Sing & Spreading Joy

 Before we head to the bridge, we stop for gas. It's cheaper on that side of town. On this day we pay $6.07. In other places in the valley, it is $6.09, $6.19...even $6.49! Insanity.

I sit inside the car, waiting, as he fills the tank. A small sedan pulls in, a bit fast...swinging past us and down another isle of pumps. The broad-faced, bearded young man has his window down, arm resting happily on the weatherstripping. His bright eyes are shining and he is joyfully singing along with Minnie RIperton -"Loving You", at the top of his lungs. He pops out of his car and heads into the station's store. But when the music stops, he continues the whistling the song as he walks along. He has a bounce in his step and the look of pure contentment on his face.

As we leave, I roll down my window and tell him thanks for the song!! He breaks out in huge smile, saying, "Isn't that a great song?!!" I tell him that it my junior high era and that I love it!

We drive off with smiles on our faces too, filled with so much joy! What a great encounter! 

Yesterday's bridge, yesterday's walk

Cool and cloudy, yet the sun's warmth still breaks through

A pair of hawks, side-by-side - gliding in swoops and circles and right in place

In other places around town, the hawks continue to ignore or fend off the crows/ravens. Their attitude appears so blasé. I'm not a hawk, but I'd be so frustrated being pestered so much!

The cottonwoods are filled with birdsong from unseen birds

The swallows dip, dive and dart over the mustard fields

Small bluebirds perch on the wire

Every moment a song

In This Village, Names Are Melodies

LINK 12:56 minutes

16 lizards bask, scatter and pose

Each one unique in look...their patterns, their expression, their frozen position.

Hello you two! 🙂

Today I noticed this multi-trunked tree and 

What unexpected joy have you embraced recently? 

 

May you sing out

May you share a kind word and smile

May you spread joy

xo

Photos by NAE @pomegranatetrail ©2026

Short On Steps, Wide On Views

 

Literally and practically, it was a 'baby walk' for me today. The ugly velcro shoe and I walked across the bridge to the rock circle. That was it. I stood briefly to watch the river and spear-throw two Pooh Sticks. I sat on a big rock and watched the lizards. Several bike riders and a few walkers, other than that, nothing.

 Upon approaching the bridge, one word came to mind: Stillness. The swaths of green and big views felt still...quiet, if you will. Of course, it was not really still or quiet. But, with an air temperature of 91 degrees and the lack of crowds of people (as on the weekends), it 'read as' stillness. But, not still...as the river sang its sweet song traveling along and the birds sang their sweet songs, flitting from branch to branch...the white noise of a major highway close by rounded it out, completing the circle of sounds.

This was me, feeling grateful for what is, while still wishing for better days. That railing was so hot - see my lil fingers dancing there?! Radiologist reads the x-ray as 'no fracture', so there's that. I'll leave that alone here moving forward. Maybe this was me feeling confused? haha

Contrails and clouds had a conversation in the big wide open. I tried to eavesdrop, but they speak their own language, one I do not know. Nor do I speak the song of the birds, but this does not stop their language from filling my heart.

Grateful for another day at the bridge, another bright and warm day...grateful to get a chance to go looking, no matter how small an adventure.

What can you...do you find to be grateful for?

 

May you move in nature that moves you

May you find a ways to go with the flow

May you share all that you adore

xo

Photos by NAE @pomegranatetrail ©2026

Old and New

 

Some old photos...some new photos...some simple goings on.

On a chainlink fence in The Valley...which I've come to learn that it is from the book "Death Spoon".

Somewhere on another busy street, on another day in The Valley...someone has offered  many children's books. Propped against the fence, they stand ready and waiting for someone 🙂

Still life on wall...the leaves dance across the room.

An untold story...somewhere, at some point in time, a neighbor in the building owned this unique statue. Wondering...

Looking back...looking behind...what does one see?  Does one need to look back?

I came across some new-to-me words. This image came from HERE. She has links for more word-goodness. Isn't that fun?!

A bold big sky, brilliant clouds...the best part of the day.

When the radiology department has a sense of humor! Now, isn't that welcomed?! It was for me. My toe is fractured.

We heard this outlandish trivia fact this week, confirmed HERE.

"On February 24, 1988, Luciano Pavarotti (b. October 12, 1935) received 165 curtain calls and was applauded for 1 hr 7 mins after singing the part of Nemorino in Gaetano Donizetti's L'elisir d'amore at the Deutsche Oper in Berlin, Germany. The greatest recorded number of curtain calls ever received at a ballet is 89 by Dame Margot Fonteyn de Arias (née Margaret Evelyn Hookham (1919-91) and Rudolf Hametovich Nureyev (1938-93) after a performance of Swan Lake at the Vienna Staatsoper, Austria in October 1964."

Weaving has begun again. Okay, maybe this has been the best part of the day. Or maybe they both were the best!

What was the best part of your day?

 

May you have many best parts of your days

May you keep your sense of humor

May you embrace the oddities 

xo

Photos by NAE @pomegranatetrail ©2026

How Big Is The Sky?

 

Jesse Jackson 'I Am Somebody' on Sesame Street

LINK 1:25 minutes

May we encourage others, and ourselves, to be the somebody we were meant to be...however that may appear to the outside world, may we just be and fight for everyone to have that ability as well.

She wanted everyone to read, so she opened a library that never closes (1983)

LINK 5:14 minutes

Between the thrashing of the rain and the brilliance of a sky opened up by holding more, bigger clouds than the mind can imagine.

Can you see the rain? Yeah, probably not, but just know that it was pouring!

33° tonight, more rain tomorrow.

We jokingly called it 'the big muddy' today. Well, at least in our little corner of the world it is!

The river has grown wider again after the rain. It was muddy and very fast moving. Beautiful.

Ripples and clouds bursting from the sky, their beauty...stunning.

"To be surprised, to wonder, is to begin to understand" ~Jose Ortega y Gasset 

Stark, big...dramatic.

"Dwell as near as possible to the channel in which your life flows" ~ Henry David Thoreau

Somewhere in the muddy flow was a long, maybe 4 feet long, stick, which I threw like a spear and raced to the other side to see it rolling on the river! Success! There it went, pat the fallen tree, through the ripple-bumps, that reminded me of an ancient dinosaur spine. Rushing, rushing towards the sea.

"No matter how full the river, it still wants to grow" ~African Proverb

After my trail marking with the Spear Stick I later propelled into the river...I next played with Stick Splashes. Oh, how fun! Here J. handled the splashing, while I snapped a photo. 🙂

The oaks think its Spring. We are expecting more green and maybe a Supper Bloom this year.

How do you hold the sky?

 

May you dream with the clouds

May you respect the tumbling waters

May you play in the puddles

xo

Photos by NAE @pomegranatetrail ©2026