Next in the Land of Memories

 

Shredded, but beloved and still useful...

You met Honeybunch in January 2023, back HERE. She came out recently to get cleaned up in preparation for her journey to Evy. 

The cleaning took some creative thinking and problem solving. I had tried in the past, but was not too successful. This time, I used the 'eye-end' of a needle to get out the decades old Baby Powder (yikes) from her eyes and nose. I used rubbing alcohol to clean her arms, legs and head. It took an alcohol dipped Q-Tip and time to get her lil ears clean! She looks so much better! 

I also fixed up her outfit. The neckline of her dress was quite shredded. It had previously been held together with tiny safety pins. At my last time deeply spent with her, I was a young child, not an infant. I did not want to send her (or Puppy or Lamby) off with safety pinned clothing. So, I opted to stitching down the frayed edges, leaving the neckline big, oversized. If I remember correctly, the green dress may have belonged to my mama's Shirley Temple doll, but I could be wrong on that. At any rate, the reason the neckline ended up so enlarged and tattered is because the original one was too small for Honeybunch's head. haha.

For her ancient panties, I merely blanket stitched around the edges. More decoration than anything else. The elastic is shot, but it doesn't matter as they stay on just fine as is. Also, they are pretty dingy, due to age, but have been washed and are clean. We all know children don't really care about that stuff (as noted in the book below). 

I love her little head fat at the base of her skull, her chubby cheeks and feet and curled up fingers. It's actually almost embarrassing how deeply I loved this doll. She was my first girl.

I hope Evy finds some joy in her as well. Maybe you too can feel her spirit as she poses for adoption photos below ❤️ 😍 🥰

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This book has been on my mind recently. It is so charming. I've started to reread it and perhaps I'll reread my copy of The Velveteen Rabbit too. Comments over at Jude's reminded me of that. It feels nice to wrap these memories around me as I work on this project, as they go  hand-in-hand so well.

You can find the book HERE

I discovered there is also Much Loved and a version of adored dog toys in Chewed (these photos were a bit much for me, for some reason). I had no idea this was a 'thing'. I bought Dirty Wow Wow on clearance at some random, now out of business old book chain store.

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Here comes Puppy! Now that I've worked on Honeybunch and she is ready to go to our new gal, Evy...next in line is Puppy. Puppy is equally well-loved.

You met Lamby and Puppy back HERE and he's also been patiently waiting for me to form some ideas and plans. 

So, this is where I give a shout out for HELP!! I have some thoughts, no real skills though on how to repair & revive him. I've already washed his pajamas and undershirt. Here are some of my other processing thoughts.

The seam on his chest is already opening a bit. I can open it up a bit more to remove the old stuffing and replace it. The 'stuffing' is almost nonexistent, but for the feet and tail and some in the head is still firm. In some of those areas it feels/sounds like sawdust or something. I'm almost afraid to look, as I'm very easily creeped out by such things. Anyway, step one would be to open him up and destuff him...then re-stuff him and stitch him shut again.

I think he needs a bath too and haven't decided if I should bathe first or bathe when the stuffing is out (when he would dry faster & I wouldn't be picking out some damp weird ancient stuffing!). It would not be a washing machine bath, like he got in his youth, but a gentle bathing in the sink.

You can see how utterly threadbare his leg is. After reading some of the entries in the above book, I considered that I could add a layer of fresh lining to his ears. I may still have some pink silk (I think) velvet from Deanna, from many years ago. I thought that would look cute and feel good. I don't really care, nor feel thrilled that it would be pink, but it is the only such fabric I have. I also considered stitching his seams in an array of colors, whipstitched over the original seam. Mmmm...

The stuffing is another question for me. I no longer have any here, so I considered stuffing him with the yarn clippings from all of the recent Medicine Bags. I'm unsure how that would work or feel to small hands. I know Liz and Saskia have done some stuffing...and Deb G and Grace and others I'm sure? Tips anyone?

This leads right into this video, where I leaned something new!

" The secret of the red dot is unknown to many people.

LINK

💕❤️💕

Last night, while browsing through our local magazine, I saw this idea in a birth announcement. Evidently, (I'm guessing here) these blocks were made for the new baby - maybe at a baby shower, like they do the 'decorate a onesie' activity. Anyway, I thought this was a cute idea...and useful for a long time, as baby grows. Kinda fun, eh? Iguess I've got baby on the brain these days. lol

May you find ways to reinvigorate pieces of your past

May you find ways to share yourself with those you love

May you find ways to feel a hopeful future in these acts 

xo

Photos by NAE @pomegranatetrail ©2024 

Okaïdi & Playing For Change 2014 : "Don't Worry, Be Happy"

       ,

A song for these days

A song for all days, yes?

I remember when this song came out,

it was treated as such fluff.

At the time, I kept saying that there must be

Some Reason that it was so popular,

that the people must need the song!

A long time, a really long time later,

I learned the not-so-secret info that

All I had been listening to had even created with

Just his own voice!!

My love and appreciation really grew!

Can you imagine?

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The other part of this song for me is the link to my daughter,
when she was six.  She adored this song, begged to stay up to watch the awards show
and was so thrilled when he won!
She used to sing-along to her beloved cassette tape,
mimicking his voice perfectly.
I can hear her now.
Sigh.

I spoke about some of this here
so long ago now!

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The other part of this day is thinking about some things that Marti and Liz
have said and done and posted recently.
They made the book I was reading pop back into my head.
One of the chapters was about dreaming and dream catchers.
This made me focus in a deeper way as
I have not been falling/staying asleep as easily these days.
Go figure.
I wondered if I had materials at hand and enough skill to make a dream catcher myself.
If so, I could give it to my son and his wife, who are expecting a baby in June.
Mmmm...
I so love the little drawing in this book.

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I do have my own dream catcher that J. gave me years ago,
so I have one to model it on...
and there is always lessons on you tube I bet!
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Anyway...
May you find ways to be happy
May you finds ways to share happy
May you find ways to hold on to some happy for yourself 
xo

Photographs by NAE ©2020

PS Please excuse the iPad photos! Yuc!

Little Things Mean A Lot

I'm finding it interesting how folks react to

being at home

What folks find to do, how they feel...

you know.

Personally, I like being home and find things to

not only keep me busy, 

but to entertain, teach, comfort, connect and remind me

of who I am, what and who I love

and just how special our world is.

It is breezy here today, which is mostly lovely,

but hard on my asthma.

I experimented with taking a little video on the ipad from the porch.

Please excuse my lack of skill and raspy breathing!

I hope it plays and has sound.

We have the most beautiful songbirds, many crows and sometimes

a hawk!

If this works, I'll try to capture some of that.

Yesterday I noticed it was Huell Howser time on our local PBS station.
As I sat watching him explore old barns in Oxnard, CA...
I thought well now, I've don't recall posting a Huell video here!
I may have, but I don't recall.

Did I post the very old photo from when I met him for a brief moment?
A brief moment to capture a photograph and create a lifelong memory

Anyway, instead of the barn segment I was watching,
I thought I'd share an old favorite about the "Lint Lady",
so I searched and found the one below. What was amazing was,
I had only seen and remembered the first portion shown, the original episode.
Here though, in this follow-up video, filmed some 20 years later,
the story goes deeper and becomes so much more real,
more nuanced, important and human.
What a remembered as a short bit on a quirky artitst
is really so much more.

It led me to think, isn't that the truth about all of us?
Aren't we discovering our own deeper stories as
we shelter at home, allowing so much more time for an inner life?
This video is a longer that the songs I've been sharing,
but well worth it in my opinion.
We have the time for more than a two minute sound bite, right?
I know I do.

  

May we find new within the old
May we find ourselves within the whole
May we shine!
xo

Stay Safe ~ Wash Your hands

Photographs/videos by NAE ©2020

Books

This is a post for record keeping

It can also be a post for sharing.

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Books to the ceiling,

Books to the sky

My pile of books is a mile high.

How I love them!   

How I need them

I’ll have a long beard by the time I read them

 -Arnold Lobel

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Recently there was a FB thing involving posting your favorite book cover, with no explanation.  I had planned on doing that.

But, instead I decided to post some of my favorites (with links) here, in case I need to locate that information easily and quickly.

Because, this conversation has come up with coworkers a few times recently.

And just because I want to.

Feel free to share your own favorites in the comments if you like.

↔

~In no particular order~

link

 *Note* This is one of the most amazing men I've ever read about.

He will help you put some things into perspective and inspire gratitude.

 

"What I like in a good author is not what he says

but what he whispers."
-Logan Pearsall Smith

↔ 

 

link 

*Note*  Someone here Saskia, Mo? turned me on to this book and I adore it!  

So, thank you whoever you are!

I'm re-reading it (for the third time) again right now ☺

  "Wear the old coat and buy the new book."
-Austin Phelps

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link

*Note* This has been made into a movie, which I have not seen, but heard it was really well done.  I almost always say:  "read the book first" and "the book is better"

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How many a man has dated a new era in his life

from the reading of a book.

-Henry David Thoreau

A week on the Concord River

1849

 link

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link

*Note* Sadly Amy Krouse Rosenthal died of ovarian cancer March 13, 2017.  You can check out some of her other books and projects here.

She created some amazing 'things'!  This book is such an original idea!  

I'm so in love with it!  She even inspired me to write some of my own personal Encyclopedia entries!

"Where is human nature so weak as in the bookstore."
 ---Henry Ward Beecher 

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link

*Note* Again: book first, then movie.  When I saw the movie the first time I was so disappointed because I felt like they had left 'so much' out...

but, now after seeing the movie so many times, 

the acting has totally won me over and I no longer remember what was left out!!

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link

*Note* If you want to read something of a mystic love-life story, this is it.  

It is an escape from it reading that I've enjoyed.  I also read/enjoyed her "Summer of Glorious Madness", but this is the one I return to.

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link

*Note* I read this book when my kids were young (RL 8-12yr).  

I always liked it way more than them! 

That is probably because of the Native American component. ☺

Anyway, to me a good read is a good read, no matter the intended/target age.

"Reading makes immigrants of us all--it takes us away from
home, but more important, it finds homes for us everywhere."
                       ---Hazel Rochman 

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link

*Note* I picked up this YA book on a whim, because the title and the cover caught my eye.

I love homemade, authentic whirligigs!  Some of you may remember the one J. made me.

Whirligig: Indian in Canoe

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link

*Note* I bought this book for mere change in a small town outside of Carson City, NV in 1980, while pregnant with my firstborn (son).  I read it while trying to survive the hottest summer in history (at the time...probably not now!!) for that Northern Nevada area.  There I lay, on the couch, sweltering, 8 months pregnant and laughing my ass off!  It was the perfect read to both escape and be in sympathy with as I managed to endure the living conditions of my current residence!  There's nothing like a 25 year old mobile home on 2 acres in 1980!!

More about that, perhaps, another day!

This was also a movie,

which I remembered after reading the book.

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"Outside of a dog, a book is man's best friend...inside a dog, it's too dark to read." Groucho Marx, famous literary philosopher

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Here are a few other selections, minus the photos since I don't own them.

The Rope 

*Note* I saw this at the library and her name caught my eye, since I lived in Nevada!

How silly!  Anyway, it turned out to be a great, very suspenseful book!  I've only read this one in the series, but I've not forgotten it.  I think it stuck with me because in the very early pages of the book, something takes place that leaves you mystified...how CAN the book go on from THIS???  I wondered!  I also was drawn to the area in which the story takes place.

Take a look, you may like it too.

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"A room without books is like a body without a soul."
 Marcus Tullius Cicero (106-43 BC),

Roman statesman, orator, philosopher  

I am a real sucker for books in which the main character 'takes off'.  By this I mean, goes walk about, goes traveling, generally just 'leaves it all behind'.

I liked the first few in this series, but for me the later books lost my interest.  

Anyway, I liked this because 

it's a walking book and because it is just such a fantasy book, 

in the way things work out.  Total escape.

 The Walk

And there's this one, which I liked because of her bravery and 

I could imagine some of the locations.

I was not this wild brave after my divorce!

Wild 

And this sweet one, which I read after following their story on FB.

Aging, illness and grace...we could all take a lesson.

Driving Miss Norma 

There have been others, but their titles are no longer lodged in my brain.  

If you know of any good traveling books, let me know! 

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This is one I picked up in and independent grocery store while visiting the adored Pacific Grove, CA.  I was attracted because it is written by a local author about a place I love.  The simplicity and charm kept me reading.  In fact, I picked it up again last night when I wanted comfort and escape before bed.  No photo of my tattered copy, which has been read more than once and mailed back and forth to a dear friend.  You may like it too ☺

My Peaceful Forest 

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For the sake of learning and personal growth or self-reflection, 

some books are just great resources!  I've often shared these titles with others.

Disclaimer: I've much or most of each book, but not necessarily all of each book.

yet, I still believe they are sound choices.

Quiet the Power of Introverts in a World that Can't Stop Talking

Pretty much anything (books, TEDX talks etc) by Brene Brown

For sensory sensitive folks:

Years ago, I actually stumbled onto this and had a great A-Ha moment!

So, this is what I'm about!  

The Highly Sensitive Person

then I found this one:

Too Loud, Too Bright, Too Fast, Too Tight

"I suggest that the only books that influence us

are those for which we are ready,

and which have gone a little further down our particular path

than we have gone ourselves."
-E. M. Forster

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For those needing hospice support:

These books came to me via my sister as our mama moved through hospice.

I ended up finishing them after she passed and  found great support within the pages.

I learned so much and was put at ease through a difficult life experience.

I highly recommend them.

Final Gifts

Final Journeys

 

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 "When you read a book as a child, it becomes a part of your identity in a way that no other reading in your whole life does." - Kathleen, in "You've Got Mail"

I'll leave you with my first literary love affair.

As a very young girl, my mama (a book lover herself) read me Winnie the Pooh.

As she read the last words, closing the imaginative story in my mind, bringing to a close the treasured time of personal closeness and magic...

I looked up at her and said, "Read it again mama".

Hence my nickname of Nancy Pooh.

She later read me The House at Pooh Corner,

continuing the love fest! 

 

RICHER THAN GOLD
You may have tangible wealth untold;
Caskets of jewels and coffers of gold.
Richer than I, you can never be --
I had a mother who read to me.
-Strickland Gillilan

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 I hope you've enjoyed this lengthy, even if it is not totally complete, book tour!

I'm glad I took the time to put this information all in one place.

Happy Reading!

xo

  Photos by NAE ©2018

~UPDATE~ADDITION~
I meant to include this one:
The Wild Trees 
I loved this book AND I learned so much!!! 
If you love nature, trees and learning,
give this one a try.
I sure wish I know what I did with my copy ;) 


~UPDATE~ADDITION~
Oh my gosh!!  How did I forget to add this treasure?
This book was given to me by a dear friend, who loves a good story.
It holds amazing artwork and deep meaning.
It holds one of our favorite quotes!
Crow and Weasel 
 

“I would ask you to remember only this

one thing,” said Badger.

“The stories people tell have a way of

taking care of them.  If stories come to

you, care for them.  And learn to give

them away where they are needed. 

Sometimes a person needs a story more

than food to stay alive.  That is why we

put these stories in each other’s memory. 

This is how people care for themselves. 

One day you will be good storytellers. 

Never forget these obligations.”

-Barry Lopez

Crow and Weasel

 
 

Nuttin' But Roses

 *AS ALWAYS CLICK ON PHOTOS TO ENLARGE

Roses, roses and more roses

and then some more.

These first two are my Mama Rose.

So beloved and changes year to year. 

 This red one above, oh it smells so sweet!

 This one too, changes color from year to year.

Sometimes lighter than others...a light delicate scent.

 But currently, it this wonderful yellow rose bush that has captured my heart!

As I walk up to the door, I am greeted by it wonderful rich scent.

So strong, I stop in my tracks to confirm a rose could greet me this way.

 They dance in the sunlight, against the bright blue sky.

Singing out happiness at the very sight of them.

How ca a welcome home be any more glorious I ask you?

Amazing!

May your days be filled with singing sunshine and dancing roses

and scents as divine as life itself.

I'm off to celebrate Passover with family.

I'll be bringing this favorite, first offered up by a friend of my sister's.

Here is the recipe in my Mama's hand.

Maybe you would like it too.

PS I add cilantro and use a fresh red pepper.

Photos by NAE @pomegranatetrail ©2017