Gifts

 

While I was on a roll...I began the very last stocking. This is the one that may be for the second family that got their stocking last December 2024. If they decide to have another, this will be partially done. If they decide not to add to their family, I will alter it a bit and let it go another way. Either way, this stocking body, with its heal and toe pieces has been cut out for years! I will remain patient as I wait for the final answer.

I mailed off yesterday's stocking. The best part has been communicating with Harrison's mommy over the past few days. Sharing stories of our individual and shared histories...sharing humor and deep life meaning. I've known her for her whole life, the 'baby' of our two families' children...now with 3 babies of her own. Magical. So much ever expanding love for them all.

I also seem to be on a roll with pretty medical facility flowers! As I stopped to photograph these, it occurred to me that the names, the varieties are not what speaks to me these days...it is the colors, the shapes, the greenery...the visuals.

Around here, there is a month long project of rain gutter and facia board replacement.  Could you imagine working on the top of those ladders? Yikes! This lil dog statue was on the free shelf in the pantry. I don't think I can wrap this into a 'gift economy', no matter what twisting of thought I do! lol Oy. 

Today I took my journal book with me. I added a small pottery tea cup. No handle, just a small cup of warmth to cup in one's hands, glazed in earth, growth, sky/water colors - perfect for grounding.

I also wove my red pain into a flowing river of crystal clear blue-green water. It slipped down, away from my body - only slightly tinged with red pain the further it escaped.

I also took my "The Serviceberry" book with me and am almost done reading it, this time. I have a feeling I will want to go back to it. I've been considering how or when I have participated in some kind of gift economy...and what that means to me.

I've been of low energy over the past days, so taking it easy and being quite grateful for the little things, like flowers and stitching and drawing and reading. Very good things, I believe.

How do you feel inside while you are making art? 

 

May you gift to others

May you gift to yourself

May you receive gifts with grace

xo

Photos by NAE @pomegranatetrail ©2025 

#goodenough

Days of This Week

 Welcome May! Clear skies, cloudy and cool...a bit of changes in the weather.

Trump Fires His First Cabinet Member, Gets Protested Across Country & Called a "Man of DEEP FAITH!"

@ 7:25 timestamp "It's May!"

LINK 9:11 minutes

'City Park'...the plant life has returned in abundance! In the photo below, the cattails were loudly swaying in the breeze, like the grasses on the North Dakota Prairie. Their stalks were already so thick.

The shrubs seem to have grown so much since our last visit. Especially since they had heavy-pruned them. Now look...hanging over the path.

The swallows were flying high...back and forth, again and again...I managed to catch several in the shot below.

We paused to notice how most of the nests basically face the same direction...and wondered about that.

And this time, there were trees with a lot of orange...blooms? fungus? pollen?

On our way out, I noticed some flowers, that were perfect for photo-play! We noticed that the flowers were both striped and plain (3rd pic down) within the same plant. Cool. The dark stripes around the center reminded me of "pincher bugs", as we called them as kids.

Sitting on one of the benches, I snapped a pic of this grand old oak too.

I completed the last stocking today and will be mailing it off soon. The stocking body has little grids of gold glitter. Fun! It is a tad hard to see the white polar bear, but I think it's okay and shows better in person.

I still have the 3 without names to gift or sell and the very last possible (if my other long-time family has one last grandchild). I think that while I have out the Christmas materials, I think I will make the three patches for that last possible stocking. I can assemble much of it and put it aside. If they decide that they are all done having children, I can finish it without a name, like I did those others. At least then I can kinda clean up this project for a while! This is that family's bunch of stocks, years ago. There is already 3 more not shown here! Wow.

When you've completed something long planned for, how do you feel? 

May you see, with your heart 

May you laugh, real hard

May you share, always

xo

Photos by NAE @pomegranatetrail ©2025 

#goodenough

Lupines

 

Lupines! On the roadside, scattered on the hills...

Big Yellow Taxi - Joni Mitchell (Cover by Jack & Daisy)

LINK 2:27 minutes

There were at least 4 turkey vultures circling at once. We started looking for something dead, as they were so low over our heads!

The green, grassy look of the hills was captivating.

A hive in this tree trunk was buzzing loudly with so many bees! We did not stick around.

Two lizards in the afternoon sun...in conversation? In a stand-off? Merely passing each other by?

Below is the remains of some kind of flower. It's hard to tell, but, I could see the flowerhead, stem and some dried petals. But, I could not understand what the thick, fuzzy center had looked like before drying. Curious.

At one point, there was also 4 contrails, stacked up on top of each other.

Old machines in the heat of the day. Unfortunately, the small flying insects (gnats and teeny flies) were out in full force...a ridiculous amount of things flying at our faces. Mentryville walks are not great in the hot season for this reason. I tire of constantly batting things out of my face.

Above, the tree with the hanging dooley-bobs is a walnut tree.

We did not recall the shiny water tower from our last visit...is it new? The leaves of the sage-type plant above give the best scent, even better than the purple-ish flowers. Sage is one of my favorites. Today I really noticed the old horse railing, with attached rings placed equal distances apart. For some reason, this scene looked so serene to me today. I could picture it 100 years ago, horses standing 3 legged, swishing their tails at the flies, while the school children played around the schoolhouse off to the left.

I could go back to that time for a nice lil visit.

Our April baby arrived, one day before our granddaughter's first birthday. April is a month full of birthday's, anniversaries and so on. Anyway, this stocking has been waiting on his arrival & name all winter and now I've finally begun it. There is a possibility of one more stocking for another family (the other family that has so many stockings!), but other than that - I think I am done with this decades long project (1995-2025). 129 stockings, plus the 3 that were made without a name, for no one. At any rate, I've been cross-stitching the name for this one and then off it will go to them.

I added a waterlily to The Book (drawing, doodling, journaling...). It has 4 roots hanging down. I guess I could add some water for them! haha 

Anyway, one pretty pinkish lily and four roots...a good reminder.

Where do you wander off to?

May you enjoy the air of Springtime

May you enjoy the making of your own hands

May you hang out for a while and then give it all away

xo

Photos by NAE @pomegranatetrail ©2025 

#goodenough

When You Can't Get Enough

 

When you've had Enough of one thing, sometimes as a result, you can't get enough of something else...

Today was like that.

I couldn't get enough of the floating clouds in the blue sky.

The clouds hung like a veil, transparent in places...

They danced, floated...flourished...

They looked like spaceships.

So many bike riders enjoyed a warm Saturday...so many children - families.

And there was a tiny, tiny lizard!! We haven't seen them lately, so this felt like a hopeful, "Spring will come, Seasons will change", sign.

She stood for such a long, long while, seeing self with Bridge...seeing the rocks beneath the water and hearing the quick moving tumbling rush of water on the other side.  She noticed how the plant growth at the water's edge had been pushed down, all in the same direction, as if more water than she could now see, had rushed by - laying them down.

The old nail, re-found and replaced...found foreign coin in a roll of quarters - planted.

Rock Marks...large hawk and sunlight on leaves and branches surrounded with blue...

Fingertip cloud painting...white fluff drug across the blue sky.

The daytime moon brings so much joy and a smile. Why? Why does it always feel like a pleasant surprise to see the moon in the daylight? 

3 completed stockings, right now with nowhere to go. We'll see what happens next. No names, no "patches"...a different look. Still fun enough.

Yesterday there was a coffee/hot chocolate date with a long time friend. A long visit filled with so much. Stories, catching up, life lessons, questions, ideas...laughter and tears. It felt important to add it to my "Necessary Treasures To Gather" page, as it symbolizes being in the moment, however that moment may look...and especially if it looks very different than you thought it would.

 

What moments, memories, people warm you like a good cup of hot chocolate? 

May you remember the small, yet important moments

May you hold and share those moments

May you be in the moment, as much as you can 

xo

Photos by NAE @pomegranatetrail ©2025 

#goodenough