This Is This Time

 

A very strange sight...some sort of crystalized sap on an Eucalyptus (Stringy Bark) tree. You'd think, upon seeing a tree trunk like this, that the 'sap' would be gooey. It wasn't. It felt like plastic. We were able to snap off a tiny piece easily.

Below is today's few minutes of fun, because we have to keep looking for that. This bit of 'fun' led to other thoughts too. because of today's Well visit, it also had me thinking about Community...about finding one's 'group' or 'tribe' and how that offers support, even if just in a moment of smiles. It had me thinking about Gratitude for these small moments, anonymous gestures...connections. Let's do it folks!

Why do Jeep Wrangler owners put miniature ducks on their dashboards?

LINK 3:17 minutes

It takes so little to make someone's day!

It's been a few days of heat and clouds and therefore, humidity. Now, here humidity is not what other areas of the country or world suffer with. Just to say, for us it has been a little humid. I've seen some faint, but lovely Sun Dogs. We talk about how we see them much more often than we did growing up. Change in climate? More awareness? No matter what, they are pretty cool to see.

Morning trees today. Crows, several crows call to me to come and take a look. There they are in the Sycamore Tree. There are 5 that I can spot hopping from branch to branch, hiding in the leaves. But, they are not hiding very well (or on purpose haha), because they are in constant conversation with each other.  Loudly 'talking' to each other. For the millionth time, I wish I spoke crow! I stand in the pleasant 75° air, listening. I can almost smell moisture in the air. Mmmm...so good.

Can you see them hidden within the leaves?

I spent a bit of time with Puppy this week. You met him a while back. I cleaned out as much of the old made of 'nuts sawdust stuffing' as I could. Shook him out over the porch railing, into the corridor. Ha. Then I cut up quilt batting into bitty pieces and stuffed him full again. I stitched him shut and repaired his pajamas (which I always loved, they're so cute!). I redressed him and wrote his tag story. What I did not do is fix his eye or ragged ears. They eye was hanging by a thread, but when I took him out of the bag...the eye was nowhere to be found. As a mender or a maker, I considered ways to address this. But, in the end, I decided to leave well enough alone. I recalled the book Dirty Bow Wow, which I posted about a while ago, and thought Puppy is 66 years old, he deserves to keep his well earned tatters!

He's waiting.

The green growth swallowed up the water! It's in there, under there...still moving...running under the bridge and towards the sea...but there are places today that you can't even see it.

89° - 13 lizards and one hawk in the dead tree-road to the bridge...and one teeny, green shield bug. 

When a bridge becomes a silhouette and the sky makes you heart expand. When teeny green bugs and lizards encourage you to mind your steps...it is a good day, isn't it?

The lizard above is on the top left rail, right at the post. Do you see it? There were so many teeny lizards today and almost every lizard was near...in or running into a hole of one kind or another. Today I learned that they run into and hide in the fence holes that hold the railings up. Who knew?!

So many tiny flower color variations at this time of year. From whitish, silverish, yellowish to some with purple still showing off.  It is good to embrace them all as beautiful.

How are you doing these days? How are you really doing?

 

May you go on all kinds of adventures

May you support others in their adventures as well

May you find and remain grateful for your people, wherever you go

xo

Photos by NAE @pomegranatetrail ©2025

Perfect Timing

 

The last of the Blues CMB are planted (3 today - 85 total). I have the Winter Holiday colored ones saved aside for later in the year. I thought that now I'm pretty much empty-handed, I may be inspired to pull out the little loom. I figure once I start the motion, I may feel more creativity blooming.

I've been a bit dry in that department recently.

Colour... Or Not

LINK 3:41 minutes

I've fallen in love with the brief nature videos of Mike Drew. It is out of Alberta, Canada, so the scenery is stunning and at 419 posted videos thus far, I should stay entertained for a while. I chose this one for today as I've been playing with black & white myself. Besides the gorgeous scenery, I love how his voice reminds me of the narration on nature videos from my youth. Additionally, I appreciate that the videos I've seen so far are all about 3+ minutes long. Great escape.

We found another foreign coin, a 2019 Jose Rizal PISO. So, again, I left it at the bridge. My secret hope is always that a young person will find it (them) and be excited by the treasures.

So many flowers...so little time!

There was so much jimson blooming!

From afar, this Yucca seemed to have the thickest central stem ever!

I had to zoom in for a better look.

Color...or not?

What do you think?

We walked to the fountain. It's been a while since we did this. It was joyous to see the grapevines lush and green and bearing fruit. You'd never guess this is in a business area of town.

I forgot to mention that we discovered the last time we were at the bridge that someone had dug up the sunflower. Who would do that? Go around the fence, off the trail to dig it up and??? Take it home? Transplant it? Strange.

While in the process of writing this post, I spoke to a good friend and discovered that I'd never made her a Medicine Bag...so now I will. This makes me so happy.

What is your Love Language?

 

May you weave a wonderful life

May you live in the flowers

May you move at a pace that suits you

xo

Photos by NAE @pomegranatetrail ©2025 

Sunday, June 1, 2025

 

The 4th Little Pig found her home! Here are the beloved 3 Little Pigs pillows, created about 21 years ago.

Front and Back, removable in case there is a need of cleaning or replacing the pillows.

I received an email from my friend and the report was glowing. The children enjoyed working with the pieces very much. They spent time opening and closing the doors, placing the pigs behind the doors...this involved matching each pig to its corresponding home. There was a lot of conversation between the children as they sorted, mixed & matched and then did it all over again. I was so tickled learn all of this and to especially read: "They decided together that the wolf was "nice" and could play with the piggies."

We can always learn from the children.

I'd like to thank my friend, Lisa for accepting this gift, so long in the making and for being an open-hearted guide for these little ones. The full circle of this experience brought all of us so much joy.

This sun, from the Placerita trail pretty much says it all. It has been so hot, even if today cooled down to 80 degrees. The plants are from the school where the pigs/wolf/pillows now live. I spent a long time visiting with my friend and getting a tour of this old 'home' of mine. A lot had changed in the years since I'd visited there, but the warm and inspiring feeling was still alive. What a treat to have a friendship and connection that holds so much history.

It was a lay low at home day, so the video and the links below provided my Beauty of Nature time. 

ALTAMONT GARDENS: Here's WHY You HAVE TO Go!

LINK 26:18 minutes

More info on Altamont Gardens HERE

Her channel is HERE

She is located in Monterey, CA and has so many videos to explore. She also seems to visit Ireland each year (Marti). What a great solution when you want this beauty and are not out and about yourself.

The video I posted here today worked well for me as it is someplace I'll never get to myself - so that's a treat, she talks a bit, but it is not super intrusive, the crunch of her footfalls on the gravel make one feel like they are walking along with her, and it seems her attention falls to many of the same things mine does (how convenient!)...plus you can pause a video anywhere. This cactus & succulent show and sale video had all of those elements too, along with the most unique plants!

At the 3:56 time stamp...what is this? haha The variations of the Lupines (5:25 timestamp) were so beautiful and so different from SoCal. The amazing Handkerchief Tree (16:43 timestamp)...something I've never heard of. Isn't it beautiful? 

June 2025's flowers

How do you get out, when you can't get out?

 

May you find so much beauty in the world

May you carry this beauty with you for the long term

May you share it as you go

xo

Photos by NAE @pomegranatetrail ©2025 

#goodenough

Honey - A Gift - A Tradition

 

We went on a drive today. Something we haven't really done in years. We stopped first at the Honey Farm. Their Sage Honey is so good and the 'working bee hive' was fun to see again.

This is the old 2005 photo of the "La Conchita Quilt", as it is known around here. The colors of the rainy sky have faded a lot over the past 20 years. But, I also don't think this was ever a true representation of the blue color.

And, yes...it has been 20 years since that awful day, when so many lost their lives and the others had their lives changed forever. 

I've written about it so many times here, so feel free to put La Conchita into the search bar to see more. There are other old pics of this quilt in that search.

Every time I write about it, I discover something new. Today it was this BOOK.

The Pacific ocean shimmers at 65 MPH, the coast near La Conchita

XL VENTURA SWELL | C-Street Ventura, CA | A Surf Film 12.22.24

LINK 3:38 minutes

Now, here we are coming up on January 10, 2025 - the 20 year Anniversary and I've done something I've thought of doing for years. I took this quilt and donated it to the community which inspired it.

For years I considered ways...who...how...and finally landed on a plan. After watching many, many videos, I decided that if I got the quilt to the unofficial mayor of La Conchita, he would know what to do. He did. There is a local community organization there and he said he would get it to them.

Anyway, I asked neighbors walking their dogs which house was his and they kindly pointed me in the right direction. I knocked on the door, confirmed that it was he I was seeking and let him know I had a gift for the community. I asked him if he would accept it. He answered quickly that he would love to. I got it out of the car and brought it to his front door. 

There we stood talking, me a total stranger and him a man in his 70's who lived through the disaster. He seemed very touched that I would bring this to them and said more than once that it was beautiful (cloth or action? - Both?). I shared a bit about the representational figures. We both winced and sighed at the mention of Jimmie Wallet. I shared the reason of the naming of the quilt on the tag and offered him the card I'd written to the community.

I can't describe the joy I felt in finally taking this action after so many years of planning to do so. I feel like the quilt is where it belongs. I had a 20 year turn and it was time to pass it on.

La Conchita Bells Toll 01.10.2015@1:20pm

LINK 1:40 minutes

From flames to leaves...More hearts

The next stop was our Emma Wood. We couldn't remember the last time we were there, so many life things have been in the way. It was cool and very foggy. We were surprised at how the coast had changed. There was more driftwood than I've ever seen in one place! The recent huge waves have done their work! The trail along the bluff was gone and that whole area was filled with rocks. He scrambled over part of that trail, I did not.

It was literally completely covered in driftwood! So solid, it was pretty easy to walk on!

The inland trail (VS the bluff trail, now gone) heading North. Gulls flew in.

We came upon a fire pit and rustic seating area and took a moment to rest, chat and watch the sea.

I collected a few pieces for Power Sticks and who knows what else and then we made our way over the railroad tracks and back to the car.

Looking South - Looking North

One quilt block rock, one stick, one rock and one bridge... 

The colors in this piece are quite amazing. The drive through Heritage Valley brought back so many memories of my long commuting days. I love that area through wide open space, earth filled with orchards and fields of food growing...'fruit' stands sprinkled along the way, hawks & cops hiding, but seen. I thanked (aloud) the farm workers out there in the fields. Closer to home, contrails again cross the sky. You knew there'd be a bright blue sky, right?!

What or where makes your heart sing?

May you get out once and a while 

May you wrap yourself in things and places you adore

May you do this with your beloveds 

xo

Photos by NAE @pomegranatetrail ©2024 

#goodenough