May 3, 2026, a thought for today, Give the wise man a hint and leave him to act. Italian Proverb

Photos in my life yesterday

The first challenge for yesterday was “I held this....” This was an easy one to hold and to feel the love and warmth.

The next challenges was “trio.” I searched things around me for what I could
use. I spotted that last bouquet I had from the store and noticed the three tiny flowers that fit the upload perfectly. 

The last upload for yesterday was “m is for....” I chose the microwave for this one. 

Life today. This has been a pleasant Sunday. I have an emotional situation I am dealing with but as time progresses I am beginning to deal with it. The fact of the matter has been slowly creeping in and there was a major dose of it in my mind and heart during the dark last night. Church friends just being there helped a bit. Then the sunshine added to the lessening. Some prayers will solve the problem in time. 

I felt better after church so I stopped at Kroger for a couple of things and then Wendy’s for a cinnamon pull apart. 

The twins called Sue and asked her to come over so she left for Lancaster when I got home. The house seems empty but Bobbi is doing her best to show me it’s not empty. 

As usual for Sunday I don’t have much on a to-do list so I will be trying to refresh the rest of the day. 

The word today is vain. How vain it is to sit down to write when you have not stood up to live. Henry David Thoreau. It is in vain to say human beings ought to be satisfied with tranquillity: they must have action; and they will make it if they cannot find it. Charlotte Bronte. Praise from the common people is generally false, and rather follows the vain than the virtuous. Sir Francis Bacon. All speech is vain and empty unless it be accompanied by action. Demosthenes. That peace, safety, and concord may be the portion of our native land, and be long enjoyed by our fellow-citizens, is the most ardent wish of my heart, and if I can be instrumental in procuring or preserving them, I shall think I have not lived in vain. Thomas Jefferson. On the mountains of truth you can never climb in vain: either you will reach a point higher up today, or you will be training your powers so that you will be able to climb higher tomorrow. Friedrich Nietzsche. With fools, there is no companionship. Rather than to live with men who are selfish, vain, quarrelsome, and obstinate, let a man walk alone. Buddha.  Nature does nothing in vain. Aristotle. No great man lives in vain. The history of the world is but the biography of great men. Thomas Carlyle. Vain hopes are like certain dreams of those who wake. Quintilian. An honest man speaks the truth, though it may give offence; a vain man, in order that it may. William Hazlitt. Oh, how great peace and quietness would he possess who should cut off all vain anxiety and place all his confidence in God. Thomas a Kempis. And though all streams flow from a single course to cleanse the blood from polluted hand, they hasten on their course in vain. Aeschylus.

Article summary. I was in the mood for a hug today. This article title seemed to be calling my name. There are some subtle changes taking place in my life. Every day is a change but the ones I am feeling today are strong enough for me to feel a major change in my life coming as I mentioned above. That’s why as hug sounded good when I saw the title to this article. The title is The power of a hug can help you cope with conflict. Lisa A Williams, Senior Lecturer, School of Psychology, UNSW Sydney. At theconversation.com. It opened by mentioning how hugs are common between friends partners, and family. Research has shown how hugs help people with “conflict in our daily life.” A little further on it describes how hugs are an affectionate touch. They sometimes are a touch from “social partners” and sometimes friends when it is a sign of support when we need it. There have been deeper tests on types of situations where hugs were important both with family and friend and those with social partners and strangers. Some of the feelings were different due to the types of the relationships but overall in “a broader field of research” the whole “points to the importance of affectionate touch – for both physical and social well being.” I was surprised to read that other findings in these researches showed that hugs reduce the “likelihood” of catching a cold and it apparently could “reduce” the severity if infected. I don’t understand how that is, it may be that the hugs offer something in the line of health issues that override a head cold. In the next sentences it does explain that being hugged releases oxytocin that has “downstream” affects. Hugs also affect the cardiovascular system along with the blood pressure. In the end of the article it goes on to say that in social relationships it characterizes a closeness and concern. 

Photos in my life today 

My first upload assignment title today was “I walked here.” This is my front porch where I walk every day. 

The next upload are “hills or mountains . . . ” I had another assignment a few days ago almost the same. I used the “hills” on the lawns in my neighborhood for both of them. 

The last upload for today is “food.” Before I remembered that assignment for
today, the “food” was half-eaten but I decided to use it anyway. 

Dinner will be from the freezer tonight.

Joy

                                    all alone

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 May 1, 2026, a thought for today, Hour by hour time departs. Italian Proverb

Photos in my life yesterday

The first upload was “night sky”. Since I am asleep before we get a really beautiful night sky and am uploading an image I made in a time I was a bit younger and was awake a little later in the dark.  

The next challenge is another of the “City Scape” kind of images. this is one of my neighborhood. 

The last upload for yesterday was “kiss”. I am not is a position to capture a kiss per se so I used a thought for one. I have a pillow case with a set of lips someone had “painted” on to give the pillow case a design of some meaningful idea. That is what I used for this image. 

Life today. Today is May Day a “diverse holiday combining ancient spring festivals with modern labor demonstrations. It marks the start of summer, often celebrated with dancing around a Maypole and crowning a May Queen, while simultaneously serving as (starting in 1886) International Workers' Day, a day of global protests for labor rights, wage increases, and social justice.”

I did the printing at church yesterday after I was able to figure out something strange to me on the copier. For some reason it wasn’t picking up the proper paper size drawer as has always been my experience. Someone before me must have set some other paper sizes, or....whatever. Anyway, I got it fixed for my printing set up. Then I had made a promise to myself that I would at least try to get started on the photo/art work hanging on my proposed “gallery wall” all on my own since I haven’t been able to think of someone who can help me with that. So I took two photos with me yesterday, a hammer, the “special” hangers and a small hand held electric drill. I wanted to try it when no one was there so I wouldn’t be embraced if it didn’t work. I was happy and surprised that it did work. I hope to do a couple each week on the Thursdays when I am alone and hope it wasn’t a fluke and will work again. One problem will be that I can only hang to a certain level due to my petite height in stature. We’ll see how it goes from here.

Today has been one of the good days again. I have been able to “play” with some computer things I have been interested in and I have learned with them at the same time. I have my photos ready for upload and monthly set up earlier in the day than I usually do. I also got a good start on this letter. 

I wanted to get back to the hole I have stared in the yard for the huge English Ivy I bought by mistake. I only have the hole about a quarter of the way done. But it is pure mud today so I can’t work on it now.

The word today is tyrant. If men will not be governed by God, they will be ruled by tyrants. William Penn. If newspapers are useful in overthrowing tyrants, it is only to establish a tyranny of their own. James Fenimore Cooper. The limits of tyrants are prescribed by the endurance of those whom they oppose. Frederick Douglass. Rebellion to tyrants is obedience to God. Thomas Jefferson. Public opinion is a weak tyrant compared with our own private opinion. What a man thinks of himself, that is which determines, or rather indicates, his fate. Henry David Thoreau. Any excuse will serve a tyrant. Aesop. The people have always some champion whom they set over them and nurse into greatness...This and no other is the root from which a tyrant springs; when he first appears he is a protector. Plato. Pity is the virtue of the law, and none but tyrants use it cruelly. William Shakespeare. With reasonable men I will reason; with humane men I will plea; but to tyrants I will give no quarter, nor waste arguments where they will certainly be lost. William Lloyd Garrison. How strangely will the Tools of a Tyrant pervert the plain Meaning of Words! Samuel Adams. The sovereign is called a tyrant who knows no laws but his caprice. Voltaire. In every tyrant's heart there springs in the end this poison, that he cannot trust a friend. Aeschylus. If we must have a tyrant, let him at least be a gentleman who has been bred to the business, and let us fall by the axe and not by the butcher's cleaver. Lord Byron. If Tyranny and Oppression come to this land, it will be in the guise of fighting a foreign enemy. James Madison. Cruelty is a tyrant that's always attended with fear. Thomas Fuller. Old age is a tyrant, who forbids, under pain of death, the pleasures of youth. Francois de La Rochefoucauld. Conversion is a change of masters. Will we not do as much for our new master, the Lord Jesus, as we did once for our old tyrant lusts? Charles Spurgeon. 

Article summary. Compassion was my search word today for a story to share. I like words that pertain to caring for each other. I found this title and wanted to take a look and share. The title is Empathy and reasoning aren’t rivals – new research shows they work together to drive people to help more. Kyle Fiore Law, Postdoctoral Research Scholar in Sustainability, Arizona State University. At theconversation.com. Some “philosophers and psychologists” tried to decide if empathy helps people in their wanting to help others. Time showed that reasoning was impartial and more based on choices. More in depth study show that the “heart versus head” idea was too simple, that empathy and reasoning worked more effectively and worked with more people when used  together. There were studies conducted using living health issues that tested a cost issue leading to a empathy kind to thinking for an individual. These studies also included a reasoning aspect. Organ donor type health issue scored “higher on empathy, slowing down on the thinking side. The tests showed that people using both traits, reasoning and feeling (head or heart) had a “more outward-looking helping”. The idea also takes into consideration how many lives may be saved in the reasoning and feeling decision making process. The assumption was is empathy a moral concern. According to the article the “patterns” were found to have broadened on empathy. In a broader outlook as in “poverty, climate change and global health” where people care about strangers the differences on reasoning empathy, empathy may be felt but possibly not to the “most effective giving”. In coming to a decision empathy has an “emotional spark” involving another persons suffering. Reasoning leans more toward “where help will have the greatest impact”. Working together is encouraged to be “compassionate and consequential”. In ending the article it claims that at this in the psychological aspect it is not crystal clear how “empathy and reasoning work together” as in whom they work best for and when they come apart. Having read the whole article I have decided it wasn’t exactly what I was looking for but gave pause to think. 

I think we will have one of out tortilla shell pizzas for dinner. 

Photos in my live today

The first image for today is “I am....”. I had to set this on my mini tripod, place it on the table behind my desk, set the time to ten seconds, push the button and sit down in the just-right-spot before the shutter opened and closed. 

My next challenge is another of the “my choice” nature. This one is a macro of one of the peonies in my yard. 

The last upload for today is “tripod”. I mentioned my mini tripod above, this one is the “real thing”. I don’t use it a lot now with the onboard Samsung 24+ phone camera. 

Joy 

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 April 29, 2026, a thought for today, It is truth that makes a man angry. Italian Proverb

Photos in my life yesterday 

The first upload for yesterday was “city scape.” This was taken a few years ago when we visited a niece and got Sweet Pea. 

The next challenge upload was “handwritten.” This is a letter my father wrote
to my mother when he was away in the military in the 1940s.

The last upload for yesterday was “a place you call peaceful.” This is one of a very familiar park very close to my home. 

Life today. This week has started out on the “smoother” side as compared to last week. With the bulletin and its “extras” done and out of the way I have set a slower pace.  The bills have been paid for the month so no deadlines there. I got off track yesterday along with food pantry on my schedule I fell behind on what I wanted to get uploaded yesterday. So I finished that this morning.

I have a huge English ivy plant that I had planed for my window boxes but it is of a far larger variety for that purpose so I plan to plant it out in the yard by the porch. It’s still a little too early to go outside but I wanted to get the hole started since I am on my own for digging. I started it yesterday. I quit when my leg told me to. So I went out for about ten minutes to make it a bit bigger today. In a couple of more days like this I should have it where I need it.

I have a good start on this letter and I have three of the four photos I need for today. I know one I want that is on my way to church so I may have a change to snap that photo on the way to food pantry in about an hour. I stopped on the letter to go to food pantry. Yesterday we were really slow and not many folks were there. Today we were almost average in number of families. We were slow but with small breaks. It was kind of surprising because it was pouring down rain most of the time. 

The word today is turn. Do not throw the arrow which will return against you. Kurdish Proverb. 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. While the fates permit, live happily; life speeds on with hurried step, and with winged days the wheel of the headlong year is turned. Seneca. Whenever evil befalls us, we ought to ask ourselves, after the first suffering, how we can turn it into good. So shall we take occasion, from one bitter root, to raise perhaps many flowers. Leigh Hunt. The world is wide, and I will not waste my life in friction when it could be turned into momentum. Frances Willard. It is as hard to see one's self as to look backwards without turning around. Henry David Thoreau. The stream is as good as at first; the little rubbish it collects in the turnings is easily moved away. Jane Austen. He who exercises government by means of his virtue may be compared to the north polar star, which keeps its place and all the stars turn towards it. Confucius. Leave no stone unturned. Euripides. Do not turn back when you are just at the goal. Publilius Syrus. The mind ought sometimes to be diverted that it may return the better to thinking. Phaedrus. Everyone who receives the protection of society owes a return for the benefit. John Stuart Mill. The weather-cock on the church spire, though made of iron, would soon be broken by the storm-wind if it... did not understand the noble art of turning to every wind. Heinrich Heine. Equality may perhaps be a right, but no power on earth can ever turn it into a fact. Honore de Balzac. A prayer in its simplest definition is merely a wish turned Godward. Phillips Brooks. Whoever is out of patience is out of possession of his soul. Men must not turn into bees, and kill themselves in stinging others. Sir Francis Bacon. Life is like riding a bicycle: to keep your balance, you have to keep moving. Albert Einstein.

Article summary. I always have questions about something I am reading if I haven’t experienced it and have a question about its validity so I “research” it, it is much easier now with Google, than when I was younger. I also think it is a good idea to fact check when you don’t agree or understand. I wanted to take a look at this article to see if it related to this kind of thinking. The article title is Being humble about what you know is just one part of what makes you a good thinker. Professor of Psychology & Senior Research Fellow, Program for Leadership and Character, Wake Forest University. At theconversation.com. It opened with mentioning that some studies say that when you become aware that you may be wrong about something it could be a path to becoming a good thinker. In conversations with other teachers it became apparent that there is  a need to be a “motivation” to learning and understanding the world.  One of the teachers wondered if she should on focus on “intellectual humility,” that would mean being aware that you can be wrong in some beliefs. The author came to the conclusion about his aspect on the humility outlook that without acknowledging you are mistaken you can’t learn anything new. There are different “ways to assess intellectual humility,” a single trait won’t make you a good thinker.” It was determined that simply finding you are wrong is not enough because you need to care about having the right beliefs by wanting to learn, be curious, and commit to that effort.  

Maybe Welsh rarebit for dinner.

Photos in my life today

The first upload for today is “blue and green.” This photo was taken a fee years ago of some plant I saw in a garden in my neighbor hood. 

The second upload for today is “graffiti.” This is on a coffee café a few blocks from my home. 

The last upload is one of the series of “city scape. This is one of the
bridges in downtown Columbus.  

Joy

                               Grove City

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 April 27, 2026, a thought for today, The eye is blind if the mind is absent. Italian Proverb

Photos in my life yesterday

This first challenge for yesterday was “my choice.” This is one of my “in camera filters” images. This is a filter I like to play with after I have an image and its original is saved. There is a set of filters on my Samsung 24+ camera allow I to re-create the in camera image. 

The next image challenge title is “potato.” How don’t know how to get to
creative with a potato. It may have given me a little more to be “artistic” a “potato eye” on it.

This last image for yesterday was “something that makes a sound,” and what a beautiful sound this would be.

Life today. This has been one of those days when one thing pops up for attention then another. When I had the lap top fixed, they installed a virus protection software on it. I realized that my PC hasn’t had an updated virus protection. The one that was installed on the lap top can be installed on two other pieces of equipment. I didn’t know quite how to work that so I was online for an hour and a half with the virus software company finding how to get it installed on this one. I finally got it done. There was a problem with the mouse working the other day. I borrowed one from church to see the mouse was the problem or if it was the computer. It was the mouse so that problem is solved. 

I finished the bulletin and had it out for proofing. I got the fixes done so now it is ready. I also spent some time “shopping” at Etsy. I wanted to order something for my great grandson’s first communion. 

Then I attempted to get a couple of household chores done. I have only one left that I want to get done today. 

The weather is taking another of one its switches. It is cooling down again for a few days. I was able to have the doors and a couple of windows open a few days ago and was too warm under the blankets at bed time. Now it’s back to shut windows and more blankets. 

The word today is. The word today is truth. Advertisements... contain the only truths to be relied on in a newspaper. Thomas Jefferson. If you would be a real seeker after truth, it is necessary that at least once in your life you doubt, as far as possible, all things. Rene Descartes. Facts are the enemy of truth. Miguel de Cervantes. All truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed. Second, it is violently opposed. Third, it is accepted as being self-evident.  Arthur Schopenhauer. Great men's errors are to be venerated as more fruitful than little men's truths. Friedrich Nietzsche. One must know oneself, if this does not serve to discover truth, it at least serves as a rule of life and there is nothing better. Blaise Pascal. The scornful nostril and the high head gather not the odors that lie on the track of truth. George Eliot. There's nothing that keeps its youth, So far as I know, but a tree and truth. Oliver Wendell Holmes. Love truth, and pardon error. Voltaire. Never apologize for showing feeling. When you do so, you apologize for truth. Benjamin Disraeli. Never lose sight of this important truth, that no one can be truly great until he has gained a knowledge of himself, a knowledge which can only be acquired by occasional retirement. Johann Georg von Zimmermann. Have patience awhile; slanders are not long-lived. Truth is the child of time; erelong she shall appear to vindicate thee. Immanuel Kant. The truth is the kindest thing we can give folks in the end. Harriet Beecher Stowe. We know truth, not only by reason, but also by the heart. Blaise Pascal. Rather than love, than money, than fame, give me truth. Henry David Thoreau. Truth indeed rather alleviates than hurts, and will always bear up against falsehood, as oil does above water. Miguel de Cervantes.

Article summary. I like art and am involved in a project of a personal nature right now. So this article caught my attention on a couple of levels. Along with my ideas of presentation it is interesting for me to see how teachers set up their class lessons. The title is “‘But I’m not artistic’: how teachers shape kids creative development.” Dr. Gai Lindsay, Lecturer/ Coordinator of Regional Campuses: The Early Years, University of Wollongong. At theconversation. The article opened with an interesting point. In this world of “creative thinking” it is important for children to foster their creative growth in that area. This form of thinking in many areas of life can offer success in ways of growth and life experiences.  I didn’t realize until I read this article there is a thing called the “Convention on the Rights of the Child (Article 31)” (I did some off to the side research on this subject, very interesting and too long to go into here). In part it states that youth less than 18 have the right “to access and fully participate in cultural and artistic life.” The article further states that this can be a foundation to “all future creative learning and development.” In that this article’s title involved how teachers’ handle this aspect we should be concerned that children “have access to “high-quality visual art education.” As it goes on it says that when you visit early education classes you may see “art work” of the children hanging on the walls, but this alone is not a sign of the teachers skills and knowledge to “provide quality visual arts experiences”. The article relates that teachers need knowledge of how visual art experience can enhance “learning and development”. It goes on to say art can lead to “motivation, enjoyment, positive attitudes, cognitive problem solving, self-discipline” as well as “tools for communication”. It seems the article is pointing out that in many cases teachers see the children’s “art time” ad in some way to keep them busy or form “fine-motor” skill’s development instead of the “of creative and open-ended use of quality art materials”. In ending the article the author states that universities training of educators may need work so that they get “skills-based courses needed to reconsider the training of all educator” in the area of their “ability to teach art”.

I think it will be chili for dinner. 

Photos in my life today

The first challenge for today is “something prickly”. This is one of my six miniature rose plants that will
go in my “rose garden” window boxes. 

The second upload is “city scape” I took this one when I worked downtown several years ago. This main building in the image is a Columbus Ohio icon. 

The last image for today is “kids”. Again this is an image from my
archives. These girls are no longer “kids” instead they are not “teens”. They are my twin nieces. 

Joy 

just an image of an arrangement of a wicker chair and “artful display” plants display in a downtown public building

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April 25, 2026, a thought for today, Who gives, teaches a return. Italian Proverb

Photos in my life yesterday 

The first upload challenge was “share your settings.” The settings were: iso 32, 0.0 ev, F 1.8, 1/60 s. This is one of the roses in a bouquet I got at Kroger while we wait for garden flowers to bloom. 

The next upload was “I tree you love”. This tree is in and has been a couple of
blocks from my house. 

The last upload for yesterday was “nature.” Well, there are thousands of things in nature that we could capture in photos. This one was picked for yesterday.

Life today. This has been eventful Saturday mostly due to a cranky computer. Actually the computer seems to be working slowly but ok. It seems to be the mouse that is showing a problem. I hope to borrow a mouse from the church tomorrow to test it here. If that works, I need a new mouse, if it doesn’t the computer may need some work or I switch back to the laptop. I had it repaired just in time if that’s the case. Doing this letter and the four photos I need for the day have taken up the majority of time today. I did get the grocery pick up done and put away.

I also managed to get a couple of household chores out of the way. I paid the bills yesterday but there was one that gave me a bit of a problem opening properly in my internet connection. I was able to take care of that quickly today. 

I finished the day yesterday on a project I am working on. A dear friend of mine who sees my photo work regularly has agreed to let me know some of the photos she thinks will suit the “gallery walls” I hope to have. Yesterday, before I shut down for the day, I uploaded the ones she suggested to the file that I have made to save them. I have five photos completed, she suggested five more. I am getting more and more eager to get them hung. There is a hang up there but there is an answer and it will come.

The word today is trust. There is danger from all men. The only maxim of a free government ought to be to trust no man living with power to endanger the public liberty. John Adams. Trust men and they will be true to you; treat them greatly, and they will show themselves great. Ralph Waldo Emerson. Love all, trust a few. Do wrong to none.  William Shakespeare. Put more trust in nobility of character than in an oath. Solon. As soon as you trust yourself, you will know how to live. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. Trust one who has gone through it. Virgil. I never trust people's assertions, I always judge of them by their actions. Ann Radcliffe. All our progress is an unfolding, like a vegetable bud. You have first an instinct, then an opinion, then a knowledge as the plant has root, bud, and fruit. Trust the instinct to the end, though you can render no reason. Ralph Waldo Emerson. Fear secretes acids; but love and trust are sweet juices. Henry Ward Beecher. He who loves the world as his body may be entrusted with the empire. Lao-tzu. For somehow this is tyranny's disease, to trust no friends. Aeschylus. Men trust their ears less than their eyes. Herodotus. Seize the day, put no trust in the morrow! [Carpe diem, quam minimum credula postero.] Horace. I repeat...that all power is a trust; that we are accountable for its exercise; that from the people, and for the people all springs, and all must exist. Benjamin Disraeli. If we are bound to forgive an enemy, we are not bound to trust him. Thomas Fuller. All I have seen teaches me to trust the Creator for all I have not seen. Ralph Waldo Emerson. Trust not him that has once broken faith. William Shakespeare. Men have no right to put the well-being of the present generation wholly out of the question. Perhaps the only moral trust with any certainty in our hands is the care of our own time. Edmund Burke. Trust yourself, then you will know how to live. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. To be a philosopher is not merely to have subtle thoughts, not even to found a school, but so to love wisdom as to live according to its dictates, a life of simplicity, independence, magnanimity, and trust. Henry David Thoreau. When a man assumes a public trust, he should consider himself as public property. Thomas Jefferson. 

Article summary. As I was reading titles on the news site, I saw this one and wondered how the people you spent time with long before bed time would affect your sleep especially on an every day life cycle. So I decided to have a look. The title is “Want better sleep? Spend face to face time with your friends and family. Royette Tavernier, Assistant Professor of Psychology, Wesleyan University. At theconversation. The opening stated a bit of common sense that our relationships “may” determine how healthy we are. In a lot of circumstances that is true. Then the author decided to give it a bit more attention. He wondered how it would affect our sleep. Some research has been done in particularly to falling asleep and “daytime fatigue”. There is continued research on how the people we are with, friends and family, enter into the question of our sleep patterns. These particular studies were conducted with married couples in mind as well as another part of it considering teens. They found that the daily “availability” of their partner was on the list of what affects sleep. In college students “sense of security in relationships” seemed to play a part. One group tested found that those involved in social activities “had fewer sleep problems”.  This also adds to the ability to deal with stress. In the studies they measured the hours of sleep, falling asleep, and time asleep compared to just laying in bed. One test result showed youth fell asleep easier when they have been with friends but longer to fall asleep with time with longer with family. That could be due to family more tense with one another at time. The age brackets did play different rolls in the final results depending the age when more time is spent with friends. More time with friends in the younger led to better sleep.  Leading to the end of the article it is mentioned that sleep is linked to “mental and physical health issues, including depression and cardiovascular disease” mentioning that doctors may see these results. 

Maybe a taco pizza for dinner. 

Photos in my life today

The first challenge today is “favorite flower”. These are the favorite at the moment. It is part of the bouquet I had yesterday.

The next upload challenge is titled “sunset colors”. I haven’t seen extra special sunsets lately so this one is from my archives. 

The last challenge today is “my choice” and is one of my “in camera filter”. I
shot the photo then used an onboard camera filter. I used a Samsung 24+ camera. 

Joy

                                                                        metro park

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 April 23, 2026, a thought for today, All brains are not in one head. Italian Proverb

Photo in my life yesterday

My first upload for yesterday was “earth day”. I was trying for and artful and unique way of presenting an image for this. It turned out to be just this simple one of my recycle can. 

The second challenge was “animal or wildlife”. I have several of “wild” geese and this is one of them. 

The last upload was “something that flies”. I had to go to my photo archives for this one. I have a couple airplanes taking off and one or tow more of this nature. So chose this one for this upload. 

Life today. Wow what a week this has been, I am getting to old for this kind of pace. I am finding I am one day behind in uploading my photos, letters and blogs. 

This was one heck of a day. It started out good but then a bump appeared. I got to the church to print and turned the computer on the first thing since I knew it would take a long time to boot up. Then I got the bulletin started printing from a pdf file on the copier. Patti and I have figured out one way of speeding things up a bit. She leaves the computer on over night which helps for a quicker boot when I get there in the morning. It is still slow but much better. Today Publisher, the software I use, was up when I was about half way through the bulletins. So I started opening  the newsletter. Each step in doing that takes about five or ten minutes for opening the document, then opening the printer dialog and setting the numbers needed then sending a proof copy then the load. That all happened in decent time, considering the history of things with the aging computer. Then the “bump”. The stabler in the copier ran out of staples and quit printing. I have never loaded the staples in this copier. I had to find where they were kept in the office then learn how to load them. I found some but they didn’t look like the ones needed for this copier. Then I opened the stapler compartment on the copier to see if I would be able to teach myself how to do it. I could see the instructions. As it ended I need thirty more copies of the newsletter. Hopefully Patti will know how to load them and finish the run. In the morning I will do the folding and the rest. It we have to order staples I will have to hand staple the thirty I need. Sorry to be so long winded in the “vent”. 

When I left the church I made a trip to Michael’s to pickup two of the photo I had done and some other supplies for the church “gallery” that I hope to get initiated soon. I have five photos ready for hanging but no one to hang them yet. 

When I got home I started the laundry. Lowell came by to bring me the laptop that I sent in for a new battery. It turns out it wasn’t the battery it was a virus. So now it’s well and back home.

It looks like this will be another late day for letters and photos.

The word today is treat. The true measure of a man is how he treats someone who can do him absolutely no good. Samuel Johnson. Trust men and they will be true to you; treat them greatly, and they will show themselves great. Ralph Waldo Emerson. There is some magic in wealth, which can thus make persons pay their court to it, when it does not even benefit themselves. How strange it is, that a fool or knave, with riches, should be treated with more respect by the world, than a good man, or a wise man in poverty! Ann Radcliffe. Knowledge is a comfortable and necessary retreat and shelter for us in advanced age, and if we do not plant it while young, it will give us no shade when we grow old. Lord Chesterfield. The finest qualities of our nature, like the bloom on fruits, can be preserved only by the most delicate handling. Yet we do not treat ourselves nor one another thus tenderly. Henry David Thoreau. Treat a man as he appears to be, and you make him worse. But treat a man as if he were what he potentially could be, and you make him what he should be. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. All treaties between great states cease to be binding when they come in conflict with the struggle of existence. Otto von Bismarck. To be deceived by our enemies or betrayed by our friends in insupportable; yet by ourselves we are often content to be so treated. Francois De La Rochefoucauld. Consider nothing impossible, then treat possibilities as probabilities. Charles Dickens. Treat your inferiors as you would be treated by your betters. Seneca. We should treat all the trivial things of life seriously, and all the serious things of life with sincere and studied triviality. Oscar Wilde. An artist should create beautiful things, but should put nothing of his own life into them.

Article summary. This seemed interesting. I wanted to see if having a dog in the White House, or not, can tell us a little about the people who live and work there. Maybe we can look at it by the written word and possibly the inference, called “reading between the lines, both humanely and spiritually. The title is “Could a dog pick the next president?” Clive Wynne, Professor of Psychology, Arizona State University. At theconversation. It opened by saying what I was in a round about way that many people say “Never trust a person who doesn’t like dogs.” Then it relates that “dogs reveals something essential”, this is also what I believe. The author is a “dog psychologist” and studies dogs and their people. He said he would like to have a dog indicate what candid he should choose, that being the character tendencies.  He also says that there are good people with bad dogs sand vice versa. The article relates that the Washington Post pointed out that “every occupant of the White House since William McKinley has had a dog at some point”. Then the article said that “ a couple of weeks ago” Mr. Trump said “having a dog would be “phony.” He went on to relay that when a dog was killed in a recent raid Mr. Trump was quoted as saying “he died like a dog.” As the article continues it describes some of the presidents and their canine companions. Mr. Biden had a German Shepherd. He adopted the dog when it was a puppy that had been exposed to toxic chemicals . Senator Warren had a pup named Bailey, as in the movie “it’s a wonderful life”. George H.W. Bush had a  dog named Millie. The article mentioned that some elected folks pick a “pooch” after they are elected never having had a pet before that. The Obama’s got Bo three months after the inauguration. Mr. Clinton got a chocolate Labrador in his second term . Mr. Trump’s former wife, Ivana, had a dog named Chappy but Mr. Trump when heaed she was bringing the dog to New York he said no. Mr Trump is sometimes seen holding a dog now then that belongs to someone else. Harry Truman gave his dog, Feller, away. The article ends saying that picking a candidate to vote for may “need to be taken with more than a pinch of salt”. So in conclusion picking a new president has to be with more than one character one determining factor. 

 It’s going to be soup, salad and sandwich for dinner. 

Photo in my life today

The first challenge for today is another if the “animal or wildlife”. This time I chose Bobbi in one of her “I’m watching you” moods. 

The second upload for today is “a is for...”. I chose an apron for this one. Instead of putting in on and taking a selfie. 

The last upload for today is “in my garden”. Since it is out of season for my gardens I am using another one from my archives. 

Joy

                             

                                            This one isn’t in my garden now I wish it were 

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 April 21, 2026, a thought for today, Willows are weak, yet serve to bind bigger wood. Italian Proverb

Photo in my life yesterday

The first challenge was “I walked here.” I walked here many times on my lunch hour when I worked at the United State Courts. 

The next upload was “animals or wildlife.” This is one of the geese I found around the pond at the local park. 

The last challenge was titled “sidewalk.” It is a side walk near where I go to church. 

Life today. This is THAT week, the week of the month that I barely have time to breathe. I did, however, manage to get the bulletin done. Then made an appointment for tomorrow for getting my laptop to Micro Center for a new battery. I had time to handle some emails that needed tended to. I also squeezed in time to get a photo printed for the gallery wall I am planning. 

I had this letter started and three photos chosen for today before I left for food pantry. Now to finish the letter and prepare the photos for uploads.

Food pantry was very busy today. The intake table worked pretty steady. 

As soon as I get the photos done I have to clean out the dishwasher and sink. The cleaning lady is due here tomorrow. I like to have as much out of the way as I can. I need to have that and a couple of other things done by 4:30. I have a meeting at church at 5:00. 

The word today is toward. 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. By learning to discover and value our ordinariness, we nurture a friendliness toward ourselves and the world that is the essence of a healthy soul. Thomas Moore. It is only imperfection that complains of what is imperfect. The more perfect we are, the more gentle and quiet we become toward the defects of others. Francois de Fenelon. Idleness and lack of occupation tend - nay are dragged - towards evil. Hippocrates. Toward no crime have men shown themselves so cold-bloodedly cruel as in punishing differences of belief. James Russell Lowell. A thing is not proved just because no one has ever questioned it. What has never been gone into impartially has never been properly gone into. Hence scepticism is the first step toward truth. It must be applied generally, because it is the touchstone. Denis Diderot. Like as the waves make towards the pebbled shore, So do our minutes hasten to their end. William Shakespeare. The first step towards amendment is the recognition of error. Seneca. With malice toward none, with charity for all, ...let us strive on to finish the work we are in, ...to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations. Abraham Lincoln. Morality is simply the attitude we adopt toward people we personally dislike. Oscar Wilde. Education commences at the mother's knee, and every word spoken within the hearing of little children tends towards the formation of character. Hosea Ballou. Observe good faith and justice toward all nations. Cultivate peace and harmony with all. George Washington. This is love: to fly toward a secret sky, to cause a hundred veils to fall each moment. First to let go of life. Finally, to take a step without feet. Rumi. Order and simplification are the first steps toward the mastery of a subject. Thomas Mann. We must walk consciously only part way toward our goal, and then leap in the dark to our success. Henry David Thoreau. 

Article summary. I was looking for something on idea of friend and friendships and found this one about Abraham Lincoln and one of his friends and how it affected their lives. I ended up learning more about Mr. Lincoln than I knew along with another viewpoint on the friendships issue. I believe this is the case in most kinds of readings and research, learning more about things than you may have anticipated. The title is Did Abraham Lincoln’s bromance alter the course of American history? Charles B. Strozier, Professor of History, City University of New York. At theconversation.com. I liked the opening sentence, “In the spring of 1837, a “long, gawky, ugly, shapeless man”, it is a very well used word in describing our 16th president of the United States. In that year he was in a store in Springfield Illinois looking for a room for the night. The store owner, named Joshua Speed, told him the cost which was more than he wanted to pay. After some discussion back and forth the store owner, seemingly feeling that he liked the stranger’s attitude and decided to give in. He said he had a double bed in a room upstairs that he would be willing to share.  Mr. Lincoln didn’t discuss it any further from that, picked up his “saddlebags” and headed upstairs to the room. As the article went on “so began what would become one of the most important friendships in American history”. This author apparently did a lot of research for this story. I may have heard this in history but I don’t recall it, Mr. Lincoln had “two serious, suicidal bouts of depression” in which the friendship was instrumental in helping him through those periods. Lincoln stayed there for four years. Their relationship grew, they became inseparable. The shared “stories, feelings, fears, hopes and dreams”.  This is where the friendship part of my interest in reading this article enters. By the way a point some may question, the author made a point of saying “all the evidence suggests their relationship was not sexual”. Both men had an “anxious and confused” feeling about dating women. Lincoln himself had a tragic relationship with his “first love”. She died in 1835. In 1839 he met Mary Todd when she was 21 years old when he moved to Springfield Ill from Lexington, Kentucky. After dating for a while and became engaged. But that was ended a year later. Then Lincoln went through one of his serious depressions. This is one of the times that Mr. Speed helped him recover from the depression with a friendship that would never be broken. Later Mr. Speed met someone and became engaged, however, soon after that he also suffered a period of depression. Mr. Lincoln returned the love and care for his friend. Mr. Speed got well and was happily married and was happy. As this article goes on, it tells that after Mr. Speed was happily married. After that Mr. Lincoln seemed in a better frame of mind about marriage and “resumed his courtship of Mary Todd”. They were married in 1842. Mr. Lincoln ended a letter to a business partner who asked how he was doing by saying “nothing new here, except my marrying, which to me is a matter of profound wonder.” This article ends with saying that Mr. Lincoln was at times sad but was never again “clinically depressed and suicidal”.  It appears to be believed and rightly so that the friendship must have been “therapeutic” for both of them. 

I have a lot of loose ends to tie up before an early evening meeting so I am having something from the freezer.

Photos in my life today

 My first upload for today is “a park”. This is about three blocks from my home. It is a place I visit often for many reasons on of which it to take photos. 

The next upload is “Easter eggs”. This one doesn’t need much of a description. Sue and I are the only ones here now so we don’t color many eggs, just enough to enjoy remembering the season. 

The last upload is another “animal or wildlife” assignment. This was taken at the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium a few years ago. 

Joy

                        from one of my bouquets to brighten the room

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