Settling in for the Winter

As I slowly adjust to the local time and shake off the jet lag, the sun still rises at the late hour of 7:30. Although the sun is theoretically rising, due to the constant cloudy weather and rainstorms...it never actually seems like it does. This is no complaint. It is my new favorite thing in the world to wake up in the dark, make some tea, and read my book by the fire in the lounge. The sounds around me: the roar of wind throwing rain onto the metal roof, crackling of pine burning in the wood stove, and once that pseudo-sunrise hour approaches, birds chirping into the morning. During my trip to the library soon I'm going to look for a book about local birds because there are so many around here and I have no idea what any of them are besides the adorable fantails.

The rain is finally supposed to cease by tomorrow, which will allow for easier walks around and motivate us to do more activities besides sitting and reading. (There has been a healthy amount of that already.)

We did brave the rain and check out some secondhand shops in town for fun. I found an old writing desk that I really want. If it was in the States I would buy it right away. It is too big to fit in my suitcase, but I took a picture so I can imagine having it.

Awkward mannequin in the middle of the shop.

Tiny old books. They were in a box like container, and almost a hundred dollars. Okay, not worth that much cute.

Also, persimmons are in season here! This fruit doesn't ever seem to ripen properly at home, so it is a delight to have them here. All the other fruits I'm used to getting here are not in season right now, like passion fruit and feijoas, so this was a nice surprise.

In our exploring, eventually some coffee and cake was required to continue. We stopped at the Poverty Bay Club, a coffeehouse/art stores building that used to be a gentlemans club way back. 

Jaffa cake. Yes I'm taking pictures of my food.

I find the middle sign just a tiny bit puzzling. 

Upstairs are some small businesses like a tailor, and a jewelry maker.

She told us about huge sales in Auckland a couple times a year where she buys vintage fabrics to make clothes with. Apparently old ladies can get quite vicious at these things.

 Then she brought down an incredible project (kinda blurry photo) of a certain kind of shuttle weaving or something. The details are lost on me, but it looked so intricate and pretty.

Random cute dog picture of my cousin's pup, Juno. Look at that face.