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