More on Marie

I have know Marie since 2000.

She was our local postmaster

at the time and I was mailing

packages everyday for my website.

We started talking about many

things and we learned we both loved

Martha Stewart and our friendship

blossomed from there.

She is the one that co-hosted with

me our huge Halloween Haunt

and Party in 2002.   Marie got

ovarian cancer in 2003.   Her

condition was bad, and even

though she went through a lot,

she pulled through with grace

and dignity.  I thank God for

her healing.  The doctors were

amazed that she lived past a

year ! (it's been 8 years)

In 2005, after 2 short years,

Marie and 3 friends

participated in the Susan G.

Komen 3 day for the Cure Walk

for 60 miles.

She is an inspiration to many

including myself !

 So if anyone is reading

this and knows someone with

ovarian cancer, have hope that

she can survive and thrive !

September is Ovarian Cancer

Awareness Month.  Friday, September

 30th is Awareness Day and to show

 your support please wear teal.  

 For more info click HERE .

Lori and Marie

Taken at our

 Halloween Party

2002

We were both so crazy

and tired that night, but

we talked about doing another

party next year for our

10th anniversary!

God Bless You Marie and

thanks for the memories.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

- Look To This Day -

For it is life, the very life

 of life.

In its brief course lie all

 the varieties and realities

 of your existence;

The bliss of growth;

The glory of action;

The splendor of beauty;

For yesterday is already

 a dream,

 and tomorrow is only

 a vision;

But today, well lived,

 makes every yesterday

a dream of happiness,

and every tomorrow

a vision of hope.

Look well, therefore,

 to this day!

Such is the salutation

 of the dawn!

--- From the Sanskrit

This was the sunset on 9-10-11, but

we can pretend it is a new dawn as

I never am up before dawn.   :o)

Marie's Birthday/The City of Ten Thousand Buddhas

My dear friend Marie and I

 spent the afternoon together

 on Thursday, Sept. 8th

celebrating her birthday

 which was on the 6th!

Here we are in our glory!   This is

actually 2 photos side by side

 and then I took a photo of it

from the computer screen!  

  I forgot my camera, but Marie

brought hers and was holding it

 at arm's length to get a pic !  

We took 5 of them and really only

 these were the best of the bunch.

(which ain't saying much   :o) 

   Nothing like having on no make-up

 and your hair wind-blown!   She

then emailed me the photos and

this is what I came up with!

We went to our favorite place,

the cafe at The City of Ten Thousand

Buddhas in Ukiah, California

These photos were taken last

June 2010, the last time we

were there with another friend.

The ten thousand buddhas are

 actually statues within the temple. 

I don't have the whole story,

but you can read about it

HERE .

Outside of the Temple.

There are peacocks roaming

around the whole property.

One time, years ago, I saw

a white one, but haven't since.

 I remember each time I tried

to get a close-up of one of them

in full spread, they quickly moved.

I don't know how I got this one !

 The fish pond.

Sometimes we see turtles too.

Another favorite are the street signs......

The food is vegan.  Our favorite

dishes are the mushrooms with

 basil sauce (one of the best!)

and dumplings...YUM !

This is the front of the cafe, with

Marie and Katie taken June 2010.

~~~~~~~~~~

We also stopped by another

favorite place in Ukiah,

 a store called Habitat located

at 110 South State Street.

We should have taken pics, but

didn't think about it until later.  

 We bought several candles and

I also got a faux lavender plant.  

 I have been wanting one to put

on my kitchen counter for a couple

 of years and never found one that

 looked real.  I think this one does

 and was thrilled that the owner

gave me a 25% discount since it was

 from the summer collection.   :o)

What do you think?

Does it look real?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MARIE !

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A quote from the Buddha

on Self Discipline ---
It is better to conquer
yourself  than to win a
 thousand battles. Then the
 victory is yours.  It cannot
be taken from you, not

 by angels or by demons,

 heaven or hell.

and on Life ---

The secret of health for 
both mind and body is not
 to mourn for the past, worry
 about the future, or anticipate troubles, but to live
 in the present moment
 wisely and earnestly.

Happy Feet has been released into the sea!

Happy Feet was released into the

 sea, south of New Zealand at the

 51 degree mark on Sunday,

Sept. 4th, 2011, New Zealand time.

  Here in California it was

Saturday the 3rd.

As far as we know he is doing

 well.  We are still able to

keep tabs on him, for now, by

 a tracking device that was actually

glue onto him!  It will come off

when he molts later this year.

To track him, click HERE

The below photos are from the site

www.stuff.co.nz .   To see more

photos of his release click HERE .

 Should I or shouldn't I?

Well for better or worse,

ocean, here I come!

So many people worked night and

day to see that this one little penguin

 had another chance at life.  Thank you Wellington Zoo staff, especially

 Dr. Lisa Argilla,

 and the crew of the Tangaroa .

Good bye Sir Happy Feet---I will

miss you and pray for you a long

life!  You have taught me much

and I am forever grateful. 

Thank you God for this gift.

For the complete story and video

click HERE

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Study nature, love nature,

stay close to nature.  It

will never fail you.

--- Frank Lloyd Wright

Mendocino 9-1-11

Thursday, Sept. 1, 2011

Just a quick tour of Mendocino.

After lunch we did our regular

walk around town, but I forgot

 to take some photos so we drove

 back around town so I could

get these!  The fog was just off

 the coast, but we braved the 

chill in the air and sat outside

 on the deck at the Bay View Cafe

 for lunch.  Fish & chips for Mike

 and Fried shrimp for me.   :o)

It was finally opened after

 being closed nearly 8 months

 after a water pipe burst.

In my opinion, the only restaurant

 in the village with a great view of

 the ocean when it isn't foggy!

Bay View Cafe to the left

of the Water Tower.

After lunch it was on to

Papa Bear's Chocolate House

(yellow building)

for their delicious dark chocolate

covered peanuts!   YUM !

Below is one of my many dream

 properties.  It comes with both

the front building and back house,

 with a lovely garden, right on Main St.

....all for only $1.7 million!   The view

from the front upstairs windows is

perfect though.   :o)

These are taken from the Headlands....

showing the fog hugging the coast.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

On some hill of despair,

 the bonfire you kindle

 can light the great sky ---

though it's true, of course,

to make it burn you

 have to throw yourself in.

--- Galway Kinnell

Sunset Ft. Bragg, CA

Sunset  8-30-11

Fort Bragg, California

Happy Feet is on his way home!

Happy Feet the penguin is now

aboard the NIWA’s research vessel,

 Tangaroa, as of the evening of

 August 29th, New Zealand time.

He will stay approximately 4 days

 at sea and will then be let free in

 an area known for where other 

juvenile emperor penguins are.

(or so we hope!)

We miss you Happy Feet...

Photos courtesy of

Scoop Independent News

 Being carried onto the ship

 His new home for the next 4 days.

All comfy cozy on his belly

with new snow.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

From another HF fan,

Kathleen Johnson shared

one of her favorite quotes

and now one of mine.

From the book,

"The Outermost House"

by Henry Beston.

"We need another and a wiser and

perhaps a more mystical concept of

animals.  Remote from universal

nature and living by complicated

 artifice, man in civilization surveys

the creature through the glass of

 his knowledge and sees thereby a

 feather magnified and the whole

 image in distortion. We patronize

them for their incompleteness, for

 their tragic fate for having taken

 form so far below ourselves. And

therein do we err. For the animal

 shall not be measured by man."

"In a world older and more complete

 than ours, they move finished and

complete, gifted with the extension

 of the senses we have lost or never

 attained, living by voices we shall

never hear. They are not brethren,

they are not underlings: they are

other nations, caught with ourselves

 in the net of life and time, fellow

 prisoners of the splendour and travail

 of the earth."  

Our 23rd Wedding Anniversary

It was our 23rd anniversary

yesterday the 27th.

Thought it would be fun

to post our wedding pic.

We got married at New Brighton

 State Beach,  south of Santa Cruz.

Foggy in the morning, but the sun

came out just in time for the

ceremony.   I don't know

what I was thinking with

that pouffy veil!   :o)

I loved my bouquet ---

gardenias and seashells!

Lori & Mike

August 27th, 1988 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Love is patient and kind:

love does not envy or boast;

it is not arrogant or rude.

It does not insist on its own way;

it is not irritable or resentful;

it does not rejoice in wrongdoing.

Love bears all things, hopes all

things, endures all things...

so now faith, hope and love

abide, these three; but the

greatest of these is Love.

--- 1 Corinthians 13:4-8