April 17, 2026 a thought for today, Even the sea, great as it is, grows calm. Italian Proverb

Photos in my life yesterday

The first challenge yesterday was “refreshing.” I thought a nice warm shower is always relaxing.

The next upload was “something tiny in nature.” These ants are about as tiny as I can photograph with this lens. 

The last upload for yesterday was “water.” This is a boast that came off the replica of the Santa Maria ship. The replica use to be docked behind the federal building where I worked. The ship and its visitors were every day sights. 

Life today. This is turning out to be another good day. I have made some more progress getting set up to print, mount, mat and frame photos I want for the church. It’s moving slowing but surely. I also got another bit done on the church newsletter.

I came across some other photo sites that I joined a few years ago and eventually slipped away from. I am thinking I may update some of those. I think spring fever is hitting me. My mood seems be into “renewing” things along with tending to the plants I have ordered and received for my window gardens. It’s still just a little too early to put them outside. I have them inside under grow lights. I may have ordered them a little early but I wanted to get them before they were sold out. There are a few things in the front and back yards that need to be put in the garage.

I seem to be getting an awfully lot of items on my “to-do”list. I am making a check list of them on my cell phone. It is invigorating on the one hand and a little mind boggling on the other. I think that’s what spring fever is about, newness and motivating.

This is a gorgeous day, 75 degrees and sunny. I may put Bobbi on a leash for a little trip to the porch. I don’t have the stamina anymore for walks around the block but then I have never tried to take a cat for a walk on a leash before. 

The word for today is throw. If a writer wrote merely for his time, I would have to break my pen and throw it away. Victor Hugo. Don't throw away the old bucket until you know whether the new one holds water. Swedish Proverb. Many difficulties which nature throws in our way, may be smoothed away by the exercise of intelligence. Titus Livius. A throw of the dice will never abolish chance. Stephane Mallarme. God gives every bird his worm, but he does not throw it into the nest. Swedish Proverb. How far that little candle throws his beams! So shines a good deed in a naughty world. William Shakespeare. The man without a purpose is like a ship without a rudder - waif, a nothing, a no man. Have a purpose in life, and, having it, throw such strength of mind and muscle into your work as God has given you. Thomas Carlyle. To be thrown upon one's own resources, is to be cast into the very lap of fortune; for our faculties then undergo a development and display an energy of which they were previously unsusceptible. Benjamin Franklin. No better way is there to learn to love Nature than to understand Art. It dignifies every flower of the field. And, the boy who sees the thing of beauty which a bird on the wing becomes when transferred to wood or canvas will probably not throw the customary stone. Oscar Wilde. Throw off your worries when you throw off your clothes at night. Napoleon Bonaparte. Much may be done in those little shreds and patches of time which every day produces, and which most men throw away. Charles Caleb Colton. We ought not to treat living creatures like shoes or household belongings, which when worn with use we throw away. Plutarch. Since thou are not sure of a minute, throw not away an hour. Benjamin Franklin. Throw your vile guesses in the devil's teeth, whence you have them. William Shakespear. He who throws away a friend is as bad as he who throws away his life. Sophocles. 

Article summary. I have a very bad “fixation” to things that are “fake” and are not true and or factual. So I was searching in the site I use a lot for stories for one covering that subject. I found this one and decided to give it a try. I feel there is something more too not being truthful than the obvious. The title is How often do you lie? Deception researchers investigate how the recipient and the medium affect telling the truth. Christian B. Miller, A. C. Reid Professor of Philosophy, Wake Forest University. At theconversation.com. The beginning of the article mentions how lying has not only affected personal circumstances but has also appeared prominently in the news. It categorizes that by saying there are “variables” that differentiate these cases. Two of these differences are to whom the lie is directed the other is the social place, point in time and method as in spoken word or text. Also to be considered is the subject of an “area of life” the lie occurs.  Apparently there have been studies on the subject as some are seeking an answer to how often does a person lie. One test used students another used “volunteers from the community.” In the particular test of the community the reported result was one lie a day. An average of the students was two a day. By these tests it became a  “benchmark” assumption that lying is common place. In that line of thought it is also assumed that there are “some people who lie voraciously and others who lie very rarely.” In another test a thousand people were asked to participate in answering the question of lying. Just over half of the participants claimed they had not told a lie in the past 24 hours. The other, less than half, “said they’d told very few lies.” There were tests considering the frequency and ease of lying in person to person contact or by way of video chat or text. It seems in the lying on video, lying was less likely due to the videos leaving a record of incident. In these tests and studies it had been shown that when there is a “delay in communication” as in email “lying would decrease”. As the article goes on it mentions the lying can occur due to whether it is to a stranger or to friend and family.  It seems “everyday lies” are more to strangers while more serious lies are closer connections. I am considering the authors reason for that, “people might value not damaging their relationships more than they value the truth.” The author ends the article by relaying that lying is relatively rare for many people. But people “need to be especially discerning, though, as in identifying – and avoiding – the small number of rampant liars out there.”

Pizza or freezer surprises for dinner???

Photos in my life today

This first challenge for today is "share your settings" miniature rose - iso 32, 23mm, 0.0 ev, 1/60 s. These are the settings from my Samsung s24+ camera. This is a closeup of the bloom on my miniature rose plant waiting to go outside in a few weeks.

The second upload for today is “a pile in nature.” The best “pile in nature” I could find was in my archives taken at a time when it was cold and snowy. 

The last upload is “spoons,” a set of my wooden spoons for use in my
coated cooking utensils. 

Joy 

                        Summer time when the living is easy

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 April 15, 2026, a thought for today, The good time comes but once. Italian Proverb

Photos in my life yesterday

The first challenge for yesterday was “mountains or hills.” Where I live there are no mountains that I know of near by nor impressive hills. We do have neighborhood hills or terraces like the ones I have here.

The second upload was “peaches.” I don’t have fresh peaches, only bananas and
apples so I used my canned peaches as my model for this one. 

The last upload challenge was titled “water.” I happened on this one when I got in my car on rainy day. A leaf had parked itself on my windshield.  

Life today. I usually have two weeks each month without commitments at least four of the seven days in a week. This is one of those weeks, where I have only one “commitment” for printing the Sunday materials. So I have been able to catch up on house work, kitty care, personal interests involving my writings and photo work. 

Today I got a tiny start on the church newsletter along with some dishes and kitchen clean up. Before I got a start on the rest, I remembered that I needed to print the envelopes for the bulletin mailings and my great grand children’s activity sheets that I send them every week. I did some kitty care and put some attention on the setting up of things for my project of photos for the church. The last one is taking some time.  I am working on it slowly. I think my biggest problem on that front will be finding someone to hang the photos once I have them ready. I had a friend agree whole heartedly but other things came up in his life making it likely that he won’t be able to help for several months.  In my opinion there are some empty walls on the second level of the church that could, with some time, work and attention, make a small and awesome photo gallery. 

I have the doors open again today, not with the screens in yet just the storm windows in the outer door. I’m working with the daily temperatures moving in to spring. We are supposed to be getting some pretty heavy rain sometime today. 

The word is therefore. Remember that there is nothing stable in human affairs; therefore avoid undue elation in prosperity, or undue depression in adversity. Socrates. See, I have set before you this day life and good, death and evil... I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse; therefore choose life. Moses. Be not astonished at new ideas; for it is well known to you that a thing does not therefore cease to be true because it is not accepted by many. Baruch Spinoza. Nothing is more difficult, and therefore more precious, than to be able to decide. Napoleon Bonaparte. Cogito ergo sum. (I think; therefore I am.) Rene Descartes. The art of healing comes from nature, not from the physician. Therefore the physician must start from nature, with an open mind. Paracelsus. Speech is human, silence is divine, yet also brutish and dead: therefore we must learn both arts. Thomas Carlyle. America is therefore the land of the future, where, in the ages that lie before us, the burden of the World's History shall reveal itself. Georg W. Hegel. Love looks not with the eyes, but with the mind, And therefore is winged Cupid painted blind. William Shakespeare. It is through this mysterious power that we too have our being, and we therefore yield to our neighbors, even to our animal neighbors, the same right as ourselves to inhabit this vast land. Sitting Bull. Therefore, the good of man must be the end of the science of politics. Aristotle. Render therefore to all their dues. Bible, Romans 13. 7. Who feels no ills, should, therefore, fear them; and when fortune smiles, be doubly cautious, lest destruction come remorseless on him, and he fall unpitied. Sophocles. Consequently he who wishes to attain to human perfection, must therefore first study Logic, next the various branches of Mathematics in their proper order, then Physics, and lastly Metaphysics. Maimonides. Houses are built to live in, and not to look on: therefore let use be preferred before uniformity. Francis Bacon. Wisdom is the principal thing, therefore get wisdom; and with all thy getting, get understanding. Bible, Proverbs, 4:7.

Article summary. I wanted to see the way being “good” makes us look better, I know it makes us feel better. I just wanted to see this particular way of looking at it.  The title is Doing good may make people look better. Sara Konrath, Associate Professor, Indiana University, Lilly Family School of Philanthropy, Indiana University Indianapolis. Femida Handy, Professor of Social Policy at the School of Social Policy and Practice, University of Pennsylvania. At theconversarion.com. As the first sentence mentions and I agree that being active in most any part of life brings the advantages to “learn new things, meet new people.” What I wanted to see was the thinking on making us more physically heathier and more intriguing as more physically attractive. There have been studies on the subject that have found people who give money, volunteer, give to friends and are organ donors are found more attractive by other people. There were three studies done.  One study was conducted on older adults. People who didn’t know the others were volunteers found that group to be more attractive. A second study was done using the teen aspect. It was found that the ones who volunteered as teens were “rated as more attractive once they became young adults.” Interesting the third study was done on teens from 1957 to 2011 and was a sightly different outcome. Those mentioned in their year books as attractive were likely to give money many years later. The article mentioned that beauty can be in the eyes of the beholder and that people do often agree on how some are more attractive while others are less. The author says that using the best evidence it is possible to see that doing good may make you “appear better-looking tomorrow.”  In explaining more about these studies the article says they don’t know specifically about looking good after volunteering is the answer. They do say that it looks like “beauty and doing good are linked.” Taking it just a step further it may be possible that when we take care of others we are also more likely to take care of ourselves. It ends by quoting a Greek poet named Sappho “He who is fair to look upon is good, and he who is good, will soon be fair also.” 

I froze some goulash a couple of weeks ago. I think I will get one of those out of the freezer for dinner. 

Photos in my life today

The first upload for today is “periwinkle.” I don’t know of any periwinkle that I can find near by so I used as close an image as I could as in these purple violets in my lawn this year.

The second upload is from my archives titled "water". It was taken when I worked downtown near where our copy of the Santa Maria was docked. 

The last photo upload is titled “sunshine”. We did not have much strong sunshine today but I try most time the photo a day that I upload to be a photo I shot that day. There are many reasons why some days I have to us my archives. 

Joy

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 April 13, 2026, a thought for today, Dirty water does not wash clean. Italian Proverb

Photos in my life yesterday

This first upload for yesterday was “small.” My lawn not only has the yellow dandelion this year they are sharing the grass with tiny purple violets. 

My next challenge was “my choice.” I uploaded this one from my series of
“minimalist,” a weed growing beside a piece of cracked cement. 

The last upload was “sand or soil.” This is what the “soil” looks like under one of my two evergreen trees. 

Life today. It seems on Monday time passes more quickly for me than any other day of the week. It is the day I do as much of the church work that I am able to get done. Then I try to catch up on anything that I may have put on the back burner with either my personal computer work or house hold chores that I may have set aside temporarily. The hands on the clock seem to be racing with me. On top of that going back to my fine art photo site has required a little more time than I remembered from before I let it go for these few years. Hopefully it will be worth it in the long run. 

I got two orders of worship done this morning that was a big chunk of the morning time, one for Sunday and one for a memorial service.

The temperatures are setting higher as spring matures. I am getting increasingly anxious to get to work on my four window gardens. I need to wait at least two to three more weeks. I have begun leaving the doors open during the day now. Both the back door and the front doors have storm doors with the window all the way to the bottom. Now Bobbi can lay on the floor by either one and either watch the outdoors or take her naps there. I haven’t put the screens in, that time’s not ready yet. 

I stopped on the letter for a while to make the meat loaf and put the potatoes in the oven. So all I have to do is make the salad to have dinner ready.  I was going to make the Eclair cake this afternoon but I won’t have time now so it will be another day. 

The word today is them. Tact is the ability to describe others as they see themselves. Abraham Lincoln. All truths are easy to understand once they are discovered; the point is to discover them. Galileo Galilei. Fortune does not change men, it unmasks them. Suzanne Necker. As I know more of mankind I expect less of them, and am ready now to call a man a good man upon easier terms than I was formerly. Samuel Johnson. Now, in reality, the world have paid too great a compliment to critics, and have imagined them to be men of much greater profundity than they really are. Henry Fielding. Against stupidity the gods themselves contend in vain. Fiedrich von Schiller. No man is exempt from saying silly things; the mischief is to say them deliberately. Michel de Montaigne. Laws are like sausages. It's better not to see them being made. Otto von Bismarck. Get the facts, or the facts will get you. And when you get them, get them right, or they will get you wrong.  Dr. Thomas Fuller. A man can do all things if he but wills them. Leon Battista Alberti. We have too many high sounding words, and too few actions that correspond with them. Abigail Adams. We call them dumb animals, and so they are, for they cannot tell us how they feel, but they do not suffer less because they have no words. Anna Sewell. Trust men and they will be true to you; treat them greatly, and they will show themselves great. Ralph Waldo Emerson. Be wiser than other people, if you can, but do not tell them so. Lord Chesterfield. For the things we have to learn before we can do them, we learn by doing them. Aristotle. Cleanliness and order are not matters of instinct; they are matters of education, and like most great things, you must cultivate a taste for them. Benjamin Disraeli. When you encounter difficulties and contradictions, do not try to break them, but bend them with gentleness and time. Saint Francis de Sales. Get not your friends by bare compliments, but by giving them sensible tokens of your love. Socrates. 

Article summary. I am a lover of books, (and food and animals and...). Anyway, I saw this title and decided I had to take a look to learn and to share. The title is This course teaches how to judge a book by its cover and its pages, print and other elements of its design. Lynda Kachurek, Head of Book Arts, Archives, & Rare Books, University of Richmond. At theconversation.com. I have used this site many times for what I thought were interesting and educational subjects. This is the first time I found that this site offers articles now and then that are parts of “courses” as occasional series in meant to be an “unconventional approaches to teaching.” This is one of those, it is called “For the Love of Books.” The author tells how this idea came to fruition for her. Some college students had a chance to “interact” with rare books and “archival collections.” They observed how these books of “historical text” were made and how the ones they saw survived and were put in the university’s collection. This course is meant to teach “focus on a specific topic” as a path to stronger understanding of life around them as well as how to better “research and communicate.” The teacher/author wanted the students to see what the word “book” means in this digital era. Books are not just for homework and reading pleasure. She wanted them to see the idea of themes fulfilling “object, content, technology and art.” Further on they see the steps in each books “history” in the writing, selling, reading, then see it as an “object’s destination.” They would learn that technology in the production of “books” would change how they came to existence. She wanted them to observe the how of the era of the printing press was eventually replaced by the digital “millennium” as ways for us to “access information.”  There are ways now to “explore” samples of parchment helping to show that part of how books were made. The students can learn of the new way of experiencing “transmission of information” and how it influences “literacy, economics, technology, art and culture.” They may more clearly see how books connect people with “people of long ago and faraway place” along with how they add to the change of societies and cultures. 

I am making meatloaf and baked potatoes for dinner.

Photos in my life today

The first photo challenge for today is “date night.” I haven’t seen one of those in  a long time. I used and set up of wine and flowers. 

The second upload for today is “a natural texture.” This is one another of the evergreen trees in the back yard. It is about thirty years old. 

The last upload is “water.” This is from my archives. I can’t remember where I was when I shot this photo. 

Joy

                                 Our town

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 April 11, 2026, The good shepherd shears, not flays. Italian Proverb

Photos in my life yesterday

The first challenge is “share your settings,”  F 2.4, ISO 324, 4080 x 3060. 300mp. I almost exclusively use my Samsung S24+ camera now. On occasion I use my Sony RX100VI. I go for journal/diary/life style photos rather than fine art alone. 

The next upload was “a shadow in nature.” This was taken a few years ago in one of our metro parks on one of my photo “safari’s.”

The last upload for yesterday was “outside.” I like the foreground of bare tree branches and their shadows.

Life today. Here it is again, and another of one of my favorite days of the week is over half way to its end. So far it has been the  “same old” day. 

I accomplished the curb side pick up earlier today. I needed to go inside for something I forgot on my order. I had also placed an order at Amazon for photo processing supplies. I forgot an item on that list too. The supplies are part of what I need to print, mount, mat and frame the photos I plan to hang at the church. I have a problem lining up the photo in the express middle of the mount board so I needed something to act as a guide to get it straight and precise. I am going to use painters’ tape so I can mark the area on the mount board then remove the painter’s tape. The painter’s tape is what I forgot to order. Kroger has it, that was the trip I made inside.

I made the photo shots I need today when I got home and after I got the groceries put away. 

Bobbi has recently realized it is spring and there are more birds outside. So now she occupies every window in the house at one time or another and that she can get to. Part of that realizing it is spring could be because she is a teen now and there is a touch of spring fever and dreams of freedom. 

The word today is test.  Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man's character, give him power. Abraham Lincoln. The greatest test of courage on earth is to bear defeat without losing heart. Robert Green Ingersoll. There is something in the unselfish and self-sacrificing love of a brute, which goes directly to the heart of him who has had frequent occasion to test the paltry friendship and gossamer fidelity of mere Man. Edgar Allan Poe. It is not easy to distinguish between true and false affection, unless there occur one of those crises in which, as gold is tried by fire, so a faithful friendship may be tested by danger. Marcus Tullius Cicero. Wisdom is not finally tested in the schools, Wisdom cannot be pass'd from one having it to another not having it, Wisdom is of the soul, is not susceptible of proof, is its own proof. Walt Whitman. What we have to do is to be forever curiously testing new opinions and courting new impressions. Walter Pater. If we want to make a statement about a man's nature on the basis of his physiognomy, we must take everything into account; it is in his distress that a man is tested, for then his nature is revealed. Paracelsus. It is by presence of mind in untried emergencies that the native metal of man is tested. James Russell Lowell. I will listen to any hypothesis but on one condition-that you show me a method by which it can be tested. August Wilhelm von Hofmann. Now I see that going out into the testing ground of men it is the tongue and not the deed that wins the day. Sophocles. There are two principles of established acceptance in morals; first, that self-interest is the mainspring of all of our actions, and secondly, that utility is the test of their value. Charles Caleb Colton. Until we stop harming all other living beings, we are still savages. Thomas Jefferson. Do not try to find a place free from temptations and troubles. Rather, seek a peace that endures even when you are beset by various temptations and tried by much adversity. Thomas a Kempis. I hold it certain that to open the doors of truth and to fortify the habit of testing everything by reason are the most effectual manacles we can rivet on the hands of our successors to prevent their manacling the people with their own consent. Thomas Jefferson.

Article summary. It has always amazed me how dogs and cats lives pass so much quicker than human lives. That means I have a teen age cat in my life although she has only been alive one year and twenty-two days. Their habits, likes and dislikes, as well as the aging of body parts happens sooner. What an amazing master plan and beyond my understanding of the ultimate purpose. The title to the article is How old is my pet in dog years or cat years? A veterinarian explains. Jesse Grady, Clinical Instructor of Veterinary Medicine, Mississippi State University. At the conversation.com. It begins by mentioning how people ask a vet how old they think their dog is in dog years.  The author mentioned it seems to be “attributing human characteristics to them.” It is important to their care that they tend to the health care as the years go by. It says there is a “myth” that one year is like seven to dogs and cats. This figure was determined on the average size of a dog, then goes on to point out not all are of “average” size. Dogs come in a wide spread of sizes, while domesticated cats are pretty much the same size. I like the fact as it is mentioned that human life expectancy changes as the years pass with all kinds of improved conditions. Now the rule of thumb for dogs and cats ages has become more understandable by considering the size and “calendar years.” The figure seven years for every natural year may not and is not accurate. The count in age is now recommendations based “on developmental stage”.  One of the ways the age is figured now is by the breed and “associated” size along with nutritional considerations. Cats life’s are different to figure due to their general size being much the same. The article mentions that being able to figure the animal’s age is important because it suggests what care the pet needs at the stage in life it is in, this also aides in managing the quality of life.  The article relates as an example that a woman may need a periodic mammogram and an adult cat my need annual intestinal parasite screenings. The article ends by saying be aware of the overall health and “maintaining a healthy weight” can help a pet “live long past the literal “prime” of its life.”

I’m making chili for dinner and soft individual oat cakes. 

Photos in my life today

My first upload today is “hair”. My true and loyal sister is my model. She never complains when I
ask her to “pose”.

The next one is “my choice” and one from my “minimalist” series. One of the drooping flowers in my arrangement is the fading of beauty. It is about to go. 

The last upload is “a view I love”, it’s almost always Bobbi, view of love. She
had been busy grooming and arranging her coat. She is very conscious of personal hygiene.

Joy

                                            lines, colors, shapes, pasterns

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 April 9, 2026, a thought for today, The same shoe does not fit every foot. Italian Proverb

Photos in my life yesterday

My first upload for yesterday was “golden.” I decided to use a sunset and its golden hues for this challenge. 

The next assigned challenge was “landscape.” This is one of the many
photo shoots and see on my trip to family here in Ohio.

The last upload was “a leaf.” This one is from one of my fall archives.

Life today. This has been one of the “busy” days. After all the internet checks, emails (three including church’s email to pass on to appropriate persons), news articles, Facebook friends. I got a quick start on this letter. I wanted to get as much of a start as I could before I left for church. 

Once at church the printing went without a hitch. The walk around the church, up and down, went quietly.

I dropped off the mail and headed to Michael’s to have the first of the photos I want to hang at church mounted and framed. I was hoping to come home with them but learned they would call me when they were ready in a week or so. I am anxious to get them here and ready for when I find someone at church to help me hang them. My hopes are to offer a moment of peace and comfort through a gallery of photos in a place shared with seekers of a moment to relief. I think I have decided to mat them and frame them myself here at home. Now I have to purchase the supplies. 

My last stop was at Strader’s to get some potting soil and pots for my planting of the window boxes. The plants I ordered have started arriving. 

Finally at home I got to work on the photos, the letter and the laundry. I was able to get some of the photos on the way home. 

The word today is subject.  I keep the subject of my inquiry constantly before me, and wait till the first dawning opens gradually, by little and little, into a full and clear light. Isaac Newton. Knowledge is of two kinds. We know a subject ourselves, or we know where we can find information on it. Samuel Johnson. Humor is the only test of gravity, and gravity of humor; for a subject which will not bear raillery is suspicious, and a jest which will not bear serious examination is false wit. Aristotle. When a thing ceases to be a subject of controversy, it ceases to be a subject of interest. William Hazlitt. Seize the moment of excited curiosity on any subject to solve your doubts; for if you let it pass, the desire may never return, and you may remain in ignorance. William Wirt. The secret of a good memory is attention, and attention to a subject depends upon our interest in it. We rarely forget that which has made a deep impression on our minds. Tryon Edwards. Grasp the subject, the words will follow. Cato the Elder. I approach these questions unwillingly, as they are sore subjects, but no cure can be effected without touching upon and handling them. Titus Livius. Ignorance of certain subjects is a great part of wisdom. Hugo De Groot. Do not talk a little on many subjects, but much on a few. Pythagoras. The mind has greater power over the emotions, and is less subject thereto, insofar as it understands all things to be necessary. Baruch Spinoza. It is the mark of an educated mind to rest satisfied with the degree of precision which the nature of the subject admits and not to seek exactness where only an approximation is possible. Aristotle. The highest manifestation of life consists in this: that a being governs its own actions. A thing which is always subject to the direction of another is somewhat of a dead thing. Thomas Aquinas. Upon the subject of education, not presuming to dictate any plan or system respecting it, I can only say that I view it as the most important subject which we as a people may be engaged in. That everyone may receive at least a moderate education appears to be an objective of vital importance. Abraham Lincoln. 

Article summary. I’m doing another “study” on cats. This is an article I came across and was interested. I wondered how they could “teach science” from cats. The article title is “ Love for cats lures students into this course, which uses feline research to teach science. Jonathan Losos, William H. Danforth Distinguished University Professor, Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis. At theconversation.com. This was a course lay out by a professor in a university in St. Louis. He named the course “The Science of Cats”. He says he is an “evolutionary biologist” who studies lizards but he is also a cat lover. In describing how he came to the idea of doing a study of cats and science, he said he had never thought of analyzing cats. He hadn’t considered it  until he learned there were some scientists using cats in a study using the same methods he used in the study of lizards. In the article he says he “lures” students who love “felines” into the idea of him teaching them how scientists study “ecology, evolution, genetics and behavior” using cats as their model. His course explores the “past, present and future of cats”. He had the class write papers on biology as in how there is an impact of cats on birds, the “health effects pro and con of living with felines,” how mixing breeds affects evolution, how predators control cat population and how new technologies enter the picture of feline population. The author feels that these kinds of courses help in the understanding of “our rapidly changing world.”  He further feels that “they may serve as a gateway introduction to the world of biological research” where studying animals in their natural habitats, even pets, can be important. For the students in this class there were field trips to finding cats owned by homeless communities. They studied about cats in ancient times from an Egyptologist. They went to a zoo to observe wild felines. They visited an art gallery to observe cats in that venue. In ending the article he mentions that the students need to “synthesize knowledge from many different fields.” As a side to what they have learned it may lean toward some other arenas like  “what to do about outdoor cats and the ethics of breeding.”

It’s hamburger and salad and fruit for dinner.

Photos in my life today

The first upload in this section is another of the “landscape” series.

This is from one of my archive. I think it was one of our trips to Old Mans Cave in the Hocking Hills. 

The last challenge for today is “rocks.” This is on the street just east of my house. 

Joy

                                roses are red

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 April 7, 2026, a thought for today, At a round table every seat is first. German Proverb

Photos in my life yesterday

The first challenge was titled “comfort.” At the end of the day this is my “comfort” zone. It also seems to be one of Bobbi’s. 

The next upload was “landscape.” This is one of the country scenes I come across on my way to see family.

The last one for yesterday was “something growing.” These pretty little dandelions are doing a fanatic job of that. 

Life today. I am having another pleasing day. All dead line things are ready giving me time to work on some ideas using my photos in a different way than  just uploading to photo a day sites. One is getting one or two photos at a time and at intervals ready for public display. The other is a site that I have belong to for a few years. I let it go for several years. Now I am working to “revive” it. It is similar to Etsy in that it contains craft/art work in the form of photos, paintings, and sketches for purchase. The site is a company called Fine Art America that offers products like greeting cards, jigsaw puzzles, pillows, tee shirts, sweat shirts and other house hold products with that art work as the prominent design. 

It’s a bit chilly outside. I have some of the plants I ordered for the window boxes due for delivery today. I want to keep an eye out for them. If they are left outside, they might be damaged. I won’t be planting them until after May 1st.  I will be making room for arranging them among my houseplant “garden” under the grow lights. 

I have also had time to do some of the research on “light bulb” moments of subjects that pop into my mind from social media sites and TV show, news and other wise

The word today is stand.  Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man's character, give him power. Abraham Lincoln. All truths are easy to understand once they are discovered; the point is to discover them. Galileo Galilei. Wit makes its own welcome, and levels all distinctions. No dignity, no learning, no force of character, can make any stand against good wit. Ralph Waldo Emerson. In matters of style, swim with the current; in matters of principle, stand like a rock. Thomas Jefferson. There's folks 'ud stand on their heads and then say the fault was I' their boots. George Eliot. The great thing in this world is not so much where you stand, as in what direction you are moving. Oliver Wendell Holmes. The strongest man in the world is the man who stands alone. Thomas H. Huxley. Be not afraid of growing slowly, be afraid only of standing still. Chinese Proverb. If you would stand well with a great mind, leave him with a favorable impression of yourself; if with a little mind, leave him with a favorable impression of himself. Samuel Taylor Coleridge. Never stand begging for that which you have the power to earn. Miguel de Cervantes. I hear and I forget. I see and I remember. I do and I understand. Confucius. I stand in awe of my body. Henry David Thoreau. The bow cannot always stand bent, nor can human frailty subsist without some lawful recreation. Miguel de Cervantes. Virtue is not left to stand alone. He who practices it will have neighbors. Confucius. Law stands mute in the midst of arms. Cicero. A mother understands what a child does not say. Jewish Proverb. It is a Blessed thing that in every age someone has had the individuality enough to stand by his own convictions. Robert Ingersoll. 

Article summary: I am a worry wart, some of my family think I hold the crown in that area of thought. So I thought I would take a look at this article and pass it on to those who my share that pesky emotion. The title is Why we are hard wired to worry, and what we can do to calm down. James Carmody, Professor of Medicine and Population Health Sciences, UMass Chan Medical School. At theconversation.com. It starts out pointing to many of the things that are common for people to be concerned or worry about. Many things like wanting things to be better, how elections will turn out or other worldly affairs. It goes on to point out that “humans are wired to worry.” As sort of definition of worry is when “vial planning gets the better of us” and takes up most of our attention. Most of that time being filled with tension, distractions and sleeplessness. The author says that there are ways of “quieting the mind.” It seems when we can focus on what we are doing rather than let our minds wander we are more relaxed and happier. There are areas of the brain that are “active” when we are not focused on a particular task. The author says these help us be aware of threats and the “downside” is anxiety. There have been “mindfulness training” studies that show “attention regulation” and working on memory and mind wandering can develop in a couple of weeks. In the “mindfulness training” having a person thinks of the “sensations of breathing.” The article says that it leads to attention “defaulting” to daydreams. It says that there is a “detachment” with the past and future.  We are “in the moment” and calmer. There are other “mind-body” programs that lead to a more calm outlook and “recover the present moment.” Two mentioned here are yoga and tai chi that in a movement type of directing ones attention. Another type of “direction ones attention” is in a cognitive form such as prayer and visualization which bring “more reassuring thoughts and images.” When I first chose this article I hadn’t considered  the breathing technique that the article mentioned but it does bring to mind the practice of ladies in labor being told to “breathe in breathe out” to relieve some of the pain and lead to “detachment.”

I made goulash last night for dinner. In my senior years I have slowed down on the cooking. I make things in batches and put them in the freezer so tonight will be something from the freezer. Something sounded good a week ago may sound good again tonight.

Photos in my life today

The first challenge upload for today was “games.” This one is packed away. My husband I played backgammon together every night that he was off duty from the fire department medic team. 

The next one is “landscape.” This is yet another of the ones I see as I am on the way to family a little way out of Columbus.

The last upload is “wildlife.” There is little wildlife in the city. This is
an image I made several years ago on one of my photo outings along the river.

Joy 

                                          all aboard

        (also found on Fine Art America/search joy rector tee shirts, pillow, puzzles, and much more)

 April 5, 2026, What smarts, teaches. German Proverb

Photos in my life yesterday

The first upload for yesterday was “my choice” and is one of my series of “still life.” I love this calla lily. 

The next challenge was “a path.” This one is a state wide bicycle path running
here along side of a railroad track. 

The last upload is “cereal.” I have oat and cream of wheat on hand but didn’t want to fix them at the time so I chose some of my rice krispies. 

Life today. Easter has been more quiet this season than most have been for me especially the ones when my kids were young. However, for me this season seems to have been more deeply experiencing than others for some reason. 

The sermon was as one would expect for an Easter morning. The song that the choir sang for the anthem fit the day perfectly. The number of people at the service was about the same as any other of our Sunday services. I expected more since it is a special Sunday. 

As the years pass, holiday celebrations seem to change. When the children are young, we go all out with all or the typical traditions. As the families grow the familial connections seem to slowly fade in ready contact. Imagine that “fading” as it becomes just a little from one year to the next until one becomes a “senior citizen.” The thought for the “older” presences becomes less expected. Now that I think about it I think my own mother expressed something like that to me. 

As I was about to finish the letter Lowell and Rebecca stopped. What a nice surprise. And they brought me a tasty supper. 

The word today is stake. Never interrupt your enemy when he is making a mistake. Napoleon Bonaparte. The greatest mistake is trying to be more agreeable than you can be. Walter Bagehot. It is a mistake to regard age as a downhill grade toward dissolution. The reverse is true. As one grows older, one climbs with surprising strides. George Sand. Experience teaches slowly and at the cost of mistakes. James A. Froude. When you make a mistake, don't look back at it long. Take the reason of the thing into your mind and then look forward. Mistakes are lessons of wisdom. The past cannot be changed. The future is yet in your power. Hugh White. Wise men profit more from fools than fools from wise men; for the wise men shun the mistakes of fools, but fools do not imitate the successes of the wise. Cato the Elder. No one could make a greater mistake than he who did nothing because he could do only a little. Edmund Burke. Mistake not. Those pleasures are not pleasures that trouble the quiet and tranquillity of thy life. Jeremy Taylor. We must not say every mistake is a foolish one. Cicero. There is no greater mistake than the hasty conclusion that opinions are worthless because they are badly argued. Thomas H. Huxley. A man who has committed a mistake and doesn't correct it, is committing another mistake. Confucius. Experience is the name everyone gives to their mistakes. Oscar Wilde. To make no mistakes is not in the power of man; but from their errors and mistakes the wise and good learn wisdom for the future. Plutarch. Faith is a living, daring confidence in God's grace, so sure and certain that a man could stake his life on it a thousand times. Martin Luther. Your own safety is at stake when your neighbor's wall is ablaze. Horace. 

Article summary. I lean a lot toward animals and their inborn natures as related to our connections with them. I think there is something to learn about, from and for them. In this case it the story is about how dogs have an instinct or natural capability to influence our stress level more than we may imagine. Now that my best animal friend is a cat I am hoping that they share them to also “influence our stress.” The title is Dogs are helping people regulate stress even more than expected, research shows. Kevin Morris, Research Professor of Social Work, University of Denver. Jaci Gandenberger, Research Associate of Social Work, University of Denver. At theconversation.com. The article starts by sharing some information from surveys that show results of research about stress levels that include cancer, heart disease, immune situations and dementia. It continues by the saying that this may be where dogs can help. To back that idea up they show other research listing one at the “University of Denver’s Institute for Human-Animal Connection” has conducted studies for the past 40 years that confirms “pet dogs help humans feel more relaxed.” They say now that a new study shows something that “suggests that dogs might have a deeper and more biologically complex effect” on humans than “previously believed.” These new tests go deeper into “physiological pathways allowing for a more complete picture of a “dog’s presence affects stress in the human body.” They have measured the “fight or flight” responses in humans along with the “surf of adrenaline” along with the production of a hormone called cortisol. The reason the cortisol is important in this particular story is that it is found in saliva when stress is relieved. They have found when the cortisol is lower the person being tested is with a dog. This shows that the person is calmer that is only part of the story. One of the tests they went on with produced further evidence of relief to humans. They used 40 dog owners in a 15 minute test. They were asked to do public speaking and ‘oral’ math in front of a panel. They were “randomly” told to bring their dogs or to leave them at home. The cortisol was measured before and after the test. They found that the people with the dogs showed an expected lower cortisol. There was a blood level also tested something called alpha amylase. The people without the dogs had no response. That part of the test shows a “change how our nervous system responds to stressors”.  The people with the dogs had a more balanced response. It showed that they were alert and “engaged” during the test and returned to normal reaction senses “within 45 minutes”. It shows that dogs keep us “in a healthy zone of stress response.” Due to these tests there are new studies planned to “delve deeper into the biology of how psychiatric service dogs reduce PTSD in military veterans” that I hope will find to be helpful in other areas of human health. I am also believing that cat can cause the same health benefits. 

Dinner will be one of my pre cooked and frozen dinners, maybe tuna casserole. 

Photos in my life today

This first upload is another of the “my choice” and another of my series of “still life.” I am getting a lot of red in my still lifes right now. 

This next challenge is “water.” I had a perfect rain puddle on the driveway to it for this one. 

My last upload for today is “next to me.” This is Bobbi on her window
“hammock” next to my desk chair. She is there to keep me company a good bit of the day.

Joy 

        my pussy willow has gone by the wayside this is the only thing I have left of it