January 31st. Recycling Robot

January 30th. A Town Peopled in Morons Exclusively

Just fulfilling the letter of the law today. I didn't get out. The agave has made an appearance before, but this is my little glass lizard.

He was a Christmas gift for my Dad, but then my Dad had the ill manners to up and die on me before I could give it to him. So I kept him for myself, as I find him a handsome creature.

Perhaps I need to finish the Sisters Brothers and start talking 21st century vernacular again.

January 29th. School mosaic at sunset

Apropos of nothing, I'm making cuban black beans and rice for dinner tonight. But I couldn't find a ham hock at any of the closely walkable grocery stores, just a "ham shank" (which appears to not be smoked) so I'm trying it with a couple small chipotles mixed in. We'll see how that goes.

January 28th. The Well-Dressed Dog

January 27th. Wall Buffalo

Wall Buffalo Is Watching You

January 26th. Japanese Tea Garden

at Golden Gate Park

January 25th. Tiny red flowers

I've no idea what these shrubs are. They are small, rounded (maybe with the help of hedge pruners), with tiny purple leaves and fingernail-sized red blooms. They seem to be coming into season.

My gardener friend's google-fu is strong than mine, and she identified it as Leptospermum scoparium, New Zealand teatree. It's likely the "Crimson Glory" variety, from my image searching.

January 24th. Honeybear

Chile honey at the Green Chile Kitchen

January 23. Rainpigeon

January 22. California Victorian

January 21st. Big City Surreal

I wandered across this today. This was the view in through the doors, in the middle of a a thick, 10-foot high, 100-foot long concrete wall.

I was wondering, whose extremely expensive, exquisitely maintained backyard is this? It's two blocks from a homeless encampment (although I've found that neighborhoods and streets here can change character within even a 1/2 block. Just 20 feet and it all feels and looks different.) Handily, there's a helpful plaque next to the door.

January 20th: Socks

I finished these on Friday. I spent an hour knitting in the late afternoon sunlight but only managed to take a picture of these today.

January 19th. A little mid-century modern

I recommend the awesomeness that is Stuff

January 18th. The F Line

F line train car, Duboce & Market.

January 17th. Sunset on the Bay

with the U.S. Navy Hospital Ship 'Mercy'

January 16th. Lion meter

Two today.

I don't know what this plant is, but the bracts are gorgeous.

January 15th. Rabbit food

Ingredients for tonight's salad. The daikon radish is an experiment. Bonus that it's humorously shaped.
(Not making an appearance: the avocado, the scallions & the rest of the dressing ingredients, and the pearl barley)

January 14th. Succulent!

January 13th, Sunset

I fell asleep before I got around to posting this yesterday. First, the Mission District at sunset:

And because I think I like this one better, although it's less location-specific: park bench at sunset (facing the other way from the picture above)

January 12th. Richmond

Sometimes San Francisco neighborhoods change so fast they give me figurative whiplash. I started out walking on Clement Street at Arguello. A couple blocks later, in the course of only half a block, it turned from gentrified high-end boutiques to dim sum places and groceries where the fruit on the stands was labeled only in Chinese.

January 11th. Triangles

Work kept me in most of the day, so no outside pictures. My temporary sewing table.

January 10th, Hummer

But I bet not the kind you were first thinking about. Right at sunset I took a short walk up a big hill, because I was cold and a little frustrated. But then I saw this. Hey, at least I don't have to find my own nectar.
Continuing the theme of succulents:

Not the best picture, as it was nearing twilight and my camera is not so good at the telephoto.  But surprisingly it still captured the hummingbird.

This is the full plant bearing those blossom spikes:

January 9th. Agave montana

January 8th. Cookie Monster Cupcakes!

January 7th. Dinner

Bistro Gambrinus in Nopa.

January 6th. Beach at Fort Funston

Another exploration trip to the beach, this one a little south. The rock in the water just offshore in the near promontory is Mussel Rock, the point at which the San Andreas fault leaves land and enters the water, as well as the likely epicenter of the 1906 earthquake.

January 5th, The Mission

January 4th. Garden

January 3rd, still obsessed with the sunlight

Maybe it's because I've lived through many years of dark, dreary, wet winters. The sunlight is... almost creepy.

I especially like the blue dome on this church's steeple.

January 2nd, stupid cold

Busy trying to hack up a lung today, so didn't get out. The cat enjoyed sleeping in the pools of sunlight most of the afternoon, though.

January 1st - Land's End

Ocean cliffs at Land's End, San Francisco, near sunset. Golden Gate bridge is peeking out in the background. Below is Ocean Beach just after sunset, a short walk to the south.

Happy new year!

An Introduction

I just moved to San Francisco, from Portland, Oregon.  I even just received my permanent CA driver's license in the mail, on the 31st.

I enjoyed living in Portland. This is a big change for me, and not just geographically: I've never lived somewhere so urban. I already miss my garden (and Powell's and Fabric Depot and the food carts and douglas firs, but this isn't what this is about).

But there are other things to love. Some friends of mine decided participate in the 365 project this year. While I'm not really a joiner, nor am I the New Year's resolution type, it seemed like a gentle way to force me out and explore.

So hello San Francisco, show me what you got.