Tis or Taint: Weekly Digest

 

Looking out the window....

When I took pictures of the shrub roses in the church parking lot a few weeks ago, I thought the
flowers were at their peak.  No, the bushes are fuller and the blooms even bigger this week.

The lavender is also in bloom here in Colorado.

 

Favorite quote(s) of the week...

 

There is a great deal of difference between the eager man who wants to read a book and the tired man who wants a book to read. -  G. K. Chesterton, Charles Dickens, chapter 5.

 

The holy rest that springs out of faith in the Lord Jesus also greatly helps a person when he is sick. Every physician rejoices to have a patient whose mind is fully at ease. Worry kills, but confidence in God is like healing medicine. - Charles Spurgeon, Faith's Checkbook, p. 183. 

 

Exaggeration is the definition of art. - G. K. Chesterton, Charles Dickens, chapter 1. 

 

No matter how much you talk to yourself, read, study, or practice, you can’t develop or set boundaries apart from supportive relationships with God and others. Don’t even try to start setting limits until you have entered into deep, abiding attachments with people who will love you no matter what. - Cloud & Townsend, Boundaries, p. 65.

 

There is a great man who makes every man feel small, but the real great man is the man who makes every man feel great. - G. K. Chesterton, Charles Dickens, chapter 1. 

 

I'm thinking about...

 

Bike seats--specifically spin bike seats.  I've been taking spin classes off and on at the community center for a couple of years.  Every time I've gone, I've come away with either saddle sores or nerve pain where I didn't even know I had nerves.  Several months ago, the pain was so severe I had to take an extended break.  I told the class leader I would come back when I'd lost about 10 pounds.  I figured that my weight was the culprit (though I'm well below the weight capacity of the bike).  Well, I went back last week and though it was better, I still came away with a bit of saddle soreness.  Not good. 

#SaveTheTaint

So here's my complaint, why do they not put cruiser seats on these things instead of that 2x4 plank they call a bike seat?  The wider seat doesn't take away from the experience and doesn't hinder coming out of the saddle for climbs; all it does it make the sitting more comfortable.  My fear is that no matter how much weight I lose, I won't be able to tolerate the pressure and pain despite purchasing a gel seat cover for class.  It may not be weight, it may just be how my hips are built.  Look, my elbows, knees, and behind are the boniest parts of my body and losing weight has only made it more obvious.  I'm known for being a sister with no junk in her trunk, so less weight=less junk.  If they would just outfit some of the bikes with wider seats, it would help those of us who are only built like a string bean from behind.  I can't be the only one.

 

Iced coffee. As a native Southerner, I came factory sealed with a taste for sweet iced tea.  Though I've trained myself not to make my tea so sweet you could pour over pancakes, it's still my summer drink of choice (second only to ice water, and neck-and-neck with my morning coffee).  So, on the subject of coffee, I've never developed a taste for iced coffee.  Is it something one can learn to like?  I don't even like when my hot coffee cools to lukewarm.  For those of you who are connoisseurs of iced coffee, what's the best brand/flavor to start with?  I thought about trying an iced coffee at Starbucks, but don't want to waste the money on something I may not like.

What I've read since the last digest...

• Every Thing On it by Shel Silverstein ✮✮✮1/2  (Category:  Kiddie Lit)
• Secrets of Adulthood by Gretchen Rubin  ✮✮  
• Falling Up by Shel Silverstein ✮✮✮1/2  (Category:  Kiddie Lit)
• Where the Sidewalk Ends by Shel Silverstein ✮✮✮ (Category:  Kiddie Lit)
• A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens ✮✮✮
• With by Skye Jethani  ✮✮1/2 (Category:  Recommended Reads).

I'm currently reading...

• Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
• The Dieter's Prayer Book by Heather Harpham Kopp
• Mansions of the Heart by R. Thomas Ashbrook 
• Streams of Living Water by Richard J. Foster 
• Boundaries by Henry Cloud and John Townsend 
• On Reading Well by Karen Swallow Prior
• Faith's Checkbook by Charles Spurgeon
  
• The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin
  
•  Celebration of Discipline by Richard J. Foster
• The New American Standard Bible
  

Recent blog posts...

• My previous digest, "Fauna and Flora'" is here.
  
• First Line Friday #36: Pilgrim's Progress in Today's English by John Bunyan & James Thomass is here. 
• First Line Friday #37: James by Percival Everett is here.
• Please see my "first words" and "last words" on The Great Gatsby here. 
• Ice Cream Tips:  The Weekly Hodgepodge is here. 
• My "25 for 2025" challenge is here. (Updated regularly)
• My "I Can Only Blame MyShelf" reading challenge is here.  (Updated regularly). 

From the Workshop... 

In between finishing a couple of quilt tops for the Loving Stitches Ministry, I worked on a little cross stitch project for myself.  A couple of years ago, I found some of the old Leisure Arts cross stitch leaflets on Etsy.  This pattern is from the first "Short and Sweet" leaflet.  It took me two tries to finish this. Because the pattern's thread colors are so similar, I got way off on my count and needed to start over. It's now done, framed, and proudly displayed in my kitchen.

I am thankful for...

• Yes, I know I say this every summer, but I'm thankful that our county library allows adults to participate in the Summer Reading Program.  
• I'm thankful that our library is moving part of its audio and ebook collection to the Libby app.  Previously, the collection was housed on Hoopla (which we're keeping) and Boundless (which we're not keeping).  The library replaced Axis 360 with Boundless (I don't know why).  Boundless is not very user friendly and stayed down about as much as it stayed up.  I prefer Libby (formerly Overdrive) for ebooks because they are rendered through Amazon Kindle, which maintains the books' correct page numbers no matter what size the display font.  That makes citing and referencing much easier. 
• Books in all forms. 
• Stationary bikes in the community center's fitness area with comfortable seats.  It's not as much fun spinning alone, but it's a lot less painful.
• Air conditioning.
• Fans that supplement the air conditioning.
• The beauty of Colorado summer.
• My job.
• My coworkers. 
• Spellcheck and online dictionaries/thesauruses.