When Love is the Gift

 ~~~~~~~~

There are moments where one, as the giver, can be more or just as excited as one who is the receiver. Perhaps this is one of those times. I'm always excited to be the giver, but I'm super happy with this gift.

When Love is the gift...

I have finally finished the pouch. You can follow the trail of it in these places:

November 29, 2022

https://pomegranatetrail.blogspot.com/2022/11/today-home.html

December 31, 2022

https://pomegranatetrail.blogspot.com/2022/12/so-long-2022.html

January 17, 2023 - creature card, fringe string

https://pomegranatetrail.blogspot.com/2023/01/more-music-more-memories-and-then-some.html

January 21, 2023 - Fringe string 

https://pomegranatetrail.blogspot.com/2023/01/undone.html

February 3, 2023

https://pomegranatetrail.blogspot.com/2023/02/february-days.html

February, 27, 2023

https://pomegranatetrail.blogspot.com/2023/02/leather-light.html

March 3, 2023

https://pomegranatetrail.blogspot.com/2023/03/day-3.html

March 8, 2023

https://pomegranatetrail.blogspot.com/2023/03/hump-day-marching-along.html

Plus, you can see the Hawk feather found and posted about back here:

https://pomegranatetrail.blogspot.com/2020/11/the-counts-are-in.html

I wish you all could feel this one! The softness of the leather, the texture of the weave & stitch, the fringe ~ wonderful to gently run your fingers through, like the hair of a loved one.

I included my now familiar symbols on leather, along with some new ones: moon, sun, stars, mountains, growing things, earth, water, tree, flowers and my ASL inspired symbol for friendship.

I included the 'chosen' buttons: the leaves and the circle-stitch-like buttons.

The braided strap, provides a way to carry or hang it.

~~~~~

It will be sent along with a few books, some items from Nature, a couple of cards and so very much Love!

Each book, card...the feather, driftwood and rock holds a personal story.

The creature card has been seen, over the years, in various ways here on the trail. It began as a large watercoloring done with school age children, back in the 1990's. Saskia has another critter, a dog, from this same piece of paper. It lives with the many inhabitants in The Dwelling. I think this beast is the last bit of that 18X22 piece of paper.

The book: A Hole is to Dig is a beloved book from my college years. My mama loved Ruth Krauss and so do I. This book is so filled with that special child-like quality, which is paired perfectly with Maurice Sendak's stellar artwork. 

Ernst by: Elisa Kleven belonged to my mama. When she passed, she had a small collection of favorite children's books. This was among them. It is a colorful jewel with a crocodile who likes to ask What If? Isn't that wonderful?!?

Los Ojos del Tejedor by: Cristina Ortega speaks to history and weaving in NM. I found it at a used books library sale. Imagine my delight...a book by someone in the Spirit World Circle and a book about weaving! Wonderful! You can read her comment way back on this post.

The driftwood came from our beloved, beloved Emma Wood, State Beach. I've had it for Years. It is so smooth, with a very good feel in your hand. One end has a snake face? It is a gem of a 'stick'. For years it has lived in different places here at home. Most recently, it lived in the tub with my yarn because I saw it as a fine piece of wood to use in a woven piece of some sort.

The Hawk feather is documented in the post above. It has rested on my 'important wall' above my desk, with my eagle necklace, a photo of pogonip and a cloth from Jude, among other things.

The rock came from our 2010 Big Road Trip, a rock shop in AZ, if I remember correctly. The polishing of it really makes the design stand out! I can see this in stitch...Penny? Judy? Jude? Liz? Anyone? 🙂

It is smooth and cool in the hand.

Magic.

The little 'nest' card has been in my collection forever. It has been held in the category of  "too precious to use". It is precious, but it is ready for new journey now. I have always liked this drawing so much...3 small blue eggs in a nest, a home...so finely drawn.

May you feel the joy in giving

May you know when to let go ( I say that one a lot, don't I?)

May you pause in the holding, before doing so

xo

Photos by NAE @pomegranatetrail ©2023

Going with Beauty

~~~ ~~~~ ~~~ 

Yesterday this gorgeous gift went to our walking place.

It was quite breezy, so a real race to snap a photo.

Today I was lucky enough to sit with this cloth for a long while.

The dyeing is a marvel to study...the stitching is exquisite.

 

Dear Tina made this for me. One side is 'ice dyed'...producing colors which reminded her of Hawaii's sunrise-sunset...water, sand, sky.

If you are wondering how to do this, as I was...you can find information HERE

Both sides are so beautiful, aren't they?!

The reverse side she chose fabrics that reminded her of her time in Hawaii.

The colors and flower pattern reminds me of my Jr. High years and the colors of the 1970's.

It is such a happy quilt!

🙂

THANK YOU TINA!!!

May you embrace happy

May you allow others to warm your heart (and body!)

May you share your joy

xo

Photos by NAE @pomegranatetrail ©2023

Spring Green

~~~~~~~~~~~

Back here, I posted about the many rhythm instruments over here. These two are packed up and ready to go.

Funny that I had posted food then too. I don't do that often, so that caught my eye, as did the delicious salad. I'd love to eat that up right now! Instead it was rice and vegetables Saturday night.

We hiked (well strolled) into the green and rushing water on Sunday.

We hadn't been to this spot in quite a while. It looked different. First of all, there was water running in multiple places, tree debris and so much growth.

It's a good thing computers don't have "smell-a-vision"! The water had a strong smell of petroleum and a strange fishy smell to me too. This is not surprising as there is a lot of petroleum in the hills around here. But, blech. It was also a a odd color and full of foam in places. All of this just screamed 'polluted'! This made me sad. However, it sounded wonderful!

The sheer amount of green, the grasses, flowers and gorgeous trees lifted my spirits back up.

Aren't we so lucky to see such things?!

I'll see ya next time, down the trail.

May you find your path

May you look for the goodness

May you remember a little something is better than nothing

xo

Photos by NAE @pomegranatetrail ©2023

Books, Cards and Clouds

~~~~~

25 minutes a day, waiting

25 minutes of talking, laughing, listening to classical music

25 minutes of stretching, adjusting, reclining

25 minutes a day of watching the parade of very speedy drivers arrive - swooping wide to make the turns without slowing down, backing in to a preferred spot like a pro

~~~~ 🅿️ ~~~~ 

Books in the mail...

Along with the CDs, a few family movies (DVDs) there will be more books in the mail. Plus, there is a DVD of me, back in 2006, when I was interviewed for a local PBS/KCET program titled "Life & Times".

Information below was found here.

Box  289

70206 "Pre-School Teacher Scarcity/Former Marine and Weapons Inspector Speaks Out/Ansel Adams in Manzanar"

Tape ID: DB3-16735

Show Length: 27:00

Format: Digital Betacam 34

2006-11-28

It was basically about how hard it is to find good preschool teachers. What I said then, is true today and only made worse by the pandemic. Enough hours (full time) with a living wage (or better) and full benefits...something this field struggles with.

I was not planning on being on television. I was merely walking back from my lunch, when my director asked if I would be willing to be interviewed, since I was the employee with the longest commute (really driving home the point of how hard it was to get teachers, I guess). Back then I drove 90 miles each way, each day. Man.

The best part was after it aired and a couple of parents had recorded it for me...we wheeled down the big TV and the VCR and played it for my toddlers! They were amazed to see themselves on television and kept looking at one another and then pointing to the TV, as if to say, "Look...it's you...in real life and up there too!" It was very sweet watching their excited faces. Now, all of these years later, I think that a little something has been lost, as the frequency of young children seeing themselves on phones and tablets all of the time, takes away from the novelty of that.

5 of these 6 books were mine as a child. The 6th book "If You Find a Rock, has a long story and lots of personal history. You can read about that back here.

My choices of books to send are getting slimmer and slimmer, which is a great thing. - I think anyway. Many of the selections I'm sending now, won't be age appropriate for quite some time.

📚

On Wednesday there were 2 tornados in SoCal! Wild, wild times.

News Facts:

Between 1950-2022

469 confirmed tornados statewide

45 in LA county alone

Last direct LA hit by tornado: 2014

🌪️

The Thursday drive had it all! Rain, parting clouds, threatening clouds...We were thrilled to see some moments of blue sky after so many days of rain.

It was beautiful!

woosh!

A thick roll of white clouds sat low on The Valley's perimeter, completely obscuring the mountains. In the next moments, we were driving right into the darkening sky.

I was on the lookout for tornados 😉

I switched the kitchen photographs for cards I've received. They have been landing every- which-where in this lil place, so I thought I'd corral them in one spot. I'm pretty sure that if I actually cleaned up some, I'd find more. Won't that be a fun surprise?! At any rate, these are so joyful to look at from my perch on the couch! 🙂 I disappeared some of the personal messages, but you get the idea.

Now that I've made a change from photographs, I wonder what I'll put up next time?!

(Repeat thanks go out to Liz for this beautiful cloth, which gives me the opportunity for a rotating show! Thanks Liz!)

Friday brought cold wind and another showing of gorgeous clouds, along with a tree full of birds!

May you make a change

May you surprise yourself

May you talk, laugh & listen

May you spend your 25 minutes well

xo

Photos by NAE @pomegranatetrail ©2023

Almost One Week's Worth

 

~~~~

Much of this low-lying area was water just last Thursday. This is typical of rain storms in drought SoCal! haha It was so misty this day, which is more unusual. The photos above were the way home, but on the way in...the mist was just laying on the ground, everywhere.

Also on the way home, the sun behind the clouds was amazing! When the clouds parted a bit...the sun was a perfect circle of whiteness...so moon-like...a perfect DOT!! I turned and wiggled in my seat trying to capture it, but every photo was some version of a fail. I liked these well enough though. I really wanted to share it...show Jude...A Sun-Moon Dot!

Saturday morning while working on the "CD Project", I discovered and played 2 CDs, which were recorded decades ago when my children were babies, young children. Many first words caught for all time. If memories serve me, these were first recorded on my mom's little macro tape recorded and then transferred to CD. The quality is awful, but the meaning is so rich. They made me cry. So many of those on the recordings or mentioned have already passed on. To hear the voices of my mama, my daddy, our dear friend, Helen, my ex...my younger self too, was to step back to a much simpler time, with our whole lives in front of us. My son will be able to listen to the dates stated and the events discussed with the photos in his scrapbook and get a sense of his life as a very young child. Amazing. There is even a sweet & funny bit of him singing the entirety of "Mares Eat Oats", "Bushel and a Peck", "The Band Played On", "Bicycle Built for Two" with my mom and the first verse of "McNamara's Band" (my daddy's gift to the family and the only verse he sang!)...it gave me goosebumps. To hear my mom exclaim "Marvelous!!" and the family crowd clap and shout "Palmas" for the little star of the show, for it is to know how much this child was adored. He was surrounded with so much love, language, family humor, made up games, questions & things pondered...discussions of things in his world: Gymboree, school, the park, the library. Many of the recordings were done at my parents house or our old NV house while my parents cared for him. There was lots of learning about how a tape recorder works! 

He really like the parts of songs where he could let his voice blare! The 'Ohhh' of "McNamara's Band"  and the 'A dorie-O' of "Sarasponda"!

There are a million of versions of that one online! Everything from 'Barney' to sappy preschool teachers to a choral version to this one below. I chose this one mostly because I could Never do the song this way!! Haha I do not have this kind of coordination 🙂 I would be like the two gals who totally just pass the rhythm sticks to each other instead throwing them!

I'm carrying on with the book project too., by sending off many more selections. Each book sent has a deep story and a lifetime of memories. Treasures of the heart.

LINK

LYRICS

On Tuesday it POURED again! The photos above are from Monday, when the clouds were literally on the ground, threatening of what would come. Then the rain and wind came in. 

Then came Tuesday night and into Wednesday as well...POURING! 

Sheets of rain rushing down. There is another yellow-orange cell heading our way right now.

Today was a big nap day.

~~~~~

Part of my delving into books is trying to create something fun, based on one of them. So, I've been on the hunt for small animals. Small being 3-5 inches. I need the following:

mole...rabbit...hedgehog...owl...badger...fox...bear (realistic, not Teddy) and a mouse.

I have a mouse (white plastic), which if I move forward with my current plan - will end up being the biggest one! haha How funny. I also have a mole...but it is so tiny and I really don't care for it. I do so wish I was creative enough to make charming little stuffed, felted or carved wooden animals. So, the question is: will my implementation plan be 'good enough' or will something else come about?

Welcome back home says this lil bird!

🪶

I will cut this short and save the other pics and their stories for the next one. These certainly have turned into long, rambling, self-indulgent post lately.

May you indulge yourself now and then

May you indulge others too

May you embrace patience in both situations

xo

Photos by NAE @pomegranatetrail ©2023

March 17, 2023

~~~ 🌿 ~~~

It's St. Patrick's Day...which to me, as a teacher, is "don't forget to wear a green shirt day". 

It is also the 3rd anniversary of the day we went home from work due to covid.

The two will always be merged in my mind.

There is more to life than increasing its speed.

~Gandhi

Wednesday's Sunset in the corridor, like walking into the light, eh?

Even though it is dry today, the road still has places blocked off from the recent flooding and the hills seep excess rainwater. It is quite the sight for around here.

What is life? It is the flash of a firefly in the

night. It is the breath of a buffalo in the winter

time. It is the little shadow which runs across the

grass and loses itself in the Sunset.

~Author: Crowfoot, Blackfoot

Yesterday, I played with watercolors and paper, gifted to me. My small goal was to paint one whole page in shades of green. I put "the board" (a family history piece) on my ironing board, which was my brilliant idea of the day. For two months, I've been trying to figure out how and where I could play like this. When it warms up and dries up a bit, I can use the patio. Anyway, this was not the peaceful adventure I've been wanting, but it was doable and enough (two key words these days). The plastic paint caddy I got worked great. It is deep and sturdy and has a spot to stand the brushes to dry. Unfortunately, the brushes that came with the paint are too stiff for my taste and skill. I wanted to have a more flowing experience. I played with adding more water when blending, but well...I'll keep playing.

Long grasses catch my eye and later they show up in the paint.

Forget not

that the earth delights to feel your bare feet

and the winds long to play with your hair

Kahlil Gibran

I see an super green corridor here 🙂

Dwell as near as possible to the channel in which your life flows.

Henry David Thoreau

~~~ 🌿 ~~~

May you grow

May you thrive

May you continue

xo

Photos by NAE @pomegranatetrail ©2023