November 12, 2020 thought for today: Venture not to defend what your judgment doubts of. English Proverb 

I usually set the alarm on Thursday’s to get an early start on putting the finishing touche on the bulletin before I leave to print. The timing thing all started years ago when I needed to send the church bulletin to the lay readers and the minister for review before Sunday. I needed to get it in the mail as early as possible so that they would get it before Sunday. Some of the people who need to see it don’t have email so they have to get it by “snail mail”.

Yesterday’s photo of the day was titled “this makes me happy”. I am guilty...I love the comforts and excitements of technology at least the ones that lead to communication and knowledge.  So my choices were relatively simple, I used a cell phone, computer mouse and keyboard and an ipad to symbolize what makes me happy. I wanted to give it a bit of umph, so I added a "darkroom" filter. Of course there are many other things that make me happy but they are harder to photograph. 

On the way out of church I had a nagging urge for a White Castle. The nearest one is on Rome Hilliard Road now that the one on Broad Street is still closed. So I drove to Hilliard. I asked the girl who came to the window if the one on Broad Street would be opening again at some point because I had heard they may close it. She said it is in the plans to reopen but she didn’t know the date. One of the other workers had come to the window before my order was ready. I saw her face and I just knew I knew her from somewhere. It turns out she worked at the White Castle in the “Bottoms”. I use to stop there on my way home from my photo classes at Columbus State, and from my eye doctors appointments in the Arena District. She had been the kindest lady and always seemed to remember me. I don’t know if she recognized me today though. The young lady who was waiting on me said that lady had worked where I thought. It’s a small world, isn’t it.

When I left there, I went to my familiar photo safari location, Westgate Park, to look for today’s photo. It is a plain theme and I wanted to add a bit of something for more interest.  The theme challenge is “grass”. There is a questionably legal form on “grass” but not one I would be particularly fond of photographing even though the plant itself it pretty. So I used the more common one. I wanted the curved path in the shot to give it some life other than nature’s offer. 

Once I got home, it was back to work on answering emails, working on my Redbubble online shop and starting the laundry. 

The word today is peculiar. Our peculiar security is in the possession of a written Constitution. Let us not make it a blank paper by construction, Thomas Jefferson. Every man is said to have his peculiar ambition, Abraham Lincoln. I live and love in God's peculiar light, Michelangelo. What a peculiar privilege has this little agitation of the brain which we call 'thought', David Hume. Happy domestic life is like a beautiful summer's evening; the heart is filled with peace; and everything around derives a peculiar glory, Hans Christian Andersen. Odors have an altogether peculiar force, in affecting us through association; a force differing essentially from that of objects addressing the touch, the taste, the sight or the hearing, Edgar Allan Poe.  It is the peculiar and perpetual error of the human understanding to be more moved and excited by affirmatives than by negatives, Francis Bacon.  Every age has its own kind of war, its own limiting conditions and its own peculiar preconceptions, Carl von Clausewitz. Power exhibits itself under two distinct forms,--strength and force,--each possessing peculiar qualities, and each perfect in its own sphere. Strength is typified by the oak, the rock, the mountain. Force embodies itself in the cataract, the tempest, and the thunder-bolt, James A. Garfield.  He was poor, yet always appeared to be giving something away; a stranger, yet everyone was his friend; no longer young, but as happy-hearted as a boy; plain and peculiar, yet his face looked beautiful to many, Louisa May Alcott.  Ignorance is of a peculiar nature; once dispelled, it is impossible to reestablish it. It is not originally a thing of itself, but is only the absence of knowledge; and though man may be kept ignorant, he cannot be made ignorant, Thomas Paine.   

I like to see when young people use their God given talents to make a success of their lives early on. This article tells about a young student at Ft. Hayes High School and her artistic skills in ceramics. This past summer she got the idea to post some of her work on TikTok video and ended up getting over 1.5 million views. Her favorite items to create are mugs. Her choices in design are nature-themed. The one that she sent to TikTok was had a strawberry design. Once she got noticed on TikTok her Instagram space jumped too. She sells to the point of being out of inventory through her web site even many added custom orders.  One studio artist speaking of her work said that she “pushes her boundaries”. Clay is soft and needs a lot of work to control and hold its shapes.  The earlier mentioned studio artist taught a class that the young artist attended  The young artist is so gifted that she now helps the studio artist teach ceramics to elementary students. It is noted that she is sought out by adult ceramicists for advice. Her interest in crafts began when she was only two years old when she made taped sculptures, later she turned to ceramics. She even owns her own firing kiln. She makes it a point to make her are to fit “functional” purposes. The article stated that her teacher wants her to think about her art more in the sculpture type art. An owner of a shop in the Short North art district of Columbus has sold the young artist’s work in her shop since early in 2019. She says the work “barely stay on the shelf”. Her “fans” say she has a “tremendous work ethic”. She hopes to attend college and major in ceramics somehow and then wants to become an instructor and full-time artist. She wants to work with people with disabilities because one of her sisters has cerebral palsy. She donates her work to fund-raisers and has taught pottery to special education students that are students of her mother. 

I found some spaghetti carbonara  that I had frozen a few weeks ago that will be dinner along with grilled cheese. 

Joy