February 2, 2026 a thought for today Even a crust is bread. Finnish Proverb

Photos in my life yesterday

This first image is my choice and is one of my series of still life. This was taken before I have completed the on line master class I am taking in still life photography.

The next photo is “something I shared”. These seem to be a kind of cookie that attracts people. I use them because the are zero sugar. Th man who use to do my lawn would ask for some before he left. My sone in law and my sister seem to be drawn to them also. 

The last challenge for yesterday was “food”. There are all kinds of food in the frig and cupboards. It just needs to be put together. I decided on a cheese sandwich for my lunch and used it for the upload.  

Life today. I started the letter a this morning. I had to leave the photo work for the day until later this afternoon. I have the dental appointment today to take care of the infected tooth. I just shot the photos and got them ready in the Photoshop “darkroom”. 

Lowell and Rebecca took me to a dentist who goes to their church. It’s done now and I am back home. He had to dig out a broken off tooth. The infection was in the root of that tooth. So as I am writing this letter I have a thick gauze in my mouth. The numbing is beginning to dissipate. I am glad it is over. I am also glad that he did not have to do any further work. I was so nervous thinking I would have to wear dentures. The dentist called in a script for a heavy pain medication if I needed it. We, he and I, hope Tylenol will do the trick. 

On the way home I got a Wendy’s single burger and a tiny slushy. I was able to eat keeping the food on the opposite side of my mouth. 

The rest of the day I will rest. I will do the uploads tomorrow. 

The word today is ready. 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. We judge ourselves by what we feel capable of doing, while others judge us by what we have already done. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. Always be ready to speak your mind and a base man will avoid you. William Blake. Before we set our hearts too much upon anything, let us examine how happy those are who already possess it. Francois de La Rochefoucauld. Reading maketh a full man, conference a ready man, and writing an exact man. Sir Francis Bacon. The summit of happiness is reached when a person is ready to be what he is. Desiderius Erasmus. There is no such thing as luck. It's a fancy name for being always at our duty, and so sure to be ready when good time comes. Edward Bulwer-Lytton. What is the first business of one who practices philosophy? To get rid of self-conceit. For it is impossible for anyone to begin to learn that which he thinks he already knows. Epictetus. God grants liberty only to those who love it and are always ready to guard and defend it. Daniel Webster. The man who goes alone can start today; but he who travels with another must wait till that other is ready. Henry David Thoreau. I will study and get ready, and perhaps my chance will come. Abraham Lincoln.  Fraud is the ready minister of injustice. Edmund Burke. Do the duty which lieth nearest to thee! Thy second duty will already have become clearer. Thomas Carlyle. Truth emerges more readily from error than from confusion. Francis Bacon. A true friend freely, advises justly, assists readily, adventures boldly, takes all patiently, defends courageously, and continues a friend unchangeably. William Penn. Noble character is best appreciated in those ages in which it can most readily develop. Tacitus. 

Article summary. I have always considered friendships important if not vital. I did some research to back up my thinking. I found as I thought that friendships contribute to our mental well being as well as to relieve loneliness. I wanted to see what Aristotle had say about it all those years ago. The title to this article is Three lessons from Aristotle on friendship. Emily Katz, Associate Professor of Ancient Greek Philosophy, Michigan State University. At theconversation.com. Aristotle was an ancient Greek philosopher. He was important in sharing in the defining of thought in logic, and science. I learned in a research other than this article that he had been a student of Plato for 20 years and tutor to Alexander the Great. This article opened with an Aristotle saying that “no one would choose to live without friends”. Though he was known for his activities in science and politics he had three “lessons” about friendship that are mentioned in this article. First his “definition” was friendships are shared experiences, both parties feel the experience. They have a feeling of goodwill for each other. The study in Aristotle’s thoughts on friendship went on to explain that he had a distinction between three kind of friendship, according to the article they are “utility-based, pleasure-based and character-based friendships”. These types are formed by the value that the friend has for the individual, or usefulness, or pleasure of their company or their character. The article says that the character based is the “highest form”. It goes on to say “you can only have a few such intimate friends” to form the character based. This kind takes time to grow. So the article relates that most friendships are “based on pleasure or utility”. Using the term “utility” in a friendship means that they are “mutually benefitting one another”, both parties understand this friendships purpose. The third point in the article went on to mention how Aristotle said to make friendships last. It begins saying it is like “fitness”. I had to read a little further to grasp the meaning of the relationship needs to be “maintained by activity”. It looks like he meant maintained by doing things together relatively often. If inactivity goes on for to long the friendship fades. The article mentions that due to postal service and modern social connections like Facebook that friendships can go on “across great distances”. In closing the article relates that Aristotle’s definitions still holds some truth. It mentioned that during the COVID pandemic there was a decrease in friendship activities even with the modern accesses in communication which showed a “decrease in the quality of their friendships”. It ended by saying “Aristotle’s writing on friendship continues to resonate.” Although I learned in another search on the subject that a saying I have always known and thought to be true was something also by  Aristotle who said "a friend to all is a friend to none”. I think after this article it’s meaning is the character-based is the “truest” friend. 

I think is will be creamed cheese on toast for dinner. 

Photos in my life today

This upload challenge is titled “something pink”. These are a couple of Sue’s hair scrunchies. My hair is too short for them. Another very useful purpose it that my kitten, Bobbi, loves to play with them.

The next upload for today is “book”. I do keep a few “hard copy” book in my “library” (a three shelf book case). Most of my reading except for the bible is done on my tablet as ebooks and search sites. 

The last upload for today is “square”. Sue has a few of her collection of frames lying around.  Is paints and sketches. We both keep a few frames around in case we choose to mount and frame our work for hanging or sharing. 

Joy 

                               safe and secure

 

 

 January 31, 2026 a thought for today, Even a small star shines in the darkness. Finnish Proverb

Photos in my life yesterday

The first unload for today is “a goal I’m working on”. This is a view of my computer screen showing the online master class I am taking. It is in still life photography. 

The next upload was “boot, ski, or snow shoes”. This is my only pair of
“boots”. 

The last challenge in this group is “letters”. I don’t get too many letters any more since most of my communication now days are emails and texts. 

Life today. I messed around this morning looking up information for thoughts I was entertaining as I woke up this morning. To be more accurate I should say during the time Bobbi was waking me up to throw a plastic ball for her. The thoughts weren’t necessarily about her just things I was thinking of and plans I was making. Some were thoughts of friends and family and how much each mean to me. I was having questions in my head some that needed bits of biblical answers. 

Yesterday I was finally able to get out of the driveway. I made it to church for the printing and to drop off mail. Then to the pharmacy to pick up meds and Pepsi for Sue. It felt good to get the car out of the drive way for a bit. 

Sue and I had been trying to find someone to dig her car out of snow drifts by the curb. BTW, it isn’t that I haven’t been telling her to park at the back of the driveway with me, she just seems to feel it’s more convenient and easier for her to park in the front. Anyway, when I got home yesterday someone was digging her car out. We didn’t know who it was because we hadn’t been able to get hold of anyone. We found out it was Lowell out there doing all the digging and lifting. We didn’t recognize him in all the winter garb until he came to the door. 

When I got up this morning planning to pick up my curbside grocery pick up at eleven o’clock it was -7 degrees . I wasn’t at all sure that the car would start. About 10:30 I went out to see if the car would start and then let it run to warm up, I had stopped for gas while I was out yesterday. It started instantly. 

I have the groceries put away. I set up photo shoots for the day and worked in the Photoshop “darkroom” to process them for uploads.

I am going to take my online class for today and the get some dinner and shut the computer down. 

The word for today is reach.  The heights by great men reached and kept were not attained by sudden flight, but they while their companions slept, were toiling upward in the night. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. You never know till you try to reach them how accessible men are; but you must approach each man by the right door. Henry Ward Beecher. Seek not, my soul, the life of the immortals; but enjoy to the full the resources that are within thy reach. Pindar. The summit of happiness is reached when a person is ready to be what he is. Desiderius Erasmus. He that would make his own liberty secure, must guard even his enemy from oppression; for if he violates this duty, he establishes a precedent that will reach to himself. Thomas Paine. Nevertheless the passions, whether violent or not, should never be so expressed as to reach the point of causing disgust; and music, even in situations of the greatest horror, should never be painful to the ear but should flatter and charm it, and thereby always remain music. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. To reach something good it is very useful to have gone astray, and thus acquire experience. Saint Teresa Of Avila. Ah, but a man's reach should exceed his grasp - or what's a heaven for? Robert Browning. By perseverance the snail reached the ark. Charles Haddon Spurgeon. Help thy brother's boat across, and lo! thine own has reached the shore. Hindu Proverb. 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. The will to win, the desire to succeed, the urge to reach your full potential... these are the keys that will unlock the door to personal excellence. Confucius.  Do not fear mistakes. You will know failure. Continue to reach out. Benjamin Franklin. Music is the movement of sound to reach the soul for the education of its virtue. Plato. The power of choosing good and evil is within the reach of all. Origen. And out of darkness came the hands that reach thro' nature, moulding men. Alfred Lord Tennyson.  He that loves reading has everything within his reach. William Godwin. If you wish to reach the highest, begin at the lowest. Publilius Syrus.

Article summary. Seashells seem to be an attraction for most of my family so this title seemed to hit home. The place where I choose the majority of my articles are  researched and written by academic researchers, PhD candidates, and scholars affiliated with accredited universities or research institutions. A few of the articles they research and answer are questions sent to them by young public school students. This is one of the questions. The title to this article is Where do seashells come from? Michal Kowalewski, Thompson Chair of Invertebrate Paleontology, University of Florida. Thomas K. Frazer, Professor of Biological Oceanography, College of Marine Science, University of South Florida. It opens by mentioning an estimate of 2 trillion shells along the Gulf of California. Sea shells are “skeletons on the beach”. They are actually “exoskeletons” the outside of the bodies of “mollusks”, animals with an outer shell. Some are “echinoids”, sand dollars. These animals are able to “build there on shells to protect their soft bodies”. This forming of the outer shell is called biomineralization, made with “biologically controlled” minerals. There are 50,000 species of mollusk on earth. Each species makes a different shell. These shells turn into fossils which are preserved remains of the animal. When the shells are found “seashell experts” can tell what sea creature made it. Seashells last for a long time. As they age scientists can determine their age.  The article said that some have been determined to be “hundreds or thousands of years old”. Shells carry with them information from the past like the place where they had lived. Scientists can even tell  what the climate and environment might have been. Marks on the shells may tell what happened to the creature during its life. The article ended by saying “each shell is a little diary”. 

I am going to have baked salmon and rice for dinner. 

Photos in my life today

This first upload is “feather”. This is one that was in my collection of hobby supplies. I also found a wee tiny one in the snow as I was coming in the back door, it got lost. It was so tiny a bit of my breath blew it away, I couldn’t find it after that. 

Next is one of “my choice” assignments. It is one from my series of “still life” (this is before the class I am taking). 

The last on is “a fruit”. This is some of the grapes in my grocery pick up
today. 

Joy 

composite of photo a day from my four photo clubs

 January 29, 2026 a thought for today, Where the minute hand suffices, the hour hand is not needed. Dutch Proverb

Photos in my life yesterday

This first upload challenge was “the sky today”. Though we are having a “trying” period of extra heavy snow drifts and their accompanying problems, we are also have gorgeous blue skies. 

This second upload was “lunch”. This has become a pretty common lunch since
I am not getting out to fast food places as often as I was doing.

The last one for yesterday was “evergreen”. I have several images of this tree. This one is different from most of them with the snow decorating the branches. 

Life today. I got to my doctor yesterday for my “infected” tooth. As we suspected I did/do need antibiotics. My doctor called the prescription over to the pharmacy for me, it was ready when I got there. She also said I must see a dentist within a week. I have that appointment for Monday. 

I didn’t get to the church to print the bulletin this morning. There was still twelve inches of snow on the top of my car. Around noon when the temperature was about 16 instead of 3, I ventured out to see what I could do to push if off. I was able to do that. I also moved the car more to the center of the driveway hopefully more away from the snow drifts along the sides. I plan to try to make it to the church tomorrow after sunrise. 

Sue was parked at the curb during this snow storm so her car is blocked in quite securely. We are trying to find someone to come and dig her out and get the snow around the car out of the street. So far we haven’t been able to get someone. We have a list of three people to call, none are answering their phone. 

When I came back in the house I got things together to start the laundry. I have to take care of kitty chores now. Then I think that is it for today except for making dinner.

The word today is rational. Do not think of knocking out another person's brains because he differs in opinion from you. It would be as rational to knock yourself on the head because you differ from yourself ten years ago. Horace Mann. Good and evil, reward and punishment, are the only motives to a rational creature: these are the spur and reins whereby all mankind are set on work, and guided. John Locke. To wisdom belongs the intellectual apprehension of things eternal; to knowledge, the rational apprehension of things temporal. Saint Augustine. I am an Epicurean. I consider the genuine (not the imputed) doctrines of Epicurus as containing everything rational in moral philosophy which Greek and Roman leave to us. Thomas Jefferson. A man has free choice to the extent that he is rational. Thomas Aquinas. I add this, that rational ability without education has oftener raised man to glory and virtue, than education without natural ability. Marcus Tullius Cicero. The happy medium - truth in all things - is no longer either known or valued; to gain applause, one must write things so inane that they might be played on barrel-organs, or so unintelligible that no rational being can comprehend them, though on that very account, they are likely to please. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Original sin is the only rational solution of the undeniable fact of the deep, universal and early manifested sinfulness of men in all ages, of every class, and in every part of the world. Charles Hodge. It is not to be forgotten that what we call rational grounds for our beliefs are often extremely irrational attempts to justify our instincts. Thomas Huxley.  The being cannot be termed rational or virtuous, who obeys any authority, but that of reason. Mary Wollstonecraft. If we did not have rational souls, we would not be able to believe. Saint Augustine. In everything one thing is impossible: rationality. Friedrich Nietzsche. We owe to memory not only the increase of our knowledge, and our progress in rational inquiries, but many other intellectual pleasures. Samuel Johnson. The rational and peaceable instrument of reform, the suffrage of the people. Thomas Jefferson. A person is an individual substance of a rational nature. Boethius. 

Article summary. In my adventures with photography I have found that abandoned buildings can be a place for excellent and interesting images. I have been on the outside of many forgotten properties. I have been inside only one many years ago. It was an abandoned elementary school. I only wish I had had the kind of observation then that I have developed at this point. I can see in my memory many of the things I missed taking photos of, left over pieces of paper, overturned chairs, and so much more. It looked like other people had been in there after it was abandoned. There were broken windows along with other evidence of destruction. There was a feel of history and past life in all those left behind things. All of this is why this article drew my attention. My memories were of thoughts of what I could have gained from what was left, the ideas in the story are what could have been made of them today. The title to the article is Artists’ installations raise questions about abandoned buildings. Aimee VonBokel, Assistant Professor/Faculty Fellow of Museum Studies, New York University. At theconversation.com. I was drawn to the opening sentence that told about a street artist and a cinematographer who separately “ installed a series of portraits in crumbling New York buildings”. That sounded exciting to me, beautiful art work in a “dilapidated” space. One of projects was “large scale” photos of immigrants pasted “here and there” on the walls of Ellis Island’s abandoned hospital. The images are fading as did the buildings through the years. At another place in Brooklyn the cinematographer set up a giant video featuring “elders from the Bethel Tabernacle AME Church in Bedford-Stuyvesant”. The video set up was in a boarded up and dark building that was once a public school. There is “white glow” presumably from a proctor that shows “silhouetted visitors float into the space” across pews and then to a “dusty altar”. Along with the video is a emotional “soundscape”. I like the way the author described the art work as a combination with the decay of the ageing buildings of over a hundred years ago described as “reclaimed wood dining tables and industrial-era typography”. The author describes a visit to these buildings as a time to “embark on tours of the past”. As this story goes it is an experience in “intellect and taste” tied to a bit of history. As it happens these two buildings and places like them are bought by “private developers” who ultimately “repurpose” the structures.  The article ended by saying “these artists bring the melancholy of abandonment to the surface.” I would like to see more of this kind of attention instead of tearing down old, rejected, past and once repeated structures to turn them into parking lots.

I thought I had chili in the freezer for dinner last night but it was gone. So I think I will make it for dinner tonight. 

Photos in my life today

The first challenge today is “frozen pond or lake”. This is the pond in the park a few blocks from my house. 

The next upload is “a moment of joy”.  I should have used one of my kitten or one of my great grand children. This one was more readily handy today. 

The last upload for today is “pickle”. I don’t always have pickles on
hand. Usually is more like pickle relish. This one just happens to be in the frig. 

Joy

          As a bonus a weed like one that will follow the snow

 January 27, 2026 a thought for today, The nail suffers as much as the hole. Dutch Proverb

Photos in my life yesterday

This first upload is “a snow trail”. There are plenty of snow trails around here right now. This is one taken before more tracks were made to disturb the beauty of the white land cover. 

Next is called “leading lines”. These are the tiles in may kitchen leading into the next room.

The last challenge was called “in the kitchen”. Again this is a part of my kitchen. With the typical refrigerator magnet, this has family photo on it. 

Life today. The twelve inches of snow is still here and isn’t going anywhere soon. We are having below zero temperatures for the rest of the week. I feel stranded like a lot of my neighbors probably are. The neighbors around me have managed to clear their driveway. Mine is still untouched and still perfectly white. Our street is still nothing but six or eight inch high ruts. I would most likely get stuck in one of those if I were able to first get to my car and next get out of the driveway.  I’m not sure how I will get the church bulletin printed this week. Someone who is able to get to the church may have to print it. I can send the file by email for that purpose.... I just this minute got a call about someone who will be coming to shovel the drive way! Now if the snow plow goes down the street this afternoon or tomorrow my spirits will lift a bit. 

I think I may be able to get a ride to a dentist or doctor in a day or two. The home remedies are mildly working but it doesn’t look like that is going to be a cure.

I have been considering taking an online master course in still life photography. Being “shut in” would be a perfect time for that. 

Right now for the time being anyway I don’t have a “full” agenda. We cancelled our food pantry for this week. 

The word today is pure. The truth is rarely pure and never simple. Oscar Wilde. When men are pure, laws are useless; when men are corrupt, laws are broken. Benjamin Disraeli. In a state therefore of great equality and virtue, where pure and simple manners prevailed, the increase of the human species would evidently be much greater than any increase that has been hitherto known. Thomas Malthus. It seldom happens that any As to the pure mind all things are pure, so to the poetic mind all things are poetical. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. It is pure illusion to think that an opinion that passes down from century to century, from generation to generation, may not be entirely false. Pierre Bayle. Although a man may wear fine clothing, if he lives peacefully; and is good, self-possessed, has faith and is pure; and if he does not hurt any living being, he is a holy man. Denis Diderot.  Works of imagination should be written in very plain language; the more purely imaginative they are the more necessary it is to be plain. Samuel Taylor Coleridge. What are riches - grandeur - health itself, to the luxury of a pure conscience, the health of the soul; - and what the sufferings of poverty, disappointment, despair - to the anguish of an afflicted one! Ann Radcliffe. Times of general calamity and confusion create great minds. The purest ore is produced from the hottest furnace, and the brightest thunderbolt is elicited from the darkest storms. Charles Caleb Colton. The purest treasure mortal times afford is spotless reputation; that away, men are but gilded loam or painted clay. William Shakespeare. We are shaped by our thoughts; we become what we think. When the mind is pure, joy follows like a shadow that never leaves. Buddha. There is no such thing as pure pleasure; some anxiety always goes with it. Ovid. The purest and most thoughtful minds are those which love color the most. John Ruskin. Iron rusts from disuse; stagnant water loses its purity and in cold weather becomes frozen; even so does inaction sap the vigor of the mind. Leonardo da Vinci. A life of peace, purity, and refinement leads to a calm and untroubled old age. Cicero. It is astonishing what force, purity, and wisdom it requires for a human being to keep clear of falsehoods. Margaret Fuller.

Article summary. Here is a another view at dieting. Since I am on a diet of sorts, I have three health issues that require diet considerations. This article looked like something among all the other information on this subject to consider. The title to the article is All foods can fit in a balanced diet – a dietitian explains how flexibility can be healthier than dieting. Charlotte Carlson. Director of the Kendall Reagan Nutrition Center, Colorado State University. At theconversation.com. It started with all the many reasons people may be talking about how to eat as what to eat or not to eat, when to eat, try this, or a particular diet. The author is mentioning how most of this isn’t necessary to an extreme extent. She mentions that health and nutrition are necessary and it may be just as simple to accept an antidote of “all-foods-fit approach to nutrition”. In this story it is mentioned that most food can “fit to a healthy diet” by working to balance food and nutrition in a healthy way. All foods have at least a portion of health and nutrition allowances. It is a question of flexibility and paying attention to your body’s “internal cues”. In the “diet” setting food is “black and white”. In a nutritional setting it is more “complex”.  It depends on how our living is involved with “exercise, sleep, stress, mental health, socioeconomic status” and  access to food. It appears that the article is saying that when you learn the value or benefits of different types of food as vegetable and fruits to those considered “untouchable on a diet” you can achieve a balance of what is in a full meal or period of eating and snacking. For instance instead of eating several pieces of pizza eat one or two pieces balanced with vegetables or more nutritional food.  This gives your body more of a “healthy” full feeling. This article suggests on how to get started in this way of eating. Instead of thinking of a food as good or bad for a diet think about the nutritional elements. Think of how your body feels as far as hunger or fullness. Eat on a regular basis. If there is a long gap between regular meals have a small heathy snack. It may become possible with a balance and more attention to food nutrients you can add what use to be considered “bad” food in small portions back to parts of your meal plans. 

I think it will be chili for dinner tonight. 

Photos in my life today

This first challenge upload is “something tiny”. This is a tiny little gnome I have to join some of my garden house plants. 

The second upload is “crisp”. I used a small plate of “crisp” potato chips. 

The last upload is “winter birds”. I took this one in a different winter. I it is too cold right now to go out and shoot.

Joy

                                     wish for spring

 January 25, 2026 a thought for today, Proverbs are the daughters of daily experience. Dutch Proverb

Photos in my life yesterday

This first challenge was “a plant”. This is my “baby” fig tree. A person my son Bob worked with had a full grown one by his desk in a huge warehouse like building, a car dealership.

The next is “my choice”. This is one of my “texture overlay”. 

The last upload is “shallow depth of field”. It is one of my wind chimes, the one dedicated to my son Bob, with the background out of focus. 

Life today. Well, as of 1:00 this after noon we have 11.2 inch of snow on the ground and it is still coming down. I don’t know how long it will be before we can get out of the house. I am having a tooth problem and mostly likely should see a dentist. I will do the best I can with “home remedies”. 

My neighbor is using a huge snow blower to move the snow on his drive way. That will be putting a double amount of snow next to my basement windows, maybe there will be a bit of a remembrance when we have the snow thaw. We are all going to have to move it wherever and whenever we can so that we will be able to get out. 

We cancelled the church service this morning. There really wasn’t much of a choice since it would have been unwise and unsafe for many of us to try to get there. I have a feeling it will be at least mid week before Sue or I will be able to get out. 

Twenty-twenty-six needs as little bit of an upturn in direction, for me and for Sue I think. We have each had a bit of unexpected and/or stressful events since the beginning of the year. They have been solvable and turned out on the upside after some worry. I guess we need some surprises to make life exciting. They should of those be less and less of those as we age more and more, smile.

The word today is public.  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. You should not live one way in private, another in public. Publilius Syrus. Never be entirely idle; but either be reading, or writing, or praying or meditating or endeavoring something for the public good. Thomas a Kempis. 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. When people have no other tyrant, their own public opinion becomes one. Edward Bulwer-Lytton. Show me the man who keeps his house in hand, He's fit for public authority. Sophocles. A republican government is slow to move, yet once in motion it's momentum becomes irresistible. Thomas Jefferson. The preservation of the sacred fire of liberty and the destiny of the republican model of government are justly considered... deeply, ...finally, staked on the experiment entrusted to the hands of the American people. George Washington. Guard with jealous attention the public liberty. Suspect everyone who approaches that jewel. Unfortunately, nothing will preserve it but downright force. Whenever you give up that force, you are ruined. Patrick Henry. No place affords a more striking conviction of the vanity of human hopes than a public library. Samuel Johnson. Our life, exempt from public haunt, finds tongues in trees, books in the running brooks, sermons in stones, and good in everything. William Shakespeare. The public is wonderfully tolerant. It forgives everything except genius. Oscar Wilde. The time comes upon every public man when it is best for him to keep his lips closed. Abraham Lincoln. 

Article summary. Besides being an animal lover I am a plant enthusiast also. This article is right up my alley. I thought I would read and share it. The title to the article is Owning houseplants can boost your mental health – here’s how to pick the right one. Jenny Berger, Post-Doctoral researcher, University of Reading. At theconversation.com. In the opening of the article it is mentioned that people spend 90 percent of their time indoors. They further relate that affects your mental health which include depression, stress and anxiety. They feel that even small “improvements” can be useful to those kinds of problems. I read that, and with first hand experience, find that houseplants “are an easy way of connecting with nature.” The article goes on to explain some of the several ways they accomplish those improvements. The are calming and “boost” a mood along with a connection to nature. The story tells about a study measured what different house plants offer. Eight plants were used in the study, they were “weeping fig, mother-in-law’s tongue, cactus, prayer plant, bird’s nest fern, golden pothos (or devil’s ivy), dragon tree, and palm.” They named three that they felt gave the “best sense of wellbeing”, they are pothos, weeping fig and palm especially when they were green and healthy. Ones that add to air quality were mother-in-law’s tongue, a ZZ plant, pothos and spider plant. Here is another interesting point, curved objects tend to bring about positive emotions. Therefore, plants with rounded leaves should be considered for  those preferences. Those would be weeping fig, pothos and palm. Another interesting point brought out was that plants with sharp spikes may be associated somehow with danger, but can add to comfort at the same time. For a calming affect plants with “trailing vines” like a pothos. You may want to select plans with patterns and “bold colors”, or ones that stand out as a focal point. One thing that was mentioned is that at some point too many plants may be a distraction. Keeping the plants green and healthy is a must for your enjoyment and well being.

I am having grilled salmon patties with quick and easy beef and noodles for dinner. 

Photos in my life today

The first upload is “j is for....”. I used a jar with some change in it as my upload choice. 

The next upload is another of the “my choice” and another of my “texture overlay”. 

The last upload is “a favorite thing”, my cat of course. This is one of her favorite positions. 

Joy 

    this was taken on another stroll in the alley behind my home

 

 January 23, 2026 a thought for today, What is wrong today won't be right tomorrow. Dutch Proverb

Photos in my life yesterday

This challenge upload is “white”. We seem to be having a lot of that right now. This one was taken at the park down the street. 

Next is “a snack”. This is a typical lunch or quick snack. A deli thin sliced chicken sandwich, ten potato chips and a few dark chocolate chips. 

The last on is “far away”. This is one is a few miles from where I live. It has one of the icon structures from Columbus Ohio.

Life today. A major snow event is heading our way. That is one of the kinds of things that makes me want to do research. I remember one “blizzard” when I was driving and had to pull over on West Broad Street . You couldn’t see the hand in front of your face let alone a car distance away. That was  around 1979. I remember another vaguely. When I was around seven years old. When I looked it up today I was reminded in that winter of 1947 there was 28 inches of snow. I wonder how this one will rank. 

I did my curb side grocery order early this morning hoping to pick it up today. When I finished the order and was ready to choose a time to pick it up there were no times left as a choice for today. So I picked the earliest for tomorrow. I hope the snow won’t start until I am back home. 

I missed church last week and was looking forward to going this Sunday. I have a feeling they will either cancel the service or I won’t be able to get out of the driveway. Maybe there will be a miraculous change in direction of the storm. 

I wasn’t sure about the weather due to all the hoopla from the forecasters. I thought I heard some saying the early part of storm and drastic temperature drop was starting Friday so I let Dorothy know that I would bring the newsletter home to finish on my own. That’s what I did. I was able to get it in the mail this morning. 

I got paying the bills out of the way and an important letter written to a very generous friend. With the grocery order out of the way, the bills paid, researches done, the photos out of the way now it’s time to sit back and wait for the storm and it’s lessons. 

The word today is proportion.  There is no excellent beauty that hath not some strangeness in the proportion. Sir Francis Bacon. A man is rich in proportion to the number of things he can afford to let alone. Henry David Thoreau. Men are wise in proportion, not to their experience, but to their capacity for experience. James Boswell. Remember this-that there is a proper dignity and proportion to be observed in the performance of every act of life. Marcus Aurelius Antoninus. Let your heart feel for the afflictions and distress of everyone, and let your hand give in proportion to your purse. George Washington. Liberty exists in proportion to wholesome restraint. Daniel Webster. We promise in proportion to our hopes, and we deliver in proportion to our fears. Francois de La Rochefoucauld. Only nature knows how to justly proportion to the fault the punishment it deserves. Percy Bysshe Shelley. Men have a respect for scholarship and learning greatly out of proportion to the use they commonly serve. Henry David Thoreau. An error is the more dangerous in proportion to the degree of truth which it contains. Henri Frederic Amiel.  Every man is rich or poor according to the proportion between his desires and his enjoyments. Samuel Johnson. Ones reputation is like a shadow, it is gigantic when it precedes you, and a pigmy in proportion when it follows. Charles Maurice de Talleyrand. The pleasures of love are always in proportion to our fears. Stendhal. Music assists him in the use of harmonic and mathematical proportion. Vitruvius. Poetry fettered, fetters the human race. Nations are destroyed or flourish in proportion as their poetry, painting, and music are destroyed or flourish. William Blake. Our admiration of fine writing will always be in proportion to its real difficulty and its apparent ease. Charles Caleb Colton. A man is hindered and distracted in proportion as he draws outward things to himself. Thomas a Kempis. Let proportion be found not only in numbers and measures, but also in sounds, weights, times, and positions, and what ever force there is. Leonardo da Vinci. Our energy is in proportion to the resistance it meets. William Hazlitt. Prayers are heard in heaven in proportion to our faith. Little faith gets very great mercies, but great faith still greater. Charles Spurgeon. The worth and value of knowledge is in proportion to the worth and value of its object. Samuel Taylor Coleridge. 

Article summary. I am back to the subject of animals. It seems there are endless connections between their lives and ours. I, for one, like to keep up with those connections. The creators were made by the same Hands that we were. The article title is  Dog owners take more risks, cat owners are more cautious – new research examines how people conform to their pets’ stereotypical traits. Lei Jia, Assistant Professor of Marketing, Kent State University. At theconversation.com. The beginning part of the story by comparing some ideas about the characteristics of the pets. Dog are “bigger risks”, cats more cautious. Dogs generally like to meet people. Cats on the other hand are more “suspicious” of strangers. The author and a colleague did some studies on the differences. Dog owners take risks in walking the dog being out in “exposure”. The studies also seemed to track how people invested in material items for the two different pets. In the studies there was a “reward-oriented rather than risk-aversion” study to product ads for the pets. For dogs the risk was higher on reward-oriented while higher on risk-oriented for cats.  In conclusion to the tests they felt the “mental association” with the “stereotypical temperaments and personalities” of the pets made the difference in people’s investments. As the article was ending it is mentioned that because pets offer “companionship” both dogs and cats are treated as family. It is also mentioned that in the studies it was determined that due to that relationship the pets influence us and our decisions as much as other friends and family do. 

I think I am going to use DoorDash for dinner tonight. 

Photos in my life today 

This is from my archives. The title is “fish”. I used to keep a large aquarium. It became quite a chore to
maintain a clean up chore so I had to give it up as my age crept in.

This one is “pattern”. This is just one tea cup and saucer left from my mother’s
sets.

This last one is called “looking down”. I went half way up the stairs to get this view of the chair below. I left the edges of the steps in the image. 

Joy

here is one hoping for spring flowers soon

January 21, 2026 a thought for today, Who watches not catches not. Dutch Proverb

Photos in my life yesterday

My first upload was titled “shallow depth of field”. It is a shot I used peeking under my gate leg table at the chair on the other side. 

Next is “coffee” . I don’t drink coffee anymore due to one of those health things that I had to change a few years ago. I drink decafe iced tea most of the time now. 

The third challenge was “my reelection”.  I shot this on when I was waiting in line at a fast food drive through.

The last one was “that’s so Gouda (cheese)”. I would have liked to use a roll of God cheese for this one but I didn’t have any of that flavor on hand, Swiss was my substitute. 

Life today. It’s been a good day. My visual test for the drivers licence was near perfect. Almost no difference from the one a week ago at the eye doctor’s office. I learned that apparently the Optometry department at the OSU has the ability to do the vision test with one piece of larger equipment. They are also trusted to make a determination that the visual requirement the BMV accepts is something that a normal eye doctors office can’t due to the larger equipment.  I have my new license. I was down in the dumps about it because I had to miss the scheduled appointment for the eye test at OSU yesterday due to the weather. I was able after several tries to connect with OSU yesterday and was lucky to get a new appointment for today.  I’d like to thank the team at the OSU Optometry Center are professional, kind and considerate all during the exam and process. My stress level has decreased noticeability. Not having a drivers licence would have changed my life drastically to say the least.

Another good thing for today is that my son-in-law will be released from the hospital after cancer surgery. 

One sad note for today was that a dear friend and neighbor died last night. She had two very serious health issues one being major cancer surgery another a new heart problem in the past several months.

All of the things I need to print for the bulletin and newsletter are ready for tomorrow morning. I just hope the snow holds off until I get home from that chore. I am sad that I had to miss both days of food pantry this week. 

The word today is property.  Our houses are such unwieldy property that we are often imprisoned rather than housed in them. Henry David Thoreau. I am a Conservative to preserve all that is good in our constitution, a Radical to remove all that is bad. I seek to preserve property and to respect order, and I equally decry the appeal to the passions of the many or the prejudices of the few. Benjamin Disraeli. The best ideas are common property. Seneca. When neither their property nor their honor is touched, the majority of men live content. Niccolo Machiavelli. Where justice is denied, where poverty is enforced, where ignorance prevails, and where any one class is made to feel that society is in an organized conspiracy to oppress, rob, and degrade them, neither persons nor property will be safe. Frederick Douglass. Wherever there is great property, there is great inequality... for one very rich man, there must be at least five hundred poor. Adam Smith. We take care of our health, we lay up money, we make our roof tight and our clothing sufficient, but who provides wisely that he shall not be wanting the best property of all -- friends? Ralph Waldo Emerson. Man was born to be rich, or grow rich by use of his faculties, by the union of thought with nature. Property is an intellectual production. The game requires coolness, right reasoning, promptness, and patience in the players. Cultivated labor drives out brute labor. Ralph Waldo Emerson.  Democracy is when the indigent, and not the men of property, are the rulers. Aristotle. Property is surely a right of mankind as real as liberty. John Adams. Where there is no property there is no injustice. John Locke. Truth is the property of no individual but is the treasure of all men. Ralph Waldo Emerson. By appreciation, we make excellence in others our own property. Voltaire. Avoid lawsuits beyond all things; they pervert your conscience, impair your health, and dissipate your property. Jean de la Bruyere. God hates violence. He has ordained that all men fairly possess their property, not seize it. Euripides. Government has no other end, but the preservation of property. John Locke.  Few rich men own their property; their property owns them. Robert Green Ingersoll.

Article summary. Things come along as time passes that come to light in science and other life changing events and new findings. That is a reason why we read and learn and decide to agree and help where and when we can or disagree and work to change it. This is something I feel I needed to take a look at and share with the prices, cleaning up a waists and possibly helping with issues of heating in modern times. The article title is America’s next big clean energy resource could come from coal mine pollution – if we can agree on who owns it. Hélène Nguemgaing, Assistant Clinical Professor of Critical Resources & Sustainability Analytics, University of Maryland. Alan Collins Professor of Natural Resource Economics, West Virginia University. At theconversation.com.  It begins with a description of abandoned coal mines in Appalachia. It’s a colorful description of rust colored water seeping from the mines as it drips staining rocks an orange color and flows into streams coating them with metals. Along with the unpleasant sight of it contributes to environmental problems. It seems there is a value in the drainage that is a valuable metal. The metals are called earth elements they are used in connection with smartphones, wind turbines and military jets. According to the article they are found  in over 13,700 miles of areas of mine wastes in Pennsylvania and West Virginia. The hopes and plans seem to be to turn the acid waste domestically for the US to b able to use these critical minerals. The “extraction” could result in cleaner water and cleaner energy not to mention affect our economy and security. The article said we import 80 percent of these elements now. One of the problems leading to the process is finding who the land belongs to. The article relates that using the acid drainage and extracting the rare earth elements is a way to change pollution to profit while offering cleaner streams and offering a possibility to cleaner air.  

I have a new xtra sharp cheddar cheese that is acceptable to my three way health diet. I am going to try to make Welsh rarebit with it for dinner tonight. So far I have found that it doesn’t melt easily.

Photos in my life today 

 

The first challenge for today is “a little chaos”. This is one of the bins in my book shelves that has become a bit of a gathering place for things that don’t have a place of their own. 

Next is “homemade” this is one of the pillows my great grand daughter made
for several of us for Christmas.  This is the one she made for my sister. The one she made for me is in one of my other photos. 

The last upload is “something unique to you (me)”. This is another of my Christmas presents. My daughter and son in law gave me this terrarium kit. I haven’t had time to get started on it yet. I use to make them at a flower shop where I worked for several years. 

Joy

              I think I am eager for signs of spring so I use image from my archives to sooth the                                                                                                  urge