Late Summer Faves

 

This was a busy, but good, week!  I honestly can't  believe it's Friday already. 

And since it is, I'm sharing FIVE of my FAVE blessings from the week with other thankful bloggers and we all link up at our host's site, Susanne of Living to Tell the Story.   

new swivel armchair
for the living room

• DELIVERED!  I'm thankful our new armchair was delivered on Monday afternoon at exactly the time the store said it would be. I'm also thankful they were careful when they brought it in and set it up.  They even complimented my house and said "it smells so good in here...what is that?" I said I was in the middle of baking cinnamon banana nugget cookies for my book group. If they hadn't seemed in a hurry to get to the next delivery, I would have offered them one!(they were still in the oven when they arrived). I'm always grateful for courteous service people. 

time for book group!

Intro night always includes Desserts and drinks

Tuesday evening about 7 pm 

Tuesday evening about 8:30 pm
the bright light is from the deck lights

• INTRO NIGHT! Before the start of each semester study with some of the church members who join my book groups/Bible studies, I offer an Intro Night where we get to know one another, learn how to order the book, and enjoy some desserts and drinks. Tuesday night was perfect for a bonfire and out of the 8 of us, I had 5 of us here .  One hadn't officially joined yet  and two were out of town  This Autumn Semester we will be discussing the book Divine Disruption.  4 of the ladies have been in previous small groups I've led and 1 is a young woman who is the big sister of my oldest daughter's good friend.  The other younger woman is rather new to our church and is super excited to be in the group.  The other member I know from a class I took last year and who is also in my hiking group. In fact, out of the 8 of us, 6 of us  are in the hiking group!  I'm super thankful it was cool enough to have a bonfire (plus I was able to burn more brush!!) and that everyone seemed to enjoy the desserts and various teas/drinks. I'm thankful I can lead this study group!

Karma
Claire's cat

• DONE! I had a list of things to do each day from Monday-Wednesday of this week.  Things like grocery shopping, cleaning floors/bathrooms/laundry; prepping the backyard/deck for company; PT;  practice our vocal music for the upcoming worship night; return emails and phone calls; interview new hiking members/send paperwork and try to get in some good cardio workouts outdoors in the glorious weather. It was a nice relief to get everything on my two lists checked off!!  I even managed to squeeze in a 20 minute visit with my youngest daughter and her cute kitty on Tuesday morning before she left for work. I was bringing her some vegan banana oat cookies I had made as we didn't want the entire batch in the house after my book group took some. It was so nice to have coffee with her while we chatted and she got ready for work. What I was  thankful for is that every single item was accomplished this week and that I got to hug my youngest.

heading up Monument Mt via the Hickey trail
to the summit which only stands at a little over 1600 '

me and other members of the hiking group:
behind me: Maureen, Joan, Jay
missing from the pic: Karen, Evelyn
photo courtesy of Karen

do you see  the two red blazes?
We had to hike through that spot over the granite rocks
this entire region used to be Mohican land 
and is considered "sacred lands"
This is also the spot where Herman Melville was inspired to
write Moby Dick 

from the summit of Monument Mt
overlooking the Berkshires and further back,
the Green Mts of Vermont

Walking over the mountain and back down 
towards the blue trail
entire hike was only 3 miles! 
back to front: Joan, Karen, Faith
photo courtesy of Maureen

we were up there?!
This was taken from below "Devil's Pulpit"
which is to the side of the summit proper
We had been sitting behind those trees on the upper ledge
Monument Mt Reservation
11 September 2025
Berkshires of MA

• MOUNTAIN HIKE!  Thursday was the last official "Summer season" hike for my SoulSteps group. I had 7 of us signed up for this hike.  6 of us ended up going.  There were 5 of us ladies and one brave man.  He likes taking his time so tended to linger behind us.  We  all hiked at our own pace. I had climbed this little peak about 6 years ago and it wasn't as difficult as I remembered although my heart rate really got up there  going up all the stone "steps".  At one point, we did have to do a bit of rock  scrambling but it's mainly because you need to go right up the middle due to the sheer cliff drop off. I highly recommend this hike if you're ever in the Berkshire Mountains of MA. I'm so thankful we all had a great hike, we were done by 12:30 and I was home by 1:30!! 

image courtesy of website

• GIRLS NIGHT OUT: My youngest sister Joy retired the end of July and we had planned to go out to celebrate and finally found an evening when our youngest sister Jill and her oldest daughter Emma could join me and my oldest daughter. (my youngest was old enough but had a Chem lab for her apprenticeship last night). We went out to dinner and drinks last night at this place in Saratoga which is a good half way point between our 3 homes. Our other sister Hope lives further away in central NY so obviously she wouldn't be joining us. I wasn't impressed with my meal (it was tasty but I ordered the beet salad with arugla and chicken and no feta cheese and instead got the salad minus the chicken but with a ton of cheese. But I didn't wanna complain as they were busy so.....at least my glass of Reisling was awesome). We all had a great time and I was able to also give my sister Jill her birthday gift as she turns 50 next week!  It was a fabulous night out. I'm grateful we could get together. 

Beet salad....delicious but wrong!

me, Joy, Jill, Emma, Courtney 

And last but certainly not least: I'm very thankful I identity as a born again Christian and not with any political party. My citizenship is in heaven and I'm so thankful for the saving grace of Jesus. It makes hearing all of this devastating news much easier to bear knowing that one day....one day....Jesus is coming back to wipe away all sin and evil. Every knee will bow and every tongue confess that Jesus is Lord. Yes, even all the Democats and Republicans. Every knee. the Bible says it and I believe it. 

My heart breaks for the family of the young conservative debater who lost his life by gun violence. I don't care who it is......but NO ONE should be gunned down in this country...NO ONE. I'm not super conservative but I do know this man was a born again Christian (you can see the fruit of his life and the legacy he left) and although I didn't agree with everything he said or did,  he was a brother in Christ. Even if he wasn't, my heart would be sad due to the gun violence. Something has got to be done in this nation where guns are so easily acquired.  But that's for another topic. And add to that, yet another school shooting. 

I'm thankful I can pray and have peace and show kindness to all....even those I disagree with. 

I'm thankful Jesus showed us a better way. I'm thankful that although we will never see a world of peace until He returns, that I can do my small part and love my neighbor as myself to the best of my ability and put God first in everything I do. I'm not perfect but I'm leaning into those truths. Let's model this for the world to see!