The Power of Friendship

 

The brilliance of the garden-fountain area stopped me in my tracks. A nearby restaurant, a meeting ground...time spent with a very long time friend. A good friend and a long conversation = priceless!

I'm still working in the color glue books, adding to the pink one most recently. I added a funky, white-haired DJ, making music with a hedgehog and an insistent bird, who does not understand why this elder doesn't want a berry! 😂

I also began a new glue book. This one is bigger and spiral bound. The other differences (so far) are: I am not planning on adding a lot of printed words (we'll see, haha), I'm leaving some of the words of explanation from the original source, not as much silly, surreal images - so far...certain themes, values and ideas have been coming forth to be worked into the book. I've added a few of my own photographs, which I don't do in the mini-composition books, because their pages are much thinner. I've also practiced wrapping the larger papers from one side of a page to the other (front and back). 

I will again leave some blank pages, places to write or add images or doodle...or color in. Here are just a few of the pages so far.

The pages as photographed here are not necessarily complete. I just snapped a few pics.

They are also, as with the color books, quite imperfect...crooked cuts, trapped air bubbles, tiny tears - hidden in the gluing process.

Today I noticed trees blooming right outside our building's front door. They looked beautiful in the afternoon sun.

How do you like to be with friends? 

 

May you play around with new ideas

May you stop for flowers, wherever they may be

May you make time for friends

xo

Photos by NAE @pomegranatetrail ©2026

Finding and Remembering Friends

 

Hello Friends. Half-way through composing this daily post, I received the annual Fall-Giving Thanks card from very long time dear friends. It started when I was in college and babysat their then 18 month old daughter. Here we are, a million years later and still we keep in touch. Getting their card, for many years in the mail and in the most recent years through email, has always been the start to the Season for me. Each greeting has been a testament to their loving and thoughtful ways of being in the world, along with their deep love and endless creativity. The one they created this year held a mountain of memories in just a few old photos of years gone by. The richness so ingrained, that one photo can fill me up.

This email, some recent online viewing and these days certainly has me considering friendships...those we have, those we long for, those we mourn. Friendships are worth investing in.

I want to say to my friends here that you are are a part of 'my cup runneth over'. Since joining Jude's Spirit World all of those years ago and starting my own blog here soon after...the friendships have grown deeper, richer and been a constant in my heart.

Thank you to each one of you for being a part of my life. You are so appreciated and treasured. 

Today, many fews of the same peak. The stark beauty of the mountain against the sky and the colors of Fall captured me at every step. Please bare with me for this redundancy. But, one can never get too much beauty.

X marks the spot...or a big Kiss for us!

*NOTE: I think I may not have mentioned, but I made a page (above) for the MUG SHOTS. Right now there is not anything new in it - just the first three I photographed. However, as I take more and post them, I will add them to the page above too. I am interested to see how or if this play project evolves.

I also plan to add a WORDLE STORIES page, but that is still in process. When complete, it will be a space to hold all of my WORDLE stories, with the most current at the top. Eventually.

Disease? Lifecycle? Unfinished work? An incomplete, as of now, plan?

How do you support and maintain friendships over time? What qualities do you value? How do you show your friendship?

Dana Carvey SNL Audition Choppin' Broccoli

LINK 2:21 minutes

I may never look at broccoli the same again! 😂

May you overdose on beauty

May you show up for friendships

May you embrace even the quietest of blessings 

xo

Photos by NAE @pomegranatetrail ©2024 

Keeping In Touch

 

Friends turn run-down city corner into co-owned Pocket Community

LINK 32:39 minutes

Their WEBSITE if this interests you. Another friend mentioned ADU's recently...now I'm seeing them everywhere!

I chatted with a good friend today. eventually we got around to the "Have you heard from so&so?" part of the conversation. We checked in on common friends or acquaintances. We updated one another.

How do you keep in touch in this fractured world?

I was preparing to send out a couple of postcards, one of them to this particular friend. I hope she likes the surprise. I know she likes getting mail.

There are so many ways and styles for keeping in touch.

Tonight, I stumbled onto this video...all about relationships and this one way to do that.  I found it quite interesting. I thought of Grace and her family. I wondered how challenging it would be to keep this going long term. How would I feel with this much closeness everyday?

What does it look or feel like to keep in touch so deeply all of your days?

May you experience reciprocal keeping in touch

May you feel comfortable in that experience

May you know and explore how community feels good to you

xo

Photos by NAE @pomegranatetrail ©2024 

Ode to Dee

 A short post from today...an Ode to Dee.

We headed out to a doctor's appointment in the city and saw a few things that reminded me of Dee. 

J. spotted the graffiti/stickers and the pavement paint...I spotted the quilt.

I love that aspect of friendships...the way we can think of each other, because we know one another so well. Isn't that grand?!

J. commented that folks will make their mark anywhere! lol TRUTH.

I liked the added word "still"...and yes, I had certain people in mind when I read that one!

Medical Building quilt. No identifying documents at all. Who made it? Why these fabrics and pattern? It seems like there was more to this story.

I loved the people figures. What are they doing? We studied the faces and J. noticed the 'snail' - as he called it.

No matter where you go, may you find the beauty, the humor and the unanswerable questions that inspire curiosity.

xo

Photos by NAE @pomegranatetrail ©2024  

 

From a Grasshopper to a Rainbow ~ A week

~~❤️❤️~~

LINK
 

In the early morning silence...Mesmerizing...

Tuesday morning passenger

Tuesday morning, heading out...this grasshopper. This grasshopper rode 1.5 miles with us and then remained for hours afterwards, perched on our parked car. A good omen?

We believe so.  Things are looking up.

I met therapy dog, Rocco, who has a sister named Toots. Aren't these perfect names for English Bulldogs?! This guy was a solid as they come.

A beautiful day and view on my birthday...and a candy bar. A real celebration. For reals.

There was even a candle and a Spring Tree blooming like crazy...a sure sign of my birth story!

There was coloring and problem solving. How do you keep the pencils in place, in case of dropping the container? Why you use the hair tie to keep 'em in place, of course. And when you tire of fighting with childproof caps...why, you come up with a new plan, of course! Plastic wrap and hair ties...perfect!

View through shutters

There was doing, planning and finding ways around...but there was also looking, listening, laughing...

LINK

Throughout the week, many phone calls, emails, texts...connections. That felt so good. Food & a balloon deliveries...instant cheer on the doormat!

Between buildings, where one wouldn't think it possible for such growth...a very large, old tree reached for the sky. Looking for light?

Thursday evening rainbow

Between home and there, for a few days, there was so much to process, to escape to, to be in the moment with. There's been a couple evenings of WORDLE, some reading & watching, coloring, and of course, weaving. 

I had written this phrase a while ago, possibly while at the Bridge: May your life be a meadow.

It seemed a perfect place to build a birthday meadow, complete with the grasshopper amongst the flowers and the shutters to remind me to look to the outside view. It's still a work in progress, but it is getting there.

May you move through each phase with grace

May you pause to take in the view

May you rejoice when surrounded by community

xo

Photos by NAE @pomegranatetrail ©2024

How We See

 

Only my third walk of this new year,

so already my everyday goal fell apart.

That's okay, the pressure is relieved right off the bat. 

With me today, no camera but that in my silly flip phone, just the words of vision coming to mind. Just phrases concocted to share that vision, if possible.

 

While walking, I see, I look, I absorb without the concern of framing the shot.

I walk with the words of friends in my head, as I consider the posts of Dee and Liz.

What do I see on these asphalt trails? How do I feel?

I walk with my words in my head.

 

It is a beautiful day with a bright blue sky and a gentle temperature of about 70 degrees that welcomes me, encouraging me to stroll and BE in the moment.

9 crows and the remaining leaves on very bare trees dance on a cool breeze.

I pause as that breeze moves through me too, telling myself that I must do this more often.

I must make time, make the effort to be out, to be within...to be in the moment and in nature.

 

My eyes roam from sky to ground, finding beauty.

Treasures like a variety of seed pods gathered at the base of trees, an unknown fruit, red and round, and fallen leaves - both retaining some color and crunchy brown - capture my attention, calling for closer examination.

 

But, I would less than truthful if I only spoke to beauty today.

These days are a mixed bag, at best.

For my eyes also catch mask-less neighbors also out walking and such. More not wearing, than wearing, even now among the current surge in our county.

My ears picked up snippets of conversation as I cross the road that cause me to wonder,

whose side are they on?

I immediately dislike these thoughts entering my mind.

I immediately dislike that fear can come so easily and trust not at all.

Because you never know.
 

Because what we see, how we see is based on perception. 

Yours, mine and ours.

With each perceived vision, comes a lifetime of layered experiences, ideas and ideologies...

genetic histories, what we carry with us.

I came back home with more dire news 'breaking'.

 

I did use my trusty flip-phone to capture this sign on a neighborhood gate, as the phrase left me wondering and I wanted to remember it, to consider later...

maybe with different eyes.

 

May you spend time outside and within

May you notice beauty, but still recognize the ugly

May you be safe

With an extra helping of love in these trying times

xo  

 Photographs by NAE ©2021