Road Warriors: The Weekly Digest

 

Looking out the window....

Fake Spring #4 gave way to 3rd winter this week.  Cloudy cold days turned into rainy cold days and into snowy frigid days.  Today marks the upsurge to Fake Spring #5.  I shot this picture from my car (I had a few seconds at a red light).  Trees are blooming and the distinct smell of Bradford Pear tree blooms is in the air.

 

A cool experience...

My friend, Emily, and I went on a field trip to Englewood on Saturday.  Two of the coolest places we stopped were Enchanted Grounds and Wooden Spools.  Enchanted Grounds is a coffee shop/game store.  Along with making the best chai latte I've ever had, they sold interesting games.   Their specialty is paraphernalia for role-playing games like Dungeons and Dragons.  However, my favorite was a combination of the board games Monopoly and Scrabble.  I would have a blast playing that. I didn't buy it, but someday...

I heard about Wooden Spools before I moved to Colorado. The proprietress of our local yarn shop recommended it. If I remember right, she perused their store on a trip to Denver.  As the name suggests, Wooden Spools is a needlework store specializing in  fabric, yarn, and notions.  Of course, I was in hog heaven.  I did not leave there without a purchase.  I bought the backing fabric for a project I've almost completed (and hope to show soon).  Lord willing, I will make another trip there.

Something cool I saw this week was this car (pictured above).  I don't know (or care) what kind it is.  What caught my eye was the color.  I'm not sure how well my phone captured it, but this vehicle is a gorgeous shade of periwinkle blue.  I don't recall seeing a car that color before.

Favorite quote(s) of the week...

No Christian and, indeed, no historian could accept the epigram which defines religion as "what a man does with his solitude."  It was one of the Wesleys, I think, who said that the New Testament knows nothing of solitary religion.  We are forbidden to neglect the assembling of ourselves together.  Christianity is already institutional in the earliest of its documents.  The church is the Bride of Christ.  We are members of one another.  - C. S. Lewis, A Year with C. S. Lewis, p. 126.

This quote is going to need some setup.  I asked one of my supervisors what differentiated an Associate from an Assistant Professor.  Mr. Smartyboss put the question to ChatGPT as a joke.  This is the answer it gave, "Ah, the eternal academic riddle! Think of it like this: an assistant professor is like the apprentice wizard still learning spells, while an associate professor has earned enough XP to wield some serious academic magic!"

On the subject of affect labeling:  "...it is the art of labeling that creates space between stimulus and response."  Brad Stulberg, Master of Change, p. 144.

I'm thinking about...

My new course starts Monday (April 29th).  I'm thinking about what my students will be like.  I'm also thinking of new ways to approach the course.  I never tire of the subject, but I also don't want to teach it the same way every time.

What I read this week...

• Winnie the Pooh by A. A. Milne ✮✮✮
• The Self-Aware Leader by John C. Maxwell ✮✮✮ 
• 3 Seconds by Les Parrott III ✮✮✮

I'm currently reading...

• A Year of C. S. Lewis by C. S. Lewis
• Master of Change by Brad Stulberg
• Spiritual Authority by Watchman Nee
  

This week's blog posts...

• Square Parties:  Monday Mess Making is here.
• Five Minute Friday:  "Lonely" is here.
• First Line Friday #21: Master of Change by Brad Stulberg is here.
   

I am thankful for...

Two of my friends from church were back this morning.  Miss Molly (pictured) is in her 90s and recently had heart surgery.  

Miss Marie (not pictured because she can't be still long enough to be photographed 😁) is a warrior.  She's been fighting dementia for a couple of years.  She missed church for a few months and we wondered whether or not she would be able to come back.  Well, there she was, ready to worship.  Any time she can make it, she volunteers for our prayer team.  

These two are heroes.

From the Workshop...

Please see my latest Aunties Workshop blog post here.