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

free

(anacapa island, part of the channel islands, and a place that seems like heaven on earth to me)

Only when you drink from the river of silence shall you indeed sing. And when you have reached the mountain top, then you shall begin to climb. And when the earth shall claim your limbs, then shall you truly dance.

The Prophet
Kahlil Gibran



To everyone that knew and loved Renee, and to those that didn't, (i want to include everyone!), I'm sending out the biggest hug I can and all the love I have too. For that is the most important thing she showed me, the time for loving and telling those we do, is now. I love you.



Dear Renee, you are free. You are loved!



♥ lori

a good week

owen finally finished his puppy shots and we could start introducing him to the wonders of the world. chuck and i both knew the first place we'd take him would be the ocean. i think i was more excited than him, he was cautious. looking at it through little puppy eyes i saw big birds, big waves (well, when your only inches tall :) everythings potentially frightening. he ran and hid between my legs more than once. but i think he had fun. oh owen.

i recently bought some wool made from local alpacas, you can read about it here if you like. i knit it into these two hats. the pattern can be found at the purl bee here. this wool was incredibly lovely to work with, it's beyond soft.

there was a tiny bit left so i made this teddy bear for the mother bear project. if you'd like to know more about this non-profit group go here , these are simple to make, using only the knit stitch.

he's so soft and warm!

here is the beginning of my international garden!

two lovely blogging friends, janet from south africa and natalie from australia, sent me seeds. they germinated and this week i see little sprouts coming up through the potting soil!

see these australian daisies? so exciting. i have an image of an international garden, seeds representing friends from around the world! maybe we can figure out some kind of seed exchange? we could all have global gardens!

i don't have a photo of the most important thing that happened this week, the last of my children got her drivers licence. there were a few reasons why she didn't get it until age 19. one of them is she likes riding her bike. even though a car is handy for some things, all of us (the kids, chuck and i) walk, ride bikes and take public transportation as well as drive.

she also received an acceptance letter from the college she applied to. here we go again. :)

it was a good week ♥

i hope you have a wonderful week ahead (we've got a small trip planned!), and i'm really sorry for being a bad blogging friend, i'll be by to visit you all soon!

♥ lori

things to love

thank you for all the birthday wishes for my son, they were much appreciated!
i had to take photos of the treasures i found last weekend and of course share them here. see the three little gnomes? they are like little rattles, someone long ago filled them with rocks or seeds to weigh them down. i think they'll add so much charm to my garden!

this is a one of a kind plate by susan branch! it is a series of three. i love the soft colors and the little mouse. can you see what she's written? it says: now i see why people like to paint these adorable creatures...i had to stop myself from putting little clothes on them ♥

and these books by sharon lovejoy. i can't say enough about them, if you love nature, gardening and children, you will love these! there is so much to choose from, projects and ideas, i don't know where to begin. thank you sharon for the inspiration, you truly do spread love and joy!

my finds: the books, the plate, a stack of old martha stewart gardening magazines, the gnomes, an old tablecloth and an old victorian finial with old peeling paint, and the color, pink! and more pink ...

my shawlette, all blocked and done. i'm not sure this is the best way to photograph it. stretching it out on nails is probably not a good idea, but lacking a model, it'll have to do.

i like to wear it as a scarf, wrapped around my neck, the wool is so soft and smells so good, it's my favorite. thank you sally anne, again, i loved this yarn. i even have enough i think to make a tiny pair of baby booties!

here is another scarf i made this week. it's a scrumptiously soft one piece scarf that you can wear long like this or...

like this, wrapped twice around your neck for a cowl. the colors don't really show, it's more of a pinky mauve. i used plymouth yarns baby alpaca grande yarn. it took two skeins on a size ten needle. the pattern was based on a mobius cowl scarf but i couldn't get the hang of the cast on for that so it's simply a continuous scarf instead. i cast on 150 stitch's, placed a marker, then purled for 4 rounds knit for 4, continuing like that until it was about 8 inches wide. that's it! so cozy and warm.

photos are taken with the softest early morning light, but it was brief since another storm is on the way, let's go outside next, owen is waiting!

bulbs are coming up! these were here when we moved in, what a fantastic discovery every year, these gorgeous yellow blooms!

owen likes them too. here he looks all mild mannered, smelling the blossoms. right after this photo he shook them all apart. oh owen.

fallen camellias make a pretty still life arranged on a mossy stepping stone...

with a little help from me!

and our oranges are almost ready. i wish you could smell this tree.

the last thing i want to remember of this week, is the thing i'd also like to forget! i went to see my dentist last monday. it involved all the shots, drills and other torture devices they treat you with. i am still numb from one of the shots, apparently there was a little muscle or nerve damage, i hope it goes away soon! my dentist mentioned that it might help me to relax if i closed my eyes and imagined a place i love. somewhere i'd like to be. i did and here is what came into my thoughts...the seventeen giraffe i saw gracefully striding across a grassy plain in zimbabwe. i love giraffes and i love africa. this image played through my head making the time i spent in that chair not so bad after all.

where would your favorite place be?

have a lovely weekend everyone !

♥ lori

february twenty third

twenty four years ago

a child was born,
baby number three he'd be
for me.

best brother, uncle, friend
and son,
he makes my life,
this one.

happy happy birthday erik
love forever,
mom
♥


p.s. so hard to choose photos to make this collage, i love all the millions of photos i have of my keikis. umm. make that zillions.