in town

Art:
Thistle Hall is one of the many galleries around. I like Thistle because there's a new display every 2 weeks, and it's always multiple artists collaborating on one common theme.

And random art on the street is everywhere. It is one of my favorite things about this city.


Vintage clothing:


The amount of vintage clothing stores here is amazing, and so fun.

There's so many dresses and cardigans and blouses and pumps and Mary Janes and bonnets and church hats to sift through.

The fashion here incorporates new and old, and it's not rare to see girls in dresses from the 70's, 60's, and even 50's, walking downtown.

Madame Fancy Pants:


This is a really cute shop to browse through, unfortunately everything in it is over the price range for a student or traveler. Really cute jewelery, clothes, and other bits to wish for, though.

Martha's Pantry:

Absolutely lovely tea shop. Scones and cakes and tea rule the cabinet, all served on antique cups and saucers.


I tasted a chocolate cupcake, accompanied by my book and my knitting. I had more than one person come up to me and tell me how impressed they were by my sock!


So yummy.

rain.

I won't lie. Today is lonely.

I woke up around 6:30 this morning and just laid in bed, listening to the rain falling.

I knit and finished reading The Gentle Art of Domesticity, which made me long for a cozy home, a veggie garden, to make a quilt, to snuggle with someone.

I did find:

A pinhole bird on flickr.

I'm longing for a train trip like the one she describes.

And I'm in love with their house.

Hopefully the sun will come out soon.

happily October

image from here

Even though the flowers are emerging, animal babies are being born, and the weather is warming up, my internal calendar still persists that I should be wearing scarves and cuddling in front of fire places with books and socks and quilts. I'm still dreaming about pumpkins and spiced ciders and everything else lovely in October.

However, yesterday was a trip to buy a lot of flowers, vegetables, and herbs from the garden shop, to plant later this week. We'll have tomatoes growing in our room.

And the rain is persisting. At least it does give me an excuse to snuggle up indoors.


I love this woman, head scarf and fiddle. Maybe I'll look like that after my trip to the farm next month.

And this Ethopian Honey-Spice Bread seems appropriate for autumnal fancies.

just some good links.

Due to my lack of camera, I have no pictures for you. However, nice person that I am, I found some things worth looking at online, just for you lovelies.

Like, a car full of watermelons.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/arthur_shuraev/3352218518/

And, a blog devoted to beards.

And a hot-air balloon ride: This has gone on my to-do list.



And a lovely post with lovely things.

Maybe I'll have more, later. For now I'm going to doodle and watch the end of Miss Potter. As a movie it's so-so, but it feeds my love of Beatrix Potter, and her drawing and tea-drinking and strolling around the hills of England.

Ta-ta.

mister golden sun

The weather has finally smiled. After torrents of rain, hail, frosty winds and blustering clouds, the sun has peeked out. A hike on the coast was a satisfying way to celebrate it, and afterwards a short scavenge of "Treasure Beach", which yielded sea glass, paua shells, and other magical finds.

And this morning I'm enjoying another sunny day in a very different way- with chai, muffins, knitting, and books. This organic loose-leaf vanilla chai I bought at the organic shop the other day is so worth it; you can't beat good spice.

Pair with some blueberry muffins topped with cinnamon crumble, and enjoy while sitting in a sunny spot in the kitchen and reading The Gentle Art of Domesticity, and I swear I don't need much more out of today.


On a solemn note, I lost my camera on a bus the other day, while op-shopping. So unfortunately don't have the beautiful pictures I wanted to share of the beautiful books I browsed in the sewing-shop, or the coconut-almond macaroon I relished at a cafe, or the awesome second-hand finds I discovered. These pictures were taken with a borrowed camera, and even a few days without my own makes me realize how much I love taking pictures. Hopefully I'll find a replacement soon.

So in lieu of the sweet lost pictures, I'll share some links that have inspired me this morning:

How much I love being close to the sea.

How awesome these owls are.

Blanket fort competition. Is anyone else looking forward to Where the Wild Things Are?

I wish you a lovely day, sunny or no.

colour.

The weather today has turned windy and rainy, but it makes it nice to be indoors by the fireplace, with a book, some tea, and the socks that I've begun to knit.

It's Susie's birthday today, so B and I went into town this morning to buy presents and groceries for a Chocolate Banana Cake and mulled wine. We stopped into a hand-craft shop, where this beautiful wall of ribbons was found. Then we came back as the weather turned nasty, and he's working outside with wood and metal to make his mom an armadillo to hang on the wall (sounds weird, but it's looking cool.) I felt so cliche, he was sawing and hammering outside as I sat in the kitchen and knitted while the cake was baking.


Those pancakes (yes, they're pancakes) you see up there are amazing. I even burnt and mangled them, and they still tasted amazing. They're these spiced pancakes with carmelized apples from eatmakeread and they tasted perfect for a wind-blown morning.

Speaking of keeping house, I was listening to this episode of This American Life, and totally loved Act 3, where a girl fell in love with Little House on the Prairie and actually makes an homage to the original town where the Ingalls lived, and found it was just as perfect as the books. I loved those books when I was little--I still love them. I dream of living in a little cabin, and drying venison, and woodfires, and playing with dolls in the attic with pumpkins.

We're making mulled wine right now, a lovely mixture of red wine, cloves, cinnamon, sugar, oranges and lemons. Should be nice for a chilly night like tonight.

A nice day.

A apple-cinnamon pinwheel from Midnight Cafe, while reading "The Gentle Art of Domesticity".

And watching "Once" with Maegan. It's slow, but has really good music. And the guy is so cute, with his beard and guitar and sweaters and Irish accent.

And in the first picture you can see my new bag. It's purple like Megan's, and square like Ava's. Just what I wanted. :)

WWOOFing

So farm life is pretty cute.

I've decided that collecting eggs must be one of the best joys. When they are still warm from the hen sitting on them, and they come in soft pinks and blues and greens and creams.

And weeding paddocks, while the cows watch you, mooing and chewing. And if you get too close to the sheep, they bolt away from you in a pack, their woolly masses sprinting and leaping with surprising grace.

And the baby lambs, with the long wagging tails as they drink their mother's milk.

Here's the kitchen, with the wood-stove in the front:


My room, underneath the house and frigid cold at night, so I'd go to bed snuggling hot-water bottles.


And dinner. They were a raw family, so we had a lot of salads, sprouted grain casseroles and luke-warm soups.

I loved farm-life just as much as I hoped I would. I'm inspired to keep chickens and animals, there is something so homey and substantial about it.

I did come home early, though, because I felt uncomfortable with the family dynamics. I suppose no one's life is picture-perfect, and I was sad it didn't work out, but my first taste of WWOOFing has me inspired to do more, learn more, and experience more.