May 23, 2021 a thought for today, Years know more than books. Italian Proverb

I haven’t had too much sleep in the last couple of nights and I’m feeling the lack thereof. Sugar has me really concerned. Added to her aging problems, one being blind and some disorientation, she has developed diarrhea and some vomiting. While awake all last night, I just knew this is the time I would need to let go. But I gathered hope and reconsidered at church. I have decided I will take her to the vet in the morning and hear that diagnosis. Maybe we can buy her a little more time. 

Yesterday’s photo theme was “home decor”. This is part of my indoor garden corner once the plants have gone on their outside staycation to the back deck/patio.

Today’s sermon was from one of my favorite pastors so I completely learned from it and enjoyed the presentation (which to me is a major consideration to getting the message across). For one of several reasons, it calmed my worries about Sugar. Sunday mornings are always an uplifting part of my life by being with the community of like-minded friends. 

As is my normal habit for Sunday there is very little on my agenda for the rest of the day. 

The word for today is wings.  No bird soars too high if he soars with his own wings. William Blake.  Be like the bird who, pausing in her flight awhile on boughs too slight, feels them give way beneath her, and yet sings, knowing she hath wings, Victor Hugo. There are only two lasting bequests we can hope to give our children. One of these is roots, the other, wings. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe.  Sadness flies away on the wings of time. Jean de La Fontaine. Purity and simplicity are the two wings with which man soars above the earth and all temporary nature. Thomas a Kempis. Something opens our wings. Something makes boredom and hurt disappear. Someone fills the cup in front of us: We taste only sacredness. Rumi.  To give thanks in solitude is enough. Thanksgiving has wings and goes where it must go. Your prayer knows much more about it than you do. Victor Hugo. Faith without works is like a bird without wings; though she may hop with her companions on earth, yet she will never fly with them to heaven. Francis Beaumont. Joys are our wings, sorrows our spurs, Jean Paul. Your legs will get heavy and tired. Then comes a moment of feeling the wings you've grown, lifting, Rumi. God turns you from one feeling to another and teaches by means of opposites so that you will have two wings to fly, not one, Rumi. The Book of Psalms instructs us in the use of wings as well as words. It sets us both mounting and singing. Charles Spurgeon. 

Today’s photo challenge is titled “something hot”. I pulled from the archives for this one. I
photographed the candles on the altar at church this morning but I was far enough from them that the focus wasn’t as good as I would have liked. 

I enjoy visiting Dawes Arbortum. There is a lot to see there. With the items listed in this article it will be even more of a pleasure to visit. According to the article they have added more art pieces to an, in my opinion, already gorgeous nature setting. There are two “unique” exhibits one for indoors and one outdoors. Dawes is a 2,000-acre nonprofit “living tree museum”. Indoors in the small History Center there are paintings by a 19th-century Ohio painter who has a family connection with the founders of Dawes. Outdoors are sixty kinetic wind sculptures created by a Utah artist. They move with the force of the breezes. They are found along one of the paved trails. The paintings in the exhibit are part of the family collection. One of the painting is of a Judge Cutler’s house along the Ohio River.  That painting was in a book about settlers in the American west. That photo in the book was a prompt for the creation of the exhibit of the paintings. This exhibit will continue through October 31.  The other exhibit, the kinetic wind sculptures, will be open for visitors through October 17. The sculptures are made of copper or stainless steel they are tall and some are arranged in groups of two or three. One of the sculptures is in the form of a pine tree. The leaves rotate in the wind. Some of the sculptures move in a wave-like manner. Others rotate showing the reflections of their surroundings on oval blades. On June 5 further additions will appear along with the sculptures in the form of twenty-four “larger-than-life” copper frogs. 

I think it will be KFC for dinner. 

Joy

PS. As I finished this letter and listed my order for take home KFC, Sugar had another bout with diarrhea. This time was different, it was pure blood, like a spigot had been turned on.  I quickly decided I had to take her somewhere for whatever help there might be. I didn’t feel I had time to call her vet's office and wait for a call back (this being Sunday), so I considered two 24 hour vet centers and picked the nearest. Bob (thank goodness for Bob) held her as I drove and we waited in the car (pandemic and all) as they took her from Bob’s arms and into the building to be assessed. After some conversations with the veterinarian via phones as we waited outside and a list of choices were offered we decided to “put her down”.....my little white fur ball is gone, my little spirited Alpha dog gone.....time to let go, time to mourn, time to pack away the memories.