June 20, 2021 a thought for today, There is no cure that does not cost. Kenyan Proverb

We are having some sun shine again today. I think I had heard the word “rain” in the forecast for later today again. At least this is a bit of a respite from the clouds and downpours.

The photo challenge for yesterday was “number”. I drove around looking for some kind of ornate number but that was another negative.....so I decided on one that was a little different than just one mediocre set of numbers....two are better than one. 

I think we had a few more people at church this morning than we have had in the past few weeks. That’s nice. And we are greeting each other in our traditional way, at least bumping fists but sometimes shaking hands or touching a shoulder in greeting. 

I was in one of my down-in-the-dumps moods when I left for church. It’s better now after the message and the greetings and talking briefly to friends. 

Another thing that boosted the spirits for me was an invitation to go to lunch with Lowell and Rebecca.  Going out to eat is one of my very favorite things to do. I think that is because I am the “chief-cook-and-bottle-washer” for all of my adult life including now as a senior citizen. I’m just a touch (ummm) weary of it and am ecstatic for the opportunity to get out of it for even one meal. 

One of the photos for today was “bicycle”. While I was out and about I looked all over for a bicycle. I see them all the time at the park and propped up against building and pole. But today...nada. When I was at church I realized here was one in the fall sale items so I used that as my model for yesterday. 

There isn’t much on the agenda this being Sunday. So after lunch I will just work on some photos and dream along.  

The word today is appearance.  Things are not always as they seem; the first appearance deceives many. Phaedrus.  Appearances are a glimpse of the unseen, Anaxagoras. Know, first, who you are, and then adorn yourself accordingly, Epictetus. A long habit of not thinking a thing wrong gives it a superficial appearance of being right, Thomas Paine. Outside show is a poor substitute for inner worth, Aesop. Nothing is more deceitful than the appearance of humility, Jane Austen. The aim of art is to represent not the outward appearance of things, but their inward significance. Aristotle. First appearance deceives many. Ovid. We should look to the mind, and not to the outward appearance. Aesop. Think not I am what I appear, Lord Byron. Why do people respect the package rather than the man? Michel de Montaigne. Polished brass will pass upon more people than rough gold, Lord Chesterfield.  It was the special purpose of Christ's appearance upon earth to bring immortality to light, John Quincy Adams. When disposition wins us, the features please, Ovid. 

The second photo for yesterday was titled “architecture”. I couldn’t think of a better bit of architecture than out church and it’s lines and shapes so that was my second model

 History of the American Indian interests me so this article grabbed my attention. I learned from the article something that I may have learned in history in school but didn’t pay much attention to. “ Flint quarries were special places for indigenous people”. In Ohio there were a “number of sources of high-quality flint”. Flint was used to make tools, spear points, arrowheads, knives and so on. One of the outstanding names of a flint quarry in Ohio is Flint Ridge in Licking Count these spots are preserved for instance “Flint Ridge Ancient Quarries and Nature Preserve. As the article says some think these places are we can “extract” a resource, convert it to useable form and then leave. One archaeologist thinks that is a “narrow” view and people with that view miss the import of these places to the indigenous people. He did a report naming the embedded history of native beliefs and practices in these areas. Some of the questions he brought up in the article were how did they choose the varieties of flint suitable for their needs, did they go to the closest source or look for the highest quality of flint available, did the color matter. He further suggested that it appears that the color of the flint took “precedence over quality”.  I found this bit of information interesting: thirteen thousand years ago in Delaware Valley of Pennsylvania the Paleoindian tool makers preferred to use the color of jasper for stone tools. In Ohio the multicolored Flint Ridge flint was preferred by the Middle Woodland societies. They would gather it at the Hopewell earthworks between AD 1 and 400. They used the material they gathered to make artifacts and used them as gifts to pilgrims. It is suspected that some of the Indians believed that “mica chips are scales of horned serpents....and possessed special powers”. A suggestion is that perhaps different varieties have similar stories and dictated their purposes. 

So I won’t be preparing much for dinner since we went to lunch at York. Maybe some soup and sandwich. 

Joy