Delicious Honey-Sweetened Orange Cookies

Today, I made these cookies. They are delicious. Of course, they had the benefit of having the superior flavor of one of our oranges from our Ojai grove. In fact, the oranges in the picture below are satsuma oranges, which are in the mandarin orange family along with tangerines and clementines. They have a wonderful…

A Little Bit of Heaven: Our Orange Grove in Ojai

We have made two trips to Ojai this week to our orange grove. Just a few photos to share since I am VERY tired tonight after working there today. Our Agave Plants The Fire Ring and Sitting Area Our New Orange Crop Rachael Raking Amid the Trees We went to the orange grove on Tuesday…

Ojai and the Orange Grove Today

We are heading back to LA from Ojai.  It is 7:25 pm and the traffic is moving at a good clip.  We’re about an hour from home.  The trees at the orange grove have oranges that are still ripening on the branches right alongside white blossoms, many of which are just about to bloom.  There…

The Milky Way, Coyotes & the Orange Grove

Last night Ray and I drove to our orange grove in Ojai and slept in our tent under the stars. The sky was clear with just a sliver of a moon so the stars were bright and it was easy to see the Milky Way sprinkled across the sky. What a glorious sight that is….

Flash Essay: Architecture and Renovation: A Natural Part of Our Lives

Today was busy. We left at 6:15 this morning to work at the homeless breakfast and returned at 6:30 tonight after spending the majority of the day in Pasadena. We were visiting with a friend there who is involved in several housing renovation projects and since we are also old house renovators, we were happy…

Flash Essay: A Day of Critter Control & A Few Pictures

Tonight I have just returned from Ojai after two days of hard work. I am dead tired, but want to honor my twenty minutes a day. So, I’m posting pictures of the orange grove and neighboring organic farm. We got much accomplished today, primarily around ground squirrel-proofing our Spartan trailer, which is in the middle…

Third Visit to Ojai

We are here in Ojai for our third week in a row, organizing our storage bins and working on our 1954 Spartan Manor. This is an interior shot, illuminated by candlelight. We do have running water – hot even – and a working toilet – just this year – so we are feeling excited with…

Flash Essay: Back in LA after Two Productive Work Days

We’re back in LA after a productive, but hot couple of days in Ojai. We are well on our way to getting organized up there; our plan is to return next week and spend two more days working. Ray has already gone to bed (he went up at 9), the dogs are both sacked out…