February 16, 2020 thought for the day:  Never let any mechanical device know that you are in a hurry. Traditional Proverb

I have had a couple of days of saddening awakenings in my daily existence. One involving a need for personal family contact and then a situation that came up bringing attention to the fact that there was a major move for a near loved one that I was unaware of for over a year. Both were difficult for me to adjust to but I did. I eventually “let it go and let God”. 

On February 15 the photo theme was “get in the photo...”. This type of theme always gives me pause for thinking it through. I am not fond of ‘selifies’. My twin great grand nieces where here at the time I was in search of the challenge. One was playing a game and wanted me to play the game with her. That was the perfect time for this shot.

There was another more pleasant happening. A young cousin whom I haven’t seen in twenty years came to Columbus (from Texas) for a quick visit. The visit was brought on by a loss for him (and for us) so there was a need for a reconnecting for some healing.

Today has been more on the calm and encouraging side of life’s realizations. Church was an ointment  for my wounds of the past few days. It was good to hear the message and feel the touch of friends. There has to be times like this in our life’s cycle. We learn from them and enjoy the better days because of them.

The word today is early. It is easier to build strong children than to repair broken men, Frederick Douglass. If children grew up according to early indications, we should have nothing but geniuses, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. The darkness is at its deepest. Just before the sunrise, Voltaire. The early morning hour should be dedicated to praise: do not the birds set us the example? Charles Spurgeon. When you arise in the morning, think of what a precious privilege it is to be alive - to breathe, to think, to enjoy, to love, Marcus Aurelius. Think in the morning. Act in the noon. Eat in the evening. Sleep in the night, William Blake. It is well to be up before daybreak, for such habits contribute to health, wealth, and wisdom, Aristotle. As the shadow in early morning, is friendship with the wicked; it dwindles hour by hour. But friendship with the good increases, like the evening shadows, till the sun of life sets, Johann Gottfried Herder.  I long for wildness, a nature which I cannot put my foot through, woods where the wood thrush forever sings, where the hours are early morning ones, and there is dew on the grass, and the day is forever unproved, where I might have a fertile unknown for a soil about me, Henry David Thoreau. The breeze at dawn has secrets to tell you. Don't go back to sleep, Rumi .  

One of the two photo challenges for today were “wings”. Again, this is winter in Ohio. There is not a lot of activity of birds in the trees and planes weren’t drifting by much today. I had to revert to my archive again for a photo of one of the geese that find the pond at the neighborhood park nearly all year around. This one was taken just a few days ago so I didn’t have to go to far into the thousands of shots in the archives.

If all of these plans go through for the westside of Columbus there will be a lot of happy people. We have been waiting for a long time for some city officials to pay attention to the needs of the westside. Maybe this is a sign that our turn has come. My believe is that whenever something small needs fixed and is let go the worse it gets and the harder it is to fix. A good example is a car beginning to need attention or a house needing small repairs, then let go and days, months, years later more and more damage from the original minor problem.  The article I found today, which is a second one on this area of town, was about the efforts trying to bring Sullivant Avenue back to pleasant living conditions for those who hung on to property on that avenue and those who may want to live there once its outlook  has been improved. One of the lady’s in the article has lived in her home on Sullivant for nearly fifty-four years. She has been given hope of attention for the area over and over again to no avail. She is hoping that this time it will work and the improvements will begin, maybe a simple first step of cleaning up the streets. She, a long with others I am sure, hope that it can be done without “displacing” those who have stayed and hung in for years. They have established a home in those houses. After some planning by the mayor and his committees the people in the neighborhood are hoping the improvements will start immediately. Plans are for better streets, curbs, sidewalks, signs and lighting. There is a code enforcement officer with the people to listen to their complaints. The people were told that land is being considered for a new police substation so the work may not start for a couple of years. (This sounds a little shaky to me). Among some of the plans are a community garden and basketball court. There will be a “drop in-center for victims of human trafficking, which has been a big problem, near by. This center will be open on a 24/7 system.  Someone stated in the article that “I feel like Sullivant Avenue has always been the piece of the puzzle that no one wanted to touch”. (I agree with that statement).

The second photo challenge for today was for the second online photo group I belong to. This theme title is “true blue”. Since the twins were here there was a myriad of items to choose from. They have bags of toys around and I find that many time those toys and books have a challenge photo in their mist.

We are going to Red Lobster with Danny, Lowell and Rebecca tonight for dinner.

Joy