August 19, 2024 a thought for today, Don't trudge mud into the house of love. English Proverb

One of the uploads for yesterday was “golden hour”. I wanted to get the shot so that I didn’t need to get one from the archives. So I checked the time that for sundown and set my alarm to remind me one hour before that to take the challenge photo. This is what the golden hour looked like yesterday. Rain was moving in. 

The next challenge for yesterday was “on the floor”. This is one of Sweet Peas ‘pals’, angry bird. We  have two.  This one was closest to the camera. 

My last challenge for yesterday was “a stack”. I did a stack of books for another assignment like this so I decided to use the dishes this time. 

Life today. It is another productive Monday. I have the bulletin almost done. I still need information from Mike to finish it. I also got a Sunday School upload created and uploaded for Instagram and Facebook. In between all of that I took Sweet Pea for her monthly shot. It was probably my imagination but I don’t think she was as nervous this month as she has been in the past couple. 

Once I got home there were a couple of calls I had to make to straighten out questions about meds for both myself and Sweet Pea. 

My first upload for today is “photographer’s choice”. This is a line of trees in part of  the back of a closed shopping mall. It reminds me of a European style alley (a narrow passage between buildings or other structures).

While I was out I went in search for my photo challenges for today. I think I got what I needed. I have already had them in the “darkroom”. They are ready for upload. 

I think we are experiencing just the beginning of a slow change to our next season one of the four we have each year. They are kind of intriguing. There’s a gentle feel of going from one natural ambiance to another...from an old to a new.....a goodby and a hello. We are moving from summer into autumn. From the “good ol’ summer time” to golden leaves and harvest time. God made them this way, a gift of wonder. 

The next upload for today is “world photography day..your choice”. I saw this scooter sitting by an abandoned building. There was no one around and no parked cars....hard telling how long it had been there.

The word today is little. To be really great in little things, to be truly noble and heroic in the insipid details of everyday life, is a virtue so rare as to be worthy of canonization. Harriet Beecher Stowe.  Very little is needed to make a happy life; it is all within yourself, in your way of thinking. Marcus Aurelius. Just living is not enough... one must have sunshine, freedom, and a little flower. Hans Christian Andersen.  That best portion of a man's life, his little, nameless, unremembered acts of kindness and love. William Wordsworth.  The greatest wealth is to live content with little. Plato.  True wisdom comes to each of us when we realize how little we understand about life, ourselves, and the world around us. Socrates.  Beware of little expenses. A small leak will sink a great ship. Benjamin Franklin.  Good character is not formed in a week or a month. It is created little by little, day by day. Protracted and patient effort is needed to develop good character. Heraclitus.  The art of life is to know how to enjoy a little and to endure very much. William Hazlitt.  How far that little candle throws its beams! So shines a good deed in a naughty world. William Shakespeare.  Every day we should hear at least one little song, read one good poem, see one exquisite picture, and, if possible, speak a few sensible words. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe.  A great man is always willing to be little. Ralph Waldo Emerson.  So many worlds, so much to do, so little done, such things to be. Alfred Lord Tennyson.  The essence of philosophy is that a man should so live that his happiness shall depend as little as possible on external things. Epictetus.  Labor to keep alive in your breast that little spark of celestial fire, called conscience. George Washington.  He who knows only his own side of the case knows little of that. John Stuart Mill.  

The last photo challenge upload for today is “ingredients”. I have a whole pantry full of “ingredients”.  This is just a few. Since I don’t cook much any more I could and probably should clean out the pantry. There are some outdated things especially spices. 

Article: Since heat seems to be a topic for this summer I thought this article was particularly interesting. The article is about how “Ancient Rome had ways to counter the urban heat island effect – how history’s lessons apply to cities today”. It talks about how many cities in the time in history have learned how to “heat themselves up and cool themselves”. It was interesting for me to read how cities in ancient Roam did it. One way mentioned in the article was in “narrowing streets to lessen late afternoon temperatures”.  This method allowed for “limiting the area exposed to direct sunlight”. Another thing they did to make things cooler when the temperatures were high was to whitewash architecture so that the heat of the sun was reflected. Thomas Jefferson proposed that “all new settlements employ a checkerboard pattern of heavily vegetated city blocks interspersed among dense construction”. It was supposed to allow air movement between “cool and warm zones”. The article mentioned that modern cities “unintentionally”allow for elevating their own temperatures creating “urban heat island effect.” Again according to the article, tree canopies disappear then construction “amplifies the heat. Asphalt and concrete along with dark roofs absorbs the heat witch heats the areas around them. “Waste heat is emitted” from tailpipes, air conditioners and other industrial processes. The article goes on to say the cities need to reduce “greenhouse” emissions coming from “industries, vehicles and buildings”. It would/will take “decades to measurably slow warming trends”. The health benefits from reducing the heat would be “expanded”. Some of the ways to do this is tree cover and “green infrastructure and using cool materials for roads and roofs”. Just creating tree canopies “could lower summer afternoon temperatures by 5-10 F (2.8-5.6 C), reducing heat-related deaths by 40%-50% in some neighborhoods”. I learned from the article that “New York City set and met a goal of planting 1 million trees across its five boroughs”.  In 2013 Los Angeles “became the first major city to require cool roofs on all new homes”. 

I think we will have chili for dinner. 

Joy

                  a small guy enjoying the park