work date

'meet me after work for dinner?' my husband asked.

i arrived at the harbor a little early

to have a walk around, to see what i could see. hmm, a pair of standup paddleboarders, a sailboat motoring in and a very large fog bank in the distance. i don't see him yet.

 a  friend is having a show at the harbor

  ahoy pup!

 this boat unloaded many surfboards and children to the dock

 oh! i see him, here he comes!

 :)

this is what he does. leading kayaking and hiking tours in the channel islands national park. if the idea of paddling through sea caves in one of the most spectacular places on earth appeals to you, contact channel islands outfitters here .

 anacapa island

here are photos of what it's like paddling out at the islands. pictures taken by my husband, of me.
here is another one he took, i'm in vogue, hee hee ,yes, you have to wear a helmet, it's a necessity for the caves, and arches, like this one.

i expertly watched him put the days boats away

good job honey!

 he loves my help

no sooner was he done, than our dinner buzzer went off, calling us to our table, only a few steps away.

there are the boats he just put away, now we're sitting just above them, overlooking the harbor

nautical views and people watching

dinner with my own personal guide.  :)

if you go:
santa barbara harbor, santa barbara, california
brophy bros. restaurant and clam bar, they have an interesting website, here
with links for more to do in santa barbara.
cheers! lori

summer is here

summertime here is late afternoon surf sessions,
early morning walks and runs before the holiday crowds arrive for the day...
it's long days at work out on the islands (top photo, in the distance) for my husband, i stand on this shore and wave across the miles... hello, i miss you...
or it's watching him here, driving the tractor on the beach as part of his lifeguard duties (must take a more recent photo)
it's watching my grands too at their first year as junior lifeguards, it really was just yesterday when my children were j.g.'s ....sigh...

summer here is bridal roses, given to me by my daughter this morning, from a wedding she
catered last night.
it's a parade,
a strawberry lemonade stand (with sunkissed granddaughter as proprietor)
and first tomatoes ripening on the vine, yep indeed, summer is here.

the temperature here is a mild 72 degrees, with a cool breeze blowing onshore, which i am hoping will continue to blow across the entire united states, bringing some relief from the heat wave affecting most of the country. i hope it reaches you! or wouldn't you like to come here? we'll save some lemonade for you  :)

and...
the winner of my small namibia book is going to two people, two sisters. when one name was chosen (thank you random number generator) i had to include the other. one book is going to andee of match the pictures and one to leanne of arrow acres farm!  andee and leanne, please email me at lorix5@hotmail.com and i'll send the books on to you! thank you so much, all of you lovely people for having an interest in this book. i'm wishing i could send one to everyone, but it is still possible to own a copy. here is how it works:  send me your email, i'll send it to 'my publisher'. they'll send you a link to view the book (there is no obligation), and/or, you may order your own copy. the price is very reasonable. that's it! if you do so, i would love to know.
cheers (summery ones)!  xxx lori

yarn gracing

wishing for another pi shawl to be on the needles, i have been looking at patterns and making swatches. what to do with a circular swatch? cover rocks, i liked them as bookends!   :)   i left one of these swatched rocks this morning, back where i found it, near a path next to the shore. wouldn't it be fun to find? the other is destined for a faraway friend, a bit of california to share. i'm reading an eighty two year old copy of walden and still enjoying 'safari' by tony park, keeping that feeling close to my heart. joining with ginny and the yarnalongers here

p.s. if you'd like to enter a giveaway for a small photo book of africa i've made (pockets!), click here, i'll choose a name this sunday, july 1st
xxx lori

*

update:   i returned this morning and found the rock gone  :)

thank you for your interest in the patterns i knit, i would love to share, but i'm not sure that's allowed.

the alabaster wool rock was made using the pi shawl formula from this book by elizabeth zimmerman, and the gossamer one was from this pattern by jared flood. 

desert oasis

i was mistaken. we were in the mojave desert and the colorado desert which is part of the sonoran desert, and they border each other. oh dear this is confusing. wikipedia says it better, we were in joshua tree national park which includes both of these two california deserts. we came for one reason, to find and photograph the crotaphytus collaris, common collared lizard.

    yucca brevifolia ~ joshua tree

 teeny tiny ground squirrel

creosote bush

 chuck needed a photo of a specific lizard. knowing it's habitat and preference for temperatures between 105-110 f (41-43 c) meant if we were to find one, we would be visiting the desert in summer. which was good for room rates, but not so much for hiking.

 oh my goodness gracious it was hot

 we hiked, and we looked, on every rock, in every crack

one trail led to a natural oasis

which was really lovely, the shade of these palms was welcome relief 

 in this extreme heat the earth seemed to shimmer

 our desert accommodations

 morning view

 we arrived early monday and spent the day searching, finding many things, but still not a collared lizard to be seen

 this little bird hasn't yet been identified. we saw few birds, they must all stay in their air conditioned nests  :)

 back at the inn for lunch, we looked around the grounds. there is a natural spring here at 29 palms

 and an organic garden, where food is grown for the 29 palms inn restaurant

  a two bedroom adobe for rent at the inn

 lepus californicus ~ black-tailed jackrabbit

air conditioning! ice cold drinks! these were made with fresh plums picked that very morning in the fault line garden

 where to look, my husbands baby blue eyes or the art for sale above him? hee hee easy choice

i looked at this! my yummy lunch (kidding honey)    :)

 we stayed in the 'buffalo bur'

 cucurbita palmata ~ coyote melon    coming across a green growing thing in the vast dry summer desert is exciting, supposedly the pulp is not edible but the seeds are, it's a little larger than an apple and so cute

 jumbo rocks ~ a good place to camp, but not this time. this trip is our first time to rent a room, i don't think camping would be too much fun in such heat (thank you honey)

 hello elephant rock!

end of the second day and still no lizards. but being in joshua tree is such a pleasure, it's a place of beauty and serenity (and a great place for rock climbing!)

at dinner we have lizards on our minds...visualize it, we can see it!... tomorrow, we will find it

 next morning we're out early, and i'm determined

it's like finding a needle in a haystack, and then...

 i see something!! now this is one we haven't seen yet on this trip

 it's not the one we're looking for, but basking in the sun, is a very large and lovely chuckwalla

and later, another one! you must tiptoe up very slowly, making no sudden movements, or they run away, hide in a crack of  rock and blow up their wrinkly skin, to wedge themselves in against predators

 hmm...

 yes?

 what is going on?? i am giggling and it's making it hard to hold the camera still

 is this a yogi chuckwalla? what are you doing silly lizard?

can you please tell me where to find your friend the collared lizard? and that's when i realize he must have been directing me with his foot. that way...

and do you know he was right?! at the very end of a very long three days, there it was, a young female collared lizard. on a very precarious perch, not at all afraid of cameras and admirers. she is lifting her foot off the heated rock, a way to cool off. thank you little lizard, now you are no longer my husbands nemesis. did i mention i found her? hee hee, maybe i should get a new career, the lizard hunter

with extra big grins, we hiked back out, mopping our brows, and bid farewell to joshua tree (for now). can you spot the young coyote in this photo? this is what happens as soon as you pack up your lenses, this little guy ran right in front of us, stopped and posed, and i think i saw a wink.

 back home waiting on our doorstep, was another package from my publisher.com

 i made these tiny books

 for children in my life, my grands and friends little ones

they are so small, measuring 2  1/2" x 3  1/2"  only. at this size you are allowed 20 photos only. i chose ones i thought the children would like, animals mostly. and included a couple of photos of the pockets being worn. i thought others might like to have a copy too. so i'm giving away one of these tiny books, and it matters not if you sent a pocket along with me to africa, i know your well wishes were there. it's a small way of saying thank you for making the pockets so very meaningful and so much fun. please leave a comment telling me if you'd like to win one of these books.

and please remember to leave a way for me to get in touch with you. i'll leave comments open until next sunday july 1st.

if you'd like to make your own photo book, i made a sort of tutorial here and if you go to
mypublisher.com/friend (here) you will receive a FREE $20 gift card. that means you can make a 5 x 7 softcover photobook free with gift card (like the nkozi one), or a classic hardcover photobook for only $9.80 with card. i think you'll love it!  (i think if you mention i sent you i may qualify for a discount on future books. thank you if you do!).

thank you again for coming along with us, it is always a pleasure to share our adventures!
xxx, lori