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