Good intentions

Well, I had good intentions to take the doggies to Golden Gate Park today and do some picture-taking and exploring to try and give you guys some more local info on this blog. It didn't happen. But it's a good reason - today was very overcast and cold, not a great day for a walk in the park. And, AND - it is supposed to rain tomorrow. Possibly up to two inches. I am so excited I can hardly see straight. I was at the grocery store today and bought one of those newspapers from the homeless guy and he warned me about the rain that was supposed to be coming. I set him straight and told him that I'm from Portland, I welcome the rain. I bask in the rain. I LIVE for the rain. Oh absence does most definitely make the heart grow fonder.

So, today was a day of running errands and baking things indoors. But, I uploaded a bunch of pictures from the camera, and found a bunch of shots that I took from a morning walk with the doggies and an evening walk with the doggies, which I had actually taken to share with all of you so that you could see the lovely park that we live next to, and experience vicariously how nice our little walks have turned out to be.

Morning view, South side of the park, looking west towards the Ocean. This is the highest point in the park, and it is always very windy here. Most of the time, you feel like you're going to get blown down the hill when you reach this point. This is a dog park and the is part of the off-leash park, so there is always a dog or two out frolicking in the grass. Not our dogs, of course.

This is a little ways down the hill from the last picture, looking towards Buena Vista park and a really hilly part of the city. The sun was just starting to come up and warm the buildings with it's light. I've really come to love our morning walks, everything is so quiet and pristine - even on cloudy days.

This is on the Northwest corner of the park, heading East back towards the City.

And this is right at the end of our walk. We live on the Northeast corner of the park, and as we walk along one of the paths going East, we come across this view. Always wonderful, this morning it was beautifully hazy, rosy and peaceful.

In the morning we do one full circuit of the park and in the afternoon, when I get home from work, we head out again and do two full laps.

This is standing in the Northwest corner of the park and looking up the hill at the main off-leash section of the dog park. This field is always filled with all sizes of dogs, tumbling, sniffing, running, chasing, yelping. They always look like they're having so much fun and it always bothers me a little bit that our doggies can't join in the games.
This is the same view as the first picture above, but in the evening light instead of morning. There is a drinking fountain at the top that also has a little low drinking fountain for doggies. Even though it is low, though, it is still too high for my doggies.

This is at the top of the doggie off-leash field area. The sun is starting to go down so much sooner now. The seasons are so non-existent down here that it surprised me when the days started getting shorter.

So the other thing I have to share with you today is a tour of our new apartment. My mom noted that we hadn't put up even one picture of our new place and I have to admit that is because, until yesterday, we still had unpacked boxes and little odds and ends everywhere. Yesterday, I finally sucked it up and put everything in its place. And now I'm not ashamed to post pictures.

So, beginning at the front door, here is the entryway (above)

Just to the right of the front door, the walk-in closet which we have stuffed to the gills. No more acquiring stuff that needs to be stored for us. There's just nowhere to put it. I also got my bench work-space all set up yesterday, with tools put away and everything in its place. There is a jewelry-supply store here in the city, so I got a new torch and a bunch of other stuff to prepare to start working again. The only thing that I still need is a crockpot for my pickle (it takes the oxidation off of silver after you've heated it up). And it's been impossible to find a simple, basic crockpot in the city. I looked at Goodwill, I went to the vintage cookware store up the street, and I finally caved and was going to spend full price and get one at Bed, Bath and Beyond. My choices there were a fully digital, high tech crock pot, or a double-crockpot. Yes, you heard me - two crockpots on one base. Who even needs that? So, my parents are coming down next week and I'm just going to have to wait for them to bring down my old one. Ridiculous. I am itching to get back to work, though.

Then, we turn around and the enter The Room. Bedroom, living room, library, den, office - all rolled into one room. The room. I really, really love it here. It's so warm and cozy at night and so light and airy during the day with the sunlight streaming in all those windows. And it's a lot more spacious than our last place, and we're paying 15% less!!

Now we are standing on the other side of The Room, looking back towards the entry-way. That bike rack has been worth its weight in gold, I tell you what. I don't have any idea where we would have put our bikes at either apartment if we didn't have that rack. There just simply was no place else to put them. Best thing I ever bought, and I used a gift card to buy it, so I didn't even really buy it! Yay!

Standing by the bed, looking towards the kitchen. It took me two weeks to get that stupid Imac mounted up on the wall, and when I did I felt so triumphant. It actually involved four trips to the hardware store, a screw extractor, the purchase of a cordless drill and a metal file. But it's worth it. Now I can watch tv in bed from time to time. We don't do it often, but every now and then it's a special luxury. Also another benefit to having a studio as we would never in a million years put a tv in the bedroom.

Looking back from the kitchen into The Room from one last angle.

The dining room. We haven't seen the top of the table from the day we moved in until yesterday. Looks rather nice, I think. Tonight we have plans to actually eat at it. We put the lighting in ourselves. There was only one light in the kitchen and it is this awful, bluish, cold, harsh overhead globe light. I felt like I was in a hospital with it on. So a trip to IKEA for some overhead lights in the kitchen and a hanging lamp over the table was much needed.

And finally, the kitchen. It's still a bit messy as the last box contained most of our glasses, and you can only wash and dry about 8 glasses at a time on our drainboard, so criticize me if you will. I love the lights - they add a whole extra dimension to the kitchen and make it really enjoyable to work in, instead of the institutional feel it had with the other light. I must confess, I am in love with this kitchen. Whoever put those countertops in was brilliant - you can't see anything on them. Everything blends in. I love it. I am in kitchen heaven here, compared to the last place.

So, that's the apartment. I'll try to get a shot of the great view that we have out of our living room windows towards the park some other time. And I'll leave you with one last pic - of the doggies enjoying their new home, in their favorite place to be: