January 12, 2022, a thought for today, Who honours not age, is unworthy of it. German Proverb

I’m bored. I have things ready for printing and some research that I needed to get done, that didn’t take too long. My continuing back problem doesn’t allow for much mobility right now. 

I moved around enough to make some sun tea and start a meatloaf.

The photo of the day for January 11 was “lunch”. Here’s what I had for lunch on this day. I called it the McDonald version of surf and turf. A fish sandwich and an hamburger sandwich with a nice large iced tea.

We have all heard of the “seasonal affective disorder”. An affliction that happens for many people during the winter months when there is less light in the day and the air is cold. Most of my life I didn’t notice  much of the effects of it but the older I get the more I feel it. Winter can be fun for many people but not so much when life slows down. The colder, grayer days see to reflect a colder, grayer disposition. This is one of those days for me. If I had the gumption, I should go out somewhere. I don’t like shopping unless I am going out to get something specific and then leave the store so that kind of trip is out. The temperature is a little higher today but still cold in my estimation so that leaves something that would mean being outside off the list too. Guess I am stuck. So I will find something productive to do on the computer.

The word today is old.  It is one of the blessings of old friends that you can afford to be stupid with them. Ralph Waldo Emerson.  The young man knows the rules, but the old man knows the exceptions. Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.  Be not the first by whom the new are tried, Nor yet the last to lay the old aside. Alexander Pope. Grow old with me! The best is yet to be. Robert Browning. Wear the old coat and buy the new book. Austin Phelps. Life's tragedy is that we get old too soon and wise too late. Benjamin Franklin. When grace is joined with wrinkles, it is adorable. There is an unspeakable dawn in happy old age. Victor Hugo. Age appears to be best in four things; old wood best to burn, old wine to drink, old friends to trust, and old authors to read. Francis Bacon.  I met in the street a very poor young man who was in love. His hat was old, his coat worn, his cloak was out at the elbows, the water passed through his shoes, - and the stars through his soul. Victor Hugo. A man growing old becomes a child again. Sophocles. Memory tempers prosperity, mitigates adversity, controls youth, and delights old age. Lactantius. It is not so much for its beauty that the forest makes a claim upon men's hearts, as for that subtle something, that quality of air that emanation from old trees, that so wonderfully changes and renews a weary spirit. Robert Louis Stevenson. Education is the best provision for old age. Aristotle. 

The photo challenge for today is “I am here!”.  This makes the third selfie for this month. I am
in my usual spot, my desk chair in front of the computer with a window on two sides so that I get a continuous view of the nature in the city and for all seasons and weather conditions.

I seem to keep finding current articles about history in our area of our city. Here is a bit more about early Columbus Ohio. This article is about what life was like in our city more than two hundred years ago. Columbus was founded in 1812. When Franklinton, across the Scioto River, when founded in 1797 there were several hundred residents who supported the new state capital. There was a threat of attack by the British and “their Native American allies” in the area until after the War of 1812. But that wasn’t the only threat to the region. There were rattlesnakes and now and then angry bears. Still living with these dangers the “pioneer residents of central Ohio brought with them the customs of their earlier lives and continued to observe them”. The pioneer women wore clothing made of plain and simple linen and cotton that “fits the natural form and reaches to within six inches of the floor”.  They may have a belt made of “homespun and colored with imported dye” along with a row of buttons down the back. According to the article, the typical lady pioneers in this area wore cowhide shoes to “conceal substantial feet and shapely ankles”. A wedding taking part in 1876 mentioned in the article was further described as having the “attention of the whole neighborhood” who all were eager to take part in the celebration of the event. In this particular story the groom would leave for his father’s house to meet with the bride before noon. The wedding “by the inexorable law of fashion, must take place before dinner”. The transportation of the time was on a horse's back. The horse would have old saddles and bridles along with “packsaddles with a blanket over them”. They would form a procession along the road. As a part of the party some may play a joke by firing guns that would frighten the horses and the girls would giggle and scream. Games were played at the event, “race for the bottle” was one. Two or more young men raced to the bride’s house to win a bottle of whisky and then passed to the others for a drink. The ceremony took place at the bride’s house. There was a dinner and dancing and fun until morning. It was mentioned in the article that some not invited there made attempts at revenge by cutting off the manes and tails of the horses at the wedding party. Besides the story of a wedding celebration other activities of the time were mentioned in this article. There were log-rolling and harvesting for the men and quilting and apple butter making for the women. All of this helped neighborhoods get to know each other. Fortunes were told by counting apple seeds from the apples used in the apple butter and cider making. After the start of the fun activities the floors were cleared for dancers and loud singing. During these times a fiddler was an important person. He would call the “Virginia Reel” and signal the start of shouting, laughter and “clatter of hilarious feet upon the sanded puncheon floor”. 

I am making a meat loaf for dinner tonight with some of the Omaha potatoes we have left. 

Joy

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