Settling or Settled

 

3 short honk-barking sounds...over and over

Big black bird hops from spot to spot

On the old cottonwood tree

Enhertu Side Effect Experiment: Removing Emend | MBC Update, a Reading, + Upcoming Alaska Road Trip.

LINK 12:54 minutes

I've been watching Kim's videos for a year now, ever since her "The Beginning of My End" popped up on you tube and I clicked on it. What I discovered is a beautiful person with the abilities (spoken, written, through photography) to express herself so eloquently through the many ups and downs, joys and deep sorrows of life. I came to know someone who could capture with her camera the world's amazing wildlife and more...seeing nature through her eyes. You can see her vision too on her website: HERE or more videos: OVER HERE. Her photo of Lake Tahoe hangs in my kitchen, where it fills me with joy each day as I look at it. 

In this video (above), she shares her reality and heartfelt words. I would only do her an injustice to try and summarize that here, so I do hope you watch the video.

You can also follow along on her journey above or HERE at her Untamed email list.

"Who you are is what you settle for, you know?" ~Janis Joplin

I'm recently considering the word "settle". The above quote came at the right time for this. What is the difference between settling for and be settled in, as in comfort and acceptance of a particular reality? Do you see this as a positive or negative? 

I've also been listening to a lot of the generational music...the 1960's - 1970's...the good stuff. At night I fall into the rabbit hole of memories of eras in my life. It is priceless and deeply bittersweet. The other night it was the "strong women" (as my tween daughter used to call them). Linda Ronstadt, Emmylou Harris, Bonnie Raitt, Carly Simon, Carole King, Joni Mitchell...among others. I'm not including those with a more "country" focus and forgetting other names at the moment, but you get the idea. I could literally spend hours in this space.

You can probably guess some of those songs/videos will show up here on the 'trail' soon!

I've also picked up the needle and thread again. I'm still gluing, but will also be stitching on leather again. I'm grateful to still have some, as I will most likely not purchase it again. But, we'll see. I'll cross that bridge when I come to it, as the saying goes. 

Where do you feel settled in? What have you settled for? How do you recognize the differences?

 

May you know your dreams

May you know your boundaries

May you  settle "in" or "for" - as appropriate

xo

Photos by NAE @pomegranatetrail ©2026

Two Days in May

 

May 17, 2026: 4 young men in the riverbed, making some sort of film. Cameras, a circular screen to reflect the light, tripods...equipment. Commanding shouts ring out. The "actor" in the white shirt and baggy pants digs in the sand, tossing shovelful after shovelful over his shoulder. When directed, he moves to multiple spots on the sand or in the water and digs some more. I try to imagine what this film could be about?

What If Uncertainty Is the Practice: Pema Chödrön on Groundlessness

LINK 8:51 minutes

May 18, 2026: Brush fire in a nearby valley. Phone alerts take turns sounding the alarm. Evacuations and grave concern in the fire zone. The Sandy Fire. Later, another valley nearby, another fire...small 106 acres, 'forward progressed stopped' fairly quickly. sigh.

Two ducks stand placidly on the sandbar, and later in the water. Side-by-side, they stand, ruffling their feathers, pecking at their feathers - but standing in one place. A first time seeing ducks at the river.

The wind was fierce, causing the power lines and poles themselves to sing loudly. Smoke over the mountains, clouds sneaking over the mountains on the other side.  I noticed the scalloped edge on the repainted bike path lines. How many times have I walked by these lines and not seen the scallop?

✴️ I began reading the book, The Correspondent by Virginia Evans and am enjoying it so far. I really like the format, as I have written a lot of letters in my lifetime. ✓Trigger warning: Very early into the book, the death of her child becomes known. The story is still unraveling, so I don't know any more than that at this point. At any rate, so far, so good.

How do you feel when noticing something new? 

 

May you be safe in your world

May you imagine what could be

May you continue on a beautiful path

xo

Photos by NAE @pomegranatetrail ©2026

Another Surprise

 

We went back to the end of the river we visited yesterday, with the goal of exploring the path on the North side. First we had to walk over the bridge, which is on the nearby main road. It was hot, 94° today and very loud. But, it was pretty cool to see a middle of the river view from this viewpoint. However, It was not my cup of tea.

We could see the access road leading up to the water tower that we see each time we visit (from the usual end of this path). We could see so much plant life and stands of trees, along with swaths of sandy, mossy river bottom. We could easily see how bad the air quality was. It's been bad for a few days and we're not even into the big heat and thick of summer. Grrr...

While we enjoyed the North side a lot more than the South side, it did not have the same 'pull' that The Bridge does. At least the plant life here smelled so earthy  and familiar (blue sage, California sage and the Camp Kinneret scent), there was barely any trash and folks on this side seem to pick up after their dogs - which after two days in a row where that was not the case, was quite refreshing. The views of the trees was amazing.

We went as far as we could for the day, not quite as far as yesterday. We tried to figure out the trails and where each one went. It veers off to the right and also continues under the road ahead, where it veers off in two more directions. I didn't go that far, but J. went ahead a bit to check it out. I stood in the shade with the sage 🙂

On the way back we paused to watch the ducks in the swampy pond and admire the thistles in the bright sun. I don't know that we will come this way again. It was a bit of a walk, just to get to the walk. I didn't like walking right on the road just to get there, even if we enjoyed it somewhat.

Then we headed over to the bridge again. I was excited to see if the nest would hold two juveniles, like yesterday or the mother and baby...or all three.

But, when we arrived we noticed right away that nest was completely empty. Imagine my surprise! No owls were home at all. I have to admit that I was so shocked and saddened by this discovery. We wondered what had become of the owl family. Was it the circling hawk we saw yesterday? Did they just move on? The babies did not look ready for flight yet. I truly felt a big hole in my heart not seeing them, even while knowing that this is the way of nature. sigh.

The empty nest was also still empty, tidy...but no one home. That was expected and no real cause for concern.

On the way out, I paused to watch the crow(raven) on the wire.

There will always be so many mysteries, so many unanswered questions and things I will never understand. I'm practicing being okay with that.

What touches your heart these days? 

 

May you explore new places

May you come home

May you keep a loving heart

xo

Photos by NAE @pomegranatetrail ©2026

Keepin' My Word & Havin' A Day

 

We went to the bridge...well, sorta. Let me explain. "The bridge" goes over the river and there is a path on both the North and the South sides of the river. We always take the path on the North side. I've explored the path on the South side once, but did not care for it as much. It is closer to the main road (much louder with car traffic) and runs behind apartments and condos, instead of having the river on one side and nature on the other. You feel closer to all of those power lines. It feels very different.

But, today, after figuring out where we could park and start way down the path, we did that. This put us on the South side, about 1-2 miles (perhaps) from the bridge. We planned to walk as far as I was able towards the bridge. 

It did not tick off any boxes for us. Not only for the reasons mentioned above, but because it was less clean, the scent from the McDonalds was over-powering (not in a good way) and there was a lot of plant/tree life between us and the river- but, I still couldn't catch the scent of my favorite plants. For a very short distance, we tried the dirt path that runs right along side of the bike/walking path. That did not change our minds. The one plus we experienced, was that we could really hear and see (closer) the hawk(s) that were at that end. That was cool.

So, the jury says we won't go this way again. We have the option to take the main road down there to cross over to the North side of the river and walk back towards the bridge on that side. We may try that.

It was 87° today.

Oooh...Look What I Found...

Cornell Red-tailed Hawks Live Cam - #CornellHawks | Cornell Lab

LINK

In Making News: This past week I had signed up for Making Zen, online art (cloth) workshops. The next one is in September 2026.  It was free, but you could to pay for the VIP upgrade, if desired. I did the free part and I participated in each workshop I watched very loosey-goosey. I watched what I wanted in the way that worked for me. I did not stitch a stitch...but, I enjoyed what I watched very much and learned about some new artists.

Here are some of the ones that sparked something for me. I've included their main website page, but they have blogs, galleries, books and other channels or formats to explore. Fun to poke around a bit.

Ann Smith

Claire Voelkel-Sedlmeir

Emma Freeman

Soul Pages with Rakefet Hadar

Ellie Beck

After our walk at the other end of this section of trail, we stopped by the bridge to take bridge photos and to see the owls. After all, it was Mother's Day for this mama owl!  This is not a day I enjoy, so I thought the visit would put a softer edge on it for me, which it did. But, boy, was I surprised!

When we arrived, the Camp Kinneret scent greeted me and my whole body relaxed. Then we rounded the bend and...why do the owls look so different? The mama was not sitting tall in the nest and the whole scene was confusing.  It looked like two young owls and no mama in sight. Mmmm?

We also stopped to take photos of the bridge, from different viewpoints. Grace had asked for a photo and I was happy to oblige. I took a bunch, which you will see here. As usual, we looked beneath the owl nest for feathers and maybe other debris, to no avail. We talked about how low the water was, but how dense the brush was and how the other nest still does not look lived in. The Pooh Stick got stuck.

I think I took the last pic by accident, but it does kinda tell a story, eh? I also walked past the bridge on each end to try and get photos from those sides. The two, past the rock circle look almost he same, just a slight angle shift. The bottom pic is from the entrance side. That side has a path down to the water. Today we saw a man and woman and two big black dogs, who were loving the water!

The river is leaving new trails while drying up.

Right before we left, a hawk came a calling on the owls. It was circling close by...checking them out? My photos aren't great and it was really much closer in real life...but the bridge angles are cool, so there's that! haha

I hope the owls are okay.

Later at home, I was inspired by Grace to once again try my hand at drawing the bridge. You get what you get with me. haha Do you see the two juvenile owls tucked in there? They look like ghosts! lol But, I wanted to remember this time, so I drew. The drawings on these pages are dated from 12/2023 - 5/2026. I'm almost out of room, especially since I had added the shimmering power lines back in 2024.

How do you evaluate what to do again or where to go again? 

 

May you observe closely

May you try anyway

May you treasure what you treasure

xo

Photos by NAE @pomegranatetrail ©2026