Today’s verse

He telleth the number of the stars; he calleth them all by their names.Psalm 147:4

The wisdom of Proverbs

1: 1 The proverbs of Solomon the son of David, king of Israel;

1:2 To know wisdom and instruction; to perceive the words of understanding;

1:3 To receive the instruction of wisdom, justice and judgment , and equity;

1:4 To give subtilty to the simple, to the young man knowledge and discretion.

1:5 A wise man will hear, and will increase learning; and a man of understanding shall attain unto wise counsels:

1:6 To understand a proverb, and the interpretation; the words of the wise, and their dark sayings.

1:7The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge; but fools despise wisdom and instruction.

14:11 The house of the wicked shall be overthrown: but the tabernacle of the upright shall flourish.

14:33 Wisdom resteth in the heart of him that hath understanding: but that which is in the midst of fools is made known.

16:03 Commit thy works unto the Lord, and thy thoughts shall be established.

18:13 He that answereth a matter before he heareth it, it is folly and shame unto him.

18:21 Death and life are in the power of the tongue: and they that love it shall eat the fruit therof.

22:11 He that loveth pureness of heart, for the grace of his lips the king shall be his friend.

22:12 The eyes of the Lord preserve knowledge, and he overthroweth the words of the transgressor.

24:22 For their calamity shall rise suddenly; and who knoweth the ruin of them both?

The Tytler Cycle in History

“A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until the people discover they can vote themselves largess out of the public treasury. From that moment on, the majority always votes for the candidate promising the most benefits from the public treasury, with the result that democracy always collapses over a loose fiscal policy–to be followed by a dictatorship.”  Alexander Fraser Tytler

(Thank you Goodreads.com for the quote and picture)

I originally posted this in 2017…Now where do you think we are? This year we have watched things we never thought we’d see in this country.

Taking a government class at the local college, I was introduced to the Tytler Cycle in History.  According to Commonsensegovernment.com, Alexander Tytler was a Scottish historian who lived at the same time as the American Founding Fathers. Tytler described a repeating cycle in history and found that societies went through this same cycle again and again. According to Tytler’s observation the cycle lasted roughly 200 years each time.  Considering the timeline of the United States,  and what we see happening now, I wonder where you think we are in this cycle?

John F Kennedy Quote

Let us not seek the Republican answer

or the Democratic answer,

but the right answer.

Let us not seek to fix the blame for the past.

Let us accept our own responsibility for the future.

John F. Kennedy

Thank you to Photobucket for the picture of John F Kennedy

 

Idyllic

My ideal community would be what we have already. It’s organized as we choose as residents. Some of us live in high rise buildings overlooking the community, some live in large houses, some live in small houses. Some have large yards full of vegetable and flower gardens, some have very little yard because they don’t like the outdoors. Our life structure, like everything else, is what we choose as adults. We don’t have to be the same or agree about things. We just need to accept and appreciate our differences.  It is because of the diversity that we learn and grow.  If we change that fact, we whither like a flower with no sun.

Companion Planting

Although many are experiencing a winter snap, spring is “just around the corner.” Because of that, our gardens are much in the forefront of our thoughts. I’ve been studying about companion planting. Something nature does….well, naturally! Here are a few of the plants in our garden, and what they are planted with.

• Tomatoes – Plant with chives, onion, marigold, nasturtium, and basil.
• Potatoes – Plant with beans, corn, and marigold.
• Cucumber – Plant with beans, corn, peas, and sunflowers.
• Basil – Plant with tomatoes ( improves growth and flavor).
• Squash – Plant with nasturtium, and corn.
• Corn – Plant with squash, potatoes, peas, beans, cucumbers, pumpkin.

This information is from a book I bought for a dollar at a yard sale. The Encyclopedia of Organic Gardening – Rodale Press 1978 I also found a full chart online that can be downloaded here: http://downloads.smilinggardener.com/files/images/articles/vegetables/companion-planting-chart.pdf

Photo From http://hermionesgarden.blogspot.com/2011/02/companion-planting-almost-magical.html

Safe

A picture is worth 1000 words. This safe has been through a lot. Tell its story. Image credit: “safe” – © 2007 Paul Keller – made available under Attribution 2.0 Generic

The Safe

by Okitsmetalking

It sat in the courtyard, alone, unwanted,

Broken, rusted, empty, almost haunted.

The lock doesn’t work, the doors no longer close,

But oh, if we only knew the story it bestows.

It held the town’s history, the money and stock,

Yes, five days a week, bankers opened it’s lock.

It knew every property, bought and sold,

It knew who owed money, and who had the gold.

Time passes on; it’s replaced with one new.

Moved from the bank, now what will it do?

It’s sold several times, and stores different things.

Sacks of flour, some clothes, guns, even rings!

Now 100 years old, its end is soon near,

Until finally, deemed useless, it ended up here.