Monday’s Forum
Steven L. Taylor
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Monday, December 29, 2025
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1 comment
About Steven L. Taylor
Steven L. Taylor is a Professor Emeritus of Political Science and former College of Arts and Sciences Dean. His main areas of expertise include parties, elections, and the institutional design of democracies. His most recent book is the co-authored
A Different Democracy: American Government in a 31-Country Perspective. He earned his Ph.D. from the University of Texas and his BA from the University of California, Irvine. He has been blogging since 2003 (originally at the now defunct Poliblog).
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It’s been off-and-on rainy here in Estoril, but sunny today. So I roped up Astrid (the very pretty, neurotic spaniel/Papillon mix) and Boss (the, let’s say, cute, and belligerent Pug), grabbed my canvas shopping bag and walked down the winding calçada sidewalks to Gleba, one of several neighborhood bakeries, and the immediately-adjacent Continente Bom Dia which is about halfway between a 7-11 and a small grocery store.
Estoril (shtoo-rdeel) is a sort of Beverly Hills-ish neighborhood where our three story, four bedroom, four bath, two kitchen, pool and garage rental is a cottage. Everyone here has massive dogs, Mastiffs and Shepherds imprisoned behind the walls and fences of massive estates. At one spot there’s a ten foot wall and three giant dogs perch on the heights loudly threatening our dogs. Boss is ready to throw down. Astrid’s too cool to acknowledge them.
The Portuguese are dog-lovers. They’ll no more smile at a passing human than a Frenchman would, but they will greet Astrid and especially Boss. There’s something about bulging eyes and a half inch of pink tongue forever poking through her underbite that’s endearing.
The flowers are still in bloom, and with my deep knowledge of botany I was able to identify what I believe are called ‘small yellow’ as well as ‘large yellow’ flowers. Also small orange and even purple flowers. SoCal weather.
Picked up bleach and sandwich bags and raspberry preserves at Continente, and a big loaf of pão Alentejo and a couple of croissants that would do a Paris boulangerie proud. Still don’t have our visas and we’re eating up our Schengen time, so things remain tentative. Still not loving the cuisine, but the Portuguese can bake with the best.
And now I’m in an IKEA rocker on the patio, the Atlantic to my left. The ocean is very blue today with the sky clear. The weather may be SoCal but the air is not. There’s no smog, and no wildfire smoke, so I do what I can to foul the air with a Davidoff Nicaragua Toro and make it just a bit more homey.