March 14, 2024 a thought for today, A burden that one chooses is not felt. Italian Proverb

One of the photo uploads for yesterday was “handmade”. This is one of the things I am crocheting for my great grand children. In case it is hard to tell what it is ....... fingerless gloves. 

The next upload for yesterday is “lines, limes, or labels”. I like the different shapes of the lines in this photo. The shadows make interesting shapes, sometimes distorted shapes.

The next and last photo upload for yesterday was “lips”. For me, that was a hard one to “format” in my mind. To be honest I took a selfie of my own lips but that one didn’t all that attractive to my way of thinking. 

Life today. Thursday seems to come around very quickly. But then, all the days seem to be rushing up on me that way these days. Anyway, the printing is done. I was also able to have a short meeting with Diana about setting up the camera for this Sunday. I am always nervous about using other people’s possessions, cars, cameras and so on. When it comes time to do a favor for someone that feeling is put aside. 

On the way home way home I dropped off the mail and picked up some pancakes from McDonalds. 

My first upload for today is “symmetry”. The columns in the sanctuary are outstanding shapes and size for this image. The pews could also be considered symmetric. 

Before I got to the other Thursday chores I called for a refill on one of my meds, got some overdue Christmas mail addressed (that’s right I said Christmas mail...my bad ☺), ordered a first communion gift for my great grand daughter, finally, I got the laundry started. I also contacted my lawn care man to ask if he was ready to start cleaning the dog leavings from the yard for me. He came about an hour later. 

We, Sue and I (and Sweet Pea), have to cancel our plans for going to Florida for Lexie’s first communion. I am more than disappointed and was counting on it and making mental plans. But so many little, and not so little, problems presented themselves. Decisions have to be made now for the better outcome. Some dreams come true and some don’t. 

My next photo upload for today is “long shot”. This one was taken at my church this morning. It is one of the hallways. 

The word today is bitter. The roots of education are bitter, but the fruit is sweet. Aristotle.  Through Love all that is bitter will be sweet, Through Love all that is copper will be gold, Through Love all dregs will become wine, through Love all pain will turn to medicine. Rumi.  Here is the rule to remember in the future, When anything tempts you to be bitter: not, 'This is a misfortune' but 'To bear this worthily is good fortune.' Marcus Aurelius.  Parents wonder why (sometimes) the streams are bitter, when they themselves have poisoned the fountain. John Locke.  Strong and bitter words indicate a weak cause. Victor Hugo.  Remorse sleeps during prosperity but awakes bitter consciousness during adversity. Jean-Jacques Rousseau.  Old friends become bitter enemies on a sudden for toys and small offenses. Robert Burton.  I am sorry to think that you do not get a man's most effective criticism until you provoke him. Severe truth is expressed with some bitterness. Henry David Thoreau. There is no fruit which is not bitter before it is ripe.  Publilius Syrus.  There is no such thing as pure, unalloyed pleasure; some bitter ever mingles with the sweet. Ovid.  We think there is color, we think there is sweet, we think there is bitter, but in reality there are atoms and a void. Democritus. 

The next and last photo of the day for today is “frozen”. This is another one that gave me some thought. First I froze a slice of a clementine in an ice cube. Once it was frozen, it didn’t fit what I had in mind. So since time was slipping by for the day I used an ice cream scoop for a scoop of ice cream in a bowl. 

The article.  It’s March so this article seemed fitting.....10 things to know about the real St. Patrick. Most people see him as “an aged, bearded bishop in flowing robes, grasping a bishop’s staff .......refers to one of Patrick’s legendary miracles in which he is said to have prayed to banish all snakes from Ireland”. The author of the article is a historian of medieval Ireland, he says “I can assure you that the real St. Patrick, who lived and worked in the fifth century, never saw a snake or wore a shamrock”. That last sentence led me to take a closer look. He, the author, goes on to share things he has found in his studies about St. Patrick. First, he is not Irish. His father was a “Christian deacon” in a small village that South Wales. “Patrick” was a slave. Irish slave traders found and captured him in his teenage to sell back in Ireland”.  As a slave he tended sheep for six years. It is said that he prayed hundreds of time a day as he spent time with the sheep. The article says one night as he worked he heard a “mysterious voice” telling him “your ship is ready!” he felt it was time for him to escape. He managed to get to the east coast of Ireland and looked for a ship that would go to Britain. He found a ship. The captain didn’t like his look. In time Patrick tried to convert the crew. One night he dreamed that “Satan tested his faith by dropping an enormous rock on him”. When he called for help using the words “Heliac! Heliac!” – the name of the Greek sun god. The rock disappeared”. Later he believed he was helped by “Christ the Lord.” He also had other visions. When he got back to the home of his birth he was visited by an angel bringing a message from the Irish to “some and walk again among us.” He went back to Ireland and was trained as a bishop. As time went on, rumors were spread that he had done something undesirable when he was young. It was never mentioned what he had done that was the subject of these rumors. “Patrick retrospectively understood his zealous Irish mission to be penance for his youthful sins”. As he tried to spread Christianity in Ireland he was beaten and put in chains. One of the legends about St. Patrick was written in 700AD that he had a “contest with native religious leaders, the druids”. The tried to poison him and force him into “magical duels”. One of the druids “blasphemed” Go and Patrick “sent him flying into the air”. The druid fell to the ground and “broke his skull”. As time moved on Patrick made a promise to God after he fasted on a mountain for 40 days and refused to go down demanding that he could be redeemed and should be brought from hell to judge Irish sinners at the end of time. The connection of a shamrock with St. Patrick was first mentioned in 1684 by an English visitor to Ireland who wrote that on Saint Patrick’s feast day people wear three leaved “grasses” and eat them for “sweet breath”. In pictures of St. Patrick there is a snake on the staff he is holding. The article says that that could not have happened because there were no snakes in “pre-modern Ireland......Reptiles never made it across the land bridge that prehistorically linked the island to the European continent”. The author says that “whatever the truth of Patrick’s mission “he became one of the three patrons of Ireland”, the other two were born in Ireland.

I am making stir fry for my dinner. 

Joy

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