The Iron Diva: Where Have All the Flowers Gone?: The Weekly Digest

Looking out the window....

Our first snow of the season is quickly approaching. The fall colors are fading fast, but bright holiday decorations will soon take the grey out of the corners. The crows and magpies are still screaming their morning heavy metal riffs. Hopefully they will hang around all winter since they are not migratory birds. The bunnies and squirrels are still scampering around making their last preparations for sheltering for the winter.

Favorite quote(s) of the week...

Come, then, and let us seek His face. There is no reason for despair, or even for despondency. Let us love a God who disciplines us, and before long we will sing, Your anger is turned away, and You comfort me (Isaiah 12:1). Be gone, you dreary forebodings, you ravens of the soul! Come in, you humble hopes and grateful memories, you doves of the heart! He who pardoned us long ago as a judge will again forgive us as a father, and we will rejoice in His sweet, unchanging love. - Charles Spurgeon, Faith's Checkbook, p. 343.

It is my heart-warm and world-embracing Christmas hope and aspiration that all of us-the high, the low, the rich, the poor, the admired, the despised, the loved, the hated, the civilized, the savage-may-eventually be gathered together in heaven of everlasting rest and peace and bliss-except the inventor of the telephone. - Mark Twain, Mark Twain's Helpful Hints for Good Living, 49:37 in audiobook version.

Many imagine that faith is entirely irrational. But Scripture never sets faith and reason over against each other as incompatible. On the contrary, faith can only arise and grow within us by the use of our minds. - John Stott, Balanced Christianity, Chapter 2, around 12:41 in audiobook version.

The melancholic is both outgoing and shy--in love with people and yet craving of time alone. He can be the center of attention and yet one who walks the solitary hills for hours alone with his thoughts. - Michael R. Phillips, George MacDonald, Chapter 3, around 1:50:18 in audiobook version.

"If persons are often highly affected when with others and but little moved when they have none but God in Christ to converse with, it looks very darkly upon their religion." - Jonathan Edwards, qtd. by Donald S. Whitney in Chapter 7 of Ten Questions to Diagnose Your Spiritual Health.

I'm thinking about...

My 26 for 2026 list. Anybody got any ideas?
My one word for the season. I think I have one and I'll blog about it soon.
What I want to call my 2026 reading challenge and what art to make for it.
Remaking my "Auntie's Workshop" logo...yes again.

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

The Medieval Mind of C. S. Lewis by Jason M. Baxter ✮✮✮✮
Balanced Christianity by John Stott ✮✮✮✮
Ester Ried by Isabella MacDonald Alden ✮✮✮✮ (a glorious reread). Please see my review of this work here.

I'm currently reading...

The Cost of Discipleship by Dietrich Bonhoeffer.
The Princess and Curdie by George MacDonald. Please see my First Line Friday post here.
Mansions of the Heart by R. Thomas Ashbrook
Streams of Living Water by Richard J. Foster
Faith's Checkbook by Charles Spurgeon

Recent blog posts...

My previous digest, "Orange is the New Chicken'" is here.
Puppy Power: 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...

Well, it's finished! Yes, this is the project I've been hinting at for a couple of months. It's called a "String Quilt." If you want to see the instructional video on how this is made, please watch here. Normally, it's made with leftover scraps from other projects. However, I purposely planned out the color scheme of this one. I purchased the 10-inch paper piecing squares online, cut several fat quarters into 2.50-inch strips, and followed the instructions in the video. This was so much fun. BTW--a plain Elmer's washable purple school glue stick works just as well as the glue they recommended. This pattern will be yet one more good use for scraps.

I am thankful for...