May 9, 2024 a thought for today, God gave burdens, also shoulders. Jewish Proverb

My first upload for the 8th was “busy street”. This is more or less a normal day on one of the main streets through the city of Columbus. 

The second upload for yesterday was “turtle”. This one was really difficult for me. I don’t have any area where turtles live nearby. The pet shops that I checked were out of their turtle supply. I had to take this on from the archives. It is not a turtle but it looks much like one when it is swimming. This is a seal at the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium. 

The third photo upload today is “35mm/70mm”. This is as close a simulation as I could come with my cell phone camera.  It is on the wider side of exposure for the mid setting on the cell phone.

Live today. Here we are at Thursday again. The printing is done. I had a bit of a difference in my printing time this week. Patti wasn’t able to be there today so I let the group who comes early on Thursday in and opened rooms for them. I left when the bulletin was done and distributed. Stopped at the bank, then dropped off the mail.  I went back after the group left to turn out lights and lock up. 

Sue is having some work done on her car and needs a ride home later this afternoon. We are hoping that they will have the work done in a couple of hours after we drop it off. We have had an invitation to an early Mother’s Day dinner this evening. That will depend on the timing. We may have to get a rain check for the dinner. 

The first upload for today is “clean”. I was in the process of starting my laundry. I had my phone with me so I shot this image and several other views. 

When I finally got home from going back to the church, I started the laundry. I hope to have it done before dinner time. 

We have been having a lot of off and on rain in the past few days. Some of it has been on the “heavy” side. They are still predicting more to come as well as a drop in temperature. I am glad we got the lawn mowed yesterday. 

The next upload was “framed”. These are a couple of the pieces of our art work in the living room. The front one is one of Sue’s sketches of one of our cousins in the early 1900s. 

The word today is demand. Ability will never catch up with the demand for it. Confucius.  The health of the eye seems to demand a horizon. We are never tired, so long as we can see far enough. Ralph Waldo Emerson.  We succeed in enterprises which demand the positive qualities we possess, but we excel in those which can also make use of our defects. Alexis de Tocqueville.  As scarce as truth is, the supply has always been in excess of the demand. Josh Billings.  Great interests demand great safeguards. Thomas Francis Meagher.  Human salvation demands the divine disclosure of truths surpassing reason. Thomas Aquinas.  But whoso is heroic must find crises to try his edge. Human virtue demands her champions and martyrs, and the trial of persecution always proceeds. Ralph Waldo Emerson.  Compassion is a call, a demand of nature, to relieve the unhappy as hunger is a natural call for food. Joseph Butler.  He that demands misseth not, unlesse his demands be foolish. George Herbert.  Seeking is all very well, but holding requires greater talent: Seeking involves some luck; now the demand is for skill. Ovid.  Art always demands of us something new. Ludwig van Beethoven.

The last upload is “the moon”. Last night when I left Sweet Pea out for the night I walked in the yard with her looking for some little piece of the moon. No such luck. If there was one somewhere to be found it was hidden by a cover of clouds. I used this one from the archives. It was captured through the kitchen windows a few nights ago.

Article: From the heading I was thinking this article may be showing that some board games may in help in the area of education....particularly in geography and history. The title of the article is “What America’s first board game can teach us about the aspirations of a young nation”. It was written by a professor of American literature. It began by explaining that board games are “booming”. In 2023 “the industry topped US$16.8 billion and is projected to reach $40.1 billion by 2032". Some of the classic games like Scrabble are being “refreshed and transformed” and new games are coming on the market. This caused the professor/writer to do a study on this subject. He discovered a book written in 1640 and looked farther finding a book on board games. He found an old book written about a board game called “The Travellers’ Tour Through the United States”, the first board game to employ a map of the U.S. It “first appeared in 1822, making it the earliest known board game printed in the U.S.” Parker Brothers acquired the rights to a different game called “The Mansion of Happiness,” an English game first produced in the U.S. in 1843". It was also called ”The first board game ever published in America.” By 1822 board games were being “established, and middle- and upper-class parents would buy games for their families to enjoy around the parlor table”. I learned from this article that at time in history New Years was the time for holiday for gift giving” rather than Christmas. Many gifts then were books, cards, puzzles, paper dolls and games imported from England. The game mentioned earlier, “Travellers’ Tour” consists of a hand-colored map of the then-24 states and a numbered list of 139 towns and cities.”  Along with the list of towns and cities there was a number with a description of the “corresponding town”. The game was played with a “tetotum” a small “top-like devices with numbers around their sides”. It was spun and would land with a number showing. The player moves that number of spaces on the map. They have to name the town or city and move their game piece to that place on the map. The first to get to New Orleans is the winner. Although it doesn’t have to be used to play the game a description is given for each location. These descriptions “tell historians a lot about America’s national aspirations” including information about “agricultural, commercial, historical and cultural character”.  These descriptions also highlight “institutions of learning”. The article did mention however that the game did not mention slavery as a “role in the fabric of the nation” and very little about American Indians and other “Indigenous people”. Toward the end of the article it is stated that “two centuries later, board game culture has matured to the point that new titles such as “Freedom: The Underground Railroad” and “Votes for Women” push the genre to new heights” and now encourage playing as one way to “teach the history of the era that spawned America’s first board game.”

I think we are going out to dinner with Lowell and Rebecca for an early Mothers day dinner. 

Joy

                            a bit of vandalism