August 4, 2025 a thought for today, A withered flower and a faith lost never bloom to live again. Chinese Proverb

The first upload for yesterday was “moody using texture”. This is one of the bibles in a pew at my church. I liked the texture of the pages and the wooden holder. The mood is all of the handing this bible has had.

The next upload is “party”. I have many image of birthday parties and holiday gatherings. I had a hard time trying to decide witch to use. I finally decided on this festive cake we had for one of the birthday parties. 

The last upload for yesterday was “shapes in the cloud”. Like the snow flake and the rain drops there are no two ever alike, only one source for that magic. 

Life today. I have the bulletin done. Mike always gives me the information on Sundays. That makes it so easy to get finished on a Monday and out to be checked in plenty of time for printing on Thursday. Some of the people it is sent to can’t get time to check it for a couple of days. 

I need to clean out the sink and dishwasher and neaten in the living room. Then I have started a long to-do list for the next few days. I will pick and choose which ones to do as I go and as the mood strikes me. 

The first upload for today is “my choice” and another of my series of “still life”. It takes time to set this type of photo up. I need suggestions from things I see to decide what to use, how to use it and see if I have what I need on had to do it the way I want. 

I am spending a little more time on my photos as of late. The still life and the flat lay styles take time to set up. Some I have chosen to attempt need “props”, things I may need to get at the dollar store so that will take some shopping which I am not all that excited about. 

Sweet Pea is getting one of her grooming. She is in sore need of it especially her feet hairs and nails. Rebecca began this plan for Sweet Pea a few years ago and has taken her for the grooming ever since then. 

The second upload for today is “remember”. This is a “remember” for me. For one thing it is a restriction lily, that is a happy memory, the name and meaning. Also many years ago my husbands grandmother gave this plant to me. I remember her every time it blooms. 

The word today is expressed.  When a thought is too weak to be expressed simply, it should be rejected. Luc de Clapiers.  It is just that we should be grateful, not only to those with whose views we may agree, but also to those who have expressed more superficial views; for these also contributed something, by developing before us the powers of thought. Aristotle.  Nevertheless the passions, whether violent or not, should never be so expressed as to reach the point of causing disgust; and music, even in situations of the greatest horror, should never be painful to the ear but should flatter and charm it, and thereby always remain music. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.  Nobody, I think, ought to read poetry, or look at pictures or statues, who cannot find a great deal more in them than the poet or artist has actually expressed. Their highest merit is suggestiveness. Nathaniel Hawthorne.  I am sorry to think that you do not get a man's most effective criticism until you provoke him. Severe truth is expressed with some bitterness. Henry David Thoreau.  In earlier religions the spirit of the time was expressed through the individual and confirmed by miracles. In modern religions the spirit is expressed through the many and confirmed by reason. Heinrich Heine.  A moral lesson is better expressed in short sayings than in long discourse. Johann Georg Zimmermann.  There is an idea abroad among moral people that they should make their neighbors good. One person I have to make good: Myself. But my duty to my neighbor is much more nearly expressed by saying that I have to make him happy if I may. Robert Louis Stevenson. 

The last upload for today is “in my hand”. I shot some image of other apple phone in my hand and this one of a chocolate chip cookie. This one won the honor for today. 

Article: I’m for anything that preserves wildlife and nature still keeping and using what is already on hand and may have been provided in the very beginning of time to do just that since we are stewards of the earth and all that is. The title to this article is: “National parks are key conservation areas for wildlife and natural resources”. When national parks were created there was a law formed that stated “the parks – must “conserve the scenery and the natural and historic objects and the wildlife … unimpaired for the enjoyment of future generations”. But many people feel that parks should be for recreation when in fact they “are extremely important places for research and conservation efforts”.  National parks can include volcanoes, glaciers, sand dunes, marshlands, ocean ecosystems, forests and deserts”. The parks experience the climate changes as people do. They also endure crowds of people and their possible aftereffects. With all the daily living nature and humans exert the parks continue to be laboratories of sorts. The article goes on to mention in one of the conservation researches it studied the “eradication” of certain species of wildlife, one being the gray wolves in Yellowstone National Park. The animals use to roam the forests and mountains. However, “government-sanctioned eradication efforts to protect livestock in the late 1800s and early 1900s hunted them to near extinction in the lower 48 states by the mid-20th century”. In 1974 it was determined that the gray wolves needed the protection of the Endangered Species Act. In the 1900s there was a plan to “reintroduce gray wolves to Yellowstone National Park”. Forty-one wolves from Caranda were moved to a new home in Yellowstone.  In 2024 there were 108. It has been reported that the return of the wolves has increased people visiting the park to observe “these beautiful and powerful predators”. On the other hand the increase in wolves has affected the number of elks in the park. This happening has “allowed willow and aspen trees to survive to maturity and restore dense groves of vegetation across the park”. All of this has “increased vegetation” helping too lead to a beaver population and ecosystem changes that their lives provide. Due to the increase in trees there is more shade and shelter for birds allowing them to be close to water and food. The article moved on to the Great Smoky Mountains. In early history of that park there were 19,000 species documented with more believed to be at about 80,000 to 100,000. In the late 1800s and early 20th century it was “nearly completely clear-cut.....during the early era of the logging industry in the region”. Due to the decrease in vegetation and hunting activities black bears were “nearly eradicated”.  By 1934 there were reported to be estimated at 100 bears in the Smoky Mountains. So there was a protection plan begun and the population grew to 1,900 bears by 2025. Next the article moved to the Everglades where drinking water was provided and irrigation helped control storm flooding. It is also home of panthers and alligators. This park was created in 1947. It was the first time a national park was “established to protect a natural resource for more than just its scenic value”. As time went by agriculture and “urban development” polluted the natural resources. There are efforts now to improve and restore habitat for “wildlife and the water quality for humans. In closing the article states that there needs to be a way to “foster deep connections with natural spaces and encourage younger generations to take up the mantle of stewardship of the parks and the environment as a whole”. 

I am having chicken Marsala for dinner. Have you ever been reading a book, mystery or thriller or other wise, and at some point someone in the story was cooking a food that made you salivate? I am reading a James Patterson book and that happened to me last night. So tonight we will have chicken Marsala. (See, live and learn, you can learn something new from almost any adventure even unrelated to what you started out to do, like read or cook). 

Joy 

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