April 8, 2024

I checked online to see what time my area would be able to witness the partial (for us) eclipse. It was right then. Right then was the time. So I stepped out onto the patio and pointed my camera towards the sun, without looking at the targeted sun. These are the shots I got to mark this day. I know they are not great, but neither is my camera, nor my planning (too much going on right now, so no special glasses or travel to the perfect spot etc.). I experienced it in the moment. My moment.

There were no crowds cheering, gasping, clapping, Oohing or Ahhhing. There were no weddings taking place...just me on the patio in the sun/moon event that is our world. Our world.

Our world that comprises of so many peoples and ideas and feelings...endless...as many as there are people, even when we come together.

Anyway, I have no idea where I'm going with this half-formed idea, so just enjoy , however you like.

                              25 Million Stitches: One Stitch, One Refugee                 Exhibit at Wisconsin Museum of Quilts & Fiber Arts

LINK

MUSEUM LINK

Today in the car, I listened to this story about Rwanda. Then I came home to see the video above. 

Refugees, Genocides, Immigrants, migrants, survivors, perpetrators...what a brew. Reconciliations...

Yet, we all live under the same sun and moon (NOT a new thought here, but it IS an eclipse day). How can so many come together to bear witness to today's event, but at other times...(voice trails off)

I commented about this book over at Jude's yesterday, which really got me thinking about my related memories to this charming book and its main theme of things that go together, focusing on "you and me" or "me and you".

Some Things Go Together

So, these thoughts just keep swirling around...going together, coming together...what makes that work, what makes it a challenge...round and round...like the earth, sun, moon...like our experiences, shared and otherwise...

I'll leave this mess here for now, since my eloquence gene is hiding somewhere...but, I'll reappear with something that makes more sense.

I hope if you were able to view the eclipse, it fulfilled the dreams in your imagination.

May you disappear and reappear

May you circle around many times

May you do good in our world

xo

Photos by NAE @pomegranatetrail ©2024

November 22, 2021

 

When there are no answers, look to the sky

Look to the sky for wonder and hope and love that knows no bounds, no bounds

Care and Breathe and Be

All photos NAE @pomegranate trail ©2021

The Art of Moving

Yesterday

Yesterday while riding in the car

Saturday going from pharmacy to grocery

Watching the sky pass by

Yesterday I heard this old song in a new way,

for my thoughts fell to a charming 9 month old boy.

A boy with the spirit of a lifetime

and a smile and bright eyes which bond you to him, forever.

A baby whose laugh fills the room and every heart in it.

I would wish all of these things for him.

↔

          

Bob Dylan - Forever Young (Slow Version) (Audio)

Yesterday as his image swirled in my head

these words found their way...

I fell to the clouds

↔

I fell to the clouds and  embraced the sun,

and the storm.

I fell to the clouds where that's all there is

Floating

No boxes to unpack

No storage dilemmas to solve

No mementos to worry on

Only expanse and softness to hold you

I fell to the clouds

Forever young

where there is no chronic pain

and no chronic health concerns

and no adult decisions to understand and make

I fell to the clouds

Where there were no other people to accommodate

No work to go to

Forever young

I fell to the clouds

I drifted

These words of wishes

Forever young

A good life

A life begins

A life fulfilled

Forever Young

 

I fell to the clouds

I fell to the sun

I fell to the storm

I fell

↔

↔

 Forever young

I fell to the clouds

and let the world become a blur

 

↔

After thoughts:

In finding this song to post,

and listening again...

I thought not only of him, 

but his cousins and my love for all three of them... 

how I would wish these things for them all

Seriously

Deeply

For all of the children growing into their lives and

for all of us, who have done that and continue on. 

May you find ways to embrace it all

May you find ways to let it go

May you know the floating and the storming

May you fall into and rise up

May you stay forever young 

xo 

Super Duper

Tonight is the Super Moon.

The super-est super moon!!

I really wanted to capture the way it was as we drove home from the grocery store.

But timing is everything in photography.

Well that and having a camera that is good enough to get the job done.

Tonight was not one of those nights.

But, I'm sharing the photos anyway (smile).

Shining down on a main street through town.

Up the canyon near home.

When I heard the term "super moon" as I drove home, 

it made me think of one of the What If? cloths laying in the studio.

I thought: What if a Super Moon wore a cape?

Wonder what it's super powers would be?

So, I cut out a flaming red cape for this starry moon!

The white lines are flaws...that I liked and put in the moon on purpose.

Don't know if I'll actually sew this, but I had to at least share the laugh here!

I can hear it shouting "Up, up & away!"

Last week on a sleepless night, I patched the little white crib sheet from work, 

leaving it with a little lovin' along with the hole.

heart patch

Back side...see the hole?

So, Happy one-day-later Solstice!

Happy Super Duper Moon Night!

Happy Weekend to All!

Photos by NAE @pomegranatetrail ©2013

Light & Dark & Lines

Morning Sky

Over at Jude's, a lot of Whispering White has been going on.

I listen to #7 - Light & Dark before heading off to work.

Low and behold, the sky is filled with lines...and light and dark.

And all of it is whispering above me!

That's it for me today.

I'm stitching on the third 6X6ish white block.  It will complete the current idea for What Iffing ~ White.  I actually have a few more ideas, but I will let them sit for a while.

I'll post #3 when done.

Note to Jude:

You have no idea how your teachings stick in my head as I travel back and forth, as I work with young children...as I go about my days.  I thought I'd share this image as a sample.

There could be hundreds of them!

Thank you for sharing yourself with myself and all of the others.

Much appreciated.

Grateful.

Photos by NAE @pomegranatetrail ©2013

Happy New Year 2013!

This is Kate.  She cared for my mother when my mother was a child.  She was the rock my mom leaned into.  I can't seem to remember her last name right now.  But I recall a few simple facts.  She was of German ancestry and was strong, stable and caring.  She's here tonight because the story I best remember about her is how she would wake my mom and my aunt at midnight on New Years eve and fix them hot chocolate to drink 

as they rang in the New Year!  

What a treat for a young child, to be allowed to get up after bedtime and drink a tasty treat!  

I wish I would have heard this story when my children were young, as I would have loved to carry on the tradition.
I think this story of hers should live on!

Happy New Year to all of my friends and family...may 2013 bring much goodness to all!

Photos by NAE @pomegranatetrail ©2012

Good Stuff in the Sunday Morning

Just about every day something interesting comes my way, through my email in box and the posts of friends or family on Face Book.  Some days it is like a stack of presents, which leave me learning, energized and happy to live in this age of shared information through technology.  Some days I feel a sense of overwhelm that just about suffocates me.  There is too much information, too many people...just too much, which makes my eyes burn and drains what feels like my last braincell.  On those days even the great places and people I usually embrace are too much and I shut it all down.

That was not the case today.  

This morning was filled up with goodness! 

First there was an interview with a favorite poet (quite possibly my all time favorite poet) Mary Oliver.  I listened to her soothing voice on the car radio as she spoke and recited a poem from her new book.  Each sentence said felt quotable...made sense...touched me in some way.  Reading her poems in the NPR post instantly adds her book to my library book list.  And reminds me I need to read her work more often.  I need to read more of her work period.

Next I came across a post on my Face Book feed by one of my favorite writing web sites, Writing Our Way Home.  The husband~wife team always share mindful writing and living practices.  Today's post also shared quotes from a book that catches my eye.   

Acorns Among the Grass looks like a book I would enjoy and so, 

I also add it to my library list. 

Then my guy turns on the news, CNN.  I am not really listening, I am taking care of some important matters.  But the excitement in the newscaster's voice draws my attention.  I lift my eyes to see skydiver Felix Baumgartner free-falling through space from 128,100 feet.  I can not help but get excited with them!  Amazingly enough, he lands on his feet, doing a little jog, before kneeling to embrace earth once again.  Wow!

What a Sunday morning!

I think I shall go sit in the warm breeze, listen to the crows and hawks 

and embrace my 'Earth' cloth for a little while.

I hope you enjoy the rest of your day too.

*NOTE: Thanks to Deanna for quickly finding the Felix Baumgarten link and saving me the searching time involved in sharing this.

UPDATE: Then came this one:
http://twodressesstudio.blogspot.com/2012/08/butterfly-effect-update-37.html
Filled with butterflies and links to a wonderful project.  There is still time to be involved!

Sunset

The sunset was really something tonight.

Hopefully the clouds will be gone in time to view the

Perseid Meteor Shower

later tonight!

Here are a couple more sunset pictures:

It has been well over 100 degrees for six days now and not expected to cool off in the next couple of days either!

I check on our elder friends, women, and make sure they are holding up well with all of this heat.  "Strong Women" is what my mom and I used to say.

A circle of Strong Women. 

Photos by NAE @pomegranatetrail ©2012

Michelle's Gift

You may remember from this post

for my one year celebration here at pomegranate trail

that Michelle

was the winner of my give-away!

A tease of a photo, announcing the give-away!

Now that she has received her gift in the mail, I can share a bit of it here.

It began with a little box I found, altered and filled with fabric.

Altered box!

It grew to include a weaving I did especially for whoever would be the winner.

The weaving part is complete, it will be a medicine bag.  I love making these and this one ends up being the straightest one I've ever made!  How exciting!  

If you like, you can read more about how I make these woven bags here.

A beautiful AND straight weaving!

Then, I started a little cloth in the week surrounding my give-away announcement.

Remember when you were in school...grade school, and the teacher would present a "story starter"?  There would be a prompt, a beginning...to get you going.  Then you would carry on, in your own way.  Everyone would end up with a different story.  Their own story.

Well, that's the idea I had in my head for this little cloth.  

Just a little something to get one going. 

So, I began the cloth.

I've seen many crafters, artists who do give-aways, giving away something they have made.  While I love that, for me it felt presumptuous of me to assume that what I enjoy making, is something people would want to win.  Does that make sense?  I don't usually sell my work (yet!) and so I don't know if anyone wants it!!!  Haha

My solution was to gift someone with something made, some raw materials and something they could either leave as is or add to it in their own way.  A 'story starter'.  

But, being the thinker that I am...I also felt it may be rude to assume someone would want to collaborate with me on a stitching project.  Forced collaboration, not so good.

So, I carefully stitched in a way that it could be left as is or added to.

I left loose fabrics and empty spaces.

I left room for additional stitches and mosaic weavings.

I left room for the story to continue!

All of these gifts could be kept or passed along in one way or another.

Gifts & Milo

In the photo above of the cloth with Milo, I thought the cloth was 'done' 

and ready to be sent along to Michelle. 

I took it on a little photo shoot in the back yard.  It was a very willing participant posing on the fence, the rosemary & lavender bushes, the apricot tree and my Mama Rose bush.  We had a grand time together :)

Gifts & the solar eclipse

However, as you can see in the photo above...the cloth wanted more!

These two gifts went on a few journeys with me, 

absorbing energy and experiences that would become a part of the 'gift'.

The moon (hiding behind the medicine bag here) was added during the super moon, we traveled to the Museum of Tolerance, the beach, the Skirball and the drum circle.

I placed a few special items in the medicine bag.

I added more stitches and some words on the back.

Words on the back

At last, I felt like I was done with my part.  I gathered all of the elements included in the total give-away 'gift' and some special fabrics I had put aside during my fabric/magazine clean-out!

Ready to go!

I have always known that I find the most joy in creating things for others.  That is why I am left with very little of my own work.  I love the making part and the giving part!

I am so happy, grateful really, to have had the chance to make the gifts you've seen here.

This was both a fun and meaningful expression of who I am.

I hope you enjoy them as well Michelle!

In friendship, Nancy

Photos by NAE @pomegranatetrail ©2012

10 Minute Drill # 19 - Solar Eclipse!

Well, that's it!  No special lens...glasses or whatever.  

I just messed around taking photos out back.  

I found if I tilt the computer screen a bit, I get a different view!

Enjoy :)

Photos by NAE @pomegranatetrail ©2012