January 1, 2026 a thought for today, When the shepherd strays, the sheep stray. Dutch Proverb

Photos in my life yesterday

The first upload was “a favorite memory of 2025". Is our new house mate. It’s my kitten. Her name is Bobbi. She is a memory and a hope. 

Next was “a wish for the new year”. This is one of the johnny jump ups in last
2025s senior garden (window garden). I “wishing” for an abundance of healthy flowers in the three garden in 2026. 

The last was “a thought for next year”. I thinking of a peaceful year with everyone coming together for peace and harmony among nations and people. For quite like this scene.

Life today. I wasn’t awake to bring in the new year, I decided to celebrate it in the morning sun of a new day and a new year. I wonder what is in store for us in this new beginning. I wonder what the Plan is for the world, the country and for me. I’m ready to be guided along the unused path. 

I am going to lunch with Lowell and his crew. Sue isn’t feeling well so she couldn’t make it today.  It should be interesting and an addition to the memory book of my mind. My Christmas day is firmly placed there as today will be also. 

That last paragraph was before the lunch.....I’m back. As always it was wonderful seeing all of them. Everyone seemed subdued, maybe tired from all the holiday excitement. All the same we all seemed happy to be together. Lowell and Rebecca  picked me up and brought me home since it was so icy.

I didn’t have the photos I needed before I left. I tried to get some that would fit the challenges while I was out. But when I looked in Photoshop none of them fit. I was able to find ones I could use here when I got home. 

The word today is private.  You should not live one way in private, another in public. Publilius Syrus. Reprove thy friend privately; commend him publicly. Solon. Content thyself to be obscurely good. When vice prevails, and impious men bear sway, the post of honor is a private station. Joseph Addison. Public opinion is a weak tyrant compared with our own private opinion. What a man thinks of himself, that is which determines, or rather indicates, his fate. Henry David Thoreau. God enters by a private door into every individual. Ralph Waldo Emerson. I have never believed there was one code of morality for a public and another for a private man. Thomas Jefferson. In private life I never knew anyone interfere with other people's disputes but he heartily repented of it. Thomas Carlyle. It is clearly better that property should be private, but the use of it common; and the special business of the legislator is to create in men this benevolent disposition. Aristotle. Wear your learning like your watch, in a private pocket; and do not pull it out, and strike it, merely to show that you have one. Philip Stanhope, 4th Earl of Chesterfield. The public good is in nothing more essentially interested, than in the protection of every individual's private rights. William Blackstone. A private Life is to be preferrd; the Honour and Gain of publick Posts, bearing no proportion with the Comfort of it. William Penn. The office is one thing, and private life is another. When I go into the office, I leave the Castle behind me, and when I come into the Castle, I leave the office behind me. Charles Dickens. 

Article Summary. I have kitten. Her name is Bobbi. This article caught my attention with the words curious character of cats”. I wanted to see what someone would write about that “sense” in cats. Mine sure seems to fit the bill and it’s interesting and fun to see were she goes and what seems to please her. I would like to understand. After all God gave her this characteristic. I want to touch that. The name of the article is The curious character of cats – and whether they are really more aloof. Jenna Kiddie, Senior Lecturer in Animal Behaviour and Welfare, Anglia Ruskin University. At the conversation.com. The article opened mentioning how people think of cats. Some think they are perfect with pleasing habits like exercising themselves, cleaning themselves and act with intelligence while being elegant and a companion. Others say cats are to independent and “cool and aloof”. Most us are familiar with what has been named “feral” domestic cats who sometimes live in colonies and seem to want to live free.  For many years cats were used as “predators of vermin” to protect homes and crops. In time they were considered companions and since have become “one of the most popular companion animal species in the world.” They are able to form bonds with their humans while offering “social and emotional support”. One part of the article that amused me was that some think the cats hunting urge is “undesirable”. It is mentioned that they have not been studied in social behavior as dogs have been possibly because they are not “perceived to be such willing subjects”. Some studies have been possible and carried out with results showing cats can and do “form affectionate bonds”. I have noticed, as the article mentioned that, at least with Bobbi, she is more ready to interact with me, her owner, than strangers. If the cat is the one to begin an interaction it seems to last longer than if the human starts it. That apparently is how the label “independent” came to be. In kittens the socialization can be developed through the parent of a kitten or breed. If the kittens parent is friendly the kitten is more likely to be. I was surprised to see that the article says that “Siamese and Persians” are reported to be at  “higher levels of affection”. The author mentions that providing food without other bonding as speaking to or stroking will not “maintain” a social bond. As the article was ending it mentioned that some of the family of domestic animals called cats can be “very affectionate” and form “significant bonds”.  Genetics and life experiences with people can determine that. Also taken into consideration of the “aloofness” of a cat is the genes, early experiences and, in some, the quality of interactions and relationships.

It will be soup for supper since we had lunch at a restaurant with the family.

Photos in my life today

My first challenge is “something fresh”. This is the last of the johnny jump ups in the “garden”. It has made it though two snow falls this winter. 

Next is “happy new year”. I took some photos of the wines in the restaurant earlier. But this one lone bottle and glass seemed the best for this upload. 

The last upload is “resolutions”. I don’t usually make resolutions each new
year. This is one I try to keep all of the time, to read, research and learn. 

Joy

                             A bonus image for today is boots....resting