April 9, 2021 a thought for today, Everything in the past died yesterday, and everything in the future is born today. Chinese Proverb

I have packed a lot into the day. Sue and I did our weekly grocery run this morning. That takes a small chunk out of the day when you total the steps in the trip; gathering the needed groceries, unloading the cart at check out, loading the car, unloading the car, getting the items inside the house, getting the items individually inside the storage areas. That’s done for a week or so. 

Sue wanted to make an extra stop so while I waited for her I looked around for the new photo subject I have added to my repertoire, discarded and what I have titled as “once up on a time” (because they were once more than something we see now) found items. I was amazed at how many I found. 

The photo challenge for yesterday was “a mood”. I think I have mentioned way earlier in my blogs that trying to create an image representing a mood is difficult for me, as this one proved to be. Of course if the twins were here or if I were around one of my great grand children I would have the perfect models. They seem to be full of moods happy, glad, sad, mad, but alas they weren’t here so I was left to my own devices. Since there were no lights on in the hallway I wanted to depict this image as something to wonder about. 

After we got home and a check of the email and facebook pages I worked a little on household chores. I find it harder now to manage a vacuum sweeper so I have devised a method that I think works for a household without little ones running in and out (although I do have two dogs who approximate that adventure). I have found some more manageable, for senior citizens, tools to do the job. They are lighter weight and are less obtrusive. My “secret” is a little bit of new technology (a robot, of sorts) and a couple of old-fashioned hang-ons,  a dust mop, and a manual push sweeper. So we accomplished that chore for the day. One last chore on the list for today is watering the “indoor garden”.  

After all of the above I need to fold and package the message hand out for the Saturday night meal at church. 

The weather is gorgeous after the rain we had last night. The air is just a tiny bit chilly but still feels and smells good with some of the windows open. 

The word today is taken. If the freedom of speech is taken away then dumb and silent we may be led, like sheep to the slaughter. George Washington. Friendships begun in this world will be taken up again, never to be broken off. Saint Francis de Sales.  No notice is taken of a little evil, but when it increases it strikes the eye. Aristotle.  The true secret of giving advice is, after you have honestly given it, to be perfectly indifferent whether it is taken or not, and never persist in trying to set people right. Henry Ward Beecher.  The happiness of your life depends upon the quality of your thoughts: therefore, guard accordingly, and take care that you entertain no notions unsuitable to virtue and reasonable nature. Marcus Aurelius.  True humility involves opposites. The truly humble work in silence. Because they do not speak of their accomplishments, credit for them can never be taken away, Laozi.  Because a thing is eloquently expressed it should not be taken to be as necessarily true; nor because it is uttered with stammering lips should it be supposed false, Saint Augustine. The greatest part of our faults are more excusable than the methods that are commonly taken to conceal them, Francois de La Rochefoucaul.   Words must be taken according to the matter whereof they are uttered, Richard Hooker.  The assurance of every truth of Scripture is just the beauty of it. First because He has promised to do it; and God's promises are bonds that never yet were dishonored. Secondly, because Christ Jesus hath taken an oath that He will do it, Charles Spurgeon.  Society never advances. It recedes as fast on one side as it gains on the other. It undergoes continual changes: it is barbarous, it is civilized, it is rich, it is scientific; but this change is not amelioration. For every thing that is given, something else is taken. Society acquires new arts and loses old instincts, Ralph Waldo Emerson.  

 My theme for today is “a beautiful sight”. There are all kinds of beautiful sights if we take the time to
observe and wonder. This one was readily available as I waited for my sister when she was on an errand. 

This is another look at community gardens, this one from an Eagle Scout's view. There is a 13-year old Boy Scout in Grove City who plans to initiate the start of a community garden at Fryer Park. He is going to start to build the “first 50 garden beds” as an Eagle Scout project. The Grove City Parks and Recreation had already had plans for such a garden and will fund the project. The project will lead to  the possibility of helping senior citizens get outside and do some gardening as well as supplying food to in needed areas of the community.  The scout has worked with the parks department in planning the design for raised garden beds. The raised beds will make it easier for the elderly and others with physical problems to manage and enjoy. Part of the design includes a three-way compost bin where there is a slot for soil, a covered slot for decomposing material and a third space for materials to be decomposed. They are working quickly to have it ready this spring. The plan is to charge $30 to $40 for a plot to encourage people to commit to the care of the plots. The young scout is getting together volunteers to help build the beds and mulch the site in late April to early May. The pandemic made the planning a little more of a challenge. The fifty-two beds the scout has planned will be the beginning of a community garden site for 200 beds at Fryer Park which the parks will continue. As is the thinking of all these type garden projects is to get people outdoors in soil and sunshine and to fill the dinner table as well as add to the opportunity to get to know neighbors.  One person was quoted as saying "Produce you grow yourself just seems to taste better." The young scout who started this idea will be eligible to earn his Eagle Scout badge soon. 

It’s pizza night ..... a little respite from preparation and clean up. 

Joy

     Here’s one of my discarded finds in it’s “new home”. Once up on a time it had a different look.