February 18, 2023 a thought for today , When the river sounds, it's because it carries water. Irish Proverb

It’s looks like we are not going to get the twins this week end. They were with their dad in Zanesville and couldn’t come to Columbus this week. So the house is too quiet.

One upload for February 17 was “see through”. Instead of a see through cloth or screen I chose see through the slates of my stairs.  

Bob and I just got back from our curbside grocery pick up. As I put things away I noticed they were out of a couple of the items I ordered so I am going to have to make an in-store stop this week. 

It looks like it is going to be a busy week. I have two evening meetings and food pantry as well as getting the newsletter put together, printed and “packaged”. It doesn’t look like I have any “open” days on my calendar this week. 

At least today has a warmer look out the window but it is a tad bit deceiving.....the air is still on the lower side of “chilly”. 

The second upload for yesterday was “lines”. This chair was just sitting there saying “here I am .... lines all the way to the seat. 

We are still looking for a sexton for our church. For some reason I am overly eager for them to find someone. I hate for some of our people who have full time jobs have to give up some of their time to do cleaning chores at church on whatever free time they have. We have a lot of people sharing our church space so that negates longer and more cleaning events. We have had a couple of scheduled interviews that didn’t pan out. We have one now on a list (very short list) of possibles. Hopefully this one will “the one”. I don’t have the strength or energy to be of much help when it comes to the cleaning any more but I can look for people who are looking for jobs and try to open a connection from them to our personnel. 

My only other chore on the to-do list today is stewing a chicken. I want to cut it up to freeze and have ready for quick meals.

One of the family is moving today from one southern town to another. This one even a little further from me. 

An upload for today is “a game”. The only game I had handy was a deck of cards to I set up a winning hand for this shot. 

The word for today is concern.  Conduct is three-fourths of our life and its largest concern, Matthew Arnold. Our concern for the loss of our friends is not always from a sense of their worth, but rather of our own need of them and that we have lost some who had a good opinion of us, Francois de la Rochefoucauld. It is your concern when your neighbor's wall is on fire, Horace. All concerns of men go wrong when they wish to cure evil with evil, Sophocles.  The sage has no concern for himself, but makes the concerns of others his own. Laozi. Sir, my concern is not whether God is on our side; my greatest concern is to be on God's side, for God is always right. Abraham Lincoln. My great concern is not whether you have failed, but whether you are content with your failure. Abraham Lincoln. The least pain in our little finger gives us more concern and uneasiness than the destruction of millions of our fellow-beings. William Hazlitt.   Everyone's a millionaire where promises are concerned. Ovid.  Truth is always in harmony with herself, and is not concerned chiefly to reveal the justice that may consist with wrong-doing. Henry David Thoreau.  We are certainly in a common class with the beasts; every action of animal life is concerned with seeking bodily pleasure and avoiding pain. Saint Augustine. 

The second upload for today was “small”. I liked the idea of showing some tiny new leaves against the larger “adult”  bracts on the poinsettia plant.

Here’s is some more about Columbus in the form of gardening with some interesting history. The article began with sharing that in th 1800s Columbus was experiencing social change. There were hundred of people coming to the city to work in industry and other occupations. Early in 1831 there were about 2,000 people here. By 1834 as the Ohio and Erie Canal and National road came then we grew to 5,000. Some were from farms in Ohio others were from Europe, mostly Ireland and Germany. According to the article many of the German people settled around the Livington Avenue area. Schools, churches and newspapers, bakeries, breweries and the like using in majority the German language. The article went on the mention that “An article in the Ohio State Journal on June 4, 1867, remembered one of those people who was best known as “Old Joe.” “Old Joe”, Franz Joseph Weitgennant, had come to Columbus from Freiberg, Germany in 1833. He worked for two men who arranged for him to do the planting of elms in Capitol Square. This led to him becoming “one of the earliest professional gardeners in the city”. It is reported that he took care of diseased trees or ‘sick’ flowers like a physician would his own patients. He put a lot of effort into building a garden in the northern part of Columbus but severe winters of thirty years killed every thing he planted so he gave that garden up. He tried again in 1842 with a garden on Washington Avenue. Somehow ladies got the impression he was disagreeable and a woman hater even though he was actually quiet or “not an uncivil person” and was considered mysterious and peculiar. So he was a bachelor and lived pretty much alone. And yet we was known for preparing “exquisite ....bouquets for sweethearts (of his friends)”. He was actually and surprisingly a “confidant of half of the young men in the city on love matters”. He was fond of children and like to surprise them with his skill with flowers. He was wise in preparing for the matter of his death so he bought land a Green Lawn cemetery and had his tombstone inscribed. He was a man who kept his own secrets as well as those of his few friends. After his death a little about his previous life came to the surface. According to the article one incidence of unexpected kindness for him from a lady in Columbus caused one of his secrets to become known. When Old Joe was Young Joe he was in love. The family of his love moved to America where he was to follow and they would be married. When he got here he found that “his sweetheart” had married someone else. So maybe that is why “Old Joe” was “half a hermit and all a mystery.”

We will have chili mac for dinner tonight. 

Joy

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