I am back in Ojai today with Ray and our friend, Darrah, from Texas. Organizing, cleaning, and also working on some furniture. The weather was clear with a nice breeze. This is all outside work so the weather matters. We are lucky to have had such pleasant temperatures while we tackle these tasks. Tomorrow morning…
Category: Orange grove in Ojai
Working at the Orange Grove
We have just completed a satisfying day of work here at the orange grove. We will be hard at it again tomorrow. We are organizing, working on estate furniture, and basically tackling lots of estate-related work for the next few days. We meaning Ray, Darrah (our friend from Texas) and I plus our helper, Gregorio,…
Sitting in the Dark at the Orange Grove
I am sitting in my car at the orange grove stealing WiFi from my Ojai neighbor (she knows that I do this and is okay with it). It is almost ten at night. It is DARK here. I wish I could take a picture to let you see just how dark it is. Probably not…
A Lovely Time Together
Back to LA after less than 24 hours in Ojai and only a couple of hours at the beach, and yet this quick trip felt as restful as a week away to anywhere else. Such is the power of the Ojai orange grove and a magical little piece of beach in Ventura called “Surfers’ Point.”…
Daughter and Granddaughter Day
Today we are back in LA with Cordie and Sammie, who is moving slowly, but semi-fine, by the way. Not only did we have Rachael come visit us today, but we also saw Sarah and then picked up our beloved granddaughter, Luna, for a visit. This evening we saw our third daughter, Liz, when she…
Extra Time
Ray woke me up in Ojai this morning with the words, “I took Sammie outside and she pooped twice. She’s up and walking around.” “That’s great,” I said, “but we’re going to follow through with our plan. I can’t take another day of mourning like yesterday.” “Let’s just talk to the vet and see how…
Reflections on Living, Dying and Our Little Dog, Sammie
This has been a strange day indeed. We went to the vet this morning with our Scottish terrier, Sammie, only to get the diagnosis we feared: a cancerous mass in her belly and another on her lung. No pain now, but pain would be coming very soon. I was prepared to allow the vet to…
Our Day Recapped in Pictures
Here are a few pictures that sum up our day. We were at DFW at 4:30 this morning. Our plane was late and Ray took a nap. Tropical Storm Bill poured rain for quite a while, which was captured in this photo from the plane. We arrived in LA mid-morning. After arriving home and staying…
Ojai Kitchen Progress
Today we made major progress on the Ojai kitchen. Here are pictures to give you a look at what’s happening there. The platform is finished and in this photo we were seeing how our new cabinets will look. Remember, this is an orange grove with little critters. We decided these metal office shelves would be perfect…
Ojai Kitchen
I am sitting here looking at a pink-purple sky against faraway mountains. Dusk in Ojai. Ray and I are staying until tomorrow because we have been busy all day buying materials for a freestanding kitchen that will be nestled between two orange trees near the fire-ring and sitting area. This will be an 8 x…
20 Minutes a Day 