a day to remember

morning:

we went for a run on the beach and found the most amazing thing. the super high and low tide that's been occurring lately dropped several piles of pebbles along the shore. and they were littered with sea glass! we collected until our pockets could hold no more and then we ran cradling our treasure all the way home.

afternoon:

we went for a hike in the front country, in the mountains here that face the sea. chuck had gone the day before and wanted to show me something. i knew i was in for a workout when he said "take your poles" (leki trekking poles, good for steep trails). there was a wildflower we hadn't seen before, it was covering the hillside. it was gorgeous. and the best part, it was covering the burn area, where there had been a devastating wildfire last summer. we saw bees humming, and butterflies fluttering, we saw ladybugs mating and gnats annoying (what do they do besides that?) and we said isn't it wonderful??

and then he took me to dinner because i was pooped. :)

♥ lori

wise owl

photo by Chuck Graham, taken last year, same spot

while camping in the carrizo plain last week, chuck and owen (our puppy) came across this great horned owl ! this darling guy is just a chick, no wonder owen was so interested in him, it must have been a very milo and otis moment! these two youngsters wanting to play together! (i know i know, owlet probably really just wanted to eat owen!)

there were a couple questions in the last comments about the rattlesnake they came across, and how owen reacted. chuck said they were walking along (puppy on a short leash, just too many dangers out) when owen suddenly stopped and became still and then very agitated. luckily chuck looked around before going any further. they heard the hissing first, there, in the long grass, was the rattler. they moved away without disturbing it (owen already backing up), but not of course before chuck took some photos....

photo by Chuck Graham

western pacific rattlesnake
(yes, he was close!)

back to owls, i pulled out my bird books and made an attempt at painting my own owl. HELP! this is the first time i've tried oil paints and i think i did it all wrong. what do i do now? i am stuck. i think the background should have been painted first? i like the little eyes and his talons but the rest looks, terrible. this isn't at all like watercolor. :(



not really meaning for this to be an owl post but i couldn't seem to stop myself ( i have more, did i mention i have a collection of owls too?) these are vintage bookplates a friend gave to me. i thought you might be able to print them out and have your own. if you like owls and bookplates. they are really very lovely i think.


and last, if you'd like to see a live owl in a nest box , go here to meet molly, a wild female barn owl, and her husband mcgee. her chicks were laid in february, and hatched in march. don't forget to turn up the sound to hear the cheep cheep cheep.

♥ lori

it's possible

here is a postcard i found, it's almost one hundred years old! (i don't know if the postmark shows up clearly, it's dated 1913) don't you love that some things never go out of style? doesn't everyone like to be treated nice? can you see someone wrote in the bottom right hand corner? "so do i".

~be kind whenever possible. it is always possible.

His Holiness The Dalai Lama.~

have a great (kind) week ahead everyone!

♥ lori

p.s. owen was a camping champion! he saw his first owls and even a rattlesnake! he had so much fun it took two full shampoos to get him clean again. oh owen.

in the field

1.

2.

3.




4.

1. my husband's most recent cover shot. (great honey!)

2. poppies are in town!

3. where owen likes to go for walks.

4. as soon as the walk is over.

chuck went back out to carrizo today. we could see that new blooms were on the way when we were there last week. and the newest rains may have helped, he had to go find out. owen got to go too, his first big adventure.

:)

♥ lori

wild california ~ the carrizo plain

"Welcome to the Carrizo Plain National Monument; a powerful yet peaceful landscape of sky and earth in a pattern seen nowhere else. As you explore this living museum, remember the closer you look, the more you see."

Goodwin Education Center

California Valley, California

a friend of mine called and said "hey flower child, how was it?"

(for anyone new here we have been following the wildflower bloom here in California),

i could only say one word to her,

E P I C

i hope these pictures say more...

we were giddy, the flowers in the Carrizo were impossibly pretty, there were carpets of them everywhere. we gasped, we sighed, we were without words. we drove and drove and looked and looked before taking out our cameras.

my husband said it was like we were drunk on the sight and scent of wildflowers. we sat in a lake of Phacelia (the purple one), we layed on our stomachs in meadows of Owl's clover (the pink one), we mostly looked in quiet reverence.

that's when the critters start appearing too, meadowlarks, and larksparrows, kangaroo rats and the san joaquin antelope ground squirrel (such a big name for a tiny little guy, they are pictured above). we saw pronghorn antelope and raptors. those were too far away for any photos, the deer pictured were out side of the monument.

there were many discoveries that we couldn't identify. we'll look them up later. in the meantime, i'm ending with my favorite flower (i began this post with it too), that i've called

Wachiwi, which is Sioux for "dancer" or "dancing girl." i wonder what the Native Americans, the Chumash, the Yokuts and others that used to inhabit this area would have called it. maybe smilingwavingfriendlylookstowardsthesundancinggirl.

But i always think that the best way to know God is to love many things.

~Vincent Van Gogh

thank you for coming along.

♥ lori

home ~ part two

do you ever get the feeling you have too much to say, too much to remember? this is how i'm feeling now. pictures and posts are stacking up (in my mind) and the moment feels like it's passing if i don't write right now! here on my blog i like to keep it as a journal, keeping it current. this is why there have been so many wildflower posts! we are obsessed! i thank you for all the kind words and interest, if you can just bear with me a couple more journal entries, the magic will be over...for twenty ten anyway...

can you see the train tracks down by the ocean? we run alongside these from carpinteria to rincon (actually that would be chuck since i'm not these days). the other morning on a run chuck saw something. he called me and said meet me after work, on the bluffs, and bring your camera.

so after my day was done i raced home, grabbed my camera bag, film and owen, not sure what chuck wanted to show me...

see? more wildflowers! in our own backyard! see owen too? he was so happy to come along...

we got more photos and owen waited patiently here he is watching his papa, chuck is down in the bushes...

here is the backside of rincon from the bluffs. this is a good place to come check out the surf.

hi owen! good puppy! can you see that most of the flowers are taller than him? it's time to go now, the sun is starting to set and we are getting hungry. chuck took owen while i got one more shot.

hee hee, he gets so excited to see me! here he is doing his happy jump. but he won't be so happy in a minute when we drop him off at home...

and go to dinner! sorry puppy, mexican food and cervesas are not for you! we'll be back in a couple days with the last of the wildflower posts and hopefully some exciting stories to tell. see you soon!

♥ lori