October 25, 2025 a thought for today, Act honestly, and answer boldly. Danish Proverb

Photo a day challenges for yesterday

The first challenge upload for yesterday was “shapes”. I remembered the challenge title as “shapes in nature” so I chose this one. Wild strawberries in a field of green. 

he second upload was “my choice”. It is one from my series of “black and
white”. Early spring vines and blooms. 

The last upload for yesterday was “abandoned”. This railroad track is one found not to far from my home. 

Life today. I had brought the newsletter home to finish getting it ready for mailing. I finished that early. Lowell picked me up to attend a funeral. He had grown up with some of the family members. Rebecca was there when we got there. The father of the family passed away this past week. I was happy to see Lowell glad to see his old friend Steve. The service was very nice and honoring of Roger. After Lowell dropped me off at home he mentioned that he would drop the newsletters off at the post office for me. The rest of the day was my starting to catch up on things that were put on the back burner this past week. 

I have the Saturday curbside groceries picked up and put away. Then I had time for some light house work before getting back to my daily computer activities. These have come into an adjustment period of sorts. Bobbi seems to want to be connected to what ever is going with a keyboard and mouse (not the live kind...the other kind). She is laying in front of my computer screen much of the time. She likes watching the motion of the curser and key stroke movements as well as the page movements when I am changing views. 

The light house work was running the irobot in my bedroom and loading the dishwasher. The frig needs cleared out too. The dish washer is full so I will finish the frig tomorrow. I am going to try to find time to do some light pruning on my window box gardens too. Then I think I will call it a day. 

The word for today is leisure. The end of labor is to gain leisure. Aristotle.  A life of leisure and a life of laziness are two things. There will be sleeping enough in the grave. Benjamin Franklin.  The finest workers in stone are not copper or steel tools, but the gentle touches of air and water working at their leisure with a liberal allowance of time. Henry David Thoreau.  No president who performs his duties faithfully and conscientiously can have any leisure. James K. Polk.  Leisure is the Mother of Philosophy. Thomas Hobbes.  In our leisure we reveal what kind of people we are. Ovid.  He hath no leisure who useth it not. George Herbert. There are moments when all anxiety and stated toil are becalmed in the infinite leisure and repose of nature. Henry David Thoreau.  Leisure is the time for doing something useful. This leisure the diligent person will obtain the lazy one never. Benjamin Franklin. He enjoys true leisure who has time to improve his soul's estate. Henry David Thoreau.  Leisure with dignity. Marcus Tullius Cicero.  I would not exchange my leisure hours for all the wealth in the world. Honore Gabriel Riqueti, comte de Mirabeau.  But men must know, that in this theatre of man's life it is reserved only for God and angels to be lookers on. Francis Bacon. There can be no high civilization where there is not ample leisure. Henry Ward Beecher.  Take away leisure and Cupid's bow is broken. Ovid.  Spend your leisure time in cultivating an ear attentive to discourse, for in this way you will find that you learn with ease what others have found out with difficulty. Isocrates.  

Article: This is the season for such an article. It peeked my interest in a history of pumpkins. The title is “Pumpkins’ journey from ancient food staple to spicy fall obsession spans thousands of years”.  The article mentions that pumpkins are not all orange as many of us recognize them . They can be found in the colors of  red, yellow, white, blue and even green. They are grow to all sizes and shapes. I like that they mention where the name pumpkin comes from, Greek for, “peopon....large melon.” The article goes on to say that pumpkins are a fruit because they have seeds. In history pumpkins came originally from Central and South America. They moved through North America as Native Americans brought seed with them to other parts of America. Another bit of history in the article is that the oldest pumpkin seeds were discovered in Mexico about 9,000 year ago. I also learned that they were grown as a crop before corn and beans. The three, beans, corn and pumpkins, helped each other in their growth. Corn was planed in the spring, as they became a few inches tall beans were planted.  It interested me that the bean vines grew around the corn forming a “natural trellis”. There is also a chemical action were beans use nitrogen to convert bacteria into a form that other plants can use as fertilizer. When the beans start growing it becomes time to plant squash some in the form of pumpkins. Once their leaves cover the ground it provides shading and keeps the soil moist not to mention keeping the weed growth down. Another thing I learned that every part of the pumpkin plant is edible. Even the outer shells were used by Native Americans to cut them in strips and make mats with them. Apparently they are easier to grow here than they were in England or France in the 1600s. American settles learned from the Native Americans how to use pumpkins as food. Pumpkin “pies” made by the early settles were hollowed out pumpkins filled with milk, honey and other spices. They were cooked over open fires or “hot ashes”. The early pumpkin pies as we know them started in 1796 where at that time recipes could be found in a cook book. As pumpkin pies became more and more common certain spices where put together in one mixture and sold that way in the 1930s. So pumpkins are a popular “fruit” with young and old especially at harvest season. Kids go on field trips to pumpkin patches to pick their own. So now they are used for more than just food. The are decorations and bring smiles and fun in carving and decorating with them. 

I think creamed chicken over biscuits for dinner. 

Photo a day uploads for today

The first photo a day challenge upload is “scary”. This is one of the several holiday decorations I the neighborhood this season. 

The next upload is “tree lined street”. In the city it is difficult to find a tree lined street that doesn’t also have cars parked along the curb. 

The last upload for today is “favorite drink” . Most people who know me know that my favorite drink is iced tea. For a change and for today I used a chocolate milkshake from McDonalds as my model. 

Joy

a bonus upload for today is an art piece created (before AI) from my photo of a lady bug quilt my daughter made for her daughter