Mid-May Weekend Wrap-Up

 

This is currently my view, here in the Capital Region of New York State on a Sunday afternoon at 5:15 pm.  We have had a day of very warm temps (84 F!) which is most unusual for eastern NYS in mid-May.  But  the windows are open, there's a beautiful brisk breeze and I'm enjoying iced water with lemon slices on the deck to write up a weekend wrap-up. 

Our weekend began with a Missions event at our church on Friday evening.  Dave and I signed up because  he goes on the Guatemala missions trip every winter and has been on the DR trip in the past.

 The event was titled Coffee, Curry, and Christ and the Indian food was from this local restaurant. The event was free and there were about 55 people sitting around round tables set up in our cafe area of our lobby.  Dave and I sat with our young friend Shawna, and our friends P and Anita who are originally from India.  Also at our table was a couple named A and C who are from South America.  They are also in my hiking group along with Anita and Shawna!  The mission event featured 2 special speakers:  an Indian man (Prakash)  who talked to us about his mission work with Rise India  and a woman (an American geologist)  who works for another missions organization delivering wells/drilling for clean water called The Living Water Project.   All of their money comes from churches who invest in those mission organizations. These 2 organizations meet the practical needs of people whom the world calls "unlovable" to show they are indeed loved.  We were very impressed with the delicious food, and the presentations. Here is a brochure they were giving out: 

Saturday morning brought a beatiful Spring day!  The temps were in the 50s and rose to about 75 by afternoon. I had a SoulSteps hike scheduled locally (about 50 minutes east of here) and Dave had to log in to work to work on something that he couldn't get done on Friday.  After he spent a couple of hours online, he did some yardwork and then had some other things to work on around the house/in his office. My hike involved 5 of us (originally there were 8 signed up) hiking about a mile into the highest waterfalls of Columbia County.  Here are pics of the waterfalls (there are 2 and the smaller one was seen when we took the lower trail along the stream back to the cars.  The other pic is our group pic for the day.  We were home by 1 pm! The hike began at 11 AM. 

High Falls 
town of Philmont NY

the 2nd smaller  falls was also impressive

SoulSteps members
Adam/Kathryn, Celine, Dave D in back and me

When I got home, I had to shower and check for ticks and then spent the afternoon doing some light housework and reading on the deck. I had a nice phone call from another SoulSteps member whom I haven't seen since March so that was fun to catch up with her. She signed up for one of the June hikes. Dave and I had to run two errands (put gas in Dave's car and pick up his large sander from a young friend who borrowed it all week)  in the later part of the afternoon so while we were out, we popped over to Popeye's Chicken to grab classic chicken sandwiches and iced tea and then after dinner, we watched an old Nicole Kidman movie we had never seen. It was ok, not great. Her acting was phenomenal but the plot was a tad bit odd and disturbing when it came to the subject matter. Definitely wouldn't have paid to see it. It's currently on Netflix. 

Sunday morning we had coffee together in the family room that was gloriously sunny and cool temps and then Dave had to leave around 7:15 as he was volunteering on the Production team at church for both services. I prepared potato salad for Sunday dinner, and did my Scripture readings. I went to the 11 AM service and was able to sit with Dave as he had to be in the front row to help lift the arm chair for our pastor who is still recovering from some surgery and can't stand for long periods of time yet. The worship and sermon were amazing.  The sermon was wrapping up our Marriage, Sexuality and Singleness series and today's topic was Gender Identity issues and how we as Christ followers should be responding to people who are embracing a different lifestyle and why we should not be judgemental yet not compromise Truth. He backed everything up with Scriptures from both the Old and New Testaments. It truly was pretty blunt and important for our  congregation to hear. It will be available on you tube starting tomorrow I believe. It  truly was outstanding. 

a beautiful Sunday afternoon 
and perfect to get some reading done
the whole neighborhood was so quiet!

After church, I changed into shorts and a tee because the air was now up to 84 F!  I grilled vegan burgers and we had the potato salad with all the burger fixings.  Dave needed to  figure out some stuff regarding his July vacation so I took my book outdoors after cleanign up the kitchen and starting the dishwasher and spent a lovely afternoon on our backyard swing, then my ADK chair and then in the shade of the deck.  We had fruit and cheese for a late day snack and will spend the evening on the deck talking and planning our June and July vacations. 

What did you do this weekend? 

Whatever it was, I hope you took some time to relax and recharge! 

Mid-May Faves

 

I feel like I was just typing "it's mid-April already" and here it is mid-May.  It's been a crazy, chaotic, frustrating week all revolving around our car insurance company (no, no one in the family had an accident or anything like that) so I need to be intentional about finding things that made me smile and say "Thank You, God" vs complaining about inept customer service reps who barely understand simple English nor can speak it well.  

So I'll be intentional and share FIVE things that made my week...all are blessings from God as all good things come from Him. Join in by heading over to Susanne's site.  

SoulSteps hikers:
Maggie, Maureen, me, Karen
Friday 8 May

• MID-MORNING HIKE:  A week ago today, there was a  SoulSteps hike scheduled  for mid-morning at this Environmental Center to the east of where we all live. (across the Hudson River to the east of us).  It only took us 30 min to get there.  I used to bring my special ed prek students here back in the late 1980s/1990s!  It had been years since I had been here.  We hiked the Spring Trail which was an easy -just a -little- over -a -mile loop which included a fern glen, mossy glen, a pond and then a road walk. It was the perfect Spring day!  We had to shed our outer layer about a half mile in. There were just 4 of us signed up and we all had so much fun on the trail as it was new to all of us!  It was a very easy hike. I'm thankful for the fresh air and fellowship and exploring a new trail. I'm also thankful I get to lead this group! It's fun to volunteer. 

The stepping stones were brand new moss
this part of the trail was so very pretty

Newcomb Pond along Spring trail

me, Maureen, Karen
on the side trail leading to the pond
photo compliments of Maggie

• TOTALLY RELAXING MOTHERS DAY:  I guess God was getting me prepared for a frustrating, busy week because on Sunday I had a wonderfully relaxing Mother's Day. After church, we all headed over to my fave restaurant where my youngest daughter had made a reservation.  It wasn't busy at all in there. There were maybe 3 other families and that was it! After we ate and chatted, we headed over to this little park to take photos.  Courtney's boyfriend did the honors and he also took one of me, my husband and Courtney at church where there was a special arrangements of greenery all set up for mom pics. After the girls departed ways, it was late afternoon and I sat out in the sunshine in the backyard to read and even took a little nap while Dave mowed the yards. We were so full from our big lunch that we only ate some fruit for dinner later in the evening.  I'm so thankful for my daughters and husband for giving me a special day. 

Dave, me, Courtney
Grace Fellowship Church
Mothers Day 

Courtney, me, Claire
at one of our town pocket parks
photo  compliments of Tyler

the girls bought me dinner, drinks and tulips
and they both wrote such beautiful messages to me in the cards
I am truly blessed 

• ANNUAL DONE!  My annual physical was  this past week and she went over my blood work and congratulated me on the raised HDL and the optimal glucose/triglycerides. I also dropped 7 lbs since Xmas and she told me I don't need to lose weight.  I'm supposed to start taking a Vitamin D3 supplement and that was the only thing she was worried about. She spent a half hour with me; everything checked out great, my blood pressure was super good and she is totally on board with me having mammograms every other year since I am low risk. I'm thankful for a good NP and for good health insurance. 

• SAVINGS!  This is a long story that I won't get into here but the summary is: we are in the process of switching car insurance agents as we wanted someone local.  Our current one is way out in the western part of the state (a 4 hour drive) and we found a woman who is awesome. However, our current agent has been overcharging us and she encouraged us to have our daughters switch plans.  They both need to get off our policy anyways as they have their own addresses. Our youngest found out through our soon to be new agent that she can save Claire a little over $400 a year! Our oldest daughter just started the process and expects a savings as well.  I'm so thankful we  found someone honest, local, and who is working with our needs. AND as of Thursday afternoon, I finally got a competent English speaking representative whose name "happened" to be Faith, and who had no problem sending us the 9 needed documents that 2 other reps told me couldn't happen!!  I was shouting Thank You, God over and over and told the rep that I was so thankful for her. I could tell she doesn't hear that much. She said she was just doing her job. I said well you certainly do it better than 2 of your co-workers. HA! I had tried every day this week and finally yesterday I got this competant, genuinely nice young lady.  I'm thankful for her!

Great Sacandaga Lake
town beach of Providence, NY
southern ADK
this is just 50 minutes from my home

• MOUNTAIN DAY:  I had a free day on Tuesday and it was such a glorious day that I texted my cousin Ken to see if he wanted  to meet me for breakfast at our fave diner in the southern Adirondacks near his home. He did so we both ordered pancakes and coffee. The pancakes were horrible (way too dense and kind of blah...the berries in them were good though) and the coffee was great. After breakfast, we walked up and down the road where my parents had a camp while I was growing up. The road is the one my mom was born and raised on.  Ken lives in his childhood home about a half mile up from where our camp stood. His mom was the oldest of 10 children. My mom was #7.  The only ones still alive are my Aunt Helen (who lives in VA) Aunt Ruth (she turns 90 this year and is in a nursing home in the central part of NYS) and my uncle Sam who lives in Florida.  My dad's parents had a camp off the road when my mom was a teenager  which is how they met.  All the teens hung out together at the beaches, and in the village. This is one of my absolute fave Adirondack mountain towns. We had such a nice walk on a beautiful day.  I then went into the little country store in the village to purchase a new to me book about the mountains and some hiking areas.   I'm thankful my cousin was free and that we had a gorgeous day on the lake! 

this home is kitty- corner across the road from
the spot where my family camp was in the 1960s/1970s
This house is the one (now modernized) that was built in the 1800s
and where my maternal grandmother Mae grew up with many siblings, 2 of whom I knew:  My great-uncle Perry and great uncle Elwin.  
My Grandma Mae   raised her brood
about a half mile up the road in the 1930s-1950s.
By the time me and my sisters were born, the person living here was my mother's uncle  Elwin, who had his own plane and landing field behind the old barn.  A pet crow would often be perched on his shoulder.  My mom wouldn't allow us to go up in his plane though as she was afraid of planes. The barn which was in front of the landing field is pictured below. You can read about my  great-uncle Elwin here.  The person who wrote the article is my mom's cousin's wife, Gail Cramer.  Mom's cousin Larry was great-uncle Perry's son. 
Scroll down to where on the left hand side it says "Elwin Cramer Airfield".

the old barn from my mother's  side of the family
and behind is all woods now but it's where the old 
landing field used to be 

These Mayflowers as Mom always called them
are plentiful in the month of May
in the Adirondack Mountains...they 
are wildflowers and tend to bloom in the woods
and the sides of the roads. They were all throughout our yard at camp as well. 
This is my cousin's yard. 

This is our old camp outhouse.
It blends in with the evergreens, 
(you'll have to zoom in!)
that we used when we were "up to camp"
Our family camp had no running water/plumbing
in the 1960s-1978 so we had to get spring water for our drinking
and  cooking needs. The outhouse was about a quarter of a mile down the path from the back porch
I'm so surprised it's still (somewhat) standing! 
Our camp was torn down by Ken's sister Barb and her husband Gerald
when they bought the land from my dad back in the late 1970s.  
My last year of going "up to camp" with my parents and little sisters was the year I turned 17 in 1977. 
I didn't take a pic of the log house Barb and Gerald built
because they are both in heaven now and the new owners weren't there to give permission and I didn't feel  comfortable just snapping a pic of their home. 

BONUS FAVE 

I have to mention this movie currently on Netflix and based on a book. I didn't read the book. 

I absolutely have been a fan of Sally Field and her work for years. She is just phenomenal. And boy can she still act. 

This movie was a gem. I watched it over 3 days this week while chopping veggies, folding laundry, dusting the upstairs office, etc.  

It's a tad bit cheesy but such a beautifully endearing story on loss, love, and friendship. 

HIGHLY recommend this good clean family friendly movie. 

Have a wonderful weekend!  We have "date night" tonight with several other people at a special event going on at our church titled Coffee, Curry, and Christ.  More on that in a soon to be future post. 😁 

I have a short, easy waterfalls hike to lead tomorrow in the Taconic Hills of NYS and on Sunday Dave and I have church and then need to firm up our Memorial Day weekend plans and take a Sabbath rest together. 

 it's supposed to get up into the 80s so a trip to the lake might happen as well!

Whatever you do this weekend, count it all joy and give thanks for the blessings. 

A Bookish Meme!

 

I was on blog earlier today and looking at the blogs I follow and saw this post from Barbara from this blog.  I absolutely love all things books so wanted to answer her questions. Plus I've been on a car insurance phone call waiting for an answer about an issue for 20 minutes so have plenty of time! 

1. Bookmarks or dog-ears?

Bookmarks. I'm given bookmarks as gifts, usually from my sister Joy and I also get free ones from the World Wildlife Foundation after I make a  donation! I love bookmarks because dog ears mars the book. Most of the fiction I read is from the library so I want to be respectful. 

2. Book accessories?

I honestly can't think of any book accessorires that we own unless you mean a kindle. My husband has a kindle and he used to have a Nook. 

3. Are you a fast or slow reader?

Neither. I'm definitely not a slow reader but I don't speed read either. It usually takes me anywhere from 1-2 weeks to read a good fiction novel and a little longer to read a non-fiction book. 

4. Have you ever written to an author?

Yes!  And I got a response! It was via email and I was asking her about the setting in upstate NY about one of her mysteries.  It was so much fun to get her reply.  

5. Have you ever met an author in person?

Yes!  Dave and I were on vacation (July 2015) in Chatham (Cape Cod), MA and while we were riding our bikes in town, we saw Lisa Genova standing outside the bookstore  promoting her books!  I  LOVE her books and so I stopped to chat with her, bought two of the latest ones and she signed one for my sister Joy that I gave her as a Xmas gift later that year. 

I also am friends with (and they're in my hiking group) a woman named Vicki and her daughter Isla who wrote a picture story book about life on the autism spectrum and about how we are all different and should never hide our true selves.  Something along those lines. 

I'm also friends with a woman and her youngest daughter who has written children's books and young adult fiction as well as a couple of mysteries. 

6. Do you have a favorite character who is not the main character?

I don't think she's considered a "main character" but I really loved the character Melanie in the  Gone with the Wind novel. I liked her way better than Scarlet! 

7. Do you have any bookish merchandise?

Yes!  I actually have a new tote bag from my youngest daughter that was bought in the NYS town of Hobart in the Catskill Mountains which is known as the "book village of the Catskills"....it is a very very small town with a population of 351 people and NINE bookstores all up and down the main street.  My 2 daughters, sister Joy and I explored it a couple of years ago for our Annual Autumn Girls Day Away.  Here is a pic of my tote bag that Claire bought me: 

8. Favorite book from childhood?

I had several but the ones I'm choosing for this question is The Secret Garden when I was a 4th grader, and A Tree Grows in Brooklyn that I read in 8th grade. 

9. Do you read one book at a time, or several?

I always have a fiction book going, and usually a non-fiction (either a memoir or a hiking guide, or a Bible study book).  I also read in the Chronological Bible most days or another devotional book or sections of one of the books in the Bible for my quiet time. 

10. Favorite genre

Mysteries, psych thrillers that aren't gory or horror, historical fiction, drama -like family sagas with a tiny bit of romance, fantasy (Think Harry Potter or Chronicles of Narnia), some Christian fiction....the mysteries more than the romance ones.  

11. Genres you don’t care for?

Horror, erotica, sappy romances, most science fiction and most "Christian" fiction  

12. Best movie based on a book? Worst?

Les Miserables or Gone with the Wind (although due to length of the novels, Hollywood did have to leave a lot out). 

Worst: All the Light We Cannot See, Rebecca, The Book Thief

The books were  SO MUCH BETTER! 

That was fun!

What book(s) are you currently reading? 

Mine are listed on my side bar. 

Wednesday HodgePodge

 

Joyce created some more good questions for this week's Hodgepodge so I'm jumping in to answer. Head to her blog to learn more about this weekly meme. 

1. What's one piece of advice you would you give a recent or soon-to-be graduate? 

if graduating from high school (our youngest niece is graduating from HS the last Saturday in June): enjoy every minute of college and don't sweat the small stuff; if you don't care for your roommate, do one thing with her and then decide if you need to switch...she might surprise you....and lastly, don't just study...have some fun too! 

if graduating from college: work at least a year before you decide about grad school (if you know they're in a field that requires a masters eventually like here in NYS with teaching 😁).  Keep in touch with the friends you made and give yourself a few days to get acclimated to life outside of college.  Know that it's normal to miss it! 

I would also say to a college graduate: pray. Pray about your career choice and know that you most likely will not get your dream job right after earning that BS (or BA). Take a full time job, get those loans paid off even if just the interest at  first, and be kind. Always be kind. 

2. May 15th marks the birth date of L. Frank Baum, author of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. At this point in time are you more in need of brains, courage, heart, or a trip back home? Explain. 

Definitely not a trip back home....did NOT like where I grew up (central NYS).  I guess courage.  There's an issue I need to address with someone in my hiking group and I'm going to need patience and love (so heart, too I guess) to deal with it. 

3.  "There's no place like home" is an oft repeated line from Baum's book. When was the last time you felt the truth of that statement? 

When my oldest daughter and I were back from a week away in the northern Adirondack Mountains last summer. Although we loved our trip and all the little villages and lakes we visited, the hotel we were in was horrible.  As soon as I was home, unpacked and in bed that night, I  said to my husband "There's no place like home...and my wonderful bed". 

4. May is National BBQ Month...do you own a grill? Who does the grilling at your house? What's your favorite thing to throw on the grill? What's the last thing you grilled? 

Yes we own a gas grill. 

I am the one who mainly does the  grilling but Dave sometimes does on the weekends. 

Fave things to grill: Potatoes, corn on the cob, chicken marinated in a garlic-herb homemade  dressing, and Beyond Burgers. 

Last thing I grilled was boneless, skinless chicken breasts about 2 weeks ago. 

5. What's a memory you replay in your head when you need a little joy? 

this  August camping trip in 2003: Courtney had just turned 10 yrs old  in July  and Claire was 4.5 yrs old.  It was truly one of our best camping trips. (we had a pop up camper)  The photo brings joy to my heart. (they had just finished up washing and drying the camp dishes and were so very happy that Daddy agreed we would make smores. 

Moffitt Beach State Campground on Sacandaga Lake
Southern Adirondack Mountains
August 2003

6. Insert your own random thought here. 

Evening Kayak paddles on Long Lake
in the central Adirondacks is so very calming. 
We used to rent a cottage here every summer from 2013-2021
That's Owls Head Mt...to the left of the dip in the range
 in the background...(the tallest peak you see there) 
Dave and I climbed it in 2014.
I was in my kayak taking the photo.  
Summer 2020

Happy Wednesday!