October 21, 2020 thought for today: If you fail to practice your art, it will soon disappear. German Proverb

This was one of those days where I couldn’t catch up, as a matter of fact I am still “running” (in my head) to catchup. 

I finished the newsletter this morning and was able to, almost, finish the message and hymn for the Saturday free meal. I got stuck on one of the clip arts for the hymn page and had to let it go until I got back from food pantry. 

One of yesterday’s photo themes was “graffiti”. I traveled around looking for some before pantry. I thought I had seen more than I could actually find. I found one where windows’ were pained on a building to look like real ones but didn’t know if that would be considered graffiti. I think it would have been according to the definition I found. (... form of visual communication, usually illegal, involving the unauthorized marking of public space by an individual or group. Although the common image of graffiti is a stylistic symbol or phrase spray-painted on a wall by a member of a street gang, some graffiti is not gang-related. Graffiti can be understood as antisocial behavior performed in order to gain attention or as a form of thrill seeking, but it also can be understood as an expressive art form..... there are many different types and styles of graffiti; it is a rapidly developing art form.)

Yesterday I helped with pantry outside while it was misting off and on. Thank goodness it wasn’t a hard rain. It was like riding a bike I was able to get right back into being in sync. I went again today. It was a little warmer today. I’m glad to get back to it. 

While I was there, I got a text telling me that the minister had uploaded the information I need to finish the bulletin. So when I got home I started on that right away. When I got that finished I uploaded it and the bulletin to be proof read. Then I finished the message sheet that I started this morning. Next, addressed shut in envelopes and printed the labels for the newsletters.

The second photos of the day for yesterday was “one of the (five) senses” to describe the photo. Sugar was near me taking one of her many naps. So I wanted to get an up close shot of her eye to represent “close your eyes” (song title). 

The word today is open.   Sincerity is an openness of heart; we find it in very few people; what we usually see is only an artful dissimulation to win the confidence of others, Francois de La Rochefoucauld . Honesty is always the best policy, George Washington. Never apologize for showing feeling. When you , do so, you apologize for the truth, Benjamin Disraeli. Not knowing when the dawn will come I open every door, Emily Dickinson. Joy and openness come from our own contented heart, Gautama Buddha. Perfect sincerity and transparency make a great part of beauty, as in dewdrops, lakes, and diamonds, Henry David Thoreau. If someone is able to show me that what I think or do is not right, I will happily change, for I seek the truth, by which no one ever was truly harmed. Harmed is the person who continues in his self-deception and ignorance, Marcus Aurelius.  I have always strenuously supported the right of every man to his own opinion, however different that opinion might be to mine. He who denies to another this right, makes a slave of himself to his present opinion, because he precludes himself the right of changing it, Thomas Paine. Nay, be a Columbus to whole new continents and worlds within you, opening new channels, not of trade, but of thought. Henry David Thoreau.  To love another person is to see the face of God, Victor Hugo.  The heart of a fool is in his mouth, but the mouth of a wise man is in his heart, Benjamin Franklin   When you open your heart with a quiet mind love rushes in, Genevieve.  

Now I have to search my archives for a photo for today’s challenge. The theme is “a flock of birds”. As I was working the food pantry and on the way home I looked for birds....not one in sight, let alone a flock. So it truly will be the archives to the rescue. 

I like stories about places that are being renovated, something old brought back to something new. I don’t know much about a place in our city called the “Circus House”, located in Victorian Village,  but it sounds intriguing. This article is about the new owners of this structure renovating it. (I looked up a description before I read the article: The mansion was built in 1895 by Peter Sells, one of the founders of the Sells circus.) According to the new owners the house has been “severely damaged under previous ownership”. Here are some of the damages, electrical boxes ripped from walls, plumbing smashed, flooring pulled up, mirrors shattered, and so on. It went to describe how the 1895 banister had been pulled away from the spindles. Walls, arches gold paint have been tainted. The new owners suspect that it will cost as much to restore it as it did to purchase it in the first place, but they are looking forward to revitalizing it. One of the contractor who will be working on the house said that it is one of the “great houses in Columbus” and “it is a crime to see this place dark for so long...”. The original house was built with respect for design elements such as Gothic Revival, Mission Revival and French chateau in mind. The house has changed over the years with removal of certain parts. The new owners have gotten permission to make additional changes such as “extending the home’s distinctive gothic-arch....on the front porch”. The owners are asking electricians and plumbers to check wiring and water lines piece by piece. It was stated that “ it’s like ....putting Humpty Dumpty back together”. At different points in time the house was used as an alcoholic shelter and a day care center, probably not at the same time. The owners want it not only for a home but as an office and meeting place too. They are looking at the “construction ahead instead of the destruction behind”. One of the new owners'  philanthropic  endeavors is near and dear to my heart, work for the safety and protection of animals. They hope to make room for  having meetings for that interest as well as others in the new building. 

It will something out of the freezer for dinner. 

Joy