December 12, 2025 a thought for today, Guessing is missing. Dutch Proverb

Photo in my life yesterday

This challenge upload was called “alone.” This is my son. He was taking a break from working on my deck this past summer. It took over a week and several family members to get it done. This day he was by himself.  

This title challenge was “together.” This is a part of my family as we were just
celebrating together for an evening out to dinner...one of my favorite pass times. 

The last upload was “gift wrap.” Here in my “senior” years I don’t formally “wrap” gift. I put them in a decorative bag with a bit of tissue on top and labels as extra decoration. 

Life today. We didn’t get the snow that was predicted for today. Now they are saying the next wave of snow predicted will be twice as heavy. That is supposed to come tomorrow, I hope after grocery pickup. 

It has been relatively quiet today. I have gotten a lot done. Unless I get unexpected information for the newsletter, I have it all done except for the photo page. I also have my photos for todays uploads chosen and cataloged. 

I am venting here with some self-uncertainty, my doctor suggested that I may try reducing one of my medications. So I have for the past month. I am having questions about the plan this is for and if it is the best course for me. I don’t feel that it is working.  I have acid reflux. Now I am having more than I have had in several years, since I have been on the twice a day dose. I think I am going go back to two a day. I have another medical situation that I think the doctor was considering when she reduced the dosage. I think her and I can talk about trying something else, mainly by diet. So until I talk to her I will try that way on my own. I spent time looking for a diet that would fit the plan. So I made some additions to the grocery list. The diet will start tomorrow after pick up.

I have few things to finish up before I stop for the day. The uploads are ready and the letter is about done. One more thing today, my grocery order, before the major snow storm.

The word today is ourselves. A leader is best when people barely know he exists, when his work is done, his aim fulfilled, they will say: we did it ourselves. Lao Tzu.  God gave us the gift of life; it is up to us to give ourselves the gift of living well. Voltaire.  Happiness depends upon ourselves. Aristotle.  It is not in the stars to hold our destiny but in ourselves. William Shakespeare.  No one saves us but ourselves. No one can and no one may. We ourselves must walk the path. Buddha.  I think that is a better thing than thanksgiving: thanks-living. How is this to be done? By a general cheerfulness of manner, by an obedience to the command of Him by whose mercy we live, by a perpetual, constant delighting of ourselves in the Lord, and by a submission of our desires to His will. Charles Spurgeon.  Not until we are lost do we begin to understand ourselves. Henry David Thoreau.  Every truth has two sides; it is as well to look at both, before we commit ourselves to either. Aesop.  If we do not lay out ourselves in the service of mankind whom should we serve? Abigail Adams.  What we wish, we readily believe, and what we ourselves think, we imagine others think also. Julius Caesar.  To be angry is to revenge the faults of others on ourselves. Alexander Pope.  True wisdom comes to each of us when we realize how little we understand about life, ourselves, and the world around us. Socrates.  Nature never deceives us; it is we who deceive ourselves. Jean-Jacques Rousseau.  The greatest happiness of life is the conviction that we are loved; loved for ourselves, or rather, loved in spite of ourselves. Victor Hugo.  We never know the love of a parent till we become parents ourselves. Henry Ward Beecher.  The love of liberty is the love of others; the love of power is the love of ourselves. William Hazlitt.  The keenest sorrow is to recognize ourselves as the sole cause of all our adversities. Sophocles.  Love is but the discovery of ourselves in others, and the delight in the recognition. Alexander Smith.  We are so accustomed to disguise ourselves to others that in the end we become disguised to ourselves. Francois de La Rochefoucauld.  Humility is nothing else but a right judgment of ourselves. William Law.  

Article summary. I have an evening ritual- workout of digital games. I did a Google search on the best games to use for the purpose of keeping an aging mind as young and growing as possible. I have a personal list of 10 digital “games”, some are Sudoku, two crossword puzzles, three card games, Mahjong, a jigsaw and chess (my speed right now is a child’s version of chess and against the computer. I don’t always win but I do cause stale mates.). When I saw the title to this article, I wanted to see this view on the subject and share it. By the way, another of my evening “fare”, I have a book, ebook, to read every night, as well as the bible. The title to the article is “Can brain training really shave ten years off brain ageing, as a recent study suggests? Yolanda Lok Yiu Lau, Postdoctoral Research Associate, Dementia and Neurodegenerative Diseases, Queen Mary University of London. At theconversation.com. It opened by saying that there was a ten-week online brain training program that worked as it showed that it helped older brains act ten years younger. In other words it helped keep the mind active and helped people cope with “age-related” change and dementia. The study showed that in 120 older adults that type of exercise seemed to show “larger brain volumes and better cognitive performance”. A little further in the article it related that certain on-line brain training courses such as BrainHQ  “change the brain’s chemistry, offering biological clues about how brain training might work.” Tests were used on different types of people, and for different test lengths. The results may need to consider the differences in tabulating the results. There are tests in the works to examine the results on people already experiencing dementia. They may also need help in accessing parts of the test. Toward the end of the article it is mentioned that “cognitive ageing is shaped by many factors.” It ended by sharing that to keep the mind active “may not stop ageing, but it could help the brain stay younger for longer.” That’s my hope and goal. 

DoorDash or soup?

Photos in my life today

The first one is from my archives. It is titled “celebration.” He is about to celebrate his birthday. What an exciting time

The next challenge is “wheels.” The closest I had today for a quick shot was my own automobile “wheels

The last challenge for today is “12 things”. I could have done a dozen eggs or a dozen Christmas ornaments. The closest and quickest was twelve of my kitten’s, Bobbi, toys. Most of which can be out at different “hiding” places throughout the house. 

Joy

a bonus photo for today is a piece of history in Columbus - do you see what I see?