Ortiz Taylor House

03/15/2024

The living room is ready for the Roger Wagner Chorale rehearsal, as they prepare for their upcoming tour to Japan.

01/09/2024

I'm supporting a very competent candidate for Congress. Maebe has proven herself as a fighter and a listener.

Show your support with a contribution.

06/30/2023

Still life with door bell (a real bell), inside of front door, Dori Capitani "shield," and two-and-zero-zeroths* fruit pickers.

* zero-zeroths, because if a fruit picker has lost its basket, is it still a fruit picker?

06/30/2023

angels, Francis, bird o'erlook the living room door

02/11/2023

On this day in 2011, in its 74th year, the Ortiz Taylor House turned adobe.

01/06/2023

In time for Thanksgiving, 2022, I lacto-fermented cubed beets in water with whey (thank you, Adams), and sea salt. Not at all my invention, of course. Way (whey) traditional. But served this way, I call it "Kvaas-ier."

(nyuk nyuk)

12/23/2022

How we do snow, here at the Ortiz Taylor House:
Banks of coyote brush pappuses amongst the roses (photo 1) and drifts of coyote brush pappuses in the air, about the courtyard, and amidst the pots of philodendrun (photo 2).

09/03/2022

Squirrel in Flannelbush

I had no idea this photo would turn out so zip-a-dee-doo-dah colorful. From the dining room table, I had watched the squirrel skip along the top of the wooden fence, jump onto the flannelbush, and climb down. A moments passed. The squirrel climbed back up the flannelbush, and extended itself on this branch ... in the shade ... and just stayed. And stayed. And stayed.

Only then did I decide to take a picture. I moved slowly. Tahoe was lying below the window. I had to contort myself into a gnarled, crouching-kneeling position, adjusting the zoom ... and snap!

I love the animal's repose vis-à-vis the zip-a-dee-doo-dah-itude.

08/23/2022

A young friend "mailed" Tahoe and Coco dog-sized, handmade greeting cards in handmade envelopes. John created a little doggie post office on the freezer door in the kitchen. Tahoe feels affirmed.

07/30/2022

Lunchtime Courtyard Conversation Snippet
Lee: I'm going to step away for a moment. [And, building on a joke about mosquitoes I uttered during this morning's Qigong session ...] Please guard my pickle and protect it from hawks.
John: Or from squirrels! Have you seen what they've been doing to the jacaranda?
Lee: Yeah, they gnaw on twigs and at the base of leaf fronds. I think they're sharpening their teeth.
John: They're doing the same thing to the carob tree.
Lee: Well, you create habitat, and habitués will do what they do.

(Pictured: a pathway of squirrel-gnawed jacaranda fronds, leading to the courtyard fountain)

(The joke I uttered during Qigong was in response to someone stating that instead of swatting the mosquitoes landing on his body during the practice, he decided to gift his blood to them. I pointed out that the mosquitoes in turn would be eaten by mockingbirds, that would in turn be eaten by hawks. I thanked him for nourishing our neighborhood raptors.)

06/04/2022

05/13/2022

ANIMAL: Photographer
VEGETABLE: Salvia clevelandii in courtyard of the Ortiz Taylor House
MINERAL: Segment (presumed) of the Pacific Electric Railway Company's Red Car trolley track, found today down on the former course by photographer (See ANIMAL.)