May 30, 2020 thought for the day: Do what you ought, come what may. French Proverb

The day started out slowly but picked up in stress. After doing some updating on addresses for the newsletter and the bulletin and the church directory I began researching information on how public places are sanitizing portions of their facilities. We will be having a meeting the first of the week to discuss opening the church.

The photo for May 29 was “today I....”. I was out and about. This shot is out the window at one of my drive through stops. 

About noon, I heard the news that they were closing off streets in the downtown area. The rioting that has been going on across the country and here in Columbus started a little early compared to the past few days. They usually seem to start around six o’clock or so. So now I am concerned not only due to the virus threats in our lives but how far the fall out may come of this rioting. Both have some affect on my close personal life and space.

We also had an interesting event in the front of the house. A couple pulled up in a 1921 automobile. Most of the neighbors had to go out to have a look.

Sue has gone to visit with her great grand children again today. She is planning on a sleep over with them too.

The word today is happiness. The happiness of your life depends upon the quality of your thoughts: therefore, guard accordingly, and take care that you entertain no notions unsuitable to virtue and reasonable nature, Marcus Aurelius. Happiness consists in activity. It is a running stream, not a stagnant pool, John Mason Good.  Remember that very little is needed to make a happy life, Marcus Aurelius.  Take care that you entertain no notions unsuitable to virtue and reasonable nature, Marcus Aurelius. Life's greatest happiness is to be convinced we are loved, Victor Hugo. Happiness is the absence of the striving for happiness, Chuang Tzu. Blessed are the Happiness Makers. Blessed are they who know how to shine on one's gloom with their cheer,  Henry Ward Beecher. True happiness is...to enjoy the present, without anxious dependence upon the future, Seneca the Younger. Happiness consists more in small conveniences or pleasures that occur every day, than in great pieces of good fortune that happen but seldom to a man in the course of his life, Benjamin Franklin. There is nothing like staying at home for real comfort, Jane Austen.  No man is happy who does not think himself so, Marcus Aurelius. There is no value in life except what you choose to place upon it and no happiness in any place except what you bring to it yourself, Henry David Thoreau. The habit of being happy enables one to be freed, or largely freed, from the domination of outward conditions, Robert Louis Stevenson. Eden is that old-fashioned house we dwell in every day without suspecting our abode until we drive away, Emily Dickinson. Our greatest happiness does not depend on the condition of life in which chance has placed us, but is always the result of a good conscience, good health, occupation, and freedom in all just pursuits, Thomas Jefferson. Pleasure is spread through the earth In stray gifts to be claimed by whoever shall find, William Wordsworth. 


The photo challenge for May 30 was “outside”. That offers a whole lot of images to create in-camera especially in this season with all the green and flowers beginning to show their awesome faces. I am fortunate to live in a very clean and pleasing-to-visit neighborhood.

There is a group called LifeTown that offers a program for students with disabilities. It is an “on- the-go” set up that supports learning in this time of isolation. The program teaches ways to get through daily life. It emphasizes ways to move on in fun and ease to accomplish tasks with interactive activities.  Skills like withdrawing money from the bank, go to movie theaters, salons, art studios, doctors’ offices and so on. To keep things going during this pandemic, the group, LifeTown, built small cardboard stores. They took these “stores” to one of the students who attended the classes before the pandemic. They lined them up on the sidewalk in front of his house. They helped with craft as part of the learning experience, sand art in a jar and painting a wooden snake. He got money from the bank (one of the cardboard storefronts) and “bought” a DVD of cartoons. The article also mentions some of the other activities used in this project. How soap removes germs. Black pepper was used as the germs. The “LifeTown” group hopes to take the “cardboard village” to other parts of central Ohio. The article stated that volunteers have been filling bags with activities and snacks. It has been a concern that the learning on line technology may not be as effective for children with disabilities. The article went on to mention the fact that by federal law schools must identify and evaluate students with disabilities so that they can have an individualized educational plan set up for them.  Most need personal interaction. Some of these students reach a program called SEARCH that helps them “transition” from high school to the workforce. Many of the students are able to use the online lessons, instructors are also helping families teach job skills at home too. It doesn’t replaced being at school but they are doing the best they can.

Bob and I are going to O’Charley’s for dinner.

Joy

May 28, 2020 thought for the day: How many will listen to the truth when you tell them?  Yiddish Proverb

I have a bad day when I lose hours of work on the computer because I neglected to save a document and it got closed and deleted without saving. Well, that happened a few minutes ago. It took another hour to “fix” it.

My photo for yesterday was “something I wore” I decided to snap a view of a corner of my closet to show a couple of things I “have worn”.

I got the bulletin printing done earlier today. I had a problem with that too. I use a special sized envelop for this printing. I order them on line. They were supposed to have arrived yesterday, they didn’t. Instead of mailing as soon as I printed I brought them home in hopes of getting the envelopes this afternoon. So far no such luck. I will have to fold them and put them in the smaller envelope so that I can get them to the post office before the four thirty-pickup time.

Once I got home from the church, I started the laundry. That will be about supper time by the time I get it done.

Sue had a chance to go see the twins today. She went to her former daughter in laws to see them. They did stop by on their way so I got to catch a glimpse of them.

Yesterday I got the chance to go to a restaurant for the first time in about three months. All the proper processes were done. It was good to get away from the same old routine for a change. 

Today’s photo challenge is “alone”. I used one of my full time models. It so happens that I can get the best shot of her when she is napping. She is at an age where those naps come quiet often so it is an easy capture. 

I have a meeting tonight. We will be discussing whether to open the church in the next week or two.

The word is growth. Never look back unless you are planning to go that way, Henry David Thoreau. Don't judge each day by the harvest you reap but by the seeds that you plant, Robert Louis Stevenson. The strongest principle of growth lies in the human choice, George Eliot.  Men and women are but children of a larger growth, George Eliot.  Progress has not followed a straight ascending line, but a spiral with rhythms of progress and retrogression, of evolution and dissolution, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe.  True friendship is a plant of slow growth, and must undergo and withstand the shocks of adversity, before it is entitled to the appellation, George Washington. Our consciousness rarely registers the beginning of a growth within us any more than without us; there have been many circulation of the sap before we detect the smallest sign of the bud, George Eliot. No propagation or multiplication is more rapid than that of evil, unless it be checked; no growth more certain, Charles Caleb Colton. In the name of the bee and of the butterfly and of the breeze, amen! Emily Dickinson. Difficulties are meant to rouse, not discourage. The human spirit is to grow strong by conflict,  William Ellery Channing. Love is not a possession but a growth. The heart is a lamp with just oil enough to burn for an hour, and if there be no oil to put in again its light will go out. God's grace is the oil that fills the lamp of love, Henry Ward Beecher. 

It would be nice to visit places like the Rockies when the parks reopen. It may make us feel like the ‘old’ normal. The article today is about just that thing. Once the parks start opening, it is predicted that there will be crowds of people visiting. The article stated that there are four hundred and fifteen miles of mountain views. There are three hundred miles of hiking trails. Some of the sights to see are forests, wild flowers, and wildlife. Some of the wild life in the Rockies are elk and bighorn sheep. An interesting view that can last into the summer are plowed show banks on the road side. I found one “hint” in the article and that was to enter the park from the west entrance to “explore the quieter” side. The majority of visitors come in through the east side. There is an advantage entering from that side though and that is a free parking shuttle from May to mid October. There is a place that offers an outstanding view. It is called the Aline Visitor Center. One of the driving areas is called Trail Ridge Road and offers forty-eight miles of awesome views. Traveling that road visitors will see moose and elk along the Colorado River. Taking the Old Fall River Road is at a slower pace, fifteen miles an hour, and is eleven miles long. It goes to Horseshoe Park and then to the Fall River Entrance. The road has no guard rails and is narrow and curved with, at time, the forest close enough to touch. All in all a relaxing, educational and peaceful trip.

I found a container of beef stew that I made and froze a couple of weeks ago. That will be dinner tonight.

Joy

May 26, 2020: thought for the day: A quarrel is like an itch; the more you scratch, the more it itches. Yiddish Proverb

Here is another day with little on the agenda. I finished the church bulletin for this week and listened to the biweekly prayer vigil.

Sue wanted to do some shopping. I didn’t need anything right now so I dropped her off at Walmart. She wanted to spend some time there so I will go back and pick her up later. In the mean time I will get a few household chores done.

The photo a day challenges make for some interesting thinking and offers an exercise in increasing our attention to things we may not otherwise look for or explore more intently. The day before yesterday and today the theme has been about food. This opens a lot of areas of thought and presentation. Yesterday’s challenge was “lunch”. For me, tuna salad on toast and potato chips with a glass of diet cola.

I need to work on cataloging my photo archives as well as choosing photos I want to include in a coffee table book I am putting together.

The word today is grace.  If I am not, may God place me there; if I am, may God so keep me. I should be the saddest in all the world if I knew that I were not in the grace of God. But if I were in a state of sin, do you think the Voice would come to me? I would that every one could hear the Voice as I hear it, Joan of Arc. I welcome all creatures of the world with grace, Hildegard of Bingen.  To laugh, to lie, to flatter, to face: Four ways in court to win man's grace, Roger Ascham,  Education is a companion which no misfortune can depress, no crime can destroy, no enemy can alienate, no despotism can enslave. At home, a friend, abroad, an introduction, in solitude a solace and in society an ornament. It chastens vice, it guides virtue, it gives at once grace and government to genius. Without it, what is man? A splendid slave, a reasoning savage, Joseph Addison. Above all, live in the present moment and God will give you all the grace you need, Francois Fenelon. The soul, light as a feather, fluid as water, innocent as a child, responds to every movement of grace like a floating balloon, Jean-Pierre de Caussade. You cannot learn about Love, love appears on the wings of grace, Rumi. Simplicity is that grace which frees the soul from all unnecessary reflections upon itself, Francois Fenelon. Out of His fulness we receive, and grace for grace, — like wave upon wave, Horatius Bonar. 



Today’s photo theme is “dinner”. I made baked spaghetti for dinner along with garlic toast (made on hot dog buns (right lower corner), pickled beets and a splash of Parmesan cheese (left upper corner). And a salad, not shown.

Bob, my son, has been interested and very involved in the Ham Radio hobby for many years. It has afforded him opportunities he would never have experienced without it. He was involved with it at the Ohio State University football games, various marathons, Arnold Palmer events, the Forth of July fireworks (Red, White and Boom), weather emergencies, trips to New York for marathons events, natural disasters in other states and on and on. The article today tells about how it was used by some during the pandemic. As the article mentioned it gives users a place and space to “entertain, educate and converse”. Those three affects from the hobby are always there not just during the pandemic but even more so now as a way to stay connected. During the pandemic some of the “clubs” have increased the times of connection, called “nets” (multiple groups may join in)  from one time a week to two or three. Before the stay-at-home rules started there may have been a dozen or so members who checked in. Now there are “upward of twenty”.  It helps to break up the boredom of cabin fever. These ham radio net members “operate” from their homes for the weekly visits. Most can reach a distance of thirty to forty-five miles from the transmitters in their areas. During “normal” net meetings talk is about uses of the radios, technology and antennas. Recently the topics of been about so many other topics including astronomy, model railroads, 3D printing and on and on. What a nice way to bond with others. The article mentioned that “any of the club’s members can volunteer to prepare and host a presentation on a topic of his or her choice”. These conversations involve a wide range of ages and educational backgrounds. There are 27,955 licensed amateur radio operators in Ohio. The article went on to explain that ham radios can operate without the internet or even without an electric power grid making it an essential type of communication during all kinds of emergencies.

I think I am making Parmesan chicken and chicken stuffing for dinner.

Joy

May 24, 2020 thought for the day: Speak truth in humility to all people. Only then can you be a true man. American Indian Proverb

It has (almost) been a “lazy, hazy day of summer”. It’s been comparatively hot but only because the last few days have been on the cool and damp side. We will be getting a lot hotter, I’m sure.

The photo theme for yesterday was “something green”. The weather has been a real help to greening things up. The trees, for the most part, are in full leaf with different shades of green. Then there is the grass that has come back from the winter blahs. There is a group of trees about a half a block from my house. They form a beautiful collection of shades of green and in shapes and forms. 

As is my habit for Sunday, I don’t have an agenda. I am just picking up something here and there that I have thought about on a different day but didn’t have the time to work on. Found a  new crochet pattern, then researched some information about getting back to church services, possible ways to make things as safe as can be. We will be having a meeting later this week.

I still need to work in the kitchen for a little while this afternoon.

The word today is genuine.  A man can be beautiful physically, mentally, or personality wise. True beauty, though, is in the spirit. A genuine man who understands right and wrong, with a strong sense of self is beautiful. A man who can be compassionate and caring, but firm and wise. Someone who can do the right thing no matter who's around to see it. Even if the deed is unseen and unrecognized. That is a beautiful man. One today is worth two tomorrows, Benjamin Franklin. Despair is the only genuine atheism, Jean Paul.  There is but one genuine love potion - consideration, Menander.  Let your words be the genuine picture of your heart, John Wesley.   I have before suggested that a genuine blackguard is never without a pocket-handkerchief, Edgar Allan Poe. To the corruptions of Christianity I am indeed opposed; but not to the genuine precepts of Jesus himself. I am a Christian, in the only sense he wished any one to be; sincerely attached to his doctrines, in preference to all others; ascribing to himself every human excellence; & believing he never claimed any other, Thomas Jefferson.  To me nothing in the world is as precious as a genuine smile, especially from a child, Rumi. That friendship will not continue to the end which is begun for an end, Francis Quarles. A gentle word, a kind look, a good-natured smile can work wonders and accomplish miracles, William Hazlitt.

The photo challenge today is “breakfast”. There was a time the thought of breakfast didn’t appeal to me when I first woke up or even until time for lunch rolled around. Things change as age creeps in. The hunger topic for me has done an about face of sorts. I use to be ravenous at dinner time.  Now I wake up hungry, not so much at dinner time. I think that is perhaps healthier. It’s just a puzzle to me how such a years-long habit can completely shift.

I like tree houses. When I was a kid we tried to create one out of odds and ends. I have to be honest, it was not too successful but it was a little hideaway for a day or two. This article is about a tree house that needs some professional tips. Once the expert was contacted he first suggested that before starting some research would help. It would help to start with by dealing with the proper tools needed. The original tree house was described as a twelve foot by twelve foot deck in the air. One of the things noted was that the amount of weight is put on the size of the bolts that hold the frame together. Another error the professional noted was that the solid wood should be mounted on beams that are buried in concrete in the ground. The professional noted that drywall screws had been used to fasten joist hangers to beams. Special bolts should have been used. The original structure swayed a little. It could be fixed by putting up diagonal bracing on both sides of “apposing corners”. Another of the repairs needed was on the railings at the top of the deck. Apparently the posts were notched and shouldn’t have been. There are metal connectors that meet codes that are set for such things. The article mentioned that treated lumber can have copper in it and copper corrodes and steel that is in the structure. Those steel parts should be coated “galvanizing”. Another consideration should be that lumber shrinks.

I think we will order in for tonight’s dinner or have baked spaghetti from last nights left overs.

Joy

May 22, 2020 thought for the day: Most adults are attentive to what someone is doing, but children see beyond that. Indian Proverb

Yesterday I made out a curbside order online at JoAnn Fabrics for the yarn I need for the project for two of my great grandsons. I got an email this morning that it was ready to pick up. I also needed to pick up meds for Sugar. I asked Sue if she would like to ride along. After we picked up the meds, curbside as well, we went on up the road to JoAnn’s. This curb side pick up is beginning to look pretty good, especially since my legs wear out after walking more than it use to be. I made another stop at Straders for a couple of things. After leaving there, Sue wanted to make a couple of stops. The last stop was Kroger. She wanted to pick up a couple of things. I went in to see if they had the meat I wanted on Monday but it wasn’t on the shelf. It was there today.

May 21 was “routine” day for the photo challenge. I’m sure for those of you who have kept up with this blog know that I am one of those people who have a “routine” for almost everything. So, it was hard to choose one that was convenient and would form a photo. One of my multitasking chores for yesterday was doing the laundry. That had to be the photo of the day.

Before we left, I updated the Hoge Herald newsletter that I had uploaded to the web yesterday. I also listened to Tom’s facebook live prayer vigil.

I took care of a couple of email messages and other small pickups around the house. I think that will do it for today.

The word is gentle. The meek are those who quietly submit themselves to God, to His word and to his rod, who follow His directions, and comply with His designs, and are gentle toward all men, Matthew Henry. The easy, gentle, and sloping path . . . is not the path of true virtue. It demands a rough and thorny road, Michel de Montaigne. The swallow is not ensnared by men because of its gentle nature, Ovid.  Education should be gentle and stern, not cold and lax, Joseph Joubert.  Such is the power of love in gentle mind, That it can alter all the course of kind, Edmund Spenser. Wind feeds the fire, and wind extinguishes: The flames are nourished by a gentle breeze, Yet, if it stronger grows, they sink and die, Ovid. An able man shows his spirit by gentle words and resolute actions, Lord Chesterfield. To those who err in judgment, not in will, anger is gentle, Sophocles. In order to have a good hand, it must be light, gentle, and firm, Francois Robichon de La Gueriniere.  

The photo theme for today is “I’m reading”. I do quite a bit of reading in a day. I set aside at least an hour for recreational reading. On top of that there is the “educational” reading that is gained by sifting through Google searches and snail mail ads.  Then there is the spiritual reading. It seems that the majority of my “reading” is accomplished with the use of technology. Every now and then, depending on the subject it is welcome to have a hard copy.

It’s good to read about more growth and revitalizing. Today’s article is about the plans for the Scioto Peninsula designs. Historic commissions will be a part of the upcoming planning meetings. I like it when the historic value of an area is considered before final plans are made to any kind of changes or additions. These soon to be scheduled meetings will be online for the time being. The plans include an eight-story office building, an eight-story hotel with a retail facility behind it. These buildings will include a restaurant and some retail space. There is a building to be renovated and a series of murals will be created on some of the exterior walls. A river front park is being considered.

It’s Friday, so pizza for dinner....

Joy

May 20, 2020 thought for the day: Listen to the sound of the river and you will catch a trout. Irish Proverb

This was an early start day. I decided that I needed to go to the “senior hour” at Kroger, mostly to see if I could get some meat for the next couple of weeks. So I was up before Bob left for work. I was at Kroger when they opened the door. There were only three of us waiting when the door opened. I was a little disappointed, the meat I normally use was not in the case. As a matter of fact, I think the meat case as well as many of the shelves were even more empty than earlier in this pandemic. And prices are up. It looks like going to the store is going to be more stressful than in the past. I got everything on my list even with a few less choices than I commonly experience.

The photo title yesterday was “mailbox”. Mine isn’t so fancy but it was my only example today. I have some interesting photos of others in my archives but felt I wanted to create a new image today.

I sent the draft copy of the bulletin and the newsletter to the proofreaders when I got home and got returned changes in about an hour. I worked on finishing those to get them ready of printing. I got the envelops labeled and stamped and the newsletter labels printed. I should be ready to print early tomorrow.

I have been working on a particular pattern for two of my great grand son’s gifts but changed my mind. There is work to do on them beyond the crochet base and would be taking me much longer than I want; so I searched on Google for a different pattern that I liked. I try to make something for all five of the great grand children in such a way that I get them all done about the same time (I work on all of them every evening, shifting from one to the other). The first pattern I had chosen would put the “timing” way off. Besides, I was concerned that one of the items required to finish it would not be totally safe for the kids if they happened to be able to dislodge it. I am pleased with the second choice.

My house plants are not happy with all of the rain in the past few days. They are drooping. Maybe I put them out too early. They are going to require some extra TLC when this rain stops.

Today’s challenge is “my iso (isolation) crew”. Well, the only two that were visible today and didn’t object (too much) to a photo were my dogs, Sweet Pea and Sugar. They were not in the mood to be deliberately posed so I had to take what I could get, one on the floor and one on a place we have made for her so she came see life’s view from the window.

The word is genius. Genius without education is like silver in the mine, Benjamin Franklin.  The secret of genius is to carry the spirit of childhood into maturity, Thomas Huxley. What is genius but the power of expressing a new individuality? Elizabeth Barrett Browning. When a true genius appears, you can know him by this sign: that all the dunces are in a confederacy against him, Jonathan Swift. Doing easily what others find difficult is talent; doing what is impossible for talent is genius, Henri Frederic Amiel. First and last, what is demanded of genius is love of truth, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. Men of genius are rarely much annoyed by the company of vulgar people, Samuel Taylor Coleridge. Genius is the gold in the mine, talent is the miner who works and brings it out, Marguerite Gardiner, Countess of Blessington. The true genius shudders at incompleteness, Edgar Allan Poe. The principal mark of genius is not perfection, but originality, Robert Schumann.  History shows us that the people who end up changing the world - the great political, social, scientific, technological, artistic, even sports revolutionaries - are always nuts, until they are right, and then they are geniuses, John Eliot. Common sense is genius dressed in its working clothes, Ralph Waldo Emerson. If children grew up according to early indications, we should have nothing but geniuses, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. To see things in the seed, that is genius, Laozi. The greatest thing by far is to have a command of metaphor. This alone cannot be imparted by another; it is the mark of genius, for to make good metaphors implies an eye for resemblances, Aristotle. 

It seems things pile up on one another. First we are fearing, fighting and living with this mighty virus. Now there are people in our city fighting yet another battle, much smaller, but hurtful to those living through this flooding. Today’s article, RECORD RAINS, Downpours soak central Ohio, causing 1 death, flooding, evacuations, are destroying homes. When I was hearing about the floods here in Ohio and other places, I hadn’t heard about the death by drowning in a car found  upside down in flood waters. Westerville, Worthington, Clintonville were only some of the areas that were affected. Basements were flooded, flood gates were erected in low lying areas near down town. The weather caused these kinds of flooding in Michigan Indiana and Illinois also. The rainfall in Columbus set a record “smashing” a previous record. Alum Creed overflowed its banks prompting the American Red Cross and the Central Ohio Transit Authority to assist the evacuated families. One man in the article tried to barricade his driveway but that didn’t work. So he was forced to redirect the water “streaming” in through his front door to go down the basement steps. Roads became streams. The waters have receded some but more rain is predicted until the weekend. 

I had a second photo of the day to day titles “a song title (use a song title as the title to the photo)”. This was a rainy day. I used the wherewithal at hand so I didn’t have to go outside searching for a “song title” so I used one of the handy dandy standbys, Sugar.

I got a Stouffers cheesy macaroni with beef dinner for tonight.

Joy

May 18, 2020 thought for today: The best way to see divine light is to put out your own candle. English Proverb

I have been “glued” to my computer for most of the day. I took a break to tend to some of my houseplants on their first week of “vacation”. The rest of the time I have been concentrating on getting as far as I can into the preparation of the church bulletin and newsletter.

On the 17th I shot a photo to try to match the title for the challenge “I feel...”. After a couple of shots I came up with this one. I saw the mess I was building up and the thought that “I feel...like I need to organize” hit me so this is the answer to that question.

I have the bulletin ready for the last few plug ins. The newsletter is a different story. With this isolation, finding information to pass on through that communication medium is even more difficult than finding articles for sharing in what use to be “normal” times. I had put out a request for folks to share their pandemic-isolation experiences but there hasn’t been any response. I think I have come up with a way to fill the void. It would be better coming in the sharing of experiences with each other. There are reports in the news of folks around the city, I think I can use my personal synopsis of some of those that may be of interest.

I have had a problem with one of the items I put in each newsletter. There is a problem lining up columns of figures. It looks great in the email but when transferred to other mediums, different computer software and printing, the columns become unaligned. I spent over an hour on that problem alone this morning. I think what I did worked. Now I have to remember the exact steps I took to “fix” it.

There is a meeting scheduled for this evening, the first during/at the end of this odd period of time. I am a bit nervous about attending. It is a group of under ten folks and in a room large enough for separation. They are people, for the most part, who I know and am familiar with their life styles. I have been told that there will be one person there who is not a regular presence so that prompts some thought and concern. It looks like I will be making my final decision just before time for the meeting.

The word today is garden. A book is a garden, an orchard, a storehouse, a party, a company by the way, a counselor, a multitude of counselors, Charles Baudelaire. A weed is no more than a flower in disguise, James Russell Lowell.  All my hurts my garden spade can heal, Ralph Waldo Emerson.  There is simply the rose; it is perfect in every moment of its existence, Ralph Waldo Emerson. The poetry of the earth is never dead, John Keats. Nothing is more completely the child of art than a garden, Walter Scott. Gardeners instinctively know that flowers and plants are a continuum and that the wheel of garden history will always be coming full circle, Francis Cabot Lowell. Come forth into the light of things, let nature be your teacher, William Wordsworth. A modest garden contains, for those who know how to look and to wait, more instruction than a library, Henri Frederic Amiel. The goal of life is living in agreement with nature, Zeno of Elea.  St. Francis of Assisi was hoeing his garden when someone asked what he would do if he were suddenly to learn that he would die before sunset that very day. "I would finish hoeing my garden," he replied, Francis of Assisi. In all things of nature there is something of the marvelous, Aristotle. A good garden may have some weeds, Thomas Fuller. My garden is a forest ledge Which older forest s bound; The banks slope down to the blue lake-edge, Then plunge to depths profound! Ralph Waldo Emerson. 

Today’s challenge is “I did this today”. As I noted earlier, I was busy with the bulletin and newsletter today. It would be hard to form that into a photo so I went with one of the other accomplishments of the day, tending to my house plants.

I was interested in reading this article. When I read the title I figured it may be covering something a lot of us may be feeling. Here is the headline that caught my eye: Transforming into potato among my online meeting fears. A lady had down loaded some “goofy filters” to use during a virtual meeting. As the meeting proceeded she accidentally “turned herself into a potato”, an animated, virtual potato. She was not quite knowledge enough about the technology to turn it off during the whole meeting which made the employees smile. I was thinking from the headline that this article was about people turning to a potato by using technical equipment and television more than usual to reweave boredom. It turns out the article is more about leaning technology and all it's new forms as they come about and how it can be a detriment not to learn it and keep up with the history of invention and it's language. The article related how much influence the technology of today came into play during this pandemic. How not being familiar with it could put a big drag on communication in the time of isolation. There is Zoom, Facebook Messenger, Google Hangouts and Google Meet paired with “PINs” to type in, and “lingo” to learn. The writer of the article decided to share some clues as to techie talk. For exampel, Zoom is video conferencing that allows people converse with and view each other live from any and all areas they occupy. Another description:"what does mute yourself mean”, his answer, just keep your mouth shut. So there are some fun ways at looking at new  bright and miraculous inventions. It may  be  true that they can be a headache on the one hand but a life saver on the other.

I am having chicken fries and left over cheesy potatoes for dinner.

Joy

May 16, 2020 thought for the day: Listen to valuable statements even if they come from your enemy's mouth. Greek Proverb

Finally, I think spring is here! It is a beautiful day outside., Which gave me an even stronger notion to get my house plants outside for a period outdoors. I finished that project about two hours ago. Then I started the irobot (roomba). There were a lot of fallen leaves. The floors needed a good sweeping anyway. Sweet Pea never ceases to lose hair. I will let the sweeper run until it is out of power and heads for the recharging “station”.

Yesterday’s photo, “reflection”, caused some looking around. For a moment the search left my focus then as I glanced thru my side window I caught this view as I passed by taking laundry to be put away. I laid my handful down and rushed to get my camera. Here is the result. 

By the time I got the plants outside and the spot where they have been for the last ten months I was slowing down. They were doing a great job of soaking up carbon dioxide and letting off oxygen. They only add to our oxygen and diminish carbon dioxide in small amounts but better than not.

I think moving the plants and doing the straightening has done me in for the day except for the cooking at the end of the day.

One other thing, that needed attention badly, got done today. We have had a huge prickly weed growing and choking out and iris plant as well as my mint plants. Bob put on a pair of gloves and a shirt with long sleeves and let me tell him which to pull, which were weed and which were not. He did a great job and the weeds are gone for now.

I got a little done on the upcoming newsletter to make it at least started. I might get back to that a little later.

Yesterday was one of those days where I had a pair of photos of the day. The second one was titled “shoot from the hip (no view finder)”. I love the shapes and forms on this image but more especially the textures.

Now to look for my photo of the day pick and then to watch some food network shows.

The word today is future. With the past, I have nothing to do; nor with the future. I live now, Ralph Waldo Emerson.  The best thing about the future is that it comes one day at a time, Abraham Lincoln.   He who controls the past controls the future, Laozi.  Everything that looks to the future elevates human nature, Walter Savage Landor. The future is purchased by the present, Samuel Johnson. Every tomorrow has two handles. We can take hold of it with the handle of anxiety or the handle of faith, Henry Ward Beecher. What we look for does not come to pass; God finds a way for what none foresaw, Euripides. Life is divided into three terms - that which was, which is, and which will be. Let us learn from the past to profit by the present, and from the present, to live better in the future, William Wordsworth. Take as a gift whatever the day brings forth, Horace. The past, the present and the future are really one: they are today, Harriet Beecher Stowe. Hardly anyone knows how much is gained by ignoring the future, Bernard le Bovier de Fontenelle. Men are often capable of greater things than they perform - They are sent into the world with bills of credit, and seldom draw to their full extent, Horace Walpole.   

The photo challenge for today was “I isolate here”. I thought of my lounge chair but with the weather changing the porch swing is an isolation place with added pleasures, like the sounds of birds and wind chimes and soft breezes.

Before the pandemic closed the schools, some Hilliard middle-school students created an 8 by 8 foot mural. It was part of the school’s innovative learning classes and a Franklinton street artist who has produced murals throughout Columbus worked with them. They brainstormed for what they wanted it to look like and made sketches and images for the piece they would produce. The completed mural is a black and white portrait of one of the students who was picked as a model. It is bordered by splashes of aqua, green and orange and is overlaid with sketches of suns, sunflowers and human hands. It can be seen at the Civic & Cultural Arts Center on Center Street in downtown Hilliard where it was set up earlier this month. The purpose of the project things that represent Hilliard, the school and the people. A portrait of one of the kids was selected as the focal point with drawings that remind of neighborhoods. The article went on to say that the adviser for the project was amazed at how the students seemed to be thinking of public art and why art is important as a bridge to conversation.

Hot dogs and cheesy potatoes are on the menu for tonight.

Joy

May 14, 2020 thought for the day: It's as far from my house as from yours. Corsican Proverb

Wow, what a day. I left early to do the bulletin printing. Being in the church was a little different today than it has been for the past few weeks. After I was there for a while, Dorothy came. It was so good to see her. I felt like I got to see another bit of my “family” for a one on one. She was there because there was going to be a food delivery for our up coming food pantry.

I just had to have my White Castle brunch after I dropped off the mail at the post office. Then I drove by the park as a “pick up for my soul”. Another highlight of this date, I was married sixty years ago today.

Yesterday’s photo title was “two things”. The “two things” most visible around my house are the two dogs. They are not usually as close together as they were for this photo but at least at the prescribed six feet apart.

After I got home one of the Terminix people came to check the squirrel traps, none trapped yet. A little later another Terminix person came for the regular preventative spraying around the foundation of the house.

Still later my former niece-in-law called to get my input with working on getting the Facebook messenger video with my sister’s great grand daughters. After several attempts and failures, we got it to work on my cell phone. I handed it over to my sister so she could have a private chat with her twin great grand daughters, the first after almost two months.

During all of the above I got the laundry started. I also got a few more houseplants put outside. I started on that project yesterday. I will do a little each day until they are all out for the season.


The word is friendly. Cheerfulness is the best promoter of health and is as friendly to the mind as to the body, Joseph Addison. The rule of friendship means there should be mutual sympathy between them, each supplying what the other lacks and trying to benefit the other, always using friendly and sincere words, Marcus Tullius Cicero. Christians appeal to those who wrong them and make them friendly to themselves; they are eager to do good to their enemies; they are mild and conciliatory, Aristides of Athens.  Be not forward, but friendly and courteous; the first to salute, hear and answer; and be not pensive when it is time to converse, George Washington. The permanence of all books is fixed by no effort friendly or hostile, but by their own specific gravity, or the intrinsic importance of their contents to the constant mind of man, Ralph Waldo Emerson. To the poet, to the philosopher, to the saint, all things are friendly and sacred, all events profitable, all days holy, all men divine, Ralph Waldo Emerson. Is it not, then, better to be ridiculous and friendly than clever and hostile? Socrates. The glory of friendship is not the outstretched hand, not the kindly smile, nor the joy of companionship; it is the spiritual inspiration that comes to one when you discover that someone else believes in you and is willing to trust you with a friendship, Ralph Waldo Emerson. But friendship is precious, not only in the shade, but in the sunshine of life, and thanks to a benevolent arrangement the greater part of life is sunshine, Thomas Jefferson. Friends are relatives you make for yourself, Eustache Deschamps. 

I also took a little time amongst the rest of the agenda as I do every day to search out and shoot my photo of the day. The title today is “in the kitchen”. Kitchens are big places with lots of doodads and objects. So here is my selection today.

It was interesting to see this article and for me to see what the library is doing as things begin to open. Apparently the Columbus Public Library is planning a curbside pick up similar to the grocery pickups. They are planning some form of the pick up process beginning in the last two weeks of May. Several of the branches of the library saw “dramatic” increase in checked out materials in March. Bexley is planning “the big return”. People can fill bins with return items. Then, for the safety of the staff, those items won’t be touched for several days. The article mentioned that Battelle is working on determining how long the virus can live on library materials.

I was surprised to see that the library foundation has joined with PCs for People to provide discounted computers and laptops to eligible families and students. With the library closed for this pandemic their computers, of course, have been unavailable to students and people looking for work or other necessities. Since the library is still closed for the time being, they want to “ensure access to technology” for people. Most of their equipment was used but no longer needed. The library also took part in the Giving Tuesday Now campaign on May 5. The PCs for People are one of the first groups to receive from the funds raised in that campaign. The article also listed that one of the top efforts of the library is to “bridge the (wide) digital divide” in the community. It is listed that for the computers to be eligible to the families they must be entitled to receive free/reduced school lunches or be in the SNAP or Medicaid programs. Curbside pickup for the computers will be Tuesday at the Whitehall branch.

It’s going to be sloppy joe and rice pilaf for dinner.

Joy

May 12, 2020 thought for the day: A man may die old at thirty and young at eighty. English Proverb

It seems to be a same ol’ same ol’. I wonder how many are feeling that kind of overwhelming “normal” day shift. This may give some of us the kind of feeling other people have when they are forced to adapt to life on a monotonous sort of routine such as this with no end in sight. What a downer kind of thinking on my part. ‘Nuf of that.

Here we go with the photo challenge for May 11. The theme was “working here”. The recycle pick up truck was going by at an opportune time so I got a few shots of their work.

This is one of those days I seem to be searching for somewhere to put my focus. The bulletin is done, well almost, just a couple of things I am waiting for.

It seems there must some people who still have over flowing schedules. At this point that seems more inviting than nothing on the horizon. But then it’s like the difference between a hot summer and a cold winter. As we go though one, we wish for the other. Of course all of this prattle of mine doesn’t include front liners of which I have one in my family, as a matter of fact there has been at least one, usually three or four at a time, for my whole life. This is a combination senior moment and moment seemingly on the edge of inanity (just kidding...I think). Forgive me....I am going to try to move on for today.

I thought about making some dinner rolls from scratch but it is getting a little late in the day for the two hours or so that it takes for the dough to rise before it is ready to bake. I should start that a little earlier in the day.

We had a young cousin stop by for a front porch visit last night. That was a welcomed respite. I am counting on being able to visit my great grand baby as soon as possible. I am missing all of those moments of growing that only come once in a life time. Thankfully his mom shares a short video of something new in his life a day or so. That is added to my memory bank and gives a thought of a sweet hug that’s waiting for both of us. I have two others, near by, that I would like to visit too. And yet two more that I am not sure when I will get to know them again.

On May 12 the photo theme is “snack”. I like so many different snacks so I decided to show a variety. It gave a nice show of line, shape, form, pattern and color.

The word today is fountain. That which the fountain sends forth returns again to the fountain, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.  A kind heart is a fountain of gladness, making everything in its vicinity freshen into smiles, Washington Irving. Look within. Within is the fountain of good, and it will ever bubble up, if thou wilt ever dig, Marcus Aurelius. Talent is full of thoughts, Genius is thought. Talent is a cistern, Genius a fountain, Edwin Percy Whipple. There is a fountain inside you. Don't walk around with an empty bucket, Rumi. If we learn to love the earth, we will find labyrinths, gardens, fountains and precious jewels! A whole new world will open itself to us. We will discover what it means to be truly alive, Teresa of Avila. When the heart is full of joy, it always allows its joy to escape. It is like the fountain in the marketplace; whenever it is full it runs away in streams, and so soon as it ceases to overflow, you may be quite sure that it has ceased to be full. The only full heart is the overflowing heart, Charles Spurgeon. Friendship is the medicine for all misfortune; but ingratitude dries up the fountain of all goodness, Cardinal Richelieu. A mother's love! O holy, boundless thing! Fountain whose waters never cease to spring! Marguerite Gardiner, Countess of Blessington. A cultivated mind is one to which the fountains of knowledge have been opened, and which has been taught, in any tolerable degree, to exercise its faculties, John Stuart Mill. When we talk of leaving our childhood behind us, we might as well say that the river flowing onward to the sea had left the fountain behind, Anna Brownell Jameson.  

Here is yet another way someone tried to beat the boredom of being isolated.  This article is about a young girl, 11 years old, who tried to get through the boredom. She made the template for a tic tac toe game to be attached to the inside of the family mail box. The article said everyone knows how important it is where you put the first X. So she took extra time with that part. She taped the newly made game in the mail box. She was playing tic tac toe with the mail carrier. She had put her first game in the mail box on April 30 with a note that said “O=you, X=me, she also left a pen. The first day the mail carrier didn’t realize it was for her. So she didn’t put a mark. On the next day the family was in the driveway and asked her to put her O. She says that now every day that stop brightens her day. The 11 year old won the first round. She taped it on the outside of the mail box for all to see and started the next one.

I am having left overs for dinner tonight, meat load and mashed potatoes.

Joy

May 10, 2020 thought of the day: Don't make use of another's mouth unless it has been lent to you. Belgian Proverb

It’s a typical Sunday and Mothers Day. I slept-in for a while even though Sweet Pea was trying to get me up so that I could let her out to chase the squirrels.

On May 9 the photo challenge was ‘I miss...’. I visited my stored photo archives and found the perfect photo to fit this title. It is my mom and dad in the beginning of their long and happy marriage. The photo is quite old so its content is not of contest quality but it fits the purpose and carries the memory.

There is not much else on the agenda today. However, I did tend to the dish washer, the thirsty plants watered a little, since they can’t go out to start their spring/summer “vacation” until the weather is more cooperative. I also managed some light straightening around the kitchen. I don’t put much of that kind of thing on my Sunday agenda. I like for it to be a "recharging” day.

I “broke” with my self-set schedule for grocery shopping yesterday. I needed to pick up some meds so I decided to go in at the regular open hours. It wasn’t too crowded. There were at least half a dozen store clerks doing the shopping for the curb side orders. It’s interesting to see how many people seem to be using that way of shopping now. I think it got a slow start in the beginning but seems to be picking up.

It sounds like Columbus is slowly opening different shops and stores. I hope the “curve” stays steady or, better still, goes down more and more each day. Hopefully we can enjoy a nice Spring and Summer.

The word today is fortunate.  Many exceedingly rich men are unhappy, but many middling circumstances are fortunate, Herodotus.  No act of kindness, no matter how small, is ever wasted, Aesop.  It is perhaps a more fortunate destiny to have a taste for collecting shells than to be born a millionaire, Robert Louis Stevenson.  I was once a fortunate man but at some point fortune abandoned me. But true good fortune is what you make for yourself. Good fortune: good character, good intentions, and good actions, Marcus Aurelius.  I am certainly the most fortunate creature that ever existed! Jane Austen.  That is a dream also; only he has remained asleep, while you have awakened; and who knows which of you is the most fortunate? Alexandre Dumas.  Humanity is fortunate, because no man is unhappy except by his own fault, Seneca the Younger.  Men talk as if victory were something fortunate. Work is victory, Ralph Waldo Emerson.  To be always fortunate, and to pass through life with a soul that has never known sorrow, is to be ignorant of one half of nature, Seneca the Younger.   It is not the young man who should be considered fortunate but the old man who has lived well, because the young man in his prime wanders much by chance, vacillating in his beliefs, while the old man has docked in the harbor, having safeguarded his true happiness, Epicurus. The unrighteous are never really fortunate. Euripides.

The photo theme for today is “self care”. I, like many, on this “forced” quarantine have time to “relax” so here is my version.

The article sounded refreshing about the great outdoors for this season and for a breather in the pandemic. The author of the article opened with one of Henry David Thoreau’s quotes: “By my intimacy with nature I find myself withdrawn from man.” The author went on to say he finds himself, in the pandemic, in the reverse, closer to nature than ever. He lives surrounded by a garden, woods and the sounds of the nearby creek. He says more people will be able to experience some of what he can see daily. There is a new online site being formed by the Ohio Department of Natural Resources, “Digital Discoveries” (odnr digital discovers), plans to collect nature information, ideas, activities and lessons for everyone with sections for kids, parents and teachers and put in digital format. There has been some delay getting to the site but should be fixed soon. Plans are to have printable activity books and guides to topics like nature crafts, animal behavior and other fun activities. There will be related links on the site. There will be some type of interaction on the site also. The article closes with “consider a trip, even if only digitally, into the great outdoors”.

This was one of the four or five days of the month that I have a second photo of the day assignments. The one from this club, that I also belong to, is “leading lines”.

I think we are going to order from York for Mothers Day.

Joy

May 8, 2020 thought for the day: A friend advises in his interest, not yours. Arabic Proverb

It is a rainy dreary day. The weather men have even suggested possible snow flurries. I have been biting at the bit to get the house plants outside. I had every intention of beginning the move this Sunday, Mother’s Day. That is the day they say it is typically safe in this part of the world to put plants outside. It looks like this year it is going to be a little later.

Yesterday’s photo challenge title was “a throwback”. I went way back in my archives to find a selfie taken before “selfies” were a “thing”. I was pregnant for my first child. (turned out to be a girl .... named Tami).

I have noticed that there seems to be a problem with my tiny solar powered bird bath fountain. I have it set up in a plastic bowl-like container. I think there is a leak. I filled it yesterday morning. When I checked the water level twenty minutes later, the water was half way down. I will try to line the container with a layer of plastic before considering a completely new one.

Sue needed some things from Walmart so I dropped her off earlier this morning. Since I didn’t need anything at the moment I came home to get some things done and wait for her to call when she was ready to come home. She wanted to spend some time shopping. She is very good about reading labels thoroughly.

The exterminator came yesterday to give me an estimate for removing the squirrels from my ceiling. It is going to take a huge chunk of my “stimulus” check. It has to be done. They could do much more damage that could end up costing more than the “exclusion” process. They will begin the process on Monday. Apparently it takes several days. After they catch what they think is all the “visitors” they will plug the holes.

The word today is forgiveness.  Those who cannot forgive others break the bridge over which they themselves must pass, Confucius. We are all full of weakness and errors; let us mutually pardon each other our follies - it is the first law of nature, Voltaire.  Am I not destroying my enemies when I make friends of them? Abraham Lincoln. To err is human; to forgive, divine, Alexander Pope. If we could read the secret history of our enemies we should find in each man's life sorrow and suffering enough to disarm all hostility, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. Good to forgive, Best to forget, Robert Browning. The more you know yourself, the more you forgive yourself, Confucius. This is certain, that a man that studieth revenge keeps his wounds green, which otherwise would heal and do well, Francis Bacon. Forgiveness is the remission of sins. For it is by this that what has been lost, and was found, is saved from being lost again, Saint Augustine. The world is full of judgment-days, and into every assembly that a man enters, in every action he attempts, he is gauged and stamped, Ralph Waldo Emerson. The offender never pardons, George Herbert. Five enemies of peace inhabit with us - avarice, ambition, envy, anger, and pride; if these were to be banished, we should infallibly enjoy perpetual peace, Petrarch. To love is human, it is also human to forgive, Plautus. 

Because of the heavy overcast sky today I am going to have to go to the archives for today photo theme, “the sky”.....  this photo of all those fluffy white clouds was taken last year in the good ol’ summertime.

I always like stories about our Columbus zoo. I think this one will give us an idea of how the workers, and maybe the animals, are coping with the pandemic. Of course the zoo has been closed to the public during this quarantine but people have had to take care of the animals. Here are some of the experiences they are having as they keep the animals “safe, happy and healthy”. Normally as they feed the animals there are crowds watching and enjoying how the animals react to receiving food. Now the paths through the park are “eerily silent and empty”. Before the pandemic the zoo was expecting this to be a special year for the visitors. We have the nation’s only baby polar bear, born in 2019, and the two new cheetah cubs born through in-vitro fertilization. The zoo keepers are taking care of over 10,000 animals. Assignments have been chance to make things safer for the employees. They are divided into small teams and have staggered work shifts. There are a lot of conference calls and group chats to keep things running smoothly.

All the keepers wear masks and gloves for protection of the animals as well as the workers themselves. They are use to this in other years especially around the apes due to their susceptibilities to disease. There won’t be any interns during this season as is the custom for spring and summer normally.

At the “Shores” the tortoises are missing public interaction. Bubba, 73 and Sonny, 53 are the zoo’s oldest animals. They seem to enjoy getting their shells rubbed and having “conversation” with the car givers. Visitors to the zoo generally rub their shells so the keepers have to substitute for now. They love the attention but since it is not known how the coronavirus works experiences are limited to keep the animals safe.

At the “Heart of Africa” the complicated process of reintroducing the heat loving animals from the winter habitats to the pastures is done at this time of year. Too much exercise all at once could injure them. They fence off areas so that small spaces are introduced at a time and widened every few days. Since the staff is more limited now this can be a challenging process. The gazelles, wildebeest, zebras, giraffes and others have to be treated with care. The animals have to relearn noises and signals in case they have to be separated for one reason or another.

Food for the animals no longer comes from the zoo’s nutrition center, it has to be picked up from outside the building to reduce “interactions”. The zoo vets are checking the animals from a distance with photos and videos.  Even though things have changed for humans during this pandemic the animals need to have things kept as normal as possible.

The article mentioned the connection to the news of several cats at the Bronx Zoo being tested for the virus there was some extra thought. One of our tigers came from the Bronx zoo earlier this year. The keepers are taking a little “every precaution they can”.
Pizza again....

Joy

May 6, 2020 thought for the day: Be sure to have a controversial opinion, and men will talk about you. Arabic Proverb

It’s another stay at home day with not much on the agenda. I am trying to finish the bulletin but need just the last bit of information.

Sue’s TV was acting up so she wanted a TV repair person to come and fix it. We arranged for them to come. I have been a touch leery of having someone in during this time of isolation. But we did this morning. We took the recommended steps for protection, masks and washing down surfaces with bleach.

May 5th's  photo challenge was “a fave room”. I have several spaces in my home that I consider “fave” space. But the kitchen is the most used and is the “newest”. We had some remodeling about a year ago. 

I have another problem too. There is a squirrel trying to set up his home between the ceiling and roof of my bed room. I have tried calling a particular exterminator yesterday and today but there is no answer. I leave a message but they don’t call back. I don’t think they would have to come inside to take care of this problem, so I don’t think that is the reason they wouldn’t be returning my call. I finally reached the head office in Cincinnati and was able to make an appointment for tomorrow for an estimate.

The only accomplishment today is making the dogs treat. Of course I do it with their help. Especially Sugar’s. She loves to stay by my feet in case I need a clean up on the floor.


The word is foolish. Anger may be foolish and absurd, and one may be wrongly irritated, but a man never feels outraged unless in some respect he is fundamentally right, Victor Hugo. Wise people are foolish if they cannot adapt to foolish people, Michel de Montaigne. If we Christians would join the Wise Men, we must close our eyes to all that glitters before the world and look rather on the despised and foolish things, help the poor, comfort the despised, and aid the neighbor in his need, Martin Luther. Tears fell from my eyes - yes, weak and foolish as it now appears to me, I wept for my departed youth; and for that beauty of which the faithful mirror too plainly assured me, no remnant existed, Marguerite Gardiner, Countess of Blessington.  It is foolish to fear that which you cannot avoid, Publilius Syrus. A wise son makes a glad father, But a foolish son is the grief of his mother, Solomon. Thus my learning is not my own; it belongs to the unlearned and is the debt I owe them My wisdom belongs to the foolish, my power to the oppressed. Thus my wealth belongs to the poor, my righteousness to the sinners, Martin Luther. Drinking alone holds no fun. Drink with friends or strangers! Be foolish, least you'll remember something meaningful, Alcuin  It is foolish to try to live on past experience. It is very dangerous, if not a fatal habit, to judge ourselves to be safe because of something that we felt or did twenty years ago, Charles Spurgeon. Childhood has it's own way of seeing, thinking, and feeling, and nothing is more foolish than to try to substitute ours for theirs, Jean-Jacques Rousseau.

Today’s photo theme is “I made this”. I could have used some baking projects or even my meal for the evening. But I chose to use the hobby or “art” that I am most involved in at the moment. I crochet for several reasons. Relaxation is one reason, the feeling of creativity another but the one most outstanding to me is I crochet for my great grand children. As I complete each stitch I think of the child I am doing the piece for. I know they can’t see me as I work or that they would have any concept of the time it takes to make the item. I somehow feel closer to them and hope that my love, thoughts of them and care for their happiness is conveyed mysteriously to them.

I thought a food article might be nice during the flood of news on the coronavirus. The title to today’s article is: Comfort food sees bump during pandemic. The pandemic has made a lot of people depend  more on comfort that food can bring as well as developing a stronger immune system. It seems, according to the article, that avocados are in. I personally haven’t tried to develop a taste for avocados, maybe I should give it some more thought. It also mentioned that frozen pizzas and instant noodles are selling out during this time of isolation. Avocados are going up in price and butter is falling (do to restaurants being closed). It was interesting to read about the possibility of these developing food trends may continue when the pandemic eases. They will see that there are “improvements in packaged foods”. People are cooking more at home now due to the fact it is almost necessary to follow that direction added to using picking up meals to bring home. Back to avocados, the article says that they are becoming at stay at home favorite. It seems all fresh produce has a “health-halo” over it. It is reported that vitamin C in citrus has increased the interest of customers. Orange juice has risen in interest from a fall back earlier due to the sugar content, now the vitamin C found in it has increased its value to the consumer.

The article went on to talk about what most folks realize at this point, we suffer an abundance of boredom and stress from the isolation of the pandemic. So when they are shopping they are looking for foods that release some of that stress and boredom. Packaged foods are popular. Snack foods are more on the shopping lists. Because of doing activities that bring munching to the thought surface. Farmers are being forced to dispose of any thing they can’t sell like milk and milk products. Even though restaurants are doing takeout orders they have had to cut down on what is on their menus and don’t use all the ingredients they would if they were completely open. So they don’t need as much from farmers. 

The article ended with the restating the facts that packaged food are more available and people will remember that from this time and experience.

Hamburgers and mac and cheese for dinner.

Joy

May 4, 2020 thought for the day: Lend money to someone who won't pay you back and he'll hate you. Chinese Proverb

Another Monday has rolled around. There are a few things on the agenda as there are for me on most Monday’s. I will be updating the church bulletin as the main thing I would like to get accomplished today. 

The photo challenge title for May 3 was “dreaming of...”. I think I mentioned before that subjects that assign a photo to a feeling are hard for me to process. I had spurts of thought through out the morning on what subject I could use. I have admired the tulips in my neighbor’s yard for a while I finally settled on that. I am dreaming of spring and many more flowers so this photo will do for the theme.

Sue had some errands to run. She is adjusting to one of the things that has been a difference in our choices. She likes afternoon outings when it comes to errands or visits. I prefer mornings, as early as possible. I have tried to bend to a compromise of later in the morning, more toward noon. Since her accident at Christmas time she isn’t able to drive for now. So I take her where she needs to go. In these trips we are learning some of the many ways businesses are adjusting the flow of their business to accommodate the changes in our lives, and theirs, right now. For instance, Sue’s bank is totally taken care of at the drive in windows now instead of a lobby entrance.

I have been wondering why I have not received my order for flower seeds that I ordered over two weeks ago. So I did some investigating through email responses to online orders and/or financial records of expenditures. I discovered that one of the biggest orders I thought I had sent didn’t go through. So I went to the online site for the nursery where I thought I had placed the order. Sure enough there was a catch. One of the seeds was out of stock and my order would not be completed until I removed it from my list. I took care of that problem. Then I got an email saying the order was being processed. One of the flower seeds I am most interested in seems to be a thorn in my side. I have been trying to get a Lenten rose plant started for what is now almost a year. The first one I got and planted was stepped on and killed by a worker on the outside of my house. The replacement I ordered and planted died. It tried to come back twice and both times the tiny little shoots that were there one day were gone the next. I think a squirrel must have had it for lunch....twice. The order for those seeds was at another garden center, not the one I mentioned above. I put in another order two weeks ago, it was charged to my account but I never received it. That one is a mystery. Does it sound like to you that maybe I am not supposed to have that plant?

The word for the day is flower. A flower falls, even though we love it; and a weed grows, even though we do not love it, Dogen. The career of a sage is of two kinds: He is either honored by all in the world, Like a flower waving its head, Or else he disappears into the silent forest, Laozi.   Just living is not enough... One must have sunshine, freedom, and a little flower, Hans Christian Andersen. To see a world in a grain of sand and heaven in a wild flower Hold infinity in the palms of your hand and eternity in an hour, William Blake. Life is the flower for which love is the honey, Victor Hugo. Adversity draws men together and produces beauty and harmony in life's relationships, just as the cold of winter produces ice-flowers on the window-panes, which vanish with the warmth, Soren Kierkegaard. Every flower is a soul blossoming in nature, Gerard De Nerval. The temple bell stops but I still hear the sound coming out of the flowers, Matsuo Basho. Flowers have spoken to me more than I can tell in written words. They are the hieroglyphics of angels, loved by all men for the beauty of their character, though few can decipher even fragments of their meaning, Lydia M. Child.  Speech is the golden harvest that followeth the flowering of thought, Martin Farquhar Tupper. 

The photo theme for today is “neighborhood”. I am lucky to have a very comfortable neighborhood with the added essence that it is clean and pleasing to the eye so this photo is an easy one.

It’s interesting to see some of the aspects of our lives that are being affected by this pandemic. Just how many more aspects, as the one in today’s article, are being affected and how and to what point in out lives will take time to surface. This article speaks to the use of highways in this time of viruses. People seem to be driving faster due to the roads being mostly empty. A survey of transportation speeds and highway usage for last year from March 28 to April 19 in Columbus, Cleveland and Cincinnati showed about the same figures for each city. This year speeds were amounting to ten or more miles per hour faster than last year. The article mentioned that on a section of I-71 some speeds even registered over 30 miles an hour faster that last year.  The person interviewed for this article said that he felt that there is probably speeding on the smaller roads too. He is hoping that the city will consider new policies like changing the street network to provide more space for cyclists and pedestrians.

I have some homemade spaghetti and meat balls in the freezer, that will be dinner tonight.

Joy

May 2, 2020 thought for the day: The best kind of closed door is the one you can leave unlocked. Chinese Proverb

I love Saturday’s, always have even as a kid all those many years ago, and always will.  This one was no exception. I slept until the sun, with a little help from Sweet Pea, woke me.

Yesterday’s theme title was “a view from a window”. I have three windows that I can view life through as I sit at the computer. I took shots through each of the three and chose this one after the post processing.

Sue wanted to make a trip to Kroger. She can’t quite make the early senior hour at Kroger with me yesterday. I told her I would take her and wait in the car. I‘m not comfortable around large numbers of people particularly in this time in history. Actually, the parking lot was not full at all and I had missed some items on my list yesterday so I went in to. Yesterday the two isles of freezer food were down and I had to skip two items so I picked those up. I dropped her off at the dollar store too. Then we headed for home.

After some catch up on my emails, I took a stroll around my “back forty”...what I call my tiny little “flower gardens” that rim parts of the house and yard. I am even more certain I have lost some of the plants I planted last year. I laid out what I thought was a plan for blooming flowers for every season. So that I would have at least a stem or two of fresh flowers in a vase in the dining room all year.

Bob went back to work yesterday. We weren’t sure that was supposed to be the time for this car lots opening but apparently it was. He worked the whole day and goes back on Monday. He needs some more face masks. I crochet one for him but I think one of that nature is not really appropriate for his work. I have asked Rebecca to make one for him. She mentioned the other day that she was making some.  She said she would send one to him.

There’s nothing going on today so I may work on a “lesson” I am trying to teach myself. I am trying to make an ink sketch using a photo as a base in Photoshop. There are quite a few steps in the “lesson” that I pulled off Google. So it  takes some dedicated time. I

f I don’t work on that I may try making a brownie with marshmallow fluff and chocolate chips.

The word today is folds. We can see well into the past; we can guess shrewdly into the future, but that which is rolled up and muffled in impenetrable folds is today, Ralph Waldo Emerson.  Our life is two fold Sleep hath its own world, A boundary between the things misnamed Death and existence Sleep hath its own world, And a wide realm of wild reality, Lord Byron.  Whoever benefits his enemy with straightforward intention that man's enemies will soon fold their hands in devotion, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.  But friendship is the breathing rose, with sweets in every fold, Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr. Woman is the salvation or the destruction of the family. She carries its destiny in the folds of her mantle, Henri Frederic Amiel. The least deviation from the truth is multiplied later a thousand fold, Aristotle. Knowledge is two-fold, and consists not only in an affirmation of what is true, but in the negation of that which is false, Charles Caleb Colton. Affliction comes to us all ...not to impoverish, but to enrich us, as the plough enriches the field; to multiply our joy, as the seed, by planting, is multiplied a thousand-fold, Henry Ward Beecher. 

Today’s photo challenge was “a drink”. Sue and I stopped for a coke and a coffee on our way home from the errands. That presented my photo of the day.

I like when military come home after successful service to their country....I love animals and to see them happy with happy human beings. This article fits both. I know first hand what pets can do to the human psyche and complete and total wellness. A group in Delaware, Ohio rescue dogs and find home for them with veterans who need them. One of the persons mentioned in the article said he applied to several agencies that offer this service to former military persons. He never got a response. He came across the Delaware County-based Veteran Companion Animal Services in January. They responded. He is waiting to get a dog once it is ready for it’s new forever master. He suffers with mental and physical pains and feels the dog will help him better deal with his emotions. A veterinarian started the Veteran Companion Animal Services in 2015. Her plan was to connect ex-military folks with rescue dogs who need a home. She hopes that the “friendship, structure and purpose” the veterans need are here in life of the animal that will be pared with them. The dogs come from region shelters and rescue groups. The dogs need the companionship as much as the people they will be with.

One of the men interviewed for the article said when he got his Border Collie Australian Shepherd mix his depression and anxiety was “at bay” as he shared his daily walks and runs with “Bandit”. He said “he makes me happy”. There is a seven weeks training session in the spring and fall offered for the vet and their family at the American Legion and Veterans of Foreign Wars posts.

It took the veterinarian who started the program three years to get the funding from grants and donations then recruit volunteers and set up the mission and procedures. The process takes months to visit the shelters for the animals then make the home visits ant interviews. This year she set up plans for the dogs to be placed with a foster person before they decide where to place them with just the “right” person and companion for life. The Veteran Companion Animal Services covers the costs of food, veterinary care, training and supplies for the first year. Of note to me was that a veteran of the US Marine Corps is the most recent recipient of a dog named Daisy. He is studying environmental policies at The Ohio State University. He said “...I think she can tell when you’re not in a good mood because she’ll come up and cuddle”.

It’s taco salad for dinner tonight.

Joy