November 11, 2021a thought for today, When two dogs fight over a bone, a third one carries it away. Dutch  Proverb

I got one of those calls last night that never fail to brighten my day. I got to speak to two of my great grand children via video chat. I love to hear their voices and watch them move about for even fifteen minutes or so every few days. I can still feel at least a tiny part of their lives. 

On November 10 I had two photos of the day challenges. The first title was “pink”. As I was volunteering at the food pantry, I noticed that one of the ladies had a shirt on that have pink stripes in it.....my photo for the day. 

Back to the saga of my car.....I have finally come around to a decision that I most likely should have made at the onset of my problem. Both my sister and one of my sons suggested a different muffler repair center in the beginning. I made the choice to use the one where I had credit available instead. So after these several days of stress and driving with what sounds like a tank (I think....though I have never heard a tank)....I wrestled with going this way or that to solve my problem of transportation (counting on friends to pick me up, driving with ear plugs, go in a drawn out search for another used car). After the first news that the repair would cost over $2000 a dear friend of mine said her husband suggested that I seek a second opinion. I more or less tabled that due to the age and other conditions of the car. The mechanic at the first stop actually did say that some other mechanic may be able to solve the problem without a whole new system by soldering things together. Now, to make the story a little shorter, I have, decided to get that second opinion. Tomorrow morning, first thing I will gather up my ebook and some crocheting in case there is a long wait and head out for that second try. Stay tuned. 

The second shot for yesterday was “seen through glass”. I thought about shooting something through a drinking glass but settled for an image through on of my living room windows. 

I was awake making the above decision since 4:00am. So I was all ready to leave for church and the Thursday printing at 8:30. There was no one at the church this day at that time so I was in and out in about an hour and a half. 

Since I was so embarrassed to take the noise to McDonalds I came home and fixed myself a scrambled egg and toast instead of my standard MickeeD hamburger and large unsweetened iced tea.  I think I will get the Saturday coloring books put together today and the plants watered instead of putting it off until tomorrow. All of this as I multi task with the weekly laundry. 

The word for to day is imagination.  It is usually the imagination that is wounded first, rather than the heart; it being much more sensitive. Henry David Thoreau. The worst evils of life are those which do not exist except in our imagination, Charles Spurgeon.  Dreaming is an act of pure imagination, attesting in all men a creative power, which if it were available in waking, would make every man a Dante or Shakespeare. Frederick Henry Hedge. It is an error to suppose that courage means courage in everything. Most people are brave only in the dangers to which they accustom themselves, either in imagination or practice, Edward Bulwer-Lytton, 1st Baron Lytton. The spirit is the master; imagination the tool, and the body the plastic material ...The power of the imagination is a great factor in medicine. It may produce diseases in man and in animals, and it may cure them ..Ills of the body may be cured by physical remedies or by the power of the spirit acting through the soul, Paracelsus.  Imagination cannot make fools wise, but it makes them happy, as against reason, which only makes its friends wretched: one covers them with glory, the other with shame, Blaise Pascal.  Imagination disposes of everything; it creates beauty, justice, and happiness, which are everything in this world. Blaise Pascal.   America is a poem in our eyes; its ample geography dazzles the imagination, and it will not wait long for metres. Ralph Waldo Emerson.  Conceal a flaw, and the world will imagine the worst. Marcus Valerius Martial.  When I die, I shall soar with angels, and when I die to the angels, what I shall become you cannot imagine. Rumi.  What we wish, we readily believe, and what we ourselves think, we imagine others think also. Julius Caesar. Imagine for yourself a character, a model personality, whose example you determine to follow, in private as well as in public. Epictetus.   

Today’s photo theme is “grey”. This is a table cloth on one of the tables at an entry to the sanctuary in my church. I like the tones and the lines and depth in the pleats. I created the image as I was passing out the bulletins this morning. 

I have written about how dogs help us, here’s another little bit about how horses help us too. There is a farm in our neighbor Granville that is a special kind of farm. Its name is Hope Farm. They have a mission to help people with handicaps. They use another of God’s creations in this effort. The lady who owns the farm and started this mission worked in “equine assisted therapy in California” earlier in her life and decided that is what she would want to do. She enjoyed teaching especially folks of all ages who lived with challenges. She believes as I do that horses (and for me most, if not all, animals) are unique in what they have to offer to enrich our lives. She mentioned in the article that she feels that they make a difference in the quality of life for her special guests. She was very comfortable with horses, her family had horses always. As she was growing up even her babysitter rode a pony to get to her to baby sit. When she was five years old and the baby sitter went away to college she gave her the pony. She had experience in teaching while she lived in California. So she combined her love of horses with the experience in teaching. She and her husband opened the farm here in our area in 2009 with three lesson horses and seven volunteers to help. She teaches thirty students a week. She seems to have a sense of matching a student to each horse. In photos in for this original article there were smiles and motions of relaxation and happiness all around.  

It’s either going to be hamburgers or sloppy joes for dinner tonight. 

Joy

Safe....