25 April 2026

Saturday Nine


I'm participating in the Saturday 9 meme.  You can learn about this by heading here! I don't always do this weekly meme but I enjoyed today's questions. 

I've never heard of this song although the band name was familiar to me.  Not a huge fan but I do like the questions!

Saturday 9: Good (1995)

Unfamiliar with this week's tune? Hear it here.

1) This song begins with a guy realizing he's home alone. Do you enjoy being all by yourself?

I'm an extrovert who needs time each day to be an introvert so yes, I enjoy being by myself. I tend to do my cardio power walking by myself; I have hiked certain popular trails by myself; I've eaten out alone way back when I was single, and I'm alone most days until 6 pm now that I'm retired from teaching. I  actually love it but I crave it the most when I've been out to a church event, party, or family event, or when hiking with my group. 

2) He watches the sun throwing shadows on the floor. Which room in your home lets in the most sun?

The family room.  The sliding glass door takes up most of the east wall and leads to the deck so this definitely gets the morning sun.  After that would be the living room from about 2 pm-sunset as it faces west and has 2 colonial style windows. (same with our bedroom which is above the living room).

3) He sings that he may write a letter to his ex. If you were inspired to send someone a handwritten message, do you have stationery or notecards on hand? What about first-class postage stamps?

I keep notecards on hand along with stamps.  We still pay a couple of bills by sending checks per my husband's request. Also, the organization I volunteer with, HomeBound, gives me cards another volunteer makes, as I'm the one who sends out cards each month to various clients. 

4) This week's band, Better Than Ezra, got their start in Baton Rouge. All the members attended LSU and played their first gig at Murphy's, a bar near campus. When you were in your early 20's, where did you and your friends go to socialize?

We would go to Ground Round, or one of the disco clubs in Rochester, NY. A couple of times we would drive out to Niagara Falls and visit one of those disco clubs.  I was a college student from Sept 1978-May 1982 so disco clubs were the thing.   I went to a private Christian college in the suburbs of Rochester, but we tended to socialize in the city. The college town didn't have much!  A diner, a pizza place and a Chinese food place. In my mid-20s I was far too busy with grad school and starting my teaching career to do much clubbing! And in my late 20s I tended to go to pubs or restaurants with my then fiance in the small city to the north of us (Saratoga Springs, or Boston when we were out that way).  A fave is Boston Tavern.  We still go there when we are out that way a few times each year. 

5) While the band refuses to disclose the origin of their name, many assume the "Ezra" they refer to is poet Ezra Pound. Do you often read poetry?

I don't read it often.  I do like some....lately it's been Amanda Gorman's poetry. She has such a way with words! 

6) In 1995, when this song was popular, Michael Jordan "unretired" and returned to the Chicago Bulls. Tell us about a decision you wish you could undo.

There are 3 major ones: I wish I could go back in time and not live with a boy I thought I loved (he's now doing life in  prison and we'll leave it at that!); I wish we  hadn't been part of a toxic  church as long as we were (wish we had found our current one sooner!)  and I wish I could re-do time spent with a former friend (CW)  and re-do my response to her messages. I'm in such a better place now and if I knew then what I know now.....my responses to some of her messages would have been different. 

7) Also in 1995, Phoebe Buffay first performed "Smelly Cat." Do you recall what show she sang on?

I have never heard of her!

8) Legendary New York Yankee Mickey Mantle died in 1995. How is your team doing so far this young baseball season?

I'm a Red Sox fan because my husband is. He says they are doing as badly right now as they have done this century. I miss Papi!!

9) Random question: What's in your garage, besides your car (lawn tools, holiday decorations, old paint cans, etc.)?

Some lawn holiday decor, 5 winter shovels (why do we need 5??!); our snowshoes, various sizes of planters/pots; a shelf with winter outdoor boots, hiking boots, boat/water shoes; our kayak paddles and lifejackets, 3 camping chairs and my beach chair (all of these are hanging on hooks); various tools for lawn and gardening along with plant  food, various car things like window washer fluid, oil, bug spray, W-D40; charcoal, newspapers for the fire pit, our kayak boating bag with the ropes and locks; a bucket with car wash and sponges; a bin of gardening and work gloves (all of these things are on shelves my husband built)  my bicycle; 3 ladders (one is on the wall, 2 are near where the attic crawl space is and up is our oldest daughter's horse stable by Breyer! along with who knows what else;  our two bike helmets; 2 softball bats; a soccer ball and a football; our battery operated lawn mower and 2 boxes of dead batteries to be recycled.  Oh, and we keep the recycling bin next to the kitchen door for easy recycling.  And then there's the shed which I won't get into because this question only asked about the garage!   We have so much junk!  BUT...yesterday I actually parked in the driveway and cleaned out the entire garage!  Now I need hubby to go through it  and toss the old stuff we no longer need. He did agree he would tackle some of this today.  Here's hoping......Here was my project yesterday afternoon. My Kia Soul is the car that parks in the garage. Dave's CRV parks next to the garage on the driveway. 




HAPPY SATURDAY!




24 April 2026

U is for Understanding

 


Today the letter is U.  I'm writing for the monthly writing challenge A-Z and it's been...interesting....

I chose the Attributes of God. A huge task. Don't know what I was thinking. 

U is for UNDERSTANDING. 

We serve a God who gets us. (I mean, He made us, after all!)   He understands our every thought, every secret, every hidden sin, every dream, every desire.


He understands our whole being....He knows He made us from dust and to dust we shall return. 


He knows what we are going to say before we even say it! Yes, He understands us and He wants us to talk to Him. (prayer)




He even understands when we mess up or are tempted to mess up.


The "high priest" talked about here in this Scripture is Jesus 

He was tempted in all the ways we are tempted but....He didn't sin and give in to them......but He does understand us when we go through these temptations


And because He also experienced temptations, He understands us and can help us get through the temptation.  And if we give in to the temptation, He loves us anyways! 



And now...let us be understanding of people who might not agree with us, or are different from us....






BUSY APRIL FAVES

 


How is it the end of April already?  March was rather a slow month for me and it seems like April has gone by in a flash!  Whomever said retirement is boring is crazy.....I've been busy between my volunteer work, my small group (aka book group), my hiking group, cleaning and managing the house and garden work/planting flowers and lettuce,  working out, date days with Dave, errands, appointments...you get the idea...I haven't even finished a novel yet this week and I've been reading about one a week or every 10 days! So today is a recovery day, meaning I'm not doing any kind of major cardio workout other than a walk later, due to all day hike yesterday. (I'm currently writing this part of the faves on Thursday morning) It's a blessing to have the time this morning before I have to run an errand, to just sit. 

While I sit, I'm reflecting on some of the blessings that came into my week and I'll share FIVE of the ones that are FAVES and then link up at Susanne's blog because she's the host of this gratitude meme. 


FIVE FAVES 


  • FRIEND TIME: Last Saturday my longtime  childhood friend and I met about 35 minutes north of my home (she traveled out here from the central part of NYS where she still lives in the village we grew up in) and we planned to hike to a newly opened firetower called Cornell Tower. It used to sit on a hill in eastern NYS but was moved to the old Boy Scout camp called Camp Saratoga a number of years ago. The state only opens the firetower cabin (the top of the tower) about 4 times a year. Last Saturday was one of those days. She and I had always wanted to do it since we both completed the Adirondack/Catskills fire tower  challenge in 2015 (she was done in 2016) and this wasn't on the challenge. What a disappointment!  The "hike" was more like a walk up an old camp road and less than a half mile! 😂 and there wasn't even a great view other than we could see the Green Mountains of Vermont. But the time spent with my friend CB was worth it.  We hadn't seen each other in 11 months and we quickly got caught up.  After the "hike" we walked a wooded trail down to a pretty pond which is part of this wildlife preserve.  I'm thankful for pretty places to sit and talk and just relax on a beautiful Spring day. 
Cornell Fire Tower
town of Wilton NY

Delegan Pond


  • LUNCH DATE:  Dave and I stayed after church chatting with our oldest daughter, her boyfriend, his parents and our worship directors for quite awhile so rather spontaneously, Dave asked me if I wanted to have a lunch date when our conversation with the gang had ended. We wanted to go to the local diner for some comfort food like chicken potpie  because the weather was horrible. It was pouring rain, cold, gloomy.  The diner lot was so full and people were waiting in line outdoors!  So we tried another diner in town and that one was just as busy!  So off to my fave Mediterranean  place we went where I ordered a MiniPoint which is any pizza from the 28 they feature and a small salad. I had the Bruschetta za with a caesar salad and Dave had the meatball panini.  Everything was so good and our conversation was fun because we were doing some reminiscing as well as talking about the sermon we had just heard.  I'm thankful my husband likes to be spontaneous. 


  • MIDWEEK HIKE:  The group I lead, SoulSteps, had a scheduled hike for Earth Day which was this past Wednesday. I originally had 5 people signed up but only 3 of us were able to make it.  Both ladies who were able to go are good friends of mine and Joan offered to  drive which was a nice break for me. Our destination was Big Pond in the lower high peaks region/northern central region of the Adirondacks. It's just under 2 hours from my house. We all met at my place and we arrived around 11:45 AM.  We were at the pond by 1:15 and back home by 4:45 PM.  What was a cloudy chilly day down here ended up being a sunny, warmer day up there!  We shed  our top layers and hats about a half mile in and at 1.9 miles we saw the pond where we ate our lunch.  I'm so thankful for a beautiful Spring day and all the snow up there is gone! I was the only one who had hiked to this pond before and Joan and Ping just loved it so I was thankful for that as well.  Here's a few of my fave pics from the day: 
first half mile of the trail is nice and wide


Majestic pines
where the trail narrows about a mile in


Our destination:  Big Pond
in the Hoffman Notch Wilderness Area
Adirondacks 
the least visited area of the mountains....it is extremely remote


  • GOOD REPORT!  Last Friday morning was my annual eye exam and I was so thankful when the opthamologist came in and said I have no signs of any eye diseases and the cataracts are not significant enough yet to be removed. YAY!!  My left eye changed just a little so since it's been 5 years since I had new lenses and frames, he suggested getting them this year. I'm thankful we actually have better vision insurance now, too.  I had to pay more than $800 out of pocket in 2020.  This year, after going to where our youngest daughter is an optometric tech at Luxottica (they are the parent company over Target Optical, LensCrafters, Dinapoli, and Sunglass Hut), and being able to use her family discount plus my Target Red Card, I saved over $500!!  (our new health  insurance through Dave's job covers some of the cost too, now!) Tuesday was the day I went to see her with my RX from the Brass Center.  I'm so thankful they weren't busy when I walked in!

Here are the frames that Claire helped me choose based on my face shape. 
I'm so thankful I got to have my daughter wait on me!!



Don't know if you can see it but the inner frame is a teal blue





  • NEW GARDEN!  Yesterday (Thursday) was such a nice day outside...sunny and about 62 when I finally  was done with errands and housework so I wanted to get a new flowering plant into the  ground near the firepit. The ground was already prepped because our former firepit...one of those metal types you can buy...used to sit there for about 20 years and killed all the grass there.  Now that we have a permanent firepit that our oldest daughter designed about 5 years ago, I've been wanting to make a little garden area there but never seemed to have, or take, the time to do so.  I had bought a pink dianthus plant and was told to get it right into the ground.  It has to sit about an inch above ground level so I had already spread garden soil, dug the hole, placed the plant and built that area up with more garden soil.  Then I lined it with rocks I've collected over the years.   I  placed a garden flag there, a little solar light and left room for some wildflowers I'll plant come June. I am thankful it came out well!
Meet "Diane" my Dianthus plant!
(Yes I name all of my plants) 

That wraps up my week!

How was your week? Is it finally looking and feeling like Spring where you live? 





23 April 2026

T is for Tenderhearted

 


Today is letter T in the A-Z Writing Challenge.  I'm not super keen on this writing challenge.....but because I chose the Attributes of God, I figured I should continue with it. 

T is for TENDERHEARTED.


Our God is a loving, tenderhearted one. He turns His heart towards His children!  WE are His Children. 

He created us in His Image and He loves us unconditionally. Nothing we do or don't do can drive God away from us.  

Jesus showed us His tenderhearted ways by His compassion, grace, and mercy.




He fed the hungry, He healed the sick, He drove away demons. He loved children, the widows, the sinners, and the saints. He was kind to all.






We are also supposed to be tenderhearted towards people. 






Be like Jesus!