END OF JULY FAVES

 

It's Friday and I'm on the south  shore of Massachusetts in Plymouth County/Boston/Quincy area.  Dave and I took the week off from work (I was shocked that my boss allowed this....they usually don't in the middle of summer school and when I go back Monday, there will only be 2 weeks of summer school left then THREE and a half glorious weeks of vacation until September 7th). We decided to do another mini-vacation in Plymouth (south shore MA).  Part of this trip included spending an afternoon and early evening with his aging parents.  Part of it is a birthday gift for Dave (today:  The John Adams National Historic Park in Quincy and a musical in the community theatre of Norwell).

For now, I'm pausing to share FIVE of my blessings from the past week.  And before you ask:  yes I am STILL dealing with the daily congestion/sinus headache.  Am on my 4th OTC allergy med and still taking the prescription one.  This sure has been a long journey and I'm still not convinced it's allergies but.....time will tell once I have that allergy testing done on August 30th. I thank all of you who messaged me/emailed, that you are praying. Giving thanks for the blessings keeps me from being totally discouraged and we can thank Susanne for continuing this blog exercise. Head over to her site to learn more!

FIVE FAVES

• FAMILY BBQ:  Saturday found us driving 1.5 hours west to my sister Hope's home in the woods of the Adirondack foothills.  She and her husband Donny bought an old trailer, turned it into a ranch style house and raise goats, ducks, chickens.  Each summer since the girls were in their pre-teens, she has held a family BBQ.  Now that Mom and Dad are gone, she continues to do so but now it is just my family, my sister Joy and her son Luke, and our youngest sister Jill and her family.  This year it was just the 4 of us, plus Hope and Donny and Joy. My girls drove out together and then Claire had to leave to meet up with friends in Saratoga and so Courtney stayed with us and we dropped her off at her apartment when we got back to the Capital Region.  Jill and her family had to attend her daughter's softball tournament.  It was still so much fun! We had some great food, fellowship, and swimming in their little above ground pool.  Joy left around 3 pm and  Dave, Courtney and I stayed until about 6 pm!  I'm thankful for  afternoons with extended family. 

• RAIN!  We finally got a rain storm Sunday evening and it really helped to cool everything down.  Our high humidity and heat broke and Monday/Tuesday was so pleasant.  We really needed the rain as everything in our area was turning brittle and brown.  I'm  thankful for a good summer rain and more normal temperatures. 

• PHONE CALL!  Last week I had a text then a phone call from a childhood friend I haven't seen since 1986!  It was a complete surprise.  She found out my mobile number from Facebook and we chatted for over an hour with plans to meet for lunch sometime in the autumn.  She lives in the Boston area so we will meet somewhere halfway between our homes. I'm thankful for surprise calls and being back in touch with old friends!

The Blue Spruce Motel
Plymouth, MA

poolside

• MINI-VACATION DAY ONE: Wednesday, Dave and I drove out to Plymouth, MA about 3.5 hours southeast of our home to stay in a small motel for 4 nights.  Our major goal is to spend some time with his fragile parents who are not doing well physically. They live about 20 min north of Plymouth.  Day One (Wed) we arrived about 2 pm,  and spent the afternoon at the motel pool just relaxing, reading, talking and swimming.  Then we changed, freshened up and walked down the road to a little spot for  dinner. Dave had scallops and I had (for the very first time) fish and chips.  I have always wanted to try this British dish and the white fish was amazing!  I don't usually eat fried foods but this sure tasted great! After dinner, we walked over to a soft serve ice cream place for dessert. I'm thankful for the time away and for fresh seafood that we certainly can't get in the capital region of NY!

my dinner:  fish and chips and slaw!

• HISTORIC PLYMOUTH/Vacation Day 2:  One thing on my bucket list this week was to get over to Cole Hill where the large Sarcophagus is located.  This contains the remains of the first pilgrims who arrived in 1620 and who died that first winter here in the New World. My husband's great-great x 9 grandfather is buried there with 2 of his sons. If you zoom in on the picture of the names you will see the name "John Turner".  That is Dave's great-great, etc grandfather. Since we've seen Plymouth Rock many times, and toured the Mayflower II twice when the girls were little and once as newlyweds, we skipped that part and  just poked around other monuments we hadn't seen up close before.  We also did a little shopping for my 2 co-workers and 2 daughters. Then we had lunch at a delightful little cafe called The Yellow Deli.  What a great morning. (in the afternoon, we went north west to visit Dave's parents and have dinner with them).  In our opinion, everyone who calls himself an American citizen, should visit Plymouth and Plimoth Plantation at least once in their lifetime.  We have taken our daughters quite a few times to Plimoth Plantation and Patuxet Village (aka Wampanoag village)It will sober you.  I'm thankful for these pilgrims and Native Americans who helped shape our country. 

The Sarcophagus on Cole Hill
Plymouth, MA

Dave's great great x 9 grandfather is buried here. 
Can you find the name? 

the names of the 104 passengers from the Mayflower 
who died the first winter after landing here on the East Coast

Dave in front of the Mayflower replica

The Mayflower II 

the Pilgrim Maiden fountain 

me in front of the Massasoit monument
I've always had a heart for the Wampanoag Native Americans.
If you don't know the story of Massasoit, please look it up!

A Plaque honoring the National Day of Mourning

The Native Americans gather here every Thanksgiving

as a symbol of what they had to endure due to the pilgrims

invading their lands. To this day, racism and other social injustices prevail in our country against the various tribes of the Native American people. Because I am a direct descendant of a Native American tribe, my heart has always been tender towards these people. This Day of Mourning began in 1970 and continues to the present day. 

The bathroom door at a local cafe.
this place "gets it".  one bathroom with one toilet 
and a locked door.  ANYONE no matter your gender or sexual identity 
can use this bathroom.  Every establishment should do this! Maybe then, the ridiculous fighting over this issue will end!  Kudos to The Yellow Deli of Plymouth, MA!

a charming window seat at The Yellow Deli
in downtown Plymouth

ROOT BEER iced and in a frosty mug!
my first soda since 2004! 
(not counting when I have a rum and coke!)

That wraps up my week.  

I hope whatever you have planned for the weekend, you have a time of reflection to thank God for your blessings.  Have a restful weekend!

2022 Book Review #22: The Gifted School

 

A new to me author.

The title intrigued me as our oldest daughter was labeled "gifted" at the end of kindergarten when the school psychologist said she was doing visual perception tasks and math skills tasks at the 6th grade level.  She also read by just picking up a book one day at age 4 and just starting to read. She was part of the "learning enrichment program for gifted students" from grades 1-6th grade and of course was placed in all honors classes or AP classes from 7th-12th grade.  She does not take after me!  However, I am happy to report that most of the parents I met while she was in the gifted program at our public school, were NOT like the ones in this book. 

STORY SUMMARY

The community of Crystal, Colorado has good schools, safe neighborhoods, imposing homes and a beautiful landscape in the Rocky Mountains. Four young couples, and their children, are nearly destroyed though, by their own competitiveness when an exclusive school for gifted children opens up. 

The 4 moms (Rose, Samantha, Azra, and Lauren) have been best friends for 11 years. They have struggled together through marital woes, parenting and the stresses that brings, and their careers. Now, as their children head off into the middle school years, their individual talents, abilities and interests become more and more distinct. But the group of families remain tightly knit. Rose is married to Gareth and has one daughter named Emma Q.  Samantha is married to Kev and has one daughter named Emma Z. Azra is divorced from Beck and they have co-parenting duties of their twins, Aiden and Charlie.  Lauren is a widow with a teen daughter named Tessa and her 11 year old son Xander.  

Until the Crystal Academy is announced. This is to be an exclusive school for the exceptionally bright and gifted.  It will be a public magnet school.  And the children will have to test and have a portfolio depicting their own special talent or gifted area in order to be considered for acceptance.  Not all students will get in. 

The parents  shock themselves with the lengths they are secretly willing to go to in order to pursue the prestige and recognition of being accepted into Crystal Academy. Long-buried secrets and resentments begin to surface among these 4 families. Even among the children and the spouses, tensions rise. 

And the most shattering secret of all still waits to be exposed.  And one of the children will be the one to expose it. 

MY THOUGHTS

This book is perfect for our current culture in America. It is a riveting look at just how competitive some parents are in regards to their child(ren). This story also points out the disparities between the "Haves" and the "have-nots". It touches on the very privileged vs the more lower middle class.  It touches on whites vs other races.  

Some of the themes in this book besides the parent-child relationship are:  friendships, betrayal, forgiveness, single parenthood, divorce, adultery, drug addiction, cheating. 

I loved the character development and that each chapter was a different voice of the 4 women, men or children. 

This book also touches on parents who over-protect or over stride (think helicopter parenting) and it touches on anxious children or children who are over booked with extracurricular activities. It explores the concept of the elusiveness of happiness. 

This book made me anxious in spots......I wanted to have each and every parent sit through one of my own parenting classes I used to teach in an inner city crisis center!!  They were just so clueless about their own child!

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. 

HOT WEEK FAVES

 

Welcome to Friday's Fave Five hosted by Susanne from Living to Tell the Story.  This is a writing exercise where we look back on the week,  choose 5 of the blessings that we call our favorites and share about them.  It is good to give thanks unto the Lord and I'm thankful for the following five blessings:

Courtney, age 29
July 2022

• BIRTHDAY DINNER: A week ago, Courtney came over for her birthday celebration dinner.  The weekend before her birthday she had just come back to NY from her week long vacation in Texas and was tired so we only gave her the gifts and had some pizza and she went back to her place.  This past weekend she came over for grilled BBQ chicken (one of her fave things), pasta salad, green beans and a HUGE chocolate chip cookie pie.  (I neglected to take a pic but it was decorated with blue frosting and said Happy Birthday, Courtney).  We enjoyed a time of fellowship and I'm so thankful she is recovering from her hand surgery ok and could come over. 

New York City Ballet on the Saratoga Performing Arts Center stage
performing Chaconne
image courtesy of The Saratogian 

• NIGHT OUT AT THE BALLET: Finally the week arrived when the New York City Ballet is in town for 5 nights of performances and several matinees. I bought tickets back in February for Saturday evening's performance of Chaconne, Summerspots, and the hit Glass Pieces.  Everything was exquisite.   The first ballet was classical of course, the middle one was very modern....and a bit odd.....and the last one was modern and full of energy and just amazing ballet forms. Claire and I absolutely loved it.  It was a gorgeous evening....quite hot actually..(we've had a week of temps in the low 90s which is hot for our area) but we had brought ice water and the ampitheater is open on 3 sides of course so it wasn't bad once the sun went down.  I'm so thankful to have this each summer with my own ballerina. 

Black Lake at Cherry Plain State Park
eastern NYS
Sunday 17 July

the beautiful pines on the lake

• AFTERNOON AT A MOUNTAIN LAKE:  Sunday after I got home from the 9 am church service, I got ready for an afternoon at a state park to the east of us.  It's about 40 minutes from us on the top of a mountain (foothills of the Green Mountains of Vermont but in NYS). Claire and I packed lunch and water and books. Dave had other things to do so didn't join us. We swam, chatted, relaxed and read.  It was 90 degrees F when we left our town and on the mountain top it was only 76 but the sun was HOT.  We love this state park because there's a large grassy area which runs parallel the length of the sandy beach so we always set our things up in the shade of the big oak tree on the grass as did several people that day, and sit there rather than right in the sun on the sand. I'm thankful we had a relaxing time and it felt great to swim!

image courtesy of Amaz*n

• RELAXATION: I bought this facial sheet mask several months ago and had forgotten about it until Wednesday evening when I was cleaning out a dresser drawer and saw it.  I washed my face and spent 20 minutes of pure relaxation with this facial sheet mask on.  It was heavenly. I'm thankful for pure ingredients and a relaxing evening at home. 

• PAIN FREE DAYS!  I had sinus headache pain from the first week of April until last Wednesday. I still had the headache upon waking every day, but Wed-Tuesday I was pain free ALL DAY and EVENING.  Until yesterday. UGH.  Had some pain free moments yesterday but the headache came back full force in the evening. Like I've said before, nothing is taking this headache away when it is here so I've stopped trying. I did stop taking a daily Allegra as it was making me MORE congested.  God happened to sit me by an old friend from my hometown who struggled with the same thing I've had and said when she stopped the antihistamine, the congestion stopped.  I'm now going to stop taking the Singular starting next week.  I told the ENT I would try it for a month.  Well, I'm no longer wanting to be on meds I truly don't think I need.  I'm going to let God be God and see what happens.  I'm thankful for this friend C who told me her experience. I'm thankful I had a week of no pain! And I'm thankful for the power of prayer.  Hopefully by stopping these meds, this headache will clear up once and for all. 

That wraps up my list for the week.

I hope if you are in the Northeast, experiencing this long heat wave, that you are safe and keeping cool.  I'm SO THANKFUL for central air.  At the age of 62, the high heat and humidity really wipes me out. 

Stay cool and have a relaxing weekend!

2022 Goals Check-Up #3

 

Well, I missed posting my update in May so now that's it's July, here is how I'm doing with my 2022 goals for the calendar year. For those of you who know me, you know I don't make New Year's resolutions.  I choose goals to work on in each developmental area.  Maybe it's the Special Education teacher in me :) This Spring, from the  first week of April until just this morning, I woke up each day with congestion (that nothing took away typically) and a severe sinus headache.  May was the worst.  Today was the FIRST day since April that I woke up feeling normal.  Praise be to God.  I won't go into what this was at that will be a later post.  But the point is, I wasn't up to doing much all spring.  I had to force myself to get to the classroom to  teach.  The commute isn't all that long but it was often tortuous with pounding pain.  Same in the classroom with those special prek'ers. Let's just say things are changing and I am most thankful.  I can begin to do the things I love again without being in pain. 

UPDATE as of JULY 18

PHYSICAL/HEALTH GOALS

Overall Goal:  Hike in the High Peaks and Eastern Regions of the ADKS

(I tend to stick to the southern or central regions as they are more known to me)

• Hike 2 mountains in the High Peaks Region :  I have hiked no mountains yet this year in the high peaks region.  That should change come my vacation in August. 
• Hike 3 trails/mountains in the Eastern Region (all new-to-me):  I have hiked a new to me mountain (Cook Mt) in late April with my friend Darlene.  It's in Ticonderoga which is a small town in the eastern ADKs. I have also hiked up Swede Mt a small mountain in the town of Hague, near Brant Lake and Lake George in the eastern region.  I did this 2 weeks ago by my self. I have almost met this goal!
• Find 4 waterfalls that I haven't seen yet, listed in the 50 Falls Challenge for the high peaks region   During my April break I found/hiked to 4 waterfalls (Anderson, Alice, Rainbow, and Wadhams Falls on April 16th) in the high peaks/northern region so this goal is met!!
• Plan 4-6 hiking events with the Fitness Friends group I have planned a hiking event in Vermont that one other friend did with me; I planned a waterfalls hike that 1 person signed up for; I planned a pond hike in May that 3 of us did; and I planned a mountain hike that just I did although 2 friends cancelled at the last minute. I have one other event planned for early August. 

Overall Goal:  Lower my Total Cholesterol Naturally

• power walk 5 days a week with at least 2 being outdoors in nature I am currently up to 4 days a week consistently and sometimes it's been 5.  Once I'm on vacation, I will walk daily. 
• limit cheese intake to once a week I am limiting my cheese intake.  This goal is met!
• continue to supplement with phytosterols/check with doc at next physical yes, I take them each evening with dinner and sometimes in the morning if I'm eating eggs or a protein that isn't plant based
• complete my blood work by May. This goal is met!!  My numbers were all good! (just my platelets were slightly elevated due to the sinus inflammation). 
• add a weights routine twice a week nope...My neck was acting up so I had to put this on hold. Now I'm doing much better so hope to begin this on Thursday. My goal is to do light weights on Tues/Thur/Sat
• drink 58 oz of water a day (yes i'm doing this almost every day)
• fitness ball routine 4x per week before bed (this is now something I do as needed as per chiropractor's instructions). This goal is met!
• continue to cook/prepare plant based meals 5x per week YES this goal is met!

SPIRITUAL GOALS

Overall Goal: to fully study Scripture on a deeper level/discuss with husband

• Read 2 Major prophets/study from the Old Testament I am done with studying the book of Ezekiel and this fall I hope to fully study Isaiah.  this goal is partially met!
• Read through Psalms (I am currently about halfway through Psalms).
• Study the book of John This goal is met! We wrapped this up in early June.
• Prayer time with husband once a week This goal is met!
• Continue to lead book group until June This goal is met and we are on Summer break from book group.

PERSONAL/CAREER/MENTAL GOALS

Overall Goal:  get 15 credit hours in to NYS Aspire by November

• Complete Children's Lit course by end of January (This is completed but NYS isn't sure if they will accept the credits as it wasn't a fully accredited online course; it is loaded to Aspire though and I will find out in June if it was accepted).  UPDATE: NYS didn't accept this course for Aspire but I still enjoyed taking it. 
• Complete one nature based course by September (this class has been  cancelled due to covid issues)
• Participate in 3 special education workshops/early childhood classes This goal is partially met.  I participated in 2 so far this calendar year. Our next one is not until September. 

Overall Goal:  play piano more consistently

• work on the Haydn Sonata 2 x per week I need to continue working on finding time to do this. 
• spend some time on worship music/playing/singing hymns once a week This goal is met!

Overall Goal:  spend less time on social media

• read at least 40 books in 2022 including books of the Bible (I have read 21  books since January 1st and am currently in the middle of one. 2 have been non-fiction and I am halfway through a 3rd non fiction. This goal is about half met!
• start cleaning out the basement/donate/recycle old electronics This is completed!! 

EMOTIONAL/RELATIONAL GOALS

Overall Goal: continue to establish and maintain close friendships/family ties

• Have friends/family over for food/game nights (it's been over 5 years since we've done this!) This goal has not been met yet. 
• Have one date night twice a month with Dave This goal is being met! and we had a mini-vacation of 3 nights away in the Finger Lakes for our anniversary 3 weeks ago. 
• Have mother-daughter date with both girls once a month (Courtney and I had TWO this past winter and Claire and I had one.  This will continue)
• Continue to meet for coffee/lunch/walks with close friends once a month (yes, this has been happening!  My friend Darlene and I have been meeting to walk and my sister Hope and I met for breakfast a few weeks ago.  I also met my friend Diane for coffee and lunch a few weeks ago). This goal continues. 
• Meet with my spiritual mentor every 8 weeks for prayer. (Monica and I prayed over the phone in Feb and in early March we touched base via phone.)  This goal has been met!  I  got together with my friend M for lunch over spring break in April.  And for the first time in 2 years, I had dinner with my counselor-friend-mentor Cheryl S in April. M and I prayed together this weekend.  Our friendship and prayer time continues bi-monthly. 

Summary: Many of my goals for 2022 are being met or have already been met!  I feel pretty positive moving forward into the last half of this calendar year with many good hikes planned and some time with family and friends. 

Do you have yearly goals?  How are you doing with yours?

2022 Book Review #21: Adirondack Fire Towers: The History and Lore of the Southern District

 

This is a non-fiction history book that my oldest daughter gifted to me at Christmas time.  She knows I completed the Adirondack Fire Tower Hiking Challenge in 2015 and this book covers most of the fire towers I hiked in the lower regions of the Adirondacks. 

SUMMARY of BOOK

The book tells the story of each mountain fire tower in the words of the fire observers who staffed them.  Some observers have died, of course, as the first fire towers were constructed in the early part of the 20th century. Spouses, relatives, friends and forest rangers were also interviewed for this book.  The author spent many months of traveling throughout the Adirondack mountains tracing down the people who worked on the fire towers, who lived in the cabins on the summits (the observers) and the forest rangers who oversaw the observers and helped with trail conditions or fire tower maintenance. 

MY THOUGHTS

This is a well developed history book of the fire towers that are in the southern district of the Adirondacks.  Most of them I have climbed.  Several of them are no longer standing.  None are in operation any longer as planes and other technology have taken over observing for fires in the forest. The towers that still stand are reachable by hiking trails (most of them). Some of the mountains are well worth climbing even if the fire tower has been removed. 

Because I completed the fire tower challenge in 2015 ( I began hiking it in about 2003) I climbed up 18 out of 25 Adirondack  fire towers (Not all are listed in this particular history book), and I climbed all 5 of the Catskill Mountains fire towers that were part of the challenge and that are located south of our capital city (about an hour - 2 hours south from my house) this book was very interesting to me because I enjoy learning about the history of what I have climbed.

In my opinion this book is appropriate for any age above a 6th grade reading level. 

On a scale of 1-10, I rate this a 10. 

Mid July Faves

 

Friday. Mid-July. Still dealing with daily sinus headache (in the middle of the 4th month!!)  and no, nothing is working. I've never tried so much medication before. and I'm not one for meds. So.....following ENT orders and sticking with the allergy plan/meds but nothing is relieving this so trying to trust God and be thankful for my blessings.  With that......I'm sharing FIVE of my FAVE blessings from the past week. If you want to join in, head on over to Susanne's site where you can learn the details. 

Good morning!

• COFFEE AND SCRIPTURES:  Every morning has been gorgeous for sitting outside at 6 am with my first mug of coffee and my devotionals/Bible/journal.  I treasure my early morning time.  I'm thankful for summer weather and good coffee and the Scriptures that give me Hope and Peace. 

summer of 2021: Courtney and I

• CELEBRATION:  Friday evening Courtney popped in after work to open her birthday gifts from us and Claire a few days early. (She turned 29 on the 11th). It was fun to eat pizza with her and have rum and cokes. We also got to see some photos she took while in Austin (Texas) and hear about the conference and all the cool things she and Nate did. I love spending time with my girl and am so thankful she lives nearby. 

trailhead off Route 8/Hague/Brant Lake

STEEP stone steps leading up to the pine needle trail

easy trail

Swede Mt Firetower...yes I climbed to the cab!

Central Adks from summit/top of Swede tower 

• SOLO MOUNTAIN HIKE!  Saturday morning I got up and drove 1.5 hours northeast to the Eastern Region of the Adirondack Mountains to climb the short mountain known as Swede.  The trail is only about a year old and the state fixed the firetower on the summit and it's now open to the public.  This mountain is short.....less than 2000 feet in elevation so the hike only took me 25 min to get to the top. I wasn't afraid to hike alone as I knew there'd by other hikers there and sure enough there were 3 couples all around my age with a grandchild hiking behind me.  I went on a much faster pace than they did so I had most of the trail and the entire tower to myself.  I loved the climb and followed it up with lunch in the town park  which is right on Lake George in the town of Hague, about 5 miles away. I'm thankful for time in the mountains.

• EMAIL:  Received an email from our pastor's wife. This meant a lot to me. She's been praying for me and I'm so thankful for her checking in with me as it's been a few weeks since I've seen her. When you're a part of a mega-church, contact with the senior pastor and his wife is special. I'm thankful we are friends. 

me, the Rev Richard Leonard, Nancy
Summer of 2021

• REUNION WITH SPECIAL PEOPLE:  Tuesday, I had to drive 1.5 hours west to my childhood hometown to attend the Celebration of Life service of my dear childhood  pastor.  His family (wife and 5 daughters ) has always been close with my family.  He even has met my girls and husband several years ago.  Well, his 2 youngest daughters  are close in age to me and every single member of his family  came to both of my parents' funeral services.  Of course I had to go out for his.  What a reunion of special people it was!  I saw several of the old saints from my childhood church (the Herkimer Free Methodist) as well as several friends who were in youth group with me back in the 1970s.  The very special thing about Tuesday was that it was my spiritual birthday......July 12, 1975 is the day Rev Leonard helped lead me to Christ at our church camp.  It was a wonderful service followed by a time of fellowship.  I'm thankful I could get the day off to attend. 

BONUS FAVE

Courtney had to have hand surgery on Tuesday and since I had to attend the funeral, Dave picked her up at her apartment in the morning and got her to the surgical center and then back home. All went well. The cool thing is:  I had prayed she'd have a good anesthesiologist and she had her Christian friend Fareed!!  Fareed is the guy she used to do some graphic design for  in a young adult ministry they used to lead together.  She said all went well and she should have the biopsy results within a week. AND the roofers we hired to replace our roof showed up a day early and they had the old one off and the new one on by 1 pm!  Super thankful that all these little things worked out this week. 

That wraps it up for me.  I hope you all have a great weekend doing all the summer things you love.

2022 Book Review #20:When We Believed in Mermaids

 

A new to me author.  Excellent story.

STORY SUMMARY

Josie and Kit Bianci grew up in Santa Cruz, California. Their parents owned and ran an Italian restaurant right next to their house on the edge of a cliff overlooking the Pacific Ocean.  Both girls learned to surf early in their lives and both were rather "neglected" by their parents.  When their folks took in a homeless boy named Dylan who wa a few years older than them, he pretty much took care of them, making sure they brushed their teeth, did homework, and ate good meals. 

Josie was killed years later on a train during a terrorist attack in Paris, France. She was gone forever.  It's what her little sister Kit, now an ER doctor in a Santa Cruz hospital, has always known to be true. But one night, while watching the news, everything changed.  She saw Josie's face stumbling through the smoky haze of an Auckland, New Zealand major fire.  Fire had ripped through a nightclub and all of the news channels were showing live coverage. When Kit sees her sister appear on the news, many emotions come to the surface: grief, loss, anger. Kit has the chance to put to rest some of these emotions by finding Josie who has been living a lie for over 10 years. 

Once she arrives in New Zealand, Kit begins the process with memories from the past: days spent on the beach with her precious sister.  Days spent with the lost teenage boy who had become part of their family.  The devastating earthquake that claimed the life of her father and the restaurant business.  This trauma, along with some secrets of Josie's, has affected them for all of their lives. 

If they can reunite, they will need to unearth some long-buried secrets and face a devastating truth that has kept them apart for far too long. To regain their relationship, they might have to lose everything they hold dear. 

MY THOUGHTS

This has excellent character development and setting. The backstory is told very well by the author interweaving it into the main plot. Each chapter is either Kit's voice or Mari's (aka Josie). 

The main themes in this story are  childhood innocence lived and lost, betrayals, child sexual abuse, abortion, drug and alcohol addiction, child neglect, friendship, and the role of 2 emotionally close sisters. Also touched on in this book is marriage, true love, forgiveness.

This is a story that will stick with you for a few days after you complete it.

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 a 10. 

JULY FAVES

 

I'm back to the weekly FFF hosted by Susanne from Living to Tell the Story.  Dave and I were away on a rather spontaneous 4 days away trip to the southern tier/Finger Lakes region of our glorious state( NY). It's like a different world down there.  So, I missed partaking in FFF last week as we didn't bring our laptops.  It was a totally relaxing time away. I'm also including a couple extra faves from this past week. 

Here are FIVE of my FAVES from the past week and our mini-vacation.

Downtown Montour Falls
population is about 1800!

Sha Qua Ga (aka Cha Qua Ga) Falls
just a trickle this summer due to NY's lack of rain

painted mural on side of downtown building

• EVENING STROLL AND DINNER OUT:  Our first day/evening in the Finger Lakes was fairly casual.  It's a 4 hour drive to this place from our home in the Capital Region of NY so we checked into our motel in the late afternoon and rested for about a half hour/freshened up and decided what to do for the first evening. There's a plethora of things to do in the Finger Lakes region of NY.  We mainly were choosing to stay in the Seneca Lake and Cayuga Lake areas. (there are 11 finger lakes all together...Seneca is the deepest and longest). Our motel was just one block away from the historic waterfalls, Sha Qua Ga Falls (the Native American meaning is "tumbling waters".)  We joked that we should have come in April to see those tumbling waters!  It was just a trickle last week as we haven't had much rain this past spring here in NY.  The falls is also on a walking tour of historic places/buildings.  I took many photos and several are on Facebook but I'm  choosing these 3 to display here. I love the quaint village of Montour Falls.  After we walked and chatted in the art gallery for a bit with the owner, we walked back to the motel to change for dinner in Watkins Glen. It's only about 3 miles from the motel and the population year round in that village is about 2600 people according to a local. We had a wonderful Italian dinner at this place and shared a bottle of excellent wine. Then we walked off the dinner and wine by going down to the pier on Seneca Lake (it begins in Watkins Glen and no we didn't re-hike the Gorge at the WG State Park because "been there done that!")  I'm thankful for safe travels to the Finger Lakes and for a relaxing first night away. 

Dave on the pier walking towards the look-out

• ANNIVERSARY ADVENTURES! Last Thursday, 30 June, our first full day in the Finger Lakes, was our 32nd anniversary. We exchanged cards to one another and ate breakfast at Dunks of all places because we wanted to get going to the vineyards before the heat of the day kicked in.  We were at our first vineyard, which ended up being our absolute favorite one, by the time they opened at 10 am.  We did wine tasting there and due to Covid-19, none of the vineyards we visited were giving out tours of the grounds.  But the tastings were so much fun!  Our first stop was this place.  HIGHLY recommend. We were the only customers for the first 15 min. We were even given a free wine glass since it was our anniversary! Kimmie is the daughter of the owner and she helps her dad make all of the wines.  Oh my.  SO good. She's an excellent sommelier and really explained the differences between the 6 different wines we tasted.  We fell in love with the very first ever red Riesling in New York State.....made right there at Silver Springs.  We just were so impressed with this young woman's knowledge. After Silver Springs, we traveled down the road to Wagner Vineyard where Dave took just a couple of sips from the Wine Flight I tried.  We walked the grounds a bit and then traveled on down the road to pop into the Finger Lakes National Forest for a quick walk/hike down a steep gravel path to the shores of Seneca and a site listed on the National Historic Register. Here are the pics from the first vineyard:

our first...and fave...and last....vineyard
(we went back after visiting 2 more and decided to purchase more wine and a tee shirt)

Our fave of the day

the Winery has a "peace" theme
and the tee shirt is tie dyed with a peace sign
and the name of the Vineyard

Pics from the 2nd Vineyard:

Faith's Wine Flight:  my fave was #3 a Cayuga White

The Wagner (pronounced the German way) Winery

Dave is hoping for a tour.........

beautifully delicate wisteria which smells like grapes!

Seneca Lake in Background and then the vineyards 

at Wagner Brewery and Winery

PICS FROM THE FINGER LAKES NATIONAL FOREST WALK: 

my feet were happy to get cooled off in Seneca Lake

"the Queen's Castle".....built by 7 men in 7 days
and designed by Arthur Nash for the daughter of an advocate for women's rights and anti-slavery along with an advocate for temperance.  This was a famous camping site at one time and was built in the late 1800s.

this butterfly basically followed us along the trail

the beginning of the trail down to the shoreline of Seneca Lake

• ANNIVERSARY LUNCH and SUNSET CRUISE: After the hike, we were ready for lunch so we ate a late one at the 3rd winery we visited.  Again, no tours were being offered but the restaurant on the premises was excellent!  We had both had enough wine, so ordered iced lattes and lemonade.  After lunch, we went back to the motel to change and rest a bit then headed to the harbor in Watkins Glen for the sunset cruise.  Dinner was a sub back in the motel and the evening was spent watching a movie together.  I'm so thankful we had these adventures on our anniversary.  I'm also thankful that some of my headache/sinus pain was easing up that day, although it was back by the time we were back in Montour Falls.

Lunch time was at Ryan William Winery 
on the porch to the right of the building overlooking
Seneca Lake. We both had the veggie Tacos.  
Very filling and delicious with farm fresh local produce.

.

from the boat: Native American (Iroquois) art work
originally from the 1700s is to the left of that tee pee
and underneath the USA flag.  Modern Artists did the flag and tee pee but there's a problem.
Dave and I were the only people on the boat that knew the lodging was wrong.
Do you know what the Iroquois lived in??  i can tell you it was NOT a tee pee!

and the sun went down on Seneca Lake.......

• HIKING/TIME ON CAYUGA LAKE:  Friday morning we went to an excellent little cafe in Ithaca on the grounds of Cornell University.  (we were NOT impressed with the university or the city..dirty, run-down....).  However, our destination was the Taughannock Falls State Park to hike to the highest waterfalls east of the Mississippi River and the Highest in NYS (Niagara Falls is #2 and Hector Falls is #3 outside Watkins Glen which sadly, I couldn't get a photo of) The hike was flat along the gorge and for a bit we actually walked on the riverbed as it is so dry right now.  NYS hasn't received much rain this spring or summer so even the falls were just a trickle. I'm thankful we had a fun, easy hike.  My head was pounding so we stopped on the beach across the road in the main part of the park and I dipped my hot feet into the cold waters of Cayuga Lake which is the 2nd largest finger lake and begins in Ithaca. I'm thankful for beautiful places. 

a bit of history along the trail

Dave walks on the river bed which is actually limestone

another bit of history

Taughannock Falls

• AFTERNOON AND EVENING OUTINGS:  We were done with the hike and time on the beach around noon so we drove an hour towards Elmira and Corning (west) to eat lunch at Panera and then spend the hot afternoon in central air at the Corning Glass Museum.  I hadn't been there since I was about 10 years old (1970!) and Dave had never been.  What a treat.  We saw 3 demonstrations of glass blowing (some methods have changed due to Covid and it was just fascinating to learn about).  We toured all the galleries and ended our day back in Watkins Glen after freshening up in the motel with a late dinner at this fantastic place. And for the first time ever, we had fried ice cream. Oh my goodness. AMAZING.  I'm thankful we had a fun day seeing new sights and just being together. We have many more photos but these were the highlights: 

my fave glass sculpture....a plate of fruit

Another fave.....a chandelier of glass popcorn buckets

My 2nd fave glass piece......the birch trees...so hard to believe this is all glass!

flaming fried ice cream!

THIS WEEK's FAVES

Saturday morning we slept in a bit, did some reading and the Scriptures, and then went out to breakfast at a cute little diner between Montaur Falls and Watkins Glen.  Then back to the motel to pack up and head home.  It took less time to get back home as there was hardly any traffic.  Saturday was spent unpacking, doing laundry, etc Sunday was a perfectly gorgeous summer day and although my sinus pain was back in full swing and I was super discouraged, I decided to take Claire to Caroga Lake State Park, about an hour northwest of us and spend the afternoon reading on the beach.  It was lovely.  It was actually too chilly to swim. We stayed about 3 hours, got some wonderful sun and came home around dinner time. On Independence Day, Claire had to work a couple of hours and then we had a late lunch/early dinner. She cooked her own food and I made bison burgers for Dave and I along with baked beans and a salad.  We enjoyed some of the wine we bought at Silver Springs.  Claire also enjoyed a glass and later in the day we  enjoyed a fire in the pit and saw fireworks from our deck. (my photos didn't come out good though).

This week's faves:

• Less sinus pain during the day on Wednesday and  Thursday so maybe the new allergy meds are starting to work (assuming this is really a seasonal allergy like the ENT thinks). 

• Our oldest girl arrived home from her flight out of Austin, Texas safely. She loved her vacation down there with her friend Nathanael. 

• Summer school got off to a good start on Tuesday with 3 new students joining our 10 returning students.  It should be a good summer (especially if this pain starts to fully go away!)

• Emails and texts from friends and blogging friends (thanks Jerralea and Susanne!!) asking how I'm doing, how the pain is, and that I am being prayed for.  You have NO idea what this means to me. I'm at the point where my primary doc and ENT can't really agree on what is happening in my body.....the symptoms are just odd and don't fully line up with infections yet don't fully line up with allergies either.  Allergy testing isn't until August 30th because they are booked solid. Meanwhile, I am trusting God to fully heal me like He did when I had the lyme disease 20 years ago.  God is the ultimate healer and He is really testing my patience on this one. I'm so thankful for friends (some of whom I have never met!) who are faithful to pray for me. I also try to be faithful in praying for others.  It's a blessing to pray for one another!

• ENCOURAGING DEVOTIONALS:  I've been reading about anxiety/worry and healing from Jesus.  When we are at our  wit's end, and worry sets in, we are to take our burdens directly to Christ and HE can shoulder them, He can heal them and the issue(s), and He knows the plan He has for us.  do I wish I haven't had daily headache pain since week 1 of April? yup.  Am I scared about what  this could be?  yup.  But each day I just say "God, I need You to help me get through this day" and I then try not to focus on what it is or isn't and just let God be God.  He's got this. Meanwhile, I'm so thankful for His Word. 

That wraps it up for me.

I hope you have a  wonderful summer weekend!