My Life, My World

January 31, 2026 a thought for today, Even a small star shines in the darkness. Finnish Proverb

Photos in my life yesterday

The first unload for today is “a goal I’m working on”. This is a view of my computer screen showing the online master class I am taking. It is in still life photography.

The next upload was “boot, ski, or snow shoes”. This is my only pair of
“boots”.

The last challenge in this group is “letters”. I don’t get too many letters any more since most of my communication now days are emails and texts.

Life today. I messed around this morning looking up information for thoughts I was entertaining as I woke up this morning. To be more accurate I should say during the time Bobbi was waking me up to throw a plastic ball for her. The thoughts weren’t necessarily about her just things I was thinking of and plans I was making. Some were thoughts of friends and family and how much each mean to me. I was having questions in my head some that needed bits of biblical answers.

Yesterday I was finally able to get out of the driveway. I made it to church for the printing and to drop off mail. Then to the pharmacy to pick up meds and Pepsi for Sue. It felt good to get the car out of the drive way for a bit.

Sue and I had been trying to find someone to dig her car out of snow drifts by the curb. BTW, it isn’t that I haven’t been telling her to park at the back of the driveway with me, she just seems to feel it’s more convenient and easier for her to park in the front. Anyway, when I got home yesterday someone was digging her car out. We didn’t know who it was because we hadn’t been able to get hold of anyone. We found out it was Lowell out there doing all the digging and lifting. We didn’t recognize him in all the winter garb until he came to the door.

When I got up this morning planning to pick up my curbside grocery pick up at eleven o’clock it was -7 degrees . I wasn’t at all sure that the car would start. About 10:30 I went out to see if the car would start and then let it run to warm up, I had stopped for gas while I was out yesterday. It started instantly.

I have the groceries put away. I set up photo shoots for the day and worked in the Photoshop “darkroom” to process them for uploads.

I am going to take my online class for today and the get some dinner and shut the computer down.

The word for today is reach. The heights by great men reached and kept were not attained by sudden flight, but they while their companions slept, were toiling upward in the night. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. You never know till you try to reach them how accessible men are; but you must approach each man by the right door. Henry Ward Beecher. Seek not, my soul, the life of the immortals; but enjoy to the full the resources that are within thy reach. Pindar. The summit of happiness is reached when a person is ready to be what he is. Desiderius Erasmus. He that would make his own liberty secure, must guard even his enemy from oppression; for if he violates this duty, he establishes a precedent that will reach to himself. Thomas Paine. Nevertheless the passions, whether violent or not, should never be so expressed as to reach the point of causing disgust; and music, even in situations of the greatest horror, should never be painful to the ear but should flatter and charm it, and thereby always remain music. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. To reach something good it is very useful to have gone astray, and thus acquire experience. Saint Teresa Of Avila. Ah, but a man's reach should exceed his grasp - or what's a heaven for? Robert Browning. By perseverance the snail reached the ark. Charles Haddon Spurgeon. Help thy brother's boat across, and lo! thine own has reached the shore. Hindu Proverb. On the mountains of truth you can never climb in vain: either you will reach a point higher up today, or you will be training your powers so that you will be able to climb higher tomorrow. Friedrich Nietzsche. The will to win, the desire to succeed, the urge to reach your full potential... these are the keys that will unlock the door to personal excellence. Confucius. Do not fear mistakes. You will know failure. Continue to reach out. Benjamin Franklin. Music is the movement of sound to reach the soul for the education of its virtue. Plato. The power of choosing good and evil is within the reach of all. Origen. And out of darkness came the hands that reach thro' nature, moulding men. Alfred Lord Tennyson. He that loves reading has everything within his reach. William Godwin. If you wish to reach the highest, begin at the lowest. Publilius Syrus.

Article summary. Seashells seem to be an attraction for most of my family so this title seemed to hit home. The place where I choose the majority of my articles are researched and written by academic researchers, PhD candidates, and scholars affiliated with accredited universities or research institutions. A few of the articles they research and answer are questions sent to them by young public school students. This is one of the questions. The title to this article is Where do seashells come from? Michal Kowalewski, Thompson Chair of Invertebrate Paleontology, University of Florida. Thomas K. Frazer, Professor of Biological Oceanography, College of Marine Science, University of South Florida. It opens by mentioning an estimate of 2 trillion shells along the Gulf of California. Sea shells are “skeletons on the beach”. They are actually “exoskeletons” the outside of the bodies of “mollusks”, animals with an outer shell. Some are “echinoids”, sand dollars. These animals are able to “build there on shells to protect their soft bodies”. This forming of the outer shell is called biomineralization, made with “biologically controlled” minerals. There are 50,000 species of mollusk on earth. Each species makes a different shell. These shells turn into fossils which are preserved remains of the animal. When the shells are found “seashell experts” can tell what sea creature made it. Seashells last for a long time. As they age scientists can determine their age. The article said that some have been determined to be “hundreds or thousands of years old”. Shells carry with them information from the past like the place where they had lived. Scientists can even tell what the climate and environment might have been. Marks on the shells may tell what happened to the creature during its life. The article ended by saying “each shell is a little diary”.

I am going to have baked salmon and rice for dinner.

Photos in my life today

This first upload is “feather”. This is one that was in my collection of hobby supplies. I also found a wee tiny one in the snow as I was coming in the back door, it got lost. It was so tiny a bit of my breath blew it away, I couldn’t find it after that.