December 10, 2020 thought for today: How can you put out a fire set on a cart-load of firewood with only a cup of water. Chinese Proverb

Here’s the way this December 10th started. I put out one of the humane mouse traps last night. We caught one! I heard him/her scratching to get out. I decided to take it a mile or so away from the house and release it where there were other wild critters, some maybe friendly to the mouse, maybe some looking for a snack (I tell myself it’s nature). When I opened the lid to release, my capture popped out and made a run for it. I like this style trap, it’s easy to bait, it won’t hurt my dogs if they find it on the floor, the package says it can capture more than one at a time. The only draw back is emptying it. I want to take it away from the house so they can’t find their way back.

On December 9 my photo challenge was “orange”. Sue had a dental appointment on that date after I dropped her off I went in search of an image to fill that theme. I shot some signs with orange in them and some road maintenance cones. Turning onto one side street, I found an orange someone had dropped in the gutter. I also passed by and shot some freshly painted fire hydrants that appeared to be a bright orange in their new coats. 

Well, eventually I got to the church to complete the printing. The church was totally quiet and comforting like a huge embrace as I walked through. The sunlight with no artificial light competing, was reflected in a maze of color through the stained glass onto the columns, pews and floor. My travels through the aisles this way, always allows for the most peaceful thinking I can experience, just me and One Other. Perhaps that’s why I feel a bit poetic today.  

Since, to my pleasant surprise, I got the Christmas Eve bulletin completed yesterday today there is no “deadline” hanging in the air. A day to move through time relaxed and easy, oops, with one exception....laundry.

The weather is gorgeous today. Some times I think I would like it to stay like this, on the other hand winter has its moments too. 

This was one of the days I had two photos a day. The first is “navy”. I often accept what is probably royal blue as navy so once I got my images to Photoshop I used its help in determining the difference by the hex color code for each. I shot a blue art graffiti piece at the park of the confederate camp. I shot the blue field on the American flag. I shot some blue file folders and some blue hymnals and bibles on the self at church. 

The word is prejudice.  Prejudices are what fools use for reason. Voltaire. It is never too late to give up our prejudices, Henry David Thoreau.  Prejudices are the chains forged by ignorance to keep men apart, Marguerite Gardiner, Countess of Blessington.  Prejudice is never easy unless it can pass itself off for reason, William Hazlitt.  Opinions founded on prejudice are always sustained with the greatest of violence, Francis Jeffrey, Lord Jeffrey.  Prejudice is the child of ignorance, William Hazlitt. Prejudices, it is well known, are most difficult to eradicate from the heart whose soil has never been loosened or fertilized by education; they grow firm there, firm as weeds among stones, Charlotte Bronte.  He hears but half who hears one party only, Aeschylus. Prejudice squints when it looks and lies when it talks, Laure Junot, Duchess of Abrantes. The greatest friend of truth is Time, her greatest enemy is Prejudice, and her constant companion is Humility, Charles Caleb Colton. Superstitions, bigotries, hypocrisies, prejudices, these phantoms, phantoms though they be, cling to life; they have teeth and nails in their shadowy substance, and we must grapple with them individually and make war on them without truce; for it is one of humanity's inevitabilities to be condemned to eternal struggle with phantoms, Victor Hugo. The chief cause of human errors is to be found in the prejudices picked up in childhood, Rene Descartes.   

My second theme photo was “kitchen duty”. I gathered some equipment from my kitchen drawers and set up a prop for this photo. One of my aprons, a rolling pin, a set of measuring cups and a pot holder. 

Seeing how many ways of helping and finding ways to fit into a “new normal” are interesting and educational for me. So this article’s title, basically telling how to help students with online learning, tempted me to discover its message. The first student interviewed for this article told of how the hardest thing for him to figure out was how to “get to” his classes. He lives with his grand parents who can’t really help him with work on his Google Chromebook. When you are studying at home with no peers around and no teacher at hand there is no one there for help. There is a place called City Life Center in Franklinton that is run by a religious nonprofit group called Central Ohio Youth for Christ. They have set up a “learning extension center”. This young student lives within walking distance of this center. There are a few of these sites in Columbus. They are run by local churches and city recreation centers. They take in small groups of students. They offer reliable internet, meals and help with the class work. They keep the area safe and use “socially-distance settings”. Some of them open during school hours while others after school if school is in session. These centers have helped about 1,400 students. The City of Columbus has set aside about $2 million in grants for these centers. One person working in one of the centers said that typically ten to twelve students show up. It seems surprising that they will show up on their own when they could stay at home if they wanted. One of the students noted that it is safe and quiet enough to focus on homework where at home younger siblings share the wifi and can be noisy. The article stated that all 29 community centers in the city are operating “solely as learning sites from 9:30am to 3pm on weekdays”.

It looks like it is going to be parmesan crusted chicken and home made potato soup for dinner. 

Joy