July 30, 2020 thought for the day: Not everyone who wears spurs owns a horse. Spanish Proverb
It hasn’t been an exciting day but and interesting one. I got to the church and had the printing done in record time despite a hiccup with the copier (I become more and more exasperated with the hiccups that this copier presents every other week or so).  I’m not a technician so I have to do a work around, anything to get the job done.

I missed a day in my writing so I am going to share the photo challenge for July 28 in this letter. That theme was “lucky”. That one was a hard one for me to generate. I used the steeple, bell and cross on the church down the street from me as a symbol that stands for our spiritual freedom and our luck that it is forever there.

The twins are here today so that denotes the energy filled atmosphere in our house. There were pieces of clip art to be precisely selected and printed. Then there was a trip to the park. This time we picked the nearby elementary school play ground equipment to try out. I don’t know if we were not supposed to be there or not but we tried it out anyway. It is public property, isn’t it?

As seems to be a bad and usual habit, I forgot to start the laundry until well into the afternoon. So now I will be working into the evening to finish it.

We had some rain today. Just enough to tease the surface of the ground. Seems like feast or famine for water on the ground in these months of spring and summer in Ohio.

I got a little more work done on the email contact list and then some on my blog. I found out that things seem to be being deleted from my blogs, some of the main topics. I am not quite sure how I am going to handle that. They have updated the blogspot site so that may be the cause of the problem and it may straighten itself.

The theme for July 29 was “white background”. That one was easier for me than yesterdays. My problem with a white background is shooting an object that is white against the white background. But I found a good one for yesterday.



The word is keep.  Life is a shipwreck, but we must not forget to sing in the lifeboats, Voltaire. The sun shines and warms and lights us and we have no curiosity to know why this is so; but we ask the reason of all evil, of pain, and hunger, and mosquitoes and silly people, Ralph Waldo  Emerson. People are not disturbed by things, but by the view they take of them, Epictetus.  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. To be wronged is nothing unless you continue to remember it, Confucius. It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it, Aristotle.. The will to win, the desire to succeed, the urge to reach your full potential... these are the keys that will unlock the door to personal excellence, Confucius. We all have our own life to pursue, our own kind of dream to be weaving, and we all have the power to make wishes come true, as long as we keep believing, Louisa May Alcott. Even if I knew that tomorrow the world would go to pieces, I would still plant my apple tree, Martin Luther. Faith is to believe what you do not see; the reward of this faith is to see what you believe, Saint Augustine.  As long as a man stands in his own way, everything seems to be in his way, Ralph Waldo Emerson.  Let us be silent — so we may hear the whisper of the gods, Ralph Waldo Emerson. I have often regretted my speech, never my silence, Xenocrates. The promises of yesterday are the taxes of today, William Lyon Mackenzie. Better break your word than do worse in keeping it, Thomas Fuller.

The photo challenge for today is “I’ve never...”. There’s another hard one....how to show something that “I’ve never....done”. Well I ended up watching one of the twins as she was folded up like a pretzel swinging her legs over the arm of a lounge chair, not sofa mind you, but chair, one sealer. I haven’t tried something like that in a long, long time.   

It is sad to see that the Ohio State Fair won’t be happening this year. It’s going to be “just kids and critters” this year. At least the kids who have worked so hard will be able to show their talents. It won’t be the same but it’s better than nothing, better than losing a whole year worth of hard work. There will be no games and rides and the carnival atmosphere. According to the article there were some reports from the Pickaway County Fair last month of twenty-two coronavirus cases. The Union County Fair will be holding only the junior fair. They will also be having livestock exhibits and harness racing. One observer says it will be “eerie” not seeing many people roaming around. At the Knox County Fair there will be harness racing, the only entertainment. The junior fair will include market animals and sales. The animals will only be there one day and leave that night. The fairs will be losing money. Besides not having paid entertainment they still have to meet the costs of the”backside” where the junior fair activities take place. The main purpose of many of the county fairs is to offer the kids some participation, the main reason for the fair.

I can’t make up my mind for dinner yet. I have to get on the ball, it is getting late.

Joy

July 27, 2020 thought for the day: A friend is someone you can do nothing with, and enjoy it. Traditional Proverb

I think keeping busy is good for a person for all kinds of reasons, one being health. Anyway, I lived up to that kind adventure again today. 

On July 26 my “assignment” for a photo of the day was “friendship”. I put some thought into it looking at how to “image” a friend, a person of comfort and freedom. A hug is a great show of feelings but that is out right now except in our dreams. I chose my son’s hand as my model with my own hand touching his. We could still touch in the historical period of “isolation” since we are in the same household. And aren’t the members of our families also our friends?

The first thing on the agenda was a trip to the grocery store. One of the things we were looking for and didn’t find was a fly swatter. We seem to have more flies this year than in years past. We’ll keep looking. 

I got both parts of the yard, “garden”, watered. I think I mentioned before that I try to water every day that we don’t have rain, especially when the temperatures are approaching close to one hundred degrees. 

I found a spot in my blog that I didn’t realize I had never filled in. I am wondering if it will help in the sequencing of order. Anyway, it is going to be an on going task for a while since I only do a bit at a time. I have to address each blog from the beginning which is several months back. 

I am also bringing our church email account contacts up to date. I had only entered those with email addresses but there is a place in the program for putting all names as in a full directory of members. That task led me back to the bulletin for the coming Sunday. I think I have it done up to the information I am waiting to plug in. That should be here in a day or two. 

My photo challenge today is “pattern”. I think there is a pattern, of sorts, in almost every thing. The

patterns in my photo today are the lines and curves of one of my hibiscus flowers. In a hibiscus flower, is all of nature, like snow flakes, there are none the same. 

The word is joyful.  The greater our present trials, the louder will our future songs be, and the more intense our joyful gratitude, Charles Spurgeon. Still, as Christmas-tide comes round, They remember it again - Echo still the joyful sound "Peace on earth, good-will to men!", Lewis Carroll. When you ... see our Father, you will see a being with whom you have long been acquainted, and He will receive you into His arms, and you will be ready to fall into His embrace and kiss Him. ... You will be so glad and joyful. ... When you are qualified and purified, ... you can endure the glory of eternity, Brigham Young. I have no use for cranks who despise music, because it is a gift of God. Music drives away the Devil and makes people joyful; they forget thereby all wrath, unchastity, arrogance, and the like. Next after theology, I give to music the highest place and the greatest honor, Martin Luther. We are shaped by our thoughts; we become what we think. When the mind is pure, joy follows like a shadow that never leaves, Gautama Buddha. This is the most joyful day that ever I saw in my pilgrimage on earth, Donald Cargill. When you do things from your soul, you feel a river moving in you, a joy, Rumi.

I like to see new things popping up in the Westgate neighborhood. I don’t think I have ever heard of a “refillery” but that is what this article is about. When I read where this new facility is being opened close to home I had to share the message. There is a small business mini “shopping” mall nearby. There are maybe six “businesses” in them. Some of establishments are: Third Way Café and gallery 3060 Artworks as well as a ceramic shop.  The ones I have observed seem to be operating on with a small number of clientele.  The westside/hilltop area can use some exciting new opportunities for growth. I am hoping this one along with the others hang in there and pull in interested customers. They say the “refillery”, Koko, is the first of its kind in Columbus. (I looked up “refillery”, here’s what I found “new planet-friendly grocer offering a stylish, convenient, PLASTIC-FREE, 'weigh-and-pay' shopping experience”. Koko carries everything from compostable dish brushes and reusable dish cloths, to shampoo bars and primarily vegan apothecary items in sustainable packaging. One section also offers featured items like water bottles, reusable straws, beeswax wraps, reusable produce bags and more. Koko aims to be accessible in introducing customers to a more sustainable lifestyle. “We looked at the market and saw that sustainability was often cloaked in privilege. We believe what happens to this planet affects everyone, therefore sustainability is for everyone,” stated Co-Founder Jamie Fairman. “Each person’s sustainability journey and efforts will look a little different, but we are here to help make it approachable and accessible to all.” The owner of the shop is a westside resident. He also owns a shop in Louisville, Lexington and Denver. 

We are having baked cube steaks and mashed potatoes for dinner. 

Joy

July 25, 2020 thought for the day: All life is choice. You can be stopped only if you choose to allow it to happen. Traditional Proverb

It has been another active day. I have not stopped since I got up this morning. I have done more work in the kitchen than I usually do on a Saturday and a little less computer work. 

The photo challenge for July 24 was “letter”. When searching a round for a letter to take a photo of, I thought of how digital technology has taken a big chunk of that type of correspondence. It’s kind of nostalgic as well as pride in growth in wide spread communication. 

The only computer-related project I worked on today was finishing one of the coffee table books I want to put out. I am trying to get up the nerve to send it to Amazon. 

I made the dogs meat balls and then made a Cherry/pineapple dump cake. Between those two projects I watered first the front, took a break for lunch then watered the back. 

I took the newsletter to the mail box and when I was about to put them in I noticed the seals were coming loose. I was concerned that the post office would be unhappy about that so I brought them back home. I had Bob go to Staples to get me some more seals. When he got back, I resealed seventy-five newsletters. They will be a few days late getting to folks. 

I am trying to get dinner prepared to the heating part so that I can run the message sheets to the church at four o’clock. 

The word today is journey.  Grieve not; though the journey of life be bitter, and the end unseen, there is no road which does not lead to an end, Hafez.  Each traveler should know what he has to see, and what properly belongs to him, on a journey, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe.  Of course it is of no use to direct our steps to the woods, if they do not carry us thither. I am alarmed when it happens that I have walked a mile into the woods bodily, without getting there in spirit.... What business have I in the woods, if I am thinking of something out of the woods? Henry David Thoreau. Meandering leads to perfection, Laozi.  Prayers and Provender hinder no Journey, Benjamin Franklin. The journey is its own reward, Homer. Every day is a journey, and the journey itself is home, Matsuo Basho. A tree that can fill the span of a man's arms grows from a downy tip; A terrace nine stories high rises from level earth; A journey of a thousand miles starts from beneath one's feet, Laozi.  I see my path, but I don't know where it leads. Not knowing where I'm going is what inspires me to travel it, Rosalia de Castro.  Even the longest journey must begin where you stand, Laozi.   You lack a foot to travel? Then journey into yourself - that leads to transformation of dust into pure gold, Rumi. A pleasant companion reduces the length of the journey, Publilius Syrus. 

The theme for today is “smooth”. That one is a thinker. But as I glaceed around the room for a possible

subject I caught my great-niece daydreaming out the window and was aware of the smoothness of the skin of youth, so that is my capture. 

An article about some more renovation going on around our city.  The title is, New district will pay for security, streetscape improvements in Italian Village, Weinland Park”. Some of the folks in Weinland Park think they haven’t had enough of a say about what services the Fifth Avenue and Fourth Street Special Improvement District will have available. Some of the services provided will be similar to the ones in the Downtown-area such as security, streetscapes like planters and flower beds, graffiti removal and market studies. One member of the Italian Village Society said they want to have programs that offer a sense of community. Property owners pay assessments for the effects of the programs. The Short North Alliance will help with the plans. As far as I can tell from the article there are still some decisions to be made by the residents. 

   

We are having baked Parmesan chicken and potato pancakes. 

Joy

July 23, 2020 thought for the day:  With money you would not know yourself, without money nobody would know you. Spanish Proverb

This has been a bit of a busier Thursday than is usual. I had three different projects to print for today. I got the sheet to be passed out with the free meal done first. I moved on to the bulletin and then tackled the newsletter. I brought some of it home to fold, seal, label, and stamps done here, along with the stuffing the envelopes with the message sheet. 

Yesterday’s photo challenge was “every day”. So I figured it should be something I would see every day, which would be something relatively permanent at least for the season. Sue has a fire pit set up in the back yard for the twins to roast hot dogs and marshmallows. 

When I got home, I started on the house work by clearing the frig and unloading/loading the dish washer. Moving on....the laundry was started.....to be continued to the end of the day. Finally, back to some of the folding and finishing touched on the work I brought home. 

I wanted to get an early start on dinner so after a quick lunch of tuna salad sandwich and cheeseits I started the meatloaf. After putting that in the oven and put potatoes on to cook I finally back to the computer. 

The word is inward. A man who as a physical being is always turned toward the outside, thinking that his happiness lies outside him, finally turns inward and discovers that the source is within him, Soren Kierkegaard. Happiness depends more on the inward disposition of mind than on outward circumstances, Benjamin Franklin. A man's felicity consists not in the outward and visible blessing of fortune, but in the inward and unseen perfections and riches of the mind, Thomas Carlyle. The outward work will never be puny if the inward work is great, Meister Eckhart.  Outward judgment often fails, inward judgment never, Theodore Parker. No one can be great, or good, or happy except through the inward efforts of themselves, Frederick William Robertson. As we grow old, the beauty steals inward, Ralph Waldo Emerson. Quietude, which some men cannot abide because it reveals their inward poverty, is as a palace of cedar to the wise, for along its hallowed courts the King in his beauty deigns to walk, Charles Spurgeon. To live happily is an inward power of the soul, Marcus Aurelius. Goodness consists not in the outward things we do, but in the inward thing we are, Edwin Hubbel Chapin. I entered (into my inward self) and beheld with the eye of my soul...the Light Unchangeable, Saint Augustine. I long to put the experience of fifty years at once into your young lives, to give you at once the key of that treasure chamber every gem of which has cost me tears and struggles and prayers, but you must work for these inward treasures yourself, Harriet Beecher Stowe.  In youth all doors open outward; in old age all open inward, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.

Today’s photo challenge is “something beautiful”. Wow! What a subject to capture. It’s all around us

. It’s hard to choose. If we open our eyes as we move step by step each day there is something beautiful in view.     

I liked the title of this article about what COSI is doing to help the kids while this pandemic is going on. The Center of Science and Industry is closed for now so they are visiting Franklin County underserved children with a surprise. The surprise is a box filled with hands-on science activities. Most of these children area already getting free meals for the summer. They are calling these packages “learning lunch boxes” so along with the free lunches they are feeding the hungry and feeding the minds. The first delivery was at the Barnett branch of the library. The East Side parents and grandparents picked up the kits along with the lunches. The boxes each contain different projects. One was 3-D glasses, seeds to plant, a workbook and an “energy stick” (allows your body to be a human conductor of electricity (safely)”. These projects will be planed around different topics.  The article related that “the activities....are rooted in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM)”. The ages that these boxes are designed for are from kindergarten through high school. They want to educate and enrich and keep the youth “engaged”. An added feature of this project is that is can be downloaded through a COSI app (COSI Connects for one). . 

I am making meat loaf for dinner. 

Joy

July 21, 2020 thought for the day: You notice what I drink, and not the thirst I feel. Spanish Proverb
I had a meeting last night. It was one of those kinds that left some points and manner-of-talk about the details in my thinking and processing mode, so that is what I have been doing the biggest part of today.

I had two photo a day challenges yesterday. The first was “fave smell” That is another that offers a wide variety of choices. I chose one that I have always come back to. I even had it in a perfume once, called vanilla fields. I added a feeling of waves over the bottle of vanilla.

I worked on small additions I needed to make to the bulletin and newsletter before I took Sue on some errands that she needed to make.

When we got back I watered the back portion of the yard. Then got my nose back in a visit back to the computer.

I reached out to a friend to share some concerns I have been having. I needed to vent. She was a good “listener”.

The second title for a photo of the day on July 20th was “round things”. The twins had left some very pink balls in the tub when they finished their baths. That seemed a perfect image.

The word is invisible.  Little by little, wean yourself. This is the gist of what I have to say. From an embryo whose nourishment comes in the blood, move to an infant drinking milk, to a child on solid food, to a searcher after wisdom, to a hunter of invisible game, Rumi.  Age is opportunity no less than youth itself, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. One is not idle because one is absorbed. There is both visible and invisible labor. To contemplate is to toil, to think is to do. The crossed arms work, the clasped hands act. The eyes upturned to Heaven are an act of creation, Victor Hugo. When you're down to nothing, God is up to something. The faithful see the invisible, believe the incredible and then receive the impossible. Where liberty dwells there is my country, Benjamin Franklin.  The Ideal is the invisible sun which is always on the meridian of the soul, William Batchelder Greene. Intellect is invisible to the man who has none, Arthur Schopenhauer. God washes the eyes by tears until they can behold the invisible land where tears shall come no more, Henry Ward Beecher. One of the principal rules of religion is, to lose no occasion of serving God. And, since he is invisible to our eyes, we are to serve him in our neighbour; which he receives as if done to himself in person, standing visibly before us, John Wesley. The longer I live, the more deeply am I convinced that that which makes the difference between one person and another-between the weak and the powerful, the great and the insignificant-is energy-invisible determination, Charles Buxton.

The photo theme for today is “where I stood” ....since I don’t do much standing these days, I changed the title a bit to reflect where I spend a great deal of my time, “where I sat”, my well worn desk chair.

This article is another about bicycles. It looks like there truly is a lot more interest in bicycling recently. Hopefully it hangs on. Personally, I think bicycling is healthy in more ways than one. It is evident that the pandemic has increased the interest in this activity. One of the major benefits is the exercise in fresh air a person gets while keeping some social distance.  This article says that an American Marketing Research Group says that the sales in bikes, helmet and other accessories is over a billion dollars which is double the typical $550 million. This phenomenon has also increased the use in bike trails. The trails are open. Weather conditions don’t seem to make much a difference in the amount of use they get. I leaned from the article that “there are 40,000 miles of multi-use trails across the country” and in comparison there are nearly 47,000 miles of interstate highways. Also of interest is that some of these trails are converted railroad beds. Since there are a lot of “newcomers” to the bike trails the article listed some “trail etiquette”. Avoiding crowds is one, wearing a helmet, stay right and use the bike bell when near a pedestrian and other cyclists. Carry a small bike pump, pull off the trail if you stop, don’t use a phone when riding and don’t walk your dog at the same time as a ride.

We’re having hot dogs and mac and cheese for dinner.

Joy

July 19, 2020 thought for the day: You surrender your freedom where you deposit your secret. Spanish Proverb

It’s been a beautiful Sunday with a touch of disappointment added. There was a plan to spend a couple of hours with family today but the plans were changed due to the pandemic. One of the members was near a person who tested positive so we had to table the plans for another day. I wonder how many of us have had similar incidences in this time of awe and learning.

The photo challenge for July 18 offered a wide expanse of space, the “sky”. Although some days the sky can be dull with very little interest. Yesterday there was more there, loads of white fluffy clouds.

We had our first communion at church this morning. It has been at least three months without this comfort. It was done with safety in mind. Social distancing, masks when in motion, and bread and juice separated with care. The service and comradeship refreshed and renewed my soul for another week.

I have a few minor chores to get done before the end of the day but they are purposely limited since this is Sunday, my day of quiet celebration and rest.

The word is introduction.  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. All inquiry into antiquity, all curiosity respecting the Pyramids, the excavated cities, Stonehenge, the Ohio Circles, Mexico, Memphis,--is the desire to do away this wild, savage, and preposterous There and Then, and introduce in its place the Here and Now, Ralph Waldo Emerson. Shakespeare knew the human mind, and its most minute and intimate workings, and he never introduces a word, or a thought, in vain or out of place; if we do not understand him, it is our own fault, Samuel Taylor Coleridge. I think it would be worth the while to introduce a school of children to such [an oak grove], that they may get an idea of the primitive oaks before they are all gone, instead of hiring botanists to lecture to them when it is too late, Henry David Thoreau. 

Today theme is “flowers”. As I left church I noticed there were a few flowers still blooming. Just to have a wider collection to choose from I drove by the park searching for possible shots. Then cruised up and down a couple of streets in the neighborhood. By the time I got home I had a pretty good cache. I used a painterly filter on this one to give it a bit of a new look.

I like to see old places and architecture saved. If only walls could talk to tell what they have seen, what life was like when the walls were new and then through the years. With that in mind this article title caught my attention. “Preserving history, Donors, Fairfield County parks unite to find new purposes for old log home, farmhouse”. Two houses were acquired by the Fairfield County Park District. One was a log home from the time of the 1849s and the other a century old brick farmhouse. The plan are to serve visitors and staff with hopes of having renovations completed by the end of the year. The building that turned out to be a made of logs had been covered with siding and wasn’t recognized in its original construction. That was discovered when  some repairs had to be made after some roof damage in a windstorm. It was finally donated to the park district. The structure was build in 1829 by and English immigrant. Plans are to have ti used for educational programming and public events. The brick farmhouse was built in 1920 and is part of a private nature preserve. The owners have decided to donate the house to the Fairfield County parks. They hope to use the property as education services, a district office and meeting rooms and gathering place.

It’s hamburgers and rice pilaf with spam and sweet corn for dinner.

Joy

July 17, 2020 thought for the day; Follow your heart and your dreams will come true. Traditional Proverb

It has been another interesting and happy Friday. My grocery list was growing again so it was time to make a trip to the store. Sue needed some things to so we left early enough that we would miss some of a larger group of shoppers.

As I was thinking of what I may want to photograph for my shot of the day yesterday Sonja, one of my twin great grand nieces, was getting her scrambled egg and cheese breakfast. So I grabbed the camera and got the theme challenge, “edible”, for the day.

We came home to put the cold and frozen items away and then left again for another errand. I wanted to visit  my great grandson to see his new hair cut and to give him a squeeze or two. Before we left the house, we checked to make sure when his nap time was. It fit the picture best for us to run the errand before we stopped to see William, and his parents, of course. We had some play time and noticed all the things he had learned since the last visit. He is pulling himself up now and even using a “walker toy” to move about. The visit was a boost to the heart.

The only “work” I got done today was a little time on additions to updating the church director. Now I need to get a little watering done.

The word is interest.  Interest is the spur of the people, but glory that of great souls. Invention is the talent of youth, and judgment of age, Jonathan Swift.  Make the most of your regrets; never smother your sorrow, but tend and cherish it till it comes to have a separate and integral interest. To regret deeply is to live afresh, Henry David Thoreau. Self-interest makes some people blind, and others sharp-sighted, Francois de La Rochefoucauld. There is a blessed necessity by which the interest of men is always driving them to the right; and, again, making all crime mean and ugly, Ralph Waldo Emerson. Misfortune seldom intrudes upon the wise man; his greatest and highest interests are directed by reason throughout the course of life, Epicurus. The excess of our youth are checks written against our age and they are payable with interest thirty years later, Charles Caleb Colton. There is some self-interest behind every friendship. There is no friendship without self-interests. This is a bitter truth, Chanakya. Politicians neither love nor hate. Interest, not sentiment, directs them, Lord Chesterfield. A man will fight harder for his interests than for his rights, Napoleon Bonaparte. Nature... is nothing but the inner voice of self-interest, Charles Baudelaire. Those who deny freedom to others deserve it not for themselves, Abraham Lincoln.

Today’s challenge is “pile”. While I was out and about today I forgot to look around for the theme. When I got home I remembered we had a stack of bricks left from a project Bob had worked on that would fit the theme.

I, like most kids, rode a bike everywhere. Later in life I switched to a moped. Then, still later, my aunt had a three-wheel adult bike that I enjoyed for a while. Somehow it got passed around and it was miss-remembered who got the bike from Aunt Margaret. Recently, I checked and found that it had been sold. It might have been a “trip” to ride it again (at eighty years old). As you can guess the article I picked for today is about bikes and how sales have increased in the pandemic. Maybe that is one of the better things that will come from this offensive journey in history. More people will be riding bikes which will cut down on air pollution from engines. The first sentence in the article mentioned that one boy waited for forty-five minutes as the bike he wanted was built. Another customer went in the store looking for a mountain bike. The owner was just putting the finishing touches on a mountain bike we had got from Goodwill. The article was about a bike shop in Clintonville. They have ten bikes in the store, “some new, some refurbished” where they usually have twice that many. Later the article mentioned that bike shops nationwide are having more trouble keeping bikes in stock than “since the oil crisis in the 1970's”. The need for repair work on bikes found hidden away in garages or found in thrift shops are also up for shop owners. One customer paid $317 to have everything on his older model bike replaced. I learned from the article that new bikes that cost less than $1,000 are scarce. People are wanting to trade old bikes for newer ones but they are selling so fast there aren’t any to trade for.

It’s that time again....an old and well-exercised tradition....pizza on a Friday night.

Joy

July 15, 2020 thought for the day: As you climb the ladder of success, check occasionally to make sure it is leaning against the right wall. Traditional Proverb

This has been like most days, things keep getting added to my to-do list. I think that can be what makes a happy and productive life, at least for me it does, most of the time.

The photo theme for July 14 was “water”. I wasn’t out and about yesterday so I pulled from my photo archive. I had the brilliant (?) idea to use a water tower to fit the title.

I have begun getting returns on the request for updates for the church directory. I spent some time entering the data that I have received so far. The newsletter is done to the point that I am waiting for input from others. The bulletin is done and out to the proofreader...some have come back and are adjusted already. I should be ready to print tomorrow morning. I also played around with getting art work for the front page of the new phone directory. I am satisfied with it but it may take a bit too much color ink, I will have to give that some more thought.

Sue had another appointment at the dentist so I dropped her off then picked her up about a couple of hours later. Then she needed to stop at the store. Once back at home, I got back to work on the computer things while taking a break to water the “gardens”.

It is hot outside and is supposed to get even hotter for the rest of the week. I learned something today. I learned what the dog days of summer really mean. It is about the stars. I naively thought is had to do with actual dogs and how the heat of the summer affects them at this point in the year. I am so glad for the capability to learn and learn and learn.

The theme today is “number”. I had been playing around with a Photoshop technique using layers, putting one image over another and using a mask to pull parts of  the under layer to the surface. I was using it on a document cover. The photo I shot of large numbers on a dentist’s office needed a boost.

The word is intention. Be intent upon the perfection of the present day, William Law. A benefit consists not in what is done or given, but in the intention of the giver or doer, Seneca the Younger. Our aspirations are our possibilities, Samuel Johnson. It is difficult to say who does you the most mischief, enemies with the worst intentions, or friends with the best, Edward Bulwer-Lytton, 1st Baron Lytton. Secrecy is the soul of all great designs. Perhaps more has been effected by concealing our own intentions than by discovering those of our enemy, Charles Caleb Colton. Do not dare to live without some clear intention toward which your living shall be bent. Mean to be something with all your might, Phillips Brooks. Uncomfortable thoughts must be got rid of by good intentions for the future, George Eliot. An evil intention perverts the best actions, and makes them sins, Joseph Addison.  In all of our deeds God looks at the intention, whether we do it for His sake, or for the sake of some other intention, Maximus the Confessor. That delay is our surest protection which enables us to deliberate on themerits of our intentions, Publilius Syrus.  It is a hard, embittering thing to have one's kind feelings and good intentions cast back in one's teeth, Anne Bronte.  Our aspirations are our possibilities, Samuel Johnson. 

Today was another of the two photos a day projects. The second photo for today is titles “bubbles”. The kids weren’t around to blow bubbles for me to shoot and didn’t feel like loading the sink the soap bubbles to I bulled out a sheet of bubble wrap to fit the theme.

This article title sounded on the happy side. About people bonding together doing things that bring smiles. It is titled “‘Project Butterflies’ connects Latina mothers and daughters in Franklin County”. A lady new to the US from her native country of Peru needed a way to connect with people so she formed a group. Even though this was designed for one group specifically, it may work for other mothers too. It is called “Project Butterflies” and is a way for mothers and girls to offer weekly activities to one another from cooking to talks on health and appearances. The group celebrates  events such as special birthdays. One project was to put together boxes filled with supplies for different activities such as embroidery and such things as ways to make bath bombs with essential oil and scents. Time is set aside each week to chat about weekly activities and other topics that may be on one or the others mind at the time. Some conversations share teaching-type activities on subjects that may be a special talent of one of the persons in the conversation. The group as a whole try to help one another overcome whatever obstacles may be in their lives at the time.

I had spaghetti sauce in the freezer, that is going to be dinner tonight.

Joy

July 13, 2020 thought for the day: Be the master of your will and the slave of your conscience. Traditional Proverb

So far it has been a pretty much typical Monday. I spent the early part, after the virtual checks, on the bulletin. Then I started disassembling/reassembling the newsletter to get a start on the August issue. The information from the congregation will be due on Sunday so this will help get it completed by a week from Wednesday more comfortably.

Yesterday’s photo challenge was “this is mine”. As you can imagine that leaves a wide-open list of choices. One that came to mind for me was part of my “garden” that you may have gleaned from other places in my blog. I have a house plant “garden” as well as a couple of tiny areas of decorative plants in my yard. This photo is a part of my house plant selection that is spending the spring and summer outside on vacation.

I got part of the watering done, the frig cleared out and the dishwasher tended to. As I was working, I had the TV on as I always do. I caught the words’ chicken nuggets as it rose above the other chatter so I stopped what I was doing and listened. I had been trying to decide what I was going to have for dinner. That sounded good so I searched Google and found the recipe.

Now it’s time to do the rest of the watering and to go in search of the photo of the day.

The word is intellect. The intellect is a cleaver; it discerns and rifts its way into the secrets of 
things, Henry David Thoreau. Each thing lives according to its kind; the heart by love, the intellect by truth, the higher nature of man by intimate communion with God, Edwin Hubbel Chapin. The errors of  the intellect are fatal, still more dangerous than those of the heart, Eugenie de Guerin. Teaching brings out innate powers, and proper training braces the intellect, Horace.  To be able to discern that what is true is true, and that what is false is false,--this is the mark and character of intelligence, Ralph Waldo Emerson. The intellectual quest is exquisite like pearls and coral, But it is not the same as the spiritual quest. The spiritual quest is on another level altogether, Spiritual wine has a subtler taste. The intellect and the senses investigate cause and effect. The spiritual seeker surrenders to the wonder, Rumi. It hinders the creative work of the mind if the intellect examines too closely the ideas as they pour in, Friedrich Schiller. The acquisition of knowledge is always of use to the intellect, because it may thus drive out useless things and retain the good. For nothing can be loved or hated unless it is first known, Leonardo da Vinci. Just as iron rusts from disuse... even so does inaction spoil the intellect, Leonardo da Vinci.  

On my search for a photo for today, as I mentioned above I took shot through four of my windows and decided on this one. Peaceful.

An article about gardens and nature is always relaxing, even when it includes bugs.  This article is about how dragonflies offer something to gardens as do butterflies and hummingbirds. A suggestion to encourage them to visit your space is to leave “natural debris” in a pond, there may be eggs waiting to  produce new baby dragonflies. Another suggestion is to add plants and flat rocks so the dragonfly has a place to perch. The article said  “A dragonfly’s speed, agility and super hero vision make it a lethal ambush predator, able to track, nab and devour insect prey in midair, often sneaking up from below”. The insect can eat as many as one hundred mosquitoes a day. I visited a site mentioned in the article and learned that the dragonfly has two sets of swiveling wings so they can hover motionless or change direction in a blink. So we can see that dragonflies as great “pest managers”. Not only are they “pest managers” many think they are entertaining in their movements. Not only are all of these descriptions interesting there is one more fact about them, they are descendants of an ancient species who lived before dinosaurs and are just as amazing as their prehistoric family.

We are having home made chicken nuggets in a delicious honey mustard sauce along with cheesy potatoes.

Joy

July 11, 2020 thought for the day: Knowledge is not what you can remember, but what you cannot forget. Traditional Proverb

 It’s been a slow-moving day. It started off with a computer problem for me and it took me a couple of hours to “fix” it. It appears that my yahoo email account was hacked. So I waded through several ways I thought would fix it until I eventually decided to simply close it out. Now I am going to have to let people know AGAIN that my email has been changed.

The challenge for yesterday was “listening to...”. Whenever the twins are here I try to get as many photos of them as I can. This one fit the theme title, sharing the secrets of youth.

That put me at a slow start with everything else I wanted to accomplish for today. It hasn’t rained for a while so I have the two “garden’s” to water. The dogs are out of their favorite treat (my bad....I started it, now I would feel guilty if I tried to stop it.) It’s meatballs, they are healthy for them, they have all the vegetables and healthy other ingredients to keep them happy.

The pharmacy just called to say my meds are in so I should take some time to go over and pick them up. I may have to let it go until after church tomorrow.

I had a second photo of the day yesterday. The title was “repetition”. After some searching I settled on this one of the old gate made of wooden slats.

The word today is inquiry.  Difference of opinion leads to inquiry, and inquiry to the truth, Thomas Jefferson. The inquiry leads us to that source, at once the essence of genius, of virtue, and of life, which we call Spontaneity or Instinct, Ralph Waldo Emerson. There is no permanence in doubt; it incites the mind to closer inquiry and experiment, from which, if rightly managed, certainty proceeds, and in this alone can man find thorough satisfaction, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. ... For we are inquiring not in order to know what virtue is, but in order to become good, since otherwise our inquiry would have been of no use, Aristotle. We lawyers are always curious, always inquisitive, always picking up odds and ends for our patchwork minds, since there is no knowing when and where they may fit into some corner, Charles Dickens. Some men covet knowledge out of a natural curiosity and inquisitive temper; some to entertain the mind with variety and delight; some for ornament and reputation; some for victory and contention; many for lucre and a livelihood; and but few for employing the Divine gift of reason to the use and benefit of mankind, Francis Bacon. The sermon which I write inquisitive of truth is good a year after, but that which is written because a sermon must be writ is musty the next day, Ralph Waldo Emerson.

Something is new at the zoo again. I hope we keep seeing new things added. I think we are one of the biggest zoos in the country. At one spot on Google it is mentioned as the number one zoo in the country; in another spot it is listed as number three. Either one is something to be proud of. The article today is about a new region at the zoo, called Adventure Cove. It is an underwater sea lion tunnel.  The article says it is “the first of it’s kind, a 60-foot-long acrylic tunnel.” It’s an over head tunnel filled with water. This new complete addition is still being worked on. There will be a “tunnel” under the floor which is covered with acrylic flooring. Visitors will be able to see the sea lions below them too. There are four harbor seals, still in the process of being trained, in the exhibit. The article mentioned that the theme was “inspired” by the Pacific Northwest Fisherman’s Wharf and Pier39 in San Francisco. The decking is heated so it will be open year round. The article went on to say that there are twelve sea lions including the two new pups presently at the zoo. Stingray Bay is located in the Adventure Cove also. It offers a touch pool. This feature use to be a seasonal opening part of the zoo but will now be open all years.

My photo theme for today is “cold”. It’s summer and scorching hot so the best choices were something cold to eat or drink or a photo inside the freezer. I decided on a glass of my diet cola filled with ices cubes.

I think we will have chili mac for inner and a sugar snap pea salad to go with it.

Joy

July 9, 2020 thought for the day: Life is like an onion. You peel it off layer by layer and sometimes you weep. Traditional Proverb

I got to the church to do the printing a little earlier than I usually do so I was done sooner to. That worked out well since I also had to make a stop at Kroger to pick up some meds. Of course, I bought a few other items too. I can’t seem to just walk into Kroger without picking up something I think we will need. They only had one of the two meds that I had ordered ready so I am going to have to go back in another day or two.

On July 8 the theme was “three things”. I shot several photos as I was out and about running errands. One was a building that has three doors each painted a different color, three traffic lights in a row and this one of traffic control pillars. This one shows texture and I like the muted colors in the background.

I have one of the sections of the yard watered, will get to the other side in a few minutes.  I also got the laundry started. All of this walking will show up tomorrow when I get out of bed.

Yesterday, I worked on the letters I will be sending out to the congregation for information for the new directory. I would like to get that started as soon as possible. They were ready to mail except that I needed stamps. I picked those up while I was at church.

I took some time to look for a recipe that sounds good to try chili with pumpkin instead of so much tomato. We’ll see how that turns out.

The word today is influence. Humility like darkness reveals the heavenly lights, Henry David Thoreau. Our liberty depends on our education, our laws, and habits . . . it is founded on morals and religion, whose authority reigns in the heart, and on the influence all these produce on public opinion before that opinion governs rulers, Fisher Ames. Do not Christians and Heathens, and Jews and Gentiles, and poets and philosophers, unite in allowing the starry influences? Walter Scott. No reproof or denunciation is so potent as the silent influence of a good example, Hosea Ballou. Example, whether it be good or bad, has a powerful influence, George Washington. The most influential books, and the truest in their influence, are works of fiction. They repeat, they re-arrange, they clarify the lessons of life; they disengage us from ourselves, they constrain us to the acquaintance of others; and they show us the web of experience, but with a singular change-that monstrous, consuming ego of ours being, nonce, struck out, Robert Louis Stevenson. If a man be under the influence of anger his conduct will not be correct, Confucius. Some wisdom you must learn from one who's wise, Euripides. The most hateful human misfortune is for a wise man to have no influence, Herodotus. Those who exert the first influence upon the mind have the greatest power, Horace Mann. Learn to distinguish what you can and can't control. Within our control are our own opinions, aspirations, desires and the things that repel us. They are directly subject to our influence, Epictetus. 

Today’s photo theme is a building. This building has been vacant for some time. I am hoping it will be put to good use soon.

 First of all, it will be interesting to see the new landscape when this project is done. Also how it will work for the community. The article is about how the former Franklin County landfill will be used. I am glad to see that that happens, land that is used for one can be re-purposed for something with benefits to the community. There is a plan to use part of it for a solar farm, Columbus Solar Park. It will be able to supply enough power to about five thousand homes. The Solid Waste Authority of Central Oho owns the property and will be leasing it to the solar project. At first I was envisioning a wind powered system. Due to the prior use of the land, waste disposal and the methane gas it produced no buildings can be built on the land. The land is still settling. This plan helps with what has been the cost of maintaining the property as well as producing clean and renewable energy for the community. It will allow for the rest of the property to do more recycling, composting and lower the fees for haulers that deliver waste to the landfill. Apparently there was a similar project in Cuyahoga County last year and there are two solar projects in two coal mines and one in a former power plant.

I am having chili for dinner. I am trying to cut down on using too many tomatoes so I am going to substitute part of it with pumpkin. Hopefully that helps with my digestive problems.

Joy

July 5, 2020 thought for the day: Master your emotions so that each day will be productive. Traditional Proverb

This has been a typical Sunday. A good sermon with the company of a few good people on a gorgeous summer day. It gave me the renewal in spirit that I needed especially in this day and time of world growth and changing existence.

Yesterday’s photo theme was “stars”. I chose one that fit the day, July 4, to a T. The starry field on the American flag on my front porch.

I have not and am not planning to get much done today beyond tending to my “garden” that is thirsty and experiencing a rising temperature period.

The word today is improving. We know what we are, but know not what we may be, William Shakespeare. We sometimes from dreams pick up some hint worth improving by reflection, Thomas Jefferson. Knowing others is intelligence; knowing yourself is true wisdom. Mastering others is strength; mastering yourself is true power, Laozi.  Retire into yourself as much as possible. Associate with people who are likely to improve you. Welcome those whom you are capable of improving. The process is a mutual one. People learn as they teach, Seneca the Younger. Youth is the time of getting, middle age of improving, and old age of spending, Anne Bradstreet.  All highly competent people continually search for ways to keep learning, growing, and improving. They do that by asking WHY. After all, the person who knows HOW will always have a job, but the person who knows WHY will always be the boss, Benjamin Franklin.  While civilization has been improving our houses, it has not equally improved the men who are to inhabit them. It has created palaces, but it was not so easy to create noblemen and kings, Henry David Thoreau. 

The photo challenge for today is “garden”. My garden is struggling this year so I did some searching in the neighborhood and while out on errands. This one that I am showing was taken as I waited at the McDonalds drive through.

It’s to bad some people make it so bad for him, the man this article started out to interview. He sounds like a good man, a man being loyal to his job along with career peers and to his race. All people should be understanding to all people, while knowing the difference between bad people and good people. He is trying to protect both his race and all of God’s other children as are his fellow officers. For people who know history know that in all of history there have been white slaves as well as black slaves. To my way of thinking and understanding, all of them suffering all of the implications of slavery. It’s possible that somewhere in my past some of “my people” have been slaves. Note: One place I recently came across concerning the explanation of slavery is an excerpt from a book, by Robert Davis, professor of history at Ohio State University. For those interested in history it may be worth looking up and reading this book. It would be appropriate and informative if news reporters and politicians would note these points in their dialog's too. Today's article is about an African American police officer. The article opened with a description of what he and all the officers are experiencing, ‘....had held the line for hours, never flinching as protesters screamed insults, hurled rocks and frozen water bottles and dared the men and women to take off their uniforms and fight”. Then someone in the crowd “zeroed in on his black skin”. They circled him and called him names. Of course the insults hurt this good man. Further in the article after some discussion of the racial question within the police, it was stated. “The assumptions that every officer is racist are unfair and wrong”. One of the African American police officer’s interviewed stated that he has seen plenty of protests in Columbus before but nothing like this one. He went on to say that he had been shot at and called “Uncle Tom”. He talked about how the community doesn’t seem to ask for reasons for the everyday killings of young black men claimed by street violence. One of the female officer’s stated that she “hopes this racial justice movement, rather than dismantling law enforcement, will increase diversity in the ranks and lead to better understanding” (on all fronts). Another of the quotes from the interview was, “We needed Black police officers, doctors, firemen. Now we’re having that change. Don’t down us for doing what our people and what my grandparents fought for us to have.”

As happens four times a month I had a second challenge on the photo a day subject. This one was titled “clouds in the sky. Believe it or not I had to pull from my archive of photos. We are having  a gorgeous summer day and the sky is wonderfully blue but there were very few clouds presenting themselves at the time I was looking for them

I think we will order in again this Sunday. It seems fo have become another “tradition” as Friday is for pizza.

Joy  

July 3, 2020 thought for today: When in prayer you clasp your hands, God opens His. Traditional Proverb

It’s been another overnight with the twins and the energy that goes with it. We didn’t do so much moving around away from the house this time. We stayed here and they seemed able to find all kinds of things that interested them. One of the things that seemed to grab their attention the most was playing in the hose. I went out to water the back “garden”. That’s when they decided it would be nice to get themselves wet too. They seemed to have had a blast.

My photo challenge for yesterday was “fave colour”. I don’t know that I really have a favorite color. It changes with my mood and senses. Yesterday, and many time, it is green.

I think I picked up some more work for church while I was at a meeting last night. Actually, two things, I will be in charge of getting the sermons and anthems up to our web page and facebook page. I will also be generating a new church phone directory.

There is nothing pressing on the agenda for today so other than enjoying the twins I have been researching material on the web to get the phone directory project started. I also got to work on cataloging Photoshop files. I have put that off for a couple of months so there were a lot of photos to add keywords to for future searches.

The word today is impossible. Abandoned by reason produces impossible monsters, Francisco Goya. To rectify past blunders is impossible, but we might profit by the experience of them, George Washington. Experience has shown that it is difficult, if not impossible, for a populous state to be run by good laws, Aristotle.  Nothing is impossible to the willing heart. Thomas Heywood. Justice without wisdom is impossible, James Anthony Froude.  It is impossible to underestimate the significance of your today's choices, Gautama Buddha. Start by doing what's necessary; then do what's possible; and suddenly you are doing the impossible, Francis of Assisi.  There is nothing impossible to him who will try, Alexander the Great.  One great difference between a wise man and a fool is, the former only wishes for what he may possibly obtain; the latter desires impossibilities, Democritus. Love feels no burden, thinks nothing of trouble, attempts what is above its strength, pleads no excuse of impossibility; for it thinks all things lawful for itself, and all things possible, Thomas a Kempis.  Every man is an impossibility until he is born, Ralph Waldo Emerson. Man is so made that when anything fires his soul, impossibilities vanish, Jean de La Fontaine  Now is the time to know that all that you do is sacred... Now is the time for you to deeply compute the impossibility that there is anything but grace, Hafez. The state of faith allows no mention of impossibility, Tertullian. 

Today’s challenge is “mirror”. I like the one I chose. I like the division of the photo, the muted colors and the small reflections. This is the mirror above my mantel. That spot has an interesting life and history.

I think I mentioned the area around Old Man’s Cave a few days ago. Here’s another one I found today. This article is about Hocking Hills and it’s reopening “while distancing”. The trails, some of them very narrow, have been “modified”. Many have become “one-way loops”. To complete some of these modifications walkways had to be built. On some of the others just the signs had to be posted. The article mentioned that some of the park workers took the time to reroute some of the trails around “ecologically sensitive areas”. One of the areas that has been closed for six years because of damage from a flood was reopened. The visitors center at Hocking chills is still closed but restrooms are open. The day the opened, last week, the parking lot was on-third full by ten o’clock. Not many were wearing masks but they were keeping good distance from others. There are other state parks with beautiful offerings too. As for the Hocking Hills parks one couple made reservations six months ago for a cabin. A family stopped for an overnight at Hocking Hills on their way for a family reunion in Kentucky. Another item in the article was that a lady stated that it was easy enough hike even with her arthritic knees.

I always look forward to pizza night . . .

Joy

July 1, 2020 thought for the day: If your day is hemmed with prayer, it is less likely to unravel. Traditional Proverb

It has been a slow day compared to the last three or four. There is noting on the agenda except to make any small corrections to the bulletin for printing tomorrow.

The photo theme for June 30 was “four”. As usual my search began with the closet object to my eye at a time I could begin my search. The first thing I noticed was Sweet Pea showing all four paws as she napped laying on her side. I decided that would make a perfect subject and didn’t look any further.

When I got home from a meeting at church yesterday, I got an email from an old and dear friend, one I haven’t seen since I retired from the federal court system. It was good to hear from him.

I got the frig cleared out, started the dish washer, put an egg on to cook to add to the tuna I was making for lunch and cooked some chicken for chicken salad. Saturday I had another slow day and started looking up salad recipes. Summer time seems to be the season for salads. I never have been able to make a good chicken salad. I found one that sounds good, it is the one I will try for tonight.

It rained last night so I’m going to take a chance that my “garden” doesn’t need a drink today, except for the seedlings I am coaxing and nourishing.

The photo subject for today was “happiness is....”. That can be a broad subject. This season is normally a happy one for many people and I am one of them. Nature can show it best features with the sun, green grass, blue skies, and fluffy clouds. That was my choice for this subject.

The word today is impression.  All natural objects make a kindred impression, when the mind is open to their influence, Ralph Waldo Emerson. But the impressions which the morning makes vanish with its dews, and not even the most "persevering mortal" can preserve the memory of its freshness to midday, Henry David Thoreau.  And the first step, as you know, is always what matters most, particularly when we are dealing with those who are young and tender. That is the time when they are taking shape and when any impression we choose to make leaves a permanent mark. Plato. Memory in youth is active and easily impressible; in old age it is comparatively callous to new impressions, but still retains vividly those of earlier years, Charlotte Bronte. The wise stand out because they see themselves as part of the whole. They shine because they don't want to impress. They achieve great things because they don't look for recognition. Their wisdom is contained in what they are, not their opinions. They refuse to argue, so no-one argues with them, Laozi. Of all manifestations of power, restraint impresses men most, Thucydides. Every flower of the field, every fiber of a plant, every particle of an insect carries with it the impress of its Maker and can-if duly considered-read us lectures of ethics or divinity, Sir Thomas Blount, 1st Baronet.  The same facts impress us differently, Thomas Jefferson.

It looks like there are more plans in store for Columbus highways. The title of this article drew my attention: “Columbus-area initiative seeks development that won’t bring more cars”. A planning commission called LinkUS is “working with neighborhoods and businesses to develop high-capacity and rapid-transit systems in the corridors along with improvements for bicyclists and pedestrians”.  Some of the subjects that have come up in the beginning of this plan are “young adults are less interested in owning a car”....”high capacity transit can transform”....and “more affordable housing can be built along the ‘corridors’”. There apparently will be community input in these planes at some point. I think this will be a subject we may (or may not) hear more about in the near future.

Today is the last day of the moth so time for the usual monthly composite of photos shot every day in June.

We are having chicken salad and stuffing for dinner.

Love you
Grandma