Three Books & A Strolling, Thinking Life

 

LINK

Video 11.03 minutes. I've pulled out my copy of the book above, The Big Box to pass along to a dear friend. I was telling her about it while on the phone and ended up reading the whole thing to her! We were both so moved by the words and the still current message. In the front I'd written my name and the date I bought it, "April 8, 2000". I can't tell you the umpteenth times I've read this book, often to myself (even aloud at times). Every time, including yesterday's reading, I am deeply impacted and get the chills.

May all children everywhere be seen for who they are, be allowed to be who they are.

I was happy to find the above reading on You Tube, so I could share it with more folks that just my friend.

~~~~

LINK

Video 15.19 minutes. This book: "Tear Soup" became known to me when my friend's son Christopher became sick with cancer and then passed away. I have thought this book had an important place in a library ever since. I know that I have stirred many a pot of tear soup over my life span. I'm sure you have too.

~~~~~

*Go to this link to watch the video of this book...listen & see the amazing illustrations (which can't possibly show the details and their full wonderfulness).

"Prayer for the Twenty-First Century"

*Next watch this video below to see this unique dance interpretation of this special poem.

LINK

~~~~

Friday's walk not only had beautiful flowers, but living beings for me to observe.

I stood for many moments watching the large bee (above) move from flower to flower. 

This one had a very loud Buzzzz!

This crow was Loud too! It stood on that tile roof calling and calling and calling.

But, you'll hear more of this story later. Let's walk on...

These are all of the fruits from the Loquat 'Japanese Plum' of the other day. How did I miss that? Below is a tree RIGHT NEXT TO THIS ONE, that I also missed some interesting growth! How? As I type this, I think maybe it is because on my walks, I always have in the back of my head the thought that I should 'keep walking', as exercise is one of the goals. So, perhaps I stop, look, snap a few photos and get on with it. But, aren't these teeny flowers sweet? I actually don't know what kind of tree this is.

This property has lots of fruit trees, it seems.

I tried to capture some informative photos of the tree below.

The other day, I wondered about this particular framing around the porch, today I noticed the vines growing. Grapes? I wonder what it would look/feel like with that framework covered?

Yesterday, I also noticed these, previously missed, beauties (below). 

Love the different shades here.

As I circled around the cul-de-sac, a homeowner asked me what I was doing. I said brightly that I was photographing flowers and aren't they "so beautiful"?! This, along with another comment from me, seemed to pacify his suspicious mind. I do not care to walk where people feel or pose threats, mild as they may be.  I walked on. At the next house, I made a point to talk with the woman bringing in the trash cans. I complimented her beautiful roses (the buttery ones in the last two pics, last post). She was very friendly and shared how she keeps the front, the roses watered and looking good...but the backyard is a 'mess' due to the long standing drought here. I let her know that I appreciated her efforts. I saw a fat lizard doing push-ups on her low garden wall, but he scooted over the edge and away before I could capture him in a photo.

The sky was thick with clouds that shifted this way and that. It made for a comfortable and coolish walk. Nice.

Rounding the last corner to head home, I paused to look at these purple flowers. In light of the book above ("The Big Box"), I had some ridiculously deep thoughts about them.

They are not my 'favorite' flowers, don't really catch my eye or my heart...so I don't photograph them. Thought: How do we choose what we will photograph? Why don't we photo/share certain things? I am putting these flowers in a Big Brown Box just because they don't deeply appeal to me? Yeah, I know, kinda silly. But, it really did set me to wondering. After all, I walk by them each day, why not take their photo? So, I did and here they are.

And when I finally did pause long enough, I noticed the the purple blooms hold teeny white blooms as well, reminding me of Bougainvilleas. Pretty cool after all.

Lastly, as I walked towards home, that same crow sat "Caw, caw, cawing" - flying here and there right in the same area. Two other crows came and went, but that one with the loudest, deepest toned "Caw!" stayed. I felt watched as it flew from spot to spot, seemingly right above me. I tried to get photos. As I walked, it flew landing on poles and wires, following behind me. I finally snuck a pic from under some trees and then looking back over my shoulder, I said in my best 'Crow Whisperer' voice, "It's okay, I won't hurt you". Crow stopped "Cawing", stayed right there and I walked home.

I hope you had a nice and interesting Friday too!

May you consider deeply

May you share what you know, question, learn

May you be within your world

xo

Photos by NAE @pomegranatetrail ©2023

A Walking I will Go

 LINK

I discovered the You Tube channel of the video above after reading some of Grace's recent posts. I have delved into many of their videos over the past days.  they are calming and beautiful and tell interesting stories. You can find more at their You Tube page, Green Renaissance. It has been a good place for me to land recently as the videos are not too long, but the words are thought provoking and the images so very lovely.

This will be my last dye pot for a while. I have more than enough dyed fabric...or fabric in general really. A lot of the water is gone, but I'm leaving it be for a while longer. The cloth you see on the top was thrown in at the end, purely because it was still left out and I didn't want to bother getting to the tub to put it away. In a way it is the biggest experiment, as I did not put any rusty bits within its folds and I did not bind it all. So, I'm interested to see what becomes.

So far, I've walked my neighborhood every day this week, taking my camera every other day. It is a different experience each way. When I have my camera I am framing shots, noticing through a photographer's eye. When I am empty handed, I am still closely noticing, but words are falling to the pictures in my mind. Today (Thursday) was a 'no camera' day and I saw a few beautiful flowers I had not yet noticed. I pondered why that was? Was it because, with the camera I am Only looking at the flowers I choose to photograph? My vision is so focused, that I don't 'see' outside of the frame? Or is it just that our eyes fall in different places, even in the same environment? At any rate, these photos are all from yesterday.

I take dozens of photos and then never know which to share, as I like most of them. This was me marveling at the size of this rose. Today as I scanned up the block, (which is a slight grade of a hill), I really noticed how many homes have roses around here. Most of them really.

I noticed these Tuesday, which is why I was camera in hand yesterday. Every one of these roses had a different color pattern. They looked like a party, so festive!

This one was also variegated and surrounded with darker, small blooms ready to open, all off of one stem. I wonder how they will look tomorrow or the next day?

Also filed under what we notice & what we miss: On Tuesday, I also noticed that the wall of leaves down the road, at the end of the sidewalk is really a fig (?) bush. There are actually several tucked in there. I discovered this as two fell off the wall of leaves, almost hitting me on their way down! Ha.

Sweet little flowers, spreading joy when we stop to look.

The detail, those centers...the way the edges of the petals look like the top part of a heart! 🩷

How wonderful is that?

Tuesday, I was enthralled with this tree and all of the tiny fruits of some kind growing on it. The shape of the leaves, the little nubs becoming caught my eye. Today, I noticed the many, many, many peach-colored fruits on the ground. After a quick search, I believe this to be a Loquat 'Japanese Plum' Tree. So, again with the what we see and what we don't!! 

It really makes me wonder about how we go through life..what do we miss? This noticing due to my photography of the week ties in completely to a conversation I had recently with a dear friend, where she told me things that had me saying, "I didn't know that". How much do we miss knowing about our loved ones because that is Human Nature or because we are so busy or because they don't say & we don't ask or because we are so focused on what we, ourselves are doing? 

It's funny how these two experiences came together, connected by days in a life.

I'll close for today with this beauty. The softness and the brilliant, yet also muted colors really held my heart. I paused for a long while. Just breathing.

May you notice or not, and may both ways be okay

May you catch your breath in beauty, still your breath in the moment

May you experiment, learn, and grow

xo

Photos by NAE @pomegranatetrail ©2023

One Reason - Many Results

 A little walk today...

Beauty abounds...

Life springs forth, even from where it was once removed. It returns, undaunted.

Bees abound...even when camera shy...

Single images provoke wonder and awe...

Shedding tree, inspires me to do some of my own shedding.

Embracing the sweet scent...

 In the house...trimmed up, cleaned up plants look so happy, which makes me so happy too. ❤️

May you let one reason lead you to another and back again

May you embrace the sensory pleasures of life

May you ponder

xo

Photos by NAE @pomegranatetrail ©2023

One Reason

 

Today...

Today was a good day. There were many reasons. This was one of them.

While exiting the Goodwill parking lot, I spotted this blooming Yucca plant. The stark white catching my eye. Upon stopping to look, I'm also taken by the number of yellow flowers, the white grasses and the leaning trees.

Nothing else was prettier in that moment.

What will you find in your moment?

What will be your one reason?

May you have a good day

May you have many moments

May you hold one of them close

xo

Photos by NAE @pomegranatetrail ©2023

Mending

 Drive into The Valley this week. Still pretty green for May and beautiful flowers to catch a glimpse of as we fly by. The ones below were captured at a red light, when I quickly grabbed my camera out and snapped a shot before the light could turn green. I have no idea what they are, except pretty. It smells so good when I put the window down. 🙂

I started mending this old quilt today. It was bought at Mervyn's years and years ago. One of those cheap, made to look 'handmade' - but not, quilts in a clear plastic bag. I'm not sure why this one was chosen, as I don't recall ever "loving" it. I actually think it is kinda ugly. Maybe it was the best of the available choices? It is not a color or pattern scheme that really talks to me, but it has served us well. The backing is a thin cotton, muslin type fabric. There a a very thin and worn batting inside.

I am literally just stitching edges together, tightly. I grabbed an already threaded needle (top photo, right side), which held some of Deb's threads and started sewing. That is how I roll it seems...too much long term planning (call that procrastinating) and then jumping in with those plans thrown to the wind!

My most general idea at this point is...

1. to move from split seam to split seam and repair these easier fixes first. 
2. use the scraps of threads in the baggie shown (I really don't want to "waste" Deb's lovely threads on this...whatever that means!
3. when I get to the larger areas, I plan use the recently washed dyed cloth

I wasn't going to care if the stitches show on the back or not, but have so far not sewn all of the way through. We'll see. I mostly want to be able to use this as the weather warms up here. It is nice and thin (even with that batting in there) and that's what I need right now. Perhaps the bits of color and patches here and there will dress it up a bit, make it more interesting.

These two spots are what I accomplished in my first sitting. I'm going back in for more...

Thanks for looking here.

May you come to workable conclusions

May you enjoy the time spent on a task

May your days be filled with bits of color

xo

Photos by NAE @pomegranatetrail ©2023