December 5, 2021a thought for today, The shortest distance between two people is a smile. African Proverb

Here it is Sunday again. This was one had a few “stops” besides church. First I had bible study before church service, then immediately following bible study we had a quick choir rehearsal before the service began. Between the rehearsal and the service I had a very good friend ask if I could go to the office and make a copy of an important document for him. I didn’t want to miss the first parts of the service so I waited for a time that wouldn’t be disturbing to others as I walked quietly out, made the copy and rejoined in about ten minutes. Following church service there was a monthly meeting that I attend as a “sit-in”. My sister had asked that I pick up some medicine for her on my way home from church since I am close to the pharmacy, so that was my next stop. I made a quick stop at McDonald’s for a brunch for Bob and me. 

The photo challenge for December 4 was “this is Joy!”. Putting up a Christmas tree to honor this season is a joy, a bit of work, but work well worth it.

During the prelude at church,  I looked around the sanctuary to see if there were photos to meet my two challenges for today. I found one of them, I found the other on my way home at McDonalds. 

The rest of the day is going to be my normal Sunday of contemplation and mentally communing with questions of hope and faith. 

The word for to day is joy. When you rise in the morning, give thanks for the light, for your life, for your strength. Give thanks for your food and for the joy of living. If you see no reason to give thanks, the fault lies in yourself. Tecumseh. He who binds to himself a joy Does the winged life destroy; But he who kisses the joy as it flies Lives in eternity's sun rise. William Blake.  There is no pain so great as the memory of joy in present grief. Aeschylus.  A thing of beauty is a joy forever: its loveliness increases; it will never pass into nothingness. John Keats.  Friendship improves happiness and abates misery, by the doubling of our joy and the dividing of our grief. Marcus Tullius Cicero. Find ecstasy in life; the mere sense of living is joy enough. Emily Dickinson. The pain of parting is nothing to the joy of meeting again. Charles Dickens. It is a fine seasoning for joy to think of those we love. Moliere. Things won are done, joy's soul lies in the doing. William Shakespeare. Love is the joy of the good, the wonder of the wise, the amazement of the Gods. Plato.  

One of the photo themes for today is “light”. I have used this particular image for other entries. For me it is a definition of light that has more than just the meaning of a bulb in a socket. 

 Here’s a bit of information that may turn out to be useful at some point in life’s adventures. The article is about how leaf and lawn litter gives food and shelter to “various animals”. The article opens with an explanation of the sounds of leaf blowers particularly gas-powered ones and how annoying that sound is to many people. For further suggestions about the leaf blower’s affect on the life, and death, of vegetation it was stated that “about 470 million years ago” plants appeared on earth. Moving on in this missive, things started changing about 350 million years ago, “trees began their evolutionary ascent” and still later into deciduousness. Leaves began to fall and became a part of ecology and its miracle of further evolution. The decomposition of leaves enriched the soil with carbon, nitrogen, and phosphorus thus attracting “myriad forms of animal life”. The smaller creatures such as worms and other “invertebrates” became food for birds and other animals. Fallen leaves and grass clippings are not only a food they are a home, a hiding place, a shelter of sorts. Even butterflies and moths take advantage of the natural existence of foliage. I learned from the article that there is even a moth called a “litter moth” who spends their whole lives “eggs, caterpillars, cocoons and adults” in these decaying materials. The moths become food for bats as well as act as pollinators of sorts. Birds are nourished by the caterpillar phase of the moth’s existence. So, according to the article when the leaf blowers move the fallen leaves and other debris to be hauled away they are contributing to the survival or lack thereof to other creatures. Other animals such as toads, squirrels, rabbits and the list goes on to  find a sanctuary in this matter of nature.

The second photo for today is titled “ a poem title”. My title for this image is “a love letter to nature” by Sue Monk Kidd.  It a gift form heaven, a home for creatures and an image for the human eye to behold and study and contemplate. 

I think it is going to be taco bell for dinner tonight. 

Joy

why?

 December 3, 2021 a thought for today, Worry is like a rocking chair it swings you back and forth and it takes you nowhere. African Proverb

I believe we learn something every day. Sometimes it’s things we don’t even recognize as a learning experience but it is one nonetheless. Today I learned as I should have long, long ago that it doesn’t pay to give into worrying about something that may never come about. I spent hours worrying about renewing my drivers license with all the “new” information they requested. That required hours of looking through old papers and  knickknacks searching for what I needed all the while bringing memories back again, some sad, some glad. I didn’t find the exact paper work that I felt was called for but some that I thought would work so I made the trip to the BMV. There is a new system here that you can “check in” at home on the computer (or cell phone) and then head out .....saves time on the waiting. So, another learning experience, I went through the steps that that called for. After I short wait I found that I didn’t need all of that information after all. There were two choices of driver licenses...one called standard, the other,  a “compliant license”. (The "compliant" meets new federal requirements and will work as an ID for domestic air travel.) I could have saved myself all of that worry and work had I spent more time on Google researching the differences. I opted for the standard license, at least for now. For one reason, I don’t plan to fly anytime soon, another reason, I was missing one of the important pieces of paper work. However, for the next time I need to renew I ordered the other necessary documentation that will fit the regulations for the new “REAL ID”. If I find it necessary, I can always go through the process of updating again. Now it’s time to move on to other things in motion in my journey. 

Back to yesterday for a moment, the photo theme for December 2nd was “star”. I was shopping in a drug store yesterday and found this Christmas card. It had the special star depicted on the front and seemed the perfect image for the day and the season. 

Yesterday was productive. I got the printing done without any delays. I also observed part of the continual upkeep/maintenance to our church property. It was a bit sad for me but necessary. All of the trees on the property were being cut down. Most of them were cut down for the purpose of erecting a new privacy fence to further an effort to make protection around us even more secure. I guess I am a softy. I don’t like the destruction of any living thing of natures creation. Maybe we can plant some new trees to surround God’s house with the nature of trees and their natural inhabitants. 

We are experiencing a break in cold weather. I think it will be short lived but welcome.

To let some more of the stress of the license renewal episode ease it’s way out of my system I worked on updating the church calendar that I maintain on the church web page. I unintentionally slacked off on that obligation thinking there was little outside (or “inside” for that matter) interest in our web page and my efforts seems wasted. But recently I found that apparently there are actually people visiting our page so the information should be current. 

Todays photo challenge is “I love this!”  Welll, as anyone who keeps up with this bog knows I love McDonalds and White Castle. So it seems this is the perfect image. 

The word for today is inward.  The aim of art is to represent not the outward appearance of things, but their inward significance. Aristotle. A man who as a physical being is always turned toward the outside, thinking that his happiness lies outside him, finally turns inward and discovers that the source is within him. Soren Kierkegaard. To live happily is an inward power of the soul. Marcus Aurelius. Knowledge is not a passion from without the mind, but an active exertion of the inward strength, vigor and power of the mind, displaying itself from within. Ralph Cudworth. The outward work will never be puny if the inward work is great. Meister Eckhart.  As we grow old, the beauty steals inward. Ralph Waldo Emerson.  I pray on the principle that wine knocks the cork out of a bottle. There is an inward fermentation, and there must be a vent. Henry Ward Beecher.  When we see men of worth, we should think of equalling them; when we see men of a contrary character, we should turn inward and examine ourselves. Gustave Courbet. Quietude, which some men cannot abide because it reveals their inward poverty, is as a palace of cedar to the wise, for along its hallowed courts the King in his beauty deigns to walk. Charles Spurgeon.  We rarely hear the inward music, but we're all dancing to it nevertheless. Rumi. Let tears flow of their own accord; their flowing is not inconsistent with inward peace and harmony. Seneca the Younger.

Here is another of those places near us that adds to our history and places to see. This article is an experience about the Malabar Farm located in an area of our city. The story begins when an eighty eight year old lady who once lived at the farm returned for a visit. She noted that the rooster crowing in the back ground, the look of the hardwood floors and the red and white furniture matching the red carpeting on the double staircase and including the white wallpaper hasn’t seemed to change in all the year since she had left. The farm is now a park where the property has been preserved as much as possible “providing a place where visitors can explore life on a farm and the beauty of nature.”  She lived there for nine years beginning when she was nine years old with her mother who was a cook at Malabar. As a side note about the owner:  Louis Bromfield, born in Mansfield, Ohio,... would go on to win a Pulitzer Prize for his novel Early Autumn and become one of America’s first proponents of sustainable agriculture and conservation”.In a bit earlier life he was an ambulance driver in the Army during World War I. He lived in Paris for a while until 1938 when he came back to Ohio with a wife and three daughters and bought the farm. He used organic methods that he had “learned in India”. He added raising livestock and used unique methods called sustainable agriculture in his farming as he continued with he writing. The writing helped with the financing of the farm. Some of his writings, because they were picked up by Hollywood led him to meet James Cagney and Humphrey Bogart. Humphrey married Lauren Bacall at the Malabar Farm. The now eighty eight year old lady (from the opening sentences), remembers watching the wedding that took place at the bottom of the bottom of the double staircase as photographer were shooting pictures as they stood outside the windows. She said Mr. Bromfield was a down to earth guy and treated everyone, all people in all social circles and races, with kindness. She went on describing memories as she recalled them. The chestnut puree that her mother made for Mr. Bromfield. After Mr. Bromfield died her mother stayed at the farm and cleaned the home and cooked until 1989. Malabar Farm became a state park in 1976.This year there were over 6,000 tours this year that doesn’t include the people who hike and picnic at the farm with more visiting during the Heritage Days and Maple syrup festivals. The article related that the farm continues to follow the “farming philosophies” as well as “preserving the house... and artifacts (of the period)”. 

Pizza night!!!

Joy

Autumn leaves....and a distraction

 December 1, 2021 a thought for today, Without fingers, the hand would be a spoon. African Proverb

I need to get my drivers license renewed this year, this month actually. When I realized that it dawned on me that we need extra paper work now to get the license renewed. So I have been frantically searching for my birthday certificate, my marriage license and my Social Security card. In all my searching I found a copy of my hospital birth certificate (but not the state issued one). I have my Social Security card but my marriage license was lost years and years ago. I think I am going to attempt to go to the BMV Friday to see if what paper work I have been able to find will be enough. If not I will have to make some visits downtown.

The photo challenge for the last day of December was “gold” . This is a gold and engraved vase that I have had around the house for quite a long time. I don’t know if it is “vintage” yet....but old. With it’s bright glow it had to be my choice for subject matter that day. 

I finished the bulletin and all the other usual paper work for tomorrows printing. 

One of my chores today was the same as yesterday to continue my search for the birth certificate so I cleaned out a storage trunk where I keep mostly office supplies. I had a stack of papers and small boxes that needed to be trashed. But no certificates. After that task I got the dish washer ready to run. 

Since yesterday was the last day of the month, I am including my composite of my photo of the day offerings for the month of December 2021. 

The word for today (and food for thought) is intellect. I do not feel obliged to believe that the same God who has endowed us with sense, reason, and intellect has intended us to forgo their use. Galileo Galilei. Character is higher than intellect. A great soul will be strong to live as well as think. Ralph Waldo Emerson. Two qualities are indispensable: first, an intellect that, even in the darkest hour, retains some glimmerings of the inner light which leads to truth; and second, the courage to follow this faint light wherever it may lead. Carl von Clausewitz. Intellect is the swiftest of things, for it runs through everything. Thales. Although our intellect always longs for clarity and certainty, our nature often finds uncertainty fascinating. Carl von Clausewitz. Thought is the labor of the intellect, reverie is its pleasure. Victor Hugo. The greater intellect one has, the more originality one finds in men. Ordinary persons find no difference between men. Blaise Pascal. The true grandeur of humanity is in moral elevation, sustained, enlightened and decorated by the intellect of man. Charles Sumner. Sense is a line, the mind is a circle. Sense is like a line which is the flux of a point running out from itself, but intellect like a circle that keeps within itself. Ralph Cudworth. Pull the thorn of existence out of the heart! Fast! For when you do, you will see thousands of rose gardens in yourself,  Rumi Jalalu'l-Din. Intellectual passion drives out sensuality. Leonardo da Vinci 

The photo theme for today is “starts with T”.  What is more suitable that tea for T. A glass of my iced tea with the tea bag label.

There are a lot of articles about the holiday right now. This one hit near home, Mt. Sterling, so I thought it may be of some interest. There is a Christmas in the Village to be held on December 4 from 4 to 8 pm. There will be an “illuminated” parade running from the center of Main Street over to Columbus Street and then north on London Street. Anyone can take part in the parade by contacting one of the organizers. Santa is already signed up to take part in the parade. Then he will appear in the gazebo with Mrs. Clause for the tree lighting and for the children. There will be candy and photos. There will be vendors along the way. Many of the businesses will be open with sales and giveaways. At one point children can “make reindeer food”. There is an activity scheduled for folks to collect stamps in the businesses for a chance to win prize, one being a basket filled with up to $100 worth of items. This year there will be a live nativity scene with a petting zoo. Something else new is horse drawn carriage rides.  There will be caricature artist and face painter, a giving tree, a best dressed pet entry, a chili contest (any donation there will go to Mason Park. The Mount Sterling Community Center will not be open this year for the event. There will be a place in the town hall for kids to make ornaments and write letters to Santa. Three will be a tree auction for a decorated table top tree. Small towns can be so much fun in all seasons. 

It’s going to be hot dogs/coney’s for dinner tonight, and mashed potato soup. 

Joy

textures

 November 29, 2021 a thought for today, The wound that bleeds inwardly is the most dangerous. Arabic Proverb

I decided I needed to go to the grocery store today so instead of getting an early morning start on the bulletin as I usually do we left for Kroger. Since Bob is on vacation, he made the unloading the car much easier for me. All the walking in the store still took its tole on the aching legs. So the desk chair will be where I will be found for most of the rest of the day. 

The photo theme for November 28 was “pastel”.  I looked around the room and in the kids toy box for something in pastel colors. I found this balloon that one of the kids had left the last time they were here for a sleep over. 

On the way home from the store I searched for something I could use for my image for today’s photo theme. 

The only other thing I plan to get done today is at least a beginning on the bulletin. The rest of the day will be another of those laid back and move slowly days of a senior citizen.

The word for today is integrity.  No man knows the value of innocence and integrity but he who has lost them, William Godwin. He who closes his ears to the views of others shows little confidence in the integrity of his own views, William Congreve.  Subtlety may deceive you; integrity never will, Oliver Cromwell. The strength of a nation derives from the integrity of the home, Confucius. Confidence in others' honesty is no light testimony of one's own integrity, Michel de Montaigne. Nothing is at last sacred but the integrity of your own mind, Ralph Waldo Emerson.  Waste no more time arguing about what a good man should be. Be one, Marcus Aurelius.  I am not bound to win, but I am bound to be true. I am not bound to succeed, but I am bound to live up to what light I have, Abraham Lincoln. I will not deny but that the best apology against false accusers is silence and sufferance, and honest deeds set against dishonest words, John Milton.  Our deeds still travel with us from afar, And what we have been makes us what we are, George Eliot.  You shall not, for the sake of one individual, change the meaning of principle and integrity,  Jane Austen. 

Today’s photo challenge  “bright”. I was looking for all kinds of reflections of the beautiful sunlight we were having that day. There were lots of sparkles off of car windows and metal objects along the road . I shot this one and liked the bright blue sky, just to add an extra point there is the bright red stop light. 

 This article is about some holiday activities happening in Grove City.  There is a Grove City Christmas Celebration and Mistletoe Market on December 3rd and 9th in the Town Center. They will be lighting the Town Center Christmas tree. There will be a concert and a Nutcracker Hunt. The article explained that the activities will open with the Nutcracker Hunt on November 28th. The 47 nutcrackers have to be found to win a grand prize holiday basket. Children can put a wish list in the Santa mailbox in front of the Grove City Welcome Center and Museum. Visitors are encouraged to shop for seasonal and creative gift items, artwork, decorations, and enjoy treats and food on the food trucks. A parade will begin at 7pm on Friday, December 3. The tree lighting will take place after the parade. There will be an open house on the 4th at the Century Village and the Grove City Museum. There will be “vintage Christmas traditions” and visits with Saint Nick. Folks in period costumes will have stories of the past in three different locations. One new thing this year will be a list of decorated homes for people to pass by and enjoy. There will be photos with Santa, a breakfast with Santa, “Reindeer Rides”, cookies and punch from “Grinch as he roams historic Town Center”, and a Santa s Workshop full of activities. 

I am making meatloaf and mashed potatoes for dinner. 

Joy

 oooops mixed that huge opening on the trash dumpster...

 

 November 27, 2021 a thought for today, Words are sounds of the heart. Chinese Proverb

We had a new experience on Thursday....going out to dinner for Thanksgiving. Going to Bob Evans wasn’t quite what I expected. When we were seated at the table, we had a menu with one side entirely Thanksgiving related, turkey, ham, dressing, mashed potatoes, and so on. The other side of the one page menu was simple breakfast offerings. There were no other choices. I had my taste buds fixed on a nice fish dinner. I’m sure that kind of menu is helpful for the kitchen and for keeping things straight. My other surprise was that when I chose my three sides, green beans, mac and cheese and mashed potatoes. Of the three choices I got mashed potatoes and corn (no green beans and no mac and cheese but corn I didn’t order). After the long wait to be seated and another wait for the food to be put on the tale I decided not to complain. It was an adventure and at least I didn’t need to be tied up with fixing food and cleaning up. Another observation was that there were as many people standing in line to pick up full take out meals as there were people waiting to be seated or to pay afterward. 

Yesterday’s photo challenge was titled “dark”. Last night as I laid in bed after I had read some of my book I glanced out the window and noticed the bright moon between the bare tree branches. I just had to grab my cell phone camera right next to my hand and capture an image of this moment in time. In the right-hand corner is a slight showing of the reflection of the street light in the alley behind my house.  

It’s interesting and inescapable to reflect on past Thanksgivings (along with other family holidays) and how they change as families grow and expand. In the beginning it’s kind of “over the river and through the woods to grandmother’s house we go”...it grows and “glows” as in-laws and the new lives are added, and others may choose to take a new direction, as the years go by....finally reaching the time when age, energy and family size has gradually taken a turn in life’s journey as it moves into the September years that must come as we become senior citizens. All of this brings experience and awe toward the things that do and must come with the gift of life. In the end loving memories take the place of warm activity.

Yesterday I went in to church to meet up with Dorothy to put the finishing touches on the newsletter. We had some extra things to add in the fold so it made the letter puff up leaving a wide opening at the top. I was concerned about it not going through the postal machines correctly so we had to decide how to correct the situation. We ended up adding a staple to the top section. Hopefully that will pass the post office inspection. 

Today is the Saturday after the busiest week of the month for me. The bulletin and the newsletter are done, the newsletter done for another month. So other than getting the coloring book ready for the free meal tonight I am keeping things low and slow. The one thing I had to get out of the way was paying bills. 

The word today (food for thought) is instinct.  Instinct guides the animal better than the man. In the animal it is pure, in man it is led astray by his reason and intelligence, Denis Diderot.  The very essence of instinct is that it's followed independently of reason, Charles Darwin.  Five thousand years have added no improvement to the hive of the bee, nor to the house of the beaver; but look at the habitations and the achievements of men! Charles Caleb Colton.   Reason shows itself in all occurrences of life; whereas the brute makes no discovery of such a talent, but in what immediately regards his own preservation or the continuance of his species, Joseph Addison. An instinct is an agent which performs blindly and ignorantly a work of intelligence and knowledge, Sir William Hamilton, 9th Baronet. Who speaks to the instincts speaks to the deepest in mankind, and finds the readiest response, Amos Bronson Alcott.  The instinct of the people is right, Ralph Waldo Emerson. The soul, by an instinct stronger than reason, ever associates beauty with truth, Henry Theodore Tuckerman.  What is now reason was formerly impulse or instinct, Ovid.  The wise are instructed by reason, average minds by experience, the stupid by necessity and the brute by instinct. Marcus Tullius Cicero.  Love has its own instinct, finding the way to the heart, as the feeblest insect finds the way to its flower, with a will which nothing can dismay nor turn aside. Honore de Balzac. Physical bravery is an animal instinct; moral bravery is much higher and truer courage. Wendell Phillips. The true and the approximately true are apprehended by the same faculty; it may also be noted that men have a sufficient natural instinct for what is true, and usually do arrive at the truth. Hence the man who makes a good guess at truth is likely to make a good guess at probabilities. Aristotle. 

Today’s photo theme is not a great surprise when you consider yesterday’s theme.... today's is “light”.  This is the lighting set up for my indoor house plant garden with only part of one of the Boston ferns caught in the exposure. 

This article is an assorted set of  tid bits of history about a Thanksgiving of the past in 1921. The day began with a steady downpour. The rain kept the street clear and with very little traffic only football fans complained but the games did go on. As the article stated then the day was considered a religious holiday. For people who had no home the Volunteers of America helped out with free meals. According to the article one thousand baskets were filled and given out. In the basket was a “peck of potatoes, a half-peck of apples, canned goods, coffee, sugar and bread”. Added to the basket for sick or “aged persons’ was fruit and jelly. In many homes that year roast beef with brown gravy and potatoes were the “staples” for the meal. Though turkeys were readily available so were chickens, ducks and geese sold at 30, 35 and 40 cents. I learned from this article that a place then called the Columbus Barracks (later Ft. Hayes) Thanksgiving dinners fed 400 officers and men when the year before it served 1400 men. That meal included “turkey, cranberry sauce, oyster dressing, mince pie, chocolate cake and the other necessary attributes.” Also, in 1921 turkey was served at the deaf and the blind schools. That article further stated that “no religious services were given at the state penitentiary in the morning”, motion pictures were shown instead and roast pork was the main part of the meal. At the reformatory in Marysville rabbit was served. At the state hospital roast port was served and special music and literary programs preformed.  Many “fashionable restaurants” stayed open along with local theaters, many still being “live theaters”. Another thing I learned from the article is that there was a restaurant called the Oriental in existence then that served a Thanksgiving Day dinner from 11am to 8pm for $1.75 a plate. Some of the sides offered with that meal were oyster cocktail, heart of celery, queen olives, puree of croutons, chicken a la Reine, roast Vermont turkey, or fried chicken a la Maryland and Oriental lobster salad, and asparagus tips in the dessert. Interesting!

We are having the Omaha Steaks spiral sliced holiday ham and trimmings that Lowell ordered for our (mine, Bob and Sue’s) Thanksgiving today instead of on Thursday by my choice. 

Joy 

all alone and feelin’ sad

 November 25, 2021 a thought for today, Words are mere bubbles of water, but deeds are drops of gold. Chinese Proverb

It seems this Thanksgiving isn’t going to be a whole lot different than any other day for me and for Bob and for Sue. There is a memory I can’t quite forget that adds just a touch of a sting.....my mother passed away on this day about thirty years ago. I still see her face and feel her arms around me. 

First lets revisit yesterday for a minute....my photo challenge for the 24th was “matching”. The most handy thing I could find to fill the purpose on a very busy day was my red cloth and the matching, in color, red tin. 

Anyway, I got up at the “usual Thursday time” to go print the bulletin and newsletter that I had finished yesterday. For the past few months the copier wasn’t stapling the newsletter as it should. We had it fixed. It worked! at least for seventy-five copies. Then I ran five as extras. That’s when the copier started jamming and stopped stapling. I’m wondering now if perhaps there is something I didn’t find when I removed the jams. Maybe there is another one I didn’t catch. I will check that out the next time I am there.  I got the job done and everything placed at least. 

When I got home, I got to the daily computer “stuff” and started the laundry. 

So the only thing left on my agenda for today is to finish the laundry after our Thanksgiving dinner at Bob Evans.

The word (and food for thought) today is inspirational. Start by doing what's necessary; then do what's possible; and suddenly you are doing the impossible. Francis of Assisi. Out of difficulties grow miracles. Jean de la Bruyere.  If I have seen further than others, it is by standing upon the shoulders of giants. Isaac Newton.  Ah, but a man's reach should exceed his grasp, Or what's a heaven for? Robert Browning.  Light tomorrow with today! Elizabeth Barrett Browning.  What lies behind you and what lies in front of you, pales in comparison to what lies inside of you. Ralph Waldo Emerson. Happiness resides not in possessions, and not in gold, happiness dwells in the soul. Democritus.  It is never too late to be what you might have been. George Eliot.  A great man is a torch in the darkness, a beacon in superstition's night, an inspiration and a prophecy. Robert Green Ingersoll.  Do not quench your inspiration and your imagination; do not become the slave of your model. Vincent Van Gogh.  The perfect knowledge of events cannot be acquired without divine inspiration, since all prophetic inspiration receives its prime motivating force from God the creator, then from good fortune and nature. Nostradamus. No one was ever great without some portion of divine inspiration. Marcus Tullius Cicero.  Our moments of inspiration are not lost though we have no particular poem to show for them; for those experiences have left an indelible impression, and we are ever and anon reminded of them. Henry David Thoreau.  

The photo theme for today is “natural”. The most natural thing in the world is nature’s gifts. So here is a shot of what nature had in store for us today, rain, puddles, reflections, and the dying (resting) garden in the church parking lot.

Here’s another story about a different view near our city. It is about bison....you know...buffalo. We have then “roaming” southwest of Columbus at a place called Cherokee Valley Bison Ranch. I is located on fifty acres in Thornville, Ohio.  The owner thought  about it after eating her fist taste of bison meat. Thinking the bison meat was so good she wanted to eat it more often.  She said she was thinking about raising goats and chickens on her farm but after the meal of bison she decided to try to raise bison instead.  So she spent time learning about it. Her grandparents had her 160 acres. She divided it with her five children. Her grandmother was a native American, Cherokee, so the bison ranch was given that name. People’s interest in trying bison meat and/or learning more about the “United States’ National Mammal” has kept her interest in the project going. People visit her ranch to buy the meat or to attend a workshop about the animals. Her herd has grown in size and she is proud to offer fresh meat to the community. She now offers a “Hipcamp Site” that has an authentic 22' Sioux-style tipi” where visitors can stay and have the opportunity to roam the ranch. At this point in time there is a baby bison, named Peaches, being bottle-fed. Visitor enjoy watching this event. She and her husband enjoy raising the bison and this time in their lives. In closing the article she relates that “They (the bison) are the epitome of resiliency—all that they have been through from nearly being exterminated to 600,000 plus and growing!”

Thanksgiving dinner at Bob Evans today....don’t have to cook or clear away....just relax, contemplate and enjoy. 

Joy

textures and colors and......a blob

 November 23, 2021 a thought for today, True words may not be pleasant, pleasant words may not be true. Chinese Proverb

The girls didn’t get to come on Sunday afternoon but came late and spent the night. Monday morning I did what I could on the bulletin and parts of the newsletter then took the kids to Dollar General to shop. Then we had lunch at McDonalds, I was proud of the way they behaved this time, much better than the last time. Then we had a stop by the park until Sonja slid down the sliding board into a puddle of water. 

Yesterday’s photo theme was “on my feet”. That is a true challenge, some thing on my feet. It could be lots of things as many of my peers in this photo group shared. Mine is my comfy slippers resting on the stool that lies below my computer desk. 

Today started with more work on the newsletter, I still didn’t have all the information I need for the bulletin. At this point I have the newsletter done up to the photos, the minister’s page and one of the blank blocks on the calendar. Hopefully I will be able to finish both tomorrow morning. 

I keep telling myself I really have to get to work on the family Christmas calendar but keep putting it off. I doubt at this point if I can possibly have it finished before Christmas. I will just have to let all of them know I will get it to them when I get it finished even thought it will be a little late. 

Bob will be on vacation for the next five days. He has to use up some vacation time before the end of the year or lose it. 

The word for today (and for thought) is insight.  The man with insight enough to admit his limitations comes nearest to perfection. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. If one is master of one thing and understands one thing well, one has at the same time, insight into and understanding of many things. Vincent Van Gogh. For passion, be it observed, brings insight with it; it can give a sort of intelligence to simpletons, fools, and idiots, especially during youth. Honore de Balzac.  The intuition of the moral sentiment is an insight of the perfection of the laws of the soul. These laws execute themselves. They are out of time, out of space, and not subject to circumstance. Ralph Waldo Emerson.  All good Literature rests primarily on insight. George Henry Lewes. When you want wisdom and insight as badly as you want to breathe, it is then you shall have it, Socrates.  A moment's insight is sometimes worth a life's experience, Oliver Wendell Holmes.  Knowing many things doesn't teach insight, Heraclitus. Wherever you are is the entry point, Kabir. The authentic insight and experience of any human soul, were it but insight and experience in hewing of wood and drawing of water, is real knowledge, a real possession and acquirement, Thomas Carlyle.  By exhaustively examining one's own mind, one may understand his nature. One who understands his own nature understands Heaven, Mencius. Our thoughts are ours, their ends none of our own, William Shakespeare. Returning to the source is stillness, which is the way of nature. The way of nature is unchanging. Knowing constancy is insight, Laozi.

Today’s theme is “my fave colour”. Blue has always been the color I declare as my favorite. However, as I get older, I find that I like most all colors. My “favorite” at any given moment would depend on my mood, the mood or aura that surrounds me at the time and the purpose of the color used on whatever I am seeing/experiencing. 

The title to this article put me in mind of the long ago Lazarus Christmas window as well as the Thanksgiving Christmas parade. The Columbus Library at the main branch has set up a train and accompanying village exhibit for the holidays. The train is called the Huntington Holiday Train. Apparently this exhibit has been on going since 1992 at the Huntington Bank on Capitol Square. It was moved to its library home in 2009 where it has found a holiday home in the center of the lobby next to the stairs. Workers are constructing the structure for a snow-covered mountain and village. The exhibit will be “fluffed” up fir trees from a few inches tall to several feet. There are many volunteer workers, some with experience in creating “labor-intensive” and unique exhibits around the country, putting the whole exhibit together. One of the volunteers worked on an exhibit at the Ohio State Fair and one at the Ameri-Flora. He owns an expansive Garden Railway exhibit at the Franklin Park Conservatory. The article described some of the activities went on during part of the set up of the exhibits, such as a tree in a miniature village falling across the train tracks. Layers and layers of batting are positioned to cover a wooden frame and chicken wire. There are lights shining through the village buildings. Trees and buildings are “strategically” placed in the batting. Simulated snow “from old Folgers’ coffee cans is sprinkled onto the buildings, trees and train cars on the tracks. Designers are constantly watching the layout to be sure it stays in form and proportion. Along with the exhibit there are other fun facts displayed. For instance, the year the display was first built, the materials used, like twigs, bark, leaves, pinecones, the towns that inspired the “architecture, days it took to set it up and so on. The exhibit will be on display from 9am to 7pm Monday through Thursday and 9am to 6am on Fridays and Saturdays. Oh, and masks are required. 

I am going to try making a chicken stew for dinner tonight. I was cruising through my facebook pages and saw a recipe that looked good and uses ingredients that I have handy. I didn’t save the recipe so I lost it. I went in search and found one that I am going to try in the pressure cooker. 

Joy

....look at all that this photo has to offer and the stories hidden in the image.....something disposed of in an unconcerned manner...then there is the art, the life that is going on, a broken tree limb, a puddle with a reflection indicating a recent rain, fallen leaves indicating the season, green grass, worn pavement and texture....