August 27, 2021 a word for today, Two great talkers will not travel far together. Spanish Proverb

Well, after some reformatting , I was able to get the newsletter printed. The staples had to be put in manually again this month so that took an extra bit of time and labor. Between my loyal helper and myself we were able to get it finished today in just an hour or so of additional time and effort.  

When I left the church I stopped at the store to get the cake and some soda and bottled water for our gathering in a few hours. 

Yesterday’s photo of the day for the month of gratitude was the pharmacy. We are all grateful that they are there when we need them which we all do from time to time. 

So, this afternoon I will get some small tasks out of the way so I can finish getting things together and packed for a trip to the park. 

The word today is distance.  Our main business is not to see what lies dimly at a distance, but to do what lies clearly at hand. Thomas Carlyle. Society is very swift in its instincts, and if you do not belong to it, resists and sneers at you, or quietly drops you, Ralph Waldo Emerson . Normally, the sciences distance themselves from life and the return to it via a detour, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. Our senses perceive no extreme. Too much sound deafens us; too much light dazzles us; too great distance or proximity hinders our view. Too great length and too great brevity of discourse tends to obscurity; too much truth is paralyzing.... In short, extremes are for us as though they were not, and we are not within their notice. They escape us, or we them, Blaise Pascal. You say I'm small? I certainly can relate, although it is a matter of perspective. The distance is deceptive, my friend, you stand too low, Franz Grillparzer.  Homer does not allow us to forget that the sun shone,--nor Phidias, nor the Parthenon, Henry David Thoreau. A certain degree of ceremony is a necessary outwork of manners, as well as of religion; it keeps the forward and petulant at a proper distance, and is a very small restraint to the sensible and to the well-bred part of the world, Lord Chesterfield. Ships that pass in the night, and speak to each other in passing, only a signal shown, and a distant voice in the darkness; So on the ocean of life, we pass and speak to one another, only a look and a voice, then darkness again and a silence. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.  Sweet is the memory of distant friends! Like the mellow rays of the departing sun, it falls tenderly, yet sadly, on the heart. Washington Irving. God be thanked for books; they are the voices of the distant and the dead, and make us heirs of the spiritual life of past ages. William Ellery Channing.

Today’s photo meets “gratitude” in my humble opinion for its icon of technology, “the dish” (a form of modern communication), as well as the lines and multiple textures of city living, and most fittingly, a few of the sun’s many offerings of highlight, shadow and reflection.  

I think there are a lot of people who like to “study” the sky and the many touches of nature that can be found with the proper equipment. This article is about the history of a local observatory, located in the “former” Hoover Y Park on Rohr Road. It was built with concrete blocks in 1961. Its 14-food dome was donated by a member of the Columbus Astronomical Society and was a memorial to a person who financed the park. According to the article before the observatory was very old, it fell into disuse. A person interested in the situation visited the site and found it dirty and there were spider webs everywhere but the telescope was covered and in good condition. There was a young boy, 16 years old, who expressed an interest in help to revive it. He was a member off the Columbus Astronomic Society. He was able to enlist the interest of other members. They met on Saturday afternoons and cleaned the building along with other tasks. A heater was donated for winter use and the Southside Y supplied the propane. They were able to get people to donate a blackboard, book case and table to help bring the interior to a comfortable area. People began to show up “especially when something astronomical was in the news”. People that were helping with the effort to renew interest in the observatory would show up on the *Flippo show, Channel 10 TV to advertise interest further interest. Scout groups began to visit to earn their astronomy merit badges. Folks were excited to see “the rings of Saturn, the moons of Jupiter and the Great Red Spot, the crescent shape of Venus, the white polar cap of Mars contrasted with the red surface” at different times of the year. The original homemade telescope was stolen on a Saturday evening. Security was not on close enough and the observatory was out in the country so it wasn’t discovered right away. There were broken windows from time to time. When the telescope was taken other valuables were left alone. A new, smaller and more powerful reflecting telescope replaced the stolen one. Later it was stolen too. Then, of course, interest in the observatory dropped off. 

We’re having a party/picnic at dinner time. Hopefully it will be at Westgate Park so the younger ones will have a place to play (if it doesn’t rain...otherwise here at my house). We are having pizza, subs, drinks (non-alcoholic) and cake. It is for Bob’s birthday, Gideon’s first day of school and Mick commissioning. 

* the Flippo show was an American children's television series consisting of a clown, Flippo, and his puppets. In the 1970s and 1980s, the half-hour show offered short sketches with the puppets, a segment in which children asked for solutions to riddles.

 Joy 

that discarded cardboard takeaway cup holder found an interesting resting place with all the lines and textures and shadow and reflection