January 22, 2025 a thought for today, Violence in a house is like a worm on vegetables. Hebrew Proverb 

The first upload for yesterday was “homemade”. This is one of the afghan that I crochet for the seasons of weather, this one is winter. 

Yesterday’s second upload was “birds in the winter”. This set of birds seemed
to be warming themselves on a light post. 

The last upload for the 21st was “empty”. When I was at one of the points of looking for my images I had an empty French fry bag that “fit the bill”. 

Life today, We are supposed to be on the upward direction to this most recent chill moving out. Last night was the worst so far, but we made it. I am learning all over again as I do over and over that life holds experiences we have never had before even from new ones as the years pass. This is one of them. I have lived during heavy snows even a blizzard, cold weather and hot hot days. But I think this particular “freeze” is one of the worst I have experienced. It may be that it seems harder because of my age or it may be just as bad as it feels at any age.  It’s one of those things that make us wiser and add to our advanced knowledge base.

One of the uploads for today is “white”. This is perfect weather for that sort of image. As I was coming home I saw some young kids making this snowman. I decided to use it as the photo. 

This is food pantry week. I have been concerned about the folks who visit with us on those days. A lot of them walk to get to and from us. These temperatures have to be very hard on them. We generally have around 36 guests in a session. Yesterday we had 27 and today we had 37. So they are still able to get to us. We don’t normally have animals in the pantry but one of the guests today had a dog that he couldn’t leave outside on a below zero day. The pup was so friendly and wanted to visit and play with everybody. Sweet Pea had a field day with the scents on my legs when I got home. 

I am going to be a few days late with the newsletter this month. It’s puts a little extra time working on it when I have food pantry days at the same time. 

I worked on the photo uploads when I got home from pantry, then finished my writing. 

The next upload for today is “winter sunset”. I knew yesterday that I was going to need this image so I checked when sunset would be here in Columbus. Then I set my alarm for five minutes before that last night to get this shot. 

The word today is rule. Hatred does not cease by hatred, but only by love; this is the eternal rule. Buddha.  As a rule, men worry more about what they can't see than about what they can. Julius Caesar. To rule is easy, to govern difficult. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe.  Circumstances rule men; men do not rule circumstances. Herodotus.  Great men are they who see that spiritual is stronger than any material force - that thoughts rule the world. Ralph Waldo Emerson.  The rule of friendship means there should be mutual sympathy between them, each supplying what the other lacks and trying to benefit the other, always using friendly and sincere words. Marcus Tullius Cicero.  I attribute the little I know to my not having been ashamed to ask for information, and to my rule of conversing with all descriptions of men on those topics that form their own peculiar professions and pursuits. John Locke. To despise no opportunity of usefulness is a leading rule with those who are wise to win souls. Charles Spurgeon.  Silence is the element in which great things fashion themselves together; that at length they may emerge, full-formed and majestic, into the delight of life, which they are thenceforth to rule. Thomas Carlyle.  As I approve of a youth that has something of the old man in him, so I am no less pleased with an old man that has something of the youth. He that follows this rule may be old in body, but can never be so in mind. Marcus Tullius Cicero.  Life is like music, it must be composed by ear, feeling and instinct, not by rule. Nevertheless one had better know the rules, for they sometimes guide in doubtful cases, though not often. Paracelsus.  The leading rule for the lawyer, as for the man of every calling, is diligence. Abraham Lincoln.  

The last upload for today is “grateful”. I have many thins to be grateful for but needed something I could use for an image. I used this one of my space heater which is a huge help with these sub-zero temps we are experiencing. 

Article: The blizzard in the 1970s in Columbus was a note in history, will this one be too? The title to the article is “After Four Decades, People Are Still Talking About The Blizzard of 1978". The writer was saying that she missed that blizzard due to being born after it. Her dad had said there is nothing to compare. So she began to wish for something as monumental and exciting. It was hard to measure the depth due to “hurricane-force winds sweeping through the area”. Drifts were up to 15 feet tall. So the storm was not only huge but dangerous. There were 6,000 people in Ohio trapped in their cars. She ended the story by saying that thought not a blizzard or heavy snow fall “After the frigid, weather we just got through........I’ve decided that I would rather hear 100 more stories about that storm than experience one myself.”

Maybe pizza from the freezer for dinner. 

Joy

                                       inside/outside