Paradise paved, but something good to come of it

Those of you who've visited Pomegranate over the years saw the canal out back and may have enjoyed a picnic or two along its banks. Some years ago it was a little verdant paradise, with weeping willows and pines and wild things growing everywhere. Plus we had our duck families, fish, deer, etc. Mollie the shop dog had her favorite spot where she could daintily wade in across a few rocks and sit in the water to cool down (not much of a swimmer, that girl). All pretty amazing for a bitty piece of land within city limits.

But it's all gone now. In February the big machines moved in and spent several months piping the canal and filling in the edges. It's sort of a big dirt road to nowhere now, although they did do a little planting, and blew some grass seed on top.

The good news? We're turning a section of it into a pétanque (aka boules, similar to bocce) court, something we've always wanted to do. We bought clay-like gravel and rented this roller thing shown above to smash it all down. Robert, of course, was happy as a clam fart (borrowing one of my dad's favorite expressions) riding this little monster. What is it with guys and machines, anyway?

Still a bit of work to be done, and we need to get some benches in place, and then it will be a delightful place to come in the evenings and practice your pétanque skills. Actually, we have some gorgeous granite benches in the garden that we want to move to the pétanque court. They weigh a ton... could use a couple strong guys to help load them onto our dolly and roll over to the court. Any volunteers, mes amis?

p.s. tried to link this site (http://www.discoverfrance.net/France/Sports/DF_boules.shtml) but it's not showing up. Check it out for good info on petanque/boules. We're learning as we go, too.

Open all weekend, and givin' away our favorite soaps...

Looks like it's going to be a glorious Bend weekend. It already feels like there are lots of visitors in town, and to them, I say "it's always like this" [heh heh].

Anyway, enjoy. If you need a little break from rafting, hiking, gardening, etc., we'll be open all three days at Pomegranate, filled to the brim with new goodies. And with a purchase of $15 or more, we'll give you a free bar of our favorite soap; a 150g round of French lemongrass. It's fresh and citrusy and just lovely.

We've wrapped them all up for you, in our special cello bag with rose buds. Hours this weekend: Saturday 10:30 - 5:30, Sunday 11-4, Monday 10:30-5 (closing just a wee bit early on Mon. so we can go home and fire up the Q).

"...and STAY out!" [the travails of a shop dog]

If you've been in our shop, you probably know our dog Mollie. She's still our hard-working, loyal, loving girl after ten years. She adores babies, kids, pinecones, her cozy bed, cookies, and ropes to tug on. She's calm and sweet and happy.

But she hates mink oil. There's some pherome in it that drives her crazy, and if you've used it to oil your boots, she'll bark and bark and bark (in this piercing, insistent way) until she drives you out of the shop (is it her springer or border collie genes coming out?). There was a guy in the other day who set her off (it also might have had something to do with the rather large camera he had dangling off his waist), and as he turned to go down our little pathway, he said to her, "Fine! I'm leaving!"

Way to go on the customer service, Mollie.

Teacher gifts and thanks

Will someone please explain to me why we all remember our kindergarten teacher's name? Mine was Miss Hasenpusch, and I adored her. My third grade teacher -- whose name escapes me at the moment -- was responsible for encouraging me to follow my love of writing, and I adored her, too. But my music teacher was the best of all... and not just because he was my own dear dad. It may be a little odd to have your parent as your teacher (in a public school setting), but we were just fine with it. I called him Mr. Dad in school. You know, not to cross that fine line of respect vs. familiarity.

Anyway, teachers deserve great thanks heaped upon them. At Pomegranate, we have some small tokens of appreciation, including these sweet little embroidered cotton pouches which you can fill with our lavender or heart soaps. Or diamonds.

More pewter: wrapped and ready to go

We love these pewter salt & pepper sets with a tray; makes a great housewarming, wedding, shower gift. We got a special buy on these (and very likely cannot get more), so while they last, the sets are $29, marked down from $39. And, I've gift wrapped each one already. Can't go wrong with that!

Ditching the paper napkins...

There are times when you need paper napkins (a party), and I always like to have some nice ones on hand for those occasions. But for everyday use, we always use our cloth napkins, and tuck them into a napkin ring at the end of our meal. I can't imagine using paper napkins on a daily basis... and throwing them all away afterwards. We have a couple of series of cloth napkins that we use and throw in the washer. Easy. No ironing. I just keep them all in a basket and cycle through them. And we have a little collection of napkin rings. Some old, some new. Some like these fab pewter ones we have at Pomegranate. There's a limited supply because our vendor is no longer able to get them. So we bought as many as we could at a discount, which we're passing on to you. They were $8 each, now 25% off at $6 each, as long as they last. And by the way, we have some great napkins, too, like the ones shown above in organic cotton.

Groovy mom stuff from Pomegranate

You still have a few days (sort of) to find something fun for a mom in your life. We have plenty of great cards left. And plenty of gifts. We'll help you put something fabulous together... doesn't matter if you want to spend $10 or $100, we've got the cute stuff. Open Sunday from 11-4 with little celebratory treats and indulgences... don't miss it.

Sweet little gifts...

We love it when kids come to our shop and want to buy mom a gift with their own hard-earned $5. We always have something in all price ranges, and this year we made extra efforts to scout out affordable but fun and sweet gifts. With Mother's Day coming up fast, we are ready with great cards and gifts. Just a few ideas:

And this is why we love Bella Notte bedding...

This is Mollie, our V.P. of PR, lounging at home. She loves our bed, made or not. The satin and silk/cotton pillows are her faves, and the linen toile duvet is very cozy.

Thankfully, it's all Bella Notte, and it's all washable, even the silk velvets. I love this company; they just keep coming up with fabulous new fabrics and looks. All made in the US, all washable, all made to mix and match, whether you want a simple, modern look or layered romantic feel.

Really excited about their two new fabrics coming soon , as well as an inspiration book which you can look through for ideas. Prices? Way more than the bed-in-a-bag stuff you get at big boxes, but waaay less than having it custom done or going with one of the European bedding lines. Here are a couple of new bedding looks, from simple to luxe.








Come see us at Pomegranate if you're in the market for well-made, beautiful bedding that will last.