December 9, 2023 a thought for today, Books provide knowledge, life furnishes understanding. Hebrew Proverb

My first upload for yesterday as “Red”. This is a popular subject at this season. I have already had a couple to upload of “red”. I try to get a different image for each upload. This one is part of a decoration at McDonalds. 

The second upload for yesterday was “makes me feel merry.” This snowman is huge and seems happy. It is a bit of the joy and smiles of the season. The reason for the season is much different but it is a happy one and this adds to the joy. 

The third upload for the day was “old windows.” I always have liked the shapes and feeling of this windows, the upper most on and the one in the lower corner. 

Life today. It’s been a gray and damp day but not too cold. The sun may have tried to show itself but failed miserably. 

Sweet Pea and I got the Saturday grocery curbside pickup done on time this morning. Then we spent some time in a photo search. We killed more time so that we could pick up brunch at McDonalds. 

The first upload for today is “Christmas Tree.” We have a smaller tree this year. I wanted one that was pre-lit. For me, the biggest part of decorating the tree is putting the lights. At first when I took it out of the box I was thinking a Charlie Brown tree. Now that it is decorated it looks pretty good. 

Once at home I did some computer searches for scraps of statements I had heard that reminded me that I wanted to learn more about this location or that history. Those kinds of searches have become one of my vices. After that I got started on my letter for the day and the searches that have become a necessity for things (fact checks) that I want to include in the letters/blogs.

As I was getting back into things, after putting groceries up, Tami and Andy and Abe (my grand fur baby) came to visit. They stayed and chatted for awhile. I had just received a wide gate that I had ordered to keep Sweet Pea in certain areas of the house. It wasn’t even out of the box. So I asked Andy if he would do the honors....I thought it may have to be put together. It was all in one piece except for the hooks on the little gate that came with it. Andy put that on for me.

So what started out as a ho-hum day turned out to be very pleasant. 

My second upload for today is “nature.” This is another one of the titles where there is no shortage of subject matter. It’s just a matter of picking an image that is pleasant to the eye or has something in its character that seems to call for a camera.

The word for today is motivational. What comes from the heart, goes to the heart, Samuel Taylor Coleridge.  Everything is hard before it is easy, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. Make the most of the best and the least of the worst, Robert Louis Stevenson.  First say to yourself what you would be; and then do what you have to do, Epictetus.  We promise according to our hopes and perform according to our fears, Francois de la Rochefoucauld.  It is not the horse that draws the cart, but the oats, Proverbs.  If you would lift me up you must be on higher ground, Ralph Waldo Emerson.  Instruction does much, but encouragement does everything, Johann von Goethe.  Five minutes of today are worth as much to me, as five minutes in the next millennium. Let us be poised, and wise, and our own, today, Ralph Waldo Emerson. We have been called to heal wounds to unite what has fallen apart and to bring home those who have lost their way, St. Francis of Assisi. If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader, John Quincy Adams.  We would frequently be ashamed of our good deeds if people saw all of the motives that produced them, Francois de la Rochefoucauld.  Write it on your heart that every day is the best day of the year, Ralph Waldo Emerson. 

My last photo a day upload for today is “peace.” This is a symbol that denotes peace. There would be other types of photos that speaks to the word peace I’m sure, this is the one other than our national flag that suggests peace most often for me. Then there is the kind of peace that could be calmness, maybe a photo of someone in a bean bag chair or hammock. 

The Article: With this article I am sharing a bit more history about Columbus and the period of time when and why there were stage coaches in our “town”. In the title of the article it states that “Stagecoaches open 19th century Ohio to interstate commerce, travel.”  A couple of statements that I found renewed to my thinking and interesting was between 1815 and 1865 America grew in quantity and speed. According to the article President Jefferson felt that the government should be “small and humble” and then instead made the Louisiana Purchase. Later some notables believed that the US could take Canada. Growing to welcome and use the change in land spaces in the US after the War of 1812 noting that the “west” more open to colonization. During this period there was a “land rush” of people coming to Ohio. The land here was rich and fertile but getting from place to place was difficult. In 1814 there were “post roads” open to the purpose to carry mail from state to state. But only for that purpose not so much for “public transit.” A little later a man named Philip Zinn had the “distinction of providing the first wheeled transport and mail service through Columbus.” He created ‘mountain ships’ to get “produce and goods.....across the Alleghenies.” See that idea at work other people worked at devising “wheeled transport as a way to make some money.” One man and his wife moved to Columbus and tried to start a couple of different businesses that did not pan out. In 1822 in went into the stagecoach trade. He joined another stagecoach operator from Wheeling. Their tactics at times seemed less than ethical but the business became successful. By 1940 this entrepreneur became known as the“The Old Stage King.” With his success in this venture he owned a 300-acre farm that “would one day become the home of The Ohio State University.” According to the article from 1830 to 1860 the stagecoach business was in its “golden age.” During that time roads in Columbus improved then the railroads took over major transportation. There was a book written in 1885 the recounted when one coach came up beside another a race began a race through town ending at the “old National Hotel, on the present site of the Neil House.” 

I am making chili for dinner and fried potatoes. 

Joy

                                  where’s the respect