like a magpie

lately it seems like spring fever has taken over every part of my life, most noticeably, spring cleaning. in trying to simplify my life and our home i've tried to give away the things not needed. these photos show just a few of the collections i have in my home. i've noticed i might have a problem. i can't seem to stop bringing things home. and what's worse is i can't seem to let anything go. i have collections of photos, everybit of art work my children have ever done, letters, books (everyone on africa ever written i think), sewing and knitting supplies, seaglass, things in this certain color blue, seashells, feathers, rocks, travel journals, giraffes, buttons, i have a collection of paint brushes and aprons, i even collect cookbooks when i don't really have that much time to cook. i'm pretty sure i've left something (or two) off this list. oh dear.

spring cleaning has turned into more of spring sighing than organising. this stuff, these treasures (to me) are not going anywhere anytime soon. is it a curse to like so many things? i am definitely two people in one body, since i love zen spaces, peaceful and uncluttered, yet i love all these things around me too. are you a magpie too? and if you are, i'd love to know what you collect and how you handle so many things?

♥ lori

p.s. i hope you are all well, i'll be by for a visit soon!

encouragement & 6:32 p.m.

encouragement~

my daughters and i try our best to motivate and encourage each other to get moving. running, biking, swimming, walking, the gym...anything to break a sweat.

so i wasn't surprised the other morning when i got this text message from my oldest girl:

kim mobile~

"ready for a little worky outy?"

lori mobile~

"what did you have in mind?"

kim mobile~

"donut lifts?"

lori mobile~

"hehheehehheeehheeehehehheee!"

so much for motivation and encouragement! we did walk quickly though to the coffee bean for chai tea lattes and blueberry scones.

don't you love exercise? :)

~ ♥ ~

6:32 p.m.~

thirty years ago today my first child was born. at six thirty two p.m. a new little person came into the world and at the same time one big person (me) was reborn. i was a mama. and now for thirty years, a curious thing happens. every so often i will look at the clock (after not so much as giving it a glance all day) and i will see 6:32 p.m.

every time i think the same thing. how very lucky and blessed i am for this moment, hour and minute. for not only 6:32 p.m., since my daughter came to me then, but for every single minute we've spent in between. (not counting ages two and seventeen. kidding. mostly. :)

i love you dearly kimberly summer, thank you for choosing me to be your mom. we sure have fun don't we?

happy 30th birthday my girl, you know you'll always be my baby.
♥ love forever,

mom

once a seed

photo by Dan Harding/pacificimages.biz

flowers for gazing and smelling, flowers for photographing, flowers for pressing, can you ever get enough of flowers? i made these pressings for my daughters birthday on thursday. but she'll have to wait a few more weeks before they are ready to be framed. i got her her own flower press too. she'll be happy.

chuck is wandering through coreopsis on anacapa island, on a photo flower safari. if you would like to see a recent slide show of some of his wildflower images, go here.

♥ lori

california dreamin'

good waves,

warm sun,

family,

it's the weekend.

yay.

oh there was also puppy class and lemon asparagus risotto i made, flower pressing, movies and beach runs, but i didn't get any photos of those things, sometimes you just gotta put the camera down :)

i hope yours was all the things you dream of too...

♥ lori

hello spring

new seeds came in the post, these from germany.

thank you geli!

my international (potted) garden is growing!

to all my friends who are still wishing for spring to appear, i found a little song for you to sing while you wait! happy spring everyone, unless of course it's now autumn for you, and then i want to wish you a happy autumn instead!

♥ lori

desert solitaire

( beavertail cactus in bloom)

" i hold no preference among flowers, so long as they are wild, free and spontaneous"

~desert solitaire~

edward abbey

(ocotillo blossoms)

we found very few wildflowers, beautiful, but few. it seems the daily reports we'd read

were not all that accurate.

(desert sunflower & lupine)



we weren't alone in that thinking either,
there were droves of people that came for the
predicted event. everyone asking "where are the flowers?"
the epic wildflower bloom, ah well, mother nature surely
decides these things, not us, doesn't she?








(cholla (choy-ya) cactus)


so we set about enjoying all the many other treasures the desert has to offer...

in the desert the best way to see is to get quiet...

get away from the crowds...

get down on your knees for a closer look...

find hearts and think of all your friends ♥

and take some hikes...we went from this to...

this! we hiked six miles to an oasis, you would not guess by looking at these photos

that this place is called

hell hole canyon!

can you see the small waterfall we cooled off in?

(blooming agave)

this photo shows the way we hiked to the palm covered oasis, it was over 80 degrees out!

i seem to have picked up a few stragglers. when chuck pointed out a blooming barrel cactus i got so excited i hurried off the trail to see it.

i forgot to look where i was stepping.

:)

we went on another hike to the breathtaking badlands...

in one day we did three hikes, and covered sixteen miles. i think i counted just as many blisters!

in anza - borrego desert it's okay to camp anywhere...we found a beautiful spot but it was so windy we couldn't put up our tent. instead we spread out our sleeping pads and bags in the truck bed and slept there! it was fun even if we didn't get much sleep. we listened to the wind and coyotes all night. and yes! there were stars, millions, i think we could see every single one.

we decided to go exploring more of this thousand square mile wilderness, we were looking for a place where we read you could see native american rock art, and an ancient village...
we drove and drove and and then hiked and hiked...

there it is!

incredible! i love this art form, pictographs, and especially love to imagine the native tribe that painted this. driving and hiking a little more we found the kumeyaay morteros...

here it is! we are at a native american village site. the kumeyaay (ku-may-eye) people used this site on a seasonal basis. they gathered pinon nuts, mesquite beans and desert agave. nuts and seeds were pounded into meal in "morteros", the large depressions in the granite boulders.

the informative sign said to sit quietly and imagine yourself working along side the kumeyaay women, pounding large rock pestles into the morteros, grinding seeds and talking over the news of the day. we did just that, grateful for the experience.

(desert lily)

on our third day in the desert i was feeling not quite as fresh as this flower . but roughing it is part of the fun. i do love to camp. while out on a drive we passed through the small town of borrego springs, chuck told me we needed gas. instead he drove up to one of the resorts and he told me we were getting a room for the night! he wanted to surprise me! for being a good sport he said. then we went out to a lovely dinner.
sometimes camping is overrated. :)

(sandverbena)

we may not have gotten to see an epic flower show, this may not be the year for anza-borrego after all. but we did have a wonderful time, we gazed at stars, splashed in a desert waterfall, talked long talks while taking long walks. we saw a coyote (and heard them every night) a roadrunner, quail, cactus wrens and hummingbirds. we saw jackrabbits, honeybee's and blister beetles. and on our way out of the park, in the high desert i saw a nest with a large bird.

i told chuck, i'd never seen a nest like this before. in a tree by the side of the road.

so he turned around to get a better look.it was an eagle!

we didn't want to stress the mama so we watched for just a moment and then left.
i loved this trip.

(buggy windscreen driveby photo of home)

and apparently so did owen. back at home where he and hannah spent the last few days together, he went to a surf contest, met lots of new friends (dogs and people), dug lots of holes, went to a barbeque and went for a beach run. i don't think he missed us very much. but we sure missed him.

tired sore happy lori ♥

wildflower searching

figueroa mountain 2008 ~

it's the season for wildflowers here in california. this year is predicted to be epic, with all the elements necessary for a good year of blooms coming together just right. we've been checking all the hotlines and websites for updates to various places and we decided to head south to a desert on the Mexican border. here is some of what we'll (hopefully!) see...

"The park features washes, wildflowers, palm groves, cacti and sweeping vistas. Visitors may also have the chance to see roadrunner, golden eagles, kit foxes, mule deer and bighorn sheep as well as iguanas, chuckwallas and the red diamond rattlesnake"...

hopefully we'll get some beautiful images, i really wish i could capture the fragrance to share with you too.

have a wonderful weekend everyone, see you next week (i'll be in a tent with no internet! but it does have a screen so we can look at the stars instead... :)

♥ lori