September 14, 2019 thought for the day: Good actions are nourishment for youths, much more than words. African Proverb

This has been a day at home. I slept until the sun woke me, not an alarm, how delicious. There was nothing particular pushing me to get up.

Once Bob was up I asked him move the half dozen plants I decided to give up to the curb for someone to take as they wished. And it happened. Some man stopped after about an hour and said he wanted to take all of them to his wife. Good for me, good for him and good for her.

Yesterday’s FMS (earlier blogs explain the letters) photo challenge of the day was “M”. I used a mop after several other shots. The mop isn't very "sexy" but there are interesting lines and shapes and the color blue on an otherwise gray photo.

My youngest son, Lowell, stopped and brought a whole box of doughnuts. Then we had a long and happy chat catching up on several things including how we are going to proceed with starting to finish up things here at the house.

For the past two hours Bob has been watching the OSU game. He and our neighbor put up their OSU flags for the game. Bob just got his a month or so ago. He is so proud to put it up and finds companionship of sort with the neighbor who does the same.

I cooked meals for the dogs. Sugar (miniature Dachshunds) has developed a sensitive stomach and is still getting over the bout with diarrhea so she is still getting chicken and rice, home cooked. I am incorporating lean fried beef too, slowly. Then I made their, both dogs, Sugar and Sweet Pea (miniature Australian Shepard/Corgis), love them, now infamous meatball treats. So we are caught up for a week or two on that score.


The word is authentic.  Joy comes not through possession or ownership but through a wise and loving heart, Gautama Buddha. Authentic happiness is always independent of external conditions, Epictetus.  To find yourself, think for yourself, Socrates.  The most common form of despair is not being who you are, Soren Kierkegaard.  There are more sure marks of authenticity in the Bible than in any profane history, Isaac Newton.

This is a continuation of the article about exploring old architecture. When Ms. Daniel was in high school she frequented a website called “Forgotten Ohio”. Then she would just take drives on Ohio back roads. She has as she continues her exploring she believes Columbus is growing while many Ohio small towns are go down hill and many old places are either town down or fall down pretty much on their own. When Ms. Daniel took classes at a school for photography she put together document and titled it ‘Autopsy of Ohio”. She doesn’t wan it to be a sad subject but more like memorial of sorts. Part of her thoughts on the subject of these relics of architecture are history, someone’s memories, a life time. What could be sad about it is the reason that someone had for abandoning these places. Many left behind because of a death in the family or a drop in someone’s finances. One of the stores she relates in the article is about one of the decapitated houses she found. She spoke to the owner of the house next door and learned some of it’s history. The house had belonged to a family for almost two hundred years. Because of circumstances of like the house slowly became “uninhabitable”. As her journey goes on she relates that she has always tried to get permission form the landowners to make a visit to the property. She most often doesn’t go inside the structures. She is carful about sharing the location of the properties she has found. If she does go inside she tries not to leave anything. One time she found a modern can of beer and that seems to break the character of the whole picture and story. The last paragraph of this article was titled “Before It’s Gone”. Here she relates that though some call her a historian she sees herself an artist and photographer. She doesn’t look at the physical history of the structure, when and how it was built. She considers the lines and shapes and monuments to “Ohio rural history” before they disappear completely. She wants her work to encourage people to visit and experience the small towns. I liked the way the author ended this piece: “lost things to find and forgotten things to remember”.

Our (FMS) photo challenge for today was “N”. I chose nuts out of a list including nickels, noodles and noses. I love the curve if the container and the color of the nuts against the black background.

I pulled the lima bean soup I made a couple of weeks ago out of the freezer for dinner tonight. I soaked the beans over night. Then drained them and added two cans of Swansons’ Chicken Stock, a can of Campbell’s Tomato Soup, a teaspoon of onion powder, a teaspoon of dry yellow mustard, Mrs. Dash’s Table Blend, Mrs. Dash’s Original Blend. I also added one diced up potato and a cup of baby carrots. When is was almost ready to be served I added home made dumplings. Using my familiar recipes, one egg, a splash of water and a splash of oil then enough flour to make the dough workable with my hands. Drop heaping spoonfuls into the simmering soup.

Joy