Sensory Delights (some imagined)

 

VISUAL/TOUCH: 

Two of the 'peach' medicine bags are wrapped and ready to go. All of the peach bags are gifts, not CMB to be planted, but hopefully planted in the hearts of those who receive them. I forgot to photograph a close up of the second bag before I'd wrapped it up. So, here they are together in a cropped version of the previously posted pic. They will go out at the first of the year. ❤️

It was brought to my attention that  “Peach Fuzz” is Pantone’s pick for the 2024 color of the year. You can read about the "Color of the Year" HERE.

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AUDITORY:
You can hear how and why he created this beautiful song HERE. When in doubt, when the world becomes too much, look for the beauty and rest there a while. This is such a beautiful man, song, story.  

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TASTE/AUDITORY/SMELL:

I saw this video and was so captivated by it...all of it. The 'art of cooking' presented so wonderfully. The wooden board & bowl...the sound of the chopping...the simplicity. I told a friend that it almost made me want to cook! haha  And it left me really pondering about how pickles would taste in potato/carrot soup! What do you think?

LINK

"Soulshine" Lyrics

When you can't find the light
That got you through a cloudy days
When the stars ain't shinin' bright
You feel like you've lost you're way
When those candle light of home
Burn so very far away
Well, you got to let your soul shine
Just like my daddy used to say

He used to say, "Soulshine
It's better than sunshine
It's better than moonshine
Damn sure better than rain
Hey, now people don't mind
We all feel this way sometime
You got to let your soul shine
Shine till the break of day"

I grew up thinkin' that I had it made
Gonna make it on my own
Life can take the strongest man
Make him feel so alone
Now someteimes I feel a cold wind
Blowin' through my achin' bones
I think back to what my daddy said
He said, "Boy, in this darkness before the dawn

Let your soul shine
It's better than sunshine
It's better than moonshine
Damn sure better than rain
Yeah, now people don't mind
We all feel this way sometimes
You gotta let your soul shine
Shine till the break of day"

Sometimes a man can feel this emptiness
Like a woman has robbed him of his very soul
A woman too, God knows, she can feel like this
And when your world seems cold
You got to let your spirit take control

Talking 'bout soulshine
It's better than sunshine
It's better than moonshine
Damn sure better than rain
And now people don't mind
We all feel this way sometimes
Gotta let your soul shine
Shine till the break of day

Oh, it's better than sunshine
It's better than moonshine
Damn sure better than rain
Yeah, now people don't mind
We all feel this way sometimes
You gotta let your soul shine
Shine till the break of day

Source: Musixmatch

Songwriters: Warren Haynes

Soulshine lyrics © Buzzard Rock Music

❤️

May you fill up on goodness

May you brave the rain

May you let your soul shine

xo 

Photos by NAE @pomegranatetrail ©2023

Memories Revisited ~ What You Can or Can't See

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LINK

We both separately, spontaneously thought of these amazing videos within the last two days.  As my mama said, "Great minds think alike" 🙂 There are a whole bunch of them. Long ago we had the DVD, J. likes it that much. Thank goodness for the gift of online ease.

 ~~~🐝~~~

Last Tuesday was a day for noticing how many bees are out, how many blooms are out.

I sat watching the trees in the breeze and saw so many bees flying in and out. It was like a disappearing act that Jude would love. I could only really see them as they were flying in or out. But, once landed somewhere, they became invisible.

It was good to see so many bees announcing Spring 🙂

🥐     🥐     🥐     🥐

My sister sent me this link to a story about BOREKAS. They seem to be all of the new rage in The Valley.

You can also check them out on INSTAGRAM, if you go there.

I used to make them for my Daddy, as they were a favorite of his. My recipe was for potato-cheese (only) Borekas, so none of the eggs, pickles, dipping sauces...just pastries. And so delicious! However, they were so time intensive! I made all of it from scratch, even the dough (masa)! I think I talked about these here or somewhere in the past, but can't quite recall. I do know that I had misplaced the recipe for a really long time.

Then I found it and somehow made copies of??? I have more than one recipe now, which I don't recall at all! It's all a blur! The arrow tells me that I recall correctly though, in that this is the one I used to make.

At the time I would have to go to a local Armenian Market to get the cheeses needed.  I think it is long gone now, but of course, this was decades ago. I sprinkled mine with sesame seeds. My dad was not adventuresome eater, neither am I, so I only made the kind he liked (although I probably would have liked Spinach too, and maybe eggplant. Anyway, why would I take a chance with the amount of work involved? I went with success!

When my daughter was young, I taught her how to make them and years later, she made them all on her own!

🥐     🥐     🥐     🥐

©1994~ Bags of Borekas for Daddy!

This is the COOKBOOK, that my recipe came from. I've now misplaced this book. Oy. Or perhaps, I gave it away to someone. I do that a lot.

Here are some of the other recipes I have copies of, in case someone here would like them or in case I misplace them all again! Ha

Different fillings, cheeses and dough recipes.

🥐     🥐     🥐     🥐

🥐     🥐     🥐     🥐

I don't really remember this cheese filling or know what Hoop Cheese is! But, live and learn! I used the one above. with my mama's marking on it 🙂

And here are others: Cheese & Egg filling and a Basic Pastry Recipe.

🥐     🥐     🥐     🥐

Last but not least for this trek down recipe memory lane, this bread recipe from my mother's best friend.  I'm grateful to finally put them all together here for future storytelling and easy locating.

 🍞  🍞  🍞

This bread is so amazing!! It is not light on the butter, I'll say that...but on the flavor, it rocks!! I made this one far more often than the Borekas, but not as often as I wanted to eat it! You just can't compare to the smell of fresh bread baking. Then to eat this one, warm, butter dripping, each 'slice' breaking off with ease. 

I might be drooling here!

It came from a copy of this little booklet. Remember when you could get company recipe books? I had a small vintage collection of them at one point. There's something about these times gone by that really tugs at the heart strings. 

May you enjoy the virtual gifts

May you find, embrace and enjoy the memories

May you embrace all of the seen and unseen too

xo

Photos by NAE ©pomegranatetrail ©2023

What Holds What?

~~~~~ ~~~~~

LINK
 

After reading about Jude's snow birds...I went looking...and found this delightful video.

Just enough information, just enough time to hold my attention.

Love her spin on 'bird brain'. Ha.

I thought of the Big Bear nest holding those birds, those eggs, waiting to become.

~~~~~~

HOLDING

This has been an active word around here lately.

Holding on...Holding in...Holding in Love

Those motor homes of the last post sure couldn't hold on, stay put...could they?

~~~

Yesterday, while organizing in the cupboards, I saw the stack of pillowcases...the extras, that haven't been used in years. I always end up with so many extra pillow cases. 

This one holds so many memories.

My first SIL, 15 years my senior, was a huge influence on young, married me. I still hold such a soft spot for her, for our times together. She made this pillowcase. The story goes...she was living in a 23.5 foot travel trailer on 2 acres of land, out a dirt road, near the Pinenut Mountains, NV...while building their own home. She did a few sewing projects that she then gifted to me or my son.  She was bored...which is such a mother of creativity, yes? Later, it was our turn to live in that same trailer...in a campground, on a river. We never got to building our house and years later, sold our 3.5 acres of land (that backs up to BLM land). I miss that land.

This pillow case was first intended for her daughter, then she used it - but, not on a pillow! It became a soft space to hold a VCR and keep it clean in a house half-built! Then we used it for taking our own VCR to the home of others, to watch movies (boy imagine those days!) and my own daughter had a turn too, as a true pillow covering.

One pillowcase, with most of the ties missing, holds a million memories of a whole era in my life. I learned so much from her. Each small 'real flannel' (ya know, the old, soft kind, before fire retardant components) square ~ a moment in time. One side of the case, these squares, the other side, a blank slate. The colors have faded so much.

The pillow case below also holds many memories. Teen me, Spring me...the me that got to choose carpet in my new bedroom, new bedding for a bigger bed. Excited me.

I chose spring grass green carpet and sheets & comforter in this 'fake' patchwork pattern...again the colors of spring.

I never liked these cases, due to the ruffle at the opening edge. It would flip around and tickle my nose! And even if I chose them, I wasn't wild about the 'fake' printed on aspect of the patchwork. I can't believe I chose carpet of the bright green color! These look almost new, because they got so little use. Can cloth hold disappointment? Too bad I did not have the idea to alter them in a way that would work for me. They sat at the bottom of the pile for all of these years.

~~~~~~~~~~

 Now these...these two cases, hold not only memories, but years of Love and Use!

I absolutely loved the piping at the edge. Once upon a time, the body of the case had very delicate images of Dill Weed, along with the words too. They were so beautiful...light, natural. I loved these cases so much, obviously because the designed has been washed right out of them! I also liked the Dill Weed design because it reminded me of the Dill Dip my mom made and I adored that!

Maybe you'd like to make this dip. It is very delicious.

~~~

This last one is very vintage. It may have belonged to a family member? It is a very faint, dyed blue. Maybe I dyed it? This one holds less, but enough. Enough. What I do recall is how much I loved that scalloped edging. It feels thick under my fingertips. The cotton is old, the old, soft cotton of many years ago, when things were processed differently. I haven't tried it, but I bet this would be the kind of sheeting that Jude says is super tough to stitch through. I guess I will see if I decide to use it for stitching. Maybe I'll just use it. Maybe that will be enough.

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Today the sky holds the promise of another storm, but also the beauty and relief of moving through the last one. It holds the wonder of light and dark...of shadows and birds in flight. It holds dreams and excitement and delight. That's a lot of holding!

May you hold what matters

May you hold on

May you hold one another in Love

xo

Photos by NAE @pomegranatetrail ©2023

Open House Night Two

 Welcome to my open house, night two!

Happy Hanukkah, night two!

Tonight's musical offering is The Maccabeats

2020 Hanukkah song. I had fun noticing how the lyrics and presentation reflect this time.

Someone did some fine editing here!

 

I'm grateful to Deb and Liz who have inspired me to post this way.

My post tonight may have looked far less Holiday-like, as I have been thinking about what we say or don't and that includes emoji speak. But, I'll leave that be for now.

 ❤

My experiences with the winter holidays (Hanukkah & Christmas, specifically) through my lifespan are rather patchwork in nature.

As a young child we had a tree, we assimilated            From age 7 through marriage, no tree

Married - celebrated both                               Unmarried with children - celebrated both 

Unmarried without children - both, but less & less        Adult years - More  Hanukkah

Adult years - Less Hanukkah                         Adult years - No Christmas

                                      

In many ways, most years, just confused! lol  

But not really, just diverse ;)

 ❤

Over at Deb's I commented about a winter recital my daughter did at 7 years old. I thought it was to Let it Snow.

But, when I went to look at a photo, the title Winter Wonderland

came to my mind instantly. Wait a minute...which is it?

 

My comment at Deb's spoke to the fact that my mom loved this performance with music of her era and that she taught my daughter all of the lyrics to the song. But, here's the thing, it doesn't really matter which song it was, because I can still hear my mom singing both...and  therein lies the treasured memory. There are certain lyrics that are crystal clear...in her voice and that brings a smile. My daughter was quite musical and loved this experience shared with her grandmother. One of my daughter's performances was at a local tree lighting ceremony, outside. It was super cold for SoCal and I can so clearly remember, when the girls were done, they ran to the steps where teachers and mommies rushed over to put their jackets on. The memories of that single moment are sweet because they are filled with the kind of joy of season and love of dance and deep love for your child. At least that is how it was for me.

 ❤

 My cookie choice as I head out the door to the next open house isn't really a winter holiday treat (unless you're thinking Halloween), but as you may have noticed, I'm doing this my way! Below is a recipe for my mama's Spider Cookies". As a kid growing up these were a favorite!

Maybe you would like them too.

 

May you enjoy the fun and sweetness of the season

May you remember and not care if you don't

May you sing and dance, or watch and listen

xo

 

Photographs by NAE ©2020

 

 

 

                                          

              

 

 

 

 

Grumps, Part Two ~ Not Entirely the Same

Okay, so part two

Continuation,

with a lift ☺

Still a tad grumpy, but not as much at all

Still, bad air and a headache...

but really not too bad.

Part of the grumps yesterday came from this:

  

This has been our view

With one bedroom window and one living room sliding glass door,

our view is so limited

But we find things to look at and enjoy.

We watch and feed/water the birds, squirrels and lizards

I try to avoid the wasps!

A while back, we noticed the trees beginning to brown

What's wrong we wondered?

These trees, planted on the other side of the wall,

belong to the neighboring senior building.

Not our responsibility.  

Nothing out there is our responsibility in this apartment.

That has its good and bad points.

Mostly it all still feels so different.

The lack of land, nature is...

well, its a lot.

 So, I've busied myself with studying the 'dreys' of the squirrels,

wondering if that really is what I see out there. 

↔↔ 

Yesterday morning, I woke to noise.

Lots of noise.

Stepping out into the bad air, 

I see the tree cutters.

I don't say 'trimmers' on purpose, as this was no mere trim!

 

The pine quickly disappears and reminds me of an old poem I wrote.

At that time, a neighboring house had caught on fire, twice, and the surrounding 

pines were being removed.

I loved those trees so.

(click on photo to enlarge and forgive the drama of a teen mind!)

 Anyway, it was a noisy rude awakening,

coupled with the continued (all week)

hammering, drilling, sawing from upstairs...

I just wanted some peace.

↔↔ 

I went into the darkened bedroom to take a phone call and

when I came out...

this is what I saw

 Every tree gone!

Some of you may recall when this happened to all of the trees

in the 'back 40' of our old place.

What is it with us and disappearing trees?!

  

View standing, facing sliding door.

It is so much brighter in here now!

Brightness is nice, but more welcomed when there is not a heat wave!

I can hardly imagine what it will be like when our sky is blue and not 

the gray of wildfire smoke.

Sigh

I am glad to actually see more sky,

I've missed that this past year+.

But, I now feel like I'm in a fishbowl as I sit on the couch.

It is hard for me, all this close living.

Yet, I remind myself to be grateful for all I have...

especially now as others are being evicted due to the covid crisis.

Sigh

Sigh
Sigh

↔↔ 

 Do you see what I do?

Peek-a-Boo!

All the squirrels are "Ritchie"

There is Porch Ritchie, the one who came first.

There is Ragged Ritchie, the one with the battered tail.
There's the third Ritchie too.

All the lizards are "Bill" 

and I have no way to tell them apart, except for size.

This was a teeny Bill

This morning there was a large Bill

I sound like I've lost my mind! haha

One must find their own entertainment, distraction and humor

during this time.

With that in mind,

this is Debbie, one of many Debbies.

About a month ago, Debbie was living in our sliding door.

Yes, you read that right...IN our door.

She'd built her home in the stationary bar in the sliding door.
In and out of the little hole she'd go, all day long.

For a couple of weeks, 
I tried to figure out where the darn buzzing was coming from!

You can't believe how loud a wasp in a metal post is!
It was driving me nuts!

Finally, I figured it out and got pictures to prove it!
This Debbie needed to go!
J. of course wanted to go the non-kill way.
I did too, but the thought of my sensitivities reacting to a wasp sting...
Oy! Bee stings swell me up for weeks.
He put tape over the hole, hoping she would find a new home.
She really didn't and she was MAD!
We no longer left the door open, even in the heat.
Torture.
He had to finally take matters into his own hands.
Debbie didn't die, but she didn't return to this hole.

There are lots of Debbies that live and fly down the corridor.
I wonder where their homes are, 
but I am fine as long as i can use my door again!

Now, I wonder where the birds and squirrels will live too.
The Bills will probably enjoy more sun on the wall.

Life is full of trade offs,
she says knowing it's an old cliche.

↔↔

My mail bag is full again.
After this, I'm taking a break though, 
so this will be that last mailing  for a while.
(except for VOTE postcards, I think)

 I feel a drop guilty about over-working the post office, she says sheepishly.
But, I also have faith in our postal service.
Fingers crossed!

Usually, I don't post my photos of the combined items,
as I feel like it is a more personal communication
between me and the recipient
and I like them to be surprises.
But, I've not shared the personal message and these recipients don't come here, 
so I'm calling it okay to change my own routine.

I absolutely love creating these!
I have a couple dozen photos at least, so I can remember many of these!
Each one is specific for the one getting the mail.
made and meditated upon for that special someone.
Colors, themes, photo locations...all designed to be a part of the message.
Creative me really loves planning and appreciating how these come together
Sometimes the materials speak before I can even think!
I'm grateful.

↔↔ 

In other making...
This creation was knit by my mama about 40 years ago!
Isn't it sweet?
I feel like it has taken me years to really appreciate how she could do this.
One of the packages in the mail bag holds this treasure, going out to my grandson.

↔↔

She brought it to the baby shower, still on the needles.
This was so her!
It's hard to tell in 1980 colors, 
but I'm holding the knitting directions, she is holding the sweater on its needles
and that disembodied arm is holding the blanket my sister crocheted.
Everything in those light baby pastels of that era.
Thanks mom! Thanks Amy!

↔↔ 

Years later, it was my daughter's turn to get a homemade treasure.
She was four at the time.

Isn't this the most precious sweater ever!
That wooly sheep is just the best!
Again, I don't think I really appreciated how talented my mom was.

↔↔ 

When today's world is such a bother,

I can always visit favorite memories of the past.

So with that thought, I leave you with this yummy recipe.

My mom used to make this in her 1970's bundt pan.

My sister has it now.

Almost makes me miss my cooking days!

May you fight hard to find and remember the good

May you hang onto it when you can

May you love folks when they're here and miss 'em when they're gone

xo

 

Photographs by NAE ©2020