Blackwater Falls, West Virginia

Photos: Mr. Dickie (Blackwater Falls, West Virginia)

Write down your goals and the [names of the] people who can help you make them happen. (Marc Myers in How to Make Luck, found in Instant Health and Happiness Boosters by M.J. Ryan, 12 August)

... I make today and every day a day for giving thanks for all the people in my life. (Colleen Zuck, Daily Word, Day 152)

I created an article about Thomas Cresap for my Henthorn Website News blog today. There was a relationship between Thomas Cresap and the Henthorns because of marriage. The Cresap family and the Henthorn family were in Maryland and Pennsylvania in the 1730s. At one point they were on the west bank of the Susquehanna River near where Wrightsville, PA is now located. In the piece I included two photographs I took of the Cresap family monument at Cumberland, Maryland, a biographical sketch about Thomas Cresap, links to two articles on my website that mention Cresap, and a link to the website of The Cresap Society.

I discovered another way to upload photographs to AOL using My Pictures. This method will be very useful because a number of photographs can be uploaded quickly and at one time. Once the photos are staged on AOL it's very easy to use them in any AOL blog.

Mr. Dickie

Photo Albums

Photo: Mr. Dickie (Melva at Annapolis, Maryland Harbor)

• I am thankful for the wisdom and guidance that help me recognize the blessings that come through me and to me. (Colleen Zuck, Daily Word, Day 126)
• The foundation of true strength is a gentle, loving, nonresistant attitude. (Colleen Zuck, Daily Word, Day 147)
• I will be mindful of my anger and my tongue - I will not foist either on others. (after Jonathon and Wendy Lazear, Meditations for Parents Who Do Too Much, 21 May)
  
  Yesterday one of Melva's nieces responded to my Facebook invitation to become my friend. She had two photo albums attached to her profile. It was fun seeing some pictures of our family in Panama.
  
  I realized yesterday that all of the photographs I'm posting to this Google blog are stored in an online Picasa area. I can send invitations to anyone I want to invite to view the photographs. I spent some time posting captions to all of the photos in the blog album. Then I sent myself an invitation to test how it works.
  
  Mr. Dickie

Review Your Character

Photo: Mr. Dickie (Boy and C&O Towpath Mule at Cumberland, MD train depot)

Make it a daily practice to review your character. Review it in relation to your daily life, your loved ones, your friends, and your work. Each day try to see where God wants you to change. Plan how best each fault can be eliminated, each mistake corrected. Comparisons to others will not work. Strive for a better life as your ultimate goal. (Alan L. Roeck, Look To This Day, 13 August)

Mr. Dickie

More About Facebook

Photo: Mr. Dickie (Red Hibiscus - Melva's Garden)

Our emotional growth ... [can] be stunted by our addictions, by our overdependence on others, and by our dysfunctional family situations. (A Time to Be Free, 7 August)

The person who seeks to change another person in a relationship basically sets the stage for a great deal of conflict. (Wesley Snipes, in Acts of Faith by Iyanla Vanzant, 8 August)

Yesterday I added more photos to the album I'm creating on Facebook. This album can only be viewed by my Facebook friends unless I send the address to someone who isn't in my group of friends. I still don't understand how photo "face tagging" works.

This morning someone sent me a warning message about the dangers of using Facebook. Is there anything on the Internet that isn't dangerous? Isn't it interesting that there are so many people with time on their hands to do evil?

Mr. Dickie

Gratitude

Photo: Mr. Dickie (Train Depot - Frostburg, Maryland)

When you arise in the morning, give thanks for the morning light. Give thanks for your life and your strength. Give thanks for your food and give thanks for the joy of living. And if you see no reason for giving thanks rest assured that the fault is in yourself. (Chief Tecumseh, Thinking Outside the Church, by Jennifer Leigh Selig, p. 238)

Our friend, John L. Haines, is an artist. We are fortunate to have two of his paintings in our home. If you'd like to see some of his remarkable work you can visit his website. Here's a HotLink to the website (Click on the underscored line.).

John L. Haines - Artist

Mr. Dickie

Life Risks

Photo: Mr. Dickie (Western Maryland Scenic Railroad at Frostburg, Maryland)

Risks must be taken because the greatest hazard in life is to risk nothing. The person who risks nothing does nothing, has nothing, and becomes nothing. He may avoid suffering and sorrow, but he simply cannot learn and feel and change and grow and love and live. Chained by his certitudes, he is a slave, he's forfeited his freedom. Only the person who risks is truly free. (Leo Buscaglia in Thinking Outside the Church, by Jennifer Leigh Selig, p. 236)

Only a mediocre person is always at his best. (W. Somerset Maugham in Meditations for Parents Who Do Too Much, by Jonathon and Wendy Lazear, 10 August)

I'm still learning about Facebook. I double checked that the HotLinks I installed in my profile "contact" area that point to my genealogy website and my Google blog worked. Two more friends accepted my invitation to be included in my group of Facebook friends. I also tried the option that makes a sketch from the profile photo. It worked but I didn't use the sketch yet. I learned how to "tag" people in photos. This option gathers photos of a person that appear in several albums into one "set" of pointers to the photos. Another option I installed I noticed at in Kim's facebook. This one gathers "related" folks together with captions that explain the relationship.

When I walk by myself I like to listen to music. Sometimes I carry a tape player in a booty bag. Several years ago Cyndi gave me a headset radio that she bought for me at Radio Shack. A while back I had an accident with the radio and broke a tiny wire. I tried to fix the wire but didn't succeed. Yesterday at a yard sale in Bowie, MD I found the same Optimus radio with two batteries. I installed the batteries and the radio worked. I paid $10.00 for it. When I got home I found my instructions on how to set the station buttons and my list of radio stations that I cut out of The Washington Post the other day. Once I reviewed the instructions on how to set the buttons I didn't have any trouble getting the radio ready for my next walk. There are ten FM buttons and five AM buttons. I'm sure I'll get many hours of enjoyment from this yard sale find.

Mr. Dickie

Facebook

Photo: Mr. Dickie (Blackwater Falls, West Virginia)

God cannot fix the mess we create. What God can do, will do, and does all the time is give us the courage and presence of mind to do whatever needs to be done to rectify our errors. What we must do is ask for guidance, and trust it will be okay. (Iyanla Vanzant, Acts of Faith, p. 189)

Yesterday I tired again to upload photographs to a Facebook photo album. I had some success. I learned that it works best, for me, to only send a couple of photographs each time. After I uploaded a photograph of myself for my album cover I uploaded five of my four-photo collages. That worked well. After five uploads I'd made twenty photos available.

I also learned that Facebook can use my AOL address book to determine if any of the folks I send Email to are also registered on Facebook. There were six or eight people in that category. I asked Facebook to send them invitations to "be my friends."

Melva and I spent time looking at the Facebook photo albums of Alfonso, Jorge and Kim. That was lots of fun. Melva enjoyed looking at a few photographs taken in her hometown, Volcan.

Mr. Dickie