May 8, 2025 a thought for the day, Strive to be a person who is never absent from an important act. Native American Osage Proverb

The first upload for the 7th was “skyline”. This is my city. It looks a little crowded at least from this angle. But there is a lot of beauty in our city and this is an artful show of some of it. 

The next upload is “my choice” and another of my series of minuscules. This is a way of trying to keep the city clean. 

The last upload for yesterday was “something handmade”. This is one of the last crochet pieces I have made before taking a break for a while. This is a granny square made in to a pouch to hold a tiny activity book for kids.  

Life today. They are back working on the street in front of my house. When I left to go to the church to do the printing I wasn’t sure I was going to be able to get back in my driveway today. I made a “plan B” in my thinking. I would park on the other side of the corner three houses from my house for the time being. But that wasn’t necessary. They have laid one or two layers of fresh gravel. Hopefully they will get the black top down before the end of day.....but at this point in the day it doesn’t look like that will happen today. I have to get back out tomorrow to take Sweet Pea to her doctor for the monthly injection. Play it by ear. 

There was no one in the church while I was printing today. The computer was uncommonly stubborn. First it took thirty minutes to bring up the program I need to pull up my document. Then as I was part way through with the printer set-up it froze. I used every trick I had learned as an IT assistant to get it going in the right direction. That included shutting the computer off totally then back on. That did it....slowly, but successfully. While I was waiting for the computer to open the document I went to the camera in the sanctuary to reload the memory card getting that out of the way of later chore.

My first upload for today is “35mm/70mm”. I didn’t know quite what would show this type of challenge. I checked description of each and tried to show it here. (70mm film provides a superior visual experience compared to 35mm due to its larger size, higher resolution). This is one of my great grandsons on our visit to the art gallery. He was experiencing and enjoying the art of making a design from his own imagination with these pieces of wood. 

I shot a couple of my photos on the way home. Once at home I put together the images I wanted to upload. I ended up using from the archives, I will use one or two from today in tomorrow’s upload. After that I started the laundry. 

I was drawn to watching the TV as the new Pope was announced. There was the tradition of white smoke about an hour after I turned the TV back on when I got home. I hope he has the mercy and quiet awesome touch similar to that of Pope Francis, as was in my opinion, found in the first disciples of Jesus. I was surprised, but not unexpected, as many seemed to be that he is from the United States. 

I am counting on Tami coming to help me with my most current effort to have some sort of a garden albeit tiny. I will be tending to a window box garden as opposed to one out in the yard. I can no long work in the yard in planting and weeding. Tami is a big help. She has been helping me, and Sue, with things we can’t do anymore. She and Andy put up my two walls of photos. Then “fixed” the cupboard so that things are more accessible for both Sue and me. Now she will be helping me with my “garden”. I have two awesome “kids”, I must have done something right (I know I did, the proof is in the pudding). I had three awesome ones, one was(is) an angel unaware. 

The next upload for today is “fresh”. I could have used some sort of “fresh” food product or maybe a just an opening flower bud. I chose to use this freshly blooming flowers instead. 

The word is add. We can easily manage if we will only take, each day, the burden appointed to it. But the load will be too heavy for us if we carry yesterday's burden over again today, and then add the burden of the morrow before we are required to bear it. John Newton. I add this, that rational ability without education has oftener raised man to glory and virtue, than education without natural ability. Marcus Tullius Cicero.  These are fountains of salvation that they who thirst may be satisfied with the living words they contain. In these alone is proclaimed the doctrine of godliness. Let no man add to these, neither let him take out from these. Athanasius.  If you add a little to a little, and then do it again, soon that little shall be much. Hesiod.  Cunning leads to knavery. It is but a step from one to the other, and that very slippery. Only lying makes the difference; add that to cunning, and it is knavery. Ovid. The secret of happiness is to count your blessings while others are adding up their troubles. William Penn.  Be always displeased with what you are if you wish to be what you are not. Always add, always walk, always proceed. Neither stand still nor go back nor deviate. Saint Augustine.  To be learned, add something each day. To be enlightened drop something each day. Laozi.  If I cannot add to my own low level of understanding, I could ill afford to try to raise that of others, seeing that it belongs to our Creator and Lord to give much or little. Saint Ignatius.  And all who told it added something new, and all who heard it, made enlargements too. Alexander Pope.  Logic is the technique by which we add conviction to truth. Jean de la Bruyere.  It is the dim haze of mystery that adds enchantment to pursuit. Antoine Rivarol.  Only a very few can be learned, but all can be Christian, all can be devout, and – I shall boldly add – all can be theologians. Desiderius Erasmus. Say whatever your memory suggests is true; but add nothing and exaggerate nothing. Charlotte Bronte.  

The last upload for today is “my choice”. It is one of my series of “shadows” images. This one is of my shadow “resting” on my front porch swing. 

Article: I have a, maybe not so favorable to some, habit of not killing bugs, insects and such. It does become “necessary” some of the time but still distasteful to me. I just like for them to have their space and I have mine. They are creatures of God and His purpose.  The title to the article is “Humans are killing helpful insects in hundreds of ways − simple steps can reduce the harm”. It starts by pointing out that “Insects are all around us – an ant on the sidewalk, a bee buzzing by, a butterfly floating on the breeze – and they shape the world we experience”. Then going on with their beneficial points of pollination, decomposing habits that are links to our food chains. The problem lies in how humans “are reducing their populations in many parts of the world”. One example is the loss of butterflies in the past two decades. The “decline” of insects come from a “few major sources: intensive agriculture, climate change, pollution, invasive species and habitat loss”. One of the studies on this problem dealt with butterflies and the down word pace in their “population”. One of the points was how mouths dan be threatened by invasive plants as well as “effects of pollution – light, air and noise pollution are common in urban areas”. When talking about mouths the article says that “light pollution” is of special concern. When they spend time around lights they use energy then don’t have energy enough for pollination. Their pollination controls plant growth. As they grow in the caterpillar stage the “control plant growth” by eating leaves, I suppose a form of pruning. Another purpose of their lives is to become food for birds and bats, which also have rolls in the ecosystems. As most of us know agriculture also contributes to “inset decline”. This one connects more to bees due to “chemical pollution – especially insecticides, fungicides, herbicides and fertilizers”. I learned that “insecticides are designed to disrupt insect physiology and can directly harm bees, while herbicides indirectly disrupt bees by removing plants that provide food”. Another thing I didn’t realize that honeybees brought in from Europe can spread diseases and parasites into native bee populations”. Polluted water is another problem for insects. Dragon flies are aquatic and are affected as “juveniles”. The dragon flies are also affected as water levels go down. According to the article reducing pollution and controlling “invasive species” can help but it won’t help if  “there is no habitat for insects to return to”. I also leaned that there are more “insect species on Earth than species in any other plant or animal group”. The attention to pollinators is important and so is attention to water resources “such as wetlands, lakes and streams”. The article goes on to say we shouldn’t forget underground insects such as beetles. They are essential to decomposing plant material. Some ways to help in sustaining most insects are to plant pollinator gardens and native plants and places for the insects to “nest” like leaf piles. 

Dinner from the freezer tonight. 

Joy

                    a place to be alone and think