AUTUMN FAVES

 

Here we are.....into our 2nd full week of Autumn and into October already. 

I'm sharing FIVE of my FAVE blessings from the past week with other grateful bloggers. Head over to the host's site to join in.

SoulSteps Hikers at OK Slip Falls lookout
l-r: Evelyn, me, Dave D, Charlie, Joan 
Missing from photo: Jill H

• FIRST SOULSTEPS AUTUMN HIKE:  Although I hiked up Rooster Comb Mountain with 2 friends a few days before this group hike, to celebrate the start of Autumn, this hike to one of the tallest Adirondack waterfalls was our first Autumn Semester SoulSteps hike. I originally had 8 people signed up.  It ended up being 6 of us. When our Capital Region area (where we all live) was having pouring rain and wind from the nor-easter last Saturday that was coming up the East Coast, we had very  good weather in the mountains. We started out with sunshine, then it got cloudy, then the sun came out again and it ended up not raining.  We are thankful we were able to do this 7 miles hike and not have it rain. Some of us stopped for a small cup of ice cream on the way home to celebrate our hiking success. The leaves were just starting to show some color last weekend. It should be peak up there by the middle of this next week. 

The top of the waterfalls up close: OK Slip 

Ok Slip Falls in the central Adirondacks
after a 3.5 miles hike into the deep woods 

• Fun Pic:  I was thrilled that our oldest daughter texted me a photo of her boyfriend and her from a state park I used to go to on Lake Ontario when I was in college!  Tyler and Courtney were out in the Rochester area last weekend to attend his 5th year class reunion and Homecoming at his alma mater, which is also mine, Roberts Wesleyan University (College,  until recently). They decided to pop in to Hamlin Beach State Park so she could see Lake Ontario up close as she had never been. I'm thankful they had a great weekend and had fun at Homecoming. 

Tyler and Courtney
at Hamlin Beach State Park on Lake Ontario
Rochester NY 

• QUICK REPAIR:  On Wednesday, I had to stick close to home because we had a gutter company coming to fix a loose trim piece above our gutter in the front of the house. Because we replaced all of our windows and doors with Renewal by Anderson (if you know how $$ those are, you'll understand this sentiment) and that piece of trim was starting to bang into one of the bedroom windows,so my husband hired a professional to come deal with it. The young man who came to do the work was the nicest person.  He even took pics so I could see where the damage was and carefully explained what he was going to do. After about 5 minutes, he rang the door bell again and asked if it was ok if he put an extra piece of  trim on as we were missing the back end of it and if he didn't fix that,  the water wouldn't properly run into the gutter. He explained the materials cost would be less than $20 (it was) and within 10 minutes I was writing him a check and he was on his way.  I was dreading the whole process as Dave has to go into the office on Tues/Wed/Thurs and can't work from home but because this young man took pics and explained everything in simple terms after I told him I knew nothing about gutters, I had a lot of peace about it and the entire project only took about 25 minutes! It also wasn't nearly as expensive of a repair as we were led to believe. I'm thankful for good workers! 

• PHONE CALL: My friend Joan and I talked for quite awhile on the phone this past week.  I can't go into details but it concerned a younger person we know who is very needy and struggling and needs professional help. This person has wanted us to "help" her but the relationships were beginning to be too much for us.  Just knowing that we both have made our church leadership aware of what's been happening on our end, and that we both feel like we need to step back, really helped.  It is good to have friends  who share your concern for others but who also discern when you can no longer help. We both prayed at the end of our conversation for each other and for the young woman and this made me especially thankful that I have a friend I can lean on and trust and who seems to be very discerning, and feels the way I do about our roles as small group leaders. The icing on the cake? Our Spiritual Formations Director who works full time for our church and is our "boss" in our roles as small group leaders, sent out a leader-wide email explaining that sometimes we need to allow the members of our various groups and ministries to struggle. That it is not our role to step in and be their "Messiah" (which is what this girl wanted...she's not even a member of Joan's or my ministries although she was a member of the hiking group last year).  He reminded us that only Jesus can really "fix" people. That God would give us discernment over which people to come alongside and that we do need to be praying for all of our members of course but that we don't need to "rescue" every one. It was so timely!

Veggie White Za

• EASY DINNER:  This past week I had a lot of fresh veggies to use up along with some mozzarella cheese.  So I made homemade white veggie pizza:  I buy the frozen pizza dough and thaw it out overnight in the fridge. About a half hour before needing it, I place it on the counter to warm up as then it's easier to roll out.  I had red, green and yellow peppers to use up along with a sweet onion and broccoli. I use extra virgin olive oil on the crust and then sprinkle on basil, oregano and freshly minced garlic. Then i add all the rest of the veggies and the mozzarella and then sprinkle on paremsan cheese. The salad was mainly baby romaine, some leftover buttercrunch, cucumbers, tomato and carrots. The pizza came out great and Dave took the leftovers in his lunch the next day. I love a nice easy dinner and am thankful for fresh veggies. 

BONUS FAVE: 

His and Hers ice cream!

I typically don't eat cow's milk ice cream any longer unless it is soft serve.  I tend to buy the Oatly brand of ice cream made with oat milk. It's so creamy and no animal fat!  BUT....this past week, our iconic  convenience store (only found in NYS with headquarters in Saratoga Springs, the small city near us) had all 33 flavors of hard ice cream on sale.  That's 2 half gallons for $8! The regular non-sale price is $5.99. So I surprised Dave with his favorite flavor: Chocolate Peanut Butter cup and I bought myself the Brew HA-HA which is basically like a cup of coffee with espresso bean chocolate flakes.  These will last us a while as we don't eat dessert every evening. I'm thankful for a great sale!

That wraps up my last week of September!  I'm off to Cape Cod with my friends Maggie and Meg for a mini girls retreat from Sunday to Wednesday. We have an adorable AirBnB ranch style house in Falmouth and neither Maggie nor Meg (who is originally from Indiana) have ever been on the Cape. I'm super thankful we get to do this and that our husbands will be fine with us away. 

2026 Book Review #30:Sharp Force

 

This is a book series I've enjoyed for many years now. 

I've read all of the Dr Kay Scarpetta books in order and this one didn't fully  disappoint me, although it's not one of her best, in my opinion.  This is book 29 in the series. 

STORY SUMMARY 

There is a serial killer in Washington, D.C area and he/she is known as the Phantom Stalker. He stalks victims with very sophisticated technology that allows him to invade homes and spy on their every move. The victims often wake up to a ghost-like hologram and then are murdered right in their beds. 

It's the early hours of Christmas morning and the Stalker has struck again.

Dr Kay Scarpetta, chief medical examiner/forensic pathologist, is called to go to Mercy Island which is the site of a notorious psychiatric hospital where two people have been viciously brutalized. One victim, Zain Willard, the nephew of a presidential candidate, is still alive and in the hospital with horrible cuts to his body. 

The other victim is someone from Kay's past.....and from her genius niece Lucy's past as well.......

And it soon becomes apparent that Dr Scarpetta could be the next Phantom Stalker victim.

Who will discover the identity behind this killer and will it be soon? 

MY THOUGHTS

This wasn't one of my fave Dr Scarpetta novels.  It was a bit sluggish to me in the middle and usually I can read one of these books in 2-3 days. This took longer than a week for me to trudge through it yet I did enjoy it...it was just slow going and I think mainly because it focused so much on the technology.  At least that's how it felt to me. 

Then the ending was so abrupt that it was kind of unbelievable whereas in past novels, it leads up to an exciting climax and then boom. This lacked the excitement to me. 

I always love the characters that have been developed over the years, and the various personalities that are displayed in their back stories or the plot behind the main plot.  This book does a great job with looking at the relationship between Marino (former police detective) and his wife Dorothy (Lucy's difficult mom and sister to Dr Kay).  We also see something new...but not surprising....with Dorothy and Benton, (FBI profiler) who is married to Kay.   I liked the subplot with the characters more than I did the main plot. 

I found no editing errors in this book nor was there a ton of swearing.  I always appreciate that about this author. 

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

On a scale of 1-10, with 10 being the highest, I rate this an 8. 

Autumn HodgePodge Meme

Indian Lake, NY
Saturday 27 September

I'm joining in on the Autumnal Hodgepodge this week. Head to this blog to read more.

1. When you think of autumn what sounds come to mind? 

the crackle of the wood in our bonfire pit; the cry of the geese flying south overhead; the shouts of the neighbor children being released from the school bus in the late afternoons; the crunch of the leaves in the woods as I hike. 

2.  Is a trip to the mountains something you enjoy? 

What do you think??  Have you  ever even  read anything on this blog?? hahah Omgosh. Of course!  I lead 2 hikes a week July-November. All are in the mountains (most are in the Adirondacks with a couple in the Catskills or the Green Mts of Vermont).  From mid-March to June I lead 1-2 hikes a week as well but usually in the Spring season, we do some deep woods hikes not just mountains. 

Here's my most recent climb: 

on the summit of Rooster Comb
That's Giant Mt in the background...
the first high peak I climbed in 1978 at the age of 18

And a few days before that: 

another half mile to the summit of Jay Mountain
High Peaks region ADK 
in front: Ping
l-r: Joan, me, Michelle 

What's your favorite mountain? (to a hiker, that's kind of  a stupid question. No offense to whomever thought up this question.)  It's way too difficult to have one fave mountain. Especially when you hike all of the various mountains in the Adirondacks as much as I do.  I guess if I only hiked a couple of times a year, I might have a fave.  How about I answer with my fave mountain to climb depending on which region I'm in??  But that would take too long so just now that every mountain I have climbed (I've climbed 3 just in the week and a half and don't have time to today to share how many I've climbed in my life time)  But let's say my fave mountain in the High Peaks region of the Adirondacks:  Rooster Comb Mt 

A better question would be "What is your least fave mountain and why?"  For me? that would be Snowy Mt (4000').  It was so difficult we all were in tears while scrambling on all 4s to reach the top.  Is located in the Central Adirondacks in the town of Indian Lake. Plus the fire tower was in rough shape so we couldn't make it to the top of that, although we did make it to the summit after 3.5 hours of climbing.  Total miles:  7.5 I've hiked longer ones that were easier. 

3. What's something that once felt like a mountain, but is now just a molehill? 

the "drama" surrounding an extended family event (Am not going into details!) 

4. Let's play this or that-fall foods edition. Yes you have to choose. 

• pumpkin spice latte or chai latte:  Chai Latte  
• apple cider or hot chocolate: Cold Apple cider   
• stew or chili: both
• sweet potato casserole or green bean casserole: sweet potato 
• butternut squash soup or creamy mushroom soup : Butternut squash
• cranberry sauce or gravy: both 

5. Sum up your September in a sentence or two. 

Super stupendous and busy and filled with amazing moments with my close friends in the mountains.  

6. Insert your own random thought here. 

I'm loving having the time to decorate for Autumn this week and to pack for my "Friends retreat" on Cape Cod beginning Sunday! 

Front yard beneath the cherry tree

Family room decor 

More autumnal decor in the family room 

  HAPPY WEDNESDAY!!

Monday Musings

Monday afternoon 5 pm

Outside our windows: It's been raining for 3 full days.  The result of the nor-easter that blew up the East Coast Saturday. I'm ok with the rain. It's allowing me to get some things done in the ministries I lead or serve in and to get things done around the house. 

Joan and me......I've known her just 2  years and I'm thankful for her

I'm thinking about: a wonderful phone call I had with my friend Joan and our prayer time at the end of the conversation. 

I'm thankful for:  my husband and that he is feeling better. He had a horrible upper respiratory illness  all last week. I'm thankful the cough medicine he chose to take helped him sleep at night. 

Veggie Za

Salad

In the kitchen: I made a white pizza with red, orange and green peppers, garlic, onion, broccoli, mozzarella and parmesan cheeses, basil, oregano, olive oil;  a tossed salad with romaine, buttercrunch lettuces, tomato, cucumber, carrots, red peppers; lemonade. 

I am wearing:  Old, faded jeans; a blue polo shirt,my Apple smartwatch, my birthstone, thumb ring, wedding rings,  the silver earrings Dave bought me from MOMA in MA and light brown toe nail polish.  

I am creating: space in my guest room for my workout props (Fitness ball, weights, foam roller, neck massager). 

I am going:  Cape Cod on Sunday, after the 9 AM service with 2 of my small group friends (Maggie (who has never been to the cape!  and Jill). 

I am wondering: how my youngest daughter Claire feels.  She texted me on Sunday that she has a bad cold. I've been praying she'll feel well enough to work tomorrow, and then take her physics exam on Wednesday. 

I am reading:  a mystery book centered around one of my fave recurring characters,Dr. Kay Scarpetta.  I am also reading the 2 books for the two small groups I lead (see side bar).  I'm also reading through the book of Joel in the Old Testament. 

I am hoping: that the rain ends before the Cape Cod trip. 

I am looking forward to: my personal retreat beginning Wednesday and ending next Wednesday. I'm planning on spending 1-2 hours with just my Bible, journal, piano,  and God each day. I need this before the semester begins to get super busy with the small groups and the hiking group. 

I am learning: that not every wounded person needs me to come alongside them.....I'm learning to use wisdom in which people to support and which to let go of. 

Around the house: I did a load of laundry, taught the Psalms class this morning, went grocery shopping after class, organized my notes for tomorrow evening's Bible study, and talked on the phone for an hour with my friend Joan, ending it in prayer together. 

Plans for the rest of the week: finish the library book and return it; finish caping for Cape Cod; a gutter/roofing company is coming by this week to fix our loose gutter trim; begin my personal retreat, so answer all emails and  complete ministry related items before Wed morning; a trip to Ace Hardware for more bird seed for the feeders; date night with Dave on Saturday; a run to the thrift store with more old clothing and household items; church at 9 AM Sunday. 

A favorite quote for today: 

I'm thankful I have a core group of friends...sisters in Christ...
we do this for each other.........

What's your Monday been like??