Thursday, September 30, 2010














last week was the coldest day on record here
five days later
the national weather services thermometer (in los angeles) broke
when it reached 113 degrees.
the hottest day ever.


as soon as i got out of work
i ran to the beach
and jumped in the ocean!
then i made some popsicles.
summer has finally arrived.

p.s. owen got his own little swimming pool in the backyard where he's been splashing happily and bobbing for his toys. he's terribly cute when he's all wet. oh owen.

lori

Sunday, September 26, 2010

at the ranch(s)

hee hee hello
more on the alpaca farm below! but first...




after putting my green sleeves in the shop this morning, i walked to the alpaca ranch again,
and when i got back home, i found this! someone made a treasury and included one of my
cozies! (she sent an email, so nice) along with all these others green finds! can you see it? thank you so much!




back to last night, on our way to the ranch,



i felt a little self conscious taking photos, so the ones i took were kind of made quickly, discretely. (so not very good) :(
i also had the wrong exposure set all weekend agg! oh well...




but they do show some of what we saw...






the weather was spectacular




ahh





we took a walk and found a pond on the property, and frogs, hawks,
horses and deer





we ate oysters on the half shell







and then sat down to a candlelit dinner






we were serenaded by an acoustic guitar,

~ and then a pumpkin arrived to take us
back home :)





next morning








alpacas!








the owner of the alpaca farm is south african, some of the alpacas have african names





here is where the wool is sold and new knitting classes are going to be held!




i love it here




bye for now alpaca (and horse) ranch,
have a great week ahead everyone!


♥ lori



Saturday, September 25, 2010

green sleeves


the first green sleeves are ready for my shop, but they'll have to wait till tomorrow, this morning i was playing here and tonight we're going here!
each sleeve has been named for a tree. and along with a name, a meaning. i had fun researching these and i learned something too.
i realize that not taking a paper cup is the best policy, and hopefully that will be something that will happen in the not too distant future. i try to bring my own, but it's not always possible. i guess it's still best to do what we can!



mine
(hee hee, i keep changing my mind which colorway i like best)
if you'd like one too, please go here (i'll do my best to get them up tomorrow)
and now, my first customer...


it's Amanda! from Travels with Persephone!
She's here in California for family and came out of her way to meet me!
it truly was like greeting an old friend, we couldn't stop talking and smiling.
I was lucky enough to meet her husband and sister as well. So wonderful.
I hesitated putting up this photo (aggg! here we are! ha ha), but then i thought how better to show the genuine kindness written all over her face. blog friend meetings are like the next frontier heh?
good times.


♥ off to the ranch lori


Wednesday, September 22, 2010

care packages

I asked my daughter for suggestions, what would be helpful or needed in the care packages that I'd like to send her, while she's at school in NYC. Here is her (unedited by me) response. I think she really would like her bike.
:)



hannah's email,

Subject: What I Want You To Send Me In A Box.‏

Bicycle. Bicycle. Bicycle. Bicycle. Bicycle. Bicycle. Bicycle. Bicycle. Bicycle. Bicycle. Bicycle. Bicycle. Bicycle. Bicycle. Bicycle. Bicycle. Bicycle. Bicycle. Bicycle. Bicycle. Bicycle. Bicycle. Bicycle. Bicycle. Bicycle. Bicycle. Bicycle. Bicycle. Bicycle. Bicycle. Bicycle. Bicycle. Bicycle. Bicycle. Bicycle. Bicycle. Bicycle. Bicycle. Bicycle. Bicycle. Bicycle. Bicycle. Bicycle. Bicycle. Bicycle. Bicycle. Bicycle. Bicycle. Bicycle. Bicycle. Bicycle. Bicycle. Bicycle. Bicycle. Bicycle. Bicycle. Bicycle. Bicycle. Bicycle. Bicycle. Bicycle. Bicycle. Bicycle. Bicycle. Bicycle. Bicycle. Bicycle. Bicycle. Bicycle. Bicycle. Bicycle. Bicycle. Bicycle. Bicycle. Bicycle. Bicycle. Bicycle. Bicycle. Bicycle. Bicycle. Bicycle. Bicycle. Bicycle. Bicycle. Bicycle. Bicycle. Bicycle. Bicycle. Bicycle. Bicycle. Bicycle. Bicycle. Bicycle. Bicycle. Bicycle. Bicycle. Bicycle. Bicycle. Bicycle. Bicycle. Bicycle. Bicycle. Bicycle. Bicycle. Bicycle. Bicycle. Bicycle. Bicycle. Bicycle. Bicycle. Bicycle. Bicycle. Bicycle. Bicycle. Bicycle. Bicycle. Bicycle. Bicycle. Bicycle. Bicycle. Bicycle. Bicycle. Bicycle. Bicycle. Bicycle. Bicycle. Bicycle. Bicycle. Bicycle. Bicycle. Bicycle. Bicycle. Bicycle. Bicycle. Bicycle. Bicycle. Bicycle. Bicycle. Bicycle. Bicycle. Bicycle. Bicycle. Bicycle. Bicycle. Bicycle. Bicycle. Bicycle. Bicycle. Bicycle. Bicycle. Bicycle. Bicycle. Bicycle. Bicycle. Bicycle. Bicycle. Bicycle. Bicycle. Bicycle. Bicycle. Bicycle. Bicycle. Bicycle. Bicycle. Bicycle. Bicycle. Bicycle. Bicycle. Bicycle. Bicycle. Bicycle. Bicycle. Bicycle. Bicycle. Bicycle. Bicycle. Bicycle. Bicycle. Bicycle. Bicycle. Bicycle. Bicycle. Bicycle. Bicycle. Bicycle. Bicycle. Bicycle. Bicycle. Bicycle. Bicycle. Bicycle. Bicycle. Bicycle. Bicycle. Bicycle. Bicycle. Bicycle. Bicycle. Bicycle. Bicycle. Bicycle. Bicycle. Bicycle. Bicycle. Bicycle. Bicycle. Bicycle. Bicycle. Bicycle. Bicycle. Bicycle. Bicycle. Bicycle. Bicycle. Bicycle. Bicycle. Bicycle. Bicycle. Bicycle. Bicycle. Bicycle. Bicycle. Bicycle. Bicycle. Bicycle. Bicycle. Bicycle. Bicycle. Bicycle. Bicycle. Bicycle. Bicycle. Bicycle. Bicycle. Bicycle. Bicycle. Bicycle. Bicycle. Bicycle. And Goldfish.




Love, Hannah Rose.

(haha, okay honey, shipping of bicycle is on the list) :)
: : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : :



in other news, THE SUN CAME OUT.
living under a blanket of fog for months,
made seeing the sun today
SO sweet.
i walked down to the beach after work
and felt like a person seeing for the first time,
shadows, sunlight glinting off the water, color.
i waved hello to the horizon
my husband is out there for three days
working.
if you look closely at the video, you might see them.
the islands he's on.






this day was like a care package for me :)
thank you so much for all your kind (super nice!) comments on my last post,
i so appreciate every single one. i think i'll have a shop update coming soon!

♥ lori

Sunday, September 19, 2010

*s.i.w.e.f.

dear diary,


:: this week my eldest son turned 29

:: he called breathless "i was on a paddleboard two miles off the coast, we were surrounded by at least twenty migrating blue whales!"

:: my youngest girl called " i got a job!"

:: my youngest boy called also "i got in! "(the school he was hoping for)

:: my middle son sent to me in the mail a letter and an apple gift card! he said have fun!

:: my oldest child made a commercial for lexus

:: my husband was offered a job as editor of a (big) magazine (he had to turn it down though)

:: my sister heard my mom sing the words to a james taylor song



i felt immense joy and pleasure at all these things
(* so i won't ever forget)

then i
took a hike
visited a gallery where my friend has a showing
spent four days with my dear friends here from germany
went on a date with my husband
showed a friend how to knit cables and she gave me some of her handmade beeswax candles
and then, after work, i started working on these...






i am going to call them green sleeves. the embroidered patch is my own design, the knitted pattern is found here. instead of wasteful paper cardboard sleeves, i hope others will want to try these reusable cozies. they keep your tea or coffee warm and keep your hand comfortable. because a comfortable hand is important indeed!




little friends approve of the soft wool









and now for the winner of the give~a~way





nice to have helpers





3 years housewife and bhavana! congratulations! yes, it seems i couldn't help myself and chose two, please email me with your addresses, thank you everyone.




lori


p.s. thank you so much from Chuck (and me too!) for all your kind words on my previous post, i love that photo of him!






Wednesday, September 15, 2010

The other side of the lens

 We woke this morning to a friends phone call : the mag is out. My humble husband is not too very excited to have his photo in the new Men's Journal magazine, but I am.



Here he is, on the other side of the lens...

This is reason to get excited, right?
I'm proud of you honey.
♥ wifey

Monday, September 13, 2010

celebrations and pirates

this post marks number two hundred. and at the same time the two year anniversary of this blog. hip hip hooray! of course a give~a~way is in order, but first a tiny explanation about the header photo at the top of lori times five...




it is not at the desert this image was taken. it's at the sea! see? here is another view. there is the pacific ocean in the distance of this (above) photo. both taken by my husband, Chuck Graham. we love the dunes and go there often to explore, enjoy the solitude and take pictures. and sometimes there is even some hopping about (see header photo. :)







i googled guadalupe dune images and found a few of his published photos.





but wait! look what i found! here is a really truly pirated photo of his! hahahaha! someone took chuck's photo and put johnny depp on it. i understand why, Pirates of the Caribbean was filmed here. we had to laugh (even though chuck said damn) this happened three years ago and i only just found it now.




over twenty three movies have been filmed at the dunes, although we've never seen anyone here, other than the lone fisherman. here is hannah doing the most fun thing you can do, run around! this is a photo chuck made and gave to her ♥ (when i took it out of the frame to scan, a piece of it stayed on the glass, as evidenced by the small white spot in the sky) :(





and here are my lazy mobile phone photos. i used to have better ones, but they are in photo heaven now (computer crashing, failure to back up). i can see it's time to go back for more!



thank you for reading, sharing, adding so much joy, happiness and love in my life these past two years. wishing i could hug you all. instead i'll celebrate by sending one of you a handmade celebration banner.



here is an example, one i made for hannah (it's actually one long strand which i've doubled here). your's will be similar but will not say good luck, unless of course that's what you'd like. i'll choose a name from the comments at the end of the week, sunday i think. yes, that sounds just right. have a wonderful week!

♥ lori