Showing posts with label neighborhood. Show all posts
Showing posts with label neighborhood. Show all posts

Monday, October 14, 2013

Our empty nest

It has been over a MONTH of living in a hotel. And though the hotel is dignified and such - it has a very grand lobby, and looks kind of like an MC Escher print from the elevator....


....we are so excited to move to our new house, a block away.


Which house, you ask? We are living in one of the blue towers on the right hand side. Doesn't look like a house, does it? It is a bit funny looking, we admit. At least one of our parents thinks that the architecture is absolutely hideous. But it has a Waitrose (yes, the Waitrose that gave us our groceries on trust) and ... a lot of jewelry stores. And we like it.

It is near our favorite camel burger joint....


....and across the street from the Corniche and our windsurfing/paddle board rental spot....


...and best of all, it has room for visitors, which isn't true of our current abode. Here is the guest room. It is the most furnished room in the whole house (the process of said furnishing was an epic cross-city adventure from which we are still recovering).



And here is where your breakfast gets cooked. No windows, but there is a washer-dryer and an ice maker - all the better to make smoothies!


 Based on our current habits, this is what you will get.



And this is our study/yoga room/mini-library. That's Coconut Island behind the two buildings.



And here is the bedroom. We haven't figured out how to cover the extremely creepy window from bathroom to bedroom (not pictured), but there's time....



And this is the future room of ping pong, movies, reading, and lounging of all kinds. Nick is happy because he can see Coconut Island from here. And I am happy because I can see the Emirates Palace helicopter pad. To each his own. We can also see a football field (not the American variety - poor Nick), the real palace (where the Sheikh lives), and Marina Mall.



We can't wait to settle down, play some ping pong, and get some bikes to hang on the wall like trophies. Nick's sister Katie has got us dreaming of indoor hammocks....and Margaret is contemplating electrical DIY projects to spoof the local chandeliers and testify to the glory of the mason jar....but those things may wait a while. In the meantime, come play!



Tuesday, January 29, 2013

Twin Peaks


Take the stairs at Clayton Ave & Corbett Street....


....up to a gorgeous old tree....



...and follow the Twin Peaks signs to wind up one last stretch of bendy road.


                              And, like Adam and Eve in Paradise Lost, the world will be all before you. 



Yes, all of it. Transamerica Tower and Market Street. Golden Gate, San Rafael, and Bay bridges. 


All from a half mile walk! Take someone you love on a nice day. 


 And perhaps (next time we will remember) a cool drink with which to celebrate. 



Thursday, December 6, 2012

San Quentin Village...



...has the most lovely neighborhood beach I know. On Sunday evenings, I see dogs chasing balls, brave toddlers playing in the water, and grown-ups sitting and watching, soaking in the view of the San Rafael bridge, whose hurry one can't really hear for the sounds of the water.



Lights on bridges at dusk always remind me curiously of the Geoffrey Hill lines:

"Over, across, the Pennine scarps and valleys
motorway lights -- festal suspension bridge,
high arching nocturne. I grasp the possible 

rightness of certain things 
that possess the imagination, however briefly"


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