Looking out the window....
The weather is hot and dry with the occasional clouds taunting us into false hopes of rain. Yep, a typical Colorado July.
Some cool experiences...
Each year, I normally take the last week of May off for summer vacation (and to celebrate my birthday). This year, I took of two weeks:
Week One:
Monday & Tuesday: I made a few summer and Memorial Day themed cards.
Wednesday: I made a box for my plastic canvas bobbins. I had no pattern for this since the bobbins were also an improvised creation from years ago. The top of the box is a slider-type lid. I think I did pretty well since I made the whole thing up.
Thursday: Diana and I made our annual trek to Castle Rock.
First, we went to Oo-De-Lally Coffee Shop where I had my first iced coffee: a Reese's cup cold brew. The coffee shop was adorable with its rope swing seating and playful atmosphere. The cold brew I chose was a perfect introduction to this type of coffee--it was very flavorful without being too sweet.
Next was the pièce de résistance: the Quilt, Craft, and Sewing Festival at the Douglas County Fairgrounds. I did get some fabric and a quilt pattern. I'll share once I've made the quilt. Stay tuned.
Friday: I reset my front "stoop" for summer. I planted impatiens in the top planters and one of my spider plant babies in the lower planter. I tried my hand at a little fairy garden. It was cute, but I may not do it again: I'm not sure I did it right. My summer wreath still looks pretty good. However, I noticed as I was putting it out that the mesh is starting to disintegrate. This wreath gets the most heat and sun and I've had it the longest, so it's to be expected. I have no idea how to stop that from happening so after the season, I'll take it apart and rebuild it with new mesh and ribbon.
I celebrated my birthday weekend by having my friend, Jamie, over for Sunday dinner. Hey, did you know that you can bake the layers of a cake in a bread loaf pans? Me either. My plan was to make cupcakes, but forgot that I'd ruined my muffin pans somehow and threw them away, so I had to make do. Miss Jamie made a dairy-free butter pecan ice cream to go with our loaf cake. So good.
Week two: For the most part, I hung out at home and rested. The highlights of the week were:
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| Delivering all the baby items to Colorado Family Life Center I've been working on for the past few years. I also got to tour their new facilities. |
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| Hiking with Diana at Lair of the Bear near Evergreen. |
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| Viewing the current exhibit at the Rocky Mountain Quilt Museum. It was stunning display of medallion quilts by Cindy Vermillion Hamilton. Out of respect for the artist, I'm only showing a small portion of a much larger work. Her work is all hand done and intricate. |
Favorite quote(s) of the week...
...all you've got to do to be selfish is nothing. - Pastor Keith Moore, Video: Being Given to Hospitality, 1998.
First, we see that Christ saved us from the power of Satan. The seed of the woman has bruised the serpent's head, so that Satan's power is broken (Genesis 3:15). Next, he also saves us from the guilt of past sin. In one moment, as soon as the blood of Christ is applied to the conscience, every past sin is gone, and in God's sight, it is as if we had never sinned. The next thing he does is kill the power of sin within and makes us believers new creatures. And do not forget this precious truth of the gospel--Christ saves us from future falling. He saves, not only for a year or for ten years and then lets people go--no, he finally and completely saves that which was lost. We do not preach that Christ forgives sinners and then lets them live as before. No, the moment he gives pardon of sin, he gives a new nature too. - Charles Spurgeon, The Risen King, p. 89.
I don’t think age
matters so much as people think. Parts of me are still 12 and I think
other parts were already 50 when I was 12: so I don’t feel it very odd
that they grow up in Narnia while they are children in England. - C. S. Lewis, Letters On Living the Faith.
Nondiscipleship costs abiding peace, a life penetrated
throughout by love, faith that sees everything in the light of God’s overriding
governance for good, hopefulness that stands firm in the most discouraging of
circumstances, power to do what is right and withstand the forces of evil. In
short, it costs exactly that abundance of life Jesus said he came to bring
(John 10:10). – Dallas Willard, The Spirit of the Disciplines, p. 263
I'm thinking about...
Why aren't all cans pull-tab cans now? It's not deep, but it is what I'm thinking about currently.
What I've read since the start of the year...
Please see my "2026 Baby Got Stacks" reading challenge here.
I'm currently reading...
- The Mind of the Maker by Dorothy L. Sayers
- Garden City by John Mark Comer
My current "crock pot" reads (slow and steady reads that will take a while):
- Diary of an Old Soul by George MacDonald
- The Emotional Healthy Leader by Peter Scazzero
- Devotional Classics by Richard J. Foster and James Bryan Smith
Recent blog posts...
- My previous digest, "Where Have All the Flowers Gone?'" is here.
- My latest book review of Jesus and the Disinherited by Howard Thurman is here.
- Government Cheese: The Weekly Hodgepodge is here.
- Five Minute Friday: "Lazy." is here.
- First Line Friday post: #43 - Looking for the King by David Downing is here.
- My "2026 Baby Got Stacks" reading challenge is here. (Updated regularly).
- My "26 for 2026" challenge is here. (Updated regularly)
- My "26 for 2026" art challenge is here. (Updated regularly).
From the Workshop...
I am thankful for...
- A new bird to enjoy: the black-capped chickadee. I heard the "phoebe" call of the male and was intrigued. I must paint one someday.
- Another successful academic year at CCU.
- A new FitBit. My old one died.
- Fun YouTube channels.
- Thriving house plants.
- An anonymous gift I received:
- Thankful that nothing got caught on fire since some of my not-so-bright neighbors (I'm trying to be nice) decided to shoot off fireworks around the apartment complex over the holiday weekend. Why would you do that during a period of extreme heat and crispy-low humidity? Not to mention they are illegal in Colorado. Y'all, many of the cities in Jefferson County cancelled their Independence Day fireworks shows because of the danger of fire. Take a hint!
- The 250th anniversary of our country's independence. Yes, we've got issues (lots of them), but we're still here.
- Colorado Community Church's jubilee celebration. We are officially DEBT FREE!
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