Mid-July Faves

 

Didn't July just begin?

How is it the middle of the month already? What happened to lazy summer days? 

I'll be a little lazy right now and begin my FFF to share five blessings God brought into my life.   There were so many blessings in what, so far (Wed morning) has turned into a tough week. A tough week of soul searching. But a good week. Join in with your own blessings and then head over to Susanne's site to link up. 

FIVE FAVES 

• BIRTHDAY CELEBRATION: Last Saturday was our oldest daughter's 33rd birthday, which blew my mind because that's how old I was when I gave birth to her. Yup...I'm an older mom and have loved it! Because she had plans with her boyfriend for the entire day, she wanted the family celebration to be on Sunday and requested a BBQ. So I made beef burgers for everyone except Claire (our youngest is pure vegan) and I (I don't eat beef or pork) in which case I made Beyond Meat burgers that honestly taste just like beef minus the fat.  They all came out great. I also made her favorite ranch pasta salad, had her fave chips, and watermelon. We ate on the deck and we were so busy  fellowshipping I didn't take many photos.  We moved inside for the chocolate cupcakes from her  fave bakery (vegan ones for Claire and i) and gifts.  It was so awesome to have Courtney, Tyler, and Claire over for an after church Sunday dinner and birthday celebration. I'm so thankful it  was a fun day and totally relaxing. 

opening a gift from her sister 

some kind of tea thing for her tea pot
I can't remember what else Claire bought her
but it was something on Courtney's wish list 

Dave surprised her with something from her wish list 
and I also got her something from her wish list but
this was a totally spontaneous gift Dave found
at the mall....it's like Legoland kits but cheaper.
the reason? One Fish Two Fish by Dr Seuss 
used to be the book they would read together when she was little
She read independently at age 4
yet still wanted this book read to her. 
She loved it. 

• NYCB at SPAC:  Saturday evening was my annual mother-daughter date night with our youngest daughter. Claire and I purchased balcony amphitheatre tickets back in March and I'm so glad we sprang for the best (center) section and our fave row. Scoring tickets for the New York City Ballet are expensive now at Saratoga Performing Arts Center if you don't wanna sit on the lawn. We don't mind at all. It's worth every penny and now that Claire is a working adult she buys her own! Because the story ballet they were performing this summer was Mid-Summer's Night Dream and we've seen it twice and it's not a fave for either one of us, we chose the Inventions and Icons performances. Three ballets and the last one was Symphonie Espagnole and choreographed by Tiler Peck our current fave ballerina from the last few years. She is an incredible dancer and her choreography was exquisite! It premiered here in Saratoga although it's been performed this spring down in NYC. Photos  taken are not allowed other than by press so here's one from the press. The press also took our photo before the show! I'm so thankful the high humidity dropped for Saturday evening and that it was a perfect night out. 

photo  courtesy of the Albany Times Union

Claire and I at the ballet

• POWER OF PRAYER: Without getting into it here...no details....I needed some prayer support this past Monday. It revolved around forgiveness. One of my small group members was here as well as my friend J whom I met when she joined my hiking group. We hike often and I've come to trust her.  We all prayed together and it was quite powerful and I definitely felt some relief. I'm thankful for the power of prayer. I wrote about the experience here and I'm also thankful that my friend Joan isn't afraid to be real with me. The conversation we had really stretched me, made me think, and made me thankful for her friendship.  It's only close friends who get to be "real" with me and I'm glad I can trust her. She's very spiritually wise. I need that right now. 

 

• NEIGHBOR CHAT:  Thursday morning while getting ready to go to the lake, I saw a neighbor from around the corner who used to go to my church and was on the worship team; I ran out to say Hi and we ended up having this amazing chat. She is an amazing person who lives life well and embraces  all.  I hadn't seen her all summer so the spontaneous chat made me say "Thank You God, for Anne." and then later, she sent me a text thanking me for something I said to her that helped to validate her feelings.  I'm thankful I could be there for her and felt prompted to call out to her. 

Schroon Lake
eastern ADK
16 July 

• LAKE DAY!  Yesterday was my youngest girl's day off ( this summer she's working 4 ten hour days a week and has Sun/Mon as her weekend, and then Thursdays off). She asked if I wanted to go to one of our fave town beaches about 1.5 hours north of us. I said sure. We live off the Adirondack Northway which runs from western Albany all the way up to the Canadian border. There's also a section of it that heads south out of Albany to NYC.  It's a free interstate and after the first 30 min north, you can basically drive 70-75 mph and be in the high peaks region of the Adirondacks about 2 hours later. I love it.  It also can be used to access the highways that run east-west to get to the Central and Western regions of the ADK and some of those towns take 3-4 hours or more to reach once you leave the Northway. The ADK is  huge! The town beach we love is in the village of Schroon Lake and is right on Schroon Lake in the middle of town. It's free to park and free to use the beach and park.  It's gorgeous. Click the highlighted links above to see it better. My sister Joy was also there so we all sat together on the grassy section and swam in the lake. The lake is still pretty cold but so refreshing.  The air up there was less smoky  from the Canadian wildfires than  down here in the Capital Region! It was definitely less hot and humid up there, too and there was a beautiful breeze off the lake. It felt so perfect to sit in the sun, read our books, talk and just relax. There were a few tourists but overall the place was not crowded at all. I'm thankful we had a relaxing day for our bodies and souls. 

ice cold mocktail...
pineapple juice, cranberry, lime and seltzer

Claire enjoys lying on the grass
reading a novel. 

A nice day to swim and then relax
I have a beach towel over my legs as it got chilly!

That wraps up my week, other than to say, I am very thankful for muscle relaxers, central air, and ice. My neck has been wicked tight with the extreme temps and having arthritis is tough in extreme temps. 

Whatever you do this weekend, be safe! 

2026 Book Review #24: Sandwich

 

What a light....yet deep....book!

It's a play on words, really.  The title I mean. 

Dave and I were just in Sandwich 2 weeks ago spending the day and the description of the vacation cottages, etc is spot on. But it's also the main character being in the "sandwich" era of her life: aging parents and half-grown children, who are young adults with their own needs and issues.  I highly recommend this story! 

STORY SUMMARY

Rocky (Rachel) is married to Nicky and they have two almost totally grown up children: Willa, who is gay; and  Jamie who has a girlfriend named Maya.  Rocky and her family have vacationed on Cape Cod every year for 20 years. They look forward to it!  They rent a very humble, little beach-town cottage and they've made memories and messes:  emotional, marital, and because of the ancient plumbing, they've also had septic issues over the years. But the memories are sweet and they still all want to vacation together. 

With this year's vacation, Rocky feels sandwiched in between her aging parents and her young adult children. It's going to be a great vacation, as always, but Rocky is also dealing with, at age 54, the symptoms and mood swings of menopause. Rocky's body is changing...and so is her life. 

A chain of events bring Rocky into her past and she begins to relive not just the tender, poignant moments, but the sorrows a couple of long-ago summers when her  children were preschoolers. 

They are only on the Cape for one week...but in that week,  everything is in balance, yet everything is in changing. Rocky learns some things about her own family's past and then she is forced to accept that she can't hide certain secrets any longer, especially from the people she loves. 

MY THOUGHTS

This is a book with laughs, tears and many precious moments

I loved this book other than a few crass words and depictions as well as many editing errors. 

The characters are richly developed and so real! I could relate to Rocky on so many levels except the hot flashes (I didn't get those during menopause). 

The setting was so well described, I could smell the salt air and pines and feel the sandy shore under my toes. 

The main themes in this story seem to be: physical and emotional changes in women; transitions of life and relationships; abortion; homosexuality;  intergenerational dynamics/family dynamics; love, forgiveness, acceptance. 

Some quotes that really resonated with me were all from the ending of the story: 

"...that's part of choice--we get to make our own decisions, even if they're imperfect.The potential that you might regret something? We don't make anything illegal beause of that....." (pg 204 Sandwich by Catherine Newman c.2024

"Maybe grief is love imploding. Or maybe it's love expanding. I don't know. I just know you can't create loss to preempt loss because it doesn't work that way. So you might as well love as much as you can. And as recklessly. Like it's your last resort, because it is." (pg 220-221) 

 

In my opinion, this book is appropriate for ages 17 and older (due to mature content). 

On a scale of 1-10, with 10 being the highest, I rate this a 9. 

 

It's Been Awhile

 

It's been awhile since I wrote about a betrayal that cut so deep, I felt like I was bleeding out. 

It's been awhile since I trusted a person whom I don't even know all that well yet. 

It's been awhile since I sensed God doing some rearranging in my soul........

...........my mind..........

...........................my heart

It's been awhile since my heartstrings were so tangled I didn't know which end was up and which end was down and why does this keep  coming round and round? 

It took one discussion. The topic was forgiveness. I was moved by one woman's testimony that I don't have permission to share here.  Then another woman shared something and wham. I felt pretty convicted. It was a week ago. 

And I knew in the deepest part of my heart that there were people from my past (specifically former church leaders) that I hadn't thought about in over 6 years, let alone forgiven.  

It's easy to push things down and hide them in a box in the shadows of the heart never to open it. 

It's hard to pull things up and expose them to the light  so the Light can shine through. 

All this past week, I haven't slept well, tossing and turning, not eating, and wondering why God has me in this place?

because it's been awhile......

Why was I being triggered all over again standing in church and looking around and seeing people joyful and me in agony.......frozen so the tears don't fall...........

because it's been awhile.....

This time though,  I knew the answer.....

 There's a part of me that felt in control with fists tightly clenched that I can't even hold on to something.........can't worship, can't read the Word, can't trust.......

can't let go.......

won't let go........

.........yet I was having visions of reaching for Jesus'  hand ........again..........to get up and over........and there were these past leaders in the way with an angry God behind them and a laughing Satan in front of them and where are you Jesus?? and why this week of all weeks?? (the anniversary of a pivotal moment in my teen years). 

Because it's been awhile. 

And in reaching my breaking point, just like God does so well, in walks a person I admire greatly and whom for some reason I trust. This has always been hard for me. I was tempted to call my friend the  counselor but God impressed on me to talk to J. And I don't typically get these "senses". I'm glad I listened and could at least do that.......because......

it's been awhile. 

And this friend? 

She challenged me. She quoted me Scripture, she read past posts and still accepted me and I knew she would pray. I asked for prayer because.....

it's been awhile. 

And I just knew I could trust her. 

She challenged me that those leaders? they weren't really my friends. Those people who dissed me and sent me horrible messages full of anger? they weren't really my friends. And it was time for my ears to hear this because......

it's been awhile. 

And while trying to stay in control of one last big thing in my life  that I can cling to and be in control of  and wishing to see justice when it isn't gonna happen here on earth........

........I knew I was unraveling and totally out of control........and when those tears started falling and it was time to pray..........

I released those people from my past and asked God to help me forgive and told Him I was laying them at the foot of the Cross for Him to carry.......

and I felt my fists unclench.......

because it had been awhile. 

JULY FAVES

 

WOWZA! It's been another few days of hot and humid weather but the high humidity is supposed to break tonight, so for that I am grateful. I'm tired of having the central air on. I much prefer fresh air blowing through the open windows in my home. 

Let's pause and find FIVE blessings from the week that "Wow-ed" us or made us stop and say "thank You, God".  I'm joining in with other bloggers who do this every Friday and Susanne is the host! Thankful for Susanne continuing this because it is good to give thanks for our blessings. 

• iPHONE CAMERA: I'm thankful for the iphone camera. My vacation pics came out pretty good and although a couple of the ocean ones didn't come out at all, most of them have been sorted through, uploaded onto this laptop, and put into albums on Facebook and used in blog posts talking about each day of our vacation.  So far, I've only written about 2 out of the 5 days, but that's ok. I started backwards with Day 4 (I'm not doing one for the last day but I wrote about it on FB) so did that and Day 3. Day 2 will be written tonight if I get a chance or tomorrow morning. If you click on the blue bold print, it will take you to the posts. Day 4 was the day we discovered some very interesting things about Dave's family 😃 at the Pilgrim museum. 

Day lilies

hanging plant off front entrance

gerbera daisies in front flower bed

Sunflowers

• THRIVING PLANTS:  I was so happy to see my plants (including the buttercrunch lettuce I left in the dining room while we were gone as it can't be out in the high heat and humidity) thriving this week. Our youngest daughter came up after work while we were gone one evening and when we got home she reported to me that she only had to water the indoor plants because this area had a couple of days of "monsoons" (her words).  She said it poured. It never rained at all in Plymouth and Cape Cod, thankfully. I was so worried these plants would die from the heat and humidity but they're actually thriving. The short sunflowers are now all opened since I've taken this photo. The sprinkling of red you see on the leaves  is chili powder. It keeps the bunnies who live under our shed away!!  As it is, they ate all of my morning glories as I forgot to sprinkle those. I'm thankful for beautiful blooms. 

the central and high peaks region from the firetower 
on the summit of Swede Mt 

me and Melanie
on the summit of Swede Mt
There is a sign informing hikers
 of the history of the ADK  fire towers
photo compliments of Charlie 
used with permission

I had Charlie, our newest SoulSteps member,
lead the way down the mountain. 
The broken down cabin is a former hunting cabin
Hunting is allowed on Swede Mt 
so the trail is closed to hikers from Sept-midDec. 

• MID-WEEK HIKE:  I had 6 members originally signed up for hiking up the small mountain in eastern Adirondacks known as Swede Mt. Swede only has an elevation of 1904 '.  The trail is very narrow and overgrown in the first half mile. The 2nd half mile is a nice wide trail with switchbacks as it's a short,  steep mountain. It ended up being just 3 of us hiking as some members who had signed up were either not feeling well or were recovering from injuries. Melanie and Charlie were great hiking partners and it was great to get to know Charlie a bit. He shared his testimony and it was quite powerful. I had him lead us back down the mountain.  It was very hot and humid, and while I was climbing the firetower, I actually had to sit down on the last flight to slow my heart rate down...I felt like I was going to faint.  But I figured out that I just hadn't been drinking enough water plus we had set a pretty fast pace. It ended up being a hot humid day so Melanie and I went to Loon Lake afterwards which is about 15 miles north of the mountain.  We had planned to hike somewhere so we were wearing our swimgear under the hiking clothes. I'm thankful Charlie enjoyed his first SoulSteps hike (he was on vacation all week and his wife doesn't like to hike) and that we all stayed safe. 

relaxing at Loon Lake (eastern ADK)
after a hot, sweaty hike.
Loon Lake is super clear and clean and the water is cold but refreshing

• CHORES DONE:  Dave and I tackled the laundry together last weekend and while I dealt with grocery shopping and reading all the mail that was waiting for us when we got home Friday evening, he mowed the entire lawn. It felt good to be back in our own bed and get the chores done and then Sunday evening we just relaxed.  I'm thankful my husband helps out around the house! 

Thursday evening

• HAIR RE-SHAPED!  I couldn't stand the pixie cut my hair stylist did for me in June. It was much to "shaggy" in the back and the top just didn't look good on me. I don't like complaining to her as I've gone to her for about 25 years now and she's usually top notch but that cut just wasn't working for me.  So I called her, got in for yesterday morning, and asked her if she could do the stacked look in the back and trim it to grow back out to be a cropped French bob.  She said she absolutely could.  She did a great job and she agreed the shaggy pixie...although super trendy right now....just doesn't fit me well. I told her to not let me talk her into ever doing that again! HA! Seriously...I am so thankful for her and her skills.

That wraps up my first full week of July and some favorite blessings.

How was your week? what are you thankful for today? 

I totally forgot to mention Independence Day!!  We spent it doing chores and I made grilled burgers (plant based for me, beef for dave) and we attended our local baseball game (the Valley Cats..used to be minor league but can't remember what level it is now) where the visiting team won but that was ok because that's who we were rooting for! Why? because it was the Brocton Rox and that's the area of MA that Dave is from!! It was a great game with a grand slam and just so much fun to see the fireworks afterwards.  I was especially thankful that our youngest daughter Claire could meet us there...it was so good to see her and get caught up on her life. 

I love how this pic I took came out!