In Plain Sight

A first visit to the California Poppy Reserve.  A weekend or two past the peak, but still acres and acres of poppies and greens...and ants, beetles, caterpillars, a snake, and lizards.  The lizard colored the same tones as the poppies, easily camouflaged among the blooms.

Perspective

A new year.  A new view.  A change of perspective.  A different light.  The change, that difference might be just what you need to move forward, turn yourself upside down.

Go back and look at the first post.  Then come back.  And keep moving forward.

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.