January 29, 2020 thought for the day: The torment of envy is like a grain of sand in the eye. Chinese Proverb

What a day, full of new adventures as well as old. Sue needed to get some blood work done so we started out on this day’s escapades relatively early in the day so that I would have time to get to church for food pantry around noon.

The photo theme for January 28 was “warm”. For me that was a challenge, how do you visualize “warm”. As I thought about it, tea came to mind. The warmth of a cup of tea is comforting. Using a burner on the stove to show warmth seemed a little over doing it....that was more hot than warm and so the thinking went.

I had a call yesterday letting me know that the Presbyterian of Scioto Valley Women’s newsletter was ready for pick up. They left a message that the facility where I picked them up had moved to a new location so I jotted down the new address. After the stop at the lab for Sue we headed out to pick up the newsletters. I am glad Sue was along. I am direction-finding challenged, she is not. There were two times I would have taken a wrong turn getting to the new address and would have been stressed to a point of giving up and trying again later. She gave me her thoughts on the turns to make and she was right. Once those two agenda items were checked off we stopped at McDonalds to pick up a bit of breakfast. Sue had a list of meds to pick up so on the way home we stopped at the drive up window at Walgreens to complete that part of the agenda.

Today’s photo theme is “rainbow”. The weather today has no hint of a rainbow and I can’t think of any I might have in my archive. The stained glass windows at church are full of color. I took some photos with that in mind today. I even thought of moving the camera as I shot to get a motion that would more resemble a rainbow. When I post processed I realized the motion wasn’t enough to give the hint that I wanted to I used one of the on board filters from Photoshop to make the effect more apparent.

Finally, at home, I completed the bulletin and uploaded it along with the church newsletter to three of my peers for proofreading. After that it was time to take off for my afternoon at food pantry. It was slow today and I had taken some of my crocheting which I worked on between clients. The in-between-time of guests gave several of us the time to bond, that is something I really enjoy.

The word today is distance. There is no object so large but that at a great distance from the eye it does not appear smaller than a smaller object near, Leonardo da Vinci. I think it indisputable that the distance between the intellectual faculties of different men is greater than that between the same faculties in some men and some other animals, Henry St John, 1st Viscount Bolingbroke. Poetry is like painting: one piece takes your fancy if you stand close to it, another if you keep at some distance, Horace. The distance from nothing to a little, is ten thousand times more, than from it to the highest degree in this life, John Donne. As love is union, it knows no extremes of distance, Juana Inés de la Cruz. Offensive objects, at a proper distance, acquire even a degree of beauty, William Shenstone. Those who travel heedlessly from place to place, observing only their distance from each other, and attending only to their accommodation at the inn at night, set out fools, and will certainly return so, Lord Chesterfield. At a distance this fine oak seems to be of ordinary size. But if I place myself under its branches, the impression changes completely: I see it as big, and even terrifying in its bigness, Eugene Delacroix. To know someone here or there with whom you can feel there is understanding in spite of distances or thoughts expressed that can make life a garden, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe.  Nothing makes the earth seem so spacious as to have friends at a distance; they make the latitudes and longitudes, Henry David Thoreau. Age, like distance, lends a double charm,  Oliver Wendell Holmes. 

I am always happy to see when domesticated animals are helped in any way shape or form...just who I am. This article today is about one of our animal shelters trying to match dogs with their new forever homes. One of the ways that is being tried is “holiday sleep overs”. Families can request to take shelter dogs home for the time that kids are on holidays from schools. There is also a project to renovate play areas for dogs waiting to be adopted. There is a study of ways to improve the handling of stray dogs. The goal is for every family that wants a dog can have one that is spayed and neutered, micro chipped, licensed and vaccines up to day. At the shelter in the article there are 40 to 70 dogs a day for adoption. They have tried to improve things such as how dogs are dropped off for surrender. They no longer use drop boxes, now an appointment is needed. They are trying to use a “more welcoming” process for applying for adoption. There is also an updated outdoor fenced area for the animals. Now there is a followup program for newly adopted pets. During the last over the holiday “sleep overs” more dogs were immediately adopted at the end of the sleep over period.

 It’s one of those evenings where we are each going to be on our own for dinner. I have had a busy day with little time to plan and cook dinner.

Love you
Grandma

January 27, 2020 thought for the day: A child's words have no guile. Chinese Proverb

This isn’t quite the typical Monday. To start it off, I slept in a little later than usual. That bed felt so nice and warm and cozy. Once I did get up, things pretty much followed the habitual directions. It always begins with the virtual visits, the three email sites checked and news titles with further reading if the headers are interesting. Then some facebook cruising for any thought-grabbing information.

I am finding that this winter I am dipping into my archives for photos to match the themes. Either the weather isn’t right for that day or my time is devoted to something else for most of the day. On January 26 the theme was “bright”. The sun was not on my side yesterday so I used one of my plant lights as the something bright.

I moved on to the bulletin updating the standard features and filling in where I have become accustomed to doing for each of the preacher’s wants and needs then waiting for the information for the weekly service.

I forgot my choir folder yesterday when I left the church after the pot luck fellowship. Since I need the sheet music to complete parts of the bulletin, I decided to go to church to look for the folder. I also had the food pantry sign in sheets to leave for tomorrow’s food pantry opening. I made a side trip, stopped for gas before I got to the church. I checked in four areas of the church for the folder but didn’t find it. In the choir room I checked the upcoming anthems list and found what we would be singing on Sunday so I got a copy of that piece. I also left the documents for pantry I had brought from home.

When I got home, I spent a little time on the Goodwill boxes I am putting together. After that I made an adjustment to one of the crochet pieces I am working on. I am making a sun bonnet that needs some millenary wire in the brim. There is a joiner to attach the two ends of the wire. I was having trouble getting them to stay attached. I did some experimenting and found that Gorilla Super glue works great. So I applied the super glue. It needs to set for twenty-four hours so I won’t be able to work on the hat tonight.

Today’s photo theme was one that I talked about above, pulled from the archives. The theme is “I miss...”. At my age there are many things that I miss, most are not photographable. But one that at the moment of the day that I was thinking about the theme I was missing spring, the warm weather, the flowers and gorgeous landscapes so this is the result.

The word today is discussion. The aim of argument, or of discussion, should not be victory, but progress, Joseph Joubert. Bigotry is the disease of ignorance, of morbid minds; enthusiasm of the free and buoyant. education and free discussion are the antidotes of both, Thomas Jefferson. Anyone who in discussion relies upon authority uses, not his understanding, but rather his memory,  Leonardo da Vinci. If there is anything in the universe that can't stand discussion, let it crack,  Wendell Phillips. Frequently the more trifling the subject, the more animated and protracted the discussion, Franklin Pierce. Freedom and order are not incompatible... truth is strength... free discussion is the very life of truth, Thomas Henry Huxley.  I know of no country in which there is so little independence of mind and real freedom of discussion as in America, Alexis de Tocqueville.  On the face of it, it must be a bad cause which will not bear discussion. Truth seeks light instead of shunning it, Horace Mann. 

I find that visiting local Metro parks can be relaxing. It seems they each have some of the same to offer while at the same time something different in each and, in my opinion, they are important to city living. The article today seems to be about one of our parks being “updated” to increase better plant and animal life. The overgrown grasses have been mowed down to make way for new growth. The process of mowing is put off until mid-October thinking of the wildlife and songbirds that may be nesting. According to the article there use to be burning of but the woody grasses are overgrown this year so that method is not safe. As they do the mowing they leave “cavities” so that pollinating insects can survive. The park service will be seeding new varsities too to increase the benefit of biodiversity in the park. The park in the article is a prairie-type landscape which also has two “vernal” pools so there are toads who live in the area. It is also a “flyway” for birds.

I think we will have baked Tilapia for dinner with hash brown potatoes.

Joy

January 25, 2020 thought for the day: When you lift your hand to strike, you are three-tenths lower than your opponent. Chinese Proverb

I like sleeping in on Saturday morning. On the other hand, I don’t like losing productive hours. I don’t really have anything pressing on the agenda for today though. The thing I latched onto after I did the daily virtual visits was the church newsletter. I have all the information I need now. So I was diligent and stuck to it until it is all done.

The photo theme for January 24 was “treat yo shelf”. There are lots of ways to treat our selves, a lot of mine are with food. So I fell back on that one today. I had six egg whites left over from the spaghetti carbonara I made a few days ago. I wanted to use them instead of throwing them out. I made meringue cookies and put some dark chocolate chocolate chips in them. There was my photo.

With the newsletter finished I switched from the computer to the kitchen. I got the frig cleaned out, the dishes done and the floor mopped. I hope to put a little time in on working to get the boxes I have set up to go to Goodwill filled. It’s a slow process for me. I come across things that take no thought at all for getting rid of. On the other hand, I find things I forgot I had and think I had better hang onto it for a while longer.

At least the weather makes it easy to stay inside. It is rainy and dreary. It isn’t too inviting for the photo challenge for today though. I may have to go to the archives again today. I think I got some good shots when I was at the park the other day.

The word today is discovering.  Not until we are lost do we begin to understand ourselves, Henry David Thoreau. Finding the right work is like discovering your own soul in the world, Thomas Moore. The art of writing is the art of discovering what you believe, Gustave Flaubert.   All truths are easy to understand once they are discovered; the point is to discover them, Galileo Galilei. You can discover more about a person in an hour of play than in a year of conversation,  Plato. What is a weed? A plant whose virtues have never been discovered, Ralph Waldo Emerson. Your gifts lie in the place where your values, passions and strengths meet. Discovering that place is the first step toward sculpting your masterpiece, Your Life, Michelangelo. Losing an illusion makes you wiser than finding a truth, Ludwig Borne. Who never walks save where he sees men's tracks makes no discoveries, J. G. Holland. The mind, in discovering truths, acts in the same manner as it acts through the eye in discovering objects; when once any object has been seen, it is impossible to put the mind back to the same condition it was in before it saw it, Thomas Paine.   
 

Today’s photo challenge is “in my town”. The weather today is “frightful” (well sort of) so I went to my extensive photo archive. I didn’t have to go to far back though. This one was taken yesterday as the sun was going down.

It’s interesting to see how many ways there are for people to learn to be nice to each other. The article today says that a challenge event can teach that. Apparently there is an international event called the Great Kindness Challenge event that includes several schools. Here are the figures noted in the article: 14 million students, 25,000 schools and 115 countries took part in this event this year. More than 663 are in Ohio. The event shows a reminder of how people should be treating each other. Some of the things some of the kids did was to buy flowers for the cafeteria workers, another, put positive stickers on every locker, more Valentine cards to military and good deeds to staff members. The teachers are given a curriculum for a week. The kids have a good deeds checklist from the Kids for Peace group. Students are encouraged to continue the good deeds on their own and are not particularly rewarded for them.

Dinner is up in the air today. We are each on our own, finding something in left overs or frozen dinners.

Joy

January 23, 2020 thought for the day: Injure others, injure yourself. Chinese Proverb

Yesterday I stopped at Westgate Park for some photos. Before I left the park, a car came around the curve in the parking lot and hit my car. It took quite a piece out of the right front fender including the turn signal fixture. The driver didn’t stop, just kept driving. I thought we were going to pull over to exchange information but that didn’t happen. I think we, my family, are in a bit of a problem-happening period in our lives right now. I hope it stops soon and there are no more serious outcomes.

The January 22 photo theme was “cold”. We don’t have any snow or ice right now, nothing much to show some as really cold expect for the dreary skies and gray clouds. I searched through my archives and came up with this one from a couple of winters ago.

Here it is again, that hustle bustle day of the week. I put the printing of the newsletter off until next week. So while I was at the church printing the bulletin, I called the ladies who help and let them know we were moving it to next week.

I had planned to stop at the store after the church but the furnace folks said they were coming by today for the annual check up. It’s now mid afternoon and they are not here yet.

I got the noodles and beef stock made and the laundry started. I looked around for the theme for today. The challenge is “beauty”. In this season there is not too much in the neighborhood that I call beauty unless you find the hidden beauty in a pile of fallen leaves or faded lawns and leafless tree branches. I settled on taking a shot of the pressure cooker since it is a beauty of a cooking utensil.

The word is direct. Everything is a grace, everything is the direct effect of our Father's love - difficulties, contradictions, humiliations, all the soul's miseries, her burdens, her needs - everything, because through them, she learns humility, realizes her weakness. Everything is a grace because everything is God's gift. Whatever be the character of life or its unexpected events - to the heart that loves, all is well, Therese of Lisieux.  Human subtlety will never devise an invention more beautiful, more simple or more direct than does nature because in her inventions nothing is lacking, and nothing is superfluous, Leonardo da Vinci. The essential form of knowledge... is nothing but a representation of truth: for the truth of being and the truth of knowing are one, differing no more than the direct beam and the beam reflected, Francis Bacon. If it is the greatest truth that you seek, the plants can direct you, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. I find the great thing in this world is, not so much where we stand, as in what direction we are moving,  Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. 

Today photo challenge is “beauty”. Much like yesterday, there isn’t much outdoors that show this precept. I was cooking dinner when I realized how “beautiful” it was to have a pressure cooker not only to help in the preparation of healthier food but with speed and ease. So that solved the photo topic.

According to the article I chose today the city and county are looking at a public park to build a new courthouse structure in 2022. I am inclined to think that more new construction of any kind means more aliveness in our city. I’m a little uncertain about this prospect. I think areas of greenery in public parks are important to city folks. I like the little bit of nature and areas to relax in fresh the air to be found there. I also like a little modern architecture in our city to show/prove that we keep up with growth and improvements.  I found in the article that the city and county had also considered an empty field but this area is now being considered for other development. 

I made some homemade egg noodles for the first time since I got my noodle maker out of storage. I also used the newly unpacked pressure cooker to make beef stock for the noodles.

Joy

January 21, 2020 thought for the day.  To cultivate trees, you need 10 years. Chinese Proverb

This has been an interesting day. I am not receiving the information I need for the church newsletter in time for the scheduled printing time. So I am going to have to make some adjustments. There are three regular items for each newsletter that take up more than a third of a page. They haven’t arrived yet so I think I am going to delay the printing for a week past our normal monthly due date. That will give them each more time to get them to me. This has been a busy time of the year for all of us. We just need some time for “normal” life to catch up.

The photo theme on January 19 was “ice cream”. It just so happened that my great grand niece was visiting that day. She wanted one of the cups of chocolate ice cream I had bought for her and her sister. I had her put it in a bowl with chocolate syrup and whipped cream. She was delighted.

I worked some more on the bulletin. It is ready for printing except for a change in two of the hymns. I am waiting for the pastor to make the new choices. And I just got a notice that the other church newsletter I do will be ready for pick up in a couple of days.

I had one of my volunteer days at the church today. We had a good day at our food pantry with several new visitors. 

The next photo theme, “a wall” was on January 20. Of course there are several walls in the house so I had a challenge to find one that had some interest.

Sue is home now. She can’t drive yet so I will be taking her when she needs to go out, at least to the areas of the city that I feel safe driving. She needed to go to a near by bank when I got home from church. So off we went.

The word is dignity. We are obliged to respect, defend and maintain the common bonds of union and fellowship that exist among all members of the human race, Marcus Tullius Cicero. So valuable to heaven is the dignity of the human soul that every member of the human race has a guardian angel from the moment the person begins to be, St. Jerome. A man can dignify his rank; no rank Can dignify a man, Lucius Accius  It is easier to grow in dignity than to make a start, Seneca the Younger. Humbleness is always grace; always dignity, James Russell Lowell. The generous mind adds dignity to every act, and nothing misbecomes it, Plutarch.  As all error is meanness, it is incumbent on every man who consults his own dignity, to retract it as soon as he discovers it, Samuel Johnson.  Religion gives a dignity to distress, James Hervey. Misfortunes have their dignity and their redeeming power, George Stillman Hillard.  Dignity does not consist in possessing honors, but in deserving them, Aristotle. By a lie a man throws away and, as it were, annihilates his dignity as a man, Immanuel Kant. Of all virtues and dignities of the mind, goodness is the greatest, being the character of the Deity; and without it, man is a busy, mischievous, wretched thing, Francis Bacon. Education is a better safeguard of liberty than a standing army, Edward Everett.   

The photo challenge for today is “I am...”. That is really a challenge, it didn’t say selfie. So that left things open to a wider thought for the subject. I was volunteering at the food pantry today so that left me what I thought was a good choice.

I like to include food article every now and then, probably because I am a genuine “foodie”. The article is about something called a “chaffle”. It is a waffle and cheese combination. It h


as been created for people who eat a “ketogenic” diet and also gluten-free eater. It was started for people on restricted diets. The “waffle” batter is made from eggs and cheese rather than flour. Apparently there is a “chaffle” that is made without the cheese and it is said to taste like Wonder Bread and can be used as bread for sandwiches. There is a special tool to make these called a Dash mini waffle maker. A standard iron can be used too, it’s just that the smaller one is more traditional. There are several recipes, one is for chocolate-chocolate chip chaffle, one for a pizza flavor, French toast flavor and one with cream cheese topping. It is being debated whether this is a trend or will be a new stable to our diets.

On January 20 I had another photo of the day to find, shoot and post process. This theme was “emotion”. That is one of the photos that are, for me at least, hard to shoot. I used one from the shoot with the ice cream.

For a change we are having a hamburger helper for dinner tonight. I usually cook from scratch but now and then I take it a little easier and open cans or boxes.

Joy

January 18, 2020 thought for the day: Think before you speak but do not speak all that you think. Chinese Proverb

I like Saturdays but this one is becoming a pain. I am very touchy about my computer programs. When one of the most used files goes down, I am a real bear. That happened today. The program I am using to write this document is giving me problems. It seems to have lost the save function. I have wasted time trying to get it fixed. It hasn’t happened yet. I am working on a backdoor kind of solution. I will get what I can done so that I can back off for a while and decide how to get it working back at normal.

The photo theme for January 17 was “green on pink’. I was thinking how on earth am I going to find that subject. I went to the store yesterday and was thinking as I was heading there maybe some kind of produce would work. But when I got to the store I had other things on my mind. It so happened that we had emptied some storage containers with the empty ones ready to be taken to the garage. One was bright pink, there was my background. I have plenty of green house plants to they ended up as my subjects.

It is dreary and misty outside but not nearly the problems that were predicted last night. They were predicting snow and sleet. We have the freezing conditions but not the snow or sleet.

I am trying to get the last box unpacked today so that I can have the living room straightened as much as possible. Sue is due to come home from the rehabilitation center tomorrow. I would like for things to be out of the way as much as possible.

I got a report from my doctor yesterday. When I was there last Monday the blood work that had come back while I was there looked good. But there was one test that took twenty-four hours to come back, that is the one he contacted me about. My iron level is half what it should be so he is putting me back on iron pills. It is a little down heartening but my mood is on the low side anyway at the moment. Just hope it doesn’t lead to a full blood transfusion as it did the last time. Whatever will be will be.

Lowell just stopped. He didn’t stay long bu it was good to see him even for that little bit of time. It also brought my mood up a bit.

Next week starts the two busiest in my month, with food pantry and meetings and the church newsletter as well as the bulletin. With Sue coming home it will be some readjusting how we spend our time too. Life is so interesting. I am one of those people who stiffen at the prospect of “change” in anyway. On the other hand it offers some spice to life and most times opens new directions and views of life.

The word is difficulty. If all misfortunes were laid in one common heap whence everyone must take an equal portion, most people would be contented to take their own and depart, Socrates.   Skillful pilots gain their reputation from storms and tempest, Epicurus. Mishaps are like knives, that either serve us or cut us, as we grasp them by the blade or the handle, James Russell. Since faith rests upon infallible truth, and since the contrary of a truth can never be demonstrated, it is clear that the arguments brought against faith cannot be demonstrations, but are difficulties that can be answered, Thomas Aquinas. Difficulty shows what men are, Epictetus. You know well that Our Lord does not look so much at the greatness of our actions, nor even at their difficulty, as at the love with which we do them, Therese of Lisieux. Creation,' in the ordinary sense of the word, is perfectly conceivable. I find no difficulty in conceiving that, at some former period, this universe was not in existence, and that it made its appearance in six days (or instantaneously, if that is preferred), in consequence of the volition of some preexisting Being, Thomas Huxley. 

Today’s photo theme is “mirror”. When we did the revisions on the house, we took down all of the mirrors. One was put back up on the mantel and I had a hand mirror in the bathroom So I had some thinking to do. I settled on this one. After the darkroom work I realized the focus wasn’t as sharp as I would have liked but it was the end of the day and I was multitasking with the darkroom and the kitchen. So I made up my mind this was going to due for the day.

This article caught my eye because it is close to home. There is the area of the Hilltop that has fallen into some hard times. The article today touched on a program that is being formed to try to clean up the neighborhood and bring it back to a nice neighborhood. There was a meeting for the public at the Glenwood Community Center this week to discuss the plan and get feed back. The Linden neighborhood was worked on in 2018 and is a model. One of the plans is to use Rhodes Park a mixed use portion of the community. Part of it will be directed toward better transit. Another part of the project is to raise money to build a preschool next to the Highland Elementary School. It is hoped that if/when the improvements take place the desire for betterment will extend further along to corridor through the Hilltop community.

It’s going to be left overs for dinner tonight.

Joy

January 16, 2020 thought for the day: Only your shadow knows your true height. Chinese Proverb

It seems Thursday’s are becoming one of the busiest days of the week for me. After I got the printing done at church I went to Kroger for the things we need, for one, the dogs are out of food. I made the usual after-shopping-lunch-stop, this time at White Castle. Then I made a swing to the pond at Westgate Park to finish the sandwiches and watch some geese on the pond, also for one of the series of shots I was making for the daily theme, “I am here”.

I wasn’t happy with yesterdays photo of the day. The theme was “my shadow”. The sun deserted me with a layer of grey clouds. I had to take what I could get. My plant lights did a poor job but the only one I had to use.

After getting the groceries put up, I did just a bit on the storage/Goodwill boxes then moved on to the laundry. That load was a bit heavier than usual and I pulled some little used muscles in my back.

In the project of getting the storage boxes unloaded, I was taking things out of the boxes cookware boxes and putting them on the kitchen counter. Yesterday I took the time to find permanent homes for those things whether is was in the cupboards or the Goodwill boxes. It is a slow process but I am persistent so it is getting done albeit steadily.

Another photo I made for January 16 was a photo of the day for my other club. The theme on that one was “upside down”. It was such a blah photo that I used a filter on it to give it a boost.
 
The word is determination. Nothing can stop the man with the right mental attitude from achieving his goal; nothing on earth can help the man with the wrong mental attitude, Thomas Jefferson. Perseverance is a great element of success. If you only knock long enough and loud enough at the gate, you are sure to wake up somebody, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.  Watch your thoughts, they become words. Watch your words, they become actions. Watch your actions, they become habit, Laozi. Energy and persistence conquer all things, Benjamin Franklin.  In nature there are neither rewards nor punishments; there are consequences, Robert Green Ingersoll. O Lord, thou givest us everything, at the price of an effort, Leonardo da Vinci. The spirit is the true self. The spirit, the will to win, and the will to excel are the things that endure, Marcus Tullius Cicero. Great things are done when men and mountains meet, William Blake. The drops of rain make a hole in the stone not by violence but by oft falling, Lucretius. Endurance is patience concentrated, Thomas Carlyle. The truest wisdom is a resolute determination, Napoleon Bonaparte. 

I like to see/hear about old and established areas of Columbus that have fallen into hard times begin to find a way back up in appearance and substance. These article today, Million-dollar home built in neglected Near East Side neighborhood,  was a little over the top in its way back by the worth in “coinage”. This new “mansion” on the near east side has 6,130 square feet with a curving staircase, twenty-five foot ceilings and other costly details. Apparently there is already a possible buyer. One of the neighbors to this gorgeous house says she is delighted. The street use to be very run down. As the building progressed people stopped to watch and talk about it. Hopefully it will be a big step forward for the community.

The photo theme for today is “I am here”....I made several stops on my way home from church. I captured a few very good shots, I was beginning to think I was in a photo slump. I had a few to chose from this one had some soothing curved lines as well as a often seen landmark (White Castles).

I am making  fried rice for dinner. I saw the recipe on “The Kitchen”.  The “No Carb Left Behind” episode. I substituted Canadian beacon for bacon or ham and water chestnuts for carrots. I also added bean sprouts and some left over yellow corn. It called for oyster sauce which I have never used. I had to have a young man stocking the shelves help me find it.

Joy

January 14, 2020 thought for the day: May it always be spring with you. Chinese Proverb

The information at the doctor’s office yesterday was good. Then Lowell took me to lunch where we met Rebecca. The meeting last night went a little long but was productive. We covered quite a few important subjects. I hope tonight meeting goes as well.

The January 13th photo challenge, “water”,  wasn’t a standout pick for me today. While I was at the doctor’s office, I caught sight of the “water cooler” type fixture in the waiting room. I decided to capture that image for a possible choice for my darkroom today. As it turned out it was my only attempt for the day so it turned out to be the upload for today.

It has been a ho-hum day. I have plenty of things on the day’s agenda. It is just getting the mind turned in the direction of productivity.

After last night’s meeting I had some information to add to the bulletin so I took care of that early. Later this afternoon I got the information I needed to finish it. Now it is ready for the readers and then to be printed.

I got the gumption to work on one of the last two boxes that need unloaded. I didn’t get too far with it but every little bit helps. As I took things from that box and placed them, I was able to moved an item here and there to a new “permanent” home in a drawer or cupboard. I also added a few items to the Goodwill boxes I have started.

Along the way, I was able to catch a photo shot for the theme today.

This makes it two days in a row where the photo challenge, “slice”, wasn’t exciting for me. I was making my lunch, a tuna salad sandwich, and decided to grab my camera.

The word is destiny.  The only person you are destined to become is the person you decide to be, Ralph Waldo Emerson.  Destiny grants us our wishes, but in its own way, in order to give us something beyond our wishes, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. Every individual has a place to fill in the world and is important in some respect whether he chooses to be so or not, Nathaniel Hawthorne. What lies behind us and what lies ahead of us are tiny matters compared to what lives within us, Henry David Thoreau. A person often meets his destiny on the road he took to avoid it, Jean de La Fontaine. Men acquire a particular quality by constantly acting in a particular way, Aristotle   The efforts which we make to escape from our destiny only serve to lead us into it, Ralph Waldo Emerson. The soul is dyed the color of its thoughts. Think only on those things that are in line with your principles and can bear the light of day. The content of your character is your choice. Day by day, what you choose, what you think, and what you do is who you become. Your integrity is your destiny ... it is the light that guides your way, Heraclitus.   Integrity is your destiny-it is the light that guides your way, Plato.  

I have always been in the habit of reading for years. It can transport you to other places, other times, and other ideas. It adds to the fullness of life. The title of the article of choice today is “The Future of Reading”. I learned in this article that reading is required by the third grade but then it drops off. Another statement that caught my attention (in the educational venue as opposed to for pleasure), “reading is not only discerning what a book is about as it is fathoming its meaning”.  Apparently for generations students don’t read in favor of getting information from movies, or Cliff Notes. It is also mentioned in that article that Alexa has taken a place of ‘artificial intelligence’ used by many. Reading is a human ability and not yet the cognitive capability of a machine. There are scientists working on an algorithm called Genesis. It is being programmed to read text and understand a story. As I understand it the article pointed out that is it possible that reading is declining for humans? Further that “machines” are taking a place in our conference rooms. One further point in the article, that, for now, the ability of reading by humans is scientific and mathematical beyond the point capability of a machine.

I think we will have either homemade cheese calzone or hamburger sandwiches for dinner. I have the afternoon to decide.

Joy

January 12, 2020 thought for the day:  If you want happiness for an hour -- take a nap. Chinese Proverb

We had a taste of spring for the past few days, today it is back to January weather. The ups and downs are a bit depressing.

I enjoyed the church service today. Rev. Jones is very good and seems to enjoy teaching scripture. He adds comments to make us think and adds a bit of today to the message. After service we had a fellowship with donuts. It was good to bond and chat with friends and visitors.

January 11th photo challenge was “yum!”. I was making V8 vegetable soup and egg dumplings. That was my shot for the day. It fit the theme perfectly.

I got another box unloaded today. I am beginning to get stacks of cookware on counter tops here and there until I get time to find permanent storage places for each piece.

When I left for church, this morning I noticed that my phone had only one percent battery power. I have no idea how that happened. I charged it last night to one hundred percent power. Maybe the battery is beginning to wear out. It sounds odd to say that I am lost without that phone knowing that I grew up with having only a house phone and payphones on street corners for emergencies.


The word today is destination. By prevailing over all obstacles and distractions, one may unfailingly arrive at his chosen goal or destination, Christopher Columbus.. ...roads were made for journeys not destinations, Confucius.  One has to spend so many years in learning how to be happy. I am just beginning to make some progress in the science, and I hope to disprove Young's theory that "as soon as we have found the key of life it opes the gates of death." Every year strips us of at least one vain expectation, and teaches us to reckon some solid good in its stead. I never will believe that our youngest days are our happiest. What a miserable augury for the progress of the race and the destination of the individual if the more matured and enlightened state is the less happy one! George Eliot. Find ecstasy in life; the mere sense of living is joy enough, Emily Dickinson. Life is a series of natural and spontaneous changes. Don't resist them - that only creates sorrow. Let reality be reality. Let things flow naturally forward in whatever way they like, Lao Tzu. 

Today’s photo theme is “in the air”. I would like to have captured my dogs catching a frisbee but that won’t happen even on a day when it’s not raining. They, my dogs, like softer toys that a plastic disk. The quickest thing I could find to capture since I waited until late in the day to get the shot, was a huge squirrel’s nest in the neighbor’s tree.

Well, it looks like robots are being “taught” to do almost anything. This article surprised me, it is about robots milking cows. The opening paragraph tells of a farmer who gets up at 3:00am to start milking 132 cows. He, along with his 89-year old father, finishes about 8:30 in the morning. In March they will be trying out four robot machines. He is making an investment in this project which will include other updates to the barn. It will take about 15 to 20 years to pay off the loan. Thought the robots will take maintenance they don’t have sick days and vacation days and holidays off. There will be a learning curve for both the humans and the cows. They hope to milk the cows three to five times a day by the robots. The article made the point that cows have been milked by robots in Europe for several years. The farmer is hoping with this technology it will give them a better “work-life balance”. There are other automated milking systems around but the robotic systems seems to be growing in popularity. The farmer interviewed for this article said that even with the robots dairy farmers “won’t run out of chores”. There is still the feeding and all of the other chores needed in a barn with living animals.

I think we will order-in from Ding Ho for dinner tonight.

Joy

January 10, 2020 thought for the day:  Do not create in anger what you lack in reason. Chinese Proverb

This is one of those days that I can’t seem to accomplish what I had on my agenda for today. I feel lazy. It’s rainy and dreary outside, that may be the reason for the slushy mood. I really do need to get one of the boxes done today. I started on it and realized it is one of them that I am not quite sure where I want to put most of the items. Some are things I don’t use every day but have a need for every once in a while.

The January 9 photo challenge was “paper’. I have paper of one type or another all over the house, from books, to advertisements, to letters to paper towels, food wrappers, and on and on. This was my choice today.

Lowell stopped a little while ago. He was going to work on getting Sue’s room cleared up some. We have moved all of her storage boxes to her room but they are not unpacked, mostly because she will have to decide where she wants things to go.

The only thing I have gotten done in a productive way so far today is capturing the photo of the day and an extra photo of the day too for the other group I belong to. I still have to use the “darkroom” to “develop” them and then upload to the appropriate places.



The word is desire.  Human behavior flows from three main sources: desire, emotion, and knowledge, Plato. The desire to know is natural to good men, Leonardo da Vinci. The contemplation of truth and beauty is the proper object for which we were created, which calls forth the most intense desires of the soul, and of which it never tires, William Hazlitt. Gladly we desire to make other men perfect, but we will not amend our own fault, Thomas a Kempis. Loosen the bonds of avarice from your hands and neck, Rumi. Nothing stops the man who desires to achieve. Every obstacle is simply a course to develop his achievement muscle. It's a strengthening of his powers of accomplishment, Thomas Carlyle. A desire to be observed, considered, esteemed, praised, beloved, and admired by his fellows is one of the earliest as well as the keenest dispositions discovered in the heart of man, John Adams. Let us train our minds to desire what the situation demands, Seneca the Elder. The beginning of wisdom is to desire it, Solomon Ibn Gabirol. A little folly is desirable in him that will not be guilty of stupidity, Michel de Montaigne. No doubt another may also think for me; but it is not therefore desirable that he should do so to the exclusion of my thinking for myself, Henry David Thoreau.

Today’s photo choice is "eye candy".  None of the house plants have pretty blooms on them right now so I looked around for something else with color and shape/form.

When I was having the problem with my bleeding ulcer (before I knew what the cause of  my problem was) I stopped drinking my traditional one cup of coffee in the morning substituting it with a cup of Camomile Tea. I drink quite a bit of iced caffeine tea also. The article I found in my news search today was how drinking tea (without milk and sugar) may help you live longer and healthier. There were a few researches done on this subject one in European Journal of Preventative Cardiology and one by the China-PAR project. In one of their studies it was determined that the main bioactive compounds in tea, polyphenols, are not stored in the body so a frequent tea intake over a period is necessary for the “cardioprotective effect”. Tea is rich in flavonoids, an antioxidant. Further in the study it mentioned that Green tea appears to lower rates in heart disease, stroke and death by 25%.

It’s that relaxing dinner time night again.....Pizza.

 The photo theme of the day from my photo 101 group is "macro". I don’t have a macro lens for the camera I use regularly now but there is a bit of a feature built into the camera.  This one is of Sweet Pea napping .

Joy

January 8, 2020 thought for the day: Hear twice before you speak once. English Proverb

I spoke to Sue on the phone yesterday. She sounded about back to her normal self with one major problem, she can’t walk with normal strength yet. That is what the rehabilitation is fixing, I hope. There is another symptom that she developed earlier that may or may not be “fixed” yet. We still need some time to determine that result.

On January 7 the theme of the photo challenge was “I enjoy . . . ”. There are several things I enjoy, some are outdoors, some in the spring time, and it goes on. The one that came to mind that I had easily on had was one of my several crocheting projects. So that’s the one I chose.

I needed some things from the store and couldn’t make up my mind whether to go today or after printing at church tomorrow. Finally I decided to go today. I had two encounters with strangers that made a pleasantly thoughtful day. One gentleman wanted to help me reach for something and then followed by a conversation about a situation of diversity that he encountered outside the store. The other was with a lady who helped with another item I couldn’t quite reach and then, a couple of isles later, me finding an item she was looking for. Oh, there was a third.  A little boy, about 5 years old, said good morning to me. Then later saw me in another isle and told his mother “I saw that lady a little while ago.” We said “have a good day ‘ to each other as we went on our way. It was one time that a child didn’t compare my petite height to his/her own.

After I got all the groceries put away, I got small adjustments made to the bulletins. Then cleared out another storage box; next, put chicken on to cook for the dogs sensitive stomachs. Now there is a sink full of dishes and a little cooking to do.

The word today is depth.  It is not length of life, but depth of life, Ralph Waldo Emerson.  The heart of man is very much like the sea, it has its storms, it has its tides and in its depths it has its pearls too, Vincent Van Gogh. The depth of darkness to which you can descend and still live is an exact measure of the height to which you can aspire to reach, Pliny the Elder. Only in the agony of parting do we look into the depths of love, George Eliot. It is easier to perceive error than to find truth, for the former lies on the surface and is easily seen, while the latter lies in the depth, where few are willing to search for it, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. Truth is a gem that is found at a great depth; whilst on the surface of this world, all things are weighed by the false scale of custom, Lord Byron. Every action is measured by the depth of the sentiment from which it proceeds, Ralph Waldo Emerson. Who can map out the various forces at play in one soul? Man is a great depth, O Lord. The hairs of his head are easier by far to count than his feeling, the movements of his heart, Saint Augustine. Form your life humanly, and you have done enough: but you will never reach the height of art and the depth of science without something divine, Karl Wilhelm Friedrich Schlegel. Grant that I may not pray alone with the mouth; help me that I may pray from the depths of my heart, Martin Luther.    

The photo theme today is “cheese”. Again, there are several ways I could capture that subject. It just so happened that as I watched the Today show this morning Dr. Oz showed a cheese crisp.  It looked so good that I decided to make some for dinner for Bob and me. That served as my photo of the day too. A note, I have to be careful with this oven. It has a convection feature on it that I use a lot. I forget to cut down on the time the recipe call for in the oven so I tend to get things a little “crusty”. I had to be particular careful with this one because it only takes about six minutes.

Again more historic structures in Columbus are being considered for their farewell or some new purpose. This article covers five vacant Columbus schools are being sold. One that seems to be the most“ valuable” is Beck Elementary School with an estimated value of $1.67 million. It is 136 years old and located near German Village. Some of the five have been used for training centers and for storage purposes. In 2018 the Beck Elementary school was listed as “most endangered sites” and marked as a “historical landmark” by Columbus Landmarks. A spokes person stated that there are hopes that the Beck structure and the Starling Middle School will be re-purposed in a meaningful way. I learned from the article that any unused public school must be offered to charter schools first before a sale can be made.

I am having spaghetti with bottled spaghetti sauce this time for dinner. I will make baked cheddar Parmesan crisps, I found the recipe on line through Google, to go with it and Kroger corn nibblers.

Love you
Grandma

January 6, 2020 thought for the day: Everyone is weary: the poor in seeking, the rich in keeping, the good in learning. English Proverb

It has been one of those days that have gone from one direction to another. I had an early doctor’s appointment so I got up as Bob was leaving for work, 6:30am. I got some virtual visits done before I left at 7:30. After the appointment, which was very good, as a matter of fact, I started the rest of the day. Then there was a stop at White Castle followed by a short neighborhood cruise looking for the photo challenge for the day. I found a few that fit the theme for some later “darkroom” work.

January 4th photo challenge was “get in the photo!”, I’m not happy with this kind of challenge but I did it for the sake of belonging to the group.

My other photo group had a challenge for today too, “food”. I missed shooting and uploading to the challenge. So to mark it here for today I pulled one from my archives.

Lowell and Rebecca took me to Cap City for lunch after church yesterday and then for a visit with Sue. She is on the mend but there are still some hurdles. This has been, is and will be a long recuperation period. I don’t have the words to speak of how much time Rebecca has spent staying with Sue through the worst of this. She has spent hours on end with her, even spending the night for several nights.

When Lowell dropped me off, he put the wall hanging unit up for my TV. Bob and he worked together to get it done. I had to get a couple of shots of that, my two sons working together. Things are still slowly working into a new normal with the updates to the house and the uploading from the storage bin. I am resigned to the fact that we will still be completing the remodeling tasks in the spring.

Lowell stopped after I got home from the doctor’s appointment and just as I finished putting some work in on the bulletin. He moved some of the storage boxes to Sue’s room which still leaves a half dozen or more for me to sort through.

On January 5th the photo challenge was “confetti”. Before I went in to church I went to the office to pull a tray from the shredder. This makes my confetti shot for the day. This one is a good subject for using the algorithms in the Flaming Pair Flexify filter to generate a new art piece using the colors and shapes for a completely new image. Believe it or not it is hidden in this image.

I was so happy with myself when in the process of unloading I found the cables to my two extra external hard drives. I could hardly wait to see if they still worked after being packed away. They do!!! I am so tickled. There are lots and lots of old photos and memories.

The word is delight.  The mother's love is at first an absorbing delight, blunting all other sensibilities; it is an expansion of the animal existence; it enlarges the imagined range for self to move in: but in after years it can only continue to be joy on the same terms as other long-lived love--that is, by much suppression of self, and power of living in the experience of another, George Eliot.  By necessity, by proclivity, and by delight, we all quote. In fact, it is as difficult to appropriate the thoughts of others as it is to invent,  Ralph Waldo Emerson. Love is but the discovery of ourselves in others, and the delight in the recognition, Alexander Smith.  The aim of forensic oratory is to teach, to delight, to move,  Marcus Tullius Cicero. Studies serve for delight, for ornaments, and for ability, Francis Bacon, Sr.  Music is an agreeable harmony for the honor of God and the permissible delights of the soul,  Johann Sebastian Bach.  All thoughts, all passions, all delights, whatever stirs this mortal frame, all are but ministers of love, and feed his sacred flame, Samuel Taylor Coleridge.  To overcome difficulties is to experience the full delight of existence, Arthur Schopenhauer. Let us savour the swift delights of the most beautiful of our days! Alphonse de Lamartine. It is the contest that delights us, and not the victory, Blaise Pascal.

Today’s photographic challenge is “outside”. This is one of the many shots I got on my “neighborhood cruise” earlier today. I found two ducks enjoying themselves and took several shots of them together and this one alone. I adjusted the background of trees with a motion blur filter to make it look a little surreal and dreamy.
 
I wore a fitbit a couple of time and tried for the 10,000 steps. It was rare for me to get to that goal. As I got older, I moved the goal to 5,000. That accomplishment was rare too.  But I tried.  The article I picked for today says it may not be necessary to do 10,000 steps a day. It may not be the right goal for everyone, it is a default goal set by experts. The article stated that: “Researchers traced the origins of the 10,000-step practice to a marketing gimmick from the 1960s...” One trainer interviewed in the article said that the 10,000 step goal should include 30 minutes of moderate exertion, meet guidelines for exercise by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention which is 150 minutes of moderate intensity exercise a week. He also recommended 14,000 steps for a losing weight program. The next statement is interesting, after an interview of 17,000 women between 66 and 78 people who walked 7,500 steps had a low mortality rate. Even 4,400 steps had a mortality rate lower than those who walked 2,000 steps. The article reported that the average American gets 4,000 to 5,000 steps a day. In conclusion any physical activity is better than none.

I think I am going to make creamed beef on toast and mac and cheese for dinner.

Joy

January 3, 2020 thought for the day: Never, Never... allow anyone to persuade you to suspend your common sense. English Proverb

I woke in the early hours of this morning having a light bulb moment. My sister and I have lived together for so long I have come to count on her as my “rudder”. Since she has been in the hospital for the past week plus, there are periods I feel lost for focus and direction. I realize I am going to have to learn to depend more on my own decisions again as I did before she came to live with me. Tethered to that decision was realizing the fact that over the years I have collected too much “stuff” and am hanging onto some of them for dear life when they no longer serve the purpose they once did.  A resolution or growth spurt or just plain intellect/common sense followed that light bulb moment. I am going to have to throw out or give away boxes of things. I will start today. I hope I can keep up my resolve and have the energy for as long as it takes to get it done. I think the name for it is downsizing.

January, a new month, a new year with more photo a day challenges. On the 3rd the challenge, theme, was black and white. I didn’t use the "black and white" feature to shoot the photo. I used the Photoshop filters to change a color photo to black and white. I used this particular shot due to the shapes and patterns along with the black and white.

I just this minute found out that Sue is being transferred from the hospital to a rehabilitation center, one more step in the healing process.

I took time out of normal plans for today to have my hair cut.  That was really a necessary, very necessary, thing for me to do. My hair is so thick that it looks like a bush on my head when it gets to long. I feel much lighter.


Now that I am home and had a little lunch, I am going to make the meat balls for the dogs. Sugar will be directly under my feet until they are in the oven. She waits for me to drop something.

The word is decent. A decent boldness ever meets with friends, Homer. A decent provision for the poor is the true test of civilization, Samuel Johnson. Whom do I call educated? First, those who manage well the circumstances they encounter day by day. Next, those who are decent and honorable in their intercourse with all men, bearing easily and good naturedly what is offensive in others and being as agreeable and reasonable to their associates as is humanly possible to be... those who hold their pleasures always under control and are not ultimately overcome by their misfortunes... those who are not spoiled by their successes, who do not desert their true selves but hold their ground steadfastly as wise and sober - minded men, Socrates. False modesty is the most decent of all lies, Nicolas Chamfort. It's an odd job, making decent people laugh, Moliere.  In the end, it's not the years in your life that count. It's the life in your years, Abraham Lincoln.    


Today’s photo theme is “this year I’ll...”. Since I still have lots of boxes to unload from the storage this was a perfect shot to fit that theme. I will unpack and throw away unneeded things and try to "downsize."

I have never snow skied and I don’t like cold. I have water skied and found it freeing as I am sure those who snow ski find that sport. This article today is mostly about snow-making that helps the ski resorts stay open. December weather in Ohio hasn’t offered many ski possibilities but with the help of the ski machines the resorts have been able to stay open. Snow Trails opened with the earliest weekend since the 1960's. It opened for all week business on December 16. They began “making” snow on November 7 and let it become long piles called “wales”. Later the workers spread out the snow with equipment called “snowcats.” According to the article, Snow Trails have an expensive water-cooling system that chills 54 degree well water that is then shot under pressure from 300 horsepower pumps. At Mad River the snow machines can cover the slopes in 72 hours. Vail Resorts bought Mad River and sixteen other ski centers. This allows skier who have a Vail Epic Pass to ski at Mad River Mountain.

Pizza night!!

Joy

January 1, 2020 thought for the day: Never write what you dare not sign. English Proverb

This has turned out to be a busier day than I thought it would be. Lowell took me to visit my sister yesterday. Things look much better so I was able to start this day, the first day of the new year, on an upbeat swing. I even allowed myself to sleep-in until almost nine o’clock.

The photo of the day for December 31 was “my favorite photo of 2019". There were several I liked but this one seemed to tough a nerve when I was going through the archive for the year and brought back many tangible memories.

I was able to complete the bulletin and get it to the readers for suggestions. Add to that for my check list today was working on another one of the storage boxes. After completing some other household odds and ends, Bob and I went to lunch at Olive Garden. I was surprised at the number of people who were there. Then we stopped at Walmart for a couple of things we each needed. Traffic was relatively quiet while we were out so that was another thing that soothed my nerves.

When we got home, I tried to call Rebecca to check on Sue. I couldn’t reach her so I called Missie. She was at the hospital visiting Sue and she had taken the girls too. They were ecstatic to see her and she them. I’m sure that in itself will go a long way to improving her outlook on things right about now. I got to talk to all of them for a few minutes. All in all, under the circumstances, a good start to the new year.

Because December 31 was the end of the month, I put together my usual monthly composite of photos for that month. 

The word today is dear. This is all the inheritance I give to my dear family. The religion of Christ will give them one which will make them rich indeed, Patrick Henry. The world, dear Agnes, is a strange affair, Moliere.  Plato is dear to me, but dearer still is truth, Aristotle. Experience keeps a dear school, but fools will learn in no other, Benjamin Franklin.  My dear friend, venture to take the wind on your face for Christ, Samuel Rutherford.  This day is all that is good and fair. It is too dear, with its hopes and invitations, to waste a moment on the yesterdays, Ralph Waldo Emerson.  It is one of Heaven's best gifts to hold such a dear creature in one's arms, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. Virtue, dear friend, needs no defense, The surest guard is innocence: None knew, till guilt created fear, What darts or poisoned arrows were, Horace.  How dear to this heart are the scenes of my childhood, When fond recollection presents them to view, Samuel Woodworth.  All things are cheap to the saving, dear to the wasteful, Benjamin Franklin.  For mother's sake the child was dear, and dearer was the mother for the child, Samuel Taylor Coleridge. 

Since my sister’s situation seems to be improving it was a little easier to find the photo theme for today, “happy”. I made several shots and chose this one as the one to show the emotion the best, a group of people sharing a meal together.

I couldn’t find much of interest in my usual news places so I picked an article from the Columbus Monthly Magazine. This article opened with “Central Ohio is more confident, vibrant and cosmopolitan than ever before....” Some of the ways we have gotten here are an “artisan ice cream maker, a politician with swagger, a philanthropic power couple....” There has been a lot of building going on in the city that have made changes to the landscape in the Short North, Scioto river front, and Franklinton. Diversity is happening in the formulation as Columbus has welcomed immigrant communities. It seems the city’s economy is in good stead too since we lead the Midwest in job and community growth. Another thing helping Columbus grow is new companies in the vicinity. Ohio State and Children’s Hospitals have grown. It has been a testing site for some companies as well as thought of by big companies like Amazon. There was a person who was gone from Columbus for a long period of time and recently returned. She was amazed with the changes and growth. With the growth there has been a bit of a down side too. Poverty, racism and police brutality was mentioned in the article. “Civic leaders” are hoping for continuing growth with affordable housing and other social growth, they say a growth that no other city has experienced.

Since we went out to spend my birthday gift from my beautiful granddaughter’s family we will be just snacking for dinner tonight.

Joy