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