Spring Time Faves

 

It's Friday again and we're a little more than half-way through the month of April.  It's been a  good week overall and I'm here to share FIVE of my FAVE blessings with other like-minded bloggers.  We all link up over at Susanne's blog.  Check it out to read what blessed others this week!

Moreau Lake State Park

• SPRING LAKE DAY  Last Saturday was a weird weather day. Pouring rain, then sun, then rain, then clouds. We finally decided to just deal with the clouds and drizzle and got the kayaks on Dave's car, grabbed our winter jackets and hats (yes, it was that cold!) and drove the 35 min north to put our kayaks on the rack for the kayaking season (if you missed the news, our number was chosen via lottery for a spot on the racks at the state park we like to frequent).  There was only one other boat on the racks so far but in about 2 weeks these racks (150 spots) will be totally filled.  I'm thankful we got this  chore done and that the rain held off until we got home!

Queensbury NY
(foothills of Adirondacks)

First half mile of walking path

the next half mile features a steep hill
good for a cardio workout!

the scent of white pine was fragrant

solitude!

•  SPRING SOLITUDE: I had an early morning appointment on Tuesday and since it was an absolutely perfect Spring day, I decided to accomplish 2 things in the small city to the north of us where 2 of my 3 younger sisters live.  They were both working but I needed to drop off a book to one, so I did that and then walked the bike path/walking trail that was created by their town a few years ago.  It's still a work in progress.  It's not paved until the very end which connects to another trail system. I did the main trail which is 1.5 miles one way, giving me a nice 3 mile fitness walk.  There were 2 cars when I pulled in, but I only saw one runner from a distance...far ahead of me and then he disappeared off a side trail.  I had the entire trail to myself until the paved end where there were 2 people walking dogs.  It was a beautiful solo walk.  I really needed the exercise after being cooped up in the house during all those days of rain we had.  I'm thankful for safe walking trails. 

solar powered wind chime

• SPRING EVENING LIGHT: I love the solar powered wind chime my dear friend Cheryl gave me for Christmas.  It's just beautiful. I finally hung it on the deck on Sunday and because we've had a few good sunny days (the back of our house gets the eastern sun....morning time is full sunshine) the globe on the top of the chimes just glowed so nicely.  This was Tuesday evening.  It was a perfect Spring evening. I'm thankful for thoughtul, nature-inspired gifts. My close  friends definitely know me!

guest bathroom/half bath still has the 
vinyl flooring the builders put in for us
when we first built the house in 1994. 
Vinyl flooring is NOT easy to clean and it's "cheap"
I'm so ready (beyond ready!) to upgrade to tile like our  full bath

All Clean for the new season

Finally white again!

• SPRING CLEANING:  A plus of retirement is that I  can take my time and spread out my spring cleaning unlike the years I taught full time and tried to cram it all in in one weekend or part of a weekend and many evenings.  This week I decided I would tackle two rooms (family room and half bath).  The half bath was tough.  I literally had to get on my hands and knees (NOT good for my neck arthritis and headaches although thankfully the headache was somewhat eased up while I did this) and using comet with bleach, I had to scrub off this weird film that was on the floor from back when we used a very cheap and crappy floor cleaner (don't EVER use Mop n Glo....it's horrible!!) I worked over 2 hours on that floor and it's white again. If you zoom in on the first pic, you can see some of the "filmy tannish white" color close to the toilet.  It took me So long to scrub that clean and then I had to use my normal mop and the GOOD quality floor cleaner we now buy to then remove the residue from the comet bleach cleaner.  But this method worked!!  My husband even noticed "Wow, the floor looks so shiny and white again".  I said Well i'm exhausted and sore. Next year I'm hiring a maid for certain tasks during spring cleaning unless we get tile on this floor." HAHHA....He knows I mean it.  So at the end of the summer I'm going to use some savings I have and get someone in here to tile the floor. this is the last room in the house that hasn't seen any major upgrades other than paint and a new toilet and faucet. I'm thankful I had the time and energy to do this.

First tulip to open!

a few blossoms have opened on the backyard pear tree

more tulips are open!

• SPRING BLOOMS: I'm thankful my tulips are beginning to open and that pear tree has been blooming all week. I love the spring flowers! 

Those are the things that made me smile and say "Thank You, God".  Of course there are many other blessings in one's week...just not five.....another one that I'm going to go into more detail later was that my primary doc (A nurse practioner) was correct:  I LOVED meeting the Nurse Practitioner Neurologist whom I had an appointment with this week.  She's really knowledgeable and confirmed that the neck x ray did show arthritis and reversed cervical lordosis along with degenerative disc disease and that the headaches are likely the ones called cervicogenic stemming from the neck. She gave me an idea of how to move forward with this and I'll share more on that in a future post. Arthritis never goes away but the pain of it can apparently.  It's been 2 full years now so here's hoping.....and praying ......

I hope you all have a restful weekend doing the things you love.