Last Week of Summer Faves

It's Friday and the last weekend of Summer! What glorious weather we have had here. I'm loving it and it makes it hard to narrow down the blessings to just five. So I'm sharing five of my FAVE blessings from the week and then linking up with other bloggers over at Susanne's site. It is good to be grateful for what God brings into our lives!

SoulSteps Group hike #10
front row: Darlene, Pat (sitting), me
back row: Maureen, and the B family 

Tenant Creek Falls
southern ADK
14 September

• 

  Praying before we hit the trail
  Tenant Creek Falls trailhead
  Photo courtesy of Darlene E

• WATERFALLS HIKE:  Last Saturday was the 10th hike I led with some of the members of my SoulSteps group. We had a family of 4 (the little girls were delightful and very well behaved) plus 4 of us "older ladies". My new friend Maureen had never hiked in the Adirondacks before although she and her husband do kayak in the mountains. We all had a fabulous time. We hiked 2.1 miles to the first large waterfalls and back in the Wilcox Lake Wild Forest area of the southern Adirondacks outside the village of Northville. It was a gorgeous day! We all declared it a fantastic day.  The family of 4 had to leave a bit sooner than the rest of us, to get one daughter to a party.  The rest of us made it back to the car and then popped into Northville so they could shop at the oldest five and dime in the nation. (my mom shopped here when she was a child in the 30s and 40s).  Then we headed southeast back to Albany but first we stopped for soft serve ice cream at a fave spot.  I'm so thankful  everyone loved the trail, the fellowship and the sights. 

• HYMN HEAVEN!!  On Sunday, our worship director told the congregation we would be singing just hymns. Every once in a while he is going to do this going forward. We do sing at least one each week but the bulk of our praise and worship time (about 30 min) is modern Christian songs, a hymn and some older Christian contemporary songs. Mainly stuff from the last 10 years. I love it cause we have a talented bunch of musicians who rotate in teams. BUT, the former Free Methodist girl in me also loves the traditional hymns and my husband and I are singers so we love to harmonize with the old hymns as they're easy to do.  I'm so thankful for a vibrant church and music team to aid us in worshipping our God. 

 

Dave in his kayak heading to the beach

Moreau Lake from my kayak 
Moreau Lake State Park
15 September 

• DATE DAY:  Dave and I went to the 9 AM service on Sunday and then came home to get a few things done around the house and eat lunch together. Then we  decided to have a "Date Day" that we had tentatively planned but we thought it might rain (it didn't!) so we drove up to the state park where our kayaks have been since mid-April and kayaked from the picnic grounds across the lake to the cove and then down the lake a bit and across to the beach where we had our stuff set up. I did a bit of swimming and then we both just sat in our beach chairs, reading books, talking, drinking water and just people watching. It was a day that I will treasure because it's rare that Dave kayaks now and then actually sits on the beach for a couple hours. Once we were home and showered, I made fish and chips and some leftover salad and we had a picnic in the family room and watched  another episode from the Original Star Trek series.  I'm thankful we had the day together. 

"harvest moon" Over our backyard

our deck about 9:30 pm 

• EVENINGS ON THE DECK: There's just something about late summer evenings, the moonlight, my deck, and peace.  In August and September I just love the mild evenings with a slight chill to them for sitting outdoors on the deck and just praying or reading. When I read, I do turn on the deck floodlights. But sometimes I like to just have a cup of herbal tea and enjoy the solar lanterns, hear the tinkle of the windchimes, and just sit and relax. These pics are from Tuesday evening after the ladies in my Bible study book group left. I'm thankful for these kind of evenings and a space to enjoy them. 

Sacandaga Lake
at
Moffitt Beach State Park
Speculator, NY
south-central ADK

from the beach looking over to private camps

• FRIENDS AND FAMILY:  On Tuesday, I spontaneously met a friend of mine (we've been close friends since 1967!) at a state park where my husband and daughters used to camp when they were little. Cheryl was coming from our childhood hometown area as she still lives in the village where we grew up. I had a longer drive from Albany (2 hours northwest). We met around 11 AM and when I first got there I was the only human on the beach. There were a few older couples  in RV sites and when Cheryl got there, we got right in the water as the sun was hot!  The water was mountain lake cold (if you know, you know!) but once you went in, it was glorious. We were the only people there for the first 1.5 hours. Another couple of people wandered over but only one of them did any swimming. We had some wine on the beach and read our books but mostly chatted. Then yesterday, my youngest daughter who has every Thursday off from work, asked me if I wanted to go with her to the Berkshires (MA) to shop in the outlets there. I did because Eddie Bauer was having a sale and I wanted a skort and shorts (50% off!!!) and also needed to get some Autumn scented soaps from Bath and Body Works which also had their handsoap sale going on.  We had a glorious afternoon and I'm so thankful for Cheryl and my daughter Claire and the fun days we had. Family and friends....something I never want to take for granted. 

I hope you all have a wonderful last weekend of Summer!!  We welcome Autumn on Sunday!  And I'm  ready to start decorating for the new season.  

ENJOY the weekend, everyone!