July 5, 2025 a thought for today, Ice three feet thick is not frozen in a day. Chinese Proverb

The first upload for yesterday was “neighborhood” . This is one view of mine. It is a nice clean and quiet neighborhood.

 

The next upload was “fireworks”. I didn’t go out to watch life fireworks this year so the photos I got are from the ones I watched on TV. 

The last photo for yesterday was “my choice”, another of my “sepia” series. This is another of my neighborhood also. 

Life today. Yesterday was a “stay-in” day. I didn’t leave the house except to go in the yard with Sweet Pea. It wasn’t really that hot as hot as it was a week ago or will be in the coming week. It just felt good not to go anywhere. I missed my fast food lunch but grilled cheese with mayo and sweet pickle relish tasted good for a change. 

The grocery pickup is done, even the put away is done. So the rest of the day is for catch up on things that have no “due date” but still call my name. Most of them are things I enjoy doing just for fun, experience and learning. And most of it is on the computer. 

The first upload for today is “simple”. I liked the shapes and patterns of this “simple” tree trunk. 

I found a couple of the photos I need while Sweet Pea and I were out and about. As I found those images for today I shot others that will go in the archives for later use and/or just to add to the digital photo album. 

The next upload is “your summer vibe”. This “summer vibe” is through the window showing one of y window “senior” gardens along with the every ready porch swing. 

The temperature has started on the upward direction again. It’s nice to have the air conditioner running. I am also grateful for the full size screen in the bedroom window. I won’t be using it as long as the AC is on. It will be nice when the autumn weather approaches and I can leave windows and doors open for fresh air. 

The next upload is “sand and surf”. I had to pull this on from my archives. I
am not near sand and surf much these days. 

The word today done. Well done is better than well said. Benjamin Franklin.  Great things are done by a series of small things brought together. Vincent Van Gogh.  Great things are done when men and mountains meet. William Blake. If an injury has to be done to a man it should be so severe that his vengeance need not be feared. Niccolo Machiavelli.  Never retreat. Never explain. Get it done and let them howl. Benjamin Jowett.  The reward of a thing well done is having done it. Ralph Waldo Emerson.  After all is said and done, more is said than done. Aesop.  Everything that is done in the world is done by hope. Martin Luther.  Better a little which is well done, than a great deal imperfectly. Plato.  It's a matter of taking the side of the weak against the strong, something the best people have always done. Harriet Beecher Stowe.  Determine never to be idle. No person will have occasion to complain of the want of time who never loses any. It is wonderful how much may be done if we are always doing. Thomas Jefferson.  What is right to be done cannot be done too soon. Jane Austen.  Repentance is not so much remorse for what we have done as the fear of the consequences. Francois de La Rochefoucauld. The work an unknown good man has done is like a vein of water flowing hidden underground, secretly making the ground green. Thomas Carlyle.

This is another of those days that I have four uploads for the day. This one is “salt and pepper”. There are not to many “artful” ways to show salt and pepper, at least I don’t know of any. 

Article: It’s eye opening to think that all life is connected and affected by each other. I’m sure there was a purpose in the beginning of time. The article title:  War, politics and religion shape wildlife evolution in cities. The article opens by saying that though evolution has always been considered something that occurs in nature others also contribute.Then goes on to say that for wildlife it is influenced by other things. Some are changes in local conditions, namely religion, politics and war which  shape urban evolution. For instance one example is as a religious practice in an Indian McDonalds no beef is served. And in the US fish is popular on Friday in Lent.  When it comes to the landscape as an effect on evolution in Spain a wall was constructed around religious buildings between the 12th and 16th centuries. That division led to a division in populations of fire salamanders inside and outside the walls. The article mentions how politics also affected evolution in wildlife as in 1958 when the “Chinese Communist Party led a movement to eliminate four species that were considered pests: rats, flies, mosquitoes and sparrows”.  Then the sparrows no longer scavenged  the farmers grains but it damaged the ecosystem since they were no longer around to hunt and eat insect. Highway systems also change the life of wildlife. One wartime example in the article is the Russia-Ukrainian was and how it affected the migration of the greater spotted eagle. In ending the article it mentions that researchers show that as the studies go on it is suggested that as “wildlife evolving in response to human history and cultural practices, there’s plenty more to uncover”. And that “understanding how these human cultural practices shape evolutionary patterns” will help in making adjustment that will allow people to better support both humans and the wildlife leading to better over all health of our ecosystems .

I have found two recipes I am going to try tonight for dinner, creamy Tuscan chicken and tortellini en brodo.

Joy

                                     Schiller Park