Critique Welcomed A Blog - COTiP (Cleaning Out The iPhone)

[Gary Ayala]

COTiP (out of chronological order):

1)

The Pozole.

2)

On Maggie's walk, we ran into a bunch of mushrooms. This is one of many bunches.

 

[Gary Ayala]

COTiP (back to chronological order):

Some Blooms from the Front Yard (click to expand)-

1)

Rose

2)

Rose

3)

Rose

4)

Rose

5)

Golden Poppies and Sweet Peas

6)

Monarch Caterpillar

 

[Gary Ayala]

COTiP (Cleaning out the iPhone - in chronological order):

Gary makes, what he calls, Snowball Margaritas.

1)

Start with Snow (the Ninja Blender will crush ice to a consistency of snow.)

2)

Add Tequila, Lime and Gary's homemade Orange Liqueur.

3)

Viola!

4)

Cook up some Chicken

5)

Add some sauce ...

Dinner is ready ...

 

[Gary Ayala]

COTiP (Not in chronological order):

1)

I cooked up some Rye Bread.

2)

After the rain everything is popping.

3)

Frontyard Succulents

4)

Frontyard Succulents

5)

Frontyard Succulents

6)

Trumpet Plant Bloom in the tree.

7)

Trumpet Blooms on the ground.

 

[Wes Hall]

Thank you Beth Carter. The pond brings a lot of enjoyment and a soothing atmosphere to the yard. The back is very very relaxing. Plus we have butterflies and Hummingbirds everyday all year long. We love our butterflies.View attachment 21184

Beautiful bush and it’s namesake

 

[Gary Ayala]

COTiP (Clean Out The iPhone):

Making Tortillas
1)
Tortilla Press (handmade from recycled metals)

2)

The tortilla press in action.

3)

Cooking tortillas in the backyard.

 

[Gary Ayala]

COTiP (Cleaning out the iPhone in chronological order - click to expand):

1)

Backyard Artichokes

2)

More Backyard Artichokes

3)

Jacaranda Blooms, Sidewalk and Grass

4)

Trumpet Plant Bloom

5)

Maggie's Nose

 

[Gary Ayala]

COTiP (today - Not in chronological order):

1)

Beaucoup rain today. Due to the grade of the lot, (the backyard is much higher than the house), the water drains towards the house. We have this rain barrel w/ hose set up to capture the gutter water and transport the water to a side yard and ultimately down the driveway and out to the street.

2)

The basil leaves culled from recent backyard pruning, which were not use in the pesto, have been dried for future cooking projects.

Back to COTiP in chronological order:
3)

Saw this structure on a job walk at a school ... What-The-Hell?

More Food Stuff ... (apparently I shoot everything I eat ... probably some sort of psychological disorder (one of many ... wonder if such a disorder has a name ...)

4)

Sous Vide in Action - In summer I place the Souse Vide in the back to take the heat outside.

5)

24 hours later - Ready to Serve

6)

Served

 

[Gary Ayala]

Foto Phood Syndrome - FPS -

( ... I made that up.)

 

[Gary Ayala]

COTiP - (in chronological order - click to expand):

1)

Maggie loves to open packages.

2)

Fini.

3)

Bells from the garden.

4)

More garden stuff.

5)

And more ...

6)

Capped off with a lovely Plumeria.

 

[Gary Ayala]

COTiP - (Yesterday):

Finally after days of off and on rain and dreary skies ... the Sun came out ... 70F ... time for some nice weather gardening.

1)


Succulent ... this thing is about 12 inches across.

2)

Backlighted fountain ... wanted to see what I could get with the iPhone (ehh).

3)

A pile of Nasturtium plants, ripped out by Mary Lou, which were overrunning the flower beds ... queued up for the composter.

4)

Every other day I find these holes up on the area behind the retaining wall. Some animal comes by rooting around for a late night snack. I fold the disturbed debris back into the holes and the next day there's another dozen holes in different places. I'm thinking most likely a raccoon ... maybe an opossum, (the shoe is for sizing).

5)

Another Fountain - top view.

7)

'Another Fountain' - side view.

 

[Gary Ayala]

COTiP (Cleaning Out The iPhone Not in chronological order):

Today-
1)


Click to Expand
The pile of Nasturtium is gone (see #3 above). Gary had to empty and disassemble two existing compost bins. Assemble and refill two new compost bins. The existing bins were 3/4 filled prior to stuffing the bins with the Nasturtium. Now all the bins are 100% filled. The existing compost in the old bins was extremely rich, nearly black and filled with worms.

COTiP - Back to chronological order (Click to Expand):

2)

The rooftop of a new bakery/restaurant project Gary was working on Northridge, California. Early morning frost coating a new TPO roof.

3)

Inside the dining room of the 29,000sf bakery/restaurant are newly installed ceiling lamps. These puppies have a diameter of 8'-0".

4)

Backyard Brunch - (PS- the lower half of the glass is tinted)

5)

Lime Juice

 

[Gary Ayala]

COTiP (Cleaning Out The iPhone - from today):

1)

Early front yard poppies.

2)

Some bubbly today with dinner.

3)

Sweet Angels Waltz from Thornton Winery in Temecula, California. Mary Lou's fav.

4)

On today's walk, Maggie and Gary, ran into this Italian Flag front yard.

 

[Gary Ayala]

COTiP from today (Cleaning Out The iPhone):

Quoting Randy Newman "... Another Perfect Day ... I love LA..."
78F/25C and 34% humidity

1)
Bird of Paradise from today's stroll, (Miss Maggie is in upper right).

2)

Mary Lou and Gary celebrated today with an afternoon glass from our favorite Temecula winery.

Worked from home today. After work, Gary put the top down and drove to a local nursery. We checked out their tomatoes, picked up a Cherokee Purple, a trailing rosemary, a native Californian Milkweed and some Sunflower seeds. Gary plans to pick up more tomatoes, some peppers, et al, this weekend. Planting time!

 

[Gary Ayala]

COTiP- 2-28 (Cleaning Out The iPhone - last couple days)

1)

Made some Rye Bread - soooooooo good ...

2)

The 'Before' shot. All the ingredients are in the bread machine. Press a button and the bread maker does all the hard work.

3)

California Snow


Closeup of California Snow.

5)

Looking Up while waiting at the movies.

 

[Gary Ayala]

COTiP (Cleaning Out The iPhone - back to chronological order):

1)

Pantages Theatre
Hollywood, California

2)

In Spring, the backyard Redbud Forest Pansy pops out these little magenta blossoms. (click to expand)

3)

A winter afternoon backyard snack.

4)

The blossoms all fall into the pond. At every blossom location, the fallen flower is replaced with a leaf.

5)

A toast to the backyard Redbud.