The day after xmas, we realized we had nothing to do and all the time in the world to do it in, so we took a little day trip to Sonoma for some wine tasting and food. It’s a nice drive out there, a couple hours, maybe, with traffic, and nice rolling hills to drive through. The first thing we did was get a bite at a little cafe, and then visited the tourist bureau. There was a nice lady there that told us about good places to eat, and gave us a map of wineries on the square, and some coupons for tastings. So, we wandered a bit. The first place we went to talked us into joining a wine club. The two bottles we were thinking about were effectively half price with the club. The tasting room had a bunch of kitschy household goods for sale, handmade by the looks, in addition to the wine. I think gauche is the word, but I may be so backward that shit like that is in style in some circles. The wine was good, and I don’t really regret the wine subscription. It does give us an excuse to go back every few months or so. The second place was more sophisticated, and seemed very proud of it’s italian heritage. They also had a pretty good schpiel about how some of their wines came into being by happy accident. Who knows if it was true, but there was a nice couple also in from the city who shared their salami and crackers with us on the patio as we had a glass. Pretty rad. The last place the vintner himself was serving us, and the guy who made the pottery on display came by to say hello. His wines were probably the best we had that day, and I really look forward to going back there. “Bump”:http://www.bumpwine.com/wines/ was the name. They do sell them online, although no clubs and no discounts. Then there was dinner, a nice pizza, which I had way too much of, and then we went home. The last photo is a straggler; the set I thought it was part of didn’t work, and I ended up getting rid of most of them, but I really like that gold tooth.
Posted on 2014-02-19T07:03:57Z GMT
No, not that Ben and Jenn. Why would I care about them? No, these are two of our friends from oklahoma, out here to see family over the holidays. We met up, had brunch at Oakland Grill, and then took the ferry over to the city. December 26 and I hardly needed a jacket.
Posted on 2014-02-11T15:35:23Z GMT
My commute includes about 100 yards of walking down market street. It is, as my friend Mike says, ‘Prime people watchin’. My tendency when taking pictures is to look for something about to happen, and try to get there in time. On this stretch of road, everything is always happening. Deals are made, breakfast is bought, people wander, lost, across the street at 9am on a Thursday. Tourists gater around their maps, and locals weave around them, as if they were statues. Bums beg for change, and they get some, sometimes. Messengers lock and unlock their bikes, delivery trucks stop with days or weeks of supplies for the buildings and restaurants. All in 100 yards!
Posted on 2014-02-10T15:24:51Z GMT
It occured to me, looking at these photos, that it’ll be light again soon when I get to the beach on these rides. We’re currently as far from the solstice as we were in late october, which makes me kinda happy, although it’s dark now, at 6pm. SOON. The last couple rides out there I haven’t really taken any photos, because it’s started to feel like I’m repeating myself. So the light coming back will be a welcome change. I do think that there is a photo of a bunch of dudes around a bonfire somewhere in the queue.
Posted on 2014-02-09T21:28:07Z GMT
I took some photos at the party, but really, none of them were that great. After the party, we ended up meeting Fletch and his wife; they’re really cool folks. I think this was zeitgeist? It’s been too long ago now. It was one of those faux dive bars in the mission. NEWS FLASH: if there’s not a reasonable chance of your getting stabbed inside, it’s not an actual dive bar. That’s why I like Merchants, over on this side of the bay. Anyway, I digress. fuck bad pictures of shit I don’t care about. Here are some good pictures of things I care about:
Posted on 2014-02-09T06:11:33Z GMT
