It's Friday!! One more week of teaching and then I will be on Winter Break for an entire week. I'm so ready for this. The PreK students have been a bit "hyper" lately because we can't get outside for our gross motor movement time so we are stuck staying in the gym. I know we all (students, teachers and therapists) are looking forward to the break.
For now, I'm finding FIVE of my FAVE blessings from this past week to share with other like-minded bloggers. We all link up at the host's site, Living to Tell the Story. Just click on the link to learn more.
FIVE FAVES
image courtesy of goodreads |
- BOOKS: books make me happy. Books make me think. Reading is one of my very fave hobbies. Saturday was like an arctic blast here in the Capital Region (Wind chill was -71 degrees on the summit of Whiteface Mt our 5th tallest mountain in NY). The actual temp there was -33. The actual temp here was something like -11. Way too cold for me. Not much snow but we stayed inside all day long. I read the above book in just 5 days and it was awesome. One of the very best secular fiction books I've read in a long time that also has a deeply spiritual message. You can read my review here if you're interested. I'm thankful for winter days to just read and read.
- RE-CONNECTED: On Sunday morning, I was sitting by my self at the 9 am service because Dave was working production/stage. I heard my name whispered and in the row a few seats down was the mom of one of my oldest daughter's friends whom I hadn't seen in person since before covid struck! I was thankful we were able to chat after church and re-connect and she is interested in joining my spring book group. I'm thankful that although Anna is from the Philippines and a stay at home wife/mom whose young adult daughters haven't moved out yet (we are very different) that we are united in Christ.
the woods/cemetary in the cul-de-sac area of our neighborhood Wednesday 8 Feb |
afternoon sunshine in our backyard about 4:30 pm |
- OUTDOOR WALKS: Monday was too busy for me after work to power walk so I only did my stretches/yoga after the 3 errands I had to do before heading home. Tuesday was too windy to walk outdoors....and I was really struggling with the headache. Wednesday, although I still had the head pain, was balmy at 48 degrees so after I had the transmission fluid on my car flushed out and replaced, I headed home to get in a good 1.5 miles walk throughout my neighborhood. As you can see, we don't have much snow at all here in eastern New York. It's been another rather mild winter minus the arctic blast from last Friday and Saturday. I'm thankful for time to get a good walking work-out in with sunshine and fresh air.
- QUICK RESPONSES: I sent out an email to several former small group ministry members from groups I've run since 2010. Told them I'm reading the above book come spring and planning on leading a book discussion group with no homework or study guide to write in. Just reading and discussing with a time for fellowship and prayer and a couple of social events. Within 3 hours I had 4 women interested!! 3 of the women are good friends of mine and one is my cousin. I'm excited about this group starting up in May.
image of the NYCBallet performing Swan Lake courtesy of Saratoga Performing Arts Center |
- CLASSICAL SEASON ANNOUNCEMENT! This past week I just had to smile and say "Thank you God" when I saw my email from Saratoga Performing Arts Center. They were announcing their classical season (July/August) with the NYC Ballet and Philadelphia Orchestra performing many amazing and world renowned works. I asked Claire which ballet evening she wants me to get inside the amphitheatre tickets for (we always sit front center balcony...the BEST views for ballet) and she chose what I was hoping she'd choose: the Friday evening performance in July of three famous story ballets: Swan Lake, Firebird (choreographed by Balanchine of course) and Fancy Free choreographed by Jerome Robbins. Now, there's no way the company could dance all three of those story ballets in one evening......Swan Lake alone is close to 2 hours long. BUT..they are doing the ballets in 3 one act performances summarizing the stories. I'm thankful I can be home when tickets go on sale in 2 weeks because they are going to go fast for this.
I hope that whatever you have planned for this weekend and Valentine's Day, that it is extra special.
HAPPY WEEKEND!!
8 comments:
I love reading as well. I've always been so thankful that I enjoy reading. It certainly opens up the world for me.
Enjoy your week's break. Read, take walks, just do what you want to. I'm surprised that you have had so little snow. I would need to look on a map to remember where the Albany/Schenectady area is in upstate NY where I grew up, but I remember snow from November to March at least.
That's great that you were able to reconnect with a friend at church. I would love to join a book club. I'm part of a Mitford one on Face Book but never attended one personally. What fun!
Have a great weekend!
I will be picking up that book at my local library later today. I am about half-way finished with the other library book I am reading (All Good People Here by Ashley Flowers). I am looking forward to reading the book your recommended. I am glad that you had an overall good week. I think I may have already read the book by Priscilla Shirer that you are going to discuss in your upcoming book group. The title sounds familiar. I will have to look it up! So glad you could get out and take a walk. We have warmed up a bit here and the weekend should be good weather, but another snow storm is coming early next week. I hope you have a good weekend and don't suffer with more headaches. See you again soon!
I love reading too but I'm really struggling at the moment with "A Prayer for Owen Meany" by John Irving. It ticks several boxes - the online book club I'm a member of, it's on the BBC list I started years ago and my DIL recommended it as she loved it. Well so far I'm not loving it and it's over 600 pages long. Irving can waffle more than I can lol.
Oh that ballet evening sounds wonderful. What a lovely outing to look forward to.
We've had frosty mornings here this week but nothing as cold as you. Glad you were able to get out to walk later in the week.
Have a good weekend Faith.
Great book review! I just finished a really good book, and I can't believe I didn't include it in my favorites. I guess it's a good problem to have -- too many favorites.
It will be fun to have the ballet to look forward to!
Have a good winter break.
I saw on TV how cold it was in NY, we never have more than -15°C here in Belgium, maybe a little more in the Ardennes. You have a lot of projects, I have to force myself to do something not to become like my neighbor an adorable woman, but a typical housewife with no other interests as her children and great grand children and sitting in front of the TV the whole day. I have "divoured"so many books in my life that now I read interesting Blogs
from countries I don't know, like South Africa, or stories from Australia, how people immigrated and how life was so difficult. That's very interesting and real life.
Ah yes, I love me a good book to read, especially on cold winter days. Sometimes, I find an author I like and read through their books.
I noticed that during vacation these past two weeks, I walked a lot; but since returning home, it has been hard to walk/hike because it is so cold out. Hopefully, I'll get a walk in this afternoon since the sun is out.
Yay on hopefully getting good tickets to the ballet!
One more week and then you will have your winter holiday--I hope this week is easy and goes fast.
Have a good weekend.
I hope the kids do well this last week before break. Reading is one of my favorite pastimes, too. Cold weather like that is a good time for a reading binge!
How nice to reconnect with an old acquaintance! And it's neat you had such a good response to your reading group suggestion.
The ballet performances sound like great fun!
That is one chilly blast on the mountain! Yikes. Definitely coffee, reading and a cozy blanket is called for and favorites. How nice that you ran into someone you hadn't seen in awhile. It always amazes me how Christ is a common denominator in people who otherwise can be so different. So special that you and Claire have that shared interest.
Post a Comment