March 2, 2021 a thought for the day, Yesterday will not be called again. Romanian Proverb

It’s been a productive day so far. I got the annual report done, maybe. There may be one last, late, item coming in. Otherwise, it is done. I finished the bulletin and was waiting for the last bits of information for that too, and it came in half hour ago so that is done too now. 

This month in my photo group the them for the month will be alphabet letters. Yesterday the challenge was “A is for...”. This type of challenge make me think and not just look around for something that will fit. It has to be something that will fit the specific letter. The letter A was floating around in my head and finally settled on the cement A statue in Westgate park. I have an old image of that statue in my archives. At that time it appeared as a poured form of the letter A. Years later it was painted. Now the paint is refreshed regularly. 

I think spring is slowly creeping its way into our lives. There are highs and lows in the temperatures but it’s looks like more highs than drops are beginning to occur. With the vaccines becoming more prevalent maybe things are looking up in that area of daily living too. 

I am waiting to receive one more item to be formatted and prepared for printing. As soon as I get that I will be ready to print and relax. 

The word today is shining.  ...to look at the stars always makes me dream, as simply as I dream over the black dots of a map representing towns and villages. Why, I ask myself, should the shining dots of the sky not be as accessible as the black dots on the map of France? Vincent Van Gogh. A good leg will fall; a straight back will stoop; a black beard will turn white; a curl'd pate will grow bald; a fair face will wither; a full eye will wax hollow: but a good heart, Kate, is the sun and the moon; or, rather, the sun, and not the moon, — for it shines bright, and never changes, but keeps his course truly, William Shakespeare. If men could learn from history, what lessons it might teach us. But passion and party blind our eyes, and the light which experience gives us is a lantern on the stern, which shines only on the waves behind us, Samuel Taylor Coleridge. In order for the light to shine so brightly, the darkness must be present, Francis Bacon. Come forth into the light of things, let nature be your teacher, William Wordsworth. Modesty is a shining light; it prepares the mind to receive knowledge, and the heart for truth, Francois Guizot.  God moves in a mysterious way, His wonders to perform. He plants his footsteps in the sea, and rides upon the storm, William Cowper. Surely happiness is reflective, like the light of heaven; and every countenance, bright with smiles, and glowing with innocent enjoyment, is a mirror transmitting to others the rays of a supreme and ever-shining benevolence, Washington Irving.

Today’s photo challenge is “B is for...” Again part of the alphabet were floating around in my thinking
cap. And where it landed was on the subject of bricks. So I went out to the patio and shot several images of bricks with the accompanying nature specimens such as weeds and fallen twigs. 

This article is about a bit more of the history of Columbus, Union Station. There are markers in the north part of Columbus, near the Greater Columbus Convention center that are reminders of the Union Station and a time when trains stopped there on a regular basis. I hadn’t thought about the fact that freight trains still run under the convention center. The article related that passenger trains have not run in Columbus since 1979. There is a small remnant of Union Station and it memories. It is the original arch that stood in the original ‘arcade’. When the demolition took place the arch must moved to the entrance at McFerson Commons park in the Arena District. The article said that Union Station was an “transformative force in the story of the city.”  In this article the lead to the begining of Union Station started with the “town” to become Columbus began in 1812. It began on the “High Banks opposite Franlinton at the Forks of the Scioto”. The new capital with is now Columbus grew. In 1832 the National Road and the Ohio and Erie Canal  allowed for more than 60 people a day to arrive in our city. In 1849 more than 5,000 people were the population of Columbus. Then came the railroad. The railroads were not new to the country since the steam engine appeared in the 1820s. They were “steam engines pulling coaches on rails made of wood, wood covered with iron or completely of iron.” In 1850 the Columbus and Xenia Railroad appeared in Columbus. Soon the city began to “fill up with railroad lines”. At that time Columbus was centrally located and the workforce was Irish and German immigrants all needed in work and transportation. Soon we became a center for railroads. “Out of this competition came an agreement to form a Union Depot organization to provide trading of skills and crafts, but, most importantly, to provide a place to meet.”  The first Union Station opened in 1851. Round houses and service buildings were built. A “barn-like” tall building with a restaurant and repair shop were among the structures. During the Civil War men and supplies came through the city by rail. At that time Columbus grew from 18,000 to 125,000 people. I learned that at that time Columbus became the “Buggy Capital of the World”. In this area of time a new brick terminal opened in 1875 and a third station in 1897. The man who wrote this story writes a “As It Were column for the This Week Newspaper. 

I think its going to be creamed dried beef for dinner. 

Joy