we may see Ms Molly. She is, afterall, a grand old lady and her days may be limited. But, as ever, I am so very glad we got to spend this time with her. I am reassured that she is happy (how could you not in this amazing city?) and, in the words of my favourite e.e. cummings poem, I carry her heart with me....  

I carry your heart with me (I carry it in my heart)
I am never without it (anywhere I go you go, my dear; and whatever is done by me 
is only your doing, my darling)

Thanks SF, it's been a blast. Wintry Welly, here we come...

Shazzy xx

Our last full day in San Francisco...

Started with a trip to Ocean Beach with four dogs and glorious sunshine

It was followed by a stroll to the Castro and even more sunshine

And in the evening there was a trip to the Haight and, as part of a travel food piece I'm writing, a visit to Off the Grid, a series of magically reappearing food trucks that provide wonderful kai in various parts of SF on various nights.

    

Later there was a prolonged love-in with this little girl who I am going to miss so much I can hardly breathe.

A random selection of things I've seen/heard in the past few days

• Bizarre conversation overheard during the food walking tour of The Mission: "I keep putting babies in her and she keeps getting rid of them".
• Homeless guy in Haight Ashbury yelling at a rubbish bin: "You and me need to sort this issue out and I dunno about you, but I ain't got all day".
• TV newsreader covering the French Open: "He was 'bageled' by his opponent".
• Two staff in a downtown H&M store comparing tattoos: "I woke up one morning and there were these words tattooed across my forearms. I have no memory of requesting the words or getting them at all".
• Two cute little girls selling lemonade from outside their house in 23rd Street; just like in the movies.
• Signs held by panhandlers in the Haight: "Why lie? It's for beer" and the slightly dodgier, "Out of work bank robber. Need money to buy guns".
• A chap at a dinner we were invited to on Monday night, telling us about a meal for an old friend he hadn't seen for years: "She turned up and her husband was wearing a dress and makeup. Not a word was said about it all night and I was too polite to ask".
• The same chap recommended this O for Awesome ice cream pop-up store in Hayes Valley we visited today. It's all made to order, out of liquid nitrogen, and is like an orgasm in the mouth. Shortly after taking this photo, the Animator asked if it would be impolite to lick the cup. It's that good.    

  

And no day in San Francisco would be complete without a photo of Her Highness...

Sunday's antiques and collectables fair

Apologies, I am currently marinating in holiday juices so have neglected the blog.

But here are a few visuals of the Alameda Antiques and Collectibles Faire we went to on Sunday. Held on the first Sunday of each month, it's the biggest of its kind in Northern California and is, quite simply, mind blowing. I thought the English car boots were cool, well this place blew them clean out of the water.

And check out the Tiffany box blue sky: we turned up unprepared for how hot it gets in Oakland, so suffered from a very mild case of heatstroke (I felt so ruff that I actually did throw up when I got home. And no, that has nothing to do with the tonne of caramel corn I inhaled).

But it was such a fun day and if I lived here, I would be buying up large. Restricted as we are to the 23kg weight limit, we did okay: an old Box Brownie camera, a vintage Boy Scouts of America bugle (far cooler than it sounds) and a former lab beaker which will make a fabbo vase. Oh and a vintage Chanel scarf for the grand total of $5. Score.

Here are some visuals....

        

Food walking tour of the Mission

It has just occurred to me that my laptop is still on NZ time; hence all these posts look as though they occurred a day earlier then they actually did. But I am too relaxed/in holiday mode/can't be arsed to resolve this time/space continuum issue so please be so kind as to read these as though they happened yesterday.

Just to further muddy the waters, on Saturday we did a food walking tour of San Francisco's colourful Mission district for a story for Taste Magazine. Twelve of us met local restauranteurs and identities, explored the stories behind San Francisco's earliest neighbourhood and ate so much, I began to think of elasticised waists in a favourable way.

The Animator was commissioned to supply pics so here is a small selection of them:

        

Friday in Noe Valley

Today was all about the canines and a cross-town drive to Ocean Beach. Sadly, San Francisco's infamous fog hadn't burned off yet, so it was pretty grey and windy. But you could do worse than to find yourself with  three dogs, golden sand and unlimited time.

Back home, I tried to ignore the fingers of sun filtering through the blinds and cracked on with some work while the Animator sunbathed on the deck. By 1.00pm I gave up all pretence at writing anything meaningful, so we walked to the Castro and the divine Cafe Flore where we filled our bellies with this enormous plate of huevos rancheros, a joy eclipsed only by the Animator's attempts to pronounce it.

        
This is the view from our deck; it's how downtown San Francisco looked five minutes ago. Pretty stunning, eh?

And because we all need something beautiful to gaze upon, here's Ms Molly who is currently lying at my feet, snoring gently and dreaming of chasing rabbits.

Completing the whanau on this warm Friday evening are Molly's two siblings, Higgins and Huka.

Sunshine

For reasons far too tedious to go into, today we drove about an hour south to Palo Alto.

I would just like to point out to my Southern Hemisphere brethren that it was 31 degrees there! I was so giddy with Vitamin C I totally embarrassed myself at a Mexican restaurant (note to self: eight weeks of Spanish courses does not a fluent speaker make). But after a couple of months of plummeting temps, the concept of wearing a t-shirt had become somewhat of an abstract one and in true Shazzy style, I got carried away.

I am not, however, going to apologise for being so smug and boastful about the weather, because it was bloody glorious.

That is all....