Sing & Spreading Joy

 Before we head to the bridge, we stop for gas. It's cheaper on that side of town. On this day we pay $6.07. In other places in the valley, it is $6.09, $6.19...even $6.49! Insanity.

I sit inside the car, waiting, as he fills the tank. A small sedan pulls in, a bit fast...swinging past us and down another isle of pumps. The broad-faced, bearded young man has his window down, arm resting happily on the weatherstripping. His bright eyes are shining and he is joyfully singing along with Minnie RIperton -"Loving You", at the top of his lungs. He pops out of his car and heads into the station's store. But when the music stops, he continues the whistling the song as he walks along. He has a bounce in his step and the look of pure contentment on his face.

As we leave, I roll down my window and tell him thanks for the song!! He breaks out in huge smile, saying, "Isn't that a great song?!!" I tell him that it my junior high era and that I love it!

We drive off with smiles on our faces too, filled with so much joy! What a great encounter! 

Yesterday's bridge, yesterday's walk

Cool and cloudy, yet the sun's warmth still breaks through

A pair of hawks, side-by-side - gliding in swoops and circles and right in place

In other places around town, the hawks continue to ignore or fend off the crows/ravens. Their attitude appears so blasé. I'm not a hawk, but I'd be so frustrated being pestered so much!

The cottonwoods are filled with birdsong from unseen birds

The swallows dip, dive and dart over the mustard fields

Small bluebirds perch on the wire

Every moment a song

In This Village, Names Are Melodies

LINK 12:56 minutes

16 lizards bask, scatter and pose

Each one unique in look...their patterns, their expression, their frozen position.

Hello you two! 🙂

Today I noticed this multi-trunked tree and 

What unexpected joy have you embraced recently? 

 

May you sing out

May you share a kind word and smile

May you spread joy

xo

Photos by NAE @pomegranatetrail ©2026

Art, Life and Grief

A local parking lot had these beautiful blooms, which I have now discovered are on a  Myrtle-leaf Milkwort.

I took a quick screenshot from this SOURCE, as I've always had a thing for the ROLODEX...not as a tool for addresses, but as an avenue for art. I've enjoyed the fact that both Jude and Grace have one, to use as they wish. The one pictured here is not my particular style, but I can appreciate that the maker had some fun working on it. What would you use a Rolodex for? Besides art (painting, drawing), my brainstorming comes up with prompts or 'story starters', swatching or samples, favorites (fabric, images...?), family history stories...a particular color or ? There is something about turning that wheel and seeing where you land that I am attracted to. ha.

I'm thick into the 'blue glue book'...more on that soon.

I saw the America's Got Talent video and first heard this song HERE. But, I'm posting a "softer" version here -even if her AGT performance was amazing. A song for anyone who is or has ever grieved a loved one. She wrote it for her baby nephew when he passed from meningitis at almost one year old. her voice is so haunting and pain-filled and beautiful.

Her channel can be found here, where you can find other versions and other songs too. The "official version" from 10 years ago is equally heartbreaking, if not more so.

Stephanie Rainey - Please Don't Go (Live at St. Lukes Church)

LINK 4:05 minutes

The empty crow's (?) nest looked like it has a bit added to it. Mmm?

While we strolled the path, someone left a meaty drumstick on the bridge, possibly for Owly (as it was placed below her nest)? That was a surprise to see.

What surprised you recently?

 

May you find peace

May you embrace warmth

May you stay loved

xo

Photos by NAE @pomegranatetrail ©2026

Finding Joy

 Thursday I couldn't believe how green and beautiful the hills looked. We could again walk at city park and did. On this day, I was able to go the short distance to the bridge there, where we discovered that the swallows are indeed back now! There were SO MANY and they were SO BUSY!! Almost every small mud nest had a little face poking out, while the others in the community were rapidly coming and going. We could not tell if those were babies waiting in the nests, only that the others would fly in to the front of a nest and then fly off again. The sheer volume of little chirping birdsong was something! Some of the nests looked a little worse for wear since last year, but most were in pretty good shape. If repairs were needed, there was water and mud in the wash, ready for use.

Bach - Trio Sonata from The Musical Offering BWV 1079 | Netherlands Bach Society

LINK 19:01 minutes

I have gotten back to my rereading of "Theo of Golden". All four musical offerings here are from my rereading. I've enjoyed listening 'new to me' music, except "Summertime", which I already knew. I was looking forward to getting to the musical references in the book, so I could explore them. It was well worth it. I believe I may get to hear others, before the book ends.

As I did when I started this rereading adventure, I've also been looking up unfamiliar words, locations, people and so on. It has been interesting and fills in some of the ideas of the story.

One of the things I was reading about is the Morpho Butterflies, as they are spoken about in Theo of Golden. They are gorgeous. Every time we see any kind of butterfly on our walks, it lifts the spirit!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morpho_(genus)

Lastly, the rereading of this book has given me a lot to consider as I am seeing it through new eyes, even after reading it such a short time ago. The first time I read it was through the lens of primarily: connection and kindness.  It was read from an emotional standpoint, from my gut. This time around I am seeing things in the story that I washed right over in the first read. Maybe I'll talk about that more later.

Miklós Rózsa Toccata Capricciosa, Op.36 for solo cello

LINK 6:33 minutes

We haven't really seen any red-winged blackbirds so far, but I did spy this bird in the tree. I am grateful whenever I get out in nature, whatever that looks like.

Summertime

LINK 5:00 minutes

Who would have guessed that I would be listening to this piece of music from Portugal! haha I guess I can say that reading Theo of Golden in this way, I have certainly expanded my horizons - at least momentarily! 

Hino Nacional de Portugal - A Portuguesa (versão completa/com letra)

LINK 5:01 minutes

The past few days have been spent with the Pink Glue Book. I am not really a pink girl at all and I thought this book would be one of the hard ones to find images for...but I was wrong! I've found a lot of pink. Here is a sample below. I've done others since I started this draft, but I'll save those. I've also begun adding words to the pages seen here. What words do you think I found to add to each spread? What story does the image say to you? I've also covered the front & back covers, both inside and out. I like it like this and plan to try it with the other colors too.

Our weekly jaunt up the canyon did not disappoint. It never, ever does. The scents, sights and vibe are so...right. I saw a pink thistle that escaped being photographed. But, the ones below stood out so much, how could I not snap a pic. There was a lot of purple-flowered sage and many scrub jays along the way. There's always something familiar (thus comforting) and something new to see on this short drive. I treasure it each time we go.

I am continuing the tradition of lighting the white ("health & caring") and the green ("money") candles each afternoon. They stay lit through to bedtime, reminding me of those important to me or a silliness that began decades ago with the lighting of money candles. One refreshing and hope-filled , and the other silly, but wishful. Their light brings me calmness and joy.

When do you like to revisit things?

 

May you learn something new, even from something old

May you never fail to appreciate the goodness around you

May you care for yourself and others in the best ways you know how

xo

Photos by NAE @pomegranatetrail ©2026

Life In Color...And Black and White

 

I played around with today's bridge photos by evaporating the stunning blue sky and the greens and yellows. How much does that change the viewing experience? It was another gorgeous day for a short walk. I bit cooler, in the high 60°s, but so lovely. When the sun popped out from behind the clouds, it was so warm.

There were so many of the "swallow" like birds. They look, fly, are shaped like and have the coloring of swallows...but I just can't see where they are nesting. There is no place nearby that we've sighted nests. This is very different than the swallows under the bridge at City Park. I tried learning more...HERE and HERE...but I am still not sure what we are seeing. We did see a beautiful blue bird, that we thought was a bluebird, but could it have been a swallow?

Here are some appropriate nesting materials to offer birds in nature. I was surprise to see dryer lint, yarn, string or hair on the do not offer list. Huh, who knew?

We also saw two hawks peacefully soaring, when a crow (raven? haha) began to harass them. It kept swooping towards them until, finally one of the hawks had had enough and turned on it, almost getting a beak-full of that crow! The crow hung around for another moment before dashing far, far away! We have never seen this take place, as usually the hawks just ignore the crows, so we were fascinated watching them.

In other wildlife, we again saw the molting lizard from yesterday. It looks like it is wearing swim trunks for the warmer season! lol And J. spotted an egg crate. He is so good at seeing those. The cooler day brought the lizard count to just 7. We also saw another dead toad. Why? This is the second one this season and we saw one last year too. Intact and dead. We ponder why they are dying like this. The last one we saw recently is now completely gone, not a trace. Something must have carried it off. Life (and death) can be perplexing.

The river was very full today, after our big rain of Saturday night. It was muddy and moving very fast, which made for successful Pooh Sticks, even if you had to track those sticks quickly too. By the time we were leaving, the water looked a bit clearer. It was really moving!

Of course, I wouldn't forget Owly. She sat in her usual place, watching.

I've spent the past few days "harvesting" images from magazines. But, after beginning to feel a little surrounded by paper, I began doing a lot of gluing. I'm working in my "orange" book. This was a color that I did not think I would find a lot of, but I have.  The Smithsonian magazines have had a lot and I was gifted a Sunset magazine that holds a lot of images from the L.A. fires. I thought those would be tricky or depressing to use or bring bad energy in some way. But I have found ways to make some images useful. Thankful for creative abilities and changing my little corner of the world. 

[1971] I'd Love to Change the World - Ten Years After (Lyric Video)

LINK 3:44 minutes

I listen to you tube videos as I tear and cut and glue. The song above is an old favorite and the video looked like the surreal way one can put glue books together. As in the past, when every thing was seen through 'cloth' eyes...these days, everything is seen through glue book eyes. 

Here are some of the pages that have images. I've yet to add many words and there may be room for more images too. In other words, what you see is still in process.

As in the green book, the pages may not make sense, they may be humorous...they may make a point of some kind. Here is just one page spread explained:

The page below was a happy accident. I planned to use the background image for a two page spread. However as I began to glue, I accidentally placed it on the right page (instead of the whole 2 pages). Once stuck, what was I to do? I trimmed it up and added the remaining part of the image to the left page...but since I was not wild about this image in the first place, as it was of workers ripping up the "Black Lives Matter" banner from the road - I added the second part upside down. I added the striped washi tape to connect the two pages. Then I added the lady and her swell orange car and a couple of butterflies. There we go, much better. 
We can turn things on their heads and make them better, yes?

I am still having fun with this glue book thing. Good.

How do you allow yourself to see things in a new way?

 

May you find work-arounds

May you see the rebirth in the destruction

May you live a rich creative life

xo

Photos by NAE @pomegranatetrail ©2026