September 24, 2023 a thought for today, Too often do we waste time chasing a gust of wind or grasping at shadows. Chinese Proverb

One of the uploads for September 23 was “bottle.” I chose this bottle with a handle and with some wilting flower for my entry of this assignment.  

Sundays are special days not just for church but, for me at last, there is a different sensitivity from other days of the week about it. It’s quieter, more relaxed, somehow freer. 

I am getting ready to head out to church. I am back in the choir now and we are singing an anthem... “Celebrate God’s Love” so I have to be there a little earlier for a rehearsal. 

Lowell and Rebecca are leaving for a vacation. I feel a little bit adrift because I have gotten to depend and lean on him more than I probably should be. I’m sure it will pass as I grow stronger after the most recent event in my life and shock missing my nearly constant companion and helper.  

My second upload for yesterday was “sepia”. I like the old time feeling this image gave to part of the shopping center.

Church was low in attendance today, even a little lower than has become normal. Maybe it is due to the change of season. Today is the first day of autumn, it is a perfect sample of what is called autumn. Soon the leaves will be turning. 

My first upload for today is “triangle.” I am using this image that I shot this morning of the triangle in the Celtic Cross design on the pulpit. 

The word today is music. He who sings scares away his woes, Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra.  Music is the universal language of mankind, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. Music is a moral law. It gives soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination, and charm and gaiety to life and to everything, Plato. Music in the soul can be heard by the universe, Lao Tzu.   Music expresses that which cannot be put into words and that which cannot remain silent, Victor Hug. Music is the movement of sound to reach the soul for the education of its virtue, Plato.   Music produces a kind of pleasure which human nature cannot do without, Confucius. Music takes us out of the actual and whispers to us dim secrets that startle our wonder as to who we are, and for what, whence, and whereto, Ralph Waldo Emerson. Music is an agreeable harmony for the honor of God and the permissible delights of the soul, Johann Sebastian Bach. The music is not in the notes, but in the silence between them, Mozart.  When I hear music, I fear no danger. I am invulnerable. I see no foe. I am related to the earliest times, and to the latest, Henry David Thoreau.  Music is harmony, harmony is perfection, perfection is our dream, and our dream is heaven, Henri Frederic Amiel.  Music is well said to be the speech of angels; in fact, nothing among the utterances allowed to man is felt to be so divine. It brings us near to the infinite, Thomas Carlyle.

The second upload for today is “moon light.” This on is from the archives because I am not generally awake any more when the moon is bright and shiny. 

Here is another story about an icon in the Columbus community. It has a lot of history for my family. Before shopping malls there were the downtown shopping trips. My dad worked part time in one of the parking garages. I went to a class on “beauty products” when I was in girl scouts. All of that not to mention Christmas time at Lazarus and the Thanksgiving day parade with Santa in it. The article related to how Lazarus “left its mark on how Americans shop.” It all began with a German immigrant who opened a one-room men’s clothing store in Columbus in 1851. By 1909 it had grown so much that is needed a six-story building with 20 departments including women’s apparel. They continued and grew for one hundred and fifty-three years. Newer malls began to popup and that was the beginning of changes to the shopping experiences in Columbus. That store the one that had grown to six stories closed in 2004. While it was “here” there were many things that brought about major changes. One was the “first stores to sell merchandise at one price, with no bargaining.” Then there was the first store in the US to use a “moving escalator.” It introduced Bargain Basement closeouts. And here’s something I learned from the article, during the 1918 pandemic it was called the "The Good-Health Store of Columbus," with fresh air in abundance due to a ventilating system that changed the air “every four minutes.” Later it became Federated with other major stores in the country. Still later it was the first department store to add air conditioning, 1934. There was a renovation that restored the brick and terra cotta facade. There was once a street that went through the center leading to “a two-story Galleria.” The building is still standing and now serves for “mix of uses—offices, retail, artists’ studios, exhibitions, and restaurants—rather than eager shoppers.

You all know I am a “foodie”, I love good food. Evening meals will be making a change. I have prepared one main meal a day everyday since I got married. With Bob no longer with us I won’t be cooking every night. Sue and I have different tastes in food so we have decided to each chose our own meal each evening.

Joy

                everyday maintenance