June 28, 2023 a thought for today, Every day is a messenger of God. Russian Proverb

My first upload for yesterday was “a car or truck in the street”. This one was from the archives, in it I have a truck and a car.

Bob has to have another short hospital stay. The standard appointment he had yesterday showed that he needed to get some electrolytes in his blood stabilized. So he will be there for a few days. I was playing with my tablet and was able to facetime him, that helps since I won’t drive in the campus area where he is in the hospital. Sue is also out of the house for the day. I am catching up on several projects in a quite house. 

The second upload for yesterday was another of “my choice”. It was taken of an old and abandoned warehouse in the brewer district of Columbus. It shows the boarded up windows and some graffiti as well as the set of what we called fire escapes.

Sweet Pea had a stomach situation for over twenty-four hours but seems to be on the mend today. Yesterday was a day of clean up every couple of hours. I penned her up in the room that was the easiest to clean. And Sue gave me a hand with clean ups too. It’s a happier day now. I tried to get Sweet Pea in for a visit at the vet but they were “booked up” until early next week......which wouldn’t help me in the least.

I helped at food pantry yesterday and will be going back today. I need to leave a little early since I have to go by the vets office to pick up Sweet Peas phenabarbatal. At least I don’t need an appointment to get refills on meds. 

My first upload for today is “freshly baked goods”. These were some cookies we had for our food pantry clients. 

The word today is talent. Skillful pilots gain their reputation from storms and tempest, Epicurus.  It is a happy talent to know how to play. Ralph Waldo Emerson. Talents go by nature not by birth, Frederick the Great.  Every man has his own vocation, talent is the call, Ralph Waldo Emerson. Talent develops in quiet places, character in the full current of human life, Johann von Goethe. A man cannot make a pair of shoes rightly unless he do it in a devout manner, Thomas Carlyle. Hide not your talents, they for use were made, What's a sundial in the shade? Benjamin Franklin.  Every artist was first an amateur, Ralph Waldo Emerson. The person born with a talent they are meant to use will find their greatest happiness in using it, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe.  To be a well-favoured man is the gift of fortune; but to write and read comes by nature,  William Shakespeare.  Nations, as well as men, almost always betray the most prominent features of their future destiny in their earliest years, Alexis de Tocqueville.  Talent for talent's sake is a bauble and a show. Talent working with joy in the cause of universal truth lifts the possessor to new power as a benefactor, Ralph Waldo Emerson.  This is how I define talent; it is a gift that God has given us in secret, which we reveal without knowing it, Montesquieu. The talent of success is nothing more than doing what you can do well, and doing well whatever you do without thought of fame. If it comes at all it will come because it is deserved, not because it is sought after. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. 

I seem to have settled on images of architecture today. This one was taken of the backside of a warehouse in a strip mall. There are good texture and shapes in the image. 

I think this is a story about history with a light side. The title to the article is: “How a 'Turtle' — and a kangaroo — came to make historic landing in Columbus”. In 1946 there was an US Navy airplane called “Truculent Turtle,” it had a kangaroo on board”.  It made an unplanned landing briefly in Columbus. The plane was a P1VN Neptune built in Lockheed. Before the 1946 landing in Columbus, a 55-hour flight, it had taken off from a runway in Perth, Australia. It was hard for many to believe that is would even take off due to the “8,000 gallons of fuel, a four-man crew and the kangaroo (included largely as a publicity stunt).....and then fly more than 11.236 miles to Ohio”. The flight plan had been for them to make it to Washington DC but the fuel was to low to go on. The “Turtle” was in competition with an Army Boeing B-29 bomber each hoping to form a new frontier in long distance flight and impress those who wanted to create the US Air Force as a branch of the military. The competition was Army airplane, “Dreamboat”, flew over the North Pole and landed in Cairo, a flight of over 9,500 miles. 39 hours. Both flights were under media scrutiny. So there was a large crowd watching the landing of the Turtle in Columbus. At the time James Rhodes, a future governor of Ohio, suggested that the kangaroo be given to the Columbus Zoo, however it went to the National Zoo in Washington. According to the article in total the Army’s “Dreamboat” plane probably had the greater impact on aviation. After a few more years of flight the demise of both planes were: the “Dreamboat was scrapped and the Turtle is in the National Naval Aviation Museum in Pensacola, Florida.”

I think we, Sue and I, will be having beer battered fish and french fried in the air fryer for dinner. 

Joy

                     didn’t make it to the dump?

 June 26, 2023 a thought for today, Don't buy the house, buy the neighborhood. Russian Proverb

One of the uploads for yesterday was called “bridges or arches”. There are a multitude of arches in my church. Here are a few of them. 

We are still in the morning hours and I think I have accomplished a days work already. Our trash containers go out to the curb this evening for tomorrow morning pick up. I needed to clear out our top loading freezer. There were things in there that had been forgotten and have passed the expiration date. So I worked on that. The frig was also at a point for clearing so that was next on the list. It required unloading and reloading the dish washer. This was all after the usual morning virtual visits. I also decided to start the beef broth in the pressure cooker so all I will have to do for dinner is add the homemade noodles. 

A second upload was called “macro shot”. This is my choice for today. I like the subdued colors and the patterns.

There was another problem that I had to tend to during all of this. Sweet Pea had diarrhea during the night so there were a couple of areas in the house that needed scrubbed. She also needed a “bed bath”. I can’t get her in the bath tub by myself so I had to bathe her back side from a pan of soap and water. Then I gave her a tablespoon of baby food pumpkin to, hopefully, settle her stomach. 

I haven’t taken time to get the bulletin started as I usually do on Monday morning. I got a hint of something that may offer a bit of a bump for me. Tom mentioned yesterday that we are having a “mystery” speaker for next Sunday. That was a surprise, I had no idea that was coming. I don’t know what to put on the front cove for the name of the “surprise” speaker and may not have the customary bio for them. So I will have to wait for that when someone has time to let me know. 

My first upload for today is “statue or monument”. This was one I had in my garden for several years as you can tell by the wear from the weather. 

Lowell took Bob for a doctors appointment today. I am thinking this is going to be a major stepping stone in his treatment. There may be a port applied today depending on the blood work. There hasn’t been a notation that chemotherapy would start today, I think that will be decided after a blood test to determine other factors.

The word today is strength. Little strokes fell great oaks, Benjamin Franklin.  No one saves us but ourselves. No one can and no one may. We ourselves must walk the path, Buddha.  Persuasion is better than force. Aesop. We acquire the strength we have overcome, Ralph Waldo Emerson. Put a stout heart to a steep hill, Egyptian Proverbs.  Insincerity is always weakness; sincerity even in error is strength, George Henry Lewes. It is good to love many things, for therein lies the true strength, and whosoever loves much performs much, and can accomplish much, and what is done in love is well done, Vincent Van Gogh.  It is easier to build strong children than to repair broken men, Frederick Douglass. I was not born to be forced. I will breathe after my own fashion. Let us see who is the strongest, Henry David Thoreau.  Rule your mind or it will rule you, Horace.  What we cannot bear removes us from life; what remains can be borne. Marcus Aurelius.  We must go on, because we can't turn back,  Robert Louis Stevenson. Nothing is so strong as gentleness, nothing so gentle as real strength. Saint Francis de Sales.  Truly, love is delightful and pleasant food, supplying, as it does, rest to the weary, strength to the weak, and joy to the sorrowful. It in fact renders the yoke of truth easy and its burden light. Saint Bernard.  Where is the man who has the strength to be true, and to show himself as he is? Johann Wolfgang von Goethe.  Although men are accused of not knowing their own weakness, yet perhaps few know their own strength. It is in men as in soils, where sometimes there is a vein of gold which the owner knows not of.  Jonathan Swift.  Courage conquers all things: it even gives strength to the body. Ovid.  When strength is yoked with justice, where is a mightier pair than they? Aeschylus. 

The next upload for today is “my choice”. My peonies didn’t do so well this year so I chose a photo from the archives. 

In this story I think that this training will not only possibly produce new law officers it will help the students better understand the law as it may relate to their everyday lives as they go on. The title to the article is: “Students learning crime scene investigation tactics”. The article mentions that one of the first things police officers do in a crime situation is investigate the scene itself. Lancaster high school students have in their school is a crime scene class where they learn the investigative techniques in criminal science and forensics in the class. According to the article there is even a national championship for students in this field in several states. One of the scenarios is in assault cases. The students examine evidence, note the evidence, collect samples of  DNA, and photograph the scene. In the championship trials they are timed. These crime lab tactic classes are a two-year course with about fourteen students in each class. The junior year is law enforcement with a trip to the police academy. In the senior year the attention is mostly in forensics and corrections. Upon graduation the students may work in a sheriff’s department in a correction’s area or as a dispatcher. Eventually some become canine officers, some forensic scientists. 

We are having beef and noodles, mashed potatoes, and corn bread casserole for dinner. 

Joy

                  it’s a dangerous job

 June 24, 2023 a thought for today, An excuse is often substituted for reason. Traditional Proverb

I was able to sleep-in for a while this morning, a little different than the last three or four mornings. 

My first upload for yesterday was “a colourful door”. We have a few colorful doors in the neighborhood. This one is the closest that I can think of and I was in a hurry to get it for the assignment. I think I may have used it for another upload at another time. There are other attractive features in the image. 

I thought the prediction was for rain for the next three days but it doesn’t look like that right now. As a matter of fact the neighbors have put a lot of things out for a yard sale. The sun seems to be cooperating. 

The man we have doing the lawn mowing now has just come. He is getting started a little late because of all the garage sales that have been going on in the neighborhood today. This is the annual “bean dinner” event (a hold over from then Civil War days when the park was part of a military camp, Camp Chase). On this day every year many, very many, folks in the area have a garage/lawn sale. Driving down the streets is like driving through a maze . . . cars and people all along the side and in the middle of the streets . . . moving slowly. It is one of the major signs of the beginning of summer for us. 

The second upload for yesterday was “my choice”. This one was taken a while back before we had the privacy fence put in. There are feelings of strength and security as well as age and exposure to the elements. 

I think it is about time to turn the AC back on. I am trying to hold off for a few more days if I can. We have been having some rather cool days for this time of the year so I have been enjoying open windows. 

The first upload for today is “sunrises or sunsets”. I wasn’t up early enough for catch whatever type of sunrise we had this morning and I didn’t capture last nights sunset which wasn’t all that exciting anyway so this one was pulled from my archives. 

The word today is story. It takes a thousand voices to tell a single story. American Indian saying .  Until the lion learns how to write, every story will glorify the hunter, African Proverbs.  No story is the same to us after a lapse of time; or rather we who read it are no longer the same interpreters. George Eliot. When one side only of a story is heard and often repeated, the human mind becomes impressed with it insensibly, George Washington.  I fear three newspapers more than a hundred thousand bayonets, Napoleon.  No man can be called friendless who has God and the companionship of good books, Elizabeth Barrett Browning. Books are lighthouses erected in quality. It comes to your longing with full instruction, but pursues you never, Henry Ward Beecher.  Water, stories, the body, all the things we do, are mediums that hid and show what's hidden. Rumi. Your tale, sir, would cure deafness. William Shakespeare.  He knew how to say many false things that were like true sayings, Homer. Unless I am allowed to tell the story of my life in my own way, I cannot tell it at all, Mary Seacole. Homer, more than any other, has taught the rest of us the art of framing lies in the right way, Aristotle.   

This second upload for today is “as fresh as a daisy”. This flower was just completing the opening of its bloom so I likened that to ‘fresh as a daisy’. I also like the other art features in the image.  The lighting, the shapes and forms, and the small touches of color.

This article is something on the lighter side, titled: “Wildlife officers tell stories, of their craziest experiences”. The department of natural resources said being a wildlife officer is a chance to practice law enforcement along with wildlife conservation. Some of the less than positive events they may encounter are breaking hunting, fishing and trapping rules. If they come upon someone breaking or stretching one of the “rules” the person may try to deny it. For instance once a group of fisherman were observed as one of them was in a boat off shore. He, the man in the boat, said he wasn’t fishing because he didn’t have a license. When some of the folks are observed in a negative activity some will run or fight. One officer in the article mentioned an incident that he ran into one time while checking fishing licenses along the Ohio river. A man, when he saw the officer approching, jumped into the river to try to swim away but had to turn around and head back to shore. When the officer “confronted” him they found he had a warrant for a traffic ticket. The officer was amused by that because a warrant for a traffic ticket is not more than a fine where a warrant for something more serious might have been more of a reason to jump in the river and try to “get away”. Another officer had some stories that were unique and memorable. One was of a doe who crashed through high school window and destroyed a classroom. Another story was one that told of him watching a family packing up to leave after a picnic and they were not picking up their trash. As he was came forward one of the people threw a soda can at a tree and had not seen the officer. The soda can exploded and sprayed the officer as he approached the group. I would think the man who threw the can would have had second thoughts at that point about picking up his trash. 

We are having creamed chicken on biscuits and macaroni salad for dinner. 

Joy

                            outback

 June 22, 2023 a thought for today, A smile confuses an approaching frown. Traditional Proverb

Yesterday the first image I uploaded “birds in flight”. I may have used this image for other photo a day uploads. I don’t get the opportunity to capture shots of birds in flight so I have to catch as catch can and use it when I need it. 

Yesterday we got a huge surprise....Mick was in town for a visit so we all went to dinner at O’Charley’s. It was great, we all caught up on each other’s lives along with a good dinner and happy times. It kind of made up for the dinner we missed on Father’s Day.

Before we left for O’Charley’s Lowell and Mick stopped here. Lowell loaned me a different laptop than the one he had left before. This one has much more memory and so I can put a lot of software on it. It is a back-up to my poor old standard PC which is slowly limping along.  

The second upload for yesterday was a “my choice”. I found this picnic table on a patch of grass on the side of the alley behind the post office. It must be for outdoor breaks. 

I got the printing done in good time today. Paul came in to work early so I had company in the church for a while before Patti joined us. 

Sue will be house/pet sitting for Tiffany for the next few days. It will feel a little on the lopsided side of things with her not here to chat and have dinner with. 

It looks like rain but to be on the “ready” side I recharged some batteries for the lawn care equipment. Brian will be here tomorrow or Saturday to mow for us. 

The first upload for today is “a single candle”. I don’t have to many candles around the house but I have this one, a few used birthday candles and one or two candles that run on batteries. 

The word for today is society. All it takes for evil to succeed is for a few good men to do nothing...Edmund Burke.  I think the first duty of society is justice, Alexander Hamilton.  Good humor may be said to be one of the very best articles of dress one can wear in society, William Makepeace Thackeray. Poverty is the parent of revolution and crime, Aristotle.  If the misery of the poor be caused not by the laws of nature, but by our institutions, great is our sin, Charles Darwin.  Men of genius are often dull and inert in society; as the blazing meteor, when it descends to earth, is only a stone. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. Education then, beyond all other devices of human origin, is the great equalizer of the conditions of men, the balance-wheel of the social machinery. Horace Mann. Everything is good as it comes from the hands of the Maker of the world, but degenerates once it gets into the hands of man, Jean-Jaques Rousseau. Society never advances. It recedes as fast on one side as it gains on the other. Society acquires new arts, and loses old instincts, Ralph Waldo Emerson.  Social order at the expense of liberty is hardly a bargain. Marquis de Sade.  I had three chairs in my house; one for solitude, two for friendship, three for society, Henry David Thoreau. Any society that takes away from those most capable and gives to the least will perish, Abraham Lincoln. Society is always taken by surprise at any new example of common sense, Ralph Waldo Emerson. 

My second upload for today is another of the “my choice” images. This happens to be from my archives. I like the lines and point of interest in this one. 

I came across a bit about nature that I thought I would share. It is a description of how moths are important to the “ecosystem”. Moths and butterflies both belong to the family of Lepidoptera. As a matter of fact moths make up a larger division of that group, 15 times as many species. To be a little more scientific there are 17,500 butterfly species and 160,000 moth species. One of the reasons the butterfly is more noticeable is they appear during the day and moths mostly at night and they are busy more than we notice pollinating plants. The article mentioned that moths pollinate many of the same plants as butterflies do. Another service that they are noted for is to be a food for bats. Since bats use “sonar” to find their food as it flies in the air they easily find the moths at their work. Moths have several stages of life. The caterpillar stage is food for other predators’ mainly birds. Moths can be “showy”. They come in a rainbow of colors and patterns. Photographers can become “night owls” when in search of the myriad of colors and patterns of the moths.

It is going to be baked spaghetti for dinner tonight. 

Joy

                    maybe a new privacy fence is in order

 June 20, 2023 a thought for today, Judge by cause, not by effect. Egyptian Proverb

An upload for yesterday was titled “laundry hanging to dry”. I don’t have a clothes line up at the moment but I have some hooks on the back of a door where I hang my damp towel and a damp raincoat, I think that fits the bill.

Wow, what a day. The therapist was here increasing Bob’s exercise program. This will be her last visit. We still have a nurse coming on a scheduled basis. Tomorrow the cleaning lady is coming. Much of this morning was taken up with making and confirming appointments. 

While I was multi-tasking with the above and making additions to the bulletin and newsletter, I was starting on this letter. During one of the calls I forgot to save what I had gotten done so when I got back to the computer the document was gone completely. I had to start all over. That was about an hours work. 

A second upload for yesterday was “my choice”. I took this photo a few months ago at the Ohio State House. I like the shape of the steps and banisters as well as the colors. 

I was trying to get things done before I needed to get ready to go to food pantry. 

We were really busy at pantry today. We had twenty-nine families. Things moved along really well. It was what has become typical, a rush on visitors on the first day we are open for the month. 

We had quite a downfall of rain earlier to day with just a drizzle when I left for church.  Now the wind is really playing havoc with small items sitting on the porch. Sue had some small plant waiting to be planted that have blown off and the porch swing is hitting the wall every now and then. 

The first upload for today is titled “graffiti-covered walls”. I have used the full wall in other photos so I decided to use just a portion in this image. 

The word today is self.  It is as hard to see oneself as to look backwards without turning around, Henry David Thoreau.  I set myself on fire and people come to watch me burn. John Wesley.  Nothing profits more than self-esteem, grounded on what is just and right, John Milton . I count him braver who overcomes his desires than him who conquers his enemies; for the hardest victory is the victory over self. Aristotle. Not for ourselves alone are we born, Marcus Tullius Cicero.  There is no respect for others without humility in one's self. Henri Frederic Amiel.  A friend is, as it were, a second self. Marcus Tullius Cicero.  Humility is to make a right estimate of one's self. Charles Spurgeon. A day wasted on others is not wasted on one's self. Charles Dickens. There is nothing in the world more shameful than establishing one's self on lies and fables. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. Self-conceit may lead to self destruction. Aesop.  This above all; to thine own self be true. William Shakespeare. Our own self-love draws a thick veil between us and our faults, Lord Chesterfield  Nothing profits more than self-esteem, grounded on what is just and right, John Milton. 

My second upload for today is this lonely dandelion among some weeds. The title for today is another of the “my choice” image. 

It looks like Columbus is hoping to continue to grow and prosper. The title to this article is Attracting, New Ohioans. It began by saying that the Ohio tourism folks spend about $10 million a year to “attract Midwesterners”, more than just Hocking Hills or Cedar Point. They want to attract businesses like Intel and Honda. They want to “market the state” and pull in more people to live here not so much at “attracting visitors”. They want to do this while not discouraging tourism. It seems more money is being spent on ways to attract visitors rather than probable residents. Most of the recent growth in the state is in Cincinnati. Columbus has come to the idea that fastest way to help Columbus grow is offering jobs such as Intel and Honda. Some states around Ohio have offered a “welcoming alterative” to “LGBTQ residents and those seeking abortions”. The article relates that “any state that restricts people’s freedoms” may have a problem gaining new residents. There is a proposed change to the TourismOhio name to the State Marketing Office so as not to promote just tourism but also “living, learning, and working” in Ohio”. A question proposed in the article is “Do ads bring people to Ohio? At the end of the day, will an ad convince someone to move to Ohio?” 

This is another week that I have a third upload on the photo of the day journey. This one is titled “macro anything”. This is another of my sunflowers before they were destroyed. 

I am making spaghetti for dinner tonight. 

Joy

a view in the side window of my car as I was waiting at a traffic light. 

 June 18, 2023 a thought for today, The body is the house of God. That is why it is said, 'Man know thyself.'  Egyptian  Proverb

A first upload for yesterday was “stairs or escalators”. This was taken many years ago of a set of stairs I found on one of my photo excursions for “out of the way” places.

Church was comforting for me as usual. The sermon was on the norm, hit some good points. The hymns were familiar. The company was as always refreshing and a strengthening boast for the coming week. 

My second upload for yesterday was “fill the frame”. This is another of the images from my archives. I am using a lot of those this month. 

Lowell called to invite us to lunch after church. We, Sue, Bob and I, left to meet Rebecca and Lowell at one o’clock. We got to the restaurant before them. The parking lot was as full as I have ever seen it. So I called Lowell to pass it on to him. We decided to check out two other restaurants close by...same thing.....lots of father’s celebrating father’s day. We made a decision to take a rain check on the lunch together. I love family dinner outings, I think it is one of my favorite pass times. Bob and I ended up stopping at McDonalds on the way home.

The rest of the day will be easy and slow. No deadlines, nothing that can’t be put off for another day. It’s time to relax and refresh. 

An upload for today is “food ingredients”. I happen to have some fresh vegetables in the frig right now so they are ending up being my “props” for today’s image. 

The word today is sadness. Joys impregnate. Sorrows bring forth. William Blake.  Sorrow makes us all children again, destroys all differences of intellect. The wisest knows nothing, Ralph Waldo Emerson.  I do not believe anyone can be perfectly well who has a brain and a heart, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. We should feel sorrow, but not sink under its oppression, Confucius.  The busy have no time for tears, Lord (George Gordon) Byron. There is pleasure in calm remembrance of a past sorrow. Marcus Tullius Cicero.  Excessive sorrow laughs. Excessive joy weeps. William Blake.  Bear and endure: This sorrow will one day prove to be for your good, Ovid. Good humor is the health of the soul, sadness is its poison, Lord Chesterfield.  A feeling of sadness and longing that is not akin to pain, and resembles sorrow only as the mist resembles the rain, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.  Sadness flies away on the wings of time. Jean de La Fontaine . Melancholy and sadness are the start of doubt... doubt is the beginning of despair; despair is the cruel beginning of the differing degrees of wickedness. Comte de Lautreamont  The sadness will last forever. Vincent van Gogh.  Let us not burthen our remembrance with A heaviness that's gone, William Shakespeare. Sadness is a vice, Gustave Flaubert.   

This being Father’s Day the image upload for today was chosen as “respect for fathers”. Obviously I did shoot this image since I am in it and I was only about six years old at the time. This is my dad as he held my sister and I all those years ago. It is among my section of archives set aside for special and precious memories of my personal moments in time.  

The article I selected for today is titled “Is it wise to neglect the pursuit of wisdom?” In my opinion, wisdom is good, actually priceless, by and in any form. The start of this story was “what is wisdom? How do you define wisdom? How is it attained?” and went on with it is unwise to ignore questions, it can be elusive, is it hiding, do we walk right by. It offered a hint to pursue by  “simply taking a cue and a clue from the Book of Proverbs....Wisdom cries out in the street, in the squares she raises her voice”. More in the stories descriptions is “Wisdom is often described as a pursuit.....wisdom is moving around, lurking, waiting for us to notice, discover and seize”. It is a journey, “doubting without fear of consequences”, a never ending journey. Then a little further in the text was the idea of artificial intelligence and its “the rapid advancements in technology, vastly increasing our ability to communicate information and knowledge”. Artificial intelligence can not “ pursue” wisdom but it can “present diverse options for paths to wisdom”. As the article mentions, and agreeably so, that it can not take the place of humanity. It can be another tool added to the age old message of Proverbs that “wisdom cries out in the streets”. So be alert and gather the blocks of intelligence that lead to wisdom gained from experience and common sense as it comes from every day living and technology. 

Haven’t decided on dinner yet. Usually its Taco Bell or Subway or KFC on Sunday.

Joy

                                hidden door

 June 16, 2023 a thought for today, The garden must be prepared in the soul first or else it will not flourish. English Proverb

An upload for yesterday was “morning coffee”. I don’t drink coffee (anymore). I drink chamomile tea now. But I have instant coffee for guests who may want it.....also used as a seasoning in some recipes. 

This Friday is a little more on the “busy” side than most are for me. I have been working on th newsletter trying to get a week ahead of it. One on the things I wanted to get done today was the photos for the now typical photo page. There were several happening at Hoge in the past six weeks or so that we wanted noted in pictures. I had to download them from various text and email messages, make a selection of those that I chose to go on the page then down size them in Photoshop for the upload to the newsletter page.

A second upload for yesterday was “my choice”. This is an image from my archive. When I shot it and worked in the darkroom (Photoshop) I was hoping to give a feel of loneliness and walking away from it. 

Even though we had quite a storm early last night the ground seems dry enough to get the lawn mowed so Brian is here working on that. He does such a great job. It will look so different when he is done. My “field of white clover” in the front yard will be gone. It will be nice to see green grass. 

I need to do some work in the kitchen too. Then I think that will be about it for today unless something else that needs attended to pops up which is not unheard around here.

Yesterday was one of the weeks that I had third upload for one of the days. This one was titled “a bike theme”.   This bicycle is barked in what has become and area where some of the employees of a grocery store take their smoke break. 

The word today is sacrifice. Self-sacrifice is the real miracle out of which all the reported miracles grow. Ralph Waldo Emerson. Every man gives his life for what he believes ... one life is all we have to live and we live it according to what we believe, Joan of Arc.  What we obtain too cheaply we esteem too lightly its dearness only that gives everything its value, Thomas Payne.  We can offer up much in the large, but to make sacrifices in little things is what we are seldom equal to, Johann von Goethe. The most sublime act is to set another before you, William Blake. In this world it is not what we take up, but what we give up, that makes us rich, Henry Ward Beecher. When you go in search of honey, you must expect to be stung by bees, Joseph Joubert.  Never do a wrong thing to make a friend or keep one; the man who requires you to do so is early purchased at a sacrifice. Robert E. Lee.  Sacrifice, which is the passion of great souls, has never been the law of societies. Henri Frederic Amiel. Let others laugh when you sacrifice desire to duty, if they will. You have time and eternity to rejoice in. Theodore Parker.  

My first upload for today is “a pet, such as a dog or cat”. This Sweet Pea, you have probably met her before since she is one of my faithful and loyal models when I need them (as well as a dear friend and comfort on many other occasions). 

Another long time icon in Columbus is closing its doors. Bill and I had a few “dates” at that place. And my fellow federal court employees had celebratory luncheons there also. The “43 years of operation, Aero Squadron Restaurant ...... aviation-themed restaurant and bar will close in June”. According to the article the staff have been auctioning off World Wal I and II relics that have become part of the decorations and memorabilia . There will be a Father’s Day brunch as a “final curtain call”. The facility was designed to “resemble a 1917 French farmhouse”. The restaurant was named to honor Eddie Rickenbacker as the “highest scoring ace in World War I”. The memorabilia/artifacts, were changed frequently through the years. There were special guests at certain events as time moved on. Posters were made and given to kids who came with other guests. Weddings were held. From 1980 to ‘82 there was an “Echo dining room” where the customers could watch the cooks work their trade. There was a DJ booth built above the bar. The DJ could take requests for songs from a bucket that he lowered on a rope. There was dancing on Friday and Saturdays evenings for decades. The article closed with “There’s nothing left in Columbus like it. It’s very bittersweet.”

The next upload for today was pulled from the archives....it is a “my choice” image. The diagonal lines and colors as well as the other shapes and patterns make an art piece. 

Pizza night has rolled around again.

Joy

   Revitalize?....maybe

 June 14, 2023 a thought for today, To teach one must know the nature of those whom one is teaching. Egyptian Proverb

One of the uploads for yesterday was titled “abstract close up”. This is one that I use a filter in Photoshop and maneuvered some algorithms to come up with this shape from an image of a red jeep vehicle. 

Today is the day that I am finishing the bulletin and having it proofed. Glad I did. There were a couple of changes to be made. So now that is done and the extras that I have to do at tomorrows printing session are formatted, saved and ready to go. 

Yesterday I spent more time in the kitchen than I have for a while. It was time to make some of Sweet Pea’s meat ball treats. I also decided it was time to make the two batches of noodles I have been meaning to do.  Both of those not only take time but even more time in the clean up than the actual prep so that was a good part of the afternoon. All of that was after I took Bob on a couple of errands that he wanted to get out of the way. 

The second upload for yesterday was another of “my choice”. This one is one that I snapped when I had the camera set for black and white. It is of my vase on the dining room (vintage) table. 

Today we are having visitors. Bob has some medical support staff that come to check on him.  Now we have our lawn care person who wants to come and cut down a bush I need tended to, it has thistles on it as long as up to two inches and sharp as a needle. It is called a Firethorn plant. They remind me of the Crown of Thorns. So this has been an active day. 

It seems to be an in-between day weather wise. It rained off and on all night and was still damp and chilly this morning. The sun is making an effort to come out full force. Summer is almost here. 

The first upload for today is “a food dish or meal”. I don’t have a full meal prepared yet today so I used this image of a plate of cheese and grapes that I have in the archives. 

The word for today is regret.  Make the most of your regrets; never smother your sorrow, but tend and cherish it till it come to have a separate and integral interest. To regret deeply is to live afresh, Henry David Thoreau.  Remorse begets reform, William Cowper.  To be left alone, and face to face with my own crime, had been just retribution, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.  Remorse is the pain of sin. Theodore Parker.  Sister if all this is true what could I do or undo, Sophocles.  Regrets are the natural property of gray hairs, Charles Dickens.  For of all sad words of tongue or pen, The saddest are these: 'It might have been! John Greenleaf Whittier.  Remorse is the poison of life. Charlotte Bronte. Reflect upon your present blessings, of which every man has many-not on your past misfortunes, of which all men have some. Charles Dickens.  Every man is guilty of all the good he didn't do, Voltaire.  Too late we awake to regret—but what tears Can bring back the waste to our hearts and our years? Letitia Elizabeth Landon.  The only victories which leave no regret are those which are gained over ignorance, Napoleon Bonaparte.  I did not understand you. I shut my eyes, and would not understand you, or do you justice. This is a recollection which ought to make me forgive every one sooner than myself, Jane Austen.  I often regret that I have spoken; never that I have been silent. Publilius Syrus.  Get correct views of life, and learn to see the world in its true light. It will enable you to live pleasantly, to do good, and, when summoned away, to leave without regret. Robert E. Lee.  A man has cause for regret only when he sows and no one reaps. Charles Goodyear.  

Another image from my archives is this one of a couple of old style vases I collected from a visit to a thrift store. It is for on of the “my choice” images. 

Out with the old, in with the new. I have to give that a lot of thought. I hate to see the old go in many cases, on the other hand it’s nice, and some times much easier, to live with the new. The title to this article is “Our Way of Life Is Going Away”. It’s a story about a century old farm house that will be taken down to make way for a $20 billion Intel project. The farm house in the opening paragraph was home to a growing family for three generations. Three sisters were going through the things they wanted to save before it was to late. There was an old ticking wall clock in the back ground of their work. They were finding old and worn recipe books, bottles of medicines and boxes and personal journals of memories. As they worked, they could glance out the window to watch the cranes and dump trucks working “in the distance” where “cows, sheep and chickens roamed and corn, wheat and oats sprouted from the soil”. As they worked, they were thinking of their past where some family members were born and died in this house and how their way of life is changing. How working the farm is over, how they were taken to get ice cream with the milking was done. Then reality would seep in with the thought of “Can’t stop progress” came to the surface. Much of the article was a history of how life and operations changed on the farm has the years went by. Animals and animal care changed, equipment changed, things were moved around, people running the daily farm activities changed over the years. They talked about and remembered how “things lose their charm” and how through the years’ one comes to find that they are “embracing change”. As they worked they also remembered the changes of the community around the farm. How land was “annexed” as the town grew, how developments arose. Then around 2022 Intel bought part of their property and property around them. It will eventually employ 3,000 people and will “require 7,000 construction workers and could eventually expand to a $100 billion investment”. The three girls doing the cleaning said “It’s been a season of discovery”. In the end among other items, they had looked through boxes of buttons, screws and other small items from the “cellar way”. They say most of the items “will be thrown away but a few proved to be treasures”. 

We are having salmon patties in the air fryer for dinner. 

Joy

                        and yet more

 June 12, 2023 a thought for today, Two men in a burning house must not stop to argue. African Proverb

One of the uploads for yesterday was “everyday objects in black and white”. I sometimes use an old image and use Photoshop to change it to black and white. Other time I use the setting on my Sony camera for black and white shots. This image was using the setting in the camera. 

This day is much different than that of my last letter.....this one is chilly and damp. It is the amazing saga of ups and downs in Ohio weather, interesting, educational and special. A couple of days last week I had the windows open then the AC was turned on, today I have the furnace back on. It rained during the night and looks like there is more to come. 

It also looks like it is going to be a one of those slow, “time dragging” kind of day. I did manage to get the first part of the bulletin done as well as a little research I have been meaning to do....adding to my “bank of knowledge” for  later perusal. 

My second upload for yesterday was taken a few years back....it is an old, very old, and abandoned warehouse in the downtown area. The textures, color hues and shapes make it, in my opinion, and interesting image, let alone it’s historical history and presence.

I have a couple of minor house hold tasks to get out of the way. I have been planning to make a double batch of home made noodles to freeze for later meals of beef and noodles and tuna casserole but I’m not in the mood to do that today. Time wise this would be a good day for that but energy wise not so much, could be the drag of the dreary weather coloring the mood. 

My first upload for today is “a single tree”. In our neighborhood finding a “single” tree is not an easy task. We have either the park which is a tiny forest and all of the tree in our yards. 

The word for today is reality. When we are unhurried and wise we perceive that only great and worthy things have any permanent and absolute existence that petty fears and petty pleasures are but the shadow of the reality, Henry David Thoreau. Everything you can imagine is real. Pablo Picasso. 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.  Let us live for the beauty of our own reality. Charles Lamb.  We are more often frightened than hurt; and we suffer more from imagination than from reality. Lucius Annaeus Seneca. The world of reality has its limits; the world of imagination is boundless. Jean-Jacques Rousseau,  What we achieve inwardly will change outer reality. Plutarch.  If you've never eaten while crying you don t know what life tastes like, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. Cherish those who seek the truth but beware of those who find it, Voltaire.  Do you imagine the universe is agitated? Go into the desert at night and look at the stars. This practice should answer the question, Lao Tzu. The realities of life do not allow themselves to be forgotten, Victor Hugo.  It is hard for an empty sack to stand upright, Benjamin Franklin.  The waking have one world in common; sleepers have each a private world of his own, Heraclitus.  

My second upload for today is pulled from my archives. We saved this drip coffee maker from old family treasures held over from the past. I used it a while back for a “cup of coffee” image in an assigned upload.

It’s going to be the extreme modern next to an architectural design of an earlier history style. I should be an interesting contrast. There are plans for a new seven-story, 185 unit building to be built in Franklinton on West Broad Street right next to the Holy Family Catholic Church. It will be a mixed use building with ground floor space for commercial space. There will be town houses along the back. There will be internal parking. Normally the architect plans trees at the front of the building but due to a “duct bank” under the sidewalk that won’t happen with this site. When the plans were being discussed, it was decided that if trees couldn’t be planted in front an “alternative landscaping that city staff would then sign off on” would be considered. The construction of the building is proposed to start in September. 

I think we are having hamburgers and some kind of air fired potatoes for dinner tonight. 

Joy

                            hidden???

 June 10, 2023 a thought for today, No one can say of this house, There is no trouble here. Chinese Proverb

One of the daily photo uploads for yesterday was “vintage objects”. These are some times that we as a family discovered when out elders passed on. We found that some as a matter of fact most of these were not from just the nearest past generation but one before that. 

I love Saturdays!!! Always have.....since my good ol’ school days.....and still do..... and always will. Anyway, Bob, Sweet Pea and I made the trip to do the now standard Saturday curbside grocery pickup. Then we stopped for brunch, for all three of us BTW, and filled the gas tank.

When I was putting the groceries away, I found that I had ordered a dozen eggs thinking I only had a half dozen left. I had a dozen plus three. So I am “hard boiling” (in the air fryer.... “bake” setting at 250 degrees for seventeen minutes) the three eggs to make deviled eggs for dinner. 

The second upload for yesterday was “my choice”. This is an image seen though my window of part of my neighbor’s garden.

We had arranged to have the lawn mowed today but since it has been so dry for the last couple of weeks I changed my mind and called to cancel that for this week. The grass looks low and dry. My only complaint is there are a lot of white clovers covering the terrace and all other spaces. I suppose I should appreciate them as a field of tiny wild flowers.

We are having a perfect late spring day. I hear the wind chimes every now and then as a soft breeze drifts through. And the birds are extremely talkative today, maybe singing their thanks for the day God has given them (us). The sounds in the air are rather tranquil, no weekend mowers for a change. The sun and sky are almost perfect.

The first upload for today is called  “fruits and vegetables”. This was taken as I unloaded groceries. 

This is a near flawless week end for the neighborhood’s annual local House and Garden Tour. There is a festive  feel in the air. American flags up on several houses in the blocks and smiles as people come and go to the houses listed in the tour. 

The word for today is reading. Reading makes a full man, meditation a profound man, discourse a clear man, Benjamin Franklin.  Some books leave us free and some books make us free, Ralph Waldo Emerson. Books are the bees which carry the quickening pollen from one to another mind, James Russell Lowell. What is reading, but silent conversation, Walter Savage Landor. A book is a garden, an orchard, a storehouse, a party, a company by the way, a counselor, a multitude of counselors, Henry Ward Beecher. I cannot remember the books I’ve read any more than the meals I have eaten even so they have made me, Ralph Waldo Emerson. The best of a book is not the thought which it contains, but the thought which it suggests; just as the charm of music dwells not in the tones but in the echoes of our hearts, John Greenleaf Whittier.  If we encounter a man of rare intellect, we should ask him what books he reads, Ralph Waldo Emerson. The person who deserves most pity is a lonesome one on a rainy day who doesn’t know how to read, Benjamin Franklin. The world is a book, and those who do not travel read only one page, Saint Augustine.

The second upload for today, “my choice” was shot on my last visit to the Columbus Zoo and

Aquarium a few years ago. 

Here is another view of history about Columbus. There seems, for me, to be something intriguing about each persons description of our history, not only that of Columbus but of many places. From 1860 to 1872 Columbus grew from 18,000 to 31,000 people. Communities of homes and businesses were developing for many reasons. One of the reasons was eight railroads and became a “rail hub” during the Civil War. Many businesses were able to use “cheap supplies and a ready labor force”. Businesses that were for a while among the most important in the area were buggy companies. An early one was called the Columbus Buggy Company which stated at the Iron Buggy Company. A problem was that people complained that the “ride on iron seats was rough”. So they changed their working strategies and made “all sorts” of buggies. In 1873 there was a man German immigrant living in the “Old South End” named Jacob Studer. He happy to active in promoting the “city as a place to work, live and visit”. From the time he was small he went to schools in the area then became an apprentice as a “printer’s devil” learning the print trade. He was also a “skilled” sketch artist. He spent his free time visiting neighborhoods meeting and learning about the people of Columbus. He became a speaker and writer sharing the stories he saw and heard. Eventually he wrote a book called "Columbus, Ohio – Its History, Resources and Progress." He mixed his written reports with state, local and personal history. He wrote about economics, social and cultural aspects of the city while steering clear of politics. His stories talked about the roles of police, fire and public offices relating to the services rather than the people filling those position. 

I had a third upload for today called “negative space”. I found this on in the archives of the sun against the orange sky. 

I have some chili in the freezer from an earlier meal, I think that will be dinner tonight. We will have the skyline chili extras too. 

Joy

    never ending highway maintenance