Sunday Stealin'

Camp days: Joy, Hope, me at age 7 

It's Sunday Stealin' time and I'm joining in with the gang over at this blog.  I  liked the questions this week and have some extra time this morning to play along. 

1. Do you have a business card? If yes, what's your job title?

Teachers here in NYS don't typically carry business cards.  I'm retired but my job title, when I was teaching full time, was Master Teacher, Special Education Self-Contained PreK. My husband does have business cards and his job title is Software Engineer/IT director or something like that. 

2.What day of the week were you born? 

Wednesday morning. 

3.What vegetable do you refuse to eat? 

That's easy.  Brussel sprouts.  I used to eat them many times a week when I was in grad school and my first year teaching. And then.....ew...I think I just got tired of them! 

4. How many times have you stayed overnight in the hospital?

3 times.  First time giving birth was for 2 nights;  2nd time giving birth was for 1 night; 3rd time in hospital was when youngest girl was 10 weeks old and needed surgery to remove an ovary and a fallopian tube as a cyst had torqued itself around those and she needed to be in the pediatric ward for 2 nights.  So a total of 5 times for me. 

5.Do you have more piercings or tattoos? 

I have both ears pierced. That's it for piercings. However, I have a consult on Thursday to get my first tattoo! (A bucket list item I'm finally gonna check off at the ripe old age of 66...a younger friend and my youngest daughter have talked me into it. 

6.  Do you like to shop?  

That depends. For food shopping? not usually.  For new clothes? yes but it depends on what I need.  For a new car? I don't mind it if hubby has joined me. For others as in buying Christmas gifts, birthday, etc? YES.  I LOVE  choosing items that I think the family member or friend would like. My love language is Gifts so this makes the most sense. 

7. How much cash is in your wallet right now?

I'm not sure...but I'm sure it's not enough! I rarely use cash.  Although  someone did slip me a $10 the other day for gas as I was the driver for a hike north so I know I have at least ten bucks. 

8.  Let's play MASH: do you live in a mansion, apartment, shack or house?

We own a side hall colonial house.  I would love to own a "shack" aka Camp in the ADK but hubby says....nope. 

9. Where are you in the family birth order: oldest, middle, youngest, or only child? 

I'm the oldest of 3 sisters.  In the pic at top, it was Summer of 1967 and I was 7 yrs old.  Joy was 5 and Hope was 3. We were at our family camp and it must have been a Sunday as we were in dresses. Jill hadn't been born yet. There's a long story as to why my mother named us Faith, Joy, Hope. It's rather hilarious and I should probably post it sometime but don't wanna take the time to write it out now. 

10.  When you were 5 years old, what did you call your parents?

I usually said Mommy and Daddy or Dad. 

HAPPY SUNDAY!

End of October Faves

 

WOWZA it's been a crazy, busy week but it's been a great last week of October.  I know I have more than five blessings that God brought into my week but this space is for sharing our five faves.  

Head over to Susanne's blog to learn more about the FFF and join in! 

FIVE FAVES

Murphy Lake in the southern ADK
l-r: Patrick, Jill, Evelyn

• SATURDAY SOULSTEPS HIKE:  Last Saturday was a 7.2 miles hike  up in the southern region of the Adirondacks to 3 different lakes (Bennett, Middle, Murphy).  It was a cold start (34 F) but it warmed up to the low 60s by noon.  I'm thankful we had a great day of hiking and fellowship. 

from l-r: Evelyn, me, Jill H

Middle Lake in the southern ADK 

• POP IN VISIT:  Our youngest daughter popped in for a quick visit after having a "dad-daughter" date with Dave regarding her iphone plan. I didn't expect her to pop in for a chat afterwards so having her do that was a nice surprise.  She also popped in quick on Tuesday evening after work, to pick up  a package and she met the women in my book group.  I'm always thankful when one of my daughters pops in for a visit, even if for a short time. 

Coffee friends: me, Shawna, Maggie

• COFFEE n CONVERSATION:  Tuesday morning was another beautiful day and while I was driving to a fave coffee cafe in the town north of me, I was thanking God for the perfect Autumn weather we've had here in NYS and for my close friends and sisters in Christ. Two of those friends had been wanting to get together so we finally made it happen that morning.  Both of these ladies are in my hiking group and they've been part of my Tuesday evening book group for the last year and a half. We had great conversation getting caught up on our lives and what God is doing in our lives/families. I never want to take these moments for granted. 

• LIBRARY VISIT:  I had a few errands to run on Wednesday afternoon, and a book to return to the library, so instead of just dropping off the book in the outdoor slot, I went in to spend a few minutes browsing.  I found a book I had been wanting to read on the "new books" shelf so took that out. I'm thankful for a nice town library and the time to browse. 

Hurricane Mt firetower 
Hurricane Mt stands at 3694' elevation

• MOUNTAIN CLIMB!  Yesterday, I had scheduled our last big mountain  climb for my group SoulSteps. At the base of the mountain, when we started out, it was about 44 degrees F which is warm for this time of year. As we began to hike, the layers came off and the temps rose to the low 60s.  On the summit, which is almost a high peak (another 306 feet and it would be!), it was in the high 40s with very gusty wind. I didn't take a lot of photos during the climb, as it was my 4th time climbing this beauty of a mountain in the High Peaks region of the Adirondacks. No one else in the group, of the 8 who had signed up, had ever climbed it. They all loved it and we had a blast. I'm thankful I was able to do the last scramble without getting on my hands and knees, unlike the last time I tried to climb it in 2024.  I am so very thankful we had a great climb and fellowship and that every one stayed safe.  Here are a few of my fave pics I took:  

Hurricane Mt hikers/SoulSteps
l-r: Ping, Joan, Patrick and his wife Denise, Evelyn, me, Annette, Christianne

me leading the way up to the 2nd cairn
heading to the summit proper 
behind me: Evelyn and Denise 
Hurricane Mt
Photo by Joan 

Giant Mt, Hopkins Mt, and other high peaks
as seen from the summit of Hurricane.
I have hiked Giant (the high point in the middle)
to the left of Giant is Rocky Ridge and to the right is 
The Great Range (I've hiked 2 mountains in that  range) 

from the top of the firetower:  Denise (front)
Evelyn, me, Joan, Ping
Photo by Annette's son Michael 

On the way down the mountain, I wanted to hug
one of my fave trees and Annette snapped the pic
Touching/hugging a tree in the wilderness is very grounding
and centered on God our Creator. 
The Japanese call it Shinrin -Yoku aka Forest Bathing

That wraps up my week!

My husband I are hosting a get together tomorrow afternoon with a Chili and Wine party around our bonfire.  The weather promises to be perfect for this event and I have a lot of prep to do today so hopefully I'll get to comment on some of your own FFF posts.  

Whatever you have planned for this last weekend of October, I hope you find time to rest and re-charge and enjoy the perfect Autumn weather! 

Wednesday HodgePodge

It's been a hot minute since I had a chance to play along with the "hodgepodge" questionnaire from Joyce's site.  I really liked this week's questions so decided to put off the vacuuming to play along.  Head over to join in! 

on the summit of Rooster Comb Mt 
meditating and gazing at Giant Mt
the very first high peak I climbed in 1978

1. What most recently gave you goose bumps? The above pic. Every time.

If you're a mountain climber, you might know what I mean. Other things that give me "goose bumps":  someone's salvation story, especially if they came from a place of utter despair; watching our youngest daughter perform en pointe or in a lyrical ballet; shivering at the trailhead in the early Spring morning or late Autumn morning. 

2. What does Halloween look like in your home and/or neighborhood these days? Do you participate? 

In my home: I have no Halloween decor inside the house. I do have a lot of harvest themed pillows, decorative pumpkins (and on the deck, in the yard and on the porch), dried and silk autumnal flowers.  The only "Halloween" thing I have is a smiling plastic jack o'lantern on a small bench in the front garden that turns on in the dark.  I like to say we are shining the light of Jesus on a spiritually dark "holiday". 

3. Pumpkin, sunflower, sesame, poppy, chia...your favorite seed on the list? What's something you like to make/eat that calls for one of these seeds in the recipe? 

I use pumpkin and sunflower seeds often for trailmix for my hiking snacks.  I use sesame on certain Asian dishes I cook and on my apple spice cookies.  I use poppy seeds in certain dinner dishes (I make a good poppyseed noodle dish with carrots and scallions).  As for Chia:  I use them in my fruit bowl smoothies or in chia pudding. (rare).  I also sprinkle them on my steel cut oats sometimes. 

4. What's the most (or one of the most) 'fall photos' you've ever taken? Share it here. Just one. 

 One of the most fall photos? Not sure what this means. Maybe she means a pic that depicts Autumn the best? I have a TON.  But if I have to  choose just one it would be this: 

this is at Elizabeth Point (a mile hike) on 13th Lake
after climbing Balm of Gilead Mt.  
this is located in the central Adirondacks 
 it just screams "AUTUMN" to me. 

5. Somehow we're rolling in to November next week. If your October were a chapter in a book, what would the title of this chapter be? 

"Grit and Grace" (and no, I'm not taking time to explain it but if you click on "home" for this blog and scroll down to see 2 devotional posts I wrote last week, you will understand. One is called Pursued. The first one is called His Face. )

6. Insert your own random thought here. 

HAPPY WEDNESDAY!

2026 Book Review #31:The Lost Boy

 

This is the 7th book in the Patrik Hedstrom detective series set in Sweden that I enjoy and discovered a few years ago, thanks to my oldest daughter. However, this 7th book is definitely not one of her better ones, in my opinion. 

STORY SUMMARY

Patrik and Erica Hedstrom are married and live in Fjallbacka Sweden.  Patrik is a detective on the local police force and Erica is a true crime author who has just given birth to twin boys, Noel and Anton. They join big sister Maja, age 2.  

Patrik gets a new case when the twins are just 4 months old and it involves the murder of a local financial director named Mats (Matte) Sverin. Mats is a man that everyone seemed to like. Yet nobody really knew much about him or his personal life. He worked for a multi-million, high-profile health club/resort taking over an old abandoned building known as Badis. 

It seems as though he had something to hide. 

Who murdered Mats? How does Mats relate to the young mom named Nathalie who is living on Ghost Island with her 5 yr old son Sam? 

Meanwhile, there is another plot going on in the book.  It takes place in 1871-1875 and involves a young married woman named Emelie who is pregnant by her husband Karl.  It was actually a gang rape that got her pregnant (Karl and his friend Julian).  The men are lighthoue keepers and Julian lives with Karl and Emelie. This part of the story involves ghosts who "live" on the island. 

Does this relate at all to the present day? And if so, how? 

MY THOUGHTS

This book was way too long and could have been shortened to get to the wrap up. I found it got very bogged down with the whole "ghost story" premise and just didn't capture my interest, yet I wanted to see what would happen. 

I haven't done as much daily reading the last month as I normally do as I've been very active physically with workouts and hiking trips. That might have had something to do with it. But I finally decided to just skim through the ending and I'm glad I did. It's not  a spectacular plot.  I did love that the main characters who appear in all of the Hedstrom novels were further developed and we find out what happens to Anna who is recovering from an emergency C section and the death of her one week old baby boy,  and is Erica's younger sister. 

I only found a couple of editing errors and the use of the F word was minimal. 

I'm hoping the 8th book in the series is better.   It will be awhile before I choose that one as I need a break from this type of novel. The main themes were quite dark: murder, gang rape, suicide in both stories, depression, post traumatic stress disorder, drug addiction, newborn death. At almost 500 pages, I expected something better. 

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 7.