Sometimes life feels like a giant, oddly functioning pendulum.
I'm so grateful for the music that comes with all of life's seasons.
LINKMay you learn how to swing
xo
Thursday, February 29, 2024
Wednesday, February 28, 2024
It is Enough
All of the peach ... Medicine Bags were delivered recently, via one person in the group.
Today I got to speak to one of the recipients.
She loved her gift and told me so, with such enthusiasm. She told me she keeps it with her 'in her bag'. Keeps it with her.
Then tonight, over at Catherine's, while looking at her recent trip photos...
There I see the Medicine Bag I'd sent her, with her, in Mexico!
ð
I can't describe how this fills me, what a lift it is to know, really know.
The Community Medicine Bags are one kind of gift and this is another.
Today I appreciate this gift, very much.
May you pause long enough to recognize the gifts
May you be filled with gratitude
May you know enough
xo
Photos by NAE @pomegranatetrail ©2024
Monday, February 26, 2024
There Will Be Books!
ðŽ ð ðļ
On Your Way Back Home ~ Melinda Coombs
LINKð
This little book was bought at the library ~ "Friends of the Library" ~ for 50 cents! I went to donate books and came home with this one, one for J. and a few for the Teacher Mentee. Anyway, I glanced through it quickly while there and read it at the Bridge days later. The photographs, quotes, beautiful paper and tiny-firm spiral binding all caught my eye. But, it was the interesting art embedded within the quotes that really caught my interest. I'll add two more photos today, but you may see others in upcoming posts.
I was reminded of Deb's recent lettering and stitching and Jude's symbols and my interest in drawing more.
ð
TOP PHOTO:
The Nightgown of the Sullen Moon...I loved this story for its imagination and storytelling. My mama thought it was too 'down'. Do things always have to be cheery I wonder? I didn't feel it as a depressing story at all (why would someone write that way for children?), but there are elements of not getting what you want, which really is a good lesson, I think. The artwork is beautiful and the conclusion is just right. I was always drawn to 'bedtime books' - those that told the story of going to bed, the stories of the winding down at day's end, stories of the night. You've already seen a few of them here in past posts.
My Two Feet...we loved this book, my daughter and I. Creativity of thought, charming illustrations...is it any wonder that it is falling apart a bit (are there still book repair folks out there?). With all of the types of shoes, there are no moccasins! Ha.
Goodnight Hattie, My Dearie, My Dove...Another 'bedtime book'. This one captures the adoration young children have for their lovies, stuffies, friends, dolls...and so on. It captures a young child's skill at procrastination and a mother's patience and understanding of it all. Who wouldn't want to go to sleep wrapped in such love?!
The Dream Child...Yep, yet another 'bedtime book'! My love of this genre becomes more and more obvious! This one is signed to my son by the author/illustrator David McPhail. He wrote several books that we loved ("Snow Lion, "Emma's Pet"...). I was always captured by the way authors/illustrators could capture such soft and dreamy qualities.
MIDDLE PHOTO:
Coco Can't Wait...An exuberant tale of a grandmother and granddaughter who just can't wait to see one another and the mishaps that take place in their rushing to and fro! My mama loved this book with my daughter, sharing that love for each other. A grandmother's joy, yes? I read it tons with my preschool classes, modeling how they could track the movements of each character, by using my finger to follow their paths. It is a story just filled with emotions, from excitement, to disappointment or frustration, to utter glee and joy. What a lovely relationship for grandmother and granddaughter!
BOTTOM PHOTO:
This is my current collection by Anna Grossnickle Hines. She is a very prolific writer, who has written over 50 children's books. One of the things I like about her work is that most of them are quite different from one another. Even if the style of illustrating looks similar, the stories shine through and do not have that 'one trick pony' feel. We used to have Grandma Gets Grumpy. New York: Dutton, 1988, which my mom thought was simply brilliant and I liked it too. In this story, the grandma gets grumpy and a bit firm when the grandchildren misbehave. It ends well though with a learned understanding of how to respect one another...all while loving one another. My collection focuses on her amazingly beautiful books, illustrated with images of her tiny pieced - beautiful - quilts. In the back of the book(s) she has photos and descriptions of how she made those quilts. Really awe inspiring. I saw her at a local quilt show years back, so I was fortunate to see the quilts in the Real! Plus, she autographed my books. ð These 3 books were a part of my fibers in the classroom collection, from my Preschool days.
It has been a joy to read all of them again. Which has me thinking about Liz's recent comment about how she'd "find refuge" in children's books. Lovely.
ðŽ
Lost Sheep | Paper Stop Motion Short Film by Lukas Rooney
LINK
I completed the first Medicine Bag with these colorways. The first with 'people colors' or a 'diversity bag'...or 'earth colors'. I am very pleased with it. I set a goal of only using each yarn/fiber once. I was mostly able to do that! My next plan is to make more! And to hang onto these as I make them, at least until I decide what I'm going to do with them.
May you honor your current age
May you honor your creativity
May you you honor your interests
xo
Photos by NAE @pomegranatetrail ©2024
Thursday, February 22, 2024
Back to the Books
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I'm back to boxing books. I'm down to some of the trickier ones to part with or find homes for.
These were two absolute favorites for me when I was a child. Littler me adored The Rabbits' Wedding and later school-age me was so touched by The Red Balloon.
Let's take a closer look...
LINKBook Number One:
I searched to find a nice reading of The Red Balloon. The beautiful photos don't show that well, but the movie itself is below. Rereading this book brought up so many feelings - long held feelings, as if I was 10 years old again...and new ones with eyes of 2024. My heartstrings were more than just 'pulled'... they were tugged hard.
Looking around some more and I found this well-articulated post about this special book. Reading through the post, I get to the bottom and notice two comments...one of them was from Our Michelle in May 2011 - the exact month and year I started this blog of my own!! Makes me wonder what other books this blogger writes about.
Rewatching the movie had the same effect as the book this time around. I was interested to notice how much this book/movie/story contributed to who I am.
Book Number Two:
As a very young girl, I adored Garth Williams illustrations and this book in particular. I've already written about my love for Little Fur Family, Stuart Little...there were so many others. I loved the love story of the rabbits, the gentle life within the beautiful illustrations. When looking for the video, I was surprised to see that it had been on a banned book list. Geez.
The book, aside from the book jacket being torn and my childhood name inscribed in the front in my mother's hand, it is in almost perfect condition. We took such good care of our books!
I was again surprised to look at the story with current eyes. Not the reasons it was banned (a biracial bunny relationship! ha) - I didn't even notice that part. But, I did notice the 'happily ever after' aspect to the tale.
LINKThere will be more books showing up here as I process the process.
May your memories be rich
May your memories be enlightening
May your memories be both grounding and freeing
xo
Photos by NAE @pomegranatetrail ©2024
Sunday, February 18, 2024
Home
ðŠķ
I went into my old computer Saturday. We haven't spent time together since 2021, but I was looking for a work-around for sending some documents to a friend. It is complicated.
Anyway, that didn't really work, so I moved on to check on my photos still in there 20,000 of them! From 2009(ish) - 2021. A lifetime of memories.
I decided to watch a slideshow of "us" that I had made, using the original version of the song above. Remember how you could buy one song from iTunes for 99 cents? That's what I had done. J. and I really enjoyed the song, but especially the version above with this charming daddy and his little girl. Don't you just love her little heart and the way she looks at him? Oh my. It was a great song to use for US. The slideshow was a good reminder of our life together during those years. Of what is important, even still. A reminder of home.
I want to try to get those photos into this new computer. I also have some printed photos, from the days prior to digital cameras. I'd love to have them all in one place.
LINKThis song came right up this afternoon. I of course like the bluesy feel, the melody and some of the feelings it evokes. Not all, but some. And I am of course interested when I find something, like this band, brand new to me...but they've been out there having a following and building a community. I so often reflect on our cloth community and consider that there are thousands and thousands of them out there for every subject you can think of.
The chairs on the patio sit unused, part of another, older lifetime. I'm getting closer to letting them go. But, I'm still stuck on their history and my love of that. I'm still stuck on wanting to give them a good life or sell them? So many people were interested in them back in my FB selling days, but I wasn't ready. I'm getting closer now. They don't look great, but they are still comfortable. I wonder if Oroville is a possible road trip? I think they'd look good on the hill ð
These are the chairs that a young father built
That sat on a porch where dreams and laughter lived
These are the chairs where the mama sat and held her babies in the morning sun
That held the two men in her young life while they bonded in the mountain air
❤️
May you remember your good days and those you've loved
May you hold them in the present for as long as you need to
May you finds ways to let them live on
xo
Photos by NAE @pomegranatetrail ©2024
Friday, February 16, 2024
more love
Sky Heart ~ 2/16/2024
LINK"...people who love each other, can adapt to anything" ~ Melinda Coombs
~~~~~~
I Save My Love
I save my love for what is close,
for the dog's eyes, the depths of brown
when I take a wet cloth to them
to wash his face. I save my love
for the smell of coffee at The Mill,
the roasted near-burn of it, especially
the remnant that stays later
in the fibers of my coat. I save my love
for what stays. The white puff
my breath makes when I stand
at night on my doorstep.
That mist doesn't last, evaporates
like your car turning the corner,
you at the wheel, waving.
Your hand a quick tremble in a
brief illumination. Palm and fingers.
Your face toward me. You had
turned on the over-head light so I would
see you for an instant, see you waving,
see you gone.
Poem copyright ©2019 by Marjorie Saiser, "I Save My Love," from Learning to Swim, (Stephen F. Austin State University Press, 2019). Poem reprinted by permission of Marjorie Saiser and the publisher.
A Love Story: The Blind Woodsman
LINKMay you find love in many places
May your love grow and continue
May your love include yourself
xo
Photos by NAE @pomegranatetrail ©2024
Considering
...Considering my way forward. I think I am feeling confused about this.
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Wednesday, February 14, 2024
Happy Valentine's Day Y'all
ð❤️❤️ð
Here's hoping y'all felt the Love today!
ð❤️❤️ð
ð❤️❤️ð
May you give and receive Love
May you feel loved
May you Be love
xo
Photos by NAE @pomegranatetrail ©2024
Friday, February 9, 2024
Wednesday, February 7, 2024
Sunday, February 4, 2024
A Rainy Sunday Post
The first part of this post is inspired by a recent conversation with my friend...where we talked about old books and first editions. J. used to have many first editions back in the day. So, here we go...
This first book belonged to my mom. The last time I dusted the bookshelf, I considered each book. I've had this book for 16 years now and have never even cracked it open! My mom was quite interested in this study. My mom studied things she found interesting. Me, not so much, well, not deep study anyway. I always thought that I wanted to read, at least some of, this book (and the ones below). Then at times, I thought that I should read these or certain other books. I now know neither to be true. I now project that I will never read these books.
My birth-father's signature graces the front of these last two. 1951. Their cases (boxes) and the book jacket above all show much wear, but the books themselves are in very good condition after all of these years. Pretty cool.
I think I will look through them some more. I like the markings and artwork. That beast below has me thinking of Jude ð
I warped the loom for my new plan. The yarns that I gathered and left in the 'pantry' were gone the next day. I hope someone is having fun with them ð Anyway, like I said, I pulled out the browns, peach, creamy white, black...thinking "people colors". As any preschool teacher will tell you, people colors became popular as a mass marketed way to promote Diversity and Inclusion, back when the word of the day was 'multi-cultural'.
So, Sunday - laundry day - I began to weave. Oh, how much I enjoyed these colors. I thought not only of people, but of Mother Earth too. While weaving, my mind wandered around a bit. I'd been calling this plan Unity Bags as I worked. Thinking of time, season...the close of January and the new month of February. Which of course led to the recent Martin Luther King holiday and celebrations in February, like Black History Month. I smiled at the unplanned timing of this. Unity indeed. I'm thinking that I will do a few of these Medicine Bags
I colored in the bridge, which I photographed on January 26th, along with the Hawk, that you first met HERE. The Hawk turned out rather weird, but I like the power pole ð I could add the big rock by the bridge. I had been doing it by memory and forgot about the rock. I'm having fun collecting the bridge drawing on one page for now.
I've lost count on how many times the phones have gone off with Emergency Alerts.
I wonder what the river will look like at The Bridge?!
LINK
May you feel good, wherever you are
May you play with ideas and materials
May all be well
xo
Addendum:
Beautiful Joni Mitchell “Both Sides Now” Live on the Grammys, February 4, 2024
LINKPhotos by NAE @pomegranatetrail ©2024
Saturday, February 3, 2024
Well Would You Look At That!
Starting with some "housekeeping" stuff this time...
First, inspired by a recent comment from Liz, I thought it would be wise to let you readers know that I have begun to add the "LINK" to all videos, just below the embedded videos. I've tried really hard to remember to do this, in case the videos don't show up or get removed by you tube for some reason. However, I also forgot (this whole time!!) to let you know this. So, if you notice a black screen where a video should be, look below it for the link! ð Silly me for expecting those reading to also read my mind!
Second, when I read Jude's housekeeping, organizing etc. blog related stuff, I think to myself: I have basically been doing my blog the same way this whole time and feel no pull to change that. The banner is the banner, pages get opened or closed as desired (right now, I've only got the other folks links page opened - 'Same Old Place'). I go in and check the comments, in case something has gone to spam by mistake (usually never). I check the stats information, out of curiosity, now and then. I'm frankly quite befuddled by how many views some of the posts get. I usually have no idea who comes here and when - or why! (unless they post a comment). I just keep throwing stuff out there and traveling on. What a path this blog thing is!
While driving home from the VA, we spotted something never seen before...at a red light, by some railroad tracks...a man steps in front of stopped traffic and begins to juggle. Yes, JUGGLE! How unusual. Right as the light is about to change, he gathers his juggling pins into his hands and requests donations from the waiting drivers. Well, that was fun ð
The trees lit up in the broken sunshine, a bird perched and watched...and behind me the gray of coming rain. Two directions, two different views! Glorious.
May the same old thing still thrill you
May new things delight you
May they not become 'business as usual'
xo
Photos by NAE @pomegranatetrail ©2024
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