February 16, 2021 thought for today: When you fight fire with fire, somebody is going to get hurt. African Proverb

We got most of the snow that was predicted last night and the ice too. I figured we would be at a level 3 emergency but to my surprise it is a level 2. Bob stayed home from work and he has most of the driveway cleared. If we don’t have any more snow between now and Thursday morning I should be able to get out to do the printing and to get my second vaccine dose. 

The photo a day theme for yesterday was “pink”. The twins always have toys and play things in pink. So I searched through the toy box and found this set of tea time necessities.  

I have worked on the newsletter, the HM3 hand out and completed the bulletin. I have put finishing the church directory and generating two new weather proof signs that I have been asked to do on the back burner for now. I have to get the newsletter then the annual report out of the way before I can put any more obligations on my plate. I also have to get to my eye doctor sometime when this weather is calmer.

I have been getting some great photos of the two of my great grand children that are the farthest from me. I got one today that has a picture of their dad and mom too and I haven’t seen them in over a year (seems longer). That’s always a treat but especially on a snowy day like today for some reason. 

The sun is coming out for a while now. It is almost blinding on all of the white that is covering the landscape right now. 

The word is select. Think of what you have rather than of what you lack. Of the things you have, select the best and then reflect how eagerly you would have sought them if you did not have them, Marcus Aurelius.  When I am with others, they are my teachers. I can select their good points and follow them, and select their bad points and avoid them, Confucius.  Vegetables, which are the lowest in the scale of living things, are fed by roots, which, implanted in the native soil, select by the action of a peculiar mechanism, different subjects, which serve to increase and to nourish them, Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin.  As to methods, there may be a million and then some, but principles are few. The man who grasps principles can successfully select his own methods, Ralph Waldo Emerson.  It is our duty to select the best and most dependable theory that human intelligence can supply, and use it as a raft to ride the seas of life, Plato.  My thoughts are my company; I can bring them together, select them, detain them, dismiss them, Walter Savage Landor.  Be deaf, be blind, be dead to gossip, and it will grow disgusted with you and select a more sensitive victim, Charles Spurgeon. Unless the mass retains sufficient control over those entrusted with the powers of their government, these will be perverted to their own oppression, and to the perpetuation of wealth and power in the individuals and their families selected for the trust, Thomas Jefferson.  

Today’s photo challenge is “ something new”. I don’t have too many “new” things that make an interesting photo right now but this “new” new snow fall (on top of the old) came to mind as the perfect shot for today. 

I think I can learn or re-lean something from this article. The first part of the title is “What is Lent”....”. First it is forty days preceding Easter in many Christian denominations. This time being set by the time that Jesus spent in the desert being tempted by Satan. It begins on Ash Wednesday. I learned that Sundays don’t count in the forty-day total. “In Eastern Christianity, such as in Orthodox churches, a period called Great Lent begins on the Monday of the seventh week before Easter and concludes on the Friday before Palm Sunday, and Sundays are counted as part of the 40 days.” The article related to descriptions of the word Lent. The word means springtime. To some the word is based on “40" (Latin or Greek) and in Germanic and Slavic, it is a word for fasting. The day before Lent was then the last day before fasting and took on a festival atmosphere, in French became Mardi Gras “(which literally means “Fat Tuesday”) or in other languages “Carnival.....taking away the meat”. In some churches ashes are smeared on the forehead in the sign of a cross considered a blessing and note to remember our mortality. Another custom is to generate the ashes from the palms from the previous Palm Sunday. In some instances it is meant to be a period of “reflection and penitence” and encourages a fast from certain foods and activities. By many it meant that meat was not to be eaten on Fridays during this period, fish is not considered a meat. Here’s something I learned, “social injustices or stewardship of the environment-may also be deemed appropriate (for consideration)....during Lent”. In some churches religious objects such as crosses are covered during Lent “often with a purple cloth”. In Western Christianity Holy Week is from Palm Sunday (Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem), Maundy Thursday (the final meal with the disciples on this date the purple cloth covering religious objects is changed to white), Good Friday (Jesus’ crucifixion, black cloths may be used to cover the chosen objects on this date) and Easter. The article mentioned that fasting Christians may choose to eat only one substantial meal on Good Friday. And on this day white cloths replace the black.

I think I am going to pull something from the freezer for dinner. 

Joy