Monday...a trip to the local Sprouts grocery store for fruit and vegetables.
My eyes fell to this Pepino Melon
"Let's give it a try" I suggest.
After reading about them online, we decide to let it ripen a bit more.
So, stay tuned...
May you find new things to try
May you hold onto patience until it's time
May you accept whatever the result may be
xo
Photos by NAE @pomegranatetrail ©2022
Each week, perhaps each day, I try to find happy places.
These may include things I do or plan to do or even reflect on having done!
Some reading, photographs, remembering with a loved one about fun times, some making and mailing.
The little good things...to counter-balance the other things in the world these days.
Sometimes, the world crashes through no matter what.
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I've pulled out my Thomas Locker children's picture books and one Chris Van Allsburg book too.
Gorgeous family favorites, that will soon go into the mail. These are all lovely hardback early or first editions, purchased at the bookstore my mama worked at for so many years. We first discovered Thomas Locker with his book Where the River Begins. HERE is a reading of it (I like his rather halting, authentic reading in his rather grandfatherly voice)...or HERE (I like her intonation. She reads this much as I did all of those years ago!). My son, as a young boy, once asked for a picture (painting) of a "river and rocks" for his bedroom. Over time, I always kind of pictured the Kern River, a place he'd been, but could never find a painting that could satisfy his request...at least the high quality pictured in my own mind! I thought A-ha when I saw this book! Now, here is a gorgeous book with a river and rocks! Locker's paintings are so dreamy that a collection was born. The second one we bought was The Mare on the Hill. HERE is a reading of this one. Although online versions can never do justice to holding these beauties in your hands! These two were really my favorites of the ones we owned. The values embedded in the storytelling and the serene, but exciting artwork were a perfect pairing. Plus, I enjoyed that this second story held the characters from the first book. I felt a part of their calm, country life. My son really enjoyed the Van Allsburg book too, which also had beautiful artwork and a story full of imagination. I will be forever grateful for the richness children's books brought into my life and the lives of my children for so many years.
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I've also pulled together some yarn colors for three upcoming medicine bags.
They will be future gifts, so no hurry.
One who likes Yellow (Thanks Hazel for the box of yellow love!)
One who likes Purple/Amethyst but she also likes jewel type tones like Sapphire, Teal, Magenta.
And one who likes all shades of purple.
These are the yarns in these colors that I have left in my stash. It is not a gigantic selection, but will do.
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I plan to use that big multi-color twist from Liz (Thanks Liz!) to warp two of them. I'm still undecided on the warp for the yellow bag, but I am considering the warp thread from Hazel.
Also, I may warp the loom with the green yarn first and use more of the Holiday colors to get back in the rhythm of weaving. I've only woven one bag recently.
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I dreamt of a book project last week.
Working title: 'Good Things Come In Halves'
It will be a silly little gift for someone's 1/2 Birthday.
I jotted down some notes durning a lunch break.
What good things in halves can you think of?!
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*The little drawings above (if you can't tell) are a push lawn mower and a set of barbells!
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I recalled a portion, a section turned into a Quote by Rumi
"Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and rightdoing,
I did some searching, landed HERE and discovered the name of this poem, "A Great Wagon"
- You can follow this link to read in full and to listen to a reading of this poem...now, before reading the portions I pulled out.
I may not understand all of Rumi's meaning here, for the whole poem, but I discovered ideas that held meaning for me.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
"Today, like every other day, we wake up empty
and frightened. Don’t open the door to the study
and begin reading. Take down a musical instrument.
Let the beauty we love be what we do.
There are hundreds of ways to kneel and kiss the ground."
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
"When the soul lies down in that grass,
the world is too full to talk about.
"The breeze at dawn has secrets to tell you.
Don’t go back to sleep.
You must ask for what you really want.
Don’t go back to sleep.
People are going back and forth across the doorsill
where the two worlds touch.
The door is round and open.
Don’t go back to sleep."
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
I've chopped this up quite a bit, pulling out portions that caught my imagination. So, do go to the link above to read/listen for yourself.
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This week, so full of tragedy, grief, mundane & normal...odd, miraculous...so full of everything.
How does a young girl, a child carry on after this, after being across campus instead of in her regular classroom...a young girl who told reporters: all of my friends are dead. At 10 years old. Ten. Not one hundred, but 10 and all of her friends are dead.
New study shows: only four days
...Americans remain sad and angry after a mass shooting for ONLY FOUR DAYS.
How can actions be taken in 4 days? How can we make the needed changes?
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My commutes provide time for thinking, listening to news stories and (hopefully) noticing and being aware of my surroundings. I noticed things like the unkept man on the corner by a liquor store, hammer in hand. Hammer in hand? Why? He seemed to be wacking at the cracks in the sidewalk, where weeds often grow. Why? There was no gardner's truck (or any vehicle) nearby and he was not dressed as such. So, why? I am instantly on alert and only relax a bit when the light turns green and I travel on.
A minute or two have passed.
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Driving home one evening, sun bright, but still high enough to not be directly in my eyes. I see a large bird right in front of me. What is it I wonder? Too light colored to be a crow. A pigeon? Nah. It was flying erratically - darting this way and that.
Then, in the next instant, I see a small songbird fly into the scene from the right. In the blink of an eye, the sun shines through the large wings - Red Tailed Hawk I think and then poof -- the Hawk juts its talons forward (just like the eagle in the image above)...and snatches that little songbird right out of the sky! The last I see of them is the hawk flying off, clutching the songbird with its thin, tiny legs dangling mid-air. I am traumatized watching this.
Less than a minute has passed.
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Next day, driving through the most industrial section of my commute, the truck in front of me suddenly, smoothly moves to the left, into the center lane. As that happens, I notice that our lane has suddenly been closed off with orange cones. So, I also move into the center lane. It is in doing so that I see why. There dead in the road a large mammal, German Shepard or Coyote...I'll never know. I merge back into my lane and drive on.
A moment has passed.
Lunch break in my car, I often watch these two dogs romp and play in their front yard. On this day, one laid still on the grass, while the other ran around it in a circle...stopping to sit on its right side and look towards their owner, who was sitting in a chair. I don't know what the owner was doing, the ball there was not touched until the very end when they went inside. The sitting up dog was sure busy!
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My week was flanked with horrors, wonderings and daily doings...
the in betweens filled with the care of self, J. and many little humans.
Photos by NAE @pomegranatetrail ©2022
Uziyah Garcia, 8 or 9
Jose Flores, 10
Amerie Jo Garza, 10,
Xavier Javier Lopez, 10
Nevaeh Bravo, 10
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Alithia Ramirez, 10
Tess Marie Mata, 10
Alexandria Aniya Rubio, 10
Layla Salazar, 10
Makenna Lee Elrod, 10
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Jayce Luevanos, 10
Jailah Nicole Silguero, 11
Eliana “Ellie” Garcia, 9
Eliahana Cruz Torres
Annabell Guadalupe Rodriguez, 10
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Jacklyn “Jackie” Cazares, 10
Maite Yuleana Rodriguez, 10
Rogelio Torres, 10
Miranda Matthis, 11
Eva Mireles, 44
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Irma Garcia
Joe Garcia, husband of Irma Garcia
1. Sad
2. Angry
3. Frustrated
4. Disgusted
5. Scared
May you grieve
May you rage
May you take action
May you regain calm
May you find safety
(((hugs)))
xo
Photos by NAE @pomegranatetrail ©2022
I stand with you...
in our collective pain
in our disgust
in our anger
in our confusion
in our disbelief
in our utter, utter overwhelm
in our tears
in our tears
in our tears
I stand with you...
xo
⃝
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Recent thoughts and conversations regarding 'circle' forms, meanings, ways of being had me pulling out this old and well-loved book (above). I also had tagged this one as looking good after seeing it in a recent workshop. Funny thing is, I didn't even realize they are by the same author! All of this Mandala looking makes me want to take my own mandala photos and think that I probably have already taken hundreds of my own!
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I heard his name, El Anatsui, and a bit about his art and so, I went looking and discovered so much!
I wanted to see close up photos of his bottle caps pieces so I could understand the works better, but I found so much more about the meaning of his work. Here are just a few of the many, many articles and photos etc. about him and his work.
All of the photos today are from the local garden center. Today's visit stood in for a hike...so, a different kind of nature. I had this book and art from bottle caps and circle stuff in mind, so I was on visual hunt for circles, spirals and finding 'center'. This was very different for me, to go in with a thought in mind...a plan. Even the Yellows and Yuccas was only thought of when I stepped out of the car and saw so much of both, but today was more of a choice ahead of time. So, off we went...
There were so many beautiful whirly-gigs! I love to look at them for a moment or two, but I think all of that unnatural movement might make me too nuts on my tiny back patio where there is tons of wind! lol
We we're not there long, too hot and way too many people. I barely looked at the roses, which always have amazing centers. I became rather happy that my pics are far from perfect, holding shadows and evidence of wind and such. They are real. Right before leaving, I went over to the area that holds very colorful garden art and pots as I had Saskia's recent post in my head too. There were not any candelabras, but a wonderful sun face instead! I didn't even notice the price until I got home and imported the photos in my computer. Another slice of real life I guess. Funny how I would normally edit that out. Why? I wonder.
May you see the beauty within the imperfections
May you find what you set out to find
May you find even more
xo
Photos by NAE @pomegranatetrail ©2022
5 Things Friday
Community
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*NOTE: The yarn in this post came from Hazel within a delicious little box of yellows & a green!
❤️ Thank you Hazel ❤️
I did a little finger crocheting at lunch today with the soft, fine Moon yellow.
Awesome!
May you find your community
May you enjoy as many communities as you want or need
May know the love, care, fun and flavor of community
xo
Photos by NAE @pomegranatetrail ©2022
Sunday was a walk/hike day. We went here a while ago, Feb. 2021, when I took the WORDCLOTH for a journey. It had changed and not changed there.
As soon as we got there, I proclaimed that the day would be about Yellow and Yuccas ~ I could already see so much of both!!
There was a lovely variety of Yellow flowers and so many Yuccas, their standout white flowers, tall against the green hills and dry spots. It was still pretty Green for mid-May.
How fitting that tonight's Full Moon is the FLOWER MOON!
Plus a TOTAL LUNAR ECLIPSE tonight!
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Photos by NAE @pomegranatetrail ©2022
