October 21, 2019 the thought today is: To be a smart man you need to be humble. Indonesian Proverb

It has been a little boring for a Monday. I am going to have to hang on for dear life this week and being able to get a big batch of it done today would have been a big help. I have a meeting tonight,  two bulletins to do this week, the newsletter, two days of food pantry, a day of printing three documents and a day of folding and labeling and mailing. I have no information for either bulletin, I notified both ministers but don’t have an answer yet today. Most of the information on the back side of the bulletins is information from the past newsletter and/or information picked up from committee meetings so I can do those without incoming data. I get those done on my own, that much is done.

For yesterday’s photo I found my shot as I was going into church.  We have a small garden next to the walkway entering the church. I dropped my choir folder and a bag that I was carrying as I saw the possibility of a good shot and as I was fussing around getting to my camera.

I watered the house plants. I have a plexiglass shelf that attaches to the glass in a window. I have had three small house plants on them for about two months now. Today after the watering it gave up the ghost and fell with the newly watered plants. I had to make some moves for the plants. Thank goodness none of them were damaged too much in the fall. I had a little mud and water to clean up.

I saw some pine cones on the internet that someone had planted in potting soil and they sprouted tiny trees between the “blades” on the cone. My neighbor sent over some from her tree so I spent some time today planting them. Now we will wait and see.

Yesterday I made two dishes to freeze and store for the next couple of weeks. I made beef and noodles. I really miss my noodle maker. The store-bought noodles just don’t taste the same no matter how expensive they are. But this will do for now. I also made some chili and used a little of the tomato sauce I made from the neighbor’s plants. We had some of the noodles. I made smashed potatoes to go with them. They were smashed potatoes because I don’t have my Kitchen Aid, in storage, to make my delicious mashed potatoes. Again, that will do for now.

Hopefully this week will not be the horror I am expecting, I’m getting too old to “go with the flow” easily. It can be too much work at times, not as gentle as “flow” sounds. The muscle, bones and connecting parts just no longer move with the flow as they use to.

Today I had another photo of the day assignment from a second photo club I belong to. The theme was “shooting straight down”. Here is the result. It is from one of my flower beds as it prepares itself for winter. It looks like I may need to give it a little human help too.

The word today is branches.  There are a thousand hacking at the branches of evil to one who is striking at the root, Henry David Thoreau.  Maybe you are searching among the branches, for what only appears in the roots, Rumi.  Cultivate the root; the leaves and branches will take care of themselves, Confucius.  Truth is certainly a branch of morality and a very important one to society, Thomas Jefferson.  Exaggeration is a branch of lying, Baltasar Gracian.  You see how when rivers are swollen in winter those trees that yield to the flood retain their branches, but those that offer resistance perish, trunk and all, Sophocles. 

I like happy stories about animals. Today’s article is about a pair of rescued cougars who were saved from Montana wildfires and spent some time at the Columbus zoo. They are being transferred to A West Virginia State Wildlife Center. Their names are Lewis and Clark. When they first arrived at the zoo, they worked as ambassadors for our zoo. Naturally and thankfully they grew but that put them out of a job. That got too big for that job description so were, for a time, on exhibit at the zoo. After some discussion it was decided that they would be better off in a wildlife setting. As a bit of a back story, they were found in the 2014 by a firefighter as they suffered from smoke inhalation. Their mother was never found. They were sent to the Columbus Zoo where they were bottle fed by zoo staff. They were so treasured that they were used as ambassadors for the zoo. I’m sure the staff was sad to see them go but glad they would have a new exciting life.

I searched in my own yard for today’s photo shot. This on is of a plant I am counting on for a little color to add to the white snow that will be coming soon. Hopefully, it will give a lift to the inside of the house for those snowy months too. It is called a fire  thorn plant.

I am making hamburgers and potato soup with the smashed potatoes from last night. The potato soup is easy. Start with a white sauce, 1 - 2 T butter, 1-2 T flour, milk, enough to make a paste then thined as needed. Add the mashed potatoes and some Mrs. Dash’s onion powder spice.

Joy