FIrst of the FALL FAVES

 

It's Friday!!  Hip Hip hooray! The day we look back at the week, find FIVE of our FAVE blessings from the week (sometimes it's hard to just choose 5) and share with others by linking up at Susanne's site.  It's a great way to stay in gratitude for all the things God brings into our lives.......what are yours today??

MY FIVE FAVES THIS WEEK ARE:

• MULTIPLE  HIKES!  Saturday was  a gorgeous late summer day.  As in perfect.  Perfect temps (high 60s/low 70s) and blue sky with full sun.  (although it was a little cloudy for one of the hikes up in the Moose River Plains for a bit). I was supposed to climb this mountain  which required me to get up at 5:15 a.m! But my friend cancelled at the last minute on me.  I was super frustrated but decided to just join another friend and her friend on their hikes.  They were headed here so for me it's a 2 hour drive.  I left around 8:15  and stopped at my fave southern region lake to snap a late summer pic.  The temp up there was only 52 degrees F at 9:30 in the morning!  We hiked to 4 different ponds that day and then had dinner at a little restaurant in this town before going our separate ways to our homes. I loved the hikes, even though they were very short. 2 of them were in the Moose River Plains which requires a long drive down a dirt road at only 15 mph.  It's an extremely remote section of the Central Adirondack region. There are about 130 miles worth of trails in the Moose River Plains.  We literally only hiked 2 short ponds (Icehouse was 1 mile and Helldiver Pond was .8!) but the drive down the dirt road took 30 minutes!  We also hiked a newly created trail in the O'Neill Flow easement area of Blue Mountain Wilderness region (Central ADKS about 5 miles from the Moose River Plains).  This one was called Barkers Pond and was about a half mile walk. So pretty.  Then we hiked into Sprague Pond from the Cedar River Flow road  and that was probably my fave pond to see.  Just pristine and remote and even had loons making their amazing cry.  Overall it was a great day even though I arrived back home very late at night. Here are FIVE of my fave scenes from the trip.  I'm so thankful I did these very easy hikes as normally I would have passed them up to go climb a mountain!

Barkers Pond at O'Neill Flow easement area

Sprague Pond in the Cedar River Flow wilderness area
Central Adirondacks

Icehouse Pond
in the Moose River Plains 
(note the trees are just starting to turn color in this area)

Red leaves on Helldiver Pond trail
(peak season for fall foliage will be in 2 weeks in the Central ADKS!)

Helldiver Pond and its hundreds of lily pads
Moose River Plains

• NEW COFFEE!  I stopped in to St*rbucks after work on Monday before heading over to the grocery store to get a cup of coffee. It was rather humid Monday and we were expecting a thunderstorm. I saw on the menu that they had a new-to-me flavor: Chocolate Cream Cold Brew. Oh my goodness. It was heavenly.  Normally I would have ordered it with almond milk instead of the cream but I forgot and thankfully the cream didn't bother my stomach.  I'm thankful for yummy iced coffee. 

Chocolate Cream Cold Brew

• CHILLY NIGHT DINNER (pun intended!):  Tuesday evening was a bit chilly after Monday evening's thunderstorm. I went for an amazing power walk after mixing up some cheddar biscuits for dinner and then made a Swedish apple pie for dessert. We hardly ever have dessert on a work night so this was a special treat.  I had prepped beyond beef (vegan beef) in the morning with sauteed onions, garlic, and green pepper and tossed everything into the slow cooker along with the spices and sauce for my Slow Cooker Chili.  Everything came out great and Dave and Claire loved it. I'm thankful for comfort foods.

Swedish Apple Pie

Chili and Cheddar Biscuits
(not sure why this pic appears upside down!!)

• APPLICATION APPROVED! As most of you know, our youngest daughter Claire still lives with us.  She graduated from UNH in May 2021 and secured a full time job as case manager  here in Albany. She's been working full time with  domestic violence victims since last April and has almost all of her federal student loan paid off.  She also works as a fitness instructor for Pure Barre 2 evenings a week and on the weekends (2-3 classes depending on the weekend). She has wanted to get her own apartment but had to wait for most of her loan to be done. She just applied to a place  earlier this month and just this week found out she has been accepted for approval and can move in sometime in mid-October.  I'm thankful her application was approved. The complex is in a town about 15 min to the south of us on the west side of Albany. I'm still wrapping my head around the fact though that we will be full empty nesters soon.  I'm not sure I'm ready. 

• SUNNY AFTERNOONS! This past week has been gorgeous and yes even the thunderstorm we had one late afternoon/evening was nice because we had such a dry hot and humid spring/summer. And yesterday we had an entire morning of rain making everything fresh, green and much cooler temps.  But all of the other days this week have been cloudy and cool in the morning with that famous late summer fog and then bright blue skies and sunshine for the rest of the day. After power walking for my cardio workouts, I would plop in the backyard lounge chair and read until time to prep dinner.  I'm thankful for sunshine and cooler temps. 

Wednesday after work!

Autumn plants/pumpkins for the front stoop

That wraps up my fave blessings from the week.  Other blessings include:

a text from a good friend and small group member; a phone call from my dear friend Diane; reading in bed next to hubby; hugs from Claire; help with a computer issue from oldest daughter via phone call. 

What were your blessings from the week??  What are your plans for the weekend??  I'm headed to Vermont with my 2 daughters and my sister Joy.  ENJOY every moment of the weekend!