August 9, 2021 a thought for today, Look down if you would know how high you stand. Yiddish Proverb

It’s been a busy day with a few loose threads to straighten up. I had a sticky note with a list of things to get done today. I got all but one done and added another. I got a good start on the bulletin. I got an address updated on four church documents. I updated a page in the coloring book I am putting together for the Saturday night kids at church. 

On August 8 out of all the maybes that I shot my choice for the “month of gratitude” photo was this one. I am grateful for signs any other methods to protect the children. 

I have been looking for a recipe for pasta salad. I can never seem to get it right. I found one on the web that I am going to try. This one has cream cheese in it, actually it called for blue cheese but I am substituting cream cheese for the blue cheese. We’ll see what Sue and Bob think of it. 

Another of the “loose ends” I worked on is for a crochet project. It is a ring toss game for the kids. It calls for a rock to weigh it down. I am baking a hand full of large stones that I think will work. I am baking them to sterilize them.  

I have been looking for a dentist for the last week or so. I made a call today but I don’t think it is going to work out. I don’t have dental insurance so I have to find a place that has another system for payments. That was another of the “loose ends”. 

To finish the list I worked on the frig and the dishes. 

The word for today is customs.  Those who visit foreign nations, but associate only with their own country-men, change their climate, but not their customs. They see new meridians, but the same men; and with heads as empty as their pockets, return home with traveled bodies, but untravelled minds. Charles Caleb Colton. The customs and fashions of men change like leaves on the bough, some of which go and others come. Dante Alighieri.  Now it is evident that a little insight into the customs of every people is necessary to insure a kindly communication; this, joined with patience and kindness, will seldom fail with the natives of the interior. Charles Sturt. Customs form us all, our thoughts, our morals, our most fixed beliefs; are consequences of our place of birth. Aaron Hill.  Customs will often outlive the remembrance of their origin, Thomas Paine. The empire of custom is most mighty, Publilius Syrus.  Customs represent the experience of mankind, Henry Ward Beecher.  Nature is seldom in the wrong, custom always, Mary Wortley Montagu. Ill customs and bad advice are seldom forgotten, Benjamin Franklin.  Be not so bigoted to any custom as to worship it at the expense of truth, Johann Georg Ritter von Zimmermann.  Custom and authority are no sure evidence of truth, Isaac Watts.  Freedom is where you can live, as pleases a brave heart; where you can live according to the customs and laws of your Fathers; where you are made happy by that which made your most distant ancestors happy, Ernst Moritz Arndt. Habit had made the custom, Ovid. Nothing is more powerful than custom or habit, Ovid.

Today my photo for the “month of gratitude” photos was this one of the sun coming up. I was up early enough to catch the sun as it came visible over my neighbors’ houses. I am grateful for another day of life. 

This is a bit about our city as well about the lives of children as they grow. I for one have enjoyed looking through the Highlights for Children magazines. I like, mostly, the pictures with hidden objects in them. I was also surprised when leaned that the magazine was put together right here in Columbus. It began here in Columbus in 1946. A pair of teachers created the magazine for both parents and children. They wanted to spread their knowledge and education. The “first print run” in 1945 was 20,000 copies. They all sold and were delivered door to door. Now there are all sorts of interactions of children with the Highlights products. According to the article “Last year was about 10 million kids interacting with our content across 40 countries.” It was noted the seventy-five years ago there was no tablets, smartphones, YouTube and children’s TV shows. They have tried to keep the goal of the magazine the same now as it was in the beginning. Highlights is aimed at kids from birth to 12 years old. The magazine has grown and added an interactive website, Highlight apps, a podcast and a You-Tube channel. As the magazine grew the section called Hidden Pictures was added. It was quoted that ‘you never outgrow being a child”. The hidden pictures were favorites of many adults. The magazine has helped parents connect with their children on many levels.  The magazine allowed people to get in a safe environment and have important discussions dealing with “bullying, social justice, equity and inclusion”.  There is a Dear Highlights column where kids can write to them for answers. There are “multiple experts “on call” to answer the questions. There is a book called “Dear Highlights” that includes some of the questions kids have asked along with the answers. It has been said that many of the questions from the beginning of the column are much like the questions of today.  

I am making macaroni salad and creamed beef on toast for dinner. 

Joy

close but no cigar