"The poets have been mysteriously silent on the subject of cheese." - Gilbert K. Chesterton

Our move involved a switch from DirecTV to Dish TV so we could also get their satellite internet. So far I much prefer Dish. No significant (and really annoying) time lag when you enter a new channel, their online program guide almost always works, and playback is slightly easier using the remote's controls. The one thing I miss is the ability to schedule a recording from the online guide, which means it can't be done from Starbucks or.... It may be that I just haven't figured that part out yet.

I still have to paint the trim I finished installing this afternoon but aside from that item on tomorrow's to-do list the living room is done. Those mini-blinds (cheapest option) had to be special order and won't be here for another 10 days or so. It's 13' wide and roughly a square if you count it from the backs of our chairs, but there's another 6' or so behind that to the kitchen from whence I took this picture. The wood stove is over my right shoulder if I'm sitting in the chair. (See Pam? She's undoubtedly on Facebook.) We're happy with the way it turned out and it's perfectly adequate for our purposes.

It started raining about 4 a.m. (DAMHIK) and rained off and on all day. During the short breaks the sun was out, which made for a beautiful afternoon.

Did you watch 60 Minutes tonight? Joe Biden talked about the death of his son Bo, and said something I witnessed first hand with the death of my sister. He said, "Anyone who's lost a child knows [your recovery] doesn't happen on a schedule, and everyone grieves in a different way."

After church we went to Lowe's (our second home these days), but on the way to Lowe's stopped by a CrossFit gym about a mile away from there. The very nice gal behind the desk explained how their "box" works and gave me a one week pass. They have a Boot Camp class tomorrow at 5:30 a.m. that I think I'll attend. It's been five weeks since I did any kind of a workout so I'm not sure I'll survive, but their rates are really good and I need to get back to regular exercise. In my head I know I could and should do it here on my own, but I get up in the morning and think about all the tasks I need to do, and the workout never happens. We also don't have a good spot for it.

Church.
We both enjoyed Big Table. We sat with some really nice young adults, so that felt like Pathway. They were friendly, the conversation was easy, and nobody asked what we did before moving to Oregon. I wore my Costa Rica soccer jersey and that made Gustavo happy. He recognized it immediately and had his son take a picture of us standing together. In true Tico fashion he put his arm around me for that pic. Yeah, I like their openness and made sure to reciprocate.
Do I wish we'd have spent that time in worship and in God's Word. Yes.
It was never a matter of not wanting to do the fellowship time, it's about prioritizing. I wish there was a way to do both and.
I think the absence of the Sunday hour+ of vertical is, for me, somewhat mitigated by the time I'm now spending almost every morning writing. Right now it's an article that, despite it's brevity (or perhaps because of it) has me carefully working some key passages. I enjoy the challenge of writing clearly, concisely, and persuasively, especially when that writing takes us into the God's Word.
Pam and I haven't decided where we'll settle. I'm going to do more research on options within a reasonable distance and we'll continue to talk and pray about it.

So, it was a good day. Tomorrow I return to issues associated with the truck.
Heavy sigh.