June 20, 2026 a thought for the day, Gratitude has gone to heaven and has taken the ladder. Polish Proverb

Photos in my life yesterday

My first challenge for yesterday was “glimmer”. This image is a flower that was shot in color and turned to a monochrome with painterly affect by a filter I chose to use. 

The next assignment was “my choice” and is another of my series of “texture
overlay”. I snapped this image on one of my photo excursions along the downtown river front. I like the lone evergreen along the gravel border. 

The last upload was “kitchen”. It is a small corner of my kitchen with m toaster, air fryer and mixer taking center stage. 

Life today. Saturdays still go by too fast. For me they have whizzed by in a heart beat since I was in elementary school (we didn’t have preschool way back then). It just seems ingrained to be a day to float along enjoying the quiet and no deadlines or “obligations” except to love life and day dream off and on. There is a graduation party today. I was invited. It seems age slows our ability to comfortably be part of the activities of young lives. The health issues of the past couple of weeks have added a bit of a sting to being outside for too long. 

Of course I had the grocery pick up .... it is no problem, it is all picked out for me according to my order choices. Before I went there today I stopped at CVS. I am out of my diabetes test strips. I saw on the CVS web site that they carried them with a price of $21.99. Once there I found it, took it to the register. It rang up a $95. I said whoa, no way. The clerk took it to the manager, again it rang a $95. I said I’ll try elsewhere. So I went across the street to Walgreen who had listed it as unavailable for pick up at that store, but I gave it a try anyway. It was there in the twice as many strips as the one a CVS for the price of $35.  

I leisurely, with spans of resting my legs, put the groceries away between periods at the computer for attention to letter and photos, and some searches for word meaning and other bits of minutia to add to my knowledge list as I rolled along in the day. There were a few moments to grab a hug from, not so much from as to, Bobbi, she yawns and puts up with it with no struggling in an attempt to get loose from my snuggle. 

The TV is on softly in the background with shows of remodeling along with some cooking, now and then catching my attention. 

The word today is acquire.  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. Mediocre men often have the most acquired knowledge. Claude Bernard. Men acquire a particular quality by constantly acting a particular way... you become just by performing just actions, temperate by performing temperate actions, brave by performing brave actions. Aristotle. The knowledge of the world is only to be acquired in the world, and not in a closet. Lord Chesterfield. Work and acquire, and thou hast chained the wheel of Chance. Ralph Waldo Emerson. Guard well within yourself that treasure, kindness. Know how to give without hesitation, how to lose without regret, how to acquire without meanness. George Sand. We should every night call ourselves to an account; What infirmity have I mastered today? What passions opposed? What temptation resisted? What virtue acquired? Our vices will abort of themselves if they be brought every day to the shrift. Seneca. With coarse rice to eat, with water to drink, and my bended arm for a pillow - I have still joy in the midst of these things. Riches and honors acquired by unrighteousness are to me as a floating cloud. Confucius. To reach something good it is very useful to have gone astray, and thus acquire experience. Saint Teresa Of Avila. Bodily exercise, when compulsory, does no harm to the body; but knowledge which is acquired under compulsion obtains no hold on the mind. Plato. Not by age but by capacity is wisdom acquired. Titus Maccius Plautus. One can acquire everything in solitude - except character. Marie Henri Beyle.  Blood is inherited and virtue is acquired. Venezuelan Proverb. Learning is acquired by reading books, but the much more necessary learning, the knowledge of the world, is only to be acquired by reading men, and studying all the various facets of them. Lord Chesterfield. A good decision is based on knowledge, and not on numbers. Plato. Acquire new knowledge whilst thinking over the old, and you may become a teacher of others. Confucius.

Article summary. Here I am with cats again, no surprise. I wanted to see a version of what life with them may have been in the middle ages. The title is Cats in the middle ages: what medieval manuscripts teach us about our ancestors’ pets. Madeleine S. Killacky, PhD Candidate, Medieval Literature, Bangor University. At theconversation.com/us. Some in that time in history believed cats were connected to the “supernatural” but further study showed that they were “surprisingly playful”. It was mentioned that in that time people “identified by the animals they kept”. Some of the pets were pet monkeys. Further it said that not to mention the attention and affection pets experienced in that time they also “signified high status” to the point of having portraits made including their pets. As the article went on is told of how history has shown that in the middle ages cats were seen in the presence of feasts or sitting by a fire place with a dog friend. Some pictures depict in one case cheese was specifically bought for the “manor” cat while even more amounts of money were spent on “accessories”. In 1387 there was a case where a collar was embroidered with pearls and a gold buckle for a preferred pet. In poems of the times cats were written about in a way that showed “strong emotional attachments” of the writer toward their cat companion. There is evidence that cats appeared in the cloisters as there are symbols of such in medieval manuscripts. There are nuns shown with cats and cat like doodles in the margins of Books of Hours. Along with those comfortable proofs in history there are also signs of some folks not considering cats as companions and helpful presences as the others folks did. Those thoughts led to cats being killed in large numbers. Still there is evidence of “playful images we see of them in monasteries”. As the article ended “artwork makes clear, our medieval ancestors’ relationships with these animals were not too different from our own.”

It’s going to be fish and biscuits for dinner. 

Photo in my life today

My first upload for today is another “glimmer”. One of my day lilies was on show today showing bright orange and yellow colors. 

The next challenge is “making a splash”. I drove by the park after I picked up the groceries to get this shot. 

The last assignment for today is “made from wood”. I took this shot a couple of days ago on my way to church. I noticed that new wood had been added to replace some that had seen their best day.

Joy

this bonus image was my upload of the abstract of torn paper strip to a Fine Art America contest today also showing a couple of the things the design in show on at my page, there are also sleeveless shirt for ladies and men

want to shop? Visit: fineartamerica.com search for joy rector click on “view shop”  and redbubble.com search for jarector (and take a look at flickr.com search for rectorjoyce)