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