INDEPENDENCE WEEK FAVES

 

It's been a difficult week.  I won't go into all the why's, (other than I needed to attend the wake of our neighbor girl; and the discovery that some people pretend they're "Christ followers"  but you find out they're not being totally  truthful about their beliefs...)  but let's focus on being thankful. 

I'm linking up at Susanne's blog to join other bloggers who look for the blessings that made them smile and say "thank You, God". Here are my five faves from the week: 

• MORNING HIKE:  Last Friday, our last full day at the camp on Long Pond in Plymouth, Dave and I walked from the camp about a half mile to a trail system in the pine woods along Long Pond/Halfway Pond and Gallows Pond.  We took a new to us trail (We had done another short loop trail here last November) and then followed it to Halfway Pond. We then picked up another trail making for a larger loop of 2 miles.  After we were back to the trailhead, we walked back to the camp where I swam and he did some reading.  It was a pleasant last day at Long Pond. I'm thankful that I had minimal pain that day and could do this hike. 

trail into Halfway Pond trail system
Plymouth MA

Halfway Pond 

Dave leads the way along the blue trail

A beautiful pine needle carpet on the trail

We loved this trail!

Sunlight streaming through the pine woods

• ANNIVERSARY DINNER:  On Sunday after church, Dave and I caught up on some household chores and then relaxed until time to go out to dinner to celebrate our 34th anniversary. We chose a fave local restaurant. Dave chose the Ravioli Mare and I chose the Lemon Pepper Chicken. I had a glass of Riesling and he had a glass of Chardonnay.  We love supporting this family owned business and the service is impeccable as is the ambience. I'm thankful we had a quiet evening out with good food, wine and conversation. 

image courtesy of Hannaf*rd website

• SAVINGS:  Our local grocery store (a Northeast chain) has an app where you can check out their weekly online coupons/specials and if you their 3 different brands, you can get a savings, had almost every thing I needed either on sale or with one of the app coupons. I saved a little under $8.00 this week!  Everything adds up so even this small savings was something to be thankful for. 

Loon Lake in Chestertown, NY
East-Central Adirondacks
3 July 

back of the beach/boat launch at Loon Lake

Beach bummin' at Loon Lake

• LAKE DAY!  Claire had Wednesday and Thursday off for the holiday and since she had plans with friends for Independence Day, she asked if I would go with her to an Adirondack lake. I needed to make one stop to my sister's house to pick up some dishes, and then we were on our way north.  When we arrived at this town beach, the sign said "closed/no lifeguard" but we saw 2 women swimming so we decided let's just stay.  We basically had the beach to our selves. By about 1 pm there were 3 other families with young children there. By 2 pm there were 2 more older couples.  The water was icy cold as the temps had dropped up in the mountains the night before but on our hot sun-exposed skin, the water felt great. We did some swimming, had lunch, and read our books. We enjoyed the lake from 11 AM until about 3 and then drove home to have a tofu scramble dinner and relax before she headed back to her apartment. I'm thankful to have had this day with our youngest girl. 

red, white and blue wildflowers
(if you zoom in, you can just see the red about to open)

Sitting area

• INDEPENDENCE DAY: Dave and I decided since we were on vacation for part of last week, that we would just stay home for the 4th.  We are at the age (64 (me) and 58 (Dave) where we don't care about finding a parade to watch, or fighting the downtown crowds at this place for the band and fireworks. When the girls were little....until about 2009, we would either be camping or at the beach house on the Cape. When they were in high school and college, we would spend the day with our kayaks on a lake in the mountains or at the cottage we used to rent in Long Lake. Now, we enjoy the slower pace of home. I fixed BBQ late lunch/early dinner and our oldest girl came over to enjoy the bison burgers, potato salad, and blonde brownies I made. She stayed for a couple hours but then headed out to go to a party at her friend Keith's house. Around 8 pm, we had our neighbor Paul over for wine and I put together a tray of cheese, crackers, pita chips and lemon beet hummus. His wife (my friend Melissa) is in Florida for a week to help out her mom so we didn't want him to be alone. We hadn't had them over in so long! Our original plan was to build a fire in the pit but the humidity levels got so high throughout the afternoon, that we turned on the AC and said let's just stay in where it's cool.  I'm thankful for the time we shared with our neighbor fellowshipping and sharing childhood stories of growing up in small towns and what led us to the Capital Region. I'm also thankful the neighbor behind us had a beautiful fireworks display that we could see from our deck doors in the family room.  We didn't even need to get out of our seats!  

Those are the things that made me smile this week.  

I hope you are all having a blessed Independence Day weekend, being thankful we have the right to vote in this country, as messed up as the States  are......let's pray for this nation of ours that people will begin to use the brains God gave them!