Growing...

...with the flow.  I love the adaptability of nature.  A weed growing through a crack in the pavement.  Or a tree growing on a hillside, its roots digging deep into the earth, yet still bending to the call of the winds.

Living On Air

You've seen it at some point.  You must have.  Well, not 'it' exactly, but photos.  It's iconic.  At least to me it is.  The Stahl house.  Otherwise known as 'Case Study House 22.'  Built by Pierre Koenig in 1959 and photographed by Julius Shulman in 1960.  In my eyes, it is the epitome of Los Angeles...especially with a view of nighttime Los Angeles sprawl in the background.

The sprawl is seen in different places.  Cresting the hill on the 405 North as you're approaching Sherman Oaks and heading into the San Fernando Valley.  Or at the Getty Museum, looking southwest, before the marine layer rolls in for the evening.

I call it 'living on air' because despite knowing re-bar is sunk deep into bedrock, there's a lot of empty space between the floor and the actual ground somewhere below.

I see a slew of houses similarly built on my daily commute.  Part of me would love a house like this.  Looking out a window that is better described as a wall of glass, seeing the sprawl in the distance.  Part of me also wonders how much sleep I'd get at night pondering all that air between where I lay and the ground somewhere below.

Poof...

...and it's gone.  I love the street artists that slap posters up wherever they find the space.  Electrical housing cabinets on the streets are a favourite spot.

I just spotted a great series of posters not far from me.  They're cats...wearing halos.  Which I guess might suggest they're dead cats...but they're colourful and cartoony.  I'm hoping to get to them before someone else does and mars them.

In the meantime...enjoy the whale spewing 'poof'...or maybe it's the sandworm.  Remember Beetlejuice?

Once...

...these brick stairs led to a house high up on the hill.  Just think...now you have the opportunity to build your own house here.  I love seeing brick out here in Los Angeles.  There isn't a lot around.  It always strikes me as very East Coast...which is probably why I like seeing it.  A little reminder of the brick rowhouse I spent part of  my childhood in.

Down the Rabbit Hole...

...or maybe the Hobbit Hole.  I love landscaping almost as much as I love architecture.  So many property lines around here include steep hillsides, which require some consideration before planting.  This one has grown in (or overgrown?) beautifully.  A shady, cool spot to hide out in the Summer sun.

A Wee Bit South...

Finding myself in Venice yesterday, I walked around a couple of blocks...houses from the early 20th century, greenery mature and overflowing, utilizing pieces from the past...

Going Somewhere...

I may have a fascination for stairs.  They hold such possibilities.  You don't always know what you'll find at the top or bottom of them.  Flooded in late afternoon light, tucked into the side of a hill.  If you look close enough, you can see the wear from the years...a dip, a curve...from hundreds, if not thousands of footsteps...up, down, up, down.

Details...

It's all in the details.   The choice of material, placement, colour.  Deliberate.   To set a mood,  a feeling, a mindset.