April 5, 2026, What smarts, teaches. German Proverb

Photos in my life yesterday

The first upload for yesterday was “my choice” and is one of my series of “still life.” I love this calla lily. 

The next challenge was “a path.” This one is a state wide bicycle path running
here along side of a railroad track. 

The last upload is “cereal.” I have oat and cream of wheat on hand but didn’t want to fix them at the time so I chose some of my rice krispies. 

Life today. Easter has been more quiet this season than most have been for me especially the ones when my kids were young. However, for me this season seems to have been more deeply experiencing than others for some reason. 

The sermon was as one would expect for an Easter morning. The song that the choir sang for the anthem fit the day perfectly. The number of people at the service was about the same as any other of our Sunday services. I expected more since it is a special Sunday. 

As the years pass, holiday celebrations seem to change. When the children are young, we go all out with all or the typical traditions. As the families grow the familial connections seem to slowly fade in ready contact. Imagine that “fading” as it becomes just a little from one year to the next until one becomes a “senior citizen.” The thought for the “older” presences becomes less expected. Now that I think about it I think my own mother expressed something like that to me. 

As I was about to finish the letter Lowell and Rebecca stopped. What a nice surprise. And they brought me a tasty supper. 

The word today is stake. Never interrupt your enemy when he is making a mistake. Napoleon Bonaparte. The greatest mistake is trying to be more agreeable than you can be. Walter Bagehot. It is a mistake to regard age as a downhill grade toward dissolution. The reverse is true. As one grows older, one climbs with surprising strides. George Sand. Experience teaches slowly and at the cost of mistakes. James A. Froude. When you make a mistake, don't look back at it long. Take the reason of the thing into your mind and then look forward. Mistakes are lessons of wisdom. The past cannot be changed. The future is yet in your power. Hugh White. Wise men profit more from fools than fools from wise men; for the wise men shun the mistakes of fools, but fools do not imitate the successes of the wise. Cato the Elder. No one could make a greater mistake than he who did nothing because he could do only a little. Edmund Burke. Mistake not. Those pleasures are not pleasures that trouble the quiet and tranquillity of thy life. Jeremy Taylor. We must not say every mistake is a foolish one. Cicero. There is no greater mistake than the hasty conclusion that opinions are worthless because they are badly argued. Thomas H. Huxley. A man who has committed a mistake and doesn't correct it, is committing another mistake. Confucius. Experience is the name everyone gives to their mistakes. Oscar Wilde. To make no mistakes is not in the power of man; but from their errors and mistakes the wise and good learn wisdom for the future. Plutarch. Faith is a living, daring confidence in God's grace, so sure and certain that a man could stake his life on it a thousand times. Martin Luther. Your own safety is at stake when your neighbor's wall is ablaze. Horace. 

Article summary. I lean a lot toward animals and their inborn natures as related to our connections with them. I think there is something to learn about, from and for them. In this case it the story is about how dogs have an instinct or natural capability to influence our stress level more than we may imagine. Now that my best animal friend is a cat I am hoping that they share them to also “influence our stress.” The title is Dogs are helping people regulate stress even more than expected, research shows. Kevin Morris, Research Professor of Social Work, University of Denver. Jaci Gandenberger, Research Associate of Social Work, University of Denver. At theconversation.com. The article starts by sharing some information from surveys that show results of research about stress levels that include cancer, heart disease, immune situations and dementia. It continues by the saying that this may be where dogs can help. To back that idea up they show other research listing one at the “University of Denver’s Institute for Human-Animal Connection” has conducted studies for the past 40 years that confirms “pet dogs help humans feel more relaxed.” They say now that a new study shows something that “suggests that dogs might have a deeper and more biologically complex effect” on humans than “previously believed.” These new tests go deeper into “physiological pathways allowing for a more complete picture of a “dog’s presence affects stress in the human body.” They have measured the “fight or flight” responses in humans along with the “surf of adrenaline” along with the production of a hormone called cortisol. The reason the cortisol is important in this particular story is that it is found in saliva when stress is relieved. They have found when the cortisol is lower the person being tested is with a dog. This shows that the person is calmer that is only part of the story. One of the tests they went on with produced further evidence of relief to humans. They used 40 dog owners in a 15 minute test. They were asked to do public speaking and ‘oral’ math in front of a panel. They were “randomly” told to bring their dogs or to leave them at home. The cortisol was measured before and after the test. They found that the people with the dogs showed an expected lower cortisol. There was a blood level also tested something called alpha amylase. The people without the dogs had no response. That part of the test shows a “change how our nervous system responds to stressors”.  The people with the dogs had a more balanced response. It showed that they were alert and “engaged” during the test and returned to normal reaction senses “within 45 minutes”. It shows that dogs keep us “in a healthy zone of stress response.” Due to these tests there are new studies planned to “delve deeper into the biology of how psychiatric service dogs reduce PTSD in military veterans” that I hope will find to be helpful in other areas of human health. I am also believing that cat can cause the same health benefits. 

Dinner will be one of my pre cooked and frozen dinners, maybe tuna casserole. 

Photos in my life today

This first upload is another of the “my choice” and another of my series of “still life.” I am getting a lot of red in my still lifes right now. 

This next challenge is “water.” I had a perfect rain puddle on the driveway to it for this one. 

My last upload for today is “next to me.” This is Bobbi on her window
“hammock” next to my desk chair. She is there to keep me company a good bit of the day.

Joy 

        my pussy willow has gone by the wayside this is the only thing I have left of it