January 2, 2025a thought for today, Consider the past and you will know the future. Chinese Proverb

The first upload for yesterday was “resolution”. I don’t normally make new years resolutions. Things usually work things out on their own we don’t have to “overcome” them with “special” considerations. I do “resolve” to continue to keep up with my interests in photography and my hydroponic gardens. 

The next upload for yesterday was “best photo from 2024". I have several photos from 2024 that I like so I just lined them up and closed my eyes and picked one. I agree with Ansel Adams quote “Twelve significant photographs in any one year is a good crop”.  

The last photo upload for yesterday was “hi, it’s me”. Here’s another selfie, much as I disklike them. This is one taken where and how I spend most of my time. 

Life today. It has been a beautiful start to the new year so far. I spent part of the first day with two of my great grandsons. Lowell and Rebecca invited me to have brunch with the four of them. They were baby sitting with William and Ben. At first I wasn’t going to go. Sue didn’t want to go so I told them not this time. Then Lowell called me a few minutes later and said if I wanted they would pick me up to go to iHop with them. The boys wanted happy face pancakes. So I went. It was great to be a small group and more time with each other. I rarely get any kind of contact with William and Ben. I can’t establish a set up of virtual visits with them so this one on one was a special chance to spend time with them. 

Today I went to church to print the bulletin and download some streaming files. There was a Mid Ohio food delivery today also so there were friends there too.

The first upload for today is “negative space”. This is one of the water towers at the local city park  down the street from my house. The image also fits my series of “partials” that I will be doing for a few days. 

It felt good to be driving my car. I feel “put back together” somehow. It finally feels like mine and like the car saga is over.  It felt good to stop by the bank and then go by the park for todays photos without worrying about getting a scratch on a rental car. 

When I got home from church, Sue was gone. I imagine she had a chance to go spend some time with the twins. 

I got a couple household chores done and the laundry started. The rest of the day will be getting back to a “regular” schedule after holiday busy-ness. 

The next upload for today is “excitement”. That is kind of a hard one for me to wrap my thoughts around. As I was sitting in the car at the park I saw these ducks swimming together. They seemed to be having a happy time together “talking” and swimming. There must have been two dozen or so of them filling the pond. I think that is excitement, being happy and bond together. 

The word to day is remember.  The things hardest to bear are sweetest to remember. Lucius Annaeus Seneca.  We forget our pleasures, we remember our sufferings. Marcus Tullius Cicero.  He who would pass his declining years with honor and comfort, should, when young, consider that he may one day become old, and remember when he is old, that he has once been young. Joseph Addison.  To be wronged is nothing unless you continue to remember it. Confucius.  Remember the sufferings of Christ, the storms that were weathered... the crown that came from those sufferings which gave new radiance to the faith... All saints give testimony to the truth that without real effort, no one ever wins the crown. Thomas Becket.  Above all, remember that God looks for solid virtues in us, such as patience, humility, obedience, abnegation of your own will - that is, the good will to serve Him and our neighbor in Him. His providence allows us other devotions only insofar as He sees that they are useful to us. Saint Ignatius.  I hear and I forget. I see and I remember. I do and I understand. Confucius.  He who suffers, remembers. Marcus Tullius Cicero.  Remember that frost comes latest to those that bloom the highest. Louisa May Alcott.  It is difficult to remember all, and ungracious to omit any. Marcus Tullius Cicero.  The Bible in the memory is better than the Bible in the book case. Charles Spurgeon.  Each of us has a soul, but we forget to value it. We don't remember that we are creatures made in the image of God. We don't understand the great secrets hidden inside of us. Teresa of Avila.  Poor is the nation that has no heroes, but poorer still is the nation that having heroes, fails to remember and honor them. Marcus Tullius Cicero.  Remember that the sole life which a man can lose is that which he is living at the moment. Marcus Aurelius.  

The last challenge today is “something good”. I think it is a good thing and good feeling when someone is enjoying a walk with their best furry friend. The surroundings are quiet and peaceful, they seem quiet contented with each other. 

Article: I did a little bit of a story about bee hives on airline properties a while back. Here is an update on that project.  The colonies of bees at the Akron-Canton Airport are about to share their honey harvest.  In 2023 the airport added nine hives and more than six  million bees to a portion of their 2,700 acres. The airport has an environmental service that tends to the bees and the harvests. They are selling the honey at the Observation Deck Restaurant. They sold 20 jars in the first week. It is being sold under the name of 1946 Honeybee Company. Right now they have about 15 gallons of honey harvested. The company was formed by the airport. The proceeds from the honey goes back to one of the airports service operations. The name for the company comes from the year the airport was dedicated. It is hoped that this honey bee project will “'support the well-being of the community we serve.'” The article shares that several airports in the US are trying the project also. One of the US airport is the Ohio State University Airport.” Like the Akron-Canton airport the OSU airport sells honey at the Pilot Shop. “Wright Patterson Air Force Base near Dayton added beehives starting in 2015". The article ends with this statement “According to Smithsonian Magazine, airports make ideal locations for bee colonies because of their abundant, pesticide-free land.”

I didn’t have my sausage and kraut this year at the beginning of new years day. Instead I am having a “spam (pork)L(lettuce (green) for cabbage)T” for dinner this evening, a little late.

Joy