August 30, 2022 something to ponder for today, The tongue of a bad friend cuts more than a knife. Spanish Proverb

The photo a day upload for yesterday was titled “ I can....”. I choose one of my hobbies....paper quilling. This is a cross I made as a remembrance for a friend who lost a family member. 

Yesterday was interesting and on the busy side. The cleaning lady was here for a couple of hours early in the morning. Then I waited with “bated breath” for the GE repair person to come and fix the refrigerator. The appointment was made over three weeks ago so I imagined that we would be early on the list. One o’clock passed, two, three....I got worried. At four o’clock I got the call that he was on his way. An hour and a half later the frig is running again. We have to wait about twenty four hours before using it....what a relief. Maybe this will be the last of the stress tainted events of this summer. (PS: not.....the ice maker isn’t working).

Today is a food pantry day. Sue wanted to spend some time on her favorite pass time....shopping at the thrift store so she asked if I would drop her off before I go to the church and pick her up when I am done. So I will leave a little early and get home a little later. 

The second photo a day upload for yesterday was an open upload, “untitled”. This is one I took at Franklin Park Conservatory when they have the butterfly display. 

I have been thinking I will have to be transplanting and moving my house plants back in soon. In that line of thinking, yesterday while the cleaning lady was here I asked her if she liked house plants. She said not so much but her mom did. I said I have three nearly “giant” boston ferns and wanted to give one of them away. So she took one for her mom. That’s one less that I will have to tend to.

Speaking of plants, I have a hibiscus plant in the side yard. Last year the blossoms were nearly as big as dinner plates and produced four or five flowers a day for over a month. This year it is sad and not producing any blossoms. I can’t figure what the problem is. Hopefully next year will be better. Maybe the excessive heat we had for several days had something to do with it ..... but I kind of doubt that. 

We are getting a little rain today. A week or so ago the rain was coming down in buckets. What fun the weather is in Columbus Ohio .

Today’s upload was titled “I can’t....”. This was a hard one for me. I do have a bit of a problem making pie crust. I generally give up and use a pre-made crust. The only photo I could use to make my image for the upload was from a very old cook book. 

The word to consider today is friendship.  Wishing to be friends is quick work, but friendship is a slow ripening fruit, Aristotle. Misfortune tests the sincerity of friends, Aesop.  One of the most beautiful qualities of true friendship is to understand and to be understood, Lucius Annaeus Seneca. The language of friendship is not words but meanings, Henry David Thoreau. Friendship increases by visiting friends but visiting seldom, Benjamin Franklin.  Little friends may prove great friends, Aesop. The best mirror is an old friend, George Herbert. Tis the privilege of friendship to talk nonsense, and to have her nonsense respected, Charles Lamb.  True friendship can afford true knowledge. It does not depend on darkness and ignorance, Henry David Thoreau.   Friends are the siblings God never gave us, Mencius. A friend to all is a friend to none. Aristotle.  The bird a nest, the spider a web, man friendship. William Blake. If you have one true friend you have more than your share. Thomas Fuller. A true friend freely, advises justly, assists readily, adventures boldly, takes all patiently, defends courageously, and continues a friend unchangeably. William Penn.  Nothing but heaven itself is better than a friend who is really a friend. Plautus. Rare as is true love, true friendship is rarer. Jean de La Fontaine.

The next upload for today was one I chose from my archives. Sometimes I take a photo just for the shapes, spaces, dimensions, lines, textures and relations to each other. That is the case here.

I think it’s fun to learn a little about the past about Columbus and it’s neighbors. This article tells about a person who was noted for riding a horse in Franklin Park. The article became to relate that we see joggers and bicyclists on the trails in parks. Then, “decades ago, it would have been just as likely to see horseback riders trotting on those same trails”. There was once a riding club in Franklin Park. There was a gentleman who was a “well-respected civic leader ..... an avid equestrian. He made a great effort to keep “appreciation of horses and horseback riding alive as automobiles became common”. He wrote a book about horseback riding from the days of the earliest pioneers to his present day. In 1903 a group of “like-minded riders” met in the park and started the Columbus Riding Club. After that there were events and competitions around the park and country clubs in Columbus. The gentlemen who started all of this continued to ride in the park until his death in 1937. In 1933 there was a groundbreaking “of a new hall for the Columbus Riding Club”. It still stand today on Riding Club Lane “where it is home to the Wyandotte Athletic Club”. 

I’m playing with the idea of making chili or hamburger sandwiches for dinner. 

Joy

....owners temporarily on R and R....

 August 28, 2022 a thought to study for today, Two cannot fall out if one does not choose. Spanish Proverb

The photo a day upload for August 27 was “on weekends I....”. I pick up the groceries I ordered for curbside pick up . 

What I am going to say here is my own opinion, as most things I say here are (and else where, I guess). But I think there are some folks who were present who would probably not agree with this one. The current bible study sessions we are having are, for me, more like a read/history class than a bible study. Today’s message was my kind of bible study as well as an outstanding message. But with that there is a bit of sad news, for me, looks like we are losing yet another outstanding reverend, he is leaving us. On another note, at a different point in the morning, I felt another “promotion of one’s self” moment. 

The second upload for yesterday was the “pop up challenge...shot at night” for the Sudbury Photo Club.

As is custom I don’t have a to-do list to get done today. Just some work/relaxation I like to do.....photos, and the most necessary household things. And to add to the feeling, ‘tis close to the last days of summer. 

The upload for today is “I watched this...”. When someone says “watched this” my first thoughts are a television program or a movie or a theater act. I watch cooking shows on the weekend. This is a shot of one of them.

The word to have a look at today is forgive. Those who cannot forgive others break the bridge over which they themselves must pass, Confucius. Good to forgive, best to forget, Robert Browning. One forgives to the degree that one loves, Francois de la Rochefoucauld.  Forgiveness is the remission of sins. For it is by this that what has been lost, and was found, is saved from being lost again, Saint Augustine. It is easier to forgive an enemy than to forgive a friend. William Blake. How unhappy is he who cannot forgive himself. Publilius Syrus. There is no injustice in the grace of God. God is as just when He forgives a believer as when He casts a sinner into hell. Charles Spurgeon.  We often forgive those who bore us, but we cannot forgive those whom we bore. Francois de La Rochefoucauld.  The more a man knows, the more he forgives. Catherine the Great. Pray you now, forget and forgive, William Shakespeare. We are all full of weakness and errors; let us mutually pardon each other our follies - it is the first law of nature, Voltaire. His heart was as great as the world, but there was no room in it to hold the memory of a wrong, Ralph Waldo Emerson. If we could read the secret history of our enemies we should find in each man's life sorrow and suffering enough to disarm all hostility, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. This is certain, that a man that studieth revenge keeps his wounds green, which otherwise would heal and do well, Francis Bacon. Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive them that trespass against us, Martin Luther. Be assured that if you knew all, you would pardon all, Thomas a Kempis.

The upload for the “pop up challenge....shot in the dark” for today is this one was taken as I glanced out the front door and saw the bright moon over the neighbors house. 

I thought this would be just a note on some decorating and to settle a possible curiosity about symbols. I keep seeing star symbols on houses and often wondered what their significance was aside from ornamentation (I don’t mean the stars as in stars and stripes...I mean a single star ornament). This article is about shapes like a diamond or maple leaf for the purpose of this article found on window shutters. The title to the article attracted me: “Shutter Cutours: A Window to One’s Soul?” The article mentioned that in Cape Cod you may see starfish and scallop shells as cut outs on shutters, in Maine maybe pine tree cutouts. In Atlanta, card suits. The author of this article seemed to be in search of a cutout design he would like for his shutters. His thoughts went through a squirrel, hearts, a crescent moon, a starfish, maybe fleur-de-lis (but, he says, I am not from New Orleans. How ‘bout four-leaf clover, he says “I’m only 1/16th Irish”. In an article from the Curious Cbus at WOSU, these symbols can be defined by an architectural style. A lady in Clintonville has asked Curious Cbus about these symbols because she mentioned that several homes in Clintonville have these decorative shutters, crescent moons, candlesticks, and clovers. After some research it was discovered that Sears, Montgomery Ward were selling kit-built homes offering as one of the features, cut-outs for front shutters. Popular cutouts in the 1920s were the crescent moon, the urn, and the shamrock. Today there are all kinds of cut-outs to choose from. It is noted in another article on these cut outs that “nothing provides warmth like a personal touch”.

These cutouts add “eye-catching dimension and uncommon style”. Some of the more common ones to choose from now are: Palm, Moon, Pineapple, Anchor, Star, Heart, Tree, Diamond and Sailboat.

It will be order in again for this Sunday evening dinner. 

Joy 

 August 26, 2022 a thought for today, Always taking out and never putting in, soon reaches the bottom. Spanish Proverb

One of yesterday’s uploads was “I need to ....”. Do the laundry. Not very exciting but necessary for everybody. 

It’s been a productive Friday. When I got to the church to finish the bulletin, Dorothy was already there. She said she had only been there about three minutes. The two of us work so well together that we get the job done “lickety split” (about half an hour minus a short clean up time). We decided to work in one of the larger rooms so that we didn’t have to move other things around for space to work. 

Sue needed to pick up a couple of things at Walgreen and I wanted to stop at the funeral home to pay my respects to a friend. 

The second upload yesterday was this one from my archives. As I was coming down the stairs and had a camera in my hand I couldn’t pass this photo of the bird all by himself on the roof. The particular angle of the other structures added to the “design” 

I have been working on a paper quilled cross for the friend. I had wanted to get it done for today. I had all the pieces done. When I put them together, I was not satisfied with four of the “eye”shapes”. I re-quilled them last night. I had the top portion of the cross put together. Then today after church and before the errand I finished putting it together. I need for it to dry longer before I package it. 

Then I got busy working in the kitchen to get the sink and counter areas cleaned and straightened.  And made a grocery list for the curb side order for this week.

Today’s photo a day assignment was “I wore this....”. Haven’t we all? It seemed like the most current apparel being worn in this time in history.

The word for today is focus. Never confuse motion with action, Benjamin Franklin.  Beware lest you lose the substance by grasping at the shadow, Aesop. It is not enough to be busy. So are the ants. The question is: What are we busy about? Henry David Thoreau. If the work is high and far, You must not only aim aright, But draw the bow with all your might, Henry David Thoreau. Every man's life lies within the present; for the past is spent and done with, and the future is uncertain, Marcus Aurelius. To be everywhere is to be nowhere, Seneca.  All intelligent thoughts have already been thought; what is necessary is only to try to think them again, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. Lose not yourself in a far off time, seize the moment that is thine, Friedrich Schiller. A person who is gifted sees the essential point and leaves the rest as surplus, Thomas Carlyle. The more completely we focus our attention on our Creator and Lord, the less chance there is of our being distracted by creatures. Saint Ignatius. The more completely we focus our attention on our Creator and Lord, the less chance there is of our being distracted by creatures. Saint Ignatius. 

This second upload for today was also from my archives. When I was in the store I could hardly pass by the healthy looking cabbage and all its shapes and forms. 

It seems something in Columbus has made the New York Times. According to the article there will be a new “one-of-a-kind” climbing route/wall here in Columbus that has been recognized in the New York Times. This new, to us, style climbing adventure will be located at the new Quarry Trails Metro Park. It is called “via ferrata” (A “via ferrata” translates as “iron path” in English. It refers to metal rungs, ladders or permanently fixed safety wire as a means of crossing otherwise tricky and steep rocky terrain and was used by troops in the Alps. During World War I). It is being constructed in one of the limestone rock formations. The article described this feature in our community as “an outdoor activity somewhere between a light climb and a strenuous hike”. It will be a contentious set of handgrips and footholds to allow people “without climbing experience” to participate in the activity and fun. For safety purposes there will be safety harnesses. The article said that the New York Times mentioned that this is the “first-ever urban via ferrata”. Our “via ferrata” will open this fall. The wall is a half mile wise and 160 feet tall. There will be rings and cables for safety. “Instead of climbing vertically.... the climbers will move horizontally”. 

Pizza!!

Joy

I took this out the window of the car as we were passing by....down the street from this the police were trying to help a man who didn’t look well sitting in the street divider. 

 August 24, 2022 a thought for today, Friendship broken may be soldered, but never made whole. Spanish Proverb

Today was another food pantry day. We weren’t quite as busy today as we were yesterday. But it was comfortable. My regular partner on the check in desk is out with COVID. So we had a backup today. She forgot what time we start so was a little late. I did the set up by myself. Usually Gail had it mostly done by the time I get there. It was a little slower today since it was just me. Once we got started everything went smoothly. 

The first photo a day upload for yesterday was “I sat here.....”. I sat in the chair then took a picture of the end of it to show th grain and lines. 

I still have one piece I need to finish in the newsletter. I finished the rest of it to that point so I sent it and the bulletin to the readers. 

Before I left for church, I pulled up one of the photo uploads I need for today from the archives. The other one I need was easy to shoot, it just took a bit of a set up. I still need to do the “darkroom” work on both of them. I want to get that done and this letter finished before we leave for a dinner at York. 

The second upload was an image I found when I was walking through the alley behind my house. Someone had hung this watering can on the post. 

The temps are starting back up. It’s getting hotter again...more typical for August. 

The word for today is fortune.  There is a tide in the affairs of men, Which taken at the flood, leads on to fortune. Omitted, all the voyage of their life is bound in shallows and in miseries. On such a full sea are we now afloat. And we must take the current when it serves, or lose our ventures. William Shakespeare.  Fortune favors the prepared mind. Louis Pasteur. Come what may, all bad fortune is to be conquered by endurance. Virgil. When fortune calls, offer her a chair, Yiddish. If a man's fortune does not fit him, it is like the shoe in the story; if too large it trips him up, if too small it pinches him, Horace. Fortune is like glass--the brighter the glitter, the more easily broken. Publilius Syrus. Quiet minds cannot be perplexed or frightened but go on in fortune or misfortune at their own private pace, like a clock during a thunderstorm. Robert Louis Stevenson. Henceforth I ask not good fortune. I myself am good fortune. Walt Whitman. Every man is the architect of his own fortune. Sallust.  No man ever wetted clay and then left it, as if there would be bricks by chance and fortune. Plutarch.  There are good and bad times, but our mood changes more often than our fortune. Thomas Carlyle.  From my tribe I take nothing, I am the maker of my own fortune. Tecumseh. I beg my Children to be just and virtuous, never to disgrace my name or theirs, and then they are out of fortune's power. Thomas Willis.

The first upload and assignment for today was titled “I like to eat...” I didn’t pick any one item because I like to eat many things ...... I am a “foodie”. 

There will be some new jobs and a clean up of an area that has been vacant for a while. The property of an old factor, Columbus Castings, that has been unoccupied since 2016, will become a new tree building commerce park. It will be called Castings Commerce Park. The plant “provided jobs to the South Side” and the area now offers “a rare in fill development opportunity” where industry was successful. The new buildings are “geared toward distribution or manufacturing”. It is estimated that the new complex will provide around 300 jobs. The strictures will be “suited” for manufacturers and could be good warehouse use also. Once the building was torn down weeks and “empty wasteland” took over and became an eyesore. It is hoped by some that the area will be part of revitalization of the South Side.  

The second upload for today was an image that caught my eye as I was about to go down the stairway. I happened to have the camera in my hand at the time. 

Dinner will be at York this evening for Bob’s birthday. Love having a night off from cooking and clean up. 

Joy

                 behind the scene

 August 22, 2022 a thought for today, He who does not repair his gutter has a whole house to repair. Spanish Proverb

This has been a busy and productive day so far. I got the information for the bulletin ahead of time this week so I was able to get it done all in one sitting today. Once that was done, I took Sue for a couple of errands she wanted to get completed. Later today she has a doctor’s appointment. I thought we should get the errand out of the way before the appointment instead of afterward since it is late in the day, too near dinner time. 

One of the uploads for August 21 was “I don’t like to....”. I hate cleaning the oven so that made a perfect choice for this photo. I couldn’t think of a way to make it more artistic. 

After I got the bulletin done, I took Sue for some errands she needed to get done. We when to Kroger for a couple of things we for got to order on the curbside pick up this week. It’s good sometimes to get into the store and find things we think we may need later. Maybe that is not such a good idea after all. We spend more money that way. 

My second upload for yesterday was of Sweet Pea day dreaming as she watched the neighborhood from the bed right by the window. 

I have an appointment at the vet for Sweet Pea tomorrow and then food pantry as soon as I get back from the vet.

When I had a few minutes of down time in the last week or so I spent time on the newsletter so the “deadline” time isn’t quite as big a pressure as it would otherwise be for this week. I still have parts of three pages to do but it is a matter of waiting on some to come in via email. 

One of the uploads for today was “on Monday’s I....”. This pretty easy, I work on the church bulletin every Monday. 

The word today is follow.  Consider your origins: you were not made to live as brutes, but to follow virtue and knowledge. Dante Alighieri. To thine own self be true, and it must follow, as the night the day, thou canst not then be false to any man. William Shakespeare. The wisest men follow their own direction, Euripides. Follow your dream as long as you live, do not lessen the time of following desire, for wasting time is an abomination of the spirit, Plato. Let us follow the truth whither so ever it leads, Socrates. Good thoughts are no better than good dreams if you don't follow through, Ralph Waldo Emerson. Character - in things great and small - is indicated when a man (or person) pursues with sustained follow-through what he feels himself capable of doing, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. Wherever you go, go with all your heart, Confucius. Imagine for yourself a character, a model personality whose example you determine to follow, in private as well as in public, Epictetus. They know enough who know how to learn, Francis Bacon. Swim out of your little pond, Rumi.  I pay no attention whatever to anybody's praise or blame. I simply follow my own feelings. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Far away there in the sunshine are my highest aspirations. I may not reach them, but I can look up and see their beauty, believe in them, and try to follow where they lead, Louisa May Alcott.   Forests precede civilizations and deserts follow them, François-René de Chateaubriand.  It is the flash which appears, the thunderbolt will follow, Voltaire. 

My second upload today is of a mushroom growing between the crack of bark on an old tree in the back yard. The lines and textures bring out the natural feel. 

I know a lot of people are a little frightened of new technology but this is just one of the many useful and maybe life changing things that computers and other new finds can do for our lives. This article is talking about underwater drones. I am amazed with the sights we can see using drones to view our world from close to earth over our heads. I never considered underwater drones until I read this article. In thinking for the need of water recoveries the Delaware County Sheriff’s Office decided to purchase an underwater drone. The interest in this type of equipment “stemmed from the case of Anthony ‘Tony” J. Luzio of Powell, who was 25 years old when he was last seen July 4, 2005".  His body was found in October of 2014 in a retention pond near Orange and South Old State roads using an underwater drone. The article went on the mention that “although it is a rare event.......nationwide cases have been reported of small children murdered by being thrown into water, with one case earlier this year near the Mississippi River”. Further in the article “small children, particularly those with cognitive disabilities, don’t always recognize water as dangerous........when a missing child is reported, “We immediately start becoming fearful if there’s water in the area.” The article pointed out it takes time for qualified divers to arrive at the scene and that drones can “work continuously far longer than a human diver”. The drone mentioned in the article has high intensity LED lights to “penetrate” murky waters. It is battery powered and operates at the end of a 700-foot line connected to a control device. It is even equipped with an arm that “could retrieve small objects”. A generator can be attached with a control line to give even more operating time. There can be eighteen people from eleven departments who can be trained how to use the drone in this article. 

It’s probably going to be creamed beef on toast for dinner. 

Joy

 

 August 20, 2022 a thought for today, Man punishes the action, but God the intention. Spanish Proverb

The first upload for yesterday was called “I did this good thing....” . I baked a cherry pie. 

We got the curbside grocery pick up done and now it’s put away. The little refrigerator is getting kind of full by this time and that doesn’t include any left overs. We eat what I make or I try to freeze even small amounts to save room in the mini frig. 

Bob got the groceries all unloaded from the car for me and started mowing the lawn.

The second upload for yesterday was something I found as I was going through my archives. I liked the colors, textures and composition. 

On the way home from the store I had Bob join me in looking for a couple of photos I need. We stopped by the park. We also stopped for brunch. McDonalds doesn’t start their lunch menu until eleven o’clock on weekends. We found out today that we can order from Wendy’s before that. 

The first upload for today was titled “I love this view....” . This is one of the landscapes you may recognize if you have visited my site....this is Westgate Park. It is always a nice peaceful view with the trees and green space. 

The only thing left on my agenda for today is making Sweet Pea’s meatball treats and dinner. 

We are having another beautiful, near perfect summer day. This has been an interesting summer with such super hot temp in the end of June and most of July with lower temps, even slightly below normal in August. 

The second upload today was also from my archives. Some of the time I like to get into sepia colored images and/or black and white. This sepia was from an old flower arrangement on my dining room table. 

The word for today is flow.   Life is a series of natural and spontaneous changes. Don't resist them - that only creates sorrow. Let reality be reality. Let things flow naturally forward in whatever way they like. Lao Tzu. In a state of grace, the soul is like a well of limpid water, from which flow only streams of clearest crystal. Its works are pleasing both to God and man, rising from the River of Life, beside which it is rooted like a tree. Saint Teresa of Avila. When I am traveling in a carriage, or walking after a good meal, or during the night when I cannot sleep; it is on such occasions that ideas flow best and most abundantly. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.  Thoughts create a new heaven, a new firmament, a new source of energy, from which new arts flow. Paracelsus. Dwell as near as possible to the channel in which your life flows, Henry David Thoreau.  Everything is in motion. Everything flows. Everything is vibrating, William Hazlitt.   A laugh, to be joyous, must flow from a joyous heart, for without kindness, there can be no true joy, Thomas Carlyle. On every thorn, delightful wisdom grows, In every rill a sweet instruction flows, Edward Young. There is one common flow, one common breathing, all things are in sympathy, Hippocrates. When my legs begin to move, the thoughts begin to flow, Henry David Thoreau. 

Today is another of those days when I have a third photo a day up load. The title for this challenge was something “antique”. This gate leg table with the painted design is somewhere around one hundred years old. It was in my aunt’s house from the time I was born, actually before that date, until her death and then it came to me. 

This article is a story about some more wild life around our city,... blue herons and more. It seems the blue herons are “making their way to Ohio”. They are about four feet in length and have a six-foot wingspan. They live in rookeries which is a collection of stick nests. In our nearby community they can be found along the Olentangy River south of Hyatts Road. According to the article we have another heron in our midst, a smaller green heron, more a crow size. It is much more “secretive and far less likely to be notice”. There are smaller heron species but seen a little less often. As the article went on it mentioned that there is an “up-and-comer in Ohio”....the great egret. It is nearly the size of the great blue heron and is pure white. They first appeared in around 1940 in the “western Lake Erie marsh region”. Recently there have been some seen as a nesting colony on an island in a quarry in western Franklin County. Their sightings have increased from around 1987 seven fold. There are nearly 2,000 nesting pairs in the state. The article went on to say that “most of the 2022 little blue herons are juveniles, which are easily confused with egrets.... A good spot to see several heron species locally is Pickerington Ponds Metro Park. If you’re lucky, maybe you will even find a little blue heron.”

It’s going to be taco salad for dinner tonight. 

Joy

                         ...on a street corner...

 

 August 18, 2022 thought for today, An empty mill will turn without the wind. Russian Proverb

I’ve always seen the path of life as a series of hills and valleys. I seem to be hitting the valleys more often than not this summer. I’m sure I mentioned the problems we have been having with a broken refrigerator/freezer. Well.....so far, it’s not getting any better and I don’t see the light at the end of the tunnel for about two more weeks. For a “chief cook and bottle washer” it is a real handicap. After the “diagnosis” the original technician said he couldn’t’ get back to fix it until August 29. He suggested that once the parts he had ordered for us came we should call the GE service center to try to get an earlier appointment. That’s what we did....our hopes soured....we got an appoint for this Friday (tomorrow) at 1:00 then we were surprised with a possible appointment yesterday but they never showed. So I called when I got home from church to make sure the appointment we had made for tomorrow was still in tact. No such luck. The appointment was moved back to the 29th date. After my car adventure a couple of months ago I was hoping for a period of time without any major or stress-type lows on the path. Well, the only way to the other side is through the bump. 

The first photo a day up load for yesterday was “I went to...”. The annual garden show. I like to roam and get ideas but, alas, they are just dreams...too expensive for my pocketbook. 

I got the printing done at church this morning without any problems and had a few minutes to chat with Chris. 

I drove for a few minutes to look for photos I need. I found a few. We’ll see when I get them in Photoshop which one’s will work and which won’t. 

The second upload was to Sudbury and is a photo of two of my past  hobbies ....paper quilling and paper marbling. 

The sun is bright and promising with the temps still on the lower side. So it’s a perfect summer day. 

Oh, I don’t know if I have mentioned that I am trying to keep a steady step count now, hopefully to strengthen my legs and do at least some sort of physical exercise. I have been making it to 2000 steps (a minimum for 80+ year olds). One day last week I got to 3000.

Also, a side note....I have finished one book and moved onto a new one. Both by John Grisham...finished “The Firm”; started “The Chamber”. 

The upload for today is “I read this....”. We can hardly drive down a city street without “reading” billboards. 

The word for today is feelings. Poetry is the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings: it takes its origin from emotion recollected in tranquility. William Wordsworth.  Without feelings of respect, what is there to distinguish men from beasts? Confucius.  Do not give in too much to feelings. A overly sensitive heart is an unhappy possession on this shaky earth, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. A person will be just about as happy as they make up their minds to be, Abraham Lincoln.  There is no remedy for love than to love more, Henry David Thoreau.  Never play with the feelings of others, because you may win the game, but the risk is that you will surely lose the person for life time, William Shakespeare. There is no instinct like that of the heart, Lord Byron.  Confidence is that feeling by which the mind embarks in great and honorable courses with a sure hope and trust in itself, Marcus Tullius Cicero. When I do good, I feel good. When I do bad, I feel bad. That's my religion, Abraham Lincoln.  Let’s not forget that the little emotions are the great captains of our lives and we obey them without realizing it, Vincent Van Gogh.  Like waves, our feelings may continue by repeating themselves, by intermittent rushes; but no emotion any more than a wave can long retain its own individual form, Henry Ward Beecher. 

This for upload for today was to Sudbury and was chosen in line with the other upload for today I that orange barrels can’t be missed on most any busy city outing.   

These art pieces have amazed me. This article explains a little more about them. This is an article about the twenty-three “suspended sculptures” that were at Schiller Park. They were a temporary display for the park from October 30, 2019 through March 1, 2020. But due to the pandemic they remained at the park into the summer of 2022. It is a traveling exhibition that came here after a stop at a garden in Long Island. While they were here one of the visitors said “you can never let these go!”. Financial support was sought from residents of Schumacher Place, Merion Village, and German Village in an effort to buy some of the sculptures. One hundred and twenty six-thousand dollars was raised to purchase five of the artists other sculptures for a permanent installation.  Mr. Kedziora, the artist who created the sculptures and his team, came to Columbus in June to take down the temporary exhibit (which was moved to Sandusky) and install the five new permanent pieces in Shriller Park.  Enough money was raised to add two more sculptures. One of the sculptures was “specifically created as African-American to reflect that public art is for everyone”. 

I have a Stouffer’s frozen lasagna that we will have for dinner tonight.  

Joy

  this street sign in this setting is a little confusing....on trucks in the woods?

 August 16, 2022 a thought for today, Rather a bitter truth than a sweet lie. Russian Proverb

The first upload for yesterday was “I once....”. My answer was “played corn hole”. I played it once in person but now play it on the ipad as one of my series of cognitive exercises. I feel that that particular exercise on the ipad offers a small measure of “hand-eye” coordination as well as a kind of discipline. 

So far this has been a productive and quite Tuesday. I had most of the bulletin done yesterday. This morning I got other agenda items tended to before I rechecked my email and found that the information I needed to finish the bulletin was there. I finished that in about half an hour and sent it to be reread and checked. 

The second upload for yesterday was a “pop up challenge....nostalgic or historical image”. This was taken at the Ohio History Center. 

I needed some old photos for another project I have been working on and decided to choose the photos for today’s downloads at the same time. I spent an hour or so on that project then used some Photoshop to enhance the ones for the other project.

The past few mornings have been on the cool side . It is a big change from the super high temps we have been having this summer. It’s a little disconcerting to get a small touch of autumn’s tentacles in the air. Soon it will be time to bring my house plants back inside from their outdoor vacation. 

Yesterday was one of the days I had a third photo club with a photo a day assignment, “water drips/drops”. I like the difference in the feeling of cold with the icicles and the bright blue sky.

The word today is failure. Do not fear mistakes. You will know failure. Continue to reach out. Benjamin Franklin.  Our best successes often come after our greatest disappointments. Henry Ward Beecher.  The only real failure in life is not to be true to the best one knows. Buddha.   There are some defeats more triumphant than victories. Michel de Montaigne.  The wisest of the wise may err. Aeschylus.  Each man is capable of doing one thing well. If he attempts several, he will fail to achieve distinction in any, Plato. We climb to heaven most often on the ruins of our cherished plans, finding our failures were successes. Amos Bronson Alcott. In the lexicon of youth which fate reserves for a bright manhood, there is no such word as fail. Edward Bulwer-Lytton, 1st Baron Lytton. Adversity reveals genius, prosperity conceals it, Horace. Adversity has the effect of eliciting talents which, in prosperous circumstances, would have lain dormant, Horace.  The disappointment of manhood succeeds the delusion of youth,  Benjamin Disraeli. The cynic is one who never sees a good quality in a man, and never fails to see a bad one. He is the human owl, vigilant in darkness and blind to light, mousing for vermin, and never seeing noble game, Henry Ward Beecher.  

My first upload for today’s photo of the day was “I never....”. I have never ridden in a hot air balloon. What a trip that would be.

This story is about the Hilltop area of the city of Columbus where I have lived all of my life except for a couple of years in Bethesda, Maryland. The article started with the note that the Hilltop is one of the largest urban neighborhoods west of Downtown. The land was originally owned by Lucas Sullivant. He “founded” Franklinton and left 1,600 acres, now the Hilltop, to his two sons. The Hilltop was originally called Sullivant’s Hill. In the 1913 flood many people moved from Franklinton to the Hilltop for safety. In the 50s and 60s malls grew up and “influenced” a decline in the growth of the Hilltop. The 2000s brought back some interest in the community. Here is a bit of history of the Hilltop. There was a Civil War camp here, one of the largest “prisoner-of-war camps in the Civil War. At one point there were 9,423 prisoners in the camp. Now there is a small cemetery where part of the camp was located. The Hilltop Branch of the Columbus Metropolitan Library stands on part of what was the camp. Next, there was the unique display in one of the shopping centers called the “Walk O’ Wonders”, where replicas of the seven wonders of the world were created. People could visit these structures, the Eiffel Tower, Niagara Falls, the Taj Mahal, The Sphinx and the Great Pyramids, the Parthenon, Leaning Tower of Pisa, the Grand Canyon, Carlsbad Caverns and the Trevi Fountain. It remained an attraction from 1956 until the 1970s when it was demolished. Jesse Owens lived on the Hilltop. He won four gold medals in track and field in the 1936 Olympics in Berlin.  A jazz singer named Nancy Wilson also lived in the Hilltop. She won an Emmy in 1975. Another well known Olympic gold medalist grew up on the Hilltop his name is Michael Redd. Another notable item mentioned in the article is “the nation’s largest building — before the Pentagon — was on the Hilltop Built on the Hilltop in 1877". It was the Central Ohio Psychiatric Hospital. It was built in 1877 and “was the nation's largest building for more than 70 years until 1943, when the Pentagon was built”. It gradually went out of business and fell into disrepair when it was demolished in 1991. 

My other upload for today was to Sudbury. I had played in Photoshop to get this image. I started with an image of one of my daffodils. Then went to the “darkroom” (Photoshop). I separated the flower from the background so that could darken the background. Then copied, sized and pasted two more daffodils (copies) on the same “(Photoshop) canvas”. Then moved them to the position  that satisfied me.

I think we will have chili for dinner tonight. 

Joy

                       “return to vender”

 August 14, 2022 a thought for today, Bury truth in a golden coffin, it will break it open. Russian Proverbs

The first photo a day upload for yesterday was “I stood here....”. I set the camera on a ten-second timer and climbed up on the foot stool.

I was a little disappointed in the church service today. I count on Sunday mornings to lift my spirit and begin to revitalize and refresh. It seemed to do the opposite this morning, depress and sadden the soul instead. I hope that isn’t the way the rest of the week is going to go. I don’t like for people to “promote themselves” or give that kind of impression particularly from the pulpit.

The second photo a day upload for yesterday was a captured moment of these soft purple flowers again the rough texture of the wooden fence.  

I went to church early this morning. A friend had asked for copies of a bulletin I had done a month or so ago so I went in particularly early in case I had a problem with the copier. There was no problem so I got the job done quickly and had time to go into the sanctuary early for contemplation and rest.

It was donut fellowship this week so I spent a little time after church with the few church members and friends who joined us. 

I don’t know what to do with myself....I have nothing on an agenda today. 

My fist upload for today is “I do this on Sundays....” I snapped this one as I sat in the pew before the church service started. 

The word for today is facts.  The frontiers are not east or west, north or south, but wherever a man fronts a fact, Thoreau. Facts are stubborn things; and whatever may be our wishes, our inclinations, or the dictates of our passion, they cannot alter the state of facts and evidence, John Adams. Since the masses are always eager to believe something, for their benefit nothing is so easy to arrange as facts. Charles Maurice de Talleyrand. Get the facts, or the facts will get you. And when you get em, get em right, or they will get you wrong. Thomas Fuller. Mankind is not a circle with a single center but an ellipse with two focal points of which facts are one and ideas the other. Victor Hugo. A man is the whole encyclopedia of facts. Ralph Waldo Emerson.  Simple people... are very quick to see the live facts which are going on about them. Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.  Everything we hear is an opinion, not a fact. Everything we see is a perspective, not the truth, Marcus Aurelius. Now, what I want is Facts. Teach these boys and girls nothing but Facts. Facts alone are wanted in life. Plant nothing else, and root out everything else. You can only form the minds of reasoning animals upon Facts; nothing else will ever be of any service to them, Charles Dickens. Truth is ever to be found in the simplicity, and not in the multiplicity and confusion of things, Isaac Newton. I grow daily to honor facts more and more, and theory less and less, Thomas Carlyle. 

This was captured of my great grandson beginning to enjoy the cake on his third birthday. 

Here is an article about another “green space” for our community. This one will be on the Northwest side of our city in the former Ohio State University sheep farm. This farm was located at 2425 West Case Road near the Ohio State’s airport. The plans are for athletic fields, “birding meadows, wetlands, and walking paths. One of the biggest things people would like in the park is a library. The planners want to keep the park “as natural as possible” which includes leaving existing wetlands to help with collecting and managing storm water and clearing invasive plants as well as planting native “vegetation”. The article mentioned that three soccer fields and a cricket pitch are planned, an event center and meadows are listed. There is a red barn and farm house on the property which will be kept. Ideas are still being considered such as a hard surface for a picklecourt, basket ball and handball. There will be a path connecting the park with Carriage Place Community Center. According to the article Upper Arlington would have liked the space for their own park but Columbus residents preferred this idea instead. Work will begin on it and could take up to ten years to complete. The idea of a library being included in the plans seems to be a big part of the plan. 

It’s a take out night for us, Taco Bell, Subway, KFC or otherwise....

Joy

It may be a question of whether it was stolen and then dropped or just put down for a quick moment

 August 12, 2022 a thought for today, They talk of my drinking but never my thirst. Scottish Proverb

The first photo a day upload for yesterday was titled “I saw this....”. On my journey through the church placing bulletins where they belong and passing by other areas, I came across this commercial sized dish washer we have installed. 

I really don’t have much on the agenda for today. Sue had a couple of errands that she needed to run so after a bit of computer work off we went. We took Sweet Pea along. She likes to go for rides in the car, unlike her last pardner, Sugar. Sugar hated to ride and whined all the way to wherever we were going. We stopped by the park so Sweet Pea could check out whatever other four legged friends had visited. 

My next upload for yesterday was these lilies that I passed on my way home from the church. 

I spent part of the day going through the grocery list to see what I would or would not have room for in our borrowed small frig. 

Natalie had graciously agreed to come by this evening to give Sweet Pea a bath. We think she may have been “skunked” again. The “aroma” is not too bad but it’s still there. 

My first upload for today is “I like to drink....”. Iced tea is my “go do” liquid for the day especially in the good ol’ summer time. 

The word for today is experience.  Nothing ever becomes real till it is experienced. John Keats.  Experience is the teacher of all things. Julius Caesar. The soul should always stand ajar, ready to welcome the ecstatic experience. Emily Dickinson. Adventure is worthwhile. Aesop.  Natural abilities are like natural plants, that need pruning by study; and studies themselves do give forth directions too much at large, except they be bounded in by experience. Francis Bacon.  I've learned from experience that the greater part of our happiness or misery depends on our dispositions and not on our circumstances. Martha Washington.  It took me years to understand that words are often as important as experience, because words make experience last. William Morris.  What is the good of experience if you do not reflect? Frederick the Great.  After crosses and losses, men grow humbler and wiser, Benjamin Franklin. Experience teaches slowly and at the cost of mistakes, James Anthony Froude. The ground I have already passed over enables me to see my way into that which is before me, Thomas Jefferson. Life is not a problem to be solved, but a reality to be experienced. Soren Kierkegaard. 

My upload to Sudbury for today is the batch of yellow roses. I see this shade of rose as pure sunshine. 

I have never heard of this town so I thought I would give it a nod and share it. There is a lot of interesting “Appalachian” history in the “rolling hills” of Ohio. Places like “small villages nestled in the valleys of Athens, Perry and Hocking” as mentioned in the article.  These villages were called “little cities of black diamonds” because they were former coal mining towns. One of the towns in that area, twenty-five miles north of Athens, is called Rendville, established in 1879 and is the first integrated village in the state of Ohio. It is so small that it could be missed except for a “historical marker”.  Some of the houses are vacant, there is a small white church, there is a city hall and a two-story building with chipping paint. According to the article the only thing you can hear is “the American flag flapping in the wind”. It was a “progressive” village where everyone looks out for everyone else. The fist mayor of Rendville was an African American named Isaiah Tuppins. He was also the “first African American man to earn his medical degree in Ohio at the Columbus Medical College which is now The Ohio State University”. Many influential people passed thorough the village, many leaving a lasting mark on history. There are people trying to preserve the memory of these historical figures. One gentleman mentioned in the article said “.....the streets were dirt.....we did a lot of playing in the streets....basketball or football”. In describing the “political climate” the words were “ the small village in the middle of nowhere, with a reported population of 34, had an impact unlike any other at the time”. In describing the village as it progressed in the early 19th century, it was said there was never any racial tension with the immigrant population. People worked together “regardless of race”. It, Rendville, “can be used as an example for what could be....They lived together, they worked together, they went to church together”. 

PIZZA!

Joy

                                    all tied up