February 26, 2026, a thought for today, Even a hair casts its shadow. German Proverb

Photos in my life yesterday

This first challenge upload was titled “garden.” In my area of the world gardens are “resting” in this winter season. I used a few of the plants in my house plant garden for this shoot. 

The next is titled “something sweet.” This is a sample of the variety of “zero sugar” cookies I keep on hand. They are zero sugar but at the same time sweet, at least as sweet as a type 2 diabetic should have on occasion. 

The last upload was “against the wall.” This is an image of my growing baby fig tree plant. 

Life today. My “work” week is done. By that I mean the weekly printing is done. I got to the church shortly after eight. I am getting more and more fond of printing directly from the copier rather than the computer. We have the annual report coming up in a few weeks. That will mean using the computer rather than the copier. That computer is so unreliable I get near panic attacks when I anticipate the trouble I will have with printing from that source. On that subject, the annual report subject, I have promising start on it. That doesn’t mean I am in the clear with it though. I have several pages to go, that means counting on people getting the committee reports to me in a timely fashion. They now have two days until the deadline.

On the way home I did the usual, dropped off mail and stopped at Wendy’s. As I was heading the rest of the way home, I was on the look out for photo for the day. There is one in my calendar of photos of the day for today that will have to come from the archives. It is for a peek into spring. That isn’t very clear today. The snow is gone, the sun is nice and bright against a gorgeous blue sky with a temperature sitting at 40 degrees but there is no noticeable hint of spring. 

I have the laundry started. I also took time to make a no bake eclair cake. It is supposed to be in the frig for four hours before it will be fully set and ready to cut. Now I have to clean up the kitchen along with a couple of other chores besides folding the laundry. 

As soon as I get the uploads done, I hope to have a half hour for my on line still life class lecture before getting something ready for dinner.  

The word today is second. The second half of a man's life is made up of nothing but the habits he has acquired during the first half. Fyodor Dostoevsky. All truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed. Second, it is violently opposed. Third, it is accepted as being self-evident. Arthur Schopenhauer. Look to your health; and if you have it, praise God and value it next to conscience; for health is the second blessing that we mortals are capable of, a blessing money can't buy. Izaak Walton. If you aspire to the highest place, it is no disgrace to stop at the second, or even the third, place. Cicero. There will be little rubs and disappointments everywhere, and we are all apt to expect too much; but then, if one scheme of happiness fails, human nature turns to another; if the first calculation is wrong, we make a second better: we find comfort somewhere. Jane Austen. A friend is a second self.  Aristotle. In this world second thoughts, it seems, are best. Euripide. 6Sleep that knits up the ravell'd sleave of care, the death of each day's life, sore labour's bath, balm of hurt minds, great nature's second course, chief nourisher in life's feast. William Shakespeare. Were it offered to my choice, I should have no objection to a repetition of the same life from its beginning, only asking the advantages authors have in a second edition to correct some faults in the first. Benjamin Franklin. Happiness is a choice that requires effort at times. Aeschylus. The nimble lie Is like the second-hand upon a clock; We see it fly; while the hour-hand of truth Seems to stand still, and yet it moves unseen, And wins, at last, for the clock will not strike Till it has reached the goal. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.  For every minute you remain angry, you give up sixty seconds of peace of mind. Ralph Waldo Emerson. It is often said that second thoughts are best. So they are in matters of judgment but not in matters of conscience. John Henry Newman. 

Article summary. I had my mind back on animals, in particular, pets today. I spotted this article and decided to take a look. I like seeing different outlooks on most subjects. The title to this article is Pets and owners  you can learn a lot about one by studying the other. Paul McGreevy. Professor of Animal Behaviour and Animal Welfare Science, University of Sydney. Pauleen Bennett, Professor and Head of Department, Psychology and Counselling, College of Science, Health and Engineering, La Trobe University. At theconversation.com. It opened by saying something I have heard before that pets and owners become “similar” or readable, my word of description, as time goes by. It goes on to mention in one sense of that thought a pet’s health can be “influenced”  by the “personality” of their owner. For instance if the owner is of an anxious type of personality they may report to the vet of their pet symptoms with a more stressful way of expressing the problem giving it a more negative outlook. They could be conveying an over aggressive behavior or something of that nature that is not in reality the case. In the anxious type of owner the handing of a pet in a “working” kind of situation such as in a competitive show or a working farm dog the pet will respond from the experience of the owners behavior. Another example of the owners behavior affecting the pet is an abusive kind of relationship. The pet may show more personality problems and negative signs to and of their welfare than they would have with a different owner. When the owners are of a more agreeable nature the pet is healthier and better behaved. The owner would most likely be more calm in their descriptions to a vet. As an aid in the descriptions when it comes to veterinary visits the article mentions having a video to show. 

We haven’t had “plain ol’ hamburgers” lately, maybe that will be dinner or maybe something from the freezer. 

Photos in my life today

This upload assignment is titled “spring.” Well, the season hasn’t shown its face yet so this one is from my archives. 

 

Next is “it’s a sign” that someone needs a little support while walking. It also suggests maybe it was forgotten for a moment. 

Last is “in my bag”. This is my “fanny pack” purse. I have to admit that I
“straightened” it up a bit before this shot. 

Joy

   

                                                           I guess I’m anxious for spring?

February 24, 2026, a thought for today, Judges should have two ears, both alike. German Proverb

Photos in my life yesterday

This first upload challenge was “movement.” This was as close as I could get to movement today. She was having a good time with the ball and string. 

Next is the challenge “bubble.” This was the sink when dumped a pan of soapy
water after scrubbing it. 

The last one in these uploads is “a gift I received”. I don’t read hard copy much anymore but I will read these gifts I received. 

Life today. My kitten is growing quickly before my eyes. I seem to be seeing it as a child growing and developing. Since their lives are shorter than a human life their time of changes as they grow seems to be much faster than in a human child. She use to play with certain toys exclusively, now not so much. She now wants something new, ones needing more bodily experiences. Her moods seem to be changing. Some habits she use to express have changed to a different form. There are some staying the same like laying by my legs when I am “down” for the evening in the lounge chair....I hope that one doesn’t change, I need that. She will be an “adult” (for food change) next month on the 20th making her twelve months old, about 15 years in human time. Twelve months to fifteen years.

I had some time to work just a tiny bit on starting the annual report for church. It is due in about two weeks. It will take that time to get all the reports and a still gives me time to put them together in the booklet. 

I stopped writing this letter to go to the church to help at our food pantry. This was a very slow day. My regular pardner working on the computers to do the checking in was not able to be there today so we had someone sitting in for her. We had time during longer breaks to check our cell phones for things going on in other areas of our lives. This was someone I have not met before, it was nice meeting a new friend. 

On the way home I went by Wendy’s for a sandwich but the line was out to the street so I switched over to McDonalds. Back home, I had to take a few minutes to set up a couple of the photos for today and get them cataloged. Now I am ready for all of the uploads. 

The word today is saw. ...whoever saw old age that did not applaud the past and condemn the present? Michel de Montaigne. I never saw an ugly thing in my life: for let the form of an object be what it may - light, shade, and perspective will always make it beautiful. John Constable. The man who backbites an absent friend, nay, who does not stand up for him when another blames him, the man who angles for bursts of laughter and for the repute of a wit, who can invent what he never saw, who cannot keep a secret - that man is black at heart: mark and avoid him. Cicero. The world is not yet exhausted; let me see something tomorrow which I never saw before. Samuel Johnson. I saw the angel in the marble and carved until I set him free. Michelangelo. I threw my cup away when I saw a child drinking from his hands at the trough. Diogenes. A dog barks when his master is attacked. I would be a coward if I saw that God's truth is attacked and yet would remain silent. John Calvin. I'm not smart, but I like to observe. Millions saw the apple fall, but Newton was the one who asked why. William Hazlitt. Dreams surely are difficult, confusing, and not everything in them is brought to pass for mankind. For fleeting dreams have two gates: one is fashioned of horn and one of ivory. Those which pass through the one of sawn ivory are deceptive, bringing tidings which come to nought, but those which issue from the one of polished horn bring true results when a mortal sees them. Homer. We would frequently be ashamed of our good deeds if people saw all of the motives that produced them. Francois De La Rochefoucauld. You will not enter paradise until you have faith. And you will not complete your faith until you love one another. Muhammad. What each man feared would happen to himself, did not trouble him when he saw that it would ruin another. Virgil. In my deepest wound I saw your glory, and it dazzled me. Saint Augustine. My good works, however wretched and imperfect, have been made better and perfected by Him Who is my Lord: He has rendered them meritorious. As to my evil deeds and my sins, He hid them at once. The eyes of those who saw them, He made even blind; and He has blotted them out of their memory. Saint Teresa of Avila.  

Article summary. I’m interested in art, all about art, all of the kinds of art, and about its power on the soul. I like learning about the minutia of all it’s forms and ways of connecting with the universe and each of our lives. My own attempts with my photography may seem simple at times but I will keep on expressing what I see in my world. My sister was blessed with the gift in her “eye” for design and form in sketches, and painting. It seems to come naturally for her. The title to the article is Michelangelo hated painting the Sistine Chapel – and never aspired to be a painter to begin with. Anna Swartwood House, Associate Professor of Art History, University of South Carolina. At theconversation.com. I was amazed to read in the first sentence that in the February 2026 a 5 inch by 4 inch drawing by Michelangelo of a woman’s foot sold for twenty-seven million dollars. They say it is believed to be a “study” piece for a portion of the ceiling in the Sistine Chapel in Rome. I learned that before Michelangelo began the paintings in the chapel he sketched out the whole composition in details in a series of drawings. It was mentioned that about fifty of the original drawings “survive” today. The sale has pulled to the forefront of thinking in the art field Michelangelo’s “devotion” to drawing. As I continued to read I learned that he didn’t feel that painting was his prime interest, sculpting was. In 1506 one of his sculpting pieces was “put on hold” in order to use the “funds” for a tomb. In apparent anger Michelangelo closed his studio and ordered his “wagon loads” of marble to be sold. In 1508 he was “lured” back to Rome to paint at the Sistine. He wrote to his father saying that painting  “is not my profession.” It is said that he felt painting in the chapel was backbreaking work. He wrote a poem to a friend telling many of the things that annoyed him as he was working on the now treasured painting. In the poem he shows some of his drawings that would go into the work. Many of his sketches showed the “architectural renderings and schemes to organize the huge space.” He sketched body parts and gestures that would become part of the Sistine. Many of the drawings are in the British Museum. I was interested in the part of the article that mentions that doctors today “are impressed by the anatomical precision of the muscles and veins of each foot” of the “David” statue by Michelangelo. In 1534 he was “commissioned” to paint “The Last Judgment” on the altar wall of the Sistine Chapel. It was started later when Pope Paul III called him the “Chief Architect, Sculptor, and Painter to the Vatican Palace.”

I didn’t have the chili mac I was planning on having the other day. I think I will have it tonight. 

Photos in my life today

This upload was supposed to by “3:00pm”. I was about two minutes off when I remembered I needed this shot. BTW that clock was one of my “refinement” gifts.

This challenge is titled “a color I like.” I like almost any and all colors but the one I seem to favor most often is blue.

The next assignment challenge is titled “a fruit or vegetable.” I chose a banana just as I was about to have a snack. 

Joy

 

                                                                                 peace

 February 22, 2026, a thought for today, What comes from the heart, goes to the heart. German Proverb

Photos in my life yesterday

My firs upload for yesterday was “something red”. This is just loose cover for a filing cabinet. 

The next upload is “my choice” and is one from my series of “partials”. Just a portion of my car door against the background of the garage door.

The last upload for the day is “lucky”. I tied several shot of pennies in different space.  I had one for pennies in a jar in the kitchen one that I am told is supposed to be lucky. I decided to use this on of several pennies in the heads up position. 

I learned yesterday that I had made a faux pas on a part of the newsletter this month. We had already printed and mailed it when I got the heads up. It was too late for the hard copy issue but I made the correction to the email copy and sent it to all church members on our email contact list. I had put the minister’s page for March in properly. However, when I saved it to the flash drive for printing at the church I inadvertently copied the file without the update. I got the message in one part in capital letters.

Life today. We just had a light covering of snow on the grass, none sticking on the streets. After the over abundant snow fall we had a few weeks ago I feel a bit anxious. The predictions are for much less this time but I wanted to get an errand run after church just in case. 

Church was great. This minister always gives a thorough message with feeling and meaning. The usual members were there, small in number but with love and comfort. There seemed to be an extra one child for Sunday School. 

I made the stop at Kroger for meds and a few other items before heading the rest of the way home. 

I got right back to this letter. I formatted the photos I had taken while I was out and about for uploads, key wording for future searches and filing. Then I took a break for a couple of household quick pick ups. Now it’s time to refresh for the week. 

I will also take a half hour to listen to my online class lecture.

The word today is save. First love is a kind of vaccination which saves a man from catching the complaint a second time. Honore de Balzac. Work saves us from three great evils: boredom, vice and need. Voltaire. Make all you can, save all you can, give all you can. John Wesley. I saw that all things I feared, and which feared me, had nothing good or bad in them save insofar as the mind was affected by them. Baruch Spinoza. Knowledge must come through action; you can have no test which is not fanciful, save by trial. Sophocles. Cowards are cruel, but the brave Love mercy, and delight to save. John Gay. The training of children is a profession, where we must know how to waste time in order to save it. Jean-Jacques Rousseau. A strict observance of the written laws is doubtless one of the high virtues of a good citizen, but it is not the highest. The laws of necessity, of self preservation, of saving our country when in danger, are of higher obligation. Thomas Jefferson. He who created us without our help will not save us without our consent. Saint Augustine. It is incumbent on every generation to pay its own debts as it goes. A principle which if acted on would save one-half the wars of the world. Thomas Jefferson. For just when ideas fail, a word comes in to save the situation. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. Love must precede hatred, and nothing is hated save through being contrary to a suitable thing which is loved. And hence it is that every hatred is caused by love. Thomas Aquinas. There is nothing good or evil save in the will. Epictetus. There is nothing evil save that which perverts the mind and shackles the conscience. Saint Ambrose. A day may sink or save a realm. Alfred Lord Tennyson. Man was created to praise, reverence, and serve God our Lord and in this way to save his soul. The other things on Earth were created for man's use, to help him reach the end for which he was created. Saint Ignatius. The people will save their government, if the government itself will allow them. Abraham Lincoln. Even if we stand at the very summit of virtue, it is by mercy that we shall be saved. Saint John Chrysostom. How difficult it is to save the bark of reputation from the rocks of ignorance. Petrarch. Godly people are waiting for the Lord; therefore they live, therefore they are saved, therefore they receive what has been promised. Martin Luther. 

Article summary. I like to see the good in, for and of people. So I often look for subjects that touch on those  qualities in our lives. It is interesting how they can be felt in both giving and receiving. The title is The lifesaving power of gratitude (or, why you should write that thank you note. Richard Gunderman, Chancellor's Professor of Medicine, Liberal Arts, and Philanthropy, Indiana University. At theconversation.com. The beginning of the story started with asking folks to write a thank you note presumingly to get a comment on how it made the recipient feel. In one of those tests it was found that the “impact” was underestimated. Another study showed the benefits of writing a thank you note. They had participants write thank you notes over a three week period. This test showed a feel of satisfaction, there was a feel of happiness and a reduction in depression. As it went on it compared experiencing bad feeling when we experience problems in our jobs, relationship, or finances be feel “regardful”. On the other hand if we “focus” more on finding what we are grateful for make our emotion more on the happy side. This so far shows how our feelings relate to our health and a more pleasant feel in the relationships in our lives. Th good feelings may contribute to a better feeling for others with connections around us. If we focus on being generous to others and being thankful for whatever blessing we experience we are building a “grateful” attitude making our lives healthier and happier. The article ended by relating that being conscious of our feeling of gratitude can not only enrich our own lives but the lives of those around us.  

I think it will be chili mac for dinner. 

Photos in my life today

The first upload for today is “a beautiful sight”. I have always admired the design and intricacy on this wood and the lay out of the architecture.

Next up is another of the “my choice” and another of my series of “partials”. This is my precious kitten trying to hide in a plastic grocery bag. 

The last upload for now is “5:00pm”. I shot this last night. It is of the clock on
the cable box. 

Joy 

                                        room to grow

 February 20, 2026 a thought for today, Gifts are according to the giver. German Proverb

Photos in my life yesterday

This first challenge was “low level.” This was a collection of fallen leaves left from the end of autumn 2025 in a corner on my back deck. 

The next challenge was titled “diamonds.” I don’t have any diamond stones
laying around my house so I used this diamond shape in one of the church windows. A diamond is a “quadrilateral with four equal sides.”

The last upload for yesterday was “a light source.” I took several shots of lights in different settings. I decided to use this one of some of the different kinds of light in a traffic situation. 

Yesterday’s printing didn’t go quite as smoothly as I had hoped. The bulletin went perfectly in about twenty minutes. The newsletter was a different story. I tuned the computer on as soon as I walked in the office, hoping it would boot up when the bulletins were done. It didn’t. I left it on as I traveled through the church to put the bulletins out. When I got back to the office, it still hadn’t come on. So I decided to go to Fed Ex to have a copy printed so that I could run the rest off manually on the office copier. When I got in the car at FedEx I realized the copy was the wrong size. I headed back to the church any way. I had left the computer on, finally it had booted up. So I did the printing with a few times to clear out jams. Through it all I feel needed, useful and appreciated. That makes life happy and not so lonesome.

Life today. Dorothy and Denise met me at church this morning to finish the newsletters. It was good for Dorothy and me to be together again. Patti had another request. She asked that we put an extra envelope in the already folded newsletters. That took a bit longer to unfold and re fold. When I got to the church there was a light on in the hall way in the lower level and the alarm had not been set. I called out but no one answered and there were no cars in the parking lot. So I was a little antsy but all seemed ok. Someone must have forgot to turn off lights and set the alarm when they left last night.

On the way home I stopped for a Wendy’s sausage on a biscuit and to scan for possible photos for the day on the way rest of the way. 

Finally I can relax a little on trying to make deadlines. I am back on the letter and have gotten the photos ready for uploading. 

I stopped after some more work on the letter and photos for lunch to run the sweeper in the bed room and another kitty care task time.  So the rest of the afternoon should be less tense. 

The weather is nice to day. The temp is decent at about 47 degrees but is dropping. We had quite a rain storm last night. There was a bit of lightening and thunder with it. One clap of thunder was so loud that Bobbi disappeared from the bed in a flash. I didn’t even see a streak as she was so fast. I don’t think she touched the floor until she got through the doorway and to the next room.

Lowell called and invited Sue and I to dinner at York Steak House, always a perfect treat 

The word today is rush. Male and female represent the two sides of the great radical dualism. But in fact they are perpetually passing into one another. Fluid hardens to solid, solid rushes to fluid. There is no wholly masculine man, no purely feminine woman. Margaret Fuller. Every artist dips his brush in his own soul, and paints his own nature into his pictures. Henry Ward Beecher. The golden moments in the stream of life rush past us and we see nothing but sand; the angels come to visit us, and we only know them when they are gone. George Eliot. Certainly virtue is like precious odors, most fragrant when they are incensed, or crushed: for prosperity doth best discover vice, but adversity doth best discover virtue. Sir Francis Bacon. A hair on the head is worth two on the brush. Irish Proverb. Whatever crushes individuality is despotism, by whatever name it may be called. John Stuart Mill. Obstacles cannot crush me. Every obstacle yields to stern resolve. He who is fixed to a star does not change his mind. Leonardo DaVinci. The marriage state was designed to complete the sum of human happiness in this life. It sometimes proves otherwise, but this is owing to the parties themselves, who either rush into it without due consideration or fail in point of discretion in their conduct towards each other afterwards. Samuel Adams. That great mystery of TIME, were there no other; the illimitable, silent, never-resting thing called Time, rolling, rushing on, swift, silent, like an all-embracing ocean tide, on which we and all the Universe swim like exhalations, like apparitions which are, and then are not: this is forever very literally a miracle; a thing to strike us dumb,-for we have no word to speak about it. Thomas Carlyle. The wind is rushing after us, and the clouds are flying after us, and the moon is plunging after us, and the whole wild night is in pursuit of us; but, so far we are pursued by nothing else. Charles Dickens. Great and unexpected successes are often the cause of foolish rushing into acts of extravagance. Demosthenes. There is no fire like passion. There are no chains like hate. Illusion is a net, Desire is a rushing river. Gautama Buddha. A talent can be cultivated in tranquility; a character only in the rushing stream of life. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. Time is the silent, never-resting thing ... rolling, rushing on, swift, silent, like an all-embracing oceantide, on which we and all the universe swim. Thomas Carlyle. 

Article summary. I summarized an article a while ago about “reaching out and touching.” Today I found this article with a bit of a different way of looking at the sense of touch. I thought we could take a look at the kind of thinking about touch from another source. The article title is What’s lost when we’re too afraid to touch the world around us? Chunjie Zhang, Associate Professor of German, University of California, Davis. At theconversation.com. The article started with telling about the author’s son and the experience of his wanting to touch things they pass on their daily walks. It seems to be a natural action for him to touch things on the play ground like bike racks and tree trunks and picnic tables. She went on to say she wondered what “might being lost” in her stopping him from the touching instinct. Would it stop him from leaning “about the world without his sense of touch? She thought back to what she had observed with thoughts of some other “thinkers” on the subject as the described that we see shapes but that doesn’t “reveal” the actual feel of it. A German philosopher observed children in a “nursery” and watched how the children kept “grasping and lifting” things seemingly to find  “the most primary and necessary concepts.” It was seen that “our knowledge of the world” is “transmitted through the skin.”  Later in the article is was mentioned that a neuroscientist noted that touch was the first sense because it was developed in utero. It was also noted that touch helps in the action of cooperation as well as aids in health and fosters growth further mentioning the fact that in holding premature babies it can lead to their survival. The article brought a notion that during the “social distancing” of the COVID period even “subtle and brief” touching helped with “emotional well-being.” I was interested in seeing toward the end of the article that in some cultures touch “plays a bigger role” in life than may be perceived. It went on saying that we also have to be mindful that social distancing is also crucial. I assume that means be conscious of our surrounding and activities. On a personal note at my church we have a “passing of the peace” period where we go around greeting each other with a hand shake or “fist bump.” 

Photos in my life today

Have a look at my first challenge offering for today, “poetry.” I used the nursery thyme “pussy cat, pussy cat, where have you been?”

Next is the assignment title “stripes.” I considered stripes in the pavement of
the street and street signs. I decided on this one on a US Postal truck. 

The third image upload for today is “what calms me.” I use several “brain games” to aid in my aging mind’s health. This is one of them. In helping with my health they also aid in what “calms” me. 

The last image upload is “o is for...”. I used a can opener for my image of
choice today. BTW, I had one heck of a time with this, the opener didn’t seem to want to go the full distance. 

Joy 

         

                                                                        pretty please...

 February 18, 2026 a thought for today, Where the fence is lowest, the devil leaps over. German Proverb

Photo in my life yesterday

The first upload for yesterday was “a favorite photo.” Lately, all of my "favorite" photos seem to be of this precious kitten. 

Next it “shot at dusk.” It was from my more than ample archives. It was taken some time ago when I was out and about at dusk. 

The last challenge for yesterday was “refresh.” We offer refreshments to our guests at the church food pantry today and every day we are open. 

Food Pantry yesterday was busy. Last month we had to cancel most days. I think we made up a big part of it yesterday. Today was much “milder.” It was a pretty fair day in visits but slow. 

Life today. I started the morning in the usual way with visits on the internet for news headlines, email, and facebook. Then I was able to get a good start on this letter, and surprisingly on my photos for the day. That was all before I got ready to go to the church for pantry. 

One other thing I got done was the envelopes and labels for the bulletins and the newsletters as well as the activity sheets for my great children. 

There is an Ash Wednesday service with about five or six churches involved for tonight. I personally feel more comfortable with a smaller service for this particular event so I won’t be attending. 

I will be going in to print the bulletins and newsletters in the morning. I hope the aging computer won’t give me problems. I am also looking forward to working with Dorothy to finish the newsletter on Friday. It’s been a couple of months of bad weather that we have missed each other working together. 

The word today is rule. Any fool can make a rule, and any fool will mind it. Henry David Thoreau. Each problem that I solved became a rule which served afterwards to solve other problems. Rene Descartes. One must know oneself, if this does not serve to discover truth, it at least serves as a rule of life and there is nothing better. Blaise Pascal. One of the best rules in conversation is, never to say a thing which any of the company can reasonably wish had been left unsaid. Jonathan Swift. He who reigns within himself and rules his passions, desires, and fears is more than a king. John Milton. Beneath the rule of men entirely great, The pen is mightier than the sword. Edward Bulwer-Lytton. As a general rule the most successful man in life is the man who has the best information. Benjamin Disraeli. The soul is the captain and ruler of the life of morals. Sallust. What power has law where only money rules. Gaius Petronius.  Let your desires be ruled by reason. Cicero. Divide and rule, a sound motto. Unite and lead, a better one. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. Do you know, my son, with what little understanding the world is ruled? Pope Julius III. If men will not be governed by God, they will be ruled by tyrants. William Penn. As a rule, men worry more about what they can't see than about what they can. Julius Caesar.  Through patience a ruler can be persuaded, and a gentle tongue can break a bone. Proverbs 25:15. To despise no opportunity of usefulness is a leading rule with those who are wise to win souls. Charles Spurgeon. It is not good to have a rule of many. Homer. Silence is the element in which great things fashion themselves together; that at length they may emerge, full-formed and majestic, into the delight of life, which they are thenceforth to rule. Thomas Carlyle. The book salesman should be honored because he brings to our attention, as a rule, the very books we need most and neglect most. Confucius. The rule of friendship means there should be mutual sympathy between them, each supplying what the other lacks and trying to benefit the other, always using friendly and sincere words. Marcus Tullius Cicero. 

Article summary. Since daylight savings will be happening again soon I thought I would check out this view of the event. I am a person who does not like change. But in this case it seems there is a time I do. I like when we can be awake to see more of the light nature sources give us. The title is 100 years later, the madness of daylight saving time endures. Michael Downing, Lecturer in Creative Writing, Tufts University. At the conversation.com. It opened by saying how long we have been experiencing “daylight savings” as a “legislation.” Many people do not like this time system and would like it changed. I guess I haven’t paid a lot of attention to the history of this phenomenon. I have taken for granted as a fact in all of my long years. I thought I had learned some time in my past that is was to save on the use of energy. That apparently was to be a benefit during war time. I did some research online and found that in the area where I searched for whom benefits the  most from the change of time seasonably listed them as consumers, sports, tourism, physical activity and public safety. From what I gather from the area I checked was that one problem in the change when it occurred and now in a change back would be financial. As I mentioned early I thought it was to help peoples’ and business’ budgets in the use of electricity.  I learned from the article that the railroad company has to be aware of the time they need “predictable station times for arrivals and departures” apparently year round. On the other hand farmers plan their activities by timing on the movement of the sun. In 1918 when time was being changed twice a year problems seemed to develop for many reasons. People going to church arrived late. Certain religious practiced objected to “subverting sun time.” There were complaints about astronomical data being upset.  In the US there are four time zones to be considered. As the article went on it talked about how some states decided to take matters into their own hands as a state and not abide by the national daylight savings notion.  This caused confusion when traveling from one place to another on day light savings when one observed daylight savings and the other didn’t. In 1966 “Congress passed the Uniform Time Act”, which mandated six months of standard time and six of daylight saving.” As the article went on it mentioned that the time change affects our behavior. I don’t fully understand that part so much. It seems to me that with that in mind it’s up to what ever the activity that needs attention would adapt to the difference. I must need more research on the uses of household appliances during the time when hands on the clock are different and how that affects utility prices and charges. We are given a day and a night in those time difference we are given a certain number of hours of light and a certain number of hours of dark. It’s up to us to use those gifts to their best use for the light availably to get the fullness of each.

I think it will be creamed chicken on toast for dinner. 

Photos in my life today 

Today’s challenge and upload is “f is for....” fireplace. This photo was also taken at church. 

Next is “photography something I learned.” I may have misunderstood. This might have been something I learned in photography. I have learned a lot in the past seventy years of my photography. One big thing I learned was the fine tuning of observation. I am also presently taking a course in still life photography, I take a course in the subject every now and then. This photo is simply “something I have learned as life’s adventure moved along. This is pysanky Ukranian egg coloring. I taught myself how to do this fine technique.  

The last upload for today is “love is....,” arms wrapped around in a safe and comforting hug.

Joy 

                              these little lights of mine

 February 16, 2026, a thought for today, When an old dog barks, look out. German Proverb

Photos in my life yesterday

My first challenge for yesterday was “a weekend vibe.” My usual weekend vibe is mostly church on Sunday morning. It is way to end one week and start a new one. A way to refresh and renew.

Next is “my choice,” from my series of “ouch of color.” This one is from my  archives. There were no flowers to show for today and I was in the mood for flowers. 

The third upload was “from the office supple store.” This one is already in use. I am not too neat when I open new packages. 

The last upload here is “bike.” This is also from my archives. I wasn’t out in an
area where there were bikes readily available for a photo. 

Life today. Monday’s back. I started with the usual Monday round up. I have the back portion of the bulletin done, waiting for the information I need for the rest. Also, got some more done on the newsletter. As far as I know I am done with it unless I get a late entry. After that I wanted to attend to a problem I was having. I had signed up and paid for my next class in still photography late last week but hadn’t gotten the go-ahead to start. I was able to take care of that this morning also. I will start it later this afternoon. 

I just got an email with the rest of the information I need to finish the bulletin. I will take care of that right now. 

Next I need to get started on the photos for today. I have them set up, I just need to shoot them and get them in Photoshop for  finishing and then to the web for uploads.

After that, is kitty care and house plant time. Then I may be done for the day except for making some dinner. 

The word today is root. Far from idleness being the root of all evil, it is rather the only true good. Soren Kierkegaard.  Whenever evil befalls us, we ought to ask ourselves, after the first suffering, how we can turn it into good. So shall we take occasion, from one bitter root, to raise perhaps many flowers. Leigh Hunt. Storms make oaks take deeper root. George Herbert. All truly wise thoughts have been thoughts already thousands of times; but to make them truly ours, we must think them over again honestly, till they take root in our personal experience. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. All our progress is an unfolding, like a vegetable bud. You have first an instinct, then an opinion, then a knowledge as the plant has root, bud, and fruit. Trust the instinct to the end, though you can render no reason. Ralph Waldo Emerson. The very spring and root of honesty and virtue lie in good education. Plutarch. Ignorance, the root and the stem of every evil. Plato. Love is like a tree, it grows of its own accord, it puts down deep roots into our whole being. Victor Hugo. There are a thousand hacking at the branches of evil to one who is striking at the root. Henry David Thoreau. Conscience is the root of all true courage; if a man would be brave let him obey his conscience. James Freeman Clarke. Wisdom has its root in goodness, not goodness its root in wisdom. Ralph Waldo Emerson. True glory takes root, and even spreads; all false pretences, like flowers, fall to the ground; nor can any counterfeit last long. Marcus Tullius Cicero. He that has energy enough to root out a vice should go further, and try to plant a virtue in its place. Charles Caleb Colton. Every duty is a charge, but the charge of oneself is the root of all others. Mencius. 

Article summary. I am a homebody, maybe too much so sometimes. I take after my mom, she also was a homebody. I have a bit of an inferiority complex or maybe better put a penchant in not wanting to interrupt the lives and habits of other people. When I was raising my kids I wanted them to grow up finding their own way in life, I didn’t want to interfere in their decisions and activities unless they were dangerous or wrong spiritually. I find ways now in my home with my sister to keep my mind and body busy so I don’t “barge” into the lives my families and friends have made. All of this doesn’t mean I dislike being around others, I miss those kinds of relationships in my heart. I like the digital age for giving me the ability to “visit” those I love and like. I deperately need daily contact with those closest to me in blood and by nature. Anyway, in the title “there’s no place like home” caught my attention. I wanted to see some of what is said about that part of life that may affect others and why. Though it is mainly about holidays, emotions are felt and expressed all year long. The article is Why there’s no place like home for the holidays. Frank T. McAndrew, Cornelia H. Dudley Professor of Psychology, Knox College. At theconversation.com.  I picked up on one of the early statements in the article that there is a “primal need to have a meaningful relationship with a setting.” It goes on to say, and I agree, the “place” contributes strongly to whom you are. I related to the notion mentioned in the article that your “fondness for a place” affects how you feel for other people. The article mentioned that psychologists say that the word home refers more than to a house, there are people, places and objects as well as memories that makes up “home.” People think of home in different ways, according to the article, where they were born and raised, where they live now, and some think where they had lived the longest. Further on in the article is mentioned that most think of a place that is a feel of comfort, something where there is less “chaos” than in the rest of places in their lives and experiences. I liked the notion they wrote that when children draw a picture where they live a house is at the center. In considering that statement, “home for the holidays”, home is a place to “renew a person’s place in the family.” In ending the author said “it is a bridge between your past and your present....a tether to your family and friends.” Right on!

I think I have some chili in the freezer, that will be dinner. 

Photos in my life today

The first upload for today is “hobby.” This is one of the several hobbies I have had over the years. This one is called paper quilling. Some of the other hobbies over the years were, paper marbling, calligraphy, pysanky (Ukrainian egg decorating), knitting, tatting, crocheting, and more.

The next challenge was “not often seen.” I don’t think we often see the sun
peaking through the clouds in this manner. I also like the bit or orange tinge on the edge of some of the clouds. 

The last upload for today is “something I borrowed.” This is a big “my bad.” These two items were given with cookies on them at Christmas time. I forgot to give them back after the holiday.

Joy

                                     alone