Life is interesting at all times, though perhaps more exciting from time to time. Currently am fighting asthma due to the change of seasons, and, perhaps, a tiny dose of the flu. Or cold. Or allergies. Whatever, I don’t feel good. Indeed, I stayed home from the Liturgy for the Entrance of the Theotokos today – which isn’t like me. There are other health issues as well, but I won’t go into them here

Far more interesting than my little health challenges is my bicycle research I have given up on the Pure Lowstep as it doesn’t have many gears. Rather I need something with sufficient gears for the hills and the Trek Pure won’t help with that.

The Trek 7300 WSD just might do that however, and here it is! Thankfully my spin class instructor has agreed to go shopping with me in March to help me get the best bicycle for me. It isn’t that I do not trust the store staff, the LBS is fantastic – but I would prefer input from someone who isn’t working for the store.

Isn’t this a beautiful bike? It is the Trek Pure Lowstep, and you will note that the pedal has a forward design so that all your foot has to do to touch the ground is just to step down without leaving the seat. This is a “flatfoot” Townie bike and can be used on different terrains. Ahhhhh, it feels good and I will be purchasing this in early March. It is a little late in the year for a new bike, but I haven’t forgotten the bike lesson from a few months ago. Before I wound up in the walking cast (unrelated incident).

Remember that I did not learn how to ride as a child, so I am a ** year old novice. Is there something BEFORE a novice? If there is, then I am that. So what to do throughout the winter to gain endurance and to lose weight? I am a member of a wonderful fitness club with great personal trainers, and they have these “easy” little classes called Spin-Cycling. This is, basically, a very intensive class in indoor cycling, and as long as I am patient and don’t push myself further than I should, it will take care of my endurance problem.

At least it gets me exercising

It is about time to start work on my next liturgical embroidery project. There is something special about doing liturgical embroidery. It is, in a way, more satisfying than other projects.  I do, in the end, prefer to do projects for others anyway, projects intended for my walls seem to rarely get completed.

The above Blackwork Cross will not be on the first Epigonation, but on the second, I have volunteered to stitch two of them, one on a red wool fabric, and the second on a beautiful white Scottish linen (which will have the above cross in the center). My design for the red woolen Epigonation is hand-drawn and will be done in surface embroidery, so I doubt that I will be able to post a decent picture here before it is done. It is my hope to have the red one completed by Nativity, and the white one for Pascha. It just depends on so many other things, but that is my hope.

The design for the red Epigonation will be quite different – basically a cross with vines and flowers. I will post a photo of that when it is far enough along. You can see the framed project in the photo here, it was for a good friend.

I tend to like large, complex projects, so I do not complete many projects in a given year. It is, however, very nice when I do This is Night Flight, a design by Amy Bear, and somewhat modified by me… I do not know when I will be able to afford to frame it, so thought that I should go ahead and post it!