How Much is Too Much Now that I have done my “Year in Provence” year on this hilltop, I am faced with the ongoing issue of where to stop and enjoy versus keep improving. It is a very personal decision. Have you seen those quirky houses that someone invariable does a segment on. The sea shell house that has sea shells imbedded in concrete, stone walls and stucco walls is one I recall. The Who…
Taxes My youngest son just called me. He is doing his taxes on TurboTax and he had a question about some trust income and a K-1 that he had received that showed some foreign-source income. His question was whether he should include it or not in his return. I gave him my best answer to his questions to the best of my understanding as to how he should present his taxes to the IRS and…
Sunstruck Moonstruck is a whimsical name that has the right elements of frivolity, craziness and enlightenment. I like the thought of being moonstruck. But if I were inclined to be accurate about this house on the hilltop here in Northern San Diego, I should have called it Casa Sunstruck. This is certainly a place of great sunshine and that season is just now beginning. Whatever rainy season there was just skipped on by us and…
Catching Up I have had a slightly more busy week this week since we have had house guests for a few days and the finishing of the deck project has caused me more work than normal in terms of getting things arranged as we like them. This is work that cannot be delegated as it has to do with how we like to live our lives in our space. As such, I have been busier…
Gentleman in Waiting It’s a funny thing in the expert witness game, the generally accepted view is that an expert’s ability to write extensive and factually accurate reports and rebuttals, all properly referenced and footnoted, is one level of proficiency. Being analytically astute, compelling and hard-charging are all attractive attributes but the analytical and written work constitutes only one level of proficiency as an expert. Please understand that these are very long and involved reports…
The Bucket Brigade It began as a description of a firefighting technique where manual passing of buckets was used to maximize water deployment to put out fires. It became a metaphor used to describe processes that are either highly manual or involve many individuals to mobilize materials from one place to another. For some reason, many of my efforts here on this hilltop seem to involve the actual or metaphorical use of a bucket brigade.…
Wildflowers What is the attraction of wildflowers? I have recently gotten it in my head that I want to plant some wildflower meadows on my property. I can’t really say what the genesis of the idea was other than I have always had an infatuation with wildflowers. I must not be the only one since when I went online I found many places to buy wildflower seeds. The site I chose had varieties that were…
Going to Church No, I have not had a spiritual epiphany and reverted to being a good God-fearing Christian you all want me to be. As I have said many times, I do consider myself a good Christian already. I believe in Christian values (though my Jewish friends and Muslim friends,,,not to mention Buddhist and Hindu friends) would argue that the qualities that define goodness are more universal than those I choose to define as…
Masking as a Way of Life As we get to the short strokes on our household projects (the doors, the laundry room and the deck), the final steps involve painting. In the laundry room its all about waterfall blue on the walls, contrasting the white cabinets and sparkly white quartz countertops. The cabinet and drawer handles are a matching waterfall blue in frosted sea glass that Kim found on Etsy, one of her favorite online…
Basalt and Pepper Ever since those delivery guys from the patio furniture store broke my lovely, but apparently delicate, fountain and I had to replace it with something else they had on their lot (less because they refused to refund my money and more because I was anxious to install my fountain), I have been less than thrilled with my garden fountain situation. I had a wandering fountain eye right from the start and occasionally…