January 9, 2026 a thought for today, An old wolf is used to being shouted at. Dutch Proverb

Photos in my life yesterday

This first challenge was “chaos”. It is several skeins of my crochet yarns that are out of the package, not formed into a ball and loosely tangling with each other. 

Next challenge upload is “a good start”. I didn’t pay too much attention to lighting as I was starting the laundry, not realizing that the top inside of the washer was in shadow. 

The last offering is “Photoshop image/composite”. This another one that I wasn’t to careful about. I was doing it quickly. I used several photos of Bob in her different poses. After getting it done I wasn’t happy about the background I had chosen or the placement of the three photos I chose. I was running late for a meeting so I left it as it was.

Life today. My son-in-law got through yesterday’s surgery and is resting. He will be in the hospital for a few more days. 

In my last letter I mentioned I was counting on things swinging to mostly calm and smooth for the year, it’s called wishful thinking. Well, it has started and not quit on that foot. I was notified that my drivers license has expired. I was shocked , just shows that I don’t look at my own drivers license often. Anyway, Sue took me to the BMV to renew it yesterday. There it came, a problem. In the vision test I read the 4th line in two columns and noted the flashing lights on eighter side. So far so good. Then the lady tells me to give her the numbers in the third column....no third column. Several adjustments and still no third column. So she said I have to go to eye doctor and have the paper she gave me signed after an exam. I have an appointment today. Then I am to take it back, wait in line again, she will send paper to tech, wait 30 minutes then the decision, do I get it or no license. On top of that my insurance will not pay for the exam due to the fact that I only get one eye exam year and I had one in July. This will be cash out of hand. Then the cost of the license, if I get it. 

So this morning is the kind of day I have been wanting and needing for over two months getting ready for the holidays. But I may have to wait for that. The eye doctor appointment is this afternoon. I am trying to get my photos and letter, and grocery order done before that. 

I need to get a few chores done along the way before the eye appointment too. 

The word today is profit.  It is a profitable thing, if one is wise, to seem foolish. Aeschylus. Be very circumspect in the choice of thy company. In the society of thine equals thou shalt enjoy more pleasure; in the society of thy superiors thou shalt find more profit. To be the best in the company is the way to grow worse. Francis Quarles. It is no profit to have learned well, if you neglect to do well. Publilius Syrus. Know how to listen, and you will profit even from those who talk badly. Plutarch. Read not books alone, but men, and amongst them chiefly thyself. If thou find anything questionable there, use the commentary of a severe friend rather than the gloss of a sweet lipped flatterer; there is more profit in a distasteful truth than in deceitful sweetness. Francis Quarles. He wins every hand who mingles profit with pleasure. Horace . That is a good book which is opened with expectation and closed with profit. Amos Bronson Alcott. He only profits from praise who values criticism. Heinrich Heine. Life is divided into three terms - that which was, which is, and which will be. Let us learn from the past to profit by the present, and from the present, to live better in the future. William Wordsworth. In the state of nature profit is the measure of right. Thomas Hobbes. Talk is by far the most accessible of pleasures. It costs nothing in money, it is all profit, it completes our education, founds and fosters our friendships, and can be enjoyed at any age and in almost any state of health. Robert Louis Stevenson. The virtuous man is driven by responsibility, the non-virtuous man is driven by profit. Confucius. Just as bees make honey from thyme, the strongest and driest of herbs, so do the wise profit from the most difficult of experiences. Plato. More men come to doom through dirty profits than are kept by them. Sophocles. He is a despicable sage whose wisdom does not profit himself. Publilius Syrus. Many college text-books, which were a weariness and stumbling-block when I studied, I have since read a little with pleasure and profit. Henry David Thoreau. The profit on a good action is to have done it. Seneca the Younger. In order to profit from this path [of prayer] and ascend to the dwelling places we desire, the important thing is not to think much but to love much; and so, do that which best stirs you to love. Teresa of Avila. 

Article Summary. It is good to learn we can share from others all around the world. I though this article described a unique and interesting way to keep and stay warm. The title of the article is I grew up in the world’s coldest city without central heating. Here’s what the world can learn from us. Yangang Xing, Associate Professor, School of Architecture Design and the Built Environment, Nottingham Trent University. At theconversation.com. It started by mentioning that the author grew up in a part of China where the winter temperature can range from -30 degrees to even below -10 degrees. It went on to relay the fact that that is the largest city in the world where the cold can stay that way for lone periods. I was interested in seeing that the article went on to tell how a method of heating homes unlike most other methods known was developed where she lived as a child. In continuing the discussion of heating methods the article related that we need “efficient, low-energy ways to stay warm”. These methods may be developed so that “fossil fuels” wouldn’t be needed to heat a whole house. Ideas from the upcoming described method that may lead some idea for heating in new way. She called the heating she grew up with as “warm bed made of earth”. It was named a “kang”.  Apparently is had been used for the past 2,000 years.  The way it works is by lighting the cooking stove fire the hot air moved thought “passage” ways that were made into a shell call a kang. The air movement warmed the whole structure that was made of compacted earth. The structure stayed hot all through the night. The kang only heated that area in one room not the whole house. It was further interesting to learn that it didn’t even heat the whole room itself . People would lay or sit on the “platform with thick blankets”. Since the original heat was started in a cook stove connected to the kang and the heat from that fire traveled through the “passages” in the earthen structure other fuel wasn’t needed. Her mother build “layers of coal around the fire” to keep it going for the night. Korea and Japan had similar methods of heating their homes. Even as far back as the time of ancient Romans buildings were heated with “hypocausts” that “circulated hot air under floors.” Other methods of protection of bitter cold in medieval times were heavy “tapestries” hung to reduce drafts. Heavy pillows could laid around to conserve as much heat as much as possible. As history moved on modern heating methods were developed, methods that heated entire buildings at uniform temperatures. The article goes on to mention how new technologies are continually developing in ways to heat more efficiently. In ending with the story of the kang we can find heat in saving energy while bringing comfort but we need to design “warmth” more intelligently. 

I may make a new (to me) diet mac and cheese for dinner. 

Photos in my life today

This upload is “cat”. Well, it has to Bob. She is always handy for a photo although it is mostly when she is taking a nap. Otherwise, she is on the move and usually fast.

Next is “a shadow”. This was a snow scene from last winter not this one. I like the addition of shadow on the pure white snow and the awesome bright blue sky. 

The last one for the day is “bright colors”. This one is from the archives since it is too cloudy for bright colorful flowers to day. I was in the mood for nature in this one. 

Joy

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