February 4, 2020 thought for the day: If you can’t live longer, live deeper. Italian Proverb

I had a wonderful afternoon yesterday. I got to visit two of my great grand children. It was Serenity’s birthday and she was out of school for the day. I got to chat with my four-year old grandson. I found that I was learning a new language at his instruction. It was a moment of light in my life. Thank goodness Sue went with me. She is my navigator when I am driving in places that are unfamiliar to me.

Yesterday’s photo theme title was “doorway”. As I made a few stops on my visits and errands, I took shots of doorways. That continued on my way home as I drove thorough the neighborhood so I had a few to choose from. This one interested me the most.

Today I got my virtual visits taken care of including finishing the bulletin for this week. Then I was off to Kroger. As usual I had to have someone reach something on an upper shelf for me but while they were pleasant encounters they weren’t as “memorable” as the ones on my last visit to the store (in an earlier blog).

When I got home the multi tasking began, putting up the groceries with a break to the computer for taking baby steps to begin the church’s annual report. Then a break from that for a few minutes to begin getting the Scioto Valley Women’s newsletter ready for mailing.

We have enjoyed a couple of days with a taste of spring but I think that is ending today. Weather men are predicting snow for tonight. We just have to keep our eye on the fact that it is only a few more weeks for spring to get here in reality. After all, so far at least, this hasn’t been too bad a winter.

The word is disposition. Happiness depends more on the inward disposition of mind than on outward circumstances, Benjamin Franklin. He who has so little knowledge of human nature as to seek happiness by changing anything but his own disposition will waste his life in fruitless efforts, Samuel Johnson. In words are seen the state of mind and character and disposition of the speaker, Plutarch. Temperance is simply a disposition of the mind which binds the passion, Thomas Aquinas. Nothing in human nature is so God-like as the disposition to do good to our fellow-creatures, Samuel Richardson.  He who is of a calm and happy nature, will hardly feel the pressure of age, Plato. Truth is one forever absolute, but opinion is truth filtered through the moods, the blood, the disposition of the spectator, Wendell Phillips. 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. It must be that evil communications corrupt good dispositions, Menander of Athens. The best part of health is fine disposition, Ralph Waldo Emerson. A good disposition is a virtue in itself, and it is lasting; the burden of the years cannot depress it, and love that is founded on it endures to the end, Ovid.  

Today’s photo challenge was titled “in my hand”. That is, in my mind, more or less a selfie. Anyway. As I was waiting to pay for my drive thru lunch order at White Castle, I held the money in one hand and photographed it with the other. When I took the sandwich out of the bag/box I held that too in one hand and photographed it with the other. After I uploaded it to my facebook page and the group photo site, I got nine responses to the words “White Castle”. Wow, I knew they were popular. It’s amazing how many folks like sliders.

I like art and I like old persons and young persons sharing their birth-given and experience-related gifts with each other so this article fits that bill. There is a program called Opening Minds Through Art (OMA). This program pairs folks with dementia with a volunteer who is very often a college student. The pair work together weekly in hour long periods. The purpose is to stimulate the memory of patients and accommodate a relationship between young and old and share humanity of each other. One benefit for the younger part of the equation is that they get the experience of first hand acceptance and value and the feel of a person with dementia. This program, OMA, was founded at Miami University in 2007 and has spread to more than 160 sites in 27 states and Canada. According to the article, there is another place this program is being used presently, beside this one at  Mayfair Village, in Columbus at Westminster-Thurber. Each artist, the older member of the event, titles his or her own work. Here are a couple of the titles mentioned in the article. “Campus Moving Sidewalks”, the artist once worked in maintenance at OSU. Another title, “Ireland Forever”, this artist replied when asked about the title “this is where my people came from”. At the end of the session one of the participants was asked “how did you enjoy the day”, the response, “very much, because I got to meet you”.

I am making taco salad for dinner.

Joy