Almost Summer Faves

It's Friday and it's almost Summer!!

It sure has felt it this past week....especially the last couple of days......here in eastern NY, anyways!

and one blessing is that we just entered Phase 3......it's becoming easier to shop and find things and I only have 5 more days of school/remote learning to do with students and then we, as a preK agency, are on vacation until July 6th!

For now, let's pause, grab an iced cold drink, and share FIVE of our FAVE blessings from the past week.  There's a bunch of us who do this after linking up at Susanne's site. How about joining us?

at the trailhead:  we hiked the large loop 

First Bridge along the Hemlock Trail

Most of the trail looked like this or even narrower!

2nd bridge about halfway through the hike

• LATE MORNING HIKE:  Saturday was bright sun, cool temps in the low 60s and clear blue skies. My cousin Trisha and I  (she lives about 30 min north west of us) decided to meet for a spontaneous  power walk  on one of the Saratoga Spa State Park trails.  It's called The Hemlock trail and is actually not in the main part of the park although it's only about a mile away.  Neither one of us had ever walked on it.  It was not like the other trails in the park....it was more remote and actually overgrown in spots.  In fact, our plan was to walk the large and small loops but we ended up just doing the large (1.5 miles) one as we started out on the small one and it just seemed to disappear and was way too grassy...I didn't want to have to worry about ticks.  So, we ended up hiking leisurely as the trail was more rugged than we expected vs a power walk but the fellowship out in nature was something I was very thankful for.  

Courtney our oldest girl

perfection

• SATURDAY EVENING FIRE:  After I had cooked a huge totally plant-based  pasta dinner with homemade carrot/garlic/tomato sauce for Saturday evening, and because Claire our youngest had plans to go out with her friend Jonny, Courtney suggested we sit outside with me and enjoy a fire in our little fire pit. (temps were getting down into the low 50s).  We hardly ever do things together anymore even though she still lives here.  She's either always working, gaming with friends all over the world, or out with her small group.  So I was thankful for this evening together.  Dave got the fire started but it was too cold for him out there.  He decided to do something in the house so we sat and kept the fire going until 10 pm.  Then we decided to let the logs die down and we went inside around 11 pm. I made a couple of s'mores and she must ate toasted marshmallows.  I'm thankful for fun, relaxed evenings.

Long Pond 

• KAYAKING: Sunday afternoon was amazingly sunny at our home so Dave and I decided to go kayaking for the first time since last Sept.  Sadly, when we drove east to this state park, it was much chillier there and cloudy!  But we kayaked anyways....first time I've ever worn a flannel shirt while paddling in June!  There were many kayakers out and some were fishing.  This particular state park has 6 different ponds...we kayaked on the one with the beach.  It's indeed long!  We were very tired and sore when we were done 2 hours later.  We saw a cute family of ducks with brand new babies but my photos didn't come out at all!  I'm thankful my husband wanted to do this with me.  It's one of my favorite things to do in the warmer months.

• FRESH BERRIES:  I managed to find really good fresh raspberries and blueberries at the market this week.  I've enjoyed them for breakfast on my oatmeal, for snacking, and in a fruit bowl for dinner one evening.  They're so refreshing and these two kinds are my absolute faves!  I'm thankful for fresh berries.

• FRIEND'S CALL:  I had a phone chat with a good friend of mine from church this past week.  She also happens to be an aide in the classroom down the hall from where I teach.  She has supported a couple of the students in my language group while I've taught lessons and she's very good with the children.  I also sometimes hike with her and she's super fun to be around.  She's joining my book club in September. It was so great to hear her voice and get caught up.  If we open for summer school, she'll get to come back to work!  (aides have been unemployed with us during Covid19). I'm thankful for my friend Cindy.

BONUS FAVE!!!

We found out late yesterday afternoon that our youngest girl, Claire, made the Deans List again at UNH!!  She had a perfect 4.0 with HONORS for the Spring Semester and this is after dealing with the disappointment of no Ballet Company performances due to quarantine and after moving to a new dorm room half-way through the year.  She also worked as an Alpha Phi Omega member at the local food pantry via Waysmeet an on campus volunteer group and also worked part time at the local fair trade coffee shop called Freedom Cafe where all workers are volunteers and the money made from coffee selling goes directly to Christian organizations that help stop human trafficking.  I'm so thankful for her hard work and her service to the community.

I hope you have a wonderful last weekend of Spring!!