Mid-June Faves

 

Can you believe we are on the last Friday/Saturday of Spring?

Summer begins on Sunday! 

June has been just glorious here in eastern New York State, other than those few very hot and humid days. This past week was much more the way I personally like it: zero humidity, temps in the 50s at night so no need for central air and daytime temps have been in upper 60s and 70s. So again, all windows have been open and fresh air flowing through the house. Makes for nicer days to do housework, gardening and outdoor activities. 

The weather has been a true blessing but I also have FIVE other things to share that top my list of FAVE things/events. 

Join in with us at Susanne's blog.  Leave a comment and I'll come by and read your list as well!

Keystone Arch Bridge
Berkshires, MA
13 June, Saturday

• HISTORIC HIKE:  I had a SoulSteps hike scheduled for Saturday the 13th.  Originally there were 9 members signed up.  One woman had to opt out due to her  elderly mom needing her and my daughter opted out as she wanted to get stuff done around her apartment. My husband also opted out as he had a work thing in the morning and wanted to get the yard work done before dinner. That left 6 of us.  I drove, and our new members, a married couple from Indonesia, met us at the trailhead.  It's located in the Berkshire Mts of MA and took about 1.5 hours to get there. My friend Anita brought her son Dylann who had just graduated from college.  The other passenger in my car was our good friend Dave D, who has been a SoulSteps member since I started the group in 2024. The trail we were hiking is this one.  You can read about the history of this famous railroad and arches by heading here.  None of us had hiked here in the past. It was a wonderful 5 miles!  We actually ended up hiking 5.4 miles because we took a couple of extra side trails to see all the old arches.  Our destination, or so we thought, was the photo above.  However, at the end of the trail, there was a sign stating that to see the very high arch, we had to drive to another town, go down a very narrow mountain road for 4 miles, go under the bridge, park about a half mile from the arch and hike back to take pics.  We did just that! I'm thankful this hike turned out to be a gem!  Here are a couple of my fave photos from the day: 

my fave part of the trail..
this is after hiking the first .9 miles

on top of the first arch/trestle that the trail goes over
this is after about a 1.5 miles in
l-r: Lisi, her husband Ridwan, and Dave D 

End of the trail
this is one of the original arches/trestles
 that the CSX railroad went over....this was built in the mid 1800s
that blue is the water below with the sky reflection 
this was as close as we could get to this arch
there were 3 other ones along the trail as well
and sadly, none of the others came out in my photos!

After hiking back the 2.5 miles, we drove to the other arch
l-r: me, Dylann, his mom Anita, Dave D. 
photo by Dave D and used with permission
Missing from photo: Ridwan and Lisi

• SUNDAY EVENING MOVIE DATE: Dave really wanted me to sit with him Sunday evening in the family room and have a movie date. He chose Song Sung Blue which was awesome because Neil Diamond has been one of my  all time fave singers since I was a teenager. I LOVE his music and the greatest hits are actually on my phone's playlist. The movie isn't about Neil Diamond though.  It's about the real couple (stage names are Thunder and Lightning)  who became a tribute band with a large following.  We loved this movie. Hugh Jackman was amazing as was Kate Hudson. If you like Neil Diamond's music, watch this movie and make sure you have tissues on hand. It's a tearjerker towards the end. HIGHLY recommend! (not for ages under 17 in my opinion, though). I'm thankful that my husband wanted a relaxing Sabbath day and that he bought yummy spiked limeade  as a treat. I had the cherry one and it was so refreshing! 

•  GARDEN DELIGHTS!  I'm so very thankful my rosebushes and the day lilies are blooming and thriving this year. Last year, I had some major issues with the roses.  I trimmed them way back in November and Dave took out two dead branches from the center of the bush and voila....this year, after applying the Neem oil, the roses are thriving! In the photo, they look almost white but they are actually a pale pink tea rose.  Also, for the first time ever, I decided to start from seeds, some buttercrunch lettuce back in April in a large deck pot. My sister warned me it probably wouldn't grow as she's never had luck with them from seeds. Well....this past week, I was finally able to pick some of the bigger leaves and add them to a  salad (shredded broccoli, green and red cabbage, scallions, carrots, radishes, sesame sticks, pecans, dried cranberries)  I was making.  The lettuce was perfectly "crisp" and I hope it continues to do well as summer  approaches. I'm thankful for fresh homegrown produce and pretty flowers! 

• REDUCING/RECYCLING: Yesterday, there was a tornado  watch for our area and points northwest. We had rain over night which was needed, and then partly sunny skies most of the day with very high winds so I stayed home and got stuff done around the house. One of those things was going through 2 old bins in our basement of some of my old books from childhood/old music from college. I also went through our living room bookcase and was able to donate 6 books altogether to a local thrift store. Besides the bag of books, I also had two other bags of outdated, not worn or just not used in more than a year clothing, tote bags,  towels, and decorative winter or holiday items. I drove them over before lunch and the woman there welcomed all three bags. I'm thankful I could reduce what has become "clutter" and also recycle some of the older music and the books that were falling apart.  

• DOWN TIME:  This week was my first week since early March where I had nothing on the calendar! Most unusual.  No appointments of any kind, no SoulSteps hikes to lead, no Bible study to lead, no class to attend, no coffee or lunch dates.  Monday evening, after we had sandwiches, we went over to Lowe's to buy/order a new gas range. I wrote about  my appliance anxiety here. (the reasons we had sandwiches for dinner? my oven completely died about a half hour before dinner and I had planned a dish that required  the oven!) Thankfully for Wed  I was  able to grill and Dave surprised me by taking me out to my fave diner last evening,  and for Tuesday's dinner,  I used the slow cooker.  At any rate, Dave wanted me to stick close to home this week and just relax but also to be available in case the installer calls with our new stove all ready to be hooked up. I'm thankful for extra time to focus on some different types of cleaning chores, to read at various times throughout the day, and to soak up the sunshine. I've also gone on lots of walks and have noticed that many places are beginning to decorate for our nations birthday.  I particularly liked this display at our town park. I'm thankful our town is displaying patriotic things, planning an Independence Day parade and also paying tribute to our many vets and the various Armed Forces in our nation. 

Flowers at the park in the south part of town 

Tribute to Veterans of the Armed Forces. 
Each unit has its own plaque: Coast Guard, Army, Navy,
Marines,  Air Force, and Marines Special Forces

New wreaths at the Veterans Memorial 

That wraps up my week of things to be grateful for!

What about you? What are you most thankful for this week?? 

ENJOY the last day of Spring/first day of Summer this weekend!

Even in the Inconveniences

 Well....it wasn't as bad as 2010, at least. That year, for April Spring Break (I had a week off from teaching and the girls were 16 and 11and also had the week off from school) we were headed to Paris. We would fly from Boston  on Saturday evening to Munich, then down to Paris landing on Easter Sunday morning. Spring break was the first week of April that year. 

In the middle of March, the entire basement flooded due to a sump pump failure. We had no sump pump coverage on our homeowners insurance policy so we took a loss of the entire carpeting (3/4 of the basement was re-done and carpeted), along with losing our futon, my stationary bike,  some other odds and ends like books and games/puzzles and a cabinet. Back to a cement floor with area rugs. During that same week that we hired Courtney's then boyfriend to help us rip up the old carpeting and mop, mop, mop and clean clean clean, our stove died!   It was an Amana....I loved my gas range. But it wasn't a high end one.  It was just average. So.....

First, the oven croaked...and then the burners. Talk about inconvenience. But....the guy who hauled it away said we got good use of it. He told us then in 2010 that it must have been a good gas range as we bought it brand new in 1994 when we built this house and they don't last long.  So it lasted the average time that he said most appliances last (6-9 years).

 We upgraded to a nice GE and......

.....it lasted until yesterday. The oven finally died.  We had had it repaired once about 4 years ago and the repair guy was surprised it just needed a small little part. So we've had 16 years of use. But it's so inconvenient to have it die now!  Right when I had dinner all planned and brownies to bake (so the uncooked dough is now in my fridge......). 

Why am I sharing all of this? 

Because I get "appliance anxiety". I despise shopping for new appliances, especially stoves. It's weird here in NYS because any new buildings going up ( apartments and homes) must have electric appliances only. I don't agree with this but......hey...I also didn't vote for her so.......(yes, our governor passed this law). So I was very nervous going into this store, thinking they may no longer have good gas ranges. (our kitchen isn't set up for an electric stove...we'd have to run a whole new line and hire an electrician to get the switch). I had narrowed it down to 3 models.  A Samsung, A GE S1 and an LG.  The GE S1 had the best price for what we wanted. I like that it comes with a crisp mode which is comparable to an air fryer. I love that there's a 5th burner (a griddle) and that one of the burners is a simmer burner.  We currently have that feature on the one that just died and it's nice. Now of course I'm anxious that it's going to take weeks to get it.  We had to pay extra for the installation as well as a fee to have the installers cart away the old one. The anxiety about all of this is at an all time high. I even reached out to my friend from this blog to ask her to pray. I know she did.  

These modern day, first world problems are so very inconvenient aren't they? 

But. 

Then I read my morning Scriptures. I'm currently in the middle of doing a devotional study titled A Lifestyle of Prayer and what that looks like. 

And God convicted me this morning. It started with the Scripture in John 16:33

And then it reminded me of this Scripture: 

And I realized....Joy...and Peace...are in the list of the fruit of the Spirit. 

I don't need to be anxious about anything because God sees it all.

He wants me to come to him in prayer and place my anxiety at the foot of the Cross so He can bear it for me. 

Jesus is the one who brings the Peace during any of our struggles.  

Joy is the weapon!

Our Joy in the Lord gives us strength to combat those anxious thoughts which was negative and are from Satan. 

We can learn to steward our joy and base it on God.  

We do this by focusing on God's character and goodness. 

We can remember the things He has already done. 

We can be thankful.  Even for small things like "at least my burners are still working and at least I have a grill....it's summer...and I have a microwave." 

I can chew on God's Word daily for my daily bread.  I can turn to a Psalm to calm my anxious thoughts.......I can read about a miracle Jesus did......there's so much comfort, wisdom and encouragement in Scripture. 

And I can pray.  We can talk to God directly like Adam and Eve did in the Garden. We have direct access to God through Jesus!

As I focused on these and other Scriptures, my anxious thoughts went away for the day and I could do other things knowing God's got this. 

I kept reminding myself that there are people with far worse trials...this is just  a blip.  Yes, I had plans to go on a day trip this week as I had no hikes to lead and no appointments of any kind. But that trip can wait......

and I can wait for the stove to be delivered, all the while knowing that even though it is  an inconvenience, I always have something to be thankful for and God is there even in the little things.....like a new stove......that still needs to be delivered and installed........

(and yes, now my friend Jill is praying for the delivery to be soon before our vacation begins!!)

PLEASE NOTE:

 To the person who left the "Anonymous" comment on my book review about Northwoods by Amy Pease.

First: this blog clearly states when you open the comment box that I will not accept Anonymous comments.  You must have a blog title associated with your comment, be a blog owner, or leave your first name or initials . Leaving anonymous comments shows me that you are a coward. 

2nd: your information was inaccurate. There have been no scandals associated with the author after an exhaustive search nor was there one via reddit. 

3rd: Reddit is an unreliable news source.

• Fact-Checking & News: Anyone can post or share unverified articles. Information can be politically biased, misrepresented, or completely fabricated. 
• Health, Legal, or Financial Advice: Opinions should never replace professional consultation. While some communities verify credentials, most do not. 
• The "Upvote" Fallacy: Popular consensus does not equal factual accuracy. Confidently written, incorrect information is frequently highly upvoted

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4th: this blog is all about encouraging, uplifting news along with honest reviews that are my opinion after the story summary.  If you don't like the book or the author, simply move on or say something like "Hey, I read that one...didn't connect with me" or whatever.  Stop bashing authors! 

5th STOP writing comments under anonymous. They will continue to be deleted. If you really wanted me to see that information, the best thing would have been to include a link to the supposed article you read. And your first  name or initials if you don't have your own blog. 

6th: methinks you have too much time on your hands. Do something  constructive vs snarky. 

To my faithful readers and commentators:

YOU ARE AWESOME!  Thank you for following my blog guidelines. 

2026 Book Review #21:Northwoods

 

I had been seeing excellent reviews for this new-to-me author, and since this is her first novel and set in Wisconsin, I thought I'd try it.  Now, apparently, she has a 2nd book out that is a sequel to this one so I'll have to request that at the library. This was a fast, good mystery drama. 

STORY SUMMARY

 Eli North is a police officer and his mom, Marge, is the boss. She's the Sheriff of the Wisconsin county in Shaky Lake, a small northwoods community. They have a really small budget and Marge is overwhelmed with the current opioid epidemic going on in the county. 

Eli is a vet who carries some major emotional trauma and wounds from his time in Afghanistan. His marriage is over.  He rarely sees his son, Andy, who is only 12. Part of Eli's problem is that he is becoming an alcoholic. His drinking is getting worse every day. But...

The body of a teenage boy(Ben Sharpe)  is found on a boat in the lake...by Eli....and this begins to set in motion a lengthy investigation that Eli is a part of and that leads to the very wealthy country club community in town, along with a pharmeceutical salesman, and a missing teen girl named Caitlin Wallace who happens to be the only child of the salesman, Calvin Wallace. 

The autopsy shows that Ben died of a drug overdose...yet he never took drugs in his young life!! 

The FBI sends in a young agent named Alyssa and it's up to Marge, Eli, and Alyssa to go on the hunt...not just for Ben's killer, but for the person (or people) behind this opioid crisis. 

Will Eli solve the case of the missing girl, find Ben's killer and resolve his own emotional conflicts? Or will the  that haunts him and Shaky Lake continue to bring destruction to the Northwoods?  

MY THOUGHTS

This is a great read!  I loved the character development and the setting. 

There are some themes that intermingle in each character's life:  addictions (drugs alcohol, and work), divorce, post traumatic stress disorder/emotional trauma from war, "Big pharma" issues, forgiveness of self, redemption, parent-child bond. 

The setting was perfect for this story....I loved the author's descriptions of the town, the country club, and the lake. 

The mysteries wrapped up quickly and were definitely not predictable. There's a slight twist in the end that I didn't see coming and I liked how the author ended the book. 

I found no editing errors in this book! And it's a clean read with no f bombs. Excellent writing!

In my opinion, this book is appropriate for ages 14 and older. 

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