May 31, 2021 a thought for today, The torment of envy is like a grain of sand in the eye. Chinese Proverb

Yesterday’s photo of the day was titled “ a  plant”. This one is another of those that are wide open for opportunities. I was out and about and on the alert for one that would suit my mood and purpose. 

I decided today would be the best day this week to go to the store even though it is a holiday. So Sue and I took off in that direction at our usual store-visit-day-timing. Bob was off work so he joined us a little later. I was amazed at how many shelves were in need of stocking. It’s always good for me (and Sue too) when Bob is home on the day we go to the store. He helps get the bags in and out of the car and inside the house. 

Since we went to the store I didn’t get my usual start on the bulletin as I usually do. I think I will have time tomorrow to get most of it done. 

Once the groceries were put away, we all settled in for a sort of “holiday routine”....not too much heavy stuff on the agenda.

I got some potatoes and eggs on for the potato salad. And made the cheese cake. 

The photo today is titled “in my car”. I was out and about again and had Sue along with me so I took the
opportunity to make the shot while the car wasn’t empty. 

The word today is absolute.  There is no despair so absolute as that which comes with the first moments of our first great sorrow, when we have not yet known what it is to have suffered and be healed, to have despaired and have recovered hope. George Eliot. Doubt is not a pleasant condition, but certainty is absurd, Voltaire. Although our intellect always longs for clarity and certainty, our nature often finds uncertainty fascinating, Carl von Clausewitz. For my part I know nothing with any certainty, but the sight of the stars makes me dream, Vincent Van Gogh.  Hell is Truth Seen Too Late, Thomas Hobbes. If we examine a work of ordinary art, by means of a powerful microscope, all traces of resemblance to nature will disappear - but the closest scrutiny of the photogenic drawing discloses only a more absolute truth, a more perfect identity of aspect with the thing represented, Edgar Allan Poe. Proverbs are the literature of reason, or the statements of absolute truth, without qualification. Like the sacred books of each nation, they are the sanctuary of its intuitions, Ralph Waldo Emerson. Nature brings us back to absolute truth whenever we wander, Louis Agassiz. All we know of the truth is that the absolute truth, such as it is, is beyond our reach, Nicholas of Cusa.  The gift of truth excels all other gifts, Gautama Buddha. No Discourse whatsoever, can End in absolute Knowledge of Fact, Thomas Hobbes. Events are never absolute, their outcome depends entirely upon the individual. Misfortune is a stepping stone for a genius, a piscina for a Christian, a treasure for a man of parts, and an abyss for a weakling, Honore de Balzac. God does not weigh criminality in our scales. We have one absolute, with the seal of authority upon it; and with us an ounce is an ounce, and a pound a pound. God's measure is the heart of the offender,--a balance which varies with every one of us, a balance so delicate that a tear cast in the other side may make the weight of error kick the beam, James Russell Lowell. I trust that absolutes have gradations, Jane Austen  

This is the last day of the month, the time I make my composite for the photos I entered each day of this month. 

This article is telling about more changes to the landscape and skyline of Columbus. This time we are learning about the Front Street Bridge being replaced. Having a bridge replaced seems like a monumental task to me. This bridge “spans the freeway between Brewery District and Downtown”. The new bridge will be wider and with a landscaped sidewalks and “park-like” walkway on one side. The full project includes a new ramp from I-70 to Fulton Street and improvements to Fulton and Livingston Avenue. As the plan goes forward there will be another new ramp at Mounds Street as well as a new bridge over Short Street. Apparently a new lane will overlap part of I-70. Later there will be work near Nationwide Children’s Hospital. I am gathering from the article that there will be a new East Broad Street. The whole thing involves replacing the South High Street, South Third Street and South Fourth Street bridges. They will all be widened for pedestrian “amenities”. The surprising thing to me was that there will be “caps on both sides of the High Street and Third Street bridges with the capacity to hold buildings. 

Well it’s a holiday. We use to have picnics on these monumental days of the year, mostly the back yard type, for many years. But times have changed. Families grew, more people and activities to consider. For us, Bob, Sue and me,  the “picnic” this year will be hamburgers, potato salad, baked beans, and peanut butter cream cheese cake on an indoors, make believe picnic table with thoughts of years past and of course the meaning of the day. These are the facts of life, the beginning (of some things), the end (of some more) and the in between. 

Joy

 ...and the daily discard photo tells it’s own story....empty and tossed among cement and green....