November 19, 2023a thought for today, Throw good to your left and right, and you'll find it when you'll need it. Romanian Proverb

The first upload for the November 18 was titled “calm.” I felt that the near by park is peaceful at this time of day. It is relaxing to be with nature, including the squirrel hunting for food. 

The second upload for yesterday was “noodles”. I have some
homemade egg noodles in the freezer for beef and noodles or tuna casserole in a later meal. I didn’t think they were “exciting”. So I chose to use the Chinese noodles I have along with some of the ingredients for my next stir fry meal. 

The third upload for yesterday was “orange.” I don’t have oranges in the house and didn’t have time to go to the store to photography some of theirs. I used the liquid variety that I have in the frig. 

Life today. Our Christmas trees are up in the sanctuary. It really brought the Christmas season into our thoughts. It is quite a job putting the trees and decorations up for the season and as far as I know only two or three people accomplished it for this year.

Service today was uplifting and the few who were in attendance were cheerful and welcoming. Our one Sunday school girl along with her teacher did Thanksgiving posters, skit and song. They got the congregation to be part of contributing to the poster by filling out small piece of paper where we what we were thankful for. Those notes were added to the poster and shared at the end of the service. It brought smiles to all of us. The same student and teacher made “cards” for the veterans in our congregation at the Veterans’ day weekend. 

My first photo upload for today is “puppy/dogs.” My new “grand puppy” wasn’t near by so I used the hesitant Sweet Pea for my model. I have to be ready and snap fast to get anything up loadable of her.  She does not like the camera. 

One of my photos a day today is a challenge. The theme title is “balloons.” I have a crochet project that I completed last year. That is, the crochet portion was completed last year. The finishing touch is to use balloons to hold the shape of the work so that it could be starched. The project is for several snowballs shaped pieces at about six inches plus in diameter. I have had them in storage waiting for the right time to do the starching process. Today I took two of the ten pieces, put a balloon inside the circular crochet piece, blew up the balloon and dipped and rolled it in starch then hung it to dry. Now for the other eight pieces, for a later day. At least I was able to capture the balloon theme photo. 

The rest of the day is put aside to rest, renew and refresh. Next week is a busy one as well as a Thanksgiving one. I am eager to be with family for festivity two days this week. One will be on Thanksgiving day, the other on the day after. 

The second photo today is “balloons.” Again, I was going to go on the look out for some balloons. I was going to a nearby Dollar Store who always has balloons or the local Kroger who sometimes has them in the floral area. But after some thought, I remembered I had some at home waiting for me to complete a crochet project I had finished a year ago and stored for later use. I have ten crochet snow balls about two to 3 inches in diameter. They need a balloon inside the design, filled with air, and the dipped and rolled in starch. There was my choice for this photo-a-day  “assignment.” 

The word today is forgiveness.  It is easier to forgive an enemy than to forgive a friend. William Blake.  Selfishness must always be forgiven you know, because there is no hope of a cure. Jane Austen.  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 in pardoning that we are pardoned. Francis of Assisi. Only the brave know how to forgive... a coward never forgave; it is not in his nature. Laurence Sterne.  Forgiveness is God's command. Martin Luther. We win by tenderness. We conquer by forgiveness. Frederick William Robertson.  Anger ventilated often hurries towards forgiveness; anger concealed often hardens into revenge. Edward G. Bulwer-Lytton.  The heart of a mother is a deep abyss at the bottom of which you will always find forgiveness. Honore de Balzac.  The glory of Christianity is to conquer by forgiveness. William Blake.  God pardons like a mother, who kisses the offense into everlasting forgiveness. Henry Ward Beecher.  There is no sense in crying over spilt milk. Why bewail what is done and cannot be recalled? Sophocles.

The third and last photo-a-day upload for today is “sharp”. My best choice for that was a meat cleaver that I barely use and has been stored away for some time. The problem is I did not like the background as it turned out so I separated the cleaver from the background and used some Photoshop filters to add a bit of interest. 

The article summary. This article may give some insight to a learning experience for all ages. I think discussion about education, knowledge and wisdom eventually relate to or touches all ages.  There is a professor of English specializing in environmental literature who wrote this article about how board games can show the “perils that global warming poses to the planet.” This idea goes along with the thought that there are games of all types that can add to the learning journey in life. With the idea of the story in mind the professor asked several “activists and educators to try the games out to answer these questions and more.” Part of his thinking was that people learn while they are active and having fun. In many board games there is a “winner.” His thinking, however, is that climate change affects the whole world so games for this test and purpose should be games where all win or no one “survives.” The games he had in mind “spark discussion about values, perspective, conflict, emotions and decision-making.” The professor and his friends “evaluated” several games to see if and how they would work for this purpose and were appropriate for the students. For this “test” there were five games chosen. One called Solutions used scientific research to begin to create a game. Two cards are drawn that describe a way to reduce global emissions. The two ways were discussed and ranked one better than the other for climate. A second game was called Kyoto. The cards in this game represent a country. There is a period in the game of where they “pay fees, bribe and try to persuade each other to reach climate goals.” This one could result in discussion about barriers and goals and economic interests. Another of the games was called Carbon City Zero. They found this one to be to time consuming. Next was Somewhere Everywhere Water Rising Family Pastimes. The players were “consultants” who together make a decision about developing land while considering a sea-level rise. They found this one to be to concerned with one form of possible climate disturbances. Their conclusion was that though it was easy to play it has a “lower educational value.” The last game mentioned in this testing session was Nunami. This one aims to “teach players about balancing life in fragile terrain.” They felt this one “does not teach about the drivers of climate change.” After several hours of ‘play/test’ with this collection of games the group decided the “winner” was Solutions. It urges how to make “decisions with fact-based science.......and allows for interesting team-building conversations.” The professor incorporated this game in his lesson plan then students did a writing assignment on their “their various decisions during the game.”

I am leaning toward a stir fry for my dinner tonight. 

Joy

                                    safety in the sky