It's Friday and time to join in on Susanne's FAVE FIVES meme. You can find out how to join in, by heading to her site. It's a space where we share FIVE of our FAVE blessings from the past week.
- MOTHER-DAUGHTER DATE: Claire had Saturday off and requested a mother-daughter date which totally surprised me. The weather was a little "iffy" so we decided to not go to the lake, and instead, chose to try a new-to-us vegan place in a small city to the north of us. It was absolutely delicious and the prices were not bad at all! I chose the vegan "Blt" (made with tempah "bacon"with extra avocado and the sweet potato fries. Claire chose the vegan mac and cheese with buffalo "chicken" and cauliflower "wings". I sampled the cauliflower and it was divine! And the "Blt" was the best one I've ever had!! We also bought 4 vegan donuts for the next day: 2 Chocolate Ganache for Claire and I; a Boston Creme for Courtney, and an Orange Creme for Dave. Those were fantastic and once you've eaten a "healthy' donut you will never want to go back to eating traditional ones. After we ate and talked, we headed to my sister Joy's home as she lives very close by the restaurant. I ended up borrowing 3 books from her and Claire got to play with her dog Brinkley whom she hasn't seen in a long time! I'm so thankful Claire and I had the day together.
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| Before |
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| After |
- GARDENING DAY: Sunday was a day for me to get some much needed gardening done. I had neglected this small "garden" under the cherry tree that sits closest to the house for about 10 years. I watched the 9 am church service online as I just wanted to see the sermon and then get over to pick up my pavers from Lowes and Dave had to work both services plus attend a meeting at church so that gave me time to start the gardening. I ended up doing the work my self and I was sore afer wards but it was a good sore......pulled up all the weeds and grass that were choking my day lily plant and created a boundary under the cherry tree with the pavers and some large rocks we acquired over the years. Now my spring bulbs in April-June will have room to look pretty and this weekend I plan on getting some potted geraniums for the extra space. I'm thankful this project is done!
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| Claire roasts her marshmallows |
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| Fireworks from our backyard |
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| late night bonfire |
- FAMILY, FIRE, AND FIREWORKS! Sunday evening we celebrated Independence Day by grilling bison burgers on the gas grill (I had also made a potato salad and fresh steamed green beans). Claire chose to have tofu vs a plant based burger. Then, Dave built a fire in the pit and I brought out all the fixings for s'mores including vegan marshmallows (Far Superior to regular marshmallows!) and very dark chocolate for the graham crackers. We had fun talking and roasting, and eating. Once it got dark, 2 neighbors in the houses behind us, had fireworks displays. In fact, at one point it appeared they were competing with each other. We saw some great fireworks from the comfort of our backyard chairs....none of my photos came out but I did like how the brightness against the dark night sky (of the aftermath of one group) looked in the photo above. I'm thankful we live in a democratic country and can have fun evenings like we did.
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| Bridge over Stewart Creek at the Flow where the trail continues on for another 5 miles! |
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| my fave part of the Stewart Creek/Oregon Falls Trail Love the pines and the shadows falling across the trail |
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| Oregon Falls on Stewart Creek Southern Adirondack Mountains 5 July 2021 |
- MID-MORNING HIKE: Monday was my last day of the first part of summer vacation so I met my childhood friend and fellow hiker (Cheryl) at a trailhead parking area so we could hike again a fave trail of ours. We were the only people on the trail and it was a perfect hiking day! The temps were in the 70s and the humidity wasn't too high when we started out. The above photos are from that hike. Then we drove over to the beginning of this part of the Adirondacks (about 10 minutes north of where we were) to hike a very short footpath down to a waterfalls flume in a beautiful gorge. Cheryl had been here other times but this was my first time seeing Austin Falls. It was just stunning. My photos don't do it justice!! I'm thankful for God's beautiful creation and places to explore.
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| Austin Falls gorge Jessup River Wild area in the Siamese Pond Wilderness Area Southern Adirondacks |
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| Austin Falls Flume southern Adirondacks |
- CLARITY: I had to have a rather difficult conversation with someone this week.....of course I won't go into specifics here but let's just say the person totally doesn't understand trauma and its effects on students/small children. I finally felt some clarity in the situation and after meditating on my own end of the conversation realized I do not have to answer to anyone except God. I have to do what is right, even though it is extremely difficult. There's much freedom in that and I 'm thankful I had this "aha' moment.
That wraps up my week!
I hope you all have a good weekend doing the things you love and finding time to rest and relax!
6 comments:
Hi Faith. Sounds like you had a really nice Independence Day weekend - with lots of family time a great hike. I love your garden work, and as always, your firepit is just great. Hope your weekend is good, and that you can take some time to relax, regroup and recover from the stresses of the week. See you again soon.
Sounds like you had a great weekend but I'm sorry to hear about the stress at work. Hope it gets resolved soon and you can enjoy this weekend.
Your hikes look like great places! Aren't waterfalls amazing?
I'm sorry about the stressful 'talk' at work. I hope it resolved some issues (or at least clarified them).
Watching fireworks from your own back yard (and fire pit) is the best. We did the same.
Happy Weekend to you!
The mother-daughter date sounds lovely. I wonder if anyone around here sells healthy donuts. That would be helpful.
It's nice to get sections of the yard in shape. The "after" picture looks great.
Your July 4th sounds a lot like ours--no s'mores, but we enjoyed several fireworks displays in the neighborhood from our back yard.
I'm sorry of the need for the difficult conversation. But glad you got some clarity from it. We can only do what we think God wants us to do, even if others don't always understand.
You spoke of July birthdays, mine was the 8 th, my dad’s was the 18 th, and our daughters, the 28 th. We definitely had the 8’s covered in July! God bless, Schotzy
Nice to have a day out with your daughter ! That's an advantage to have a daughter. My son did this before he marriedK. No firework here at National day on July 21 and it's quite restricted. Young women refuse the vaccin because they fear that it would harm a future baby !!
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