The attractions of the next world

Exhibit A: 

An amateur, obviously. This is not my shopping debris.  It belongs to some woman down the hall who went to the Auto Convention in the weekend just past. I include the photo to make my own profligate behavious appear mild. 

This is mine. Well, some of it. Exhibit B:

 Contents include this charming silk blouse by Twelve by Twelve...

.. which I got down at one of the wonderful vintage clothing stores in Haight Ashbury for six dollars. There's also this Missoni bag...

and this heart-breakingly beautiful silver citron pendant: 

 This seemingly innocuous little barkcloth bag is holding all the vintage jewellery I've bought so far. 

There's room for maybe a couple more pairs of earrings. I've also bought shoes. Lots of shoes. And some dresses. And a couple of tops. Oh, and a coat. And shoes, did I say shoes?

We put our boots to work today and wandered over many districts. We went here for lunch in Nobs Hill...

...which is where you should go too if you're ever in the market for an excellent vegetable omelette. The man in my life drank this:

I commend to you the chocolate chip peanut butter milkshake. His testimony described the drink as "amazing" and "best milkshake I've ever had." 

When the waitress took my order something inside of me snapped and I asked for a side order of biscuits and gravy. I'd always wondered exactly what they were and now I know they're scones in a sort of cheesy white sauce. 

Having eaten these indigenous foods we felt compelled to burn up some calories, which is how we got to take photos of views like these: 

We walked up there. I would put the effort, and the amount of chocolate chip peanut butter milkshake fuel required to make the journey, on par with that needed to scale the Hindu Kush. 

It was well worth the effort. This city is so beautiful. 

We're headed out now for I'm taking my gentleman to dinner to celebrate his birthday. Fingers crossed the restaurant I've chosen also serves chocolate chip peanut butter milkshakes. 

Flowers in my hair

San Francisco! 

It appears we brought the summer with us, leaving Sydney in forty degree heat and arriving in what should have been biting late winter temperatures ...but is in fact balmy and bright. 


"You'll love San Fran," everyone told us, "it's just like Sydney." Well, it's a bit like Sydney in that it is on a harbour and and the town planning is a little hotch potch. The building scale is somewhat similar too, but the similarities end there. 


For Sydney hasn't 't got the Alameda market, the only flea market in the world that defeated me. There are over 800 stalls and I managed to get through about 600. It's not on the tourist trail - you have to take a train out to the suburbs, then hop on a little bus that winds its way through naval housing and shipping yards to take you to a large dock where, of all things, the geese are stopping by on their way home to Canada. 


But then you get the markets. Oh my, the markets. 

I would have bought that dresser on the spot if I could have fitted it in my luggage. 


Another way San Francisco differs from Sydney is the honesty at flea markets. The market dealers are very upfront about the items they sell. They'll tell you if a piece has been repaired, if it's original ... and they'll very happily bargain with you. Which is why I ended up buying so much stuff, which you'll see in a couple of days time. 


And in Sydney, no one brings me porridge and the morning papers with a gobsmacking view: 

Other things San Francisco has that Sydney doesn't is giant seagulls. 

 And half and half. I love half and half. 

We took the ferry out to Alcatraz today. I have a lot of reservations about the prison system in general, and find visiting any historical site that was used to incarcerate people monumentally depressing. Walking through the cells of Alcatraz made me feel that way, but the island itself is very beautiful and any sadness that lingers is gradually being overgrown with masses of flowers and colonies of wild birds. And there were amazing daisies.

The other thing that Sydney doesn't have is garlic fries. While I was scoffing these tonight I thought quite seriously about moving here permanently just to eat these every night. 


Tomorrow we're going to walk the hills and take the cable cars to various neighbourhoods to learn the other ways San Francisco is different from Sydney. 


And you think there is something is missing you're right - I have done loads of inappropriate shopping and made quite a nuisance of myself in several stores. I even got fitted for bras by a very persuasive young woman in Nordstroms. She simply wouldn't let me make a purchase until she fitted me with a tape measure. Turns out I, like (allegedly) 85% of the world's female population, have been wearing the wrong size bra. "Told you so," she said smugly. (I bought five.) 


So tomorrow, the loot so far. Meanwhile, here we are admiring the succulents at Alcatraz:

Guest post by Ellie

Round ears just got home. I don't know what time she calls this but that's because I can't tell the time. I had cat food for dinner which is good because that's my favourite. 


I have a longer tail than is usual for cats. Also, I have black stripes and that makes me look important. I don't like things that haven't got stripes on them. 

She is complaining that she is tired and has to get some sleep. I don't want to know her problems because they are not interesting. 


I once caught two mice in one day. Round ears took them from me. She doesn't know how to catch her own mice. 


My socks are white. I clean them very carefully several times a week. If you have white socks it's important to keep them neat. 


Two mice is a lot. 

Adding noughts in vain

The heat continues. I'm pulling late nighters in the office to get a couple of critical things out of the way. No one in this city is sleeping. It's nearly 11pm  and 27 degrees - that's 80 F for the readers in the not celsius countries. Up the road in far North Queensland a truly malevolent cyclone is kicking their door in. 


Amidst all this passionate weather and statistics and meetings and raw red eyes my learned friend found time to record today's outfit: 

The dress is from the Jigsaw sale last Summer and the belt I found for a couple of dollars at the Kirribilli markets. I'm a fan of the bargain-priced leather belt. 


The three brooches are all vintage: the marcasite is from the rather fabulous Camberwell markets in Melbourne, the purple enamel was a fabulous $1 find at the Salvation Army store down in Glebe and the odd mirror-like grey number - I have no idea what it is, but I think it originally came from the ocean - was rescued from the Surry Hills markets. I'm entertaining a bit of a sterling silver brooch phase at the moment. 


I have another early start tomorrow morning so you'll have to excuse me while I slip out quietly. 

When the leaves fall upwards to the trees

We're having a heatwave. The days are blinding hot and no one is sleeping in the stifling still nights.


This morning as I was dressing for work I received a submission from Kate. Kate doesn't type or in fact use English much but she made her point very clear when she hopped on the bed and sat directly under the ceiling fan that was going full pelt. 


"Outside", I said with my pointing finger directed at the door. Kate responded with the saddest miaow and went and hid in the corner. She then played her ace - the crouching, pathetic figure and the sad, terrified eyes. 


She won. I laid a clean sheet on the bed and left the fan on for them. Kate and her adopted sister, the hapless Ellie,  toughed out this wretched draining day in relative comfort. 


Kate may not have read Canterbury Tales in middle English or know much about Oliver Cromwell but she can outsmart me every time. 


I'm very lucky to work in an office with such effective air conditioning I sometimes have to don a cardigan. I didn't today. My learned friend has very kindly acted as my Lord Snowden and presented evidence to support that I did in fact wear my new pendant. 


What we have here is a Marni skirt, a Jigsaw t-shirt, vintage shoes from eBay and said pendant.

 He made my scar disappear! 

And this is what I pinned at my waist because I could: 

And here is a Scorpio cat who has just about earned a PhD in manipulation: 

The dead will quietly bury the living

It's hot! It's that time of year when offices are actually pleasant places to be - the air conditioning is so cool and dry. 


A small portion of my brain melted today and sadly it was the portion I use to remember my blog photographing obligations. Thus I have no photo of me in a plain black dress that is only marginally different from the other plain black dresses I wear so frequently on a Monday. 


I can, however, tell you what I wore with the plain black dress: 

A Burberry hair clip and English Wedgwood earrings. I bough the hair clip (and in fact another in a rounder, fatter shape) at a sale in David Jones about five years ago. I'm not usually one for this kind of extravagance, but it was my birthday, I had the requisite cash and besides, I'd never had a new really posh hair clip. Also, I had recently acquired a pink silk Burberry scarf; I thought it might be witty to wear the two together. I never have. 


The earrings are part of a range Wedgwood used to release annually. They are Jasper ware, set in sterling silver and stamped with the year they were made (1974). I have lots of Wedgwood jewellery, all from flea markets and eBay. These earrings are my favourite. Vintage earrings for pierced ears are always a find. As you'd know, earrings are the item of jewellery most likely to go missing so it's unusual to find a pair. If you do, and you really like them, they're worth the investment. 

This was my scent for today. It's a very thin, pale scent, quite powdery and flowery like the scent you might catch from an old lady's dressing table. It's perfect for the summer and still smells fresh at the end of the day. 


My melted brain portion is slowly reconstituting so I can let you in on a sneak preview of what I'll be wearing tomorrow: 

Isn't she the prettiest piece of blue glass you've seen a long time? I bought her on Etsy and she arrived today. She's not marked but is polishing like silver, so I'm thinking she's Russian silver (that's 800 as opposed to 925 sterling silver).  She makes her debut tomorrow, possibly with a blue jersey dress, a lot of sunblock and sunglasses as the temperature inches up to around 36 degrees Celsius. 


I might also strap some ice packs to my head. 

Then we'll put our dark glasses on

It's been a very hot weekend. 

I still haven't finished packing.