Giving Thanks

THANK YOU!

Thank you, thank you, thank you...

Thank you for continuing to be here with me

Thank you to Hazel and Liz and Marti

for goodies in the mail!

I appreciate your generosity...and YOU!

Thank you to Dana for her last post, which inspires me to keep at it.

Thank you to J. for taking me to our Emma Wood today.

I'm so grateful this is but a car ride away!

 ~AS ALWAYS CLICK ON PHOTOS TO ENLARGE~

While J. put gas in the car, I noticed this fruit on a nearby palm tree.

I've never seen this before, so I'll be doing some reading on that soon!

I've been watching gardening videos at night, so my eye was on the plant life today.

The highway towards the sea, showed overcast, lightly brownish sky ahead.

 

Many rocks grabbed our attention...

the holey ones ~ one with a barnacle tucked inside,

the beautifully orb-like one,

and the two layered one, 

which reminds me of the way Jude manages cloth layers!

Pretty cool, eh?!

It was foggy and about 30 degrees cooler than at home, 

there were bits of crabs and whole crabs too,

driftwood houses...

and this surf-sailor (forgot the name of this sport) out there...

on the sea, carried by the winds.

That person was out there on the water the entire time we were there!

These little outings are so needed,

but somehow hard for me to go do.

I listen to how high the covid numbers are here in CA

and I never want to leave home, no matter how stir crazy I may be.

Perhaps, the fact that my asthma is tricky on an every day basis,

impacts my viewpoint.

I can emphasize with the respiratory aspect of this illness.

May you get out when you need to

May you spend time with nature

May you remain grateful

xo

Photographs by NAE ©2020

Katherine Center on Reading for Joy

     

I just wanted to share this, from her latest newsletter. I love what she says here, totally agree and think my mama would have loved this.
May you read for joy
May you listen to music for joy
May move for joy
xo

Carry On

I think at this point, this posting business is more for me than anything.
As so many have mentioned, these are hard, hard days.
Personal and world events, makes one want to hide in the good or silly memories.
But, it isn't really hiding...it's letting go and
remembering where I come from.
A rather serendipitous thought, as I just watched an ECE video training
that spoke to where we come from.
This video shows some of the answer to that, in the physical sense.

          
                           

Baby Boomers Tribute "Get Together" 1910-2010 San Fernando Valley So Cal 


Also, where I come from is humor and language (thanks mom)
I found these "interviews" in the tub of papers I've been going through.
Does anyone else remember how top 40 type radio stations 
used to play these mock interviews or similar ideas?

As a Jr High aged kid, all I needed was my pile of 45's and a tape recorder
to create my own with my girlfriends.
The tapes are long gone, but i found a couple scripts! 
The thoughts of a young girl. Ha.

Each question was answered in song (printed in red)
You may remember some of these songs yourself! 
Without further adieu... 

 

An Interview with Mr. Peabody

1. Mr. Peabody what is your first name? “How do you do, my name is Sue”
2. What’s wrong? “I’ve been hurt”
3. Because of your separation from your wife? “Oh lord, heaven knows”
4. Why did you separate? “Somebody’s been sleeping in my bed” “Do you know what I mean?”
5. How do you feel now? “Everybody plays the fool sometimes”
6. And what did you tell her when she asked for a divorce? “When ever you call me, I’ll be there”
7. What did she say to that? “It’s too late to turn back now”
8. Well, well, what did you say to that? “I don’t blame you at all”
9. What do you want from the rummages of your marriage? “Respect, just a little bit”

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Ideas of Mix-ups and Break-Ups

We are here at Van Nuys Jr. High talking to some girls about mix-ups and breaks-ups.

1. How do you feel after breaking up with your boyfriend?

“Never can say goodbye!” “What becomes of the broken-hearted?” “Where did our love go?”

2. How can you tell if your boyfriend is going to give you the brush off? “I heard it through the grapevine” “Smiling faces, sometimes they don’t tell the truth”
3. And how do you feel in the means of praying for a lost love? “Ain’t no mountain high enough” “Then the phone rings and I pray, it must be him”
4. What do your parents suggest? “My mama told me, you better shop around” “Stop the love you save may be your own”
5. For the final question, I’d like to know, how can you tell when you’re falling in love? “Can’t take my eyes off of you”

Thank you Van Nuys girls, thank you friends, thank you everyone!

Finding these little sillies has sure been entertaining. Usually some sort of playing with words or ideas...postcards bought at a store on Van Nuys Blvd. (as seen in the video)

I obviously had not looked into this storage tub in many a years! haha

In between my past and today's present, I've continued to stitch on the word cloth.

I added a small memorial to John Lewis (blueish thread from Deb. Thanks!). 

A purple yarn-ribbon on the door to honor and say goodbye to a very good man.

May you continue to find ways to get through, get along and get together.

xo 

Photographs by NAE ©2020

 

Something Old & Something New

↔

In reading blogs, emails, and having phone chats,

I see how we are all in a similar place

or in some place or another.

These are challenging days for many.

I think my ways of dealing with stressful times

 haven't changed all that much.

Making~getting out~reading & learning~cleaning out clutter

With that in mind, here are little somethings I've been doing.

↔

I'm still cleaning out, 

which feels like it has been a forever of getting rid of things. 

This stuff is old and although it is from my childhood,

many of the same issues are happening now.

I'm looking at old stuff with new eyes.

This has given me things to ponder and 

wrapped me in the traumas of these days. 

I've had to fight for hope when I see these same difficult

situations arise again and again for years.

 Little me in Sr. Nursery School.

I notice in leafing through the annual, 

that all of the teachers are white mostly women, mostly older...

 ...except for the "dietition" and the "jewel of a cook"

1964

↔

When George Floyd was killed, this word kept coming to mind.

I was not alone.

Many had this thought.

IT IS ENOUGH!

Soon enough (ha), this word was applying to more and more...

and less and less.

Enough!

I had this cloth in mind, 

but I couldn't find it in my piles of cloth for so long.

I had dyed this years ago, which you can see at the link below.

https://pomegranatetrail.blogspot.com/2015/02/topanga-hike.html

I first began the heartbeat back then too,

back when my half-sister contacted me for the first time.

But, there it sat, until now.

I added the word and continued the hearbeat, until it flatlined. 

I intentionally used all 6 strands of the black floss.

Loud & firm 

↔

↔

Today we went for a drive.

It was wonderful to get out of the house and into the world.

We went to a nearby canyon, his old stomping grounds.

As we started out, 

it looked so brown, dry and charred from the most recent fire. 

 Toothpick trees from a fire we can no longer even name.

Deeper into the canyon, a campsite with a teeny creek
Things growing green and beautiful

Giant leaves, deep blue sky and white hillside
Yucca, dying off and the canyon 
A bit of beauty everywhere we look 

↔

 

My senior year in high school, included the continuation of 'busing' and

a 'race riot'. I had lots of friends that rode the bus in to school and I was already gone for the day when the fighting took place. Afterwards there were lots of conversations

and a 'rap group' was formed to promote communication and 

help ease the racial tensions. 

A mural was begun. 

↔

So, here we are,

full circle in a sense.

So much comes down to communication.

So I'll leave you with this little ditty,

which Jr. High me thought it was pretty darn funny

My you find ways to move 'round the circle

May you reach out if needed

Reach in when needed

and continue circling 'round

xo 

 

Photographs by NAE ©2020

In and Out, Out of Sorts

Hi.

The amount of days home provide time to sort through
piles of papers, trinkets and so on.
Two storage tubs to sort through.

The unknown of what is next in the outside world
and of each day's horrible news events,
piles piled on my piles!

So, I'm trying to take care of things that need taking care of.
My own assignment of need here

I am home to do that after all.

Tasks I thought would be easy, are not feeling easy.

After all, it is just papers from days gone by.

But things remind me of earlier chapters in my life

and that can be tricky.

So putting them here, may ease that a bit.

 Country Living magazine, Winter 1979

Newly married and filled with dreams of what our life would be.

 I ask my Mama to knit these stockings for us.

Mine was the red/white striped with green heal & toe, my EX's was the solid red one, 

and my son's was the red with green stripes

Later, we came up with a pattern for my daughter's, 

 as I wasn't wild about the multi-colored one 

(but I kind of like it now!)

Below, in her hand, notes are made.
Hers was made smaller than her older brother's.

We had the brilliant idea to make them with may baby son's the smallest...

mine a bit bigger and his dad's even bigger!

Oh how we laughed at how giant that made his dad's!

We joked that it was like the Three Bears or something!

 Soon, my stocking and my son's stocking will head out in the mail.
I will be making a stocking for new grandson Orlo
and his mommy and daddy will use these.
I plan on making this new one out of cloth,
as I don't knit.

I keep telling myself to finish off the clean out task
so I can get started on his stocking,
but there is so much to think about and consider
with this cleaning! It's taking a while.
Perhaps I will just engage in both at the same time,
if I can figure out where to put everything in this little place!

When they were young.
Computer picture at the local fair
Do you remember those?

May you enjoy things that need doing
things you want to do
and things you once did.
xo

Photographs by NAE ©2020

Color of Fear - What it Means to be American

What started as cleaning out my "Quotes" notebook,
so I can pass it on to another teacher...
became so much more!
I came across this quote,
which took me on a long online adventure.
Try as I might. I could not find the song these words came from
as the "Color of Fear" movie came to a close.
I always liked the idea expressed.
I was introduced to this movie in a college course years ago.
I was amazed at how the same issues are in the forefront today.

Below is one of the videos I came across.

Color of Fear -  What it Means to be American

 Victor Lee Lewis

Episode #3

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=egZ9n7wtSxY



What I did find was a plethora of related videos, website, news articles and so on.
None of it was easy to read or view.
Here are just a few that I looked over.
And then, before I could finish this post I found the full movie, below!
links may or may not work, doing my best here...is it my computer or?

Full Movie

Have you Ever Wished...

TEDxSIT 2012

TEDx 2013


If you are interested, here is his website below.

Lee Mun Wah


I have many drafts sitting here, unfinished.
Things probably past tense before I even get to them.
Frankly, I don't seem to know what I'm doing or why these days.
I don't know that I even need to be doing this.
Where, what is the value?

May you find ways to be
May you be held in love
xo
Photographs by NAE ©2020