June 29, 2025 a thought for today, Yellow gold has its price, learning is priceless. Chinese Proverb

 

An upload for yesterday was ”chaotic corner”. This is a little closet area where things end up that aren’t needed right away. 

The next upload was “blueberries”. I decided to make a blueberry cobbler. It
was going to be a pie but I ordered a smaller package of blueberries than I would have needed for that.

The last upload for yesterday was “leading line”. As I was sitting in the parking lot I spotter this “leading line” through the parked cars. 

Life today. Yesterday was a surprise. I got up expecting the normal Saturday of the curb side pickup and then just a slow paced weekend day. After a start on checking emails and news heading I got a start on the letter. I got a message from Tami asking if Sue and I were going to be home. She and Andy were going to come by and help us with a few things that are out of our kind of stamina and strength anymore. So they came. I picked up my groceries and got a donut and iced tea at McDonalds, instead of sandwich as usual, in order to get here before they came. You can’t get fish or hamburger before eleven on Saturday.

This was a week end when my community, Westgate, had the annual yard sales all up and down three or four blocks between Sullivant and Broad Streets. So getting out of the neighborhoods was slow and watchful being careful of cars and people in the streets. 

The first upload for today is “weekend moments”. This is part of how I spend my week end moments. 

Church today was on the quiet side, attendance was low. The message was meaningful. The comfort of “family” is always regenerating. As far as the temperatures we have been experiencing this week, the sanctuary was surprisingly, comfortable with fans and open windows. Speaking of temperature and reminder of last several days we were told that the alter candles had completely melted sometime during the week (not due to being lit). 

The rest of the day will be easy peasy and on the refreshing and rekindling side spiritually. I have some things already added to tomorrow’s todo list and I have some open time this afternoon but I am going to “feel” the day, Sunday.

The next upload today is “my mood in object form”. I think this fan shows either a relief from the heat, or just plain “cool”, as in a “cool” mood. 

The word for today is did.  A leader is best when people barely know he exists, when his work is done, his aim fulfilled, they will say: we did it ourselves. Lao Tzu.  Nobody made a greater mistake than he who did nothing because he could do only a little. Edmund Burke.  Every man is guilty of all the good he did not do. Voltaire.  Nature never did betray the heart that loved her. William Wordsworth.  I could not tread these perilous paths in safety, if I did not keep a saving sense of humor. Horatio Nelson.  When we assumed the Soldier, we did not lay aside the Citizen. George Washington.  Learning and innovation go hand in hand. The arrogance of success is to think that what you did yesterday will be sufficient for tomorrow. William Pollard.  It takes less time to do a thing right, than it does to explain why you did it wrong. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.  Money never stays with me. It would burn me if it did. I throw it out of my hands as soon as possible, lest it should find its way into my heart. John Wesley.  Neither current events nor history show that the majority rule, or ever did rule. Jefferson Davis.  I have never known any distress that an hour's reading did not relieve. Montesquieu.  For the execution of the voyage to the Indies, I did not make use of intelligence, mathematics or maps. Christopher Columbus. Every man casts a shadow; not his body only, but his imperfectly mingled spirit. This is his grief. Let him turn which way he will, it falls opposite to the sun; short at noon, long at eve. Did you never see it ? Henry David Thoreau. Sell a country?! Why not sell the air, the great sea, as well as the earth? Did not the Great Spirit make them all for the use of his children? Tecumseh.  When the best leader's work is done the people say, 'We did it ourselves.' Lao Tzu.  

The last upload for today is “action”. I chose to use street traffic as a sample of action. 

Article: This title brought to mind some memories of my youth. It is part of an area we use to visit on short vacations and camping trips. Here is a little history of the area. The article title is “Step Back In Time On This Charming Ohio Island With Glacial Grooves & Petroglyphs”. It is talking about Kelleys Island “Tucked away in Lake Erie, this small island feels like a step back in time”. Kelleys Island is often called Lake Erie’s Emerald Isle. Back in history, over a thousand years before there were European settlers, it was a sacred site for indigenous people. Being that kind of area there are archaeological finds left by the Native Americans. From there exploring the island will bring to light the history grew from there. “Your adventure” starts with a ferry ride and views along Lake Erie from Marblehead or Sandusky.  You can explore the island three ways, golf cart, bicycle or walking. Here is a list of some of the things you may want to see: the Glacial Grooves State Memorial. This is an area of geological formations caused by grooves in the limestone walls that are records of glacial movements through history. There is a state park on Kelleys Island for explorations and relaxing where you can hike, swim or bird watch. There is a sculpture garden where the sculptures “blend seamlessly with the natural surroundings”. Along with other sights there is the Quarry Rim Trail that is a trail around the limestone quarry with stops that “illustrate the island’s quarrying days”. Then there are the rock petroglyphs. They are “ancient artworks etched into limestone by Native American tribes, providing an incredible connection to the island’s earliest inhabitants”. Once you have made the rounds of all theses sights and a couple of others. For a stay on the island there comfortable accommodations as motels besides the island campground. All in all it is a great place to visit. 

I think it will be left over pizza for dinner.

Joy 

                    relief in the shade

 June 27, 2025 a thought for today, Soft grass follows the wind. Chinese Proverb

One of the uploads for yesterday was “unread books that deserve better”. I have several old books that could be read again. There were the easiest to get to. 

The next upload is “sandwich”. This is my “morning” stop at McDonalds,
sausage and egg on a biscuit. 

The last upload for yesterday was another of “my choice” and another in my series of “manhole covers”. 

Life today. Yesterday I went to the church earlier than I normally do to get the printing of both the bulletin and the newsletter done before the heat had risen to much. There is no air conditioning in the office. I opened the window and tuned on the small room fan that was there. It was “tolerable”. So I got all of the printing and folding done in about two hours, more than just the bulletin printing time. By the time I had taken the bulletins around and distributed and the newsletter placed on the bulletin board in the lower level the temperature was rising noticeability. I was about done when some of one of the groups came in and turned on the commercial fan in the basement, wow did it ever feel good. I was about finished and would be leaving in fifteen or twenty minutes. The heat is why I decided to call Dorothy about tomorrow and the newsletter so we could both decide on how we wanted to do things. 

Fridays after my “busiest” week of the month is the most “relaxed” day of the week. I had decided that with the heat we are experiencing right now it would not be good for the two of us, since we are “up in years” to spend more than an hour working on putting the finish touches on the newsletter. After I talked to Dorothy I brought all the paraphernalia home to finish it here myself in the air conditioning. That is how I spend a couple of hours this morning finishing it. Then Sweet Pea and I took it to a mail box. 

While I was out I got a couple of my photo “assignments” for the day. Back at home I got back to his letter, I had started it with the research earlier. I plan to stay in the rest of the day. 

I got some light house work done yesterday when I got home from church so that makes things easier today. That way it left most things on my todo list checked off for today.

The first upload for today is “window”. I like to look for “unique” windows. They are not really easy to find. 

The word for today is determined.  Your net worth to the world is usually determined by what remains after your bad habits are subtracted from your good ones. Benjamin Franklin.  I am determined never to stop until I had come to the end and achieved my purpose. David Livingstone.  There is no private life which has not been determined by a wider public life. George Eliot.  If all printers were determined not to print anything till they were sure it would offend nobody, there would be very little printed. Benjamin Franklin.  Excellence, then, is a state concerned with choice, lying in a mean, relative to us, this being determined by reason and in the way in which the man of practical wisdom would determine it. Aristotle.  If the Union is once severed, the line of separation will grow wider and wider, and the controversies which are now debated and settled in the halls of legislation will then be tried in fields of battle and determined by the sword. Andrew Jackson.  I am most thankful to Almighty Providence for mercies received, and determined still to press the case into public notice as a token of gratitude. William Banting.  There is no such thing as a little country. The greatness of a people is no more determined by their numbers than the greatness of a man is by his height. Victor Hugo.

The next upload is “who put that there?”. This is one of Sweet Pea’s two angry bird toys. She seems to slide them across the floor until they “disappear” under the counters. 

Article: The zoo is always interesting for many reasons. I am concerned about how the animals are able to survive in their conditions in captivity and in this heat. This article explains some of the steps they are taking to keep the animals as comfortable as they can. This article starts with one of the zoo workers dropping a ball in water for a game of rugby, not for humans, for manatees. The “competition on June 26 among Stubby, Sabal, Cobble and Clawford”, the manatee residents at the zoo, went on as they “extended their heads to bite the giant block of ice”. As the participants of this rugby match played they received treats of  “potatoes, avocados, zucchini, sweet potato, cucumbers and watermelon.....ice treat made from (the) produce frozen in a 50-ounce bowl”. These particular treats were made to “cater to animals’ nutritional needs” while adding a cooling affect. Another way that the zoo provides relief in the heat is with shade, ice baths, builds fans and ensures that plenty of water is available. The type of relief that the zoo provides for the animals depends on the “species and their differing needs” in seeking to aid in what ever type of cooling along with “support while imitating their native habitat”. The article mentions that the care that the zookeeper offer the animals leads to personal relationships being formed. The care the animals receive is hopefully related to their living environment that “closely resembles their natural habitat” in the wild. In the manatee example “there are chillers in the pool maintained at about 80 degrees, water misters for the birds, ice treats, an adjustable open roof, and lettuce for hydration”. In the daily operation of the zoo the a caretakers “observe animals to better understand their needs and adjust accordingly”. During the year “we film the habitat for several days, and we can see when the sun moves and how it impacts the shade”. It helps the find the shade points. Polar bear has a pool with a “chiller” that maintains the temperature at “55 to 60 degrees, matching the frigidness of Arctic regions”. Their habitant is air conditioned as well as fitted with mist sprayers and additional shading. The alligators, though they like heat they can cool down in the pool. The seals, they say, are use to “living under hot southern California weather conditions, which prepares them for the hot weather in Ohio”. For animals that need it they “are protected from the heat through options of ice buckets and tons of ice in a dry area for them to lie around”. The zoo also protects their workers by suggesting they check on one another frequently, take brakes, stay hydrated and “make use of available cool spaces”. Certain areas of the zoo are closed in case of possible exposures to the immense heat. 

The last photo for today is "my choice" and another of my "manhole cover" series. This one is kind of scary. 

It’s DoorDash or GrubHub for dinner. 

Joy

                                                  

                                                                  uptown/downtown

 June 25, 2025 a thought for today, If your books are unread, your descendants will be ignorant. Chinese  Proverb

One of the first uploads for yesterday’s challenge was titled “the weirdest thing in my house”. I don’t know of any real “weird” things in my house so this was a stretch for me to fulfil this assignment. When I saw Sweet Pea in this position I had to make the shot. It’s not “weird” weird, but kind of funny weird. It was like she was daring her angry bird toy to play with her own and most current empty toilet paper roll/toy. 

The second upload yesterday was “sunglasses”. This is my favorite pair. They
fit over and around  to hide prescription glasses as they do their job of cutting down on bright sun glow. 

The last photo for yesterday was another of “my choice”. This is one of my “manhole cover” images. 

Life today. I am beginning to see the end of the week coming. That means that I am done with the bulletin and the newsletter. Now to get through the heat in the office tomorrow while printing. I was feeling pretty good about all I was able to accomplish in just a couple of hours early this morning. 

Brian came to do the lawn early enough that it didn’t run into the time I needed to get ready to go to food pantry. 

The first upload for today is “turquoise”. While I was at food pantry and
before we started I was looking around for something traces. I had three suggestions from some of my friends. One said take a shot of my shoes. This had the most turquoise in them of all the other I shot so here they are. I have asked my friends so many times to share suggestions for my photo assignments that they seem ever ready for me. 

I thought things moved a little slowly at pantry. We had more than I expected by the final count with the temperatures still in the nineties. So our pantry days are over for this month. I get a lot from helping out with this program. I meet people who have interesting thing to tell. Bonding with the other volunteers feels good not to mention that we are helping the community and the church. 

I was able to get the one photo shot I needed while I was at pantry. I took the other one yesterday for today. I found one of my great grandchildren’s art work for the third. So when I got home from pantry I was able to get to Photoshop for the cleaning up, key wording (for later searches), and placing copies of the photos in the calendar portfolio. I had a good start on the letter before I left this morning.

My next upload assignment was tiled “a masterpiece”. Here is another one that I had to search for. I had a couple of old “sketches” my great grand children had made. Then I caught sight of this one sitting on my book case and that I had kept in tact. A clay “sculpture” my great grand daughter had made. As you can see “art” is inherited (smile). 

The word today is destroy.  Do I not destroy my enemies when I make them my friends? Abraham Lincoln.  Destroy the seed of evil, or it will grow up to your ruin. Aesop.  The quality of decision is like the well-timed swoop of a falcon which enables it to strike and destroy its victim. Sun Tzu.  America does not go abroad in search of monsters to destroy. John Quincy Adams.  He who binds to himself a joy Does the winged life destroy; But he who kisses the joy as it flies Lives in eternity's sun rise. William Blake.  When God desires to destroy a thing, he entrusts its destruction to the thing itself. Every bad institution of this world ends by suicide. Victor Hugo.  One leak will sink a ship: and one sin will destroy a sinner. John Bunyan.  Put a bridle on thy tongue; set a guard before thy lips, lest the words of thine own mouth destroy thy peace... on much speaking cometh repentance, but in silence is safety. William Drummond.  Liberty and equality are captivating sounds, but they often captivate to destroy. John Tyler.  It is better to destroy one's own errors than those of others. Democritus.  The mountains, the forest, and the sea, render men savage; they develop the fierce, but yet do not destroy the human. Victor Hugo.  Our defense is in the preservation of the spirit which prizes liberty as a heritage of all men, in all lands, everywhere Destroy this spirit and you have planted the seeds of despotism around your own doors. Abraham Lincoln.  

The last upload for today is yet another of “my choice” and yet another of my “manhole covers”. 

Article: I thought this article may shed some light on how to find places in areas close to us to find comfort, “happiness” and relaxation. The title is “Philly psychology students map out local landmarks and hidden destinations where they feel happiest”. The article says there is a “Happiness Lab at Drexel University” that offers a course in “happiness”.  It goes on to explain that it is a “think tank” that looks for “ingredients” that lead to people being happier. The professor of the course first mentions that we should spend more time outside. The article relates that research on the happiest countries in the word and for those who “live longest” are known as Blue Zones. It explains that people feel “part of something larger than themselves, such as a community or a city”. A Swiss psychoanalyst studied the relationship between “our internal world and our external environment”. There have been more recent studies along the same lines which “revealed a vast, intricate and complex neurological architecture underlying our psychological perception of a place”. Happy places feel safe. One of the 20 safest places in he world is Croatia, the US is number 128th. Along with the “outside” being a good place to start the article mentions that the”availability of good food and drink can also be a significant factor in creating a happy place.” Another factor is a sense of belonging. In this professor’s class he had the students make a map of their “happy” places. They chose parks that were easily accessible and offered pleasing sights as their surroundings. Many of the parks picked for their “happy maps” offered places to rest, or work quietly or read a book. Another place that many of the students picked was the local zoo. Another place that the article said the students picked was the museum of art. One student said a visit the library was like “coming home”. A roof top garden was another of the many suggestions, yet another was a pet park.  Still more was a stop at a bakery and café. Each of these places suggests places to “pause, reset, relax and feel more connected and in touch”. 

I am going to scrounge in the freezer to see what I have saved for a dinner. 

Joy

                                      peace

 June 23, 2025 a thought for today, If you continually give you will continually have. Chinese Proverb

One of the uploads for yesterday was “pink or purple”. This is one of my favorite spring/summer blouses. I think there is a bit of each, pink and purple, in it.

The next upload was “j is for....”. I used J is for jello. So I made the banana cream pie as a pardner with the jello for this image. 

The last image upload for yesterday was “too many mugs”.  Well, this is my collection. I have an Ohio State “mug”, a mug from the Columbus Police Department, a mug from the US Navy (a lot of coffee went through this one) and one from the US Marine Corp. (not "too many" of this kind).

Life today. What a day. This is one of those days that time as seemed to run away with me. There had been a problem with me getting information for the bulletin but it showed up last night in my email. I was able to get the complete bulletin done and sent out for proof reading. I also was able to put some time in on the newsletter. If all goes as I hope I should be able to finish it tomorrow. It turns out Sweet Pea is out of her homemade menu meals for the week so I had to put time in on that working on that project too. 

I  was perplexed with some of the photo work that was on my agenda for today so I had to deep search my archives for one of them. Then there was the other two. I had to spend some time with setting up for those. 

The first challenge upload for today is “upside down”. I think it is the only thing upside down in the house right now, at least the most visible. 

To add to the list this is the day my hydroponic garden needs water exchanges and all other gardens need watered too (table top and “senior” window boxes).

I’m glad I didn’t need to go out today the temperature is in the nineties with a heat index of over 100. I do have food pantry this week but I have a car with air conditioning. Some of the folks who come to pantry walk to get to us. I hope they will be careful and safe. 

I missed a call last night that I was counting on. I guess I am too set in my ways and count too much on arbitrary expectations. I think I am too old to change.

The next upload today is “my choice”. This one is the first in my series of “manhole covers”. This one was taken a while back and at a time I could stop in the middle of the street to make the shot. 

The word today is deserve. They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety. Benjamin Franklin.  There are three things in the world that deserve no mercy, hypocrisy, fraud, and tyranny. Frederick William Robertson.  In doing what we ought we deserve no praise, because it is our duty. Saint Augustine.  Those who deny freedom to others deserve it not for themselves; and under the rule of a just God, cannot long retain it. Abraham Lincoln.  There is nothing which can better deserve your patronage, than the promotion of science and literature. Knowledge is in every country the surest basis of public happiness. George Washington.  Men lose all the material things they leave behind them in this world, but they carry with them the reward of their charity and the alms they give. For these, they will receive from the Lord the reward and recompense they deserve. Francis of Assisi. May it please Christ our Lord to grant us true humility and abnegation of will and judgment, so that we may deserve to begin to be His disciples. Saint Ignatius.  A part of kindness consists in loving people more than they deserve. Joseph Joubert.  Next to the Word of God, music deserves the highest praise. Martin Luther. Virtue comes by nature, learning, and practice, and thanks to virtue, all of the aforesaid may deserve approval. Apollonius of Tyana.  Words, which are the dress of thoughts, deserve surely more care than clothes, which are only the dress of the person. Philip Stanhope, 4th Earl of Chesterfield.  To be perfectly happy it does not suffice to possess happiness, it is necessary to have deserved it. Victor Hugo. 

The last upload today is “a fridge magnet”. I don’t have any cute or fancy magnets itself but three plain ones that hold up cute and information. 

Article: I liked this article about an old engine house in Columbus. First of all my uncle was stationed there, Engine House #6, before it closed. Then he moved to 12 engine house. At the same time my father was stationed at 10 engine house, further west on Broad West Street. My husband was stationed at 17 engine house, still further west on West Broad Street. As you can see I am from a fire department family. Then there is my interest in historical architecture and their uniqueness and majesty in Columbus especially when they are in use and not torn down. Engine house no. 6 is located on West Broad Street in the Franklinton area of Columbus and is called the “East Franklinton Engine House”. The Romanesque Revival building has graced our city since 1892, what stories it could tell. The equipment and men made their last run from there in 1966. Later from 1975 to 2014 it was an electronics store. In 2016 it finally became a member of “National Register of Historic Places”. . Station #6 is only one of seven of its time still left in Columbus. It looks like an “old Roman building”, hence the Romanesque Revival. It is constructed of brick and limestone. Its neighbors use to be mostly people’s homes. In the 1950s the area became mostly businesses and factories.  Though the structure still looks like it had from the beginning, windows and doors have been “filled in”. The front doorways were constructed to accommodate the horse-drawn fire equipment used in the 1800s. According to the article the building is still in good shape even though windows and doors are boarded up. The 60 foot tall hose tower where hoses were kept in good shape is still in place. Of course when new there were stables for the horses and a loft to store their food. This firehouse experienced the “Great Flood of 1913" where the rising water reached the second story windows. It also experienced an earlier flood, 1897, where the water only filled the basement. In 1967 it was sold to a man who wanted to make it a Christian film office and museum but changed his mind and made it an electronics store. In 2014 the Columbus Metropolitan Housing Authority (CMHA) bought the building and had new homes built next to it. In 2016 a place called Heritage Ohio wanted to buy it and make it a shop or restaurant but changed their mind. Now the Ohio History Center is trying to make arrangements to take over the renewal. 

Maybe chili for dinner tonight or taco salad. 

Joy

                            heaven made.....manmade

 June 21, 2025 a thought for today, Gamblers know neither fathers nor sons. Chinese Proverb

The first upload for yesterday was “my choice”, another of my “trees” series. This was taken in a different season and stored in the archives. 

The next upload was “made of wood”. What better image for this one than a pile of palettes. 

The next upload is “what I should be doing”. That is finish loading the dish washer. 

The last upload for yesterday is another of the groups I belong to that have four photo a day images a month. This one is “minimalist”. I choice this one of a flower poking thorough a wooden privacy fence. 

Life today. Summer is here and it is bringing the heat this week. I think air conditioners will be running regularly for several days. The temperatures are predicted to be in the nineties all week, heat index over 100 at points. 

The Saturday curb side grocery pick up is done as well as put away. The trip to the store this morning called for the AC, this is first time for us in this car. It worked great.  

Sweet Pea’s failing health is hard to watch. However, it’s not a lot different from both mine and Sues. It is faster as dog lives are more delineated than we humans. She is having an increasingly hard time walking and standing for more than several minutes. I noticed last night there seems to be periods of confusion for her now and then too. It feels like I am in a period of saying good bye. I am bond to make her as comfortable as she can be and as I am able to make for her.  

The first upload for today is “a pet judging me”. Sweet Pea “judges” me every time I get a camera out. 

I can’t remember a period of any length of time in my life that I have been without a pet. At my age it is getting harder to take care of a dog. I have had a couple of cats in my life and have noticed that, in my opinion, they are somewhat easier to take care of than dogs. They seem to be a little more “self contained” at least for cats that are “indoor” rather than “outdoor” in living conditions. I need living things around me. They bring smiles, comfort, companionship, a “shoulder to cry on” all overriding the care they need. When I got Sweet Pea I already had my dachshund, Sugar, so they were company for each other. Since Sugar passed away a few years ago I have felt Sweet Pea needed another pet in the house. I put it off, now it may be to late or it may help her. Anyway, I am leaning that way. I am trying to make up my mind if it would help Sweet Pea or be to much for her. I am not thinking a kitten I am thinking an adult, not senior, cat. One who is already use to kitty litter and household surroundings. 

The next upload is “starry starry night”. I can’t seem to catch at really starry starry night in my location. I can usually see the moon and maybe one or two stars. 

The word today is deliberate.  Take time to deliberate; but when the time for action arrives, stop thinking and go in. Andrew Jackson.  Whilst we deliberate how to begin a thing, it grows too late to begin it. Quintilian.  Deliberate violence is more to be quenched than a fire. Heraclitus.  How many things there are concerning which we might well deliberate whether we had better know them. Henry David Thoreau.  It is my deliberate opinion that the one essential requisite of human welfare in all ways is scientific knowledge of human nature. Harriet Martineau.  Great effort is required to arrest decay and restore vigor. One must exercise proper deliberation, plan carefully before making a move, and be alert in guarding against relapse following a renaissance. Horace.  Life is not long, and too much of it must not pass in idle deliberation how it shall be spent. Samuel Johnson.  Take time for deliberation. Haste spoils everything. Statius.  Our spontaneous action is always the best. You cannot, with your best deliberation and heed, come so close to any question as your spontaneous glance shall bring you. Ralph Waldo Emerson.  I therefore beg leave to move that henceforth prayers imploring the assistance of Heaven, and its blessing on our deliberations, be held in this Assembly every morning. Benjamin Frankl.   The end of wisdom is consultation and deliberation. Demosthenes.  Add a sprinkling of folly to your long deliberations. Horace. 

The last upload for today is “national selfie day”. Well, this is my least favorite types of photo to take but here it is, me and my most common spot to be found. 

Article: Here is a swing from other kinds of “news”. Here is a touch about the history, to some of us a review, of our state. The title is: Significant Historical Events in Ohio”. I like the opening sentence, “Ohio is like a small version of the whole United States and has been important in the country’s history”. The article goes on to say it all started in 1787 with the Northwest Ordinance which set rules for new states joining the country. Ohio had a role in the War of 1812 that was important “military and political matters”. An early disaster in our state was the Great Dayton Flood in 1913. It helped to start new “technologies” to control floods. Ohio had a part in the equal rights movement. And of course, there is the Wright brothers in the world of flight. So a bit about those accomplishments one is about the War of 1812. Ohio was important due to its location like in the Battle of Lake Erie and the Siege of Fort Meigs. It ultimately led to the American win at Lake Erie that gave the control over the Great Lakes and cutting off supplies to the British forces.  The Great Dayton Flood of 1913. Led to one of the first big systems to control floods in the United States. During the time of the Civil Rights movement Ohio was involved and the Civil Rights Act of 1964 happened. Ohio had a “wide” effect in Civil Rights which also involved Jesse Owens as a pioneer in his movement. The Wright brothers changed the world in 1903 with the birth of aviation “by inventing the first airplane that could be controlled and powered by an engine”. They did most of the building of the air craft in Kitty Hawk, NC but it was in a “Dayton, Ohio workshop, which was also their bicycle shop, where they really prepared for this achievement”. So as the article related “Ohio has a deep history marked by key moments that have not only shaped the state but also had a big impact on the whole country”. 

I think meat loaf and baked potatoes for dinner. 

Joy 

                                            in the distance

 June 19, 2025 a thought for today, The friendship of officials is as thin as paper.  Chinese Proverb

One of the uploads for yesterday was “my choice and another of my “trees” series. This on is another from one of the lawns in my neighborhood. 

The next upload is “closed”. I had some “closed” signs in my archives. For today I wanted something with a little more in the image than just a closed sign. 

My last upload for yesterday was “smells weird”. This challenge made me think about what I could use to depict the “sense” of smell. Maybe use food with mold on it, or a babies diapers, or a gasoline can, this was my final choice. 

Life today. Thursday has rolled around again and the printing is done. The building was quiet until just before I was finishing. Some of the other groups were starting to come in. I did have some problems with the computer again today. I was able to get one page printed before it began acting up. I usually print one page for final checks before I print the total amount that I need. After that page printed I typed in the number of pages I needed to print. Then the printer went into the mode where it is “deciding” how to proceed, the little icon spins and spins. It didn’t stop spinning and didn’t allow any “escapes” so I elected the use the page that had printed and ran it through the copier itself, overriding a computer command. Luckily the first page printed ok in the first place. Oh, but the printing wasn’t the first bump in the road. The knob to the office door just didn’t respond to the key as normal, it seemed stuck. So I went in through the “back office” instead. No matter, with the “bumps”, it all got done. 

When I parked at the church for pantry yesterday there were two of those rentable electric scooters parked in the lot. Today when I got there one was gone and one was left???

I dropped off the mail, stopped for a sausage on biscuit and iced tea (and I sneaked in a cream filled donut) then on to find a couple of photos before I headed home. 

The first upload for today is “a plant that’s trying”. This is one of my new window box gardens. All the plants I chose of this basket are doing well. It took some time for them to get comfortably acclimated.

We have a huge tree in the neighborhood behind my house. The tree is in the yard catacorner to my house that use to belong to our grandfather. Anyway, when I went to the car this morning a “smallish”, not tiny, branch, as opposed to very large, from that tree was in our yard. The tree is probably as tall as a six story building. Now I am concerned about it’s stability. There were tremendous gusts in the wind last night accompanying a storm.

Once I was home and got a bit of a start on the letter and the photos I got the laundry started. I also managed to use a quick swipe of the Swiffer mob in the kitchen and powder room.  

The next upload today is “my choice” again, one of my series of “trees”. This image is of three separate trees close together in the park a couple of blocks from my house. 

The word today is dark.  O Holy Spirit, descend plentifully into my heart. Enlighten the dark corners of this neglected dwelling and scatter there Thy cheerful beams. Saint Augustine. The friend in my adversity I shall always cherish most. I can better trust those who helped to relieve the gloom of my dark hours than those who are so ready to enjoy with me the sunshine of my prosperity. Ulysses S. Grant.  Life is short and we have never too much time for gladdening the hearts of those who are travelling the dark journey with us. Oh be swift to love, make haste to be kind. Henri Frederic Amiel.  A dark cloud is no sign that the sun has lost his light; and dark black convictions are no arguments that God has laid aside His mercy. Charles Spurgeon.  There are dark shadows on the earth, but its lights are stronger in the contrast. Charles Dickens.  Every moment of light and dark is a miracle. Walt Whitman. What other dungeon is so dark as one's own heart! What jailer so inexorable as one's self! Nathaniel Hawthorne.  I am about to take my last voyage, a great leap in the dark. Thomas Hobbes.  We must walk consciously only part way toward our goal, and then leap in the dark to our success. Henry David Thoreau.  He that has light within his own clear breast May sit in the centre, and enjoy bright day: But he that hides a dark soul and foul thoughts Benighted walks under the mid-day sun; Himself his own dungeon. John Milton. 

The last upload for today is “kitchen”. This is a part of my kitchen. When I shot this I thought I should have taken one of the church kitchen while I was there this morning. I use some of the things around my house and may get a bit boring. 

Article: It always amazes me of what a computer could have done with things that needed “invented” for advances in life styles and human comforts years ago. This article suggests computers could have done that  toward inventing an easier way to move heavy objects from one place to another with ease, on wheels. Yet men’s minds did it anyway way back then. I just took longer and not so “refined” in the beginning. The title: “How was the wheel invented? Computer simulations reveal the unlikely birth of a world-changing technology nearly 6,000 years ago”. The story opened explaining how a copper miner in Europe in the year 3900 BCE hauled copper ore in “sweltering tunnels”. In he story the miner saw another worker using an “odd looking contraption” to move “the equivalent of three times his body weight on a single trip”. The article pointed out that the action of this “odd looking contraption” changed history. It is mentioned that no one knows who invented the wheel or when. There is a “hypothetical scenario” based on a 2015 theory that “miners in the Carpathian Mountains – in present-day Hungary – first invented the wheel nearly 6,000 years ago”. In time more than 150 “miniaturized wagons” were discovered by “archaeologists working in the region”. The body of the “contraptions” were made of clay and had engraved patterns in the clay. The miniature wagons were carbon dated which led to the knowledge at the time that these were the earliest know “wheeled transports”. It is believed that the wheels “evolved” from “simple wooden rollers”. I learned as I read on that the “transition from rollers to wheels requires two key innovations”. There has to be “semicircular sockets” on the cart or other item that needed “wheels” to keep the “rollers” in place. The next step would be for the “rollers” to become “wheel’s”. To understand how and why the rollers through time and experimentation became “wheels” the author and team used computer aided “engineering”. Computer algorithms were used “by modeling hundreds of potential roller shapes” and studying how they “performed” mechanically and structurally. The team believe that “similar evolutionary process” happened all those years ago by experimenting over and over again manually. As time passed and changes were made the rollers became narrower.

Maybe a chicken cutlet for dinner. 

Joy

                            cans and sprays

 June 17, 2025 a thought for today, Dogs show no aversion to poor families. Chinese Proverb

The first upload for yesterday was “butterfly”. I don’t have any photos of a butterfly, not even in my archives. So here is another of my humble attempts at origami in this folded paper butterfly. 

The next image is another of “my choice” and another of my series of trees. This one is in my backyard. 

The last upload for yesterday was “bad hair day”. This is me. This is before I have taken time to comb my hair. 

Life today. It has been a busy Tuesday. I have the bulletin done and sent to people who need to see ahead of time. It was a more involved format than is the norm for me so it took about double the time. That left little time to get started on my letter as I usually do when the bulletin is finished. 

I was able to speed things up and got the basic parts of the letter done, the parts that take some research (and time). That part of the letter is a learning time for me, an experience I look forward to and like to pass on.  

I left a little early to stop by the bank for money to pay for the lawn care this week. I tried three of their ATM stations and all said something like “we are having problems, we can not read the card at this time”. I didn’t have time to wait in line for a teller so I put it off until tomorrow. I wanted to get to the church for food pantry time. 

The first upload for today is “a snack I didn’t share”. Well that’s not quite right, I am sharing I with my sister. It is the cake I bought for her birthday. It is just the two of us sharing this cake. 

We started out rather slow at pantry today but by the time we were ready to close we had reached almost our limit for the day. We had three come in in the last five minutes before closing. Before that we had over half the total number in the first half hour. 

Sue has gone to visit with the twins again today. 

It is supposed get to the hottest temperatures of the season in the next few days. The air conditioner is on more and more often now. 

The next upload today is one more of the “my choice” and another of my series of trees. This on is in the neighborhood as I am on my way to church. 

The word today is cost.  Kind words do not cost much. Yet they accomplish much. Blaise Pascal.  The price of inaction is far greater than the cost of making a mistake. Meister Eckhart.  Posterity! You will never know how much it cost the present generation to preserve your freedom! I hope you will make a good use of it. John Adams.  It is hard to contend against one's heart's desire; for whatever it wishes to have it buys at the cost of soul. Heraclitus.  Good words are worth much, and cost little. George Herbert.  The achievements which society rewards are won at the cost of diminution of personality. Benjamin Jowett.  The fashion of the world is to avoid cost, and you encounter it. William Shakespeare.  Teach us to give and not to count the cost. Saint Ignatius.  For my part, whatever anguish of spirit it may cost, I am willing to know the whole truth; to know the worst and provide for it. Patrick Henry.  The cost of a thing is the amount of what I will call life which is required to be exchanged for it, immediately or in the long run. Henry David Thoreau.  Revenge by young men is considered gain, even at the cost of their own lives, but old men who stay at home in times of war, and mothers who have sons to lose, know better. Chief Seattle.  It is boorish to live ungraciously: the giving is the hardest part; what does it cost to add a smile? Jean de la Bruyere.  Experience teaches slowly, and at the cost of mistakes. James Anthony Froude. Nothing costs less nor is cheaper than compliments of civility. Miguel de Cervantes.  

The last upload for today is “street light”. I remembered last night as I was letting Sweet Pea out that I needed this image for today. So I came back inside for my camera to capture this image.  

Article: I have long known that the sense of smell is “uniquely” linked to memory so this article caught my attention.  The title is “Nostalgic foods and scents like fresh-cut grass and hamburgers grilling bring comfort, connection and well-being”. The article started out by mentioning that the smells of summer like grass, hamburgers on a grill remind her of summers when she was younger. The memories led to other summer memories like those that brought to mind hanging around a pool with friends on a Friday evening. Then more memories of friends and family around picnic tables. The author who is an associate professor of psychology said that “sensory stimuli” like smell, scents and sounds “have the power to mentally transport us back in time”. I learned in this article that “for centuries, nostalgia was considered unhealthy”.  Some time in the 1600s there was a Swiss medical student who did studies on this subject. He determined that one of his subjects who was not in their home land for a time experienced longing for their “mountain homelands” suffering “weeping and despondency”. The student “attributed it to a brain disease” and he named it nostalgia. There were other people who felt the same things lasting through the 18th and 19th centuries. Later in history it was determined that they were wrong in their “findings” and beliefs. They had assumed that “nostalgia was causing unpleasant symptoms”. Today that finding is reversed. Studies supported by scientific research now find that “nostalgia as a predominantly positive, albeit bittersweet, emotional experience that serves as a source of psychological well-being”. The stimuli prompting these feelings inspire “connection and belonging” furthering the feelings of “optimism and inspiration”, positive points in feelings, thinking and actions. In further studies as in 1922 there was gentleman who did a test about the strength of scents and foods. This experience was with a tea-soaked cake that gave him memories of his childhood home and an aunt he loved. Watermelons bring on memories of summer, pumpkin pies of Thanksgiving, memories of “valued relationships” and happenings. The author of this article conducted some tests of her own and found that “just from imagining and writing about the foods” brought on memories and the good feelings of nostalgia and well being. 

Dinner is mostly likely going to be something from the freezer. 

Joy

                             just relaxing