Frame

 

In the past few days, I've completed 5 Holiday Themed Medicine Bags. I used typical Christmas, Hanukkah and Kwanzaa colors. I made one in the "end of the day" colors, as I did last year.

I re-read some information about Kwanzaa and revisited some of the symbols used to celebrate. Here is a LINK to the Official Kwanzaa Website. The symbols page explains the colors of the flag: Black, Red, and Green. Those are the colors I chose for the Medicine Bag again this year.

Here is the story and photo from last year about the "end of the day" colors...

"A story: Once upon a time, in the beginning of the 1980's, a woman and her daughter went into an antique store to browse. The store had many items made of glass. Many classy, expensive items. It was quite upscale. Anyway, one of the items that the daughter noticed and fell in love with was an antique 'sugar shaker'. It was very beautiful. The many colors dancing in the light of the spaces of clear glass. Stunning. The daughter fell in love with it right away. The owner of the store explained to her that this one in particular was called an "end of the day" sugar shaker. This meant that at the end of the day, once all of the single colors were created, the makers would toss the all of the extra bits into the making, hence the multi-colored end result. The daughter was young, maybe 20-21 years old at the time and did not purchase the colorful shaker, but she held in her heart for the rest of her days. Beauty stays.

This story is about my mom and me, hanging out together in Northern Nevada. It is a favorite memory of time spent together. The sugar shaker looked very much like the one below, but with more colors. I remember reddish, green, blue...dreamy!

UPDATE: I forgot to write the whole reason for telling the story above! lol

Anyway, I warped the loom again, started my thought process...but then Holiday Season ended before I could complete the Medicine Bag! haha So I decided to mush all of the holiday colors together. Doing this reminded me of the "end of the day" sugar shaker and off my brain went 🙂 So, this Medicine Bag is an "end of the season" one. 🤣 It is not slated for anyone, just another CMB, except I forgot to take it today. Next time."

**Screenshot from this LINK

The reason I made these Holiday bags is because I may have an opportunity to pass them along in a different way, so I wanted something seasonal to add to the Blues and Browns. We'll see.

🪶   ⌘   🪶

I read this in a comment on a 'ways to save money' video: "I use linen impregnated with beeswax to wrap our bread." Huh? 

Yep, it's a real and big thing I guess within some communities. You can search yourself or look HERE. I haven't made my own bread in a million years and we don't buy/eat a lot anyway, so this is not something I have a need for...but the conversation around this one little thing was something to learn about. Every day I learn something new. Today it was the term "chestfeeding". Who knew?

I wonder what new tid-bit I will come across next?!

I find it fitting that today's Sky photo is and 'end of the day' photo. I never got to a bright blue sky photo today...and boy am I glad! The patio view this evening turned out perfectly framed, thanks to the flash. This made me think about how we frame and reframe things in our lives, especially the harder things.

May you celebrate in small or large ways

May you retell the treasured stories

May you frame things in ways that best support you

xo

Photos by NAE @pomegranatetrail ©2024 

Our Shared Sky

 

                        A Day in the Life of Walking from Canada to Los Angeles

LINK 28:12 minutes

This was a very curious video to me. I thought of Deb G. and Grace. I have to think about it some more.

I'm still a bit under the weather and it is still gorgeous out. For the past two days I've been weaving with the colors seen here. It is a nice way to spend time.

The hawk cries were loud and compelling. I went to go look. Compared to the loud calls it was making, the hawk looked so small at the top of the tall pine. It flew off right after this photo. I think it was a Cooper's Hawk. In the photo below, you can barely see it, right? One has to be tuned into their world to find them in the vast sky environment.

May you travel vicariously if that's they best way for you

May you pack a lot of color into a small space

May your hear the cries of the Hawks

xo

Photos by NAE @pomegranatetrail ©2024 

Travel On

 

Best of Favorite Dance Moves (2024)

LINK 4:55 minutes

It is gorgeous out...70°, with a fairly cool wind. The sky bright and beautiful, the air itself is lovely. However, the wind plays with my asthma a bit and today is an achy day. But IF one has to feel 'under the weather' - as the saying goes - at least this is wonderful weather to be under. Lucky for me, I can take it easy today. Just watching the video above exhausted me! But, I had to put it here because it is so cheerful and the dancers are so talented. I do love to watch dance.

I love how if you look closely, you can see the wind in the trees. Next best thing to a video camera 😉

I have mentioned that I've lost count on how many CMB I have made. I started keeping them home with me (mostly) while I continued working my way through an internal need related to color scheme. Is that what real artists do, work in series? Anyway, I still have 5 brownish bags and 9 blues bags here at home. The browns are tagged and ready to go, the blues are not.

Today I took them outside for a "Mug Shot" (😂 🤣 that literally popped into my head as I was typing this!). As I mentioned in a comment to Deb, last post, this mug holds a story.  First of all, as far as holding a story...I am reminded about the 'boots can hold a story' that I posted back HERE. I love that poem and that story (memory). 

Anyway, for today's story...years and years ago, while living at the old place, I saw something - somewhere that gave me the idea to take a series of photographs. I had already begun the "places to weave" series, which included tangled ancient wire on the desert floor and black hillside retaining netting on the California coast, among other things. Anything that had 'holes' was perceived as a place to weave. The new series I was inspired to think about was things that could be held in a mug, a plain white mug. I bought this mug, made a list...and I never did the project in my head! I put some natural materials into it and stood it on a shelf in my studio, but never took the focused photos I was imagining. Those natural seed pods dried up and made a mess, so out they went. Then the mug hung around for more years on shelves, dressers, windowsills...it moved into the cabinet to used for his coffee. It sat, white and empty as the day I brought it home. Suddenly the other day, after bringing home the first little handful of oak sticks and needing a place to put them, I remembered this ancient plan. Those are the photos you saw the other day. I remembered how lovely the light on the patio can be, how the backdrop of the green vine-covered wall makes the photographed item pop. So, I thought...just do it!

So I did. I have and I will continue. 

The list is long gone (along with my memory, ha), so I'll practice this process in the arc of just going.

I played with the camera angle, which side I stood on to take the photograph and so on. I took no notes and I'm sure I will forget the next time I set up for a photoshoot. All fine by me, as the goal is playing. I will track them here, for fun.

Mug Shots

#1 - Abundance (the oak sticks)

#2 - My cup runneth over, weaving a story

I finished this one last night. It is very soft. This is planned as a gift. As I wove, I thought about Grace's recent remarks about how she uses her Medicine Bag and how it feels to her.

I will next make at least 3 holiday colored Medicine Bags, as I did last year.

May you travel on, however that may look

May you weave a good story

May your cup runneth over

xo

Photos by NAE @pomegranatetrail ©2024 

Finding Sanity

 Finding sanity can be a tricky thing. One has to reach out, shut out, reach deep and hold both the familiar and the new. One has to reach wide to hug oneself, to hug the world. I'm practicing.

I completed the Medicine Bag on the right last night. You last saw the one on the left HERE. I had to take a long break from any close work due to my eyes and lack of glasses. It (and most likely other things too) has revived my creative spirit. So, last night I not only finished the blue bag, but I finished sewing on the heel and toes on the first Christmas Stocking I will complete. The next step is to make the patches and sew them on. Not my favorite part of the process, but made better by the discovery that I still have some muslin to use for these two stockings I'll be working on. This made me happy. Nothing to buy! Yay!

ECM LINK 33:44 minutes

Today I went to 'city park' to collect more oak twigs and bits. I have some weaving ideas in mind and wanted to get some before I could not find any. I now think this won't be a problem at all, as there were way more than I needed.

I sat on a bench in the warm air and cool breeze and talked to a good friend. It was delightful, especially since she had great health news to share, post her breast cancer treatments. Relief sails in on the gentle wind.

Not quite ready to head home, I drove up the road towards the mountain, up the road to Mentryville - windows down cool gust of wind coming through. The clouds coming in, turning dark, but making me feel light as air.

Do you see the heart cloud? Love in the air? I want to believe that.

A new Medicine Bag is on the Little Loom. This one has a special destination, if I can work it out. Fingers crossed. It is the colors of growth and earth for grounding and the flow of water and the expanse of sky.

May you find your sanity in the most unlikely places

May you be there for others in ways that support and celebrate

May you journey on...and on and on

xo

PS UPDATE: We just had a downpour, burst of rain for about 5 minutes. It came on fast and hard. My first thoughts were yay, we need the rain and it sounds/smells so good! We can't even remember when it last rained. My second thoughts were of Grace and hoping she is safe and dry tonight. 5 minutes in, a switch was flipped and...silence, then it started up again. It is raining like the ebb and flow of the waves on the shore...slow, soft & quiet...then loud, urgent, stunning. There may be thunder - or an upstairs neighbor's window being adjusted. 😉

Photos by NAE @pomegranatetrail ©2024 

Choose Wisely Folks

 

We seek balance, precarious as it may be. Even when we look to the bright blue skies, we seek not only their vast representation of possibility, but their comfort of hope and good cheer.

These are the days to seek balance, to choose wisely...to embrace safety in grand numbers.

I made the mistake of seeing a few minutes of the Madison Square Garden event today. I was horrified, not only at their words of hate, but at the amount of folks who chose to be there and cheer.

I am grateful my parents do not have to live through this time filled with tension and unpredictability. I think of Michelle, her beloved NY and am grateful she is not here to worry.

This song randomly showed up on my YouTube page and I was so glad, for I will grab onto anything positive at this moment and I will accept any worthy fight song. 

                                       We're Not Going Back (with titles)

LINK 3:50 minutes

LYRICS: You say you wanna make America Great Again But can you tell when exactly that was, my friend? When the star spangled banner first waved? Well, it wasn’t that great for the people enslaved ! You say you wanna go back to the good old days When the rivers were foul and the skies were grey We’ve come so far since then Do ya really wanna live that way again? We’re not goin’ back, We’re not goin’ back We’re not goin’ back to the way things used to be We’re movin’ ahead till we reach our destiny! Do you wanna go back to the bygone years When they tried to divide with hate and fear? Or do you wanna get together as one Shoulder to shoulder till the work is done? Do you wanna go back to those days again When a man was judged by his shade of skin? And a woman didn’t have a voice And what happened to her body was not her choice! God Bless this Land, of Yes we can Where hopes and dreams can grow We’ve come so far, to where we are, There’s still so far to go! Do you wanna go back to the guilded age Before Union jobs and the minimum wage? Do you think its really fair That you pay more tax than a billionaire? Do you wanna go back to that flim-flam man, Whose words are fake as a spray-on tan? Who sold his soul for fame Let’s move ahead and forget his name! We’re not goin’ back, We’re not goin’ back We’re not goin’ back to the way things used to be We’re movin’ ahead till we reach our destiny!

Follow the best path, stop to rest and regroup...bring supplies and lean on each other as you go...and learn, always learn. Vasquez Rocks has places for all of this. Years ago, when we were last here, I did not realize how many benches and picnic tables there were, I did not know how complete the Interpretive Center is (so much information) and I did not know there are 4 parking lots, so you can always park close to where you want to be. How nice is that?

I did know that everywhere you turn (even if your feet stay relatively planted), there are amazing views.

This is someplace we will go back to soon. After all, Our interest has been piqued by those extra parking lots! Closer is better, she says. 

In the meantime, I'm learning a lot reading online.

To bring this full circle, as I am apt to do...in the thoughts of unintended viewing and the feelings that brought...through the dirt paths of life where one can experience great heights (at least visually) - to the holes that can pop up and grab you - to the many berries or fruits of life - to our need to circle around the prickly parts...I consider how we live our lives in layers. How each layer requires a foundation, a piece of history to lift it up. How each layer becomes not only the living moment, but the foundation to our future and that of generations to come. May we not let the shifting layers of the past make us wary of how to build a future. May we add on enough layers, cementing a strong foothold for anything that may come. May we do this with our eyes to the earth and to the skies, arm in arm. Amen. 

May you find way to turn things around, as needed

May you welcome the songs of others to help you tell your story

May you practice balancing

xo

Photos by NAE @pomegranatetrail ©2024 

How Big is Your Horizon?

 

LINK 1:28:25 hour/minutes

How big is your horizon? How far can you see? How does your hope soar? 

We went to VOTE today after The Well...then I watched the above rally. When the stylus in my hand touched the screen, thus marking my vote for Kamala/Walz my eyes welled up. As I listened to Michelle Obama, I wallowed in my ever-growing admiration of her. All these years later, she Wow's! me!! But when she got to the part in her speech about Women's Reproductive Rights & Freedoms, I full on wept. For in every word, I not only heard the stories of the women I've known through my lifetime, but I saw myself. I saw myself in a way no one has articulated in this way or so well. For, she not only painted a picture of (young) mothers and families...those wishing to have children or those who struggled with a decision to not have a child...but, she brought out her biggest umbrella to cover all of women's reproductive health needs, at many stages throughout their lives. She was passionate, powerful, eloquent...she was all of us. And she spoke for us and stood with us and then, as if that was not enough...she held us as she served up our stories to the men of America. She spoke caring and love and truth.

I am so very proud to have cast my vote on this, the first day of in person early voting. I am so proud to have cast my vote for myself and for all of us. 

The polling place we went to, the one we've gone to several times in the recent elections, was busy at just after 12:30 PM. The parking lot was packed and the building was busy with activity. Folks stood outside chatting with each other. And just as I completed my ballot, I heard a poll worker say that all of the machines were in use and that voter would have to wait a moment. As I stepped away, another poll worker alerted him that my machine was available. 

Today I wear my hope in the fact that none of these things usually take place in my area. It is usually not very crowded and has easy parking There are usually many machines unused, standing in waiting. Folks walk in and out without communication. While, there were no long lines, it just felt different this time around. And while it may not be true, I need to believe that it is because hope lives in the ribs of Democracy. May this be so and may the nightmare of the influence of him finally be over. May we awake with joy.

And while no one is saying it anymore, so close to election day, my deepest thanks to Joe Biden, who truly did put his country first. Let us not forget that.

When the future is the present, I will rest in the thought that my very small donations and my vote...that my texts to ones I know, to share information...or my scant posts here...that my very small steps...I will rest in the thought that I too have spoken.

Heart full and fingers crossed.

May you remember that the sun shines on behind the clouds

May you weep from your heart, may you feel joy from the bottom of your heart

May you keep your eye on the beautiful, wide horizon

xo

Photos by NAE @pomegranatetrail ©2024