October 10, 2024 a thought for today, Sincerity gives wings to power. Latin Proverb 

The first photo upload for yesterday is another of the “autumn foliage” series. These are some trees in the neighborhood. 

The next upload was a difficult one for me. The challenge was “simple”. There are so many “simple” things in our lives. I just thought of some how young children create. Their drawing is so easy and spontaneous. It is made of simple strokes and colors. It seems to be whatever they feel at the moment....it’s pure and “simple”. 

My last upload is “on the ground”. There is so much to choose from for this image. There are multitudes of this and that's on the ground. I chose this little ol’ rock on a concrete sidewalk. 

Life today. It is another gorgeous day but oh boy did it started out cold. The car windows needed cleared (not quite ice yet) before I could leave to go church to do the printing. Shortly after I got there there was a knock on the doors. I answered. There were two men I had never seen before that were looking for Patti. I told them she wasn’t there yet. I was leery to let them in since I didn’t know them so they waited outside. I worried about leaving them in the cold but I was alone in the church. I was pretty sure they weren’t part of the AA groups that meet here. I called Patti to let them know they were here.  The message went to the answering service. Patti came about ten minutes later so all was ok.

The first upload for today is “a body of water”. There is only one “body of water” near by that is at the  park down the street. The next time I am out and about further than the westside I will find bodies of water to add to the archives. 

Once I was finished at the church I stopped to fill the tank then headed to a mail box to drop off the shut-in bulletins. Next was a short photo search trip. 

Yesterday Brian mowed the lawn, then filled in some cracks in the cement steps on the front porch. He said he would be back today to put the second cost in the cement. It took 24 hours to dry for a second coat. 

The second upload for today “the sky”. I took some shot today but the sky was kind of ho-hum today so I am sharing this one from the archives. 

Then I got to work on my daily computer “jobs”. This is a catharsis for me, a sort of counselor when I need it, as well as a way to relax when I need things that way. It seems to suit my activity type needs. I can’t physically exercise much so this is a big part of my “release” and “relax” routine. The other “part” of my healthful and helpful activity is my church family gatherings and my “brain games” for memory building. ‘Nuf said.

The next upload for today is the last for this series of “autumn foliage”. This is another of one of the streets in my neighborhood. 

The word today is missing. I want my friend to miss me as long as I miss him. Saint Augustine.   While we stop to think, we often miss our opportunity. Publilius Syrus.  Sometimes, only one person is missing, and the whole world seems depopulated. Alphonse de Lamartine. Love reckons hours for months, and days for years; and every little absence is an age. John Dryden.  No distance of place or lapse of time can lessen the friendship of those who are thoroughly persuaded of each other's worth. Robert Southey. For everything you have missed, you have gained something else, and for everything you gain, you lose something else. Ralph Waldo Emerson.  Nothing makes the earth seem so spacious as to have friends at a distance; they make the latitudes and longitudes. Henry David Thoreau.  The idea of perfect closes your mind to new standards. When you drive hard toward one ideal, you miss opportunities and paths, not to mention hurting your confidence. Believe in your potential and then go out and explore it; don't limit it. John Eliot.  Learn as if you were not reaching your goal and as though you were scared of missing it. Confucius

The last upload for today is “on the road”. This is one of the days for a fourth photo a day upload for today. This is a short road near the shopping mall. 

Article: Here’s some information about Halloween we may or may not have heard about. The title: “How was Halloween invented? Once a Celtic pagan tradition....”. It started out mentioning Frankenstein and that the scientist shouted “It’s alive!”. Further relating that he became a life of his own adding that “traditions are also alive, which means they can change over time or get reinvented”. Halloween as we know it has been “continually reinvented since its ancient origins as a Celtic pagan ceremony”. This article says that the tradition “still beats the heart of the original”. The histories beginning is that in 500BC the Celts celebrated New Year’s Day on Nov. 1. It was called Samhain. At that time they believed that “the door between the worlds of the living and the dead swung open”. Some of the Celts developed customs to protect themself from this “turbulent time”. The made costumes to “fool the spirits” and lit bonfires along with candles stuck inside turnips to scare away “any spirits looking for mischief”. The article mentioned that they also carried treats in their pockets to “pay off wayward spirits”. The author mentioned that the focus may have been on the dead but “Samhain was ultimately for the living, who needed plenty of help of their own when transitioning to the new year”. I learned from the article that when the Catholics came to Ireland in 300AD they “opened another door between worlds, unleashing considerable conflict”. They changed the “holiday” to “All Saints Day” but it was hard for the original occupants to change their “rituals”. Irish immigrants “brought Halloween to America in the 1800s while escaping the Great Potato Famine”. It felt odd to Americans already here so it didn’t take hold at first. As the Irish population grew Halloween became an “all-American celebration”. Any religious “overtones faded” as “supernatural saints and sinners being replaced by generic ghosts and goblins”.  The turnips with candles became pumpkins. The article mentioned that it “is increasingly being exported around the world, with locals reinventing it in new ways to adapt it to their own culture”. In sharing that the article said “Halloween “allows kids more independence, it’s possible to mark significant life stages through holiday firsts”. It use to mean that as growing “out” of Halloween some adults seemed “caught between childhood and adulthood”. It seems Halloween is a “living tradition”. Each new year brings a different way to look at Halloween. 

I froze four portions of spaghetti and meat balls a while back. I think one of those will be dinner tonight. 

Joy