grass mountain

bright and early friday morning my husband said to me, "get out of work, let's go look for wildflowers". so i did :) we headed towards figueroa mountain...

~ for lindsey ~

we hiked up grass hill, which even though it was a six mile round trip, i'm sure it was five miles up and only one down, it was steep! i have to remind myself that even though beauty is all around us, sometimes you have to work really hard for it.

while many other wildflower searchers drove up the more common figueroa mountain road, we hiked up the hill to the left, grass mountain . we saw, fairy forests and bubbling creeks, velvet green meadows dotted with ancient oaks. and we saw flowers. gorgeous wildflowers with names like owls clover and shooting stars, chocolate lilies and indian paintbrush, shiny yellow buttercups, fiddleneck and fillaree and the truly gorgeous combination of purple sky lupine and the california poppy.

when we stopped i took some photos and then just sat on this steep windy hillside, in a field of waving poppies, while the scent of purple lupines wafted all around me, carried on the sunny breeze. and it was so quiet. and i was so happy.

i hope you've enjoyed.

♥ lori

* * * * * * * * *

a special note: happy 19th birthday monday lindsey! the last photo of the blooming pear blossom tree is for you. i hope you have a wonderful day in provo, i'll be thinking of you, with love,

lori

more

it rained here last night, mother nature is doing her own spring cleaning! thank you for all the kind comments on my last post, i loved hearing all your ways of handling (or not) the accumulations in your lives.

i should have made that last post part one, because i've got more to share!

the very first picture is part of my international garden. australia and south africa seem to like coastal california, don't those plants look happy? and the oranges and geraniums are too, everything is so colorful already.

and the rest of the photos are part of my collection of sand from beaches around the world. i guess you can see i have a thing about labeling also, (thank you for the circle label love). i'm behind on labeling the sand bottles, but the idea was to use a bit of shell and rock or sometimes even feathers from a place and add them to the label. i love the vintage bottles and i just realized i collect those too. oh dear.

the sea glass has been collected for many years. mostly on the beach in mexico. when i look at it i think of the hours and hours i spent in quiet solitude. looking for mermaids tears (beach glass) really have been some the best times in my life.

thank you for enjoying these things that bring so much joy to me!

♥ lori

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