a few outtakes...

more next week :)
happy weekend, all.

plum clafoutis.

Quickly grab ripe plums from your backyard tree before they all fall to the ground. Set the oven to 350 F degrees, butter a vintage evenslice 9" pie tin and add sliced plums with their tart skin intact to the pan - do not pack too terribly full, leave some room for the batter. Speaking of which, whisk three large eggs together with 1/3 cup granulated sugar for one minute. Add one cup of whole milk, 1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract and a pinch of salt and mix that in too. Finally add 1/2 cup unbleached all-purpose flour mix until smooth.

Now slowly pour in your batter, doing your best not to disturb your fruit. It will move around no matter what but, you know, be gentle.

Bake that clafoutis for about 45 minutes -- until it is puffy and golden around the edges.

Remove it from the oven and let it cool for about thirty minutes, dust with powdered sugar and eat while it is still warm.

YUM.

(this recipe very mildly adapted (I used more fruit) from the fabulous Orangette.)
________________
I am so busy this week, this post might be all you get. As a matter of fact, this post comes to you because I was experimenting for my upcoming three day food shoot. Wanna see when I'm done?

peonies end.

goodbye, sweet blossoms, I will await your return next May.

camera time.

Oh.
Dear.

Have you discovered wordle* yet?
Just enter a blog address, web page, or even a whole bunch of words you choose yourself. Submit them, play play play with fonts and colors and word limits and just look what you might get. Except for not exactly because this one is my first attempt. From my very own blog. It is going on the fridge today - heck, maybe it is even going into a frame...a greeting card?...endless possibilities!

*warning: clicking on this link may lead to the sucking away of many, many hours of your precious time. Have fun! And let me know what you come up with...

happy.

our weekend was filled with little flea markets, a drive through the country, broken clocks, a tiny estate sale, beef jerky, crazy games, old friends, bouncy rides, big laughs, screened porches, new friends, knowing smiles, a tennis match, and, yes, some fireworks, too.

how was yours?

win-win.

So, yeah, like I hinted...it's been a whirlwind around here. A joyous lucky whirlwind.

Andrea and Ward et al. decided to head to the city by the bay last week. As luck would have it our neighbor/friends headed out of town the very same time. Not even a moments hesitation...Riley and I were happy to open our home and sleep next door. You must know that I am not purely selfless. We were - after all - allowed direct access and some serious together time with this very popular crew so, you know, win-win.

They rolled in Sunday evening to all of our excitement. Some local artisan cheeses (thank you Adam!) and a bottle of wine and we were off to the park. Nothing like a good swing and run around after a day in the car yes? I thought so, too. Lots of catching up and camera sharing and swinging and yammering and yummy pasta eating and our plan was set.

They had so so many things to fit in but we got them all to ourselves on Tuesday. A day that included

ferry rides,

farmer's markets,

excellent Mexican lunches,

cupcakes,

carousels and oh so much more...
including my camera battery dying. No matter, I am kinda sorta sure my girl had the rest of the day covered.

So that is a summary of a too short visit. Can I now tell you how simply wonderful these four are? Amazing Andrea with the twinkle in her eye, warm generous spirit and always the perfect words for a friend, Ward with his talent and enthusiasm for his craft and his way with the kids, gentle loving Ava with her big beautiful knowing eyes that do not miss a thing, and Ezra the happy little comedian with his made-up songs and crazy sweet smile. Of course I had always suspected these things but to be immersed in them, surrounded by them was perfect. Thank you friends for sharing part of your time with us but even more for sharing YOU with us.

____________

My whole set from our part of their visit is here.
____________

p.s. I will be taking the plunge in the next several weeks and opening my very own etsy store...please stay tuned...also, if there are certain images of mine that strike your fancy let me know. I am in the image selection phase as we speak :)

Hula friends...

...in da house.

SO much to tell you about this week but, so sorry, you will have to wait until next week for me to sit down and catch you up. I promise to make it worth your wait, though, k?

Until then...
:)
:)
:)

be exactly who you are.

Here he is.
Diploma in hand.
My graduate.

All 200+ kids in his eighth grade graduating class were required to write a speech for the ceremony. The individuals that checked the box to 'compete' for the honor of actually delivering their speeches were many. Riley made the semi-finals, the first cut. And then the finals - down to the last eleven young men and women. He called me to tell me the news of how the final round went before he even got to our front door, "I did great Mom - I feel really good about this no matter what!." I hung up and did my crying right there and then - not worried about the outcome - just proud of the remarkable being he has become. Yet pride really is far too insignificant a word at times like these. He got the news the next day. He was not destined to be the final one this time. He handled it beautifully, was asked at the ceremony to stand with the other finalists. But the most beautiful thing happened. He asked if he could deliver it for the family at the lunch we were to have before. He did deliver it to us, at home, over half eaten plates full of goodies I had lovingly prepared. And we sat with our mouths open, all affected differently yet profoundly by the words of this thirteen year old being who I call my own. I promised him that I would share his words with all of you, too...

Graduation Poem by Riley
Determination. Willpower. Perseverance.
They mold your life.
Throughout a day, a year, or a lifetime, if accomplishment is your goal,
The largest component is you.
But do not feel alone, there is an entire Universe in your mind.
Push yourself.
Test your limits.
Break free.
Run with it.
When it all seems to stack up, take it easy.
Take it one step at a time and you can accomplish anything.
Puncture the film of distraction.
Crash through the wall of cowardice.
Shove away your anxiety and make room for something beautiful.
There is power in numbers but also power in the individual.
You can get what you want or get what you need.
You can make dreams real.
Trust in your ability to make a difference.
Choose a cause.
Support it.
Do everything you can.
One who does not try does not truly live.
Don’t float by.
Don’t be average.
Be superb.
Be stunning.
Scare the bejeezus out of the competition.
But most importantly,
Be you.
Be eccentric.
Be ostentatious.
Be special.
Throw yourself out there.
You were not created to do nothing.
Be exactly who you are.

You've got it, kid.

...so busy...

...can't talk now...pickle boy's 8th grade graduation tomorrow...how the heck?...so much to do...i'll catch you up soon...eek.

rocket...

...insists that you have a weekend full of lots of loving attention, yummy food and naps in the sun.

.

my favorite.

Seems I am not the only one out there who considers the beauteous peony to be their most cherished bloom. Each of these at their peak fulled out to the size of a cantaloupe. Blazed in as a deep dark pink and metamorphosed to the shade of antique bone china before they were through.

the full circle of Pearl.

I was in my late twenties. We had only one car and a boy not yet three. Our return to California - a State not exactly known for being very public transit friendly - necessitated the search for a second vehicle. One day shortly after our return, in the little country town we had moved to, I saw her for the first time.

She was a faded gray, all big rounded squares, seats like faded vintage couches - a For Sale sign taped to her back window that told me she was born in 1963. I was in love. I called the young guy who was selling her. He was learning to fly small airplanes, needed the extra cash for more lessons on how to fly away. Two days later and for pennies she was mine. I strapped the toddler seat in the middle of that big back seat and learned to drive a manual column shift - 3 speed on the tree. She was smooth and bouncy all at once. I named her Pearl.

About a year later, the inevitable dividing of goods that comes with the dissolution of a marriage. I was the one with the better job, the steady income, the one who could make payments on the reliable and unbelievably boring 'other' car. So my Pearl went to him. And I will admit that when the nasty old diesel Rabbit that he had traded my girl for imploded, well, I felt like it was Pearl's way of sticking her tongue out at him. How or who could have given that big gray beauty away?

But the years rolled on, things smoothed out. I got over so many things. Though I never have forgotten that car. The way I felt behind her wheel.

Then, several weeks ago my girl B and I were headed to a photo assignment up in that little country town where I used to live. We took B's little red beauty, the weather was so nice. An hour later, as we slowed and came closer to the center of town, there she was. I shouted, a quickly whipped u-turn from B, and I was out and standing in front of what looked to be my long lost car. It took me a full five minutes of staring, studying, rounding around to realize that this was not my old Pearl. A few years newer perhaps, the deep gray paint so much shinier, the seats a different fabric, in better shape but she had one very important thing in common with my old girl. That same For Sale sign taped to the inside of the window. I edged closer, afraid to look at the number and nearly started laughing. A little indulgent for this working girl but close enough to an amount I could swing. So with great encouragement from B, a few negotiations, and two more days, Pearl (the Second) is mine.

Turns out this Pearl was born in 1966 - one year before I. She has the same manual column shift but one more gear than her predecessor. The man who originally ordered her had her deposited in Italy where he flew to tour around in her for several weeks. Then shipped her back to Northern California. She has lived here ever since.

She found her way back to me.

My funny old girl.

My beautiful Pearl.

peace. out.

On this photobooth Friday, prior to a long celebratory weekend, I honor those who have given their lives for our country while simultaneously wishing this world and all of it's inhabitants everlasting peace.

it's that time again...

He'll be the one knifing through the pool, breaking personal records, bringing home ribbons.
I'll be the one hollering and clicking away on the sidelines.
Every Saturday from now through July.

Bring it.

black (thumb) magic.

You know, I am quite good at a few things. Very good at a select few. But then there are so many things at which I am no good at all. For example: growing plantlike objects? Not so much. I gave up on ever growing anything again fourteen years ago. I was living in Australia at the time. Growing a beautiful baby boy in my belly. Lucky enough to have a tiny window in my life where i was able to not work. This is when I decided I would give gardening one big fat go - fertility and time on my hands, a lovely back garden just waited to be tilled and filled. So I started researching how to grow an organic garden. I bought a book, determined the best plants for our region, invested in all types of seeds and topsoil. I spent a full week prepping the bed, planting the seeds, watering...and waiting. And guess what eventually grew in that meticulously tended 5' by 12' plot?

Not a goddammed thing.

Not even a sprout. I was pissed, people. But I eventually got over it - nicknamed myself the "Black Thumb" and moved on. In the ensuing years I have had a house plant here and there, a tiny cactus that hung on for awhile. I do buy little orchid plants now and then to have live flowers in the house but they all eventually die. I have heard that if you care for them that orchids will flower again but certainly not under my dark tutelage. Mine dry out to little twigs and eventually get tossed in the trash.

So imagine my surprise upon entering the laundry room the other day to see this. An abandoned and long forgotten orchid plant sitting in the window with this flower on it. It has been given no water. No attention. I do not even know how many months that this plant sat there - ignored. And then - BAM. There are even nine more little buds on their way out to say "Hi!".

I am giggly and thankful for my pretty little miracle plant. There is probably a perfectly logical explanation for this phenomena. But in a totally 'me' way I have opted to keep myself in the dark as to the wily ways of this plant and instead go all 'symbolic' instead...

In a small and sweet way, it serves as my very own reminder to perhaps be more patient, or to release or maybe even forget to tend something once in awhile.

You just never know what you might get.

_______________________

p.s. Have a happy weekend, lovely ones, a happy weekend indeed.

i am proud.

I hope your mama's day was lovely. Mine was filled with home grown, hand picked roses,

a new salt cellar,

and this remarkable card that is a painting that is a poem that is from my very own boy - click here to read his words - one can only imagine what kind of man he will some day become.

Happy belated Mother's (but every other too) Day.

planted seeds and a favor asked.

One of the seeds I have recently planted is an application to the immeasurably fantastic opportunity called Barnstorm XXI. In their words:

The Eddie Adams Workshop (Barnstorm) is an intense four-day gathering of the top professionals in photojournalism, along with 100 carefully selected students. The Workshop's purpose is to create a forum in which an exchange of ideas, techniques, and philosophies can be shared between both established members and newcomers of the profession of picture journalism. The Workshop is tuition-free, and the 100 students are chosen based on the merit of their portfolios.

I submitted my carefully chosen words, a recommendation letter, my twenty images just today. I am visualizing myself packing my camera bag, getting on the plane to New York, arriving - full of nervous anticipation - at this event of events for my chosen field this coming October. Here are the words I sent to the committee. The words - along with the images - that I hope will gain me admittance:

"My name is Leslie Sophia Lindell and I am a Professional Photographer. I do not think I can express in two short paragraphs the extreme joy I experience each time I say that. You see, it has been a long and satisfying journey to get here.

I was twenty years old when I packed my car and moved to Los Angeles on my own. I landed a coveted Assistant job in the Art Department of A&M Records. This is where I learned to shoot – TMAX 400 my drug of choice at the time. I spent the ensuing twenty years following my creative instincts – freelance video production, a move to Australia, gallery showing of my paintings, the birth of a son, return to the US, the Director of an art gallery, departure from the creative field altogether to raise that lovely son on my own and then – THEN – the invention of the digital camera. It has drawn me back in and my life is breathtakingly changed for it. Self taught, I have been shooting professionally for one year. I am deeply dedicated, perceptive, my eye serves me well. I can only hope that you agree and I am allowed the amazing opportunity to further my knowledge by joining you at the Eddie Adams Workshop/Barnstorm XXI.

Thank you."

the images:

And here is where the favor comes in. Might you visualize this for me as well? Help me water and tend this effort? In any way you see fit. Perhaps a gentle nod in my direction, a big "hooray" at your computer screen, a raise of your next glass, or...any darn thing that you might think of? I would so appreciate it and love the idea of you being part of this dream come true.

And, don't you worry, I will let you know as soon as I do how successful we have been.

oh my.

Has this week ever been a blur!

I was just one second ago wishing you a lovely weekend and now we have already arrived at a whole new one. So many planted seeds, things buzzing around, hopes for fruition - things to catch you up on. But no time. So for now, I send you buzzy happy smiles and wishes for yet another weekend of yum.

sweet.

hope you are having as lovely a weekend as we are!

i can breathe.

The subtle jealousy that stirred in me when I realized that I had not written the following words are profoundly overshadowed by the joy I feel in having discovered them...

"I think the brightest parts of my life, the tallest and strongest and most deeply true, (are) shaped by music. Sometimes, the shape is a map, outlines and gradients and a little marker for where I am now, a trail of colour for where I was before. The shape of past songs cuts a dotted line through my life. Sometimes, it's a pounding out, an interruption to argue and open things up, to open me up. Songs can shock me into wakefulness like nothing else can. Songs can get through. They shape me by force. They shape me by interjection.

And sometimes, just sometimes, a song will shape me by carving out the space for a moment like that…I sit in the shape of the song, the shape the song has opened out, and I can breathe." - Elaine of Fabulist!

Yes, oh yes, Elaine.
Thank you.
Exactly.

(her full post can and should be read here.)

the dreams that you dare to dream.

And a really-do-come-true weekend to you all.



My interpretation of A Faerie Tale Told for The Photo Trade.

me and my bindi.

I had the loveliest and most beautiful friend when I lived in Australia long ago. She was American but had Mexican and Spanish blood in her veins. She dressed very simply but with the utmost style. She would sometimes wear a bindi. It looked most natural and beautiful resting there on her luminescent olive skin. Up above those perfectly shaped ruby red lips. I wished then - and all these fourteen years since then - that I could pull off the wearing of such an adornment but always felt I would look absurd.

And then, two weekends ago, I did it - I bought one of my own. I do not know if I will ever leave the house with it on. But I own it. And I will rock it right here in my house if I have to. And think of lovely Brenda. If only I knew how to find her again...

pink tu-tus.

hey!

Woo - I've been out of pocket, huh? I was away to journey with my dear friend Mary over a long weekend and then Pickleboy has been Spring breaking it this week. We decided to head in to the Annie Leibovitz exhibit at the Legion of Honor in San Francisco on Tuesday.
It.
Was.
Fantastic.
They wouldn't allow photos of her stuff so instead you get these...
Pretty awesome as well. The glass sculptures are by Dale Chihuly. I wouldn't necessarily want these pieces in my personal collection - not like I have a personal collection - but they are magnificent. How in the heck does he do these on such a huge scale? Can you imagine what it must be like to ship them? And what a photo op they are!





There was also this fantastic section in the museum of 17th and 18th century art, glass, and furnishings. This final blurry shot of us was taken into an incredibly old mirror. Now, I can imagine having that chandelier in my collection :)



I hope you are enjoying Spring as much as we are. It is supposed to be 80 degrees in our town this weekend. Unseasonably warm for San Francisco and I'll take it.

Happy weekending to you, too, yes?

love is everywhere so far...

which one is your favorite?
can you guess which one is mine?

we can fly.

us in front of a Mary Blair illustration.

Oh, I just had the loveliest Saturday since I can remember. I met with Steph for the first time. We ate soup and talk talk talked and shared stories and compared cameras and filled the little gaps of knowing left by what is inevitably not blogged. Steph is every bit as wonderful as you would expect. Sparkly and bright and engaging and genuinely interested in what you have to say.

steph is the cowgirl of the pair.

After lunch we walked to the Cartoon Art Museum as to not miss the Mary Blair exhibit (she designed the 'It's a Small World' ride and worked for Walt Disney for many years). Then the book store then coffees and more sharing. We stopped to get cream puffs for the boys we love - the boys about which we spent much of our time sharing and comparing. And then suddenly it was time to go.

beautiful steph.

It was over so fast - the time did fly - but the plans for round two are already in the works and I can't wait.

top that.

Pickleboy got a bunch of noses in his Easter basket. What did YOU get?

40.

I recently received a gentle reminder from a friend that I had not yet shared my big birthday weekend from last Fall with you all. Encouraged, I started to comb through the images and all of the memories came flooding back. I puzzled how best to share them with you. There are large gaps in the weekend where we didn't pick up the camera at all. Then there is this sort of teeter-totter effect in the images that we did capture.

Behold...
In my daily life I am most definitely the woman pictured above. Pensive, peaceful, filled with love and spirit. But I am certainly the one with the tiara, tuutuu and the megaphone, as well:



Or the altar that Mary created to honor me, to bring in spirit:

Right next to the bar we built filled with an altogether different type of spirit:


There were sparkly wish-filled flames:

And gentle, peaceful places for rest:


This rented beach house was filled with wonderful women:

But we made an allowance and let one lovely man join in:


The sunrise of the first day:

The sunset of the last:


A weekend filled with dualities and every yummy thing tucked into the in-betweens.
Simply perfect.

______________

The full set of photos - with more details - can be viewed here.

more than i ever imagined.

I have been so very busy. A great engaged-in-life kind of busy. Seems the blog falls away first when these times roll around so...SO nice to see you again :)

I am lucky enough to tell you that a large part of my busyness is due to my business. Sometimes I am a little afraid to 'say it out loud' or need to ask someone to pinch me on this whole journey that I have embarked. Although I do not say much here about my professional shoots, the one last Friday deserves special attention.

I often work with my dear friend B. She is a Creative Director and often needs a photographer for her clients. We have worked together many times but last week we had a truly deep and moving experience. We spent six hours at a fantastic non-profit facility dedicated to helping developmentally disabled individuals become as independent as each of them are capable. Our goal was to document a day in the life of this amazing place.

When we arrived we were very excited to take part but were not completely certain how we would be received. We were strangers after all. Strangers with a camera.

We walked in and almost immediately were welcomed and enveloped by the most beautiful community of individuals you can imagine. I cannot do this day justice with words but I can tell you I am changed for it. Blessed by it. And so very impressed with the spirit and humanity of the people that have dedicated their lives to helping others in this way.

We did take one small break to drink some water, regroup, discuss the shots we still needed. We couldn't get into how deeply moved we were just yet...tears get in the way when photos are your job.

As B and I sat on the grass I turned and instinctively shot this photo and forgot all about it. We cried in the car on the way home. Discussed the beauty of our experience. Wondered out loud why the general public was not more like this loving and trusting community where we had just spent the day.

Over the next few days I combed through the nearly 1200 images that I captured. I had to dry my eyes more than once over my luck at having had this experience. When this image came up I was floored. Look at the center of this dandelion.

Do you see it?

I told you Love is Everywhere.
It is just that in some places there is
more than you could ever imagine.