I mentioned last week having flu-like symptoms and then redness in my leg.
I’ve been in the hospital since Monday with cellulitis. When I’ve had it before, it’s covered a few inches of area. This time, it went from my toes to a few inches below my knee. Doxycycline at home wasn’t keeping it in check, so we were instructed to go to the ER Monday. We spent six hours in the ER hallway and I was finally admitted that night to start IV antibiotics the next day.
When I’ve had cellulitis before, it has looked better one hour and then worse the next. So it’s normal for it to fluctuate. But I’ve been discouraged there hasn’t been more progress. If it’s not much better soon, the doctor is going to start an even stronger antibiotic.
Some of you know that I have irritable bowel syndrome, and antibiotics wreak havoc with my intestines anyway. I’m fearful of what these stronger antibiotics are going to do, but I’m trying to just take things a day at a time.
Jim, Jason, and Timothy were supposed to go camping this week with Tim being off for fall break. I feel bad about messing up those plans, but they’ve been good sports.
So for now Jim and I are hanging out in the hospital. I was chafing over the hospital stay for a while but just decided to use the time to read, rest, doze, and do things on the computer.
Your prayers are very much appreciated that God would grant healing, wisdom, and guidance.
Occasionally I’ll assemble some mostly unrelated odds and ends of thoughts to share here.
Do you prefer different genres in what you view versus what you read? I watch shows about space and police or detective work with my husband, or superhero movies with my sons. I enjoy them, but I rarely read books on those topics. I like classics and movies made from them, but I usually indulge in those shows when Jim is not home. But occasionally I’ll ask him to watch one with me. __________
For years, those who write on the Internet have been advised to use shorter paragraphs and lots of white space. We’re told that those who read online like to be able to skim and find main points. They’re supposedly turned off by dense paragraphs.
But lately I’ve seen examples that seem to take that instruction too far. I’ve seen several posts lately that are made up of one-sentences paragraphs. I find that hard to read. It looks more like a list. Paragraphs group sentences around a single topic. But a list of single sentences looks like random thoughts strung together.
On the other hand, I read several blogs that use long paragraphs, and they have plenty of followers and views. I think content trumps form. __________
One of those phrases that rubs me the wrong way is, “If I can do it, you can, too.” I know it is meant as an encouragement. It’s saying, “I’m just an ordinary person, and I did it. So go ahead and try–it doesn’t take any special skills.”
But we can’t all do everything everyone else can do. We have different gifts, talents, motivations, personalities, time constraints.
I haven’t come up with an alternative though. Any ideas? __________
For people who post videos and podcasts, I love when they include the transcripts. I am much more likely to read than watch or listen. __________
So far, I have not used a Large Language Model AI like Chat GPT. I’ve read some legitimate uses of them, and I may look into them at some point. I don’t have time for the learning curve involved just now. But mostly, I don’t want to outsource my thinking. When I write something and have to revise it several times, my brain is working and I am processing as I go.
I’ve already experienced some thinking damage from that just from spell checkers (which are a smaller form of AI). I used to be a pretty good speller. But I’ve relied on spell check so much that I often don’t recognize misspelled words, can’t think of the right way to spell words I should know, and don’t catch the misuse of homonyms, which spell check also misses.
I also don’t like that AI seems to be pushed on us everywhere. Even Facebook offers to make up an AI-generated comment for us. Pretty soon, we can just let our AI bots do the talking. 🙂 __________
Tim Challies wrote a post a few weeks ago saying that we can often get by with a smaller house than we think we need. He’s right. Thinking about his post inspired mine on No Perfect Homes Here.
But there’s a flip side to that thought.
When my husband was anticipating retirement, I expected that we’d probably have to downsize. Two factors prevented that. One, he took advantage of lower interest rates to refinanced our mortgage a few years earlier. And, two, the housing market went crazy.
Our house now is valued at twice what we bought it for. That sounds nice, except that, if we sold it, we’d have to look for another place that costs just as much.
My youngest son bought his first house a couple of years ago. Though his house is about a third the square footage of ours, his house payment is the same amount.
So financially, it makes more sense for us to stay put for now than to pay as much money for less house.
One advantage, though, is that we bought this house with aging in mind. Our two previous homes were split-levels, and I was beginning to have knee problems then. We specifically looked for a house with no stairs when we moved here.
Another advantage is that when people come from out of town to visit us, we have plenty of space to put them. We have an official guest room, plus futons in two other rooms that make into beds. Visitors save money by not getting hotel rooms, and we have more visiting time with them. __________
This Facebook post made me laugh:
Screenshot
__________ On a final note, I don’t usually post on Mondays, but I’ll have a special announcement on July 27. 🙂
I apologize that those of you who subscribe to my blog via email have been receiving incomplete posts. I noticed the email yesterday’s post, A Mother’s Nightly Ritual, did not contain the poem that was the bulk of the post. I looked back at some other recent posts and noticed that the same thing happened with “He Knows, Yes, He Knows.”
I’ve sent a note in to the WordPress support forums to try to find out why this happened and what to do to fix it.
I don’t think I’ll be able to resend those posts–that happens automatically via WordPress. I don’t think there is a way to send something to subscribers directly myself.
I’ve also noticed that sometimes when I post videos, which isn’t often, those don’t always show up in the emails, either.
If anything in the post emails seems incomplete or doesn’t make sense, I invite you to click through to read the whole posts.
And I sincerely apologize, once again, that this happened.
I don’t do a lot with Instagram. I have an account there where I mainly post graphics from the blog. I don’t follow many people there that I already follow through Facebook or blogs, because then I’d just be seeing the same information in every place.
I follow a few friends, relatives, bloggers, and authors. Otherwise, I use Instagram as a bit of refresher in the day. I thought I’d share some of those inspiring accounts with you.
I follow a few accounts for their beautiful scenery:
Blue Ridge Moments shares some lovely views of the Blue Ridge Mountains and parkway.
The Great Smoky Mountains NP account share beautiful views, too, but also includes news and updates about road closures, work being done, etc.
Loithai is the IG home for a lovely cottage and grounds in Maine.
I follow some accounts of beauitful homes, from castles to cottages:
The Biltmore Estate shares photos of the estate and grounds as well as bits of history.
Some of you might recognize Highclere Castle as the fictionalized home of the Downton Abbey TV family. But Highclere is a real castle where the Earl & Countess of Carnarvon live. I don’t remember whether I started following their account after seeing Downton or after reading Lady Almina and the Real Downton Abbey: The Lost Legacy of Highclere Castle. But I enjoy tidbits of castle life.
Pink Dreams Cottage shows the progress of a father and daughter renovation team.
Harbor Blue House says it is “celebrating all things #Grandmillennial,” with a lot of blue.
I used to do a lot of embroidery and cross stitch, with a little of other types of needlework. It’s hard for me to see well enough to stitch these days, even with glasses and magnifiers. But I still love to look at and be inspired by the work of others:
Illyria Pottery. Katie, the young woman who makes this gorgeous pottery, was a young girl at the church we attended when we were first married. Her parents were good friends. Katie has since married, moved to England, and had a daughter.
Tanaka Tatsuya makes intricate miniature displays out of common objects.
Ivory Spring is a long-time blog friend who makes amazing quilts and has been published in several magazines..
Molly and Mama shares patchwork, embroidery, and felt sewing patterns.
These are always good for a smile:
Nathan W. Pyle is the author and illustrator of the Strange Planet books, which include funny and often poignant observations about life from aliens. This account includes some excerpts from these books as well as Nathan’s other art work.
Wrong Hands publishes cartoons with a literary flair.
I’m sorry there was no Friday’s Fave Five here today. I know some of you particularly enjoy that feature.
Last week I had an ablation for atrial flutter and atrial fibrillation. But the procedure triggered an episode of atria fibrillation (afib) that hung on despite three cardioversions.
The doctor had me go home and resume the medications I’d had to be off of for the procedure, thinking that might help get my heart back in rhythm. It didn’t. So today (Friday) I went in for another cardioversion.
Thankfully, God allowed it to work this time with just one shock. Even though the procedure itself doesn’t take long, with all the preparation and then staying for observation afterward, we were at the hospital most of the day.
Thankfully, I had the same two nurses I liked so much last time!
We also had good talk with the cardiologist. I had not seen him personally in a while except for just a minute before the ablation last week. Usually when I go to the office, I see his P.A.–which is fine–I like him well enough. But we were able to discuss what the options were if the cardioversion didn’t work. I’m glad there were options, but even more glad that we didn’t have to go those routes at this time.
Now Jim is out getting take-out, and I am supposed to rest for 48 hours. Which sounds good to me. 🙂
I’ve mentioned that I am due to have ablations for atrial fibrillation and atrial flutter. This is the week!
Some of you may remember that I had an ablation for atrial fibrillation about seven years ago. I knew it was possible to have that done more than once, but thought that only happened if the first one failed. Since then, I have learned that it’s not at all uncommon. Nerves grow back and make new pathways, so sometimes have to be “zapped” again.
Atrial flutter is new to me this year. The ablation for it is supposed to be a one-time thing. Since I had several weeks of atrial flutter in the spring and then again in the fall, we felt it would be best to go ahead and get that taken care of. And when I learned they could do both procedures at the same time, and I’d been having an increase in afib episodes, it seemed wise to go ahead and have both done at the same time.
One of my major concerns right now is exacerbation of some of my preexisting conditions, like IBS. I’d appreciate your prayers that, Lord willing, none of those things will be a problem, that everything would go well, that there would be no complications, that the procedures will accomplish what they’re supposed to, and that God would give me peace of heart and help me rest in Him.
I have some bookish posts prepared for the rest of this week–books read in 2025, my favorite reads of the year, and my reading challenge wrap-up. I hope to be back later this week with an update about how things went at the hospital and how I am doing.
Have you ever worked on a blog post, and before you finished it, you saw that one or more of the blogs you follow covered the same topic? That’s happened to me several times. Sometimes I wonder if I should write something else instead. I don’t want to seem like I am copying someone else. But most often, I go ahead with the post I’ve been working on. I figure if God laid the same topic on two or more people’s hearts the same week, He must want that particular message to go out. And usually there’s enough of a difference that posts on the same idea don’t sound like one was taken from the other.
Sometimes, though, a thought from someone else’s post will spark thoughts that turn into a blog post here. _____
If onomatopoeia is a word that sounds like what it is, I wonder if there’s a name for words that sound like the opposite of what they are. I think one word in that category is “sublime.” Merriam-Webster says sublime means “lofty, grand, or exalted in thought, expression, or manner; of outstanding spiritual, intellectual, or moral worth; tending to inspire awe usually because of elevated quality (as of beauty, nobility, or grandeur) or transcendent excellence.” But the word sublime itself sounds the opposite of lofty, grand, awe-inspiring, or transcendent. _____
In my last post like this, I expressed dislike of sentences starting with the phrase “If I’m being honest,” because it sounds like the speaker is saying they’re not usually honest. But then I saw in Romans 9:1 that Paul starts a sentence with “I am speaking the truth in Christ—I am not lying; my conscience bears me witness in the Holy Spirit . . .” So I guess I have to take back negative feelings about those kinds of phrases. 🙂 Sometimes they are used for emphasis. _____
I’ve seen a meme going around with the sentiment that when you share the gospel, it doesn’t matter whether the other person responds. You’ve done your duty; you’ve been faithful, and that’s all that matters.
It’s true that we have no control over how anyone responds. Only God can open spiritual eyes and convict hearts.
But I don’t know if the attitude “I’ve done my duty and that’s all that matters” is a very effective witness. It seems like that would come across as not particularly caring about the other person’s soul.
My Sunday School teacher just said last week that duty is required in the Christian life, but it’s not sufficient in itself: we need to have love for people.
I prefer Spurgeon’s attitude when he said, “If sinners be damned, at least let them leap to Hell over our dead bodies. And if they perish, let them perish with our arms wrapped about their knees, imploring them to stay. If Hell must be filled, let it be filled in the teeth of our exertions, and let not one go unwarned and unprayed for.”
The Apostle Paul’s heart seems similar in the passage mentioned earlier: “I am speaking the truth in Christ—I am not lying; my conscience bears me witness in the Holy Spirit—that I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. For I could wish that I myself were accursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers, my kinsmen according to the flesh” (Romans 9:1-3).
As passionately as I yearn for my loved ones to be know Christ, I don’t know if I could honestly say I wish I could be cursed if they would be saved as a result. But that’s how Jesus loved. He took our sin on Himself and bore God’s curse in our place. He’s the only one who could. He wept over the city of Jerusalem, which was not willing to come to Him, though He would have gathered them like a hen gathers its young under its wings. May my heart become more like His.
Can we get rid of the phrase, “Unless you’ve been living under a rock . . .”? It’s used to indicate a subject that most people know. But if you’re not aware of the subject being discussed, it sounds like a put-down. _____
Why do people start sentences with “I’ll be honest . . . ?” Are they not honest unless they add that qualifier? _____
I read of a group of women meeting for lunch at a restaurant who were offended at male the server calling them “ladies,” as in “What can I get you ladies?” I don’t understand why. This was long before the gender confusion of our day.
I commented to the writer that when I facilitated a ladies’ group at church, I usually used that word when addressing them (especially when trying to call the meeting to order). Neither “women” nor “females” sounded right in that context. “Girls” made me cringe; “gals” even more so. “People” sounded passive-aggressive, “folks” too . . . folksy.
The writer backed down a little from her stance. But I still didn’t understand the reason for the objection.
I suppose the poor server could have avoided an appellation at all and just said, “What can I get you to drink?”
For a brief time in my teens I worked in the bakery department of a grocery store. Once when I came into the stockroom for something, several of the teen guy employees were there. One of them said, “Watch your mouths, guys. A lady entered the room.” I felt honored, not offended. _____
In my twenties and thirties, yearly physical exams were very hands-on, literally. Nowadays, a physical consists primarily of the doctor looking at the computer discussing lab work. Is this a trend of medicine in general? Or something that happens as one gets older? _____
Speaking of doctors–I had on my list of things to discuss with him a recurring pain at the top of my shin, right below my kneecap. But as I prepared to go to my exam, I realized I had not felt that pain in some time. Perhaps it was some injury that had righted itself. So I skipped asking about it.
Guess where I felt pain the very next day? _____
I’ve mentioned Elisabeth Elliot many times as my mentor-from-afar. Her books and newsletters shaped my thinking about Christianity in general and Christian service and womanhood in particular.
She used to say that whenever she spoke on a particular subject, she would be tested on that subject before or after her talk. I have found the same to be true in my writing. When I posted about irritability last week, I had the worst problem with irritation for several days. _____
Speaking of Elisabeth Elliot, I got an email from the Elisabeth Elliot Foundation this week on the occasion of their fifth anniversary. Years ago, I remember seeing a video of Elisabeth’s daughter, Valerie, saying she felt the legacy of both her parents was too heavy. I’m thankful this foundation was formed, both so it could do far more than Valerie could do on her own, plus it would outlive her. Many of Elisabeth’s books are being repackaged and republished, digitized, and turned into audiobooks. Many are being translated to other languages. Elisabeth’s newsletters and radio programs are being gathered and added to the resources at the web site. An exhibit of her life was at the Museum of the Bible in Washington, DC, and is now traveling around the country.
When Elisabeth died in 2015, I was afraid her influence and wisdom would die out over the next several years. I’m so thankful to see that it hasn’t and won’t for a long time to come.
Now that Hurricane Helene has spent herself, it might seem like the worst is over. But some of her effects are long-lasting.
I have friends in SC who are still without power and have been told it likely won’t be restored until Friday, at the earliest. There is so much debris just to get to the power lines, and so much involved in repairing and replacing them, that it’s going to take a while.
I-40 is the main highway through the mountains. When we first moved to TN from SC, I-40 was closed due to a major rockslide that damaged the roads. There was a detour that added about an hour to our route. But with so many bridges and mountain passes damaged now, it’s hard, if not impossible, to get through.
I’ve seen photos of part of I-40 on the edge of a cliff that just washed away. I don’t know how they repair something like that. I don’t know if they cut deeper into the side of the mountain, or if they can somehow build a retaining wall underneath the road. Either way, it’s going to take a long time to repair.
Because trucks with supplies can’t get through, there are lines at gas stations. Stores are starting to run out of some supplies. Many businesses are operating on a cash-only basis because they are without internet service and can’t process credit cards. Of course, many people don’t have ready cash or can’t get to their banks.
Because businesses are closed, some people are not earning money right now. Many can’t afford the unpaid time off.
This is peak tourist season for the Blue Ridge area, as people usually come to see the fall leaf color in the mountains. But a lot of businesses, especially the smaller ones, are closed and under repair.
Besides supply chain and economic issues, many people are still missing. Some have lost loved ones in horrific circumstances.
And that’s just SC, NC, and parts of eastern TN. I imagine parts of FL are facing similar or worse circumstances.
I’ve heard a lot of encouraging news, too. Linemen from our area and others are traveling south to help repair the lines. People are raising funds to help. I even saw someone was taking his mules down to help remove heavy debris.
Please continue to pray for the physical, economic, emotional, mental, and spiritual needs of the people affected by Helene.
Updated to add: Unfortunately, tragedies like this bring out scam artists looking to capitalize on people’s sympathy and generosity. If you feel inclined to help or give in any way, please be careful and give or donate only to reputable places. Samaritan’s Purse is one such organization: another is Operation Renewed Hope. There are many more. A lot of churches. groups, and individuals are helping as well.
Some weeks overflow with blessings. For others, we might have to search a bit. But I am thankful for this weekly exercise to appreciate and thank God for the good things He brings into our lives with Susanne and friends at Living to Tell the Story.
1. A quiet week. No appointments or outside obligations besides the usual. I love a quiet week at home.
2. An offer for dinner out. I love when my husband asks “Do you want to get something out for dinner tonight?”
3. New Bible study and Sunday School classes have started for the fall session at church. We’re going over selected psalms on Sunday morning and delving into 2 Corinthians Wednesday evenings.
4. A published devotional. Christian Devotions has published a short piece I submitted titled Adequate Shelter.
5. Things that make me smile. This is a screenshot from a reel on Instagram. I think I’d have a shot at this competition. 🙂
