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Our Daily Thread 10-1-14

Good Morning!

It’s October already.

On this day in 1569 the Duke of Norfolk was imprisoned by Britain’s Queen Elizabeth for trying to marry Mary the Queen of Scots. 

In 1885 special delivery mail service began in the United States. The first routes were in West Virginia. 

In 1896 Rural Free Delivery was established by the U.S. Post Office.

In 1933 Babe Ruth made his final pitching appearance. He pitched all nine innings and hit a home run in the 5th inning. 

And in 1982 EPCOT (Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow) Center opened in Florida. The concept was planned by Walt Disney. 

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Quote of the Day

“I admire Johann Strauss a lot. I believe he was a genius of his time.”

Andre Rieu

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 Since it’s Andre Rieu’s birthday, and he loves Strauss…

And on this day in 1962 the Beach Boys album “Surfin’ Safari” was released. It was their first album release.

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Anyone have a QoD?

64 thoughts on “Our Daily Thread 10-1-14”

  2. I’m sorry, but it is Spring that has just begun south of the equator. However I don’t think that we have any seasons, other than dry and rainy and the dry season can be quite rainy. Hard to teach PNG children about seasons.

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  4. Jo, do you get to use videos that show seasonal weather in other places?

    So sorry to read on the prayer thread about your student’s family misfortune with their things being stolen.

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  6. Thanks, Janice. I am praying that some things will be found and that God will use it for good.
    I haven’t used videos for the seasons. It takes time to go over to the av room. I did show them lots of Planet Earth last year and that has a section on seasons.
    I once put on my newsletter that it was my Winter news, and a friend in Australia objected that it wasn’t winter there or in PNG.

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  7. The pattern on the bird’s breast is similar to that on the pine cone. I have no idea what it is. We will have to wait for our bird experts to wake up.

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  9. AJ- Did you get the pigskin email I sent late (~8PM central time) last night?

    Here’s a QoD: What is your favorite thing about autumn? We’ve probably had this one before, but there are new people here. And the most common response will have to do with the color of the trees.

    My answer: the cooling off. This time of year has the most pleasant weather. In Spring it gets warmer, but there is often a lot of rain, at least around here, and occasional late snowfalls. But autumn is relatively dry, with temps up to 70° now and 50s later on.

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  10. I like the weather of Autumn and Spring best. Fall depresses me a little because I know the winter is coming. I hate Winter. Here on the coast we have a lot of evergreens so we don’t get a lot of the color the rest of you get. I did experience it when I was in college in Maryland and remember that the beauty of it overwhelmed me.
    Aren’t the season the perfect cycle of life. If we hadn’t messed with the calendar and made January the beginning of the year to honor a Roman god. I have always thought the year should start in March and end in February. It makes much more sense.

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  12. I’m pretty sure I told you this story about reading in Cancun, but if not, it made a popular blog post yesterday: http://wp.me/p3HcoH-1PV

    I love fall for a variety of reasons:
    Apples
    Turtlenecks and the return of clothing that hides my body!
    Cool days, blue skies, red leaves.
    Soups and stews for dinner.
    Anniversary!

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  13. Donna, be happy that you don’t work for the NYT
    This from Drudge:

    The New York Times plans to eliminate about 100 newsroom jobs, as well as a smaller number of positions from its editorial and business operations, offering buyouts and resorting to layoffs if it cannot get enough people to leave voluntarily, the newspaper announced on Wednesday.
    Arthur Sulzberger Jr., the newspaper’s publisher, and Mark Thompson, its chief executive, said that in addition to the job cuts, NYT Opinion, a new mobile app dedicated to opinion content, was shutting down because it was not attracting enough subscribers.
    The reductions, they said, were intended to safeguard the newspaper’s long-term profitability.

    Kim! How can you not like winter? You don’t even have winter in southern “Bama..

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  15. Michelle- There are summer styles that cover skin and are not uncomfortable. Light weight skirts or dresses. Anything loose fitting and light weight works (or at least that is what Mrs. L wears in summer) .

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  16. One of the things I like best about fall, in addition to what some here mentioned, is that because of the different angles caused by positioning of the sun and earth, there is a special lighting effect that is so beautiful. The combo of the chill in the air with the special lighting brings a sense of excitement I feel at no other time of the year. Husband and I both agree that fall is our favorite season.

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  17. Linda, you have to live in the moment without thinking ahead to winter to fully appreciate the fall. That being said, where we live in Dixie, we look back and are thankful for relief from all the hot weather of summer. 🙂

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  18. I finished the article. Yay! I did not know where Miss Bosley was until I was getting up from the desk. Then I saw her asleep on the carpet under the desk right beside my feet. 🙂 ❤ She is such a company keeper.

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  19. Janice, celebrate and crank up the Beach Boys. 🙂 They grew up in the town next door to me, their family home was declared some sort of landmark.

    Chas, it’s hard times all around for newspapers. At least they’re giving people buyouts. We get 2 weeks severance and that’s it. And whatever vacation time you have on the books (which is why I always try to keep a few untaken vacation weeks in the bank).

    We’ll see what happens with us, but all of our papers are pretty much up for sale. They could go in regional chunks, which is most likely (SoCal papers together as a separate group, NoCal papers together, Colorado papers together, etc.).

    http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/business/2014/09/13/digital-first-media-may-sell-newspapers/15578109/

    We’ve been sold before, it’s often a long, slow process. Last time we did OK, considering, but who knows what it’ll look like this time around …

    The basic problem: The ad revenue from digital just can’t match the ad revenue newspapers used to get for print ad sales. It was hoped there would be a cross-over and it would be enough to keep papers profitable in their digital formats. But that hasn’t panned out quite yet, obviously.

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  20. I love Fall, and Winter, and Spring, and Summer! They are my favorite seasons, besides the rainy season and the dry season. I like Fall because it is cool and brisk while being warm, promises of another wonderful winter to come. Followed by spring and planting and summer and lazing. It is all good and I am blessed to be living in some of the best for all.

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  21. I love fall. 🙂 Cooler weather (although ours doesn’t usually arrive until late Oct-Nov, we’re headed into another heat wave later this week). And, I don’t know, there’s just something in the air this time of year. It smells different (in a good way).

    And everyone knows fall-winter clothes are just so much better when it comes to fashion alternatives. Boots. Turtlenecks. Sweaters & jackets. Corduroy and woolens. Cuteness.

    I haven’t been by our vacant corner where the pumpkin patch is usually set up, I’ll have to do that in the next few days (though the poor pumpkins could be melting into one big pumpkin pie pool by this weekend from the sounds of the forecast).

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  23. I love fall. It’s the best time of the year. It’s not so hot and humid. It’s crisp and clear. Best of all, there’s no stinkin’ pollen in the air.
    It’s the best time to go to the beach too. Prices are lower, crowds are smaller, and it’s not hot. I can get a furnished condo right on the beach for cheap…
    I’m going to the beach, going to the beach, going to the beach, beach beach! Whoo hoo!

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  24. Peter’s QoD: Well, I’ll be obvious and say the changing colours. I notice the more southern living folk don’t mention colour. Do you have maple trees down in your regions? The sugar maples are the most gorgeous – photographs can’t really capture the brilliant reds and oranges, though I have tried so often. The Norway maples turn a more subdued burgundy, but so lovely to see. The birches turn yellow, while the oaks tend to be orange/brown, and the ash (which are sadly dying of the emerald ash bore) vary from red to yellow. When driving along, one can look across a farmers field and see a whole palette of colour in the trees that line the field. Then there are the sumacs – small, shrub trees with leaves that look like palms, they turn blood scarlet. As they often line the banks along roads, they blend beautifully with the yellow golden rod and the purple wild asters that grow in the ditches.

    The end of the year has never seemed sad to me. Perhaps it is Christmas approaching, or the act of giving thanks for the harvest, or the fact that I was born in November – my mother always said she used to consider November a dreary month, as the autumn colours have all fallen, the days are short and the snow has not yet fallen, but she changed her mind after I was born. We have been experiencing Indian summer, with its warmer temperatures and cloudless days (though today is overcast), so I’ll quote the poem my grandfather used to quote, by the Canadian poet Wilfred Campbell:

    Along the line of smoky hills
    The crimson forest stands,
    And all the day the blue-jay calls
    Throughout the autumn lands.

    Now by the brook the maple leans
    With all his glory spread,
    And all the sumachs on the hills
    Have turned their green to red.

    Now by great marshes wrapt in mist,
    Or past some river’s mouth,
    Throughout the long, still autumn day
    Wild birds are flying south.

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  25. I like fall colors, but that is really just about it. I detest that chill in the air, and I hate it that winter is next, and I hate it that the days are getting shorter. And fall brings some allergy days, too. Plus I don’t like apples very much, and that’s the main fall fruit.

    I go back and forth on whether spring or summer is my favorite, but fall is number three.

    I remember three years ago, though, when I asked people on here their favorite month, and person after person said October. My answer was June (and June that year brought two trips from my man), but I hadn’t yet told the blog that I was being courted, so I couldn’t exactly say, “Well, this year in October I’ll be getting married, and then having a honeymoon in the Smoky Mountains.” I think I finally said something like, “October can be pretty nice too.” 🙂

    I do like October better than September, though. It’s prettier. And yes, I have an anniversary in it.

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  26. I don’t think of dying with Fall. I think of dormant. Things are shutting down the outside so they can develop the inside. I think of warm fuzzy blankets and hot tea or chocolate. A fire. All good. The colors are beautiful, and growing up here, I never really understood the interest in the northeast and all of the colors. We have the colors here, but then I moved to Georgia and it made sense. Lots of pine trees, which are beautiful and do shed, but not with the beautiful change in colors.

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  28. Well, the only time of my life I actually liked fall was probably my childhood . . . and we had no fall colors at all in Phoenix! But fall meant it was finally getting cooler, plus it was a new school year.

    Actually, in Nashville I liked fall, once I had been there enough years to stop dreading winter (once I realized winters wouldn’t be fearful). And here I love the colors; I hardly want to blink in the fall. But I wasn’t “made” for cold weather, and I detest it mightily, along with all the little hints that it’s on its way.

    One year in Chicago I made a list of things I like about winter. I got more that 20 things on it, including sweaters and hot cocoa and nuts and tangerines . . . but a lot of those things are in winter, not fall, and the single best thing about winter is that as it progresses it is that many more months before it gets cold again. In other words, the best thing about February is how far it is from November. And I’d gladly fast-forward through January altogether.

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  29. Perhaps my appreciation for fall and winter has something to do with growing up in a farming community. Those seasons are essential to guarantee a good harvest the next year. Winter wheat must sprout in the fall and then be driven dormant in the winter in order to sprout the next year. Without enough snow, the frost drives too deep in the ground (snow acts as an insulator) and, also, the water table will be lower in the spring. The cold also kills a lot of harmful insects and organisms, providing a fresh start the following year – I never really appreciated that fact until I went to Africa and saw how many insects there were.

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  30. I’m with mumsee (about dormant). We have colors in some areas around L.A. — and we have an apple-picking day trip (I also love apples) which I take some years (but I haven’t been out there in a while … It’s about a 90-minute drive into the hills — it’s always much cooler there & they get some snow as well, but later in the year and not as much as in the mountains, which is more like a 2-hour drive for us).

    But I’ve seen fall & winter in the Midwest (along with winter/early spring in the northeast) and I would love to live in a more northerly/colder climate. Seriously, it never truly gets cold enough for me here.

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  31. On public prayers at government meetings:

    Veith: “Wouldn’t it be better not to have any prayers at all at these meetings, rather than force those in attendance to participate in such syncretism?”

    ” … When Suhor recited the pagan prayer in song calling of the directions north, east, south, and west, Commissioner Wilson Robertson walked out.

    “ ‘People may not realize it,’ Robertson told WEAR. ‘But when we invite someone, a minister to pray, they are praying for the county commissioners, for us to make wise decisions and I’m just not going to have a pagan or satanic minister pray for me.’ ”

    http://www.patheos.com/blogs/geneveith/2014/10/the-problem-with-public-official-prayers/#ixzz3EumdFJY7

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  32. Roscuro, we do have beautiful maple trees in our neighborhood looking all spiffy for the season. We have cut down most of the pines in our yard so the hardwoods are taking over. That has happened a lot in our area because of the pine beetles. So we do get some amazing colors if the weather is right to produce them. I think it depends on the amount of rain, heat, and cold.. Not enough rain and the leaves go from green to brown. I expect with all the rain this year that the season will be more colorful. I did not mention the colors of the leaves because it is a given. If I have room on my phone camera, later as the leaf color heightens, i will send AJ some photos.

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  34. Some of the color-change theory is (I believe) speculation. About five years ago we had an unusual summer in Nashville, based on the amount of rain. I don’t remember the details, other than that the experts were saying it would be a bad year for fall color. Friends of friends cancelled a fall trip to the Smokies, figuring it wouldn’t be worth the money for a bad year. And yet in Nashville it ended up being the prettiest fall I had seen, and I got spectacular photos, after several years of trying in vain for fine fall foliage photos or awesome autumn artistic shots. The experts’ prognosis was simply wrong.

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  35. Cheryl, well, the little clip I posted was correct for here this year. It has been sunny so far this fall and some spectacular reds have developed.

    It is interesting, because I was just studying photosynthesis and the reason chlorophyll gives off green light is because it absorbs all the visible light spectrum for energy, except from 500 to 600 nm, which is the green light spectrum. In other words, green is the only colour which chlorophyll can’t use for energy.

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  36. What kind of bird is that up there? Did I ever mention that I collect pinecones….I like that pinecone up there! 🙂
    Fall…the smells are like none other…there is an intoxicating scent that always brings a smile to my face and my heart as we hike along a mountain trail in the fall….the crispness of the air is invigorating! I love bringing out the turtlenecks, boots, jackets….
    We are supposed to receive some snow overnight around here….wakening to a temp of 29 in the morning…I’m looking forward to seeing frost on the rooftops…but not on my pumpkin…it’s coming in off of the porch tonight 🙂

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  38. I love each of the seasons for different reasons. Last year our winter wore out its welcome even for me, however.

    I love the hardwoods as they change. This fall they are spectacular. We have a maple in the front yard that is a brilliant yellow every year. We have a brilliant orange/red one in the side yard. The quaking aspens look like beautiful ladies in gold sequined gowns.

    I also love to see the tamaracks with their golden needles. They are especially beautiful when paired with the green of the other pines. I enjoy seeing many of the trees bare of their leaves, too. When they just have fruit on the branches they can be quite beautiful. Without foliage the structure of the tree can be appreciated. When those bare branches are coated in frost or snow it is another work of art.

    The greens of the trees change throughout the spring and summer, too. Winter is a gray and dull green. Spring brings a fresh yellow/green that deepens in the summertime. What an amazing Creator we have!

    I would hate to live in an area without the seasons. It would be a big adjustment for me. I would work to find the blessing anywhere I would live, however.

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  41. Roscuro, I hadn’t heard the “sunny/red” connection before, and it makes sense, though I have had no way of testing it. I just don’t think they can tell us in advance that it will be a good/bad year for fall color based on the amount of rain or how warm or cool the summer was. Such predictions don’t seem to hold true. The one where they were very sure of themselves was the one in which they were very clearly wrong in their guesses.

    And I don’t know how many times I have heard that this winter will be a bad one, as bad as last year or worse . . . which I would take more seriously if I hadn’t heard about six years in a row that “this will be a really bad winter.” Last year it was true, but last year was the worst winter in 31 years in this region. It is extremely unlikely that this year will be equally bad.

    Basically I take a weather prediction seriously within about 24 hours of the prediction, and otherwise I ignore what they predict because there’s a good chance it will be wrong. The farther out the prediction goes, the more they are guessing.

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  42. Cheryl- Yeah, growing up in Phoenix must have been a bummer in the fall. After all, Phoenix is, well, it’s Phoenix. The only green there is artificial, except the lighter green of the cactus. Tucson isn’t much different, but at least there were the Santa Catalina Mountains less than an hour’s drive away. Most of the trees are Douglas firs, but there was an aspen grove that turned yellow in the fall. Rather beautiful to see all those aspens surrounded by the pine trees.

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  44. I love the wind in the fall. And hearing the wind in the trees.
    Sending out a newsletter later today now that it is approved.
    Facebook friends can send me a private message with an email address if they would like to receive it. I only send out four a year, on the school breaks.

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  50. What a coincidence, a newsletter just popped into my mailbox!

    In other news, while my nephew met President Obama today, my husband heard former President Clinton speak. I have three sons, there are three other ex-presidents still out there–I wonder if any of them are hobnobbing today? 🙂

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  55. I had breakfast with the Queen, as in Queen Bosley 🙂

    Roscuro, thank you for that video about leaf colors. Helpful!

    My friend seemed pleased with the article I wrote about her. I hope I will be able to find a place in the market for it.

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  56. nancyjill, I didn’t take the ‘test,’ but I don’t think there would be any surprises. I’m pretty (painfully!) aware of my major sins and temptations. 😦 The older I get, that the more I realize that my basic weaknesses remain the same. The symptoms recede, sometimes for long periods of time. But when the going gets rough (or, interestingly and perhaps more often, things get too good & easy & comfortable), they can rush back at us.

    My dogs were glad to see me tonight. I posted a picture of the cutest dog house I’ve ever seen earlier today on FB and thought to myself, if my dogs had a little set up like that in the backyard, I’d never see them. But maybe they could have me in for dinner now and again. It was that cute. 🙂

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  59. It’s the little things….. someone went to the port city this week and brought back eggs that were fresh and I bought two dozen. The ones in the store were use by date Sept 17, not too fresh

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  60. I figured out how to add contacts to my newsletter list. Again, a little thing, but one that was bugging me. So those who asked are now on my official list and not just waiting to see if I remember you.

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  62. Jo, do you have me down? I don’t see your newsletter in my box, but I thought you had me.

    Technically it isn’t October 1 anymore, but it’s a rather big day in my family. It’s my parents’ anniversary, one brother’s birthday . . . and 11 years ago, the day we buried my mom. I thought of that earlier this week when we buried my step-father-in-law (what on earth do you call your husband’s in-laws? he calls them “the third side of the family”), and when my father-in-law has been hospitalized or visited the ER twice in the last week. We also buried my sister-in-law on her birthday, November 1, nearly five years ago.

    But it is past my bedtime, and it actually is now October 2, so good night all.

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  63. Cheryl, I don’t have an email address for you.
    I have a few others, like Kim and Aj, but don’t want to send a newsletter unless asked. Wow, that sounds funny, don’t mean to make you feel bad, but don’t want to send something that you don’t want and I am not offended.

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