December 3, 2024 a thought for today, A good deed is the best prayer. Mexican Proverb

A challenge photo a day upload for yesterday was “money”. I did several shot of money. I picked this to add a little more character.

In my last blog I mentioned that two of my clubs were having the same photos a day on a few days of this month. This is one of them, “shoes”. This are my “dress” shoes. They are not worn often. 

The next upload for yesterday is the same challenge subject as the above photo, “shoes”. This one is of my day to day wear....tennis shoes. The one a little more “fancy” than most of my tennis shoes but just as comfortable. 

Life today. It doesn’t seem to be stopping....bad news about my car. If we can get it all under control, it will have lots of new parts. It seems it’s a big problem at this point and quite a surprise for me to digest. It was running perfectly at least seemed to be until I took it to the mechanic. It was truly only a “fender bender”. Something apparently “melted” ..... I would presume that meant heat of some kind and would think there would have been a warning light somewhere. In a slight fender bender???

It started out to be a happy and relaxed morning until I got the latest phone call about the car. I am still hopeful it will be “fixed”. So I moved on. I got the last of the bulletin finished and sent to the people who need it before Sunday. 

One of today’s uploads is “bracelet”. It is another of the two challenges with alike titles. This one was a gift from my husband. It has our wedding date engraved on it. 

I finished my fourth in a row “Reacher” book last night and went back to Michael Connelly for a while. I am also on my journey to complete at least the New Testament in the Message and still see faint light bulb moments that I have missed in readings of other versions. I am finding there are still smaller sections that I want to reread and reread until another light bulb moment. It is an improvement for me at least. I wonder if there would be more people in churches if they had a chance to read it, just saying.

The weather is still cold as predicted. No snow right now just bitter cold. I ordered a new heat blanket for the bed. I was concerned about the last one I bought. It was difficult to set properly and confusing about what was a “safe” way to use it. I am a “scaredy cat” about anything electric.  Until I got it, yesterday, I was using two afghan blankets along with other bedding which worked fine.

I am finding that two of my photo a day clubs are selecting the same photo a day assignments in several areas of this month. It makes things easier but I am trying to at least make the image to represent the challenge a different item. This is another interesting offering in this hobby. 

Here is the second upload for the challenge titled “bracelet”. This is a Pandora bracelet to me from Tami and Andy for Christmas a few years ago. 

The word today is pretend. Pretend inferiority and encourage his arrogance. Sun Tzu.  The greatest way to live with honor in this world is to be what we pretend to be. Socrates.  It is foolish to pretend that one is fully recovered from a disappointed passion. Such wounds always leave a scar. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.  We often pretend to fear what we really despise, and more often despise what we really fear. Charles Caleb Colton.  I don't pretend to understand the Universe - it's a great deal bigger than I am. Thomas Carlyle.  We are never so ridiculous through what we are as through what we pretend to be. Francois de La Rochefoucauld.  Sincerity is impossible, unless it pervade the whole being, and the pretence of it saps the very foundation of character. James Russell Lowell.  If we can but prevent the government from wasting the labours of the people, under the pretence of taking care of them, they must become happy. Thomas Jefferson.  

The last photo a day upload for today is “cheers”. This is one of the cooking wines I use now and then.

I use it to enhance some of my more “exotic” dishes.

Article: We all have our customs. Hopefully we can live in the world with each other. The title of this article is “Law vs. faith, Amish sect, Harvard Law challenge Ohio’s buggy light rule”. The article began by mentioning that there are 76,000 “Amish and Mennonite travelers, especially in Ashland, Wayne and Holmes counties” sharing the roads in Ohio. The horse-drawn buggies travel at less that 10 miles an hour with cars traveling on some of the same highways. One group of Amish people are “suing to overturn Ohio’s new traffic law that requires animal-drawn buggies to have yellow flashing lights, saying the law conflicts with the First Amendment protecting their religious expression”. They have sought out legal help from the Harvard University Law School. Apparently this new law, adapted in 2022, has resulted in more than 200 tickets to Amish buggy drivers. The law came about after 723 buggy crashes over a 10 year period. (That statement brought to mind how many auto accidents not including buggies in that same period of time). The group of Amish mentioned in this article are more “restrictive on what technologies can be used than progressive Amish”. They use “reflective tape and oil lanterns on their black buggies but eschew battery-powered lights”. Due to their religion they “avoid showy behavior”. According, due to the law mentioned in the article, they have to choose to follow the law or their faith. They can be fined, court costs even have their buggies confiscated or possible property liens. Before the law passed it was noted that “it could raise First Amendment issues”. In the defense of the Amish people it was noted that “most of the buggy crashes occur during daylight and in clear weather conditions”. Also noted in a study that was conducted crashes occurred due to distracted driving, poor sight lines, speed differentials”. 

I have some chili that I froze the last time I made a large pot. I think that will be dinner tonight. 

Joy                                           on a city street corner