July 12, 2021 a thought for today, Since excuses were invented, no one is ever in the wrong. Mexican Proverb

We still haven’t seen the cat that I am baby sitting. I put out food for him and clean his kitty litter but I think he finds the food and kitty litter at night while we are all sleeping. All the other hours of the day he hides somewhere in the house. When I have a pet, I would like to have some kind of bonding of a more affectionate nature. I was considering keeping him but now I am having second thoughts. We’ll give it another few days. 

The July 11th photo for the day title was “greenery”. This time of year there is a lot of greenery, all of the trees are in full leaf and the grass is bright. Beside that all of my ‘along the wall’ gardens are in full lead also. For this image I chose an evergreen tree with the beautiful hanging limbs of color. 

So far this has been a boring Monday. I was on the phone with the insurance company for over half an hour but that isn’t too exciting. I updated the church bulletin template and am waiting for the finishing information, probably finish it tomorrow. 

The weather is cooler than it was last week at this time. It feels like we have had more rain this season than most. It doesn’t feel much like the summers I remember as a kid. But then everything seemed more exciting in those years. That thought was a trigger to deeper memories and experiences....like, how each stage of life has it’s “exciting” time and then it’s deeper more thought provoking moments. It’s a patch work quilt.... each patch a different feeling along with growth and knowledge that accompanies and color the years. 

The word today is caution. Caution is the eldest child of wisdom, Victor Hugo.  Confide not in the firmness of your principles, or the steadfastness of your integrity. Be always vigilant and fearful. Never think you have enough of knowledge, and let not your caution slumber for a moment, for you know not when danger is near, Charles Brockden Brown. The scars of others should teach us caution. St. Jerome. Distrust and caution are the parents of security. Benjamin Franklin. Let us with caution indulge the supposition that morality can be maintained without religion. Reason and experience both forbid us to expect that national morality can prevail in exclusion of religious principle. George Washington. Every step of life shows much caution is required. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe.  Be slow of tongue and quick of eye, Miguel de Cervantes.  Among mortals second thoughts are wisest, Euripides. Haste makes work which caution prevents, William Penn.  It requires as much to tell the truth as to conceal it, Baltasar Gracian.  What thou seest, speak of with caution, Solon.  Confident because of our caution, Epictetus. From wonder into wonder existence opens, Laozi. By playing at Chess then, we may learn... First: Foresight. Second: Circumspection. Third: Caution, Benjamin Franklin. He that scatters thorns, let him not go barefoot, Benjamin Franklin. The cautious seldom err. Confucius.   

Today’s photo challenge is “starts with T”. This is another offer for a subject that can be wide open. Tiles of all sorts, tires, ties, tents, tarts and on and on. I shot a couple of tires and chose this one for the shapes and patterns of the tread. 

 This article caught my attention partly because I saw a quick piece on the news about pollinator gardens on top of bus stops: “a city in Holland, the Netherlands, recently gave make overs to 316 bus stops, outfitting them with "green roofs,"....... The roofs are covered with sedum flowers and other plants, which act as an oasis for (insects). Plus, the added greenery has a slew of other positive environmental effects.....the plants will also help absorb rainwater, capture dust or pollutants from the air, and regulate temperatures”. I also saw this kind of application to a shed’s roof at the Franklin Park Conservatory. The title to the article in the Dispatch: Pollinator-friendly plants and practices can make a big impact. Apparently recently there has been a “decline” in pollinators, bees, wasps, butterflies and others and that even small changes in gardens and landscaping. There is an area of preserved land in the Stratford Ecological Center in Delaware that has been “kept from development in perpetuity”. Guests can see “multiple pollinators” every third Saturday. The center promotes wildlife and encourages encouraging pollinators in even small backyards. If the community where you live do not approve of certain plants in the front put them in a garden in the back yard. Coneflowers, asters, goldenrod are ideal specimens. It is suggested in the article that there may certain areas of the yard you could let the grass grow un-mowed. Not only pollinators would live in that are. Bunnies, meadow mice, voles and nesting birds would “hang out” there. Some of the native plants used as pollinators are purple coneflowers, bee balm, New England asters and butterfly milkweed and orange milkweed. Rather than taking up beekeeping there is a need for more people to plant pollinator gardens and roof gardens where applicable. In preparing for a pollinator area habitat loss should be considered. The article mentions that a single plant on your porch might make all the difference to an insect. It gives them a place to rest. Plants that flower from May through October are the best choices. If you mowed the entire lawn in the fall move the mowed grass to the edge of the property for wildlife habitat. 

I think we will have sloppy joe for dinner tonight. 

Joy

                                                     ......a little more color for the landscape