perfect conditions

A series of storms have hit our area, generating heavy rain, gusty winds and SNOW! I know many people will probably stop reading right now, since snow is the last thing you want to be reminded of. Sorry.
It's really exciting though when you live at the beach, unless of course you moved here to get away from the stuff. Having lived at the beach all my life makes it a pretty big event (for me). Friday morning we woke to rain, REALLY cold rain. By midmorning the wind pushed the clouds apart enough to let the sun through. I was at work thinking to myself how lovely that was, the sun, not work, when my phone rang. It was a friend telling me to go outside. Now. And oh, they said, you might want your camera.


I raced down to the Carpinteria Salt Marsh Nature Park. It's only a couple blocks from my work (and about a mile from my home). It's the best place besides the beach to get an unobstructed view of the mountains...

... see ?!... Fantastic...sigh...

...as I was making my way down the footpath, I came across a few others that were enjoying the respite from the wet weather. Can you see the bunny and the mockingbird?

...yes, you are doing a good job of hiding little bunny.

We can't see you at all :)

...and away to your comfortable perch miss mockingbird,

see you later...I've got to get back to work...

...heading back, I see that the beach park is flooded......and these mallards waste no time turning it into a pond...

... another view with palm trees and mountains,

I really like that!

...main street with snow (ok, it's on the mountains, but still!)

....last view. Till tommorrow.

When we go to the top of the ridge.

which means more snow.

just in case you want to pass on that post too.

i'm just saying ;)

xxx Lori

a simple idea

In anticipation of our upcoming trip to Africa I've started reading everything I can get my hands on. I found a lovely old book on birds. Roberts Birds of South Africa. It's a field identification guide. The cover was tattered and falling apart, which wasn't really a problem, but I decided a remedy was called for anyway. Here is my idea...

I used a paper garbage bag and folded it to fit the book. Then I chose my favorite birds that I hope to see when we're there. And drew them. And then painted them...

... each bird has the page number where it can be found, for quick reference...

Then, because my husband thought it was too pretty to use, I made a copy of it. (but I think I like the original better, easier to take notes on, the copy paper is a little too smooth for watercolors)...

...here is a picture one of the gorgeous plates inside, the Kingfisher is one of my favorites and I think it's one of the most beautiful birds in Africa...

color plates by Norman C.K. Lighton

...and now, see this magazine here? We have a subscription and at my husbands suggestion, I wrote a letter and sent a photo of my book cover to them a few weeks ago.

And now Look!! here it is! Well, he said he is not surprised. But I am!! He said "my wife is getting famous".

... and then he said "you'd better go put this on your blog" ...

...indeed ;)

xxx lori

Tags & Memes & Awards

The Blomunity (blog + community) sounds kind of good no? ok, how about Blage for blog + village...sort of? Well, anyway, my best blog~mates have tagged, memed and awarded me 6 different ways. It seems i've let these pile up, I know, I am lagging! So, now these are all going to get rolled into one great big post. I'll be brief. So you won't be tempted to take back your awards... and hand me a new one for lagging. hehe.

Photo Tag ~ I am tagged by the lovelies Bhavana & Cynthia . The idea is to go to your folders and from the 6th one post the 6th photo. And then talk about it. Well... as you can see this is not an incredibly interesting photo! I said to myself when i was tagged and before I went to my photos, I am really going to use the photo, no matter what it is, barring naked people. Just kidding, I don't really have naked people in my folders. At least I don't think I do... So, the photo is my kitchen, our fish, some of my cookbooks and my Buddha. I took the photo because I am making a cookbook for a gift. It's a surprise so I don't want to talk too much. But I'll tell you it's so much fun to do and the end result is fabulous! to make it you go to this great website, upload your own photos & recipes, then the whole thing comes back bound in a book. It's a great gift, I think. So this photo was going to be part of the book I'm making. Instead of this picture, I wish I could show you the book. If you are interested in making your own you might check out http://www.tastebook.com/ and if you want to give me one of your cookbooksthat you make too, that would be ok with me... ;)

Now the Letter Tag. This is fun and again you can go to Val for the official rules. She does a great job describing and besides its a perfect excuse to go over and say hi to her. So, the letter. I lucked out and got S.

Here goes, in no particular order...

1) Sleep. If you've had a baby (or babies) you will agree sleep rates right up there with food and water(and sex). Even if you haven't, you will agree we need our sleep. Lots of it.

2) Sun Salutation, Surya Namaskar, is the way I like to start the day. Often times I don't have the time for a class, so this yoga pose or series of asana sequences is perfect for me.

3) Sea/Shore, I think I have a little saltwater in my blood, it's hard to be away from the ocean for too long, could I have been a mermaid in a past life? :)

4) Sagittarius, Husband, Daughter and G~son are ones. I love Sagittariuses.

5) Serendipity, "making pleasant discoveries by accident" . Accidental or otherwise, I think they are out there all around us all the time. If we are looking in the right way.

6) Solitude, i read before that this can mean being a recluse or lonely. That sounds sad. To me solitude is a beautiful word, full of wide open spaces, expanses of plains and sea and sky. And no one else. just me. I like that alot.

7) Safari, " There is something about safari life that makes you forget all your sorrows and feel as if you had drunk half a bottle of champagne ~ bubbling over with heartfelt gratitude for being alive." Isak Dinesen (Karen Blixen), Out of Africa. Yup.

8) Sister, mine. The Best.

9) Sierras, we live approximately five hours from one of the most magnificent mountain ranges in the world. From one of my favorite books, My First Summer in the Sierra ~ John Muir ..."beauty beyond thought everywhere, beneath, above, made and being made forever."

10) Sunflower, sturdy, tolerant, forgiving and to me so optimistic. Always facing towards the sun. Making seeds for us and our bird friends. And this from my gardening book, Not for tidy gardens! oh goody! This is my kind of flower!and...sunshinestargazespiritualstingraysublimestrawberriesspasummersongbirdsilly...

And now the last part of this marathon post,

The Awards!

With most humble gratitude (yay!yay!) I have been generously given this sweet award "Light in the Soul" by the Uber Talented Tessa, you can find her at The Aerial Armadillo. Gracias, dear one.

....and this, "The Superior Scribbler" came from the seriously gifted Nicky at Absolute Vanilla. Dankie, Nicky :)

...and here, this sweet "Friends award" came from Sue over at Soo's Stuff. She's a sweetie. And I think away from blogging for a bit, but hopefully she'll be back soon. So thank you Sue.

And now for the good part... I get to pass these on...!! These awards definitely go to each and every person that are on my blogroll, but if I try to pass these out one by one, I'll be linking and typing till tomorrow and my family might not like me anymore. So...being a big believer that good fortune is best when shared with others...

The Light in the soul Award

The Soaring Impulse by Maithri

The Superior Scribbler Award

Under The Blood Red Sky by Janet

The Friend Award

SweetMango by SweetsweetMango

...and now I feel like jumping in the ocean, I think I'll go back to Samoa, want to come with me?

xxx lori

p.s. one last s. Sincerely...

SUP

It was going to be a stellar day here on the central coast, with temperatures hovering near the high 70's. Saturday morning we woke to another day of warm air and soft breezes. My husband said to me

"Let's go for a paddle".

What he meant was Stand Up Paddle. SUP. Do you know this term? I only learned about it recently myself, apparently it's been around since the 50's or 60's. But it's gaining in popularity by leaps and bounds.

Here's the boat house where he keeps his board, the rest of what you see is owned by the Parks and Recreation, for all the summer activities.

...these are all the rental wetsuits, i think there's size to fit everybody and every body...

...here we go, the boat house is right on the beach so my Husband only has to carry this humongous board a short way. It may be hard to tell by my photos but there was a very large fog bank right in front of us. We looked at each other and laughed, it wasn't quite so warm anymore. Well, I had brought a thick rash guard, good thing. Even if the air was warm (in the sun) the temp. of the ocean was in the low 50's.


This is a stand up paddleboard. It's different from a surfboard in a few ways. They are loooong. This one is 10'6". And it's wide. For the stability of course. It has a thick pad on top, for traction. Made out of epoxy it is heavy, but mostly it's just awkward to move, out of the water anyway. Oh, and you need a paddle, which is how you move the thing around. The whole thing costs as much as a small car. Which is why we only have one.

There goes my Husband! he was giving me a quick demonstration. Even though I've seen it done before. I don't mind watching his cute, ahem, stay focused now...there he goes....

"Standup paddling is best described as "Yoga on Water" It's a no-impact sport...improves balance and coordination...strength and endurance...stress reducing...relaxing and invigorating for people of all ages ,ability, & size...The biggest plus, is that it's the funnest core fitness exercise on the planet...leave the world behind at the water's edge and let the dance take over... "

Look, it's me! see me paddling away?... in the fog?! i managed to stay dry when I jumped on at the shore, I was so determined not to fall, i wanted to avoid that water. Plus, my husband warned me that if I fell to fall away from the board, or it'll hurt. I love that kind of advice, if you have to mess up, mess up this way... :)

...here I come, I can hear my husband calling to me, what? what are you saying? I can't hear him, I don't want to break my concentration, so I ignore him. It is easy and hard all at the same time to paddleboard. It's a great workout. Every muscle is engaged. I was a bit wobbly, but never really close to falling off. Maybe that's because I didn't move around too too much. Did not want to go in the water.

I could see the bottom. The visibility was fantastic. I was looking for stingrays.

It looks like I'm standing still. But I'm not. It's a little like kayaking, you dip your carbonsomethingorother, paddle in the water and pull yourself forward. It really is fun. My exit out was not quite as graceful as I'd have liked. A small wave came and jiggled me off. I lost my balance then and landed in knee high water, on my knees.

And got wet. Oh well, it was worth it.

Now it was Chuck's turn to get his workout in. He took off down the coast and after I changed out of the wet stuff I wandered around and found a few beautiful things, would you like to see?...

... a lovely sandpiper...

...some kind of scallop, i think a pacific pink...

...and another species of scallop, i think. And do you see this seaweed here? I learned that we have over 100 types of seaweed on this beach. I went back to college last year and took a class in Natural History, one of our assignments was to collect specimens of 20 different seaweeds. I decided to enroll because I was feeling left out with all the kids in highschool and college. I got an A in my class. My kids said "Of course you did Mom". And then they rolled their eyes.

....and then this!! a baby abalone! these are really rare, we never see these around here anymore. I am really excited to find this! I love these shells and I love to eat it,the abalone. If you've ever had abalone you'd know what I mean. They are second only to the Lobster, according to me. Yum.

...speaking of... here he comes now! He was only gone a little over 30 minutes. When he jumped off the board, still only wet on his feet, I was smiling from the recent abalone score. He took one look at me and said, "Ok, what did you find?"

And then he asked "what would you like to do? go to breakfast or go to the jacuzzi?"

I chose both :)




xxx lori

Imagination Vacation...

Recently our newspapers have been offering a long weekend get~a~way, Friday through Monday, to Tahiti. Every time I read the ad it makes me start staring off into space, imagining the sights, sounds and smells of a tropical island...

...oh wouldn't a holiday be nice? ... if your like me and can't be skipping off to islands in the sun , you can take a little Imagination Vacation...

...here we go, look at that! two chaise lounges at the fresh water lava pool! what would you like to drink? should we order an Iced Tea or maybe a Mai Tai?

...if you like we can wander a bit and see the lovely surprises this island has to offer, can you see this tiny feathered friend, should we get a guide book to identify him? naaaa...he's pretty..that's good enough...

...maybe it would be fun to take a boat ride, get a different perspective..if you get too hot you can jump in the ocean...

...the waves are breaking, they sound like thunder. Let's get a little closer...

...there we go. Can you hear it now? did I say thunder?what I meant to say is, more like a locomotive...

...ah, i think it's time to leave the surfing for another time and head back for a bite to eat! there is the Fale where lunch is served...

...and here is another Fale, with a family of children having their own lunch, Talofa children! I wonder where are their Matua?

... the sun is setting on the South Pacific...the sounds of the night are not far behind...


....listen! it's a Fia Fia! for this you will need a lava lava, wrap it on just like this and dance your cares away... one more Mai Tai please?
...I've got to get back now. Here's the road, the only road that will take me back to the airport. Are you coming? OH, right, I hear you... it's your Imagination Vacation, you can stay as long as you like!





fa'afetai, tofa





alofa, Lori





p.s. We were in the village of Salamumu
on the Island of Upolu
in Western (Independant) Samoa






fale ~ house
talofa ~ hello
matua ~ elders
fa'afetai ~ thank you
tofa ~ goodbye
alofa ~ LOVE




xxx :)