December 29, 2024, If you wish to succeed, consult three old people. Chinese Proverb

The first upload for yesterday was “peace”. I asked my sister for a suggestion. This is the first thing that came to her mind. I like it. 

The next upload for yesterday is titled “shiny”. I like this image. It seems “warm” and inviting. 

The last image upload for the 28th was “my choice” for me it is one of the series of faceless portrait I have been doing. 

Life today. I am missing church this morning. I still don’t have my car, I didn’t want to ask for a ride and was up most of the night with stomach problems. Instead I watched and listened through the streaming on facebook. I find I feel a little better since I got to take part in the praises and noticing others, friends and church family, who were able to get there today. It’s not as uplifting and revitalizing as being in the physical company but it will help begin the new week and the new year for me. 

I don’t think I will be getting much done today, one, because it is Sunday and another because I don’t have much stamina from not sleeping well. 

The first upload for today is “reflection”. I like this reflection of the tree on my wood floor. 

It is a rainy day, gray skies and gloomy views. I heard that we may have a storm later today. At least that’s one nice thing about staying at home and in the house. 

I am looking forward to next week. I get my car back so Sweet Pea and I can go on our photo excursion. I can get back to getting to where I need to be. I am looking forward to the next week welcome the new year....I won’t be awake at the stroke of midnight but I will start the new year in the morning. I am also anxious to get back on my schedule of house hold routines that I let go in the preparations for the holidays. I will be taking the tree and a few other decorations down. 

The next upload for today is “joy”. It is and was a joy to spend some of the holiday with family. This is it....part of it....a couple of the kids were somewhere behind the camera enthralled with new toys. 

The word today is regard. There is never jealousy where there is not strong regard. Washington Irving.  We regard wealth as something to be properly used, rather than as something to boast about. As for poverty, no one need be ashamed to admit it: the real shame is in not taking practical measures to escape from it. Pericles.  For a man to achieve all that is demanded of him he must regard himself as greater than he is. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe.  Whoever does not regard what he has as most ample wealth, is unhappy, though he be master of the world. Epictetus.  We do not know it because we are fooling away our time with outward and perishing things, and are asleep in regard to that which is real within ourself. Paracelsus.  We have been taught to regard a representative of the people as a sentinel on the watch-tower of liberty. Daniel Webster.  Men whose sense of taste is destroyed by sickness, sometimes think honey sour. A diseased eye does not see many things which do exist, and notes many things which do not exist. The same thing frequently takes place with regard to the force of words, when the critic is inferior to the writer. Saint Basil.  Temperance is a mean with regard to pleasures. Aristotle.  He who has felt his own ruin will not imagine the case of any to be hopeless; nor will he think them too fallen to be worthy his regard. Charles Spurgeon.  Mankind have their local attachments. They have a particular regard for the spot, in which they were born and nurtured. Thomas Clarkson.  We should not have a petty regard for God's gifts, though we may and should despise our own imperfections. Saint Ignatius.  The life which men praise and regard as successful is but one kind. Why should we exaggerate any one kind at the expense of the others? Henry David Thoreau.  

The last challenge upload for today is “my choice”, another of my series of faceless portraits. 

Article: This is another story about animals. This one can bring us smiles and a unique chance to swim with some of the best swimmers in the world. The title is “Swimming with otters. USDA-licensed encounters barn opens in the region”. There is a new experience here in Ohio. Now you can experience an up close visit with an otter. One not made to be “behind a glass barrier at a zoo, you can hop in the water with them right here in central Ohio”. There is a place in Bremen Ohio  called “Paws and Claws Animal Encounters”. They have opened a “barn equipped with a heated pool, where people can swim with Asian small-clawed otters”. As it happens there are 99 animals on the 21-acre property. The owner has a love for animals and says that once she met people who own animals and she knew they loved them to they “start to trust you and they started giving me animals.” In order to care for the animals’ she  “began offering encounters”. She has been in business with the Paws and Claws director, Lyle Hicks, for eight years and opened the first “encounter barn” two years ago. I learned that about half the animal they have on the property are rescues. Owners give pets they can no longer care for, seizures are turned over, and abandoned animals are “rescued” to the center. The six Asian “small-clawed otters are from two zoos in Florida and one in Louisiana who both had a surplus of otters and needed to give some away to a safe environment”. These guys, the otters, are from to 10 month old to 3 years. A few years ago as they were cleaning the pool that was being used then the pool was being cleaned the otters and the cleaners were having a good time, especially the otters. That sparked the idea for the indoor pool and eventually planning for a way to let other people discover the fun for themselves. When the pool was ready the plan was tested. They let the otters “take the lead” on how things would go. The priority was to be sure the idea wasn’t overwhelming for the well-being of the animals. They allowed six people at a time and only three sets a day on Saturdays and Sundays. There is a fee for the swim with the animals. Part of that fee is “donated to different wildlife organizations around the country”. The care of all the animals on the property is being handled by the owners and mentors. Some of the other animals include “raccoons, bear cats, porcupines, a lesser anteater, kinkajous, camels, a water buffalo, kangaroos, a baby wallaby, an eagle owl and more”. The article mentioned that for their animals that “don’t like people or get stressed by encounters are off the table for interactions”. There are other animals for “encounters” with visitors. Those creatures are “sloths, foxes, capybaras and painting with otters”. The visits to this Paws and Claws Animal Encounters is by appointment only. They are not ope to the general public. For more information, visit their website at pandcencounters.com.

I am thinking maybe taco salad for dinner. 

Joy

                             boarded up and forgotten