January 8, 2022 a thought for today, The world's a stage; each plays his part, and takes his share.  Dutch Proverb

The cold has come in like a demon. The temperature is below freezing. I am surprised my car started yesterday. Bob said his car hesitated today. I haven’t tried mine today but being that it is older than his I may also have a complaint when I turn the key later this afternoon to go to the free meal at church.

On January 7 the photo a day title was “word to live by”. It’ hard to pick one word only. There could be a lot of words to live by depending on circumstances. On the other hand there are some very important words that come to mind, love, honesty and many more. I don’t have any framed words to photograph so I searched through some newspaper ads. I found this one. The background was the boring color of newspaper paper. So I used the Photoshop hue and saturation filter to give it a touch of color. 

My back is still not up to par so I am staying as still as I can although I did run the mop over the kitchen floor and did a little light dusting. I need to make some dog treats this afternoon so I think that will be it for today. 

The word today is now.  That though the radiance which was once so bright be now forever taken from my sight. Though nothing can bring back the hour of splendor in the grass, glory in the flower. We will grieve not, rather find strength in what remains behind. William Wordsworth. Humanity has won its battle. Liberty now has a country. Marquis de Lafayette.  There will be no end to the troubles of states, or of humanity itself, till philosophers become kings in this world, or till those we now call kings and rulers really and truly become philosophers, and political power and philosophy thus come into the same hands. Plato. The past is not dead, it is living in us, and will be alive in the future which we are now helping to make. William Morris.  Happiness is the only good. The time to be happy is now. The place to be happy is here. The way to be happy is to make others so. Robert Green Ingersoll.  Those things which I am saying now may be obscure, yet they will be made clearer in their proper place. Nicolaus Copernicus. With the past, I have nothing to do; nor with the future. I live now. Ralph Waldo Emerson. The time to be happy is now, and the place to be happy is here. Robert Green Ingersoll.  There will never be any more perfection than there is now. Walt Whitman.  This time, like all times, is a very good one, if we but know what to do with it. Ralph Waldo Emerson. He is blessed over all mortals who loses no moment of the passing life in remembering the past. Henry David Thoreau.  

The photo challenge for today is “get in the photo”. I think we had one other selfie this month on the
2nd. Anyway, I turned around from my computer and spied myself in the mirror framed by some bric-a-bracs. 

The zoo has been a favorite place to visit in all seasons for many years. This article tells a little about its early history. It is reported to be one of the largest zoos in the United States. We have 600 species of over 10,000 animals. The Wilds is another part of the zoo, at least is managed by the Columbus zoo. The Wilds is a “safari park in eastern Ohio”. It was a huge embarrassment that our zoo which has  maintained an “esteemed reputation around the world” was recently involved in a couple of recent scandals. In my opinion those two “scandals” can’t erase the joy and educational experiences that this zoo has offered the international public over its time in existence for nearly the past century. The zoo opened in 1927at Riverside Park at the O’Shaughnessy Reservoir with “only a hand full of species to display”. On a trip to St. Louis two business men from Columbus visited the St. Louis Zoo. One of the two men, Harry Wolfe, “decided” this is what Columbus needed. When he came home, he “lobbied” the city to start the zoo but was turned down this first time. As it happened, the city began receiving “exotic animals as gifts for the zoo before they even had a place to put them” so they were kept at the Franklin Park Conservatory. The article mentioned that in December of 1926 the Columbus Dispatch held a Christmas party where Mr. Wolf provided six reindeer that he had shipped from Alaska. After the party he gave them to the city because there was now a place for the zoo, O’Shaughnessy Reservoir. This is where the zoo is today. The first building at the zoo was the Columbus Dispatch building where the lions and tigers were kept. Admission at the zoo was free at the time and the city of Columbus paid the wages of the employees and upkeep of the grounds and animals. There were some name changes over the years the first was The Columbus Municipal Zoo in 1937. At that time it was “no longer under the financial wing of the city”. Now the financial end of things changed to memberships bringing in the income. At that time the membership fee was $2. At the beginning of WWII the zoo struggled to generate membership and employment. Staff members were “called into service or more essential jobs”. The employees that were left at the zoo had to work longer hours and had more responsibilities. The article went on to say that in 1950 the zoo was re-established under the jurisdiction of the city of Columbus. In 1970 the management of the zoo was tuned over to the non-profit Zoological Park Association. The city still provided some funds out of the general fund until 1986. Now, today, the zoo gets some funding from the Franklin County tax levy. The zoo became more widely know than ever when beginning in the 1980s Jack Hanna appeared on television with animals for educational purposes. Memberships grew. Now, and with the name the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium, the zoo has come a long way with changes over the years. One fairly recent event was the addition of Wildlights in the Christmas season.  “It has struggled and it has thrived” over the years since the 1920s.

It’s going to be tuna casserole out of the freezer for dinner. 

Joy

Ignored