December 14, 2025 a thought for today, East or west, home is best. Dutch Proverb

Photos in my life yesterday 

The first challenge was “bubbles”. I didn’t have anything handy to blow bubbles with so I used some dish soap and the kitchen sink drain. 

Next challenge, “my choice” and one of my series of “texture overlay”. The
base image is one I shot coming out of the Springfield Museum of Art. The overlay was an image I created from some image of wood and rust then finished with a Photoshop filter to make an overlay or background.

The last upload was “sweater”. This is from my archives. I haven’t shot a photo of  a fancy or holiday sweater yet this season. 

Life today. Winter smacked us! We have snow about 4-5 inches and temps at about 3 degrees. That means I’m not going outside. I didn’t make it to church today. That doesn’t happen often in my life and it doesn’t make for the best week coming up. I need Sunday morning at church to reboot myself. God will lead me to refresh for this week. There was a song on one of Pope Leo’s messages at Facebook this morning that lifted my spiritual being due to the background song Grande Es Tu Amor - Song by Llamada (How Great is Your Love) .... I felt the tears as they traveled down my cheeks as I listened. I had a choir teacher in high school who told us if you feel goose bumps listening to a song it is a meaningful piece. I think it should be goose bumps and when the tears begin to leak. I was able to watch our church service with our weekly streaming. At any, rate those two happenings made this Sunday’s spiritual touch meaningful. 

Last night as the snow was flying in the dark, one of my neighbors used a snow blower on my driveway. It was too dark to tell who it was. I am so grateful for their thinking of me. The snow kept on coming so when a young teenager came by this morning and asked if she could shovel for me I said yes. She did both porches and the driveway. Even with the temperature at 17 degrees the sun is melting some of the thinner spots. I should be able to handle the rest when  and if the temperature goes up a little more tomorrow. There isn’t that much left to do to make needed paths.

With getting ready for Christmas activities at church and here at home I have not had time to work on my “dream” project. It has been put on hold for a few weeks. I am sad about the delay on getting more done. But first things first, it needed prioritizing. 

I have the photo uploads ready to go. They have been cataloged and filed. The actual upload will come shortly. in my day 

The word today is out.  Out of difficulties grow miracles. Jean de la Bruyere.  Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and right doing, there is a field. I will meet you there. Rumi.  Dictatorship naturally arises out of democracy, and the most aggravated form of tyranny and slavery out of the most extreme liberty. Plato.  God judged it better to bring good out of evil than to suffer no evil to exist. Saint Augustine.  The Lord gets his best soldiers out of the highlands of affliction. Charles Spurgeon.  Work out your own salvation. Do not depend on others. Buddha.  We came equals into this world, and equals shall we go out of it. George Mason.  Do not fear mistakes. You will know failure. Continue to reach out. Benjamin Franklin.  Anger is a wind which blows out the lamp of the mind. Robert Green Ingersoll.  We cannot tear out a single page of our life, but we can throw the whole book in the fire. George Sand.  The light which puts out our eyes is darkness to us. Only that day dawns to which we are awake. There is more day to dawn. The sun is but a morning star. Henry David Thoreau. You may drive out nature with a pitchfork, yet she'll be constantly running back. Horace.  First thing every morning before you arise say out loud, 'I believe,' three times. Ovid.  I read, I study, I examine, I listen, I think, and out of all that I try to form an idea into which I put as much common sense as I can. Marquis de Lafayette.  What good is speed if the brain has oozed out on the way. St. Jerome.  Creativity is not the finding of a thing, but the making something out of it after it is found. James Russell Lowell.  If the Sun and Moon should ever doubt, they'd immediately go out. William Blake.  Every man has the right to risk his own life in order to preserve it. Has it ever been said that a man who throws himself out the window to escape from a fire is guilty of suicide? Jean-Jacques Rousseau.  And out of darkness came the hands that reach thro' nature, moulding men. Alfred Lord Tennyson.  

Article summary. I have been a fairly avid reader most of my life. When I was working and had to travel between three cities every couple of months I “read” audio books as I drove along and then in lonely hotel rooms. Once I retired I set time aside to read a book borrowed from the library every evening after dinner and the again before sleep time. Now that digital is a big part of our lives I read ebooks.  When I saw this particular title I wanted to experience another view on the title subject. I wanted to learn more and share. Each of these versions have their place and special appeals. The title to the article is “Should we ‘get over’ print books in the digital age – or are they more precious than ever? Beth Driscoll. Associate Professor in Publishing and Communications, The University of Melbourne. At theconversation.com. In the initial paragraph the author mentioned that ebooks and audio books became increasingly popular as they came along. As the new reading devices came critics for hard cover, “physical books”, begun to appear. One critic was quoted as saying “we need to get over books”. Fifteen years later he said “I recant”. As the article went on it related that some readers prefer “print books” due to the feel, smell and possibly as collection pieces.  Collected books can add to decor in the home or offices, in time they become historic in nature and prized for many reasons. one factor to consider is that they can be physically shared with family and friends. Many print books have pictures, maps, and illustrations that are useful and entertaining. Many writers writ poetry and they like for them to be preserved in written form for the future and into history. In describing print books with other words might be as the author mentioned “preserving cultural heritage”. Mentioned earlier was the idea that  we can say that many people like the feel of a “tangible” item to hold and read. In my own words books can be a type of security blanket. When thinking of print books it brings to mind the times in history when books were burned by the thousands and how that affected society. Again in my opinion, it is a form of destruction to history. Now if and when destruction of one or the other form happens there is the other to carry on. Also each type made for our "reading" habit and knowledge should be looked at for its intrinsic value. 

I am having glazed carrots and glazed salmon for dinner. 

Photos in my life today

The first one is “my choice” and another of the series of “texture overlay”. We had some flowers left from a celebration of life at church. I couldn’t pass up the chance to capture the lest vestige of the memory and show of respect that they were meant for before they were gone forever. This rose was overlaid with another of my stored collection of textured backgrounds that I have created in my photo journey. 

Next is a challenge titled “mood”. I feel that the fresh show on the trees and roof tops relay a mood of winter and maybe the coming of a rest period of life until rebirth in the spring.

The last upload is “stocking” . I presumed it meant a Christmas stocking. This
only one I have is the one my great grandson brought for our kitten, Bobbi. It has a collection of toys for her to enjoy and me to find and pick up. 

Joy

the bonus image for today is an image of my two of my other hobbies, paper marbling in the background and paper quilling on the top