October 31, 2020 thought for the today: If the young only knew; if the old only could. French Proverb

This was one of the week ends the twins were here for a sleep over. They didn’t start asking for me to print them some clip art for coloring or cutting out until it was about time for them to go so we didn’t get that part done this week. One thing that we did get done was coloring hard-boiled eggs. The back story for the colored eggs is that a few years ago the day before Easter and before the girls knew what colored Easter eggs were all about my sister and I told them about coloring eggs and the meanings attached (one of those teaching moments). Then we hid them around the house. Now we have to do that any time the thought occurs to them. They have also found the fun of raking leaves into a pile and then jumping and rolling in them. Ahhhh, youth. 

Yesterday’s photo theme was titled “peeking”. Whenever I go out to move the flag or gather some of my blooming flowers Sweet Pea watches for and after me (Sugar isn’t tall enough to reach this pane of glass). As I was trying to determine what and where I would get this challenge image I remembered Sweet Pea’s face and eyes, how could I forget.  

I feel like I am being lazy today. I don’t have anything productive on the agenda besides running the message/hymns sheets to the church 

Sue and I got some running around done yesterday. She wanted to shop at the thrift store. That is not one of the places that I normally shop so I asked her to pick something up for me. I am crocheting hacky sack/stress/juggling balls for my five great grandchildren and the two twins (seven sets of five balls each). I tried and tired to think of something safe to stuff them with besides cotton batting, something a little more substantial. Something safe for the youngest of them. In one of my famous Google searches I found that one lady tore old clothing into strips to use for stuffing for soft craft items. So I started that. It works great, just enough “body” and just soft enough. I digress, I am running out of clothing that I want to tear up so I asked her to pick up the least expensive long skirt of heavy cloth. She did....a skirt (XXL), $2, cheaper than a bag of cotton filler/batting, and is made of denim. I have thirteen of the thirty-five balls done so that skirt came at the right time. 

My photo challenge for today is “a wonderful surprise”. Since the twins are here, I have a couple of models. I tried a shot of them playing in the leaves but the sun was in such a position that it caused a hazy almost foggy aura making it difficult for Photoshop and I to depict what I was going for. Finally while they were dying their eggs I caught some of their reactions. That project never seems to fail to bring a “surprised” look to their faces. 

While Sue was in the thrift store I stopped at JoAnn fabrics to find some yarn before I went back to pick her up. I forgot to list the colors that I am running out of so I will have to go back soon. 

The word today is pardon.  We are all full of weakness and errors; let us mutually pardon each other our follies - it is the first law of nature, Voltaire.  Love truth, but pardon error, Voltaire.  As we grow in wisdom, we pardon more freely, Madame de Stael.  We pardon to the extent that we love, Francois de La Rochefoucauld. It is surely better to pardon too much, than to condemn too much, George Eliot. Cowards have done good and kind actions, but a coward never pardoned, Friedrich Schiller. We are certain that there is forgiveness, because there is a Gospel, and the very essence of the Gospel lies in the proclamation of the pardon of sin, Charles Spurgeon. We pardon infidelities, but we do not forget them, Madame de La Fayette. Where there is injury let me sow pardon, Francis of Assisi.  God pardons like a mother, who kisses the offense into everlasting forgiveness, Henry Ward Beecher. If you excuse yourself in confession, you shut up sin within your soul, and shut out pardon, Saint Augustine. You will perceive by my preaching that I am growing old: it is the privilege of years, and I am sure you will pardon it from the purity of it's motives, Thomas Jefferson. Confession heals, confession justifies, confession grants pardon of sin, all hope consists in confession; in confession there is a chance for mercy, Isidore of Seville.  We often pardon those that annoy us, but we cannot pardon those we annoy, Francois de La Rochefoucauld.  

This being the last day of the month it is time to generate and upload my monthly photo a day composite.  

Besides much history of this city being there, GreenLawn has a lot of stories to tell. It is interesting to go there and just walk around. Sometimes you may even see some deer who have chosen it as their home. This article is from the This Week newspaper. Many of the people buried at GreenLawn are pioneer settlers to Columbus or may have died here as they traveled through the city. Presently there is a new  “public memorial” that has placed at GreenLawn to mark the memory of people who were originally buried elsewhere but had to be moved due to construction and other city growth. The article put forth the thought that “Where we rest is a place of reflection.” In early October a bronze wolf statue was hoisted on top of a “32,000 pound granite boulder in the R Section”. GreenLawn was opened in 1849. When is was competed there were almost 900 graves that had been moved from “the North Graveyard” which is now the parking lot at the North Market and from the “original city cemetery in Franklinton.” As the article went on, I learned that in the late 1970's more graves were discovered at the North Market location and moved to GreenLawn. More bones were discovered in and after 2005. Most of these bodies were found without markers. Recently, there was a generous monetary gift that allowed the cemetery to make improvements to the grounds and offered a time to honor the “city’s ancestors buried there”. The wolf icon was chosen due to something seen in an early history book of Columbus....”early residents of Franklinton called downtown, and the east bank of the river, Wolf Ridge." Apparently Wolves lived there but the settlers drove them out because they were a nuisance. The bronze wolf statue measures 30% larger than a common gray wolf. A plaque is also mounted and reads “Departed Denizens”. Even though all the names are not known, their “stories are part of Columbus’ history”. 

This seems like it should be a chili day for dinner day so that it is with some fried potatoes on the side. 

Joy