GOLD in the CLOUDS : Savoring Summer Faves

Well....only one more week of August and then the week of school begins here in NYS! This will be my third September where I won't be going into a classroom to teach special little ones. I'm not bored yet with retirement either so that's a plus!!

I'm linking up with other bloggers who find FIVE of their FAVE blessings from the last week and share them via Susanne's site. Head over here to learn more.

Mud Lake in the Shaker Mountain Wild Forest area
of the Southern ADK along the Northville-Placid Trail
Saturday 16 August

Members of the SoulSteps Hiking ministry plus one!
in front: Dar, then Deb my friend from TN and our guest;
back row l-r: Jay, Jill, me, Ping
photo compliments of Ping's smartphone where when you say "cheese"
it snaps a pic!

North End of Mud Lake
photo compliments of Ping

DAY WITH DEB!! My dear friend Deb who grew up with me in the central part of NYS and with whom I have had a special friendship going all the way back to our pre-teen years moved to TN years ago. She's 4 years older than me and became a Christian a few years before I did. She and I have been through all of life's ups and downs together. We've laughed, cried, hiked, had numerous cups of coffee and lunches; have broken out in song together, have had so many gab sessions and prayer times. She was my guest on Saturday for my SoulSteps ministry group hike that I lead. She loved it! We hiked part of the Northville-Placid Trail to Mud Lake and it was a glorious day. It did get hot (up to 87!) and the humidity crept up but after the hike, we swam in the Great Sacandaga, then changed our clothes and went out to an early dinner at this wonderful place. Then we got our fave soft serve ice cream at a fave place. My group definitely made her feel welcomed and although they all had to return to their homes after the hike, she and I spent the entire day together and my heart will treasure our time. I'm so thankful she took time out of her month long vacation to spend a day with me. (she comes up every summer to spend time with some of her family that still lives out in the Mohawk Valley). We try to hike together once a year. There is nothing like solid friendships, especially when you are sisters in Christ.

Great Sacandaga Lake at Sports Island Pub

where we had dinner at the edge of the lake

COUSIN LUNCH: My cousin Trisha and I met for lunch at this new-to-us place in the town just to the north of me, and to the south of her. It's a good half-way point between our two homes. I hadn't seen her since last spring so it was nice to sit and eat good food and catch up on the family news, etc. I always appreciate time with my cousin. I'm thankful we could fit this into our week. Plus, the food was fantastic!

the interior of Pita and Olive
courtesy of website

chicken kabob pitas
plus I had the Fattoush Salad, a Lebanese dish.
SO GOOD

RANDOM ACTS OF KINDNESS: I was on the receiving end of a "random acts of kindness" moment this past week. It was Tuesday and a day of several errands all over town. I had PT, then had to get groceries, then had to return a book to the library, meet my friend Lynn for coffee and then stop at another grocery store to take advantage of their buy 3 (18 cans in a pack) for $10 of sparkling water. That's 54 cans and a GREAT deal. So, I load them into the cart, pay, and go to my car. As I was turning to bring the cart back to the front of the store, an older woman approached me with a cart and asked if she could take my cart back with hers. I said "Oh you don't have to do that! " She said, "I want to" so I let her because I've learned that sometimes people have "Acts of Service" as their love language. I'm thankful for kind people. Then when I was waiting for traffic and needing to make a left hand turn, the man going straight (who had the right of way) waved me to go first. That's two random acts of kindness in one day. I'm thankful there's still kind people out there. I"m also thankful I popped over to our town park for a quick power walk, after all the errands, on a perfect summer day. The temps never got above 75 that day and there was no high humidity. It's my fave for outdoor activity. I particularly loved this wild lavender growing alongside the path. I'm allergic to lavender but I'm ok when I see it outside.

wild lavender on the edge of the woods
along the bike path

CHORES CHECKED OFF: Besides the above errands I had to do on Tuesday, I also had many household chores to do Tuesday and Wednesday. Tuesday was yard work. I was able to mow the back yard and both sides and Dave did the front lawn before dinner when he got home from work. I also put away more summer decor and got out some of my late summer sunflower decor. I then added more old clothes and a pair of old hiking boots to the thrift store bag, put together a birthday gift for my sister Hope to get that mailed off to her and then Dave surprised me by cutting more brush Tuesday evening and adding it to the fire pit so we can burn it tonight. I'm very thankful that everyone on our "to do" list was checked off! Sometimes it's very difficult to get motivated when I'm dealing with the daily upper back pain. But God gave me endurance. I'm very thankful.

in the family room: a little late summer decor

the fire pit is stocked with brush
Dave also surprised me by picking up a cord of wood
for our bonfire party tomorrow night
we are thankful it's cool enough to have one, finally!

The back yard is mowed and the grass is green
again, thanks to the day of rain we had on Wed.

MOUNTAIN HIKE! Yesterday, I took my 17 yr old niece Mady on our annual hike. This year we chose a much smaller mountain because we were both wanting to have a shorter day. I drove us to the central part of the Adirondack Mountains and we hiked a trail called Watch Hill. It's been rerouted to be easier (less steep) and a little longer than the original trail that I hiked with my husband and the 2 girls when we camped out that way in 2006. Now the state created an actual parking lot and the trail is better marked and wider. I'm really thankful we had a great time and that she still wanted to carry on our tradition we've done since she was 8 yrs old!